Outfits are Done!...

It has been a flurry of crafting around here this weekend, hubby has even been involved. The boys are making Deluxe Valentine boxes for school and hubby helped with the electronics portion. I'll share the final products in a few days when they are done. In the meantime, here are two outfits that I made yesterday for Mason. I made the birthday crown today.

The first outfit is a pair of ultra soft fleece pants with a shirt that I appliqued some of the elephant fabric onto. I picked up the long sleeve Ts at Target on clearance for $3. They actually little girl shirts, but that's just because the collar was daintier and had a little trim. I liked them a lot more than the boys Ts though because the knit was a better quality and they didn't have a pocket on the chest. Plus, Mason is still a baby, why does he have to have that ugly thick wide neck band of a boy's shirt.

Closeup of the shirt and crown.
And this is more of a Spring outfit because the pants are made from the thinner cotton fabric and they are a bit too long for him right now. I did a different applique on this shirt.
I love making baby pants, they are so quick and easy and you really can't go wrong with the fit. This pattern was a 1981 pattern that I had picked up from goodwill, so simple.

Now I just need to work on his blanket.

Have a lovely day.

Tiff

A Birthday is Coming...

A certain cute little guy is having a birthday very soon and this "ma ma" is making a special outfit and a new blankie for him. I found this adorable fabric at Joanns and it had matching fleece to go with it. Stay tuned for the finished project on Tuesday(or Wednesday).

Have a terrific weekend and don't forget to enter my giveaway below,

Tiff

"Just Because" GiveAway!!!!

Just because I appreciate each and everyone one of you who come here to read and look at my little piece of the world, I'm doing a giveaway just for you. I'm giving a cast iron candle holder(it swivels, so it can sit on a surface or hang on the wall), a grungy cinnamon candle, and a sweet little 12" prim angel doll made by Erika of Erika's Cupboard...

A yankee candle votive and a Christmas charm pack from Thimbleberries. Yes, I know it's February, but you can start on your Christmas sewing early this year.
All you have to do is be a current follower of my blog, after all, this is for you friends who come and visit me,( I'm not trying to rank up followers with this giveaway), and leave a comment in this post. Please be sure to leave your email because not all comments let me reply to them. On February 8th, next Tuesday,at 10pm (giveaway closes at 9pm) I will draw a winner. I think I will try that random number generator that everyone uses.

Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Egg Shells, Ancestors, and SNOW!...

Happy Ground Hog's Day to you all. I don't think it's going to be an early Spring, of course he didn't see his shadow if it was raining! And with all the snow we have outside, it will take until May to melt!

So we all know about the incredible edible egg, but do you know how great the egg shells are? The first year we had our front door kitchen garden, we had a terrible time with slugs in the peas and green beans. I read up on ways to get rid of them naturally(as I don't use any pesticides in my vegetable garden). I tried the beer trick. Had little pans of beer in the garden to lure the nasty slugs into for a drink and then drown. It worked, but was awefully gross and I would have to replace the beer(not something we have in our house on a normal basis). While reading more about gardening, I had discovered how good eggshells were for the soil, providing calcium and nutrients to the dirt and plants. So I started saving them.

Then, the 2nd year of our garden. I raked in all the egg shells I had saved before we planted that Spring. And to my surprise and delight, we didn't have a single slug all growing season!! I later learned that this is an added bonus of the eggshells. I wish I could say that they deter the giant green horned tomato worm(so nasty), but at least I don't have slugs eating my other veggies. It's not too late to start saving your egg shells. After you use the egg, wash out the shell, then I let them dry in a sunny spot on my kitchen window sill (in a shallow dish). Once they are dry, I put them in mason jars. As the jars get fuller, I crush them down to smaller and smaller bits.

It's hard to believe that these two jars hold close to a hundred eggshellsl

My father in law recently surprised me with this picture in the mail. I was so happy and grateful to receive it. It is my hubby's great grandparents on his mother's side. It looks like a circle in the pic below but the frame is actually a long oval frame(about 21" tall) with the bubble type glass. I just love it and it is now hanging in our family room. I'm hoping he has some more and we inherit them.
As I'm sure many of you are, we are getting more snow here today. Everyone, including hubby is home for a snow day.

Here is how the patio set on the back deck looked in mid January as it snowed....

