Back from Handmade U!

What a fun weekend! We arrived on Thursday night at Minglewood Cabin in Gretna, Nebraska. After settling in and seeing old friends and meeting new friends we sat down for dinner. We had a wonderful home made meal. Rachel's dad prepared smoked chicken and Rachel's mom made baked beans.
The first evening was spent getting to know each other by talking and filling out cute little notebooks with answers to a bunch of questions.

On Friday, Michelle Geller of Hold Dear taught us how to make beautiful journals. Her class kits were over the top with beautiful vintage papers. This is a picture of my crafting spot with the kit.
You wouldn't even believe how generous these kits were - the pictures do not do them justice. Not to even mention all the yummy supplies we had access to in addition to the kits!
We worked all day on Friday on our covers and creating our pages to make our journals. The time just flew by and after working all day and most of the night, this is what I came up with:

I love, love, love my journal. Below is a picture of a few of the "spines" of our journals. I embroidered my name on the spine of my journal.

On Saturday, we shifted gears and Rachel taught us to create a "quilt" panel on a canvas. She instructed us on various techniques to use and let us put our own spin on the project. It is amazing to see the different quilt panels. Here is mine:

Here is a collage of all of our panels:

Here is a picture of all of our journals:

Rachel's mom Sara made these beautiful treat bags with our names embroidered on them. Check out Sara's blog for awesome pictures of the the retreat and the cabin we stayed in.

On our final evening we took a field trip to Rachel's parent's home. Her parents cooked a wonderful meal for all of us and we got a "lesson" about Sara's long arm quilting machine. It was quite an evening!
Finally, all the treats!
Hope Ellington made beautiful Handmade U necklaces for all of us, Nora and Lindy made beautiful flower decorations for each attendee and the sponsor gifts were very generous.
Can't wait for Spring semester!

Packing for Handmade U!

Packing my bags to head to Gretna, Nebraska first thing tomorrow morning to attend Rachel's event: Handmade U!
Rachel will be teaching one class and Michelle Geller will be teaching another. Can't even wait!
I'll take lots of pictures and share next week.
I'm really trying to focus but I'm exhausted from the Flaming Lips Show last night at the Historical Brady Theatre in downtown Tulsa.


Doug is at the second performance tonight and he is backstage with Wayne Coyne putting together laser pointers. :)

Book Club

It was a fun month for our book club. We not only read two books for the month but we also went and saw the movie for one:

Have you read it? Have you seen the movie? I *loved* this book. I couldn't put it down. I started reading it one evening and read until almost two in the morning before I forced myself to try to get some sleep, and then, I couldn't wait to pick it up and keep reading.
From what I had heard, the movie was very good too. The movie pretty much tracks the book but there were a few significant changes that were different from the book to the movie. The movie paints a much more sympathetic character of Skeeter's mother for one. There are a few other significant changes but I don't want to ruin it if you haven't quite had a chance to read the book or seen the movie. If you haven't - I highly recommend both. Feel free to comment with your own thoughts. :)
The second book we read was Room by Emma Donoghue. At first I didn't really care for the story but once I got past the first few pages I was hooked. It's a story about a woman and her son Jack who are locked up in a room. The story is told from the perspective of Jack who is five years old and was born in that room. It really makes you think about what you would do and how you would handle that situation. The scary thing is the preparation their captor undertook and that we don't know how many "missing" people may be living in this kind of situation. I didn't love Room nearly as much as I did The Help but it was an interesting read.
Our next selection in time for Halloween is: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Do you have any suggestions for "must reads"?

Jackie's Halloween Crow Spool Class

Last night I went to Oklahoma City to The Paper Crown to take another one of Jackie's fabulous classes.

She always makes the most adorable name tags for all of the students.

I was lucky to have my name selected for one of her door prizes. Isn't this just adorable!?

I didn't take a picture of the cookies she made but trust me ~ they were delicious! An Oreo cookie wrapped up inside a toll house cookie. Check out Jackie's blog if you are interested in the recipe.

My sweet nephew

Uh Oh ~ somebody's trying to touch Daddy's stereo and he knows he's going to be in trouble!
Look at that sweet face!

