Oh what a Beautiful Morning...

Oh what a beautiful day...

I have this beautiful feeling...

Everything's going my way!

As I woke up this morning that was the song that popped into my head.  I remember in middle school choir singing that.  Frankly at that age I didn't care for the song, but now pushing 50 I totally get it LOL.  Here in Illinois we are getting a couple cooler days and the leaves are finally starting to change.  Fall has always been my favorite time of year and this year is no different.  Though I have this sneaking feeling that it it preceding a bad winter...but for today I refuse to think about it!

As I sit here I am enjoying a nice hot cup of Spiced Tea.  This is a drink that I remember my mom getting the recipe for when I was in my teens.  I haven't had it for YEARS.  I mentioned to her the other day that I could really go for a cup and she of course had the recipe still.  My Mom ROCKS.  So today I share with you a fall treat I hope that you enjoy it as I am right this moment.

Spiced Tea

1/3 Cup Lemonade Mix

1/2 Cup Instant Tea

1 Cup Tang

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Cloves

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

Add 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons per boiling cup of water or to your 

personal taste.

A couple notes here.

I doubled this recipe and it fit perfectly into a 1 Liter container.

I found a 2T. coffee scoop and use that to leave in the mix.

I also used UNsweetened tea.  I just felt that with the other ingredients

there was enough sugar already involved.

YUMMY!

Time to make some pumpkin bread lol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One more addition to this post today.  I have spent a lot of time perusing the Autumn Decoration Boards on Pinterest (and loving every minute of it!)  I kept seeing these adorable crocheted pumpkins and knew that I had to give it a try.  So today I bring to you my version!

These were sooooo fun to make!  I am working on another set with some multi color and thinking I might add some raffia to these.  I didn't look for a tutorial but I am sure that there were some out there.  I tend to just kinda wing it most of the time and use the pictures as inspiration.  I am adding a couple links that inspired me!  Or check out my Autumn board on Pinterest.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/256775616227891621/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/256775616227891510/

Well fellow travelers that's it for today.  Gotta get my fanny in gear here and get ready to take Mom to her Dr's appointment.  Glad that I had a moment to share with you all and I hope that I brought a smile to at least one face.  Blessings to each and every one of you.

New Post to celebrate Autumn! YAY!

Well, just over a  year since I have posted and my life has changed so much.  Last I posted I was getting ready for a craft show and never made it.  It came about that my Mom could no longer live alone and so I stopped working on crafts and pretty much everything else and started remodeling (with the help of family and hubby) 3 rooms of our house to make a "mini apartment" for my Mom.  Here I am just over a year later after many visits to the ER, a crash course in Medicare (holy moly) Nursing homes and Hospitals later and thrilled to say that my Mom is on the mend and doing awesome!  Well enough that I have time to do a few of the things that I was doing previous to her moving in.  She will be 82 in December and absolutely is an inspiration to me personally.  Its a great joy to have her here and to have her get to know her littlest granddaughter better.  Bless her heart she has really handled having a 4 year old under foot constantly like a champ!  Of course I am the youngest of 6 so...she had a clue to start with. lol

So today I wanted to share with the world at large some of the Autumn decorations that I have put together. Some are inspired by Pins on Pinterest (thats one thing I have managed to do this past year!) and some are just my own.  None the less I wanted to share and show.

I will be trying to get back more often now that things are settling down...but we still average about 2 doctor visits a week and time just escapes me.  But I do promise it wont be a year!

Please enjoy and Happy Autumn to you all!

This is the Buffet in my dining room.

Below are some closer views of a few of the things on it

Top left of the Buffet.  I love using corn, so natural looking.

This is my Autumn Girl.   I used to make these girls for craft shows.  

The grasses are out of my yard mixed with some dried flowers.

Love the way it turned out!

The middle section of the Buffet.

The bottle at the top right is old, was some sort of medicinal type bottle.

bottom left is the pumpkin that I cut out of a book last year, that was sooo fun to make!

Just to the right of the pumpkin is my lantern, have had that for years and on Pinterest the other day 

I saw that people were filling them with pinecones, so naturally I had to too! 

Lower shelves, just a couple pretty baskets.

The shelf on the wall opposite my Buffet.

The dust pan is probably 50 years old from my Great Uncles hardware store, it was

just screaming for some dried flowers.  The plates are one of my fall favorites, a gift from my Sister.

My Halloween girl, all decked out for the Halloween Ball.  I so look forward to putting her and the

Autumn girl out each year.  You would never believe how many of these I sold at craft shows! 

They were so fun to design, each one a bit different.

My very ugly front door that needs redone but the pretty wreath that my Mom made!

Broom corn!  I love this stuff!  My future son in law's family grows this and each year he brings me some.

I just love it.

Well thats it for today, tho I still have a couple things I am working on and when time allows I will get them posted.  Thanks to all that stop by to visit my itty bitty part of the internet.

Blessings to each of you.

Braided Rugs

Good morning!

We have a lovely sunny morning here and since my thumb and middle finger are numb from sewing, I thought I would take a break from crazy crafting and make a post.  :)

I also have a peek at what I have been working on for my upcoming craft show that I am participating in, in October.