And here it is today. I'm not sure what out totals are for snowfall, but there definitely isn't a lack of it out there.
Stay warm and have a lovely day,

Tiff

Kitchen is almost done...

The kitchen is coming along nicely and I am so pleased with the cupboards. I just have a few more things to do before I can share it with you all. But here is the display on my island.

Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

Where's Andy?....

Does anyone know what happened to one of our fellow bloggers, Andy of Andy's Primitive Home? I had noticed that she hadn't posted in awhile and when I went to her blog, it was no longer there. I emailed her, but no answer. I hope all is well with her and her family.

Tiff

My Son Knows Me Well....

When my parents were here in October, my dad built my younger boys a huge(16' x 6') train table in our basement. He brought all his LGB trains for them too. He set the whole thing up with three tracks running and the controls mounted below. The boys liked it and it was thoughtful of him, but it took up so much play space in the basement playroom that it was becoming a negative thing. Plus, there is really only so many times you can watch a train go around in a circle. And I know my dad was anxious about the boys breaking the trains, but my mom wanted them out of the house, so that is really why I think they ended up at our house :)

Well, after much thought, we carefully untacked all the train track and packed away the 4 train sets. We haven't told my dad about this yet. BUT, it's not like the table is being wasted. My boys have turned it into something much more useful. Instead of the small 3'x6' old kitchen table they were using in the playroom as a lego table, they now have a massive table to build their ever growing lego village!!! They LOVE it and it is getting used on a daily basis. We will break the news to my dad the next time they visit us.

Here is the whole village. I still need to make a fabric skirt for the table to hide all the toys being stored underneath.

Yesterday, my 10 yr old son called me down to show me what he had just made. I couldn't help but giggle and think to myself that he knows me well and he knows and sees how much his daddy tries to please me,....play imitating life. He shows me this knew vehicle that he just built for his "lego wife". It's her new truck with a removable snow plow(I enjoy snowblowing our driveway). He tells me in the summer she can use it to go junking and yardsaling to collect things for her antique shop. Which he then shows me the shop he built for this lucky plastic little wife. I thought it was so sweet and he actually put a lot of thought into it. I just love legos!
Here is pic of the lake area, we need to buy some more blue paint to finish it.
Thank you all for the advice on the eye twitch. It seems to be getting worse and is really bothering me, which probably is making it worse because I'm stressing about it. Luckily you can't really see it if you are looking at me, but I feel it and I feel like Egor sometimes when I'm talking to people. I know they don't notice it, but I can feel it and it makes me self conscience. The potassium thing is interesting, but unfortunately I am severely allergic to latex, so I avoid bananas, but I am taking a multi vitamin for nursing moms. I may have to try that calming tea, I have had celestial seasons teas before and I really like them. Hopefully this twitch will go away soon. Maybe I should try some meditation and yoga? WII here I come :)

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff

Fantastic GiveAway, Hurry...

Head on over to Design Dazzle and enter to win a Silhouette

Cutting Machine, valued at $400!!! This is an awesome

giveaway, but hurry, it ends tomorrow, Jan 26th . Make sure you enter all 7

ways to give yourself the best chance. I would love to win this,

so many things to make. I could even do my own vinyl labels

for my glass cannisters in my pantry.

Squirrels for Valentine's Day...

My squirrels went in the mail today and I am so glad they are finally done and on their way. I have had such a creative block with this Valentine swap that it was getting ridiculous. I made at least 5 other things that I ended up rejecting. These little guys were a last ditch effort. I think they are OK, not great, but like I said, I was just stumped. I had ideas in my head for things, but when I went to make them, they just didn't turn out right.

I packaged them up nicely, does that help?
I think I just need a good night's sleep. And for the last week or so, I have had an annoying eyelid twitch. I'm assuming it is because of the lack of sleep and the stress that comes from it. I just hopes it goes away soon.

Stay warm, it's coooollllllddddd here!!!

Tiff

Quilt for a New Baby...

This wall/doll quilt is heading to the mail box on Monday to be sent with my Valentines for the swap over at Makin Proiks. Sarah had her sweet baby Samantha a week and half ago and this quilt is long over due. I had hoped to have it made and sent to her months ago, but time seemed to slip away from me and I just completed it yesterday. I'm quite happy with how it turned out and after the little birds were hand appliqued on, the rest whipped up rather quickly. Even the binding went on smoothly for me, I hand stitch it on and I had no issues with wonkyness or puckering. I just hope she is still hanging these in the nursery like she had planned. If not, baby Samantha will have a quilt for her dollies.