This is my sister Amanda's baby Joao. Manda tells me that he is a busy social butterfly. He's pretty much happy all the time until she tells him "no" too many times then he gets frustrated. He *loves* daycare and the girls there love him too - can you blame them? I can't wait to get back to Connecticut and give this little guy such a squeeze!

Garden Mystery solved

Ugh! This summer I planted tomatoes and peppers and while the plants themselves grew they weren't bearing any fruit. Even though they were watered, fertilized and gently coaxed along I got nothing... Then, about two weeks ago I noticed a few little flowers and even a couple "baby" tomatoes I was so excited - I thought better late than never.
Tonight I went out to check on my plants and to my disgust I saw this:

Then this:

Then this:

These disgusting things aren't small either - they are like FOUR INCHES LONG!!! And they have a big pointy horn at one end. Can you see it? EWWWWW!
I ran in the house to see if they were dangerous or poisonous and the answer is No. They are tomato hornworms and are sometimes confused with tobacco hornworms. They turn into huge moths after a little while. Apparently one of those things can defoliate a large plant in no time at all. And guess what they like to eat besides tomatoes? Yep - peppers. So, no homegrown tomatoes or peppers for us this year but at least the hornworms were well fed.
Doug picked off about six before I got a bucket and picked off another 13 and put them in a bucket. Who knows how many more are out there that I couldn't see.
The predators of hornworms are wasps. We had tons of wasps this summer until I mulched really well and covered up all the mud. Now the wasps are gone but we have hornworms. If you ask me, I think I'll take the hornworms. At least they don't divebomb and they don't sting.
Oh the joys of gardening.

Look what I got!

I know right now she looks a little rough but I'm going to fix her up. Somewhere in blog land I saw where someone found a dress form all beat up (even worse than this) and used Rigidwrap to smooth out any imperfections. After she's looking more smooth, I may or may not cover her with either linen or burlap - I'll see how the Rigidwrap treatment turns out.
She is on a very nice, very solid pedestal that I have plans to paint to better suit my taste.
The best part is that I found her at a little thrift store for $10.00! Yep ~ $10.00! One of the employees grumbled that I should have paid alot more for her but I just smiled as I waltzed my soon to be beautiful dress form right out the door.
I've been doing some crafting and a few projects so stay tuned...

My garden needs help.

I had big plans for the backyard once the patio was finished. I dug, hauled dirt, planted, watered, fertilized, weeded and overall busted my back for these beds. I dreamed of lots of juicy tomatoes, delicious herbs, beautiful flowers and lush landscaping. Well, I ended up with NO tomatoes - the plants grew big and strong but not one single tomato. I planted peppers - no peppers. I did get some basil but what good is that with no tomatoes? Even the flowers struggled to just survive in the devastating heat we have had since the end of June.

In fact, one beautiful evergreen didn't make it and I'm doing my best to keep the other two alive. Ugh.

Once the weather cools off a little bit I'll be back out there digging up what didn't survive and replacing those things with stronger varieties.

On the bright side, we've had a bunch of hummingbirds this year and the view of these feeders from the window has been spectacular! They seem to love diving through the mist when the sprinklers are on and they are very territorial of their nectar. It's been so much fun!

Golf Tourney and Cancelled Flaming Lips...

(Karpy, Smo, Pate, Douglas)
Well the Golf Tourney went off without a hitch and was a great time for everyone despite the 115 degree heat that day. I stayed for the first half and took a bunch of pictures of everyone then I had to head home to ice down the beer and get the food ready.

(Chip, JT, Sherb & Royboy)

(Darrell, Frank, Defreese, Rice)

(Neil Shindler, Smokebelly, John Feary, Greg Cross, Humble's Boy, Adam)
Afterwards the guys came back to the house to eat and shower to get ready for the Brady District Block Party with the Flaming Lips. We have had these unbelievable temperatures and no rain for over 35 days now but on Saturday night we got a freak storm that passed through and collapsed the stage just prior to the show. According to the Flaming Lips camp, they had a ton of damage and their electronic light wall was destroyed. This is the electronic wall at last year's Flaming Lips New Years Eve Party:

Luckily no one was hurt but they lost almost a million dollars of equipment. We don't know yet if the concert will be rescheduled and the guys were so bummed out to miss the show but at least they had a great golf tournament.

What's Up?