In trying to figure out what to make for this show, I decided to tackle cleaning out my fabric closet.  Let me tell you that was a process!  Our house has looked like a fabric bomb went off in it for several weeks.  What a job that was.  I literally have one full closet full of fabric.  All of it had been shoved in to boxes and shoved in to the closet and none of it was organized.  UGGG

 Now though every type of fabric has its own box (or boxes in some cases lol) so 

when I open the closet I no longer scream and close the door quickly.  :)

While cleaning out the closet, I found that I have enough polyester to clothe my Mom's retirement community. Hmm what to do with it all?  Braided rugs... that's what!

I made one of these years ago for myself and I love it.  They are durable and feel good on your tootsies when you walk on them.  Its a lot of work and my fingers are in pain but I get more excited the further I get and just had to show it off a little.  I will post a pic when done.  The outside edge will be the dark purple and it should measure out to about 3x3...I think.  

I hope that where ever you are in the world that your day is a good one, filled with Love, Laughter and Friends/Family and Good Health!

I will post again when the rug is done (hopefully in the next day or so.)

<3 to all!

Monogram letters...mostly :)

Greetings to all!

We have an overcast day here, but thankfully have had just a tad of rain the last couple days.  At least enough to green up some of the grass.  So sad to look around and everything looks yellow and the poor farmers!  How they must be worrying.  Hopefully this is just one of those hot summers and next year things will be a bit more normal.

Before I get to the Monogram letter(s), I wanted to give a quick update.  

I have decided to do a craft show coming up in October.  I am so excited!  I haven't done a craft show in years...at least 16 years.  So needless to say life here in our house is a on overdrive.  Just wanted to let everyone know why I will be even more sporadic in my postings than so far.  I will try to pop in here and there to let you know what I am working on, but much of what I am doing I have already covered in earlier postings. 

That brings me to today's post!

All over Pinterst there are pins for Monogram Letters.  Oh my goodness there are TONS of them.  I will post a couple links but if you want more type in "monogram letters" to the search engine in Pinterest and you will be amazed.  There are so many varieties, its absolutely inspiring.  I wanted to give a try to one with my own touches.  :)

Here is the result:

I love Love LOVE the way it turned out!  I am a fan of blue jean and try to work it into most things I make.

I used a bit of ribbon woven in  (some easter ribbon that I had) to add some color here and there.  I can hardly wait to get it up on the wall!  It is going on a bright yellow wall so that blue jean will really pop!  I will add another picture later, but was too excited to wait.

Have you done any Letters?  If so how did you do yours?

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my creativity for today and I will be back as time and new things permit.

Here is a link for Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=monogram+letters

Thanks for stopping by today!

From Keyboard boxes to...

Happy Sunday to all!  

Today we have a blissful summer day.  I am sitting in the warm breeze with low humidity and its absolutely wonderful.  Finally a break from the 100+ degree days we have been having and I am going to take full advantage of it!

But while I was stuck in the air conditioning the last few days I did do a fun project!  Here is the pin for my inspiration:  http://pinterest.com/pin/256775616224450475/   When I pinned this I was so excited to do it!  I obtained some clean pizza boxes from our favorite pizza place and then was stumped as to what to do next.  LOL  The boxes used in the pin were different from the ones I had and so honestly I just shoved the boxes and the project to the back of my head.  In the mean time, a fellow freecycler gave me some computer keyboards for another project that I have in mind.  The keyboards actually all came in boxes!  Again the pin came back to me as I looked at these boxes for the last several weeks.

Enough babble :o)  

Here is what I started with:

Six lovely keyboard boxes...

and here is what I made them into!

I am pretty tickled with the way this turned out!

It will fit on my shelf and will be sturdy enough to hold cardstock and papers.

If anyone is interested in the process it took to make this I will be glad to post some pictures and simple instructions of what I did.

Next I will tackle those pizza boxes!

Maybe you should order a pizza today?  

:o)

Bubbles! YAY!

I have yet to meet a little one that doesn't LOVE to blow bubbles.  I know that Little Missy really gets a charge out it.  I don't mind bubbles in the house or outside but the only issue I have is that every time she bends over to pop a bubble while holding the container, she spills them.  That's Ok outside (except the waste part) but inside it's a bit on the messy side.

So here is how I have solved this issue:

I took a wire coat hanger and used the hook to hold the bubbles bending it a bit to fit, cutting open the body of it to make some hangers for the back.  I covered any sharp edges with electrical tape to protect her little fingers. The nice thing is almost every room has some place that I can hook this and this morning while she was playing in her "Poodle" (Little Missy speak for Pool) we hooked it right on the edge and she was able to blow bubbles while taking a dip in COLD water.

How do you keep the bubble spillage down?  Do you have a nifty tip or trick?  

I would love to hear it if you do.

Recycling Station

As I was taking the picture for the memory notes from Daddy, I noticed our recycling station that we have set up in our kitchen.  I say station, but really its a small area next to our garbage can.  We take recycling pretty seriously here and make sure that we recycle as much as possible.  Here is a picture:

The top bag is for cans.  We always rinse them out and take the tabs off.  A friend of mine has the energy to actually take these to the recycling center to turn them in, and I am happy to save them for her! Can you see the pizza box?  That where our cardboard goes.  We always open the ends and flatten it out.  The bottom brown bag is for all that chunky plastic stuff.  I always try to sort it out for our recycle guy, just feels like I am saving him a step in a job that I really appreciate him doing.  Then of course we have the big bins outside that the stuff goes in to.

How do you recycle?

I am always interested to hear how other people do things, share your ideas with us!