I used reproduction prints that I have been stashing away for quite awhile.
I'm finally remembering to label my quilts. This time I stitched the label.
Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

I know I disappeared, but I've been busy and tired. I haven't been sleeping well, sleep apnea and back pain don't make for a good night's rest. But I'm working on those things by exercising(trying to lose some pounds) and I gave up my Dr. Pepper(man has that been hard). Anyway, I've been slowly working on the house. The kitchen is 95% done, I just need to do a tad bit more before I can share pics of it. I have also been cleaning out the kid's rooms. It's amazing the amount of STUFF in this house and I'm trying to clear it all out. Of course the basement is getting full, but it will have to wait until Spring to get worked on.

Sunday was hubby and mines 18th wedding Anniversary. We went to lunch and I got two more glass cannisters for the pantry(I'm slowly buying them so that the pantry becomes more organized). It was a very nice quiet day, of course hubby wasn't too happy about how the football game turned out.

We got hit with a good snow storm last Wednesday and now today another one has arrived, and this is now twice that dentist appointments have been cancelled! We just can't seem to get in there.

Not that this is a very exciting picture, but I thought I would share a bit of my kitchen progress. I'm not just redoing the cupboard doors, I'm organizing and clearing out all the drawers, cupboards, and pantry. So here is the pantry after a bit of cleaning out. I have a mixture of glass cannisters, which is fine, it just adds to the "collected over time" feel. I realized I needed some baskets to store things, but I didn't have any on hand that would work. So I took some sturdy cardboard boxes(that the baby wipes came in) and covered them quickly in fabric, and Wallah! Instant storage for little things in the pantry. I still need to do some work on it, but it is MUCH more organized than it was. There is a shelf above that you can't see in the pic that still needs some tweaking along with the floor area, but these middle shelves are better.

And here is Mason being a cutie pie the other night.
Have a wonderful day,

Tiff

Making Progress....

I told you that I wasn't sure what color I was going to do the cupboards. Well, I walked into the hardware store to get some spackle and found two gallon cans of "Oops" paint for $8 a piece and they were the perfect white!!! Perfect, because the decision was made for me, you know how many different shades of white there are???? And because I got 2 gallons for less than the price of one gallon. I'm just going to start with the upper cupboards and see how it looks. Today I did this batch of cupboards....(5 coats later, and they still need touch up)

I cleared off all the Pfaltzgraff from the top of the cupboards....
And I'm putting it on racks in the basement. This is about 1/3 of my collection... I still have to clear out what is inside the cupboards.

And a pic of Mason, in his favorite chair. He climbs right up on the ottoman and makes himself comfy on the chair.
Lots more painting and clearing going on tomorrow. I'm getting a workout hauling all these dishes downstairs!

Have a great night,

Tiff

New Ride...

Happy Monday to you all. The first Monday of the New Year! Have you done anything different? I did some normal stuff, laundry, dishes, vacuumed, etc. But then I stopped, bundled up the two boys around 11am, put Mason in the sled, and went for a walk in the sunny January air. We walked around the block and then tracked up threw the snow in the backyard. We got our dose of vitamin D for the day and I spent an hour outside with my little boys and didn't worry about the house or what needed to be done. It was very nice.

I mentioned in a previous post about getting something new on New Year's Eve, something we had been waiting about 10 weeks for. No, it's not a new puppy...

Here my youngest daughter and I are saying goodbye to "raven", our suburban for the past 5 years. I really loved this car, but we had outgrown it, plus it was at the stage that it was going to be needing some work.

And here is our New Ride.... special order straight from the factory. She doesn't have a name yet.
Plenty of room for the kiddos and friends, and our payments even went down(which was an added bonus). The kids are loving it and think it is like a spymobile, LOL! I'm enjoying it, just taking some getting used to, it is very big!

Love,

Tiff

Resolutions...

Happy New Year everyone!!!

I have several resolutions this year and I'm posting them here to help keep myself accountable.

1) Exercise Daily. I'm not going to focus on weight loss, just getting exercise everyday and shaping up.