What funny bears!
It's rare that we can capture all of them on the back of the couch at once. If we are eating, usually at least two are at our feet hoping for crumbs to drop.
From Left to right is Phoebe, Teddy, Nestle and Niles.
It's been a crazy busy week trying to get ready for Doug's golf tournament tomorrow but we did manage to cross a few more things off the list like:

Ceiling fan bought and installed in laundry room
Ceiling fan bought and installed on back porch
Mulched all the garden beds in the back yard
Bought and hung a huge mirror in the kitchen behind the table
Bought two new lamps for the living room.
Washed the windows on the back side of the house.

*and* we've had exhausting temperatures upwards of 105 degrees for the past month or so. One day it actually hit 115. That is crazy!

Busy day tomorrow - Doug's golf tournament, friends over for a party after, a "reunion" party with the people we went to the BVI with, then the Brady District for the Flaming Lips Block Party! I'd better go get some sleep...

The Pantry is Finished!

This project took me way longer than I anticipated but I'm thrilled to say that I actually finished it.
The before pictures are quite embarassing but I'm so happy with the finished product that I'm going to show just how bad the state of affairs was in there. Oh My.

We were buying multiples of things because once something got "put away" in there it was practically lost forever.Plus I'm a real stickler about using foods past their expiration date. Once it's past the date on the container - it goes. I didn't have too much I had to throw away but the winner was a can of chicken stock that expired in 2007 - eeewww! I don't know how that one survived the move to this house.

Look at those beautiful white shelves. No more builder's beige. I can't believe how much the space has been brightened.


The only things I want to see on the floor in here are the dog food containers and the trash can. No more dumping crap!

One more project crossed of my list so now, what's next?

Making Progress!

I'm happy to say that by putting my list "out-there" I'm making some progress!

I've painted the laundry room, and am almost finished painting the pantry. One more coat of paint on all the shelves and I'll take care of that tomorrow. I'll show pictures of the pantry once it is finished. Can you believe it took me an hour and a half just to empty everything out of there. Now, all that stuff is on all the counters in the kitchen and in the dining room. Ugh - what a huge mess! But I will finish it.

We bought and hung a new mirror for the kitchen (yay!) and today Doug bought a new ceiling fan for the back porch. This past week I finally got all the plants in the back yard planted. I have a very bad habit of going to the garden center buying pretty stuff and then leaving it unplanted until it dies. Although there were a few casualties, mostly everything got planted and although the landscaping is no where near finished back there, it is an improvement.

I'm determined to get everything off my list so stay tuned!

Birdsong Tags Have Arrived!

I'm so excited that my Birdsong Tags have arrived! I don't know how Karla packages them all up and sends them on their way. As I was looking at her blog I wanted each and every tag I saw and it would be impossible for me to pick only seven to keep. I'm thrilled with the ones she chose for my book. :) Don't forget that you can click on any image to make it larger.
Here is the beautiful cover that Karla made:

The first tag in my Birdsong Tag Book is from Lena Staggs of ahappymiscellany.typepad.com. How clever to use the sweet little buttons and the needle threader as embellishments. I never think of things like that!

Freda Butler of sewwhatsnew-fredab.blogspot.com made this beautifully layered tag with a real twig for a branch and a lovely birdnest charm.

This pink tag with the little bluebird was created by Jennifer Colvin-Allen.

Christine Nay of changeofheart56.blogspot.com made this sweet pink tag. That little bird is just precious!

This beautiful Awaken to Song tag was created by Charlotte Smothers of seahorseranch.blogspot.com.

This tag is by Kimberly Laws of artjoystuff.blogspot.com. Kimberly and I have been in a few swaps together prior to this one and her tag has incredible detail!

The last tag is made by Pam Perrella. Isn't the red just gorgeous!?!

Hope you've enjoyed these as much as I have!

Just get it done!

I have a list of projects that I want to do around the house and it seems like it is a mile long. I know if I would just dive in and get to work on my list, I would feel such great accomplishment, it's just getting started that is so daunting. Plus, I keep getting sidetracked with other things.


