This was my vintage retro tree...
All in their matching jammies right before bed...
OOPS, look who I just caught!!!!
Merry Christmas!!!!Before we left, I did start to take some pics of the Christmas decor around the house. Each year I do things a little different, depending on the mood I am in. For the kitchen window, I used some red gingham fabric and made a scalloped edge for the shelf and hung some pinecones in the window. It came out simple and sweet and fit in with the rest of the kitchen theme.
Burlap seems to be very popular lately and I had some upholstery webbing burlap, so I made a big bow for one of the wreaths in the kitchen and hung it on the hutch by the table.
Mason's nap time is usually in the afternoon and since I moved my sewing area to my bedroom, I was in need of a way to entertain him for a bit so I could get some sewing done. I popped in his favorite movie(Lilo and Stitch is this weeks pick) on my lap and put him on my bed. Within minutes of me starting to sew, I looked over my shoulder and this is what I saw :)
While he slept, I sewed a wool scrap blanket.
Have a productive Monday,
What could be more awesome than turning 11 on 11-11-11?!?!!! My 4th baby has that special honor today :) We made treats for him to take to school yesterday(quadruple stuffed oreos dipped in white chocolate and covered with sprinkles on a popcickle stick, huge hit!). I'll share the rest of our day later, we are headed out to enjoy the day with the birthday boy!!Have a lovely long weekend,
Tiff
No unnecessary furniture or nic nacs to get in the way.....
I was going to have a huge fall yard sale, but there just wasn't enough time in the day to get everything ready. So come Spring, I'm having a massive, clear the house out, yard sale!!! I already got rid of 11 storage tubs of stuff in the basement that went to the yard sale pile. And 50x that is still waiting to be let go. I know that this will not only simplify my home but also my life. It's not an easy task though, as some things I have had for years, but I am letting go and I'm trying to just have antiques and handmade items as decor. You should see the pile of halloween stuff I got rid of after I took it all down this weekend!!
And I know I have really let this blog fall to the way side, but to tell you the truth, my heart just hasn't been in it. I have too many stresses going on. But don't worry, I haven't abandoned it completely, it may just be once weekly that I post, until life gets more certain. I'll leave you today with a pic of some of the kids on Halloween... we had a bumble bee, Patriot soldier(made completely from wool from my stash), a mobster, a dragon, and a scary monster who sat and scared the trick or treaters. I think the was the first year that I didn't spend a dime on costumes, we used ones we already had or made from stuff around the house:)
Have a lovely weekend,
Tiff
CONGRATS to Gayle, Karen, and Vanessa!!!! Email me and I will email you back the codes.
I'm looking forward to this snowstorm so I can get our Christmas card pictures done :) and I just plain LIKE snow :)
Life is still busy and hectic and in turmoil and limboland, but I'm slowly cleaning and simplifying the house(starting with our closets). I wanted to have a massive yard sale next weekend, but that isn't likely anymore as there is just no way I will be ready for it. So it may have to wait until Spring. I was thinking about making a selling blog to let go of some of my prim and vintage items, but I hate dealing with the shipping thing, but then again, I may go ahead and do it. I'm so wishy washy lately, I just want my life back to normal.
Have great weekend,
Tiff
Do you use Shutterfly? If you don't, you should! You can customize greeting cards, labels, hang tags, mugs, key chains, magnets, and so much more . I used them last year to make our Christmas cards(as seen above) and present hang tags. The quality of the cards is superb and all your creations come in their own box for easy storage and to keep them protected. Plus there are so many creative designs to choose from, all you have to do is pick what picture(s) you want to use and the rest is easy peasy. Create professional quality cards in just minutes!
Worried about getting the perfect group shot? No stress, there are plenty of cards that let you choose multiple photos so that you can get that "just right" picture of each person in your family on the card. That's what I did with mine. Trying to get 7 kids to look just so for a picture, I was exhausted! So I just went with individual ones and I loved the result.
So make your own one of a kind Holiday cards this year with Shutterfly!!! You won't be disappointed. And to add some sweetness to all this.. If you are a blogger, and want a chance to get 25 free cards this holiday season, register here.... http://goo.gl/DDw7Q
And for my readers, leave a comment with this post and I will draw THREE winners who will each receive a code for 25 FREE holiday cards generously donated by Shutterfly!!!!
I can't wait to get started on my Christmas cards this year, enjoy making yours!!
Have a most lovely and creative day,
Tiff
I have a very cool Shutterfly giveaway to share with you all, so if you come back tomorrow(I'm not joking) you can see what it is.
Thank you all for your patience with me and for the emails you sent, I'm sorry for not responding sooner. All prayers of strength, peace, and guidance would be so very greatly appreciated.
This gal was made by Erika of Erika's cupboard, she is no longer making dolls but was a fantastic artist and her dolls are well made. This one is from my collection.
Now if you would like to enter for a chance to win these items, all you have to do is be a follower of my blog or become one and leave a comment on this post. That's it! You are welcome to share this giveaway and use any of the pics above but it is not necessary to enter. One piece of bad news is that I'm going to have to keep this to US residents only as I just looked up international shipping costs(yikes), sorry about that to all my international readers.
The old mixer was pretty grungy and I had to scrub it so much that some of the paint came off with the grunge. And I got some water in parts of it,so I figured I was never going to use it for food preparation, so I cut off the cord and spray painted it. It was a pretty quick project and I like the way it came out. Thank You Kimberly for the potted plant idea!!
I dug the lemon balm plant up from my garden(it keeps sprouting everywhere!) and thought it would make a nice fragrant plant for the kitchen.
The spray paint was just basic black and antique white(which was quite close to the original color).
I like that it is now functional instead of just sitting in the kitchen as a decorative object.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's Friday Fun, I'm going to announce a giveaway!
I have no idea where I am going to put it, but for now I'm just so excited to have found such a sweet little table for free! Have you ever seen such a small gateleg?
The older gentleman had just sold his house and he was clearing things out. He offered me this old(like 1940's old) mixmaster mixer by sunbeam. The thing needs a good scrubbing and I probably would have passed on it if I hadn't seen him pull out the two milk glass mixing bowls!! The mixer itself has all the parts, the booklet, and a cool glass juicer mixer that attaches to the side. And this was all free too!
So there are my treasures for the week. I'm skipping GW this week because the huge lions club yardsale is on Saturday and I'm hoping to bring enough home from that! Not that I need anything anyway, but maybe I'll find treasures for my etsy shop that I just won a Makeover for!!! **** Jumping up and down ***** I'm so excited! I'll share more of that tomorrow.
And on Sunday, after the kids driving lessons, we were invited to a lovely friend's camp. We brought along some syrup and relish to share...
The kids loved the boat ride. Highland lake is about 5 miles long, but is a quiet lake because the only boat traffic on it is from the residents. As you can see, my 5yr old was enjoying the ride....
Mason was terrified at first, but soon calmed down and began to enjoy it too....
Lots of Loons on the lake...
My 10 yr old made a zucchini canoe(have you heard the song "Cucumber Canoe"?) and brought it along. The waves overwhelmed it, but it lasted quite awhile and was totally edible, so no harm to the fish.
I love this photo... credit to my 16 yr old daughter who took it with her much better camera :)
Ate dinner outside...
All tuckered out....
A big THANK YOU to our hosts, we had a lovely time!!