2) Declutter and Simplify my home. Which I'm hoping will do the same for my day to day life.

3) No Shopping! I have plenty of stuff in this house already, I can go shopping in my own basement. And clothes for myself, I have tons too, especially if I get in better shape.

4) Learn to Knit. I know how to crochet, but I really would like to be able to knit.

So there you go, my resolutions for 2011. Be sure to ask me through out the year how I am doing with them, just to keep me on my toes.

Do you have any resolutions?

Have a lovely weekend,

Tiff

Berries, what are your thoughts?

Box of berry vines that I stripped from my kitchen.,..

Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful comments. I think I came across depressed in that post and I did not mean to. I am just frustrated with life and my house, but definitely not down.

I am going to do with a lot of you suggested and start offering some things for sale each week here on my blog. I can declutter the house and put it in the basement for now and then pull things to sell each week over the winter. And what ever is left by late Spring, will go to GW or a yardsale. As for my Pfaltzgraff, I'm going to do what my best friend suggested, just clear it all out of my kitchen and store it in the basement for a bit. That way I can see if I miss it or not before I actually sell it. I figure it will take me at least a week to get it all out of the kitchen, but it will be worth it(I hope).

I have stripped the house of the Christmas decor and have it almost all put away, and I got two boxes worth to sell from it all too. My kitchen is a disaster at the moment, but that is part of the process of redoing things. I took down all the berry vines I had in there. And I had them everywhere! Tops of the cupboards, on the hanging rack in the middle of the room, on the shelves, on top the hutch, and on the chandelier. I always thought the berries softened the hard lines of things, but I guess I'm just tired of them, and boy were they dusty! So what are your thoughts on berry vines?

I'm really starting to get excited about the kitchen again. Decluttering and getting the Pfaltzgraff out is going to make a huge difference. I think I may paint all the cupboards too. I really want a farmhouse look with all old and useful things. I'm just not sure of the color scheme yet. I love my red kitchen chairs, so those will stay. But I think I will take the darker prim colors out. But should I go cream or white with the cupboards? Or maybe even red on the bottom cupboards. All the trim work in the room is white, the walls are builder beige, and the floor is a horrible cream tile. I don't think I'm up for painting all the doors and trim work on top of the painting the cupboards, but white woodwork is farmhouse style, right? I think I can redo the whole kitchen with a new style just for the price of a gallon of paint. I have enough accessories in the basement to fill in the blanks. I just wish I could find the right pics on line for inspiration. I have found a few blogs, but they aren't quite what I am going for. I guess I will have to look through some old magazines.

Oh, and I totally agree that it can be hard to look at blogs sometimes, it can make you feel bad about your own home, BTDT. I just have to remember that everyone's situation in life is different and we are all at different points in our lives. Plus, we as bloggers, tend to put the sunny side of life on our blogs, we share a clean house, happy times, and great finds. No one wants to read or look at ugly pictures or depressing times. But we all go through them in our real lives.

The work ahead is a lot, but I can't wait for the results and hopefully simpliflying my home will simplifly my life as well. A New Year, a new me, a new home interior, a new outlook on things, and tomorrow I will share another "NEW" thing that we have been waiting 10 weeks for. We are picking it up today at 4, I'm nervous and excited.

Until tomorrow, I hope you all have a Safe and Happy New Year's Eve!!!

Love,

Tiff

House Blah...

Maybe it's because I'm here all day long every day, but I'm feeling a bit "house blah". Don't get me wrong, I love my home, it's just feeling not quite right at the moment. Like it is never picked up and always cluttered. I feel like it needs a makeover, maybe not so prim, maybe the dark colors are weighing it down. I'm thinking more cottagey might be a nice change, but I have no idea where to begin. AND, one of my new year's resolutions is not to buy anything for myself for the year(I'm avoiding goodwill too), so that would make changing things ultra hard. OH, and we gave up with changing my craft room to a bedroom, after half way through, we realized there was no place to put it all, so now I'm in the process of putting it all back(and organizing it at the same time). We are going to rework his current bedroom somehow and give him a bit more privacy from his brother.

I guess I'm just tired of things ruling my life. I want things more simple. Maybe it's not just a house change I want, but a lifestyle change. I hate the thought of the kids returning to school after Christmas break, I enjoy them home. I want to homeschool, but I am a big chicken and I