We've been in this house almost three years and I can hardly believe it. The only room I've painted is our bedroom and it is time to freshen things up a bit. Shortly after we moved in we had a mishap in the laundry room and I have been wanting to paint in there ever since. Just a word of caution - don't place a full container of laundry soap on top of the upright washing machine. Even thought they are quiet, efficient machines, they still shake enough during the spin cycle to send the container crashing down to the floor and believe me ~ when the bottle breaks open it splashes soap *everywhere*. What a mess!
Anyway - I'm putting my list on here to remind me of what exactly it is that I want to accomplish, and hopefully either motivate me, guilt me or shame me into getting some things crossed off my list.

Paint laundry room
Paint and organize pantry
Paint and organize master closet
Paint office
Paint hallways
Finish landscaping in the back yard
Fix sinkhole around mailbox and put in plants
Paint bookcase
Sew shower curtain for upstairs bathroom
Paint back patio
Buy and install ceiling fan for back patio
Buy and install new sconces for hallways
Wash windows inside and out
Buy a mirror for the wall over the kitchen table
Do a menu plan
Order new business cards
Build my website
*finish my studio/craft room!*

I appreciate any words of encouragement. :)

Tag for Birdsong Tag Swap

I finally finished my tags for Karla's Birdsong Tag Swap and I'm mailing them off today. Since there are over a hundred participants and we only had to make seven tags, chances are that the recipients of my tags won't read my blog until after the tags are received so I'm sharing my tag now.
I collaged one side of the tag with music paper and then dry brushed both sides of the tag with a pretty yellow paint. Then I wrapped the entire tag with a pretty blue mesh ribbon. The sweet bird is a download from The Graphics Fairy. I added the green gingham trim and attached the bird to the tag. Finally, I added a grommet to the top and attached a tag to the back with my information on it.
Karla will be packaging them all up this week and getting them in the mail along with a beautiful cover that she made. Can't wait!

Summer Lovin Tag Swap

Okay - here they are and trust me that they are so much cuter in person! I thought I would try scanning them but the ones that have dimension on them came out blurry from the scan and I have no idea why some scanned larger than others. To see better detail, click on the picture to enlarge it.


The first tag is by Cindy Bellamy - LOVE the fourth of July theme; the second tag is from my Brave Girl Sister Sheryl Eggleston - the palm tree makes me smile and reminds me of Hawaii!

The pinwheel on the first tag actually spins and was made by this Swap's Hostess: Jonnelle! Plus, I don't think it shows in the picture but where there is a "bite" out of the ice cream, it looks like there is a drip. :) The second tag is by Dawn Tavela and I just love the way she used the paper punch for "waves". Definitely reminds me of summer!

Love the tag with the actual sand and real shells. Makes me miss the British Virgin Islands - I'm ready to go back! Thanks to Wendy Robrecht for this cute card. Next up is the Bathing Beauty tag by Jane Palmer. Jane always has such detail on her tags.


The "Summer Loves" tag with the flip flops, the watermelon, the sun and the ice cream *I think* was made by my other Brave Girl Sister Dawn Blackstead. There are only initials so if that is wrong, let me know! So cute. And the refreshing looking snow cone was made by Wanda Clark. Wanda used glitter paper for the snow part and it glistens just like a real snow cone.


The tag on the right is mine. My favorite thing is the cute little crabs that I punched out of red glitter paper. The final tag is a fun surfboard tag made by Jess. So cute!
I always love participating in these tag swaps. The next one I'm doing is a Birdsong Tag Swap hosted by Karla Nathan. Those are due pretty quickly so I have to get moving on those. You may remember that I went to Karla's Birdsong Event this spring and had an absolutely wonderful time!

Hello Bird

I had some fun creating this today
.
I received my Summer Lovin' Tags in the mail - wait until you see those!

Happy Fourth of July!

I have work to do and I'm doing everything I can think of to avoid it. All of a sudden I have all of these crafty ideas and I just want to be upstairs in my craft studio playing. I made a "prize ribbon" in celebration of the holiday.

We are going to watch fireworks tonight and that should be fun so I really need to buckle down and get my work done then I can relax. If I would just get started it should only take me two or three hours but I just don't want to do it! :(
Let me procrastinate just a little more and share one more thing with you:
I've mentioned before about our Shih Tzu Teddy Bear - he likes to see what the neighbor's dogs are doing by peeking through a small knothole in the fence.

Here he is trying to resist but he just can't stand it!

He can sit there all day and it's a bummer for him when they are not at home. He gets bored but keeps coming back to make sure they aren't there.

Have a great 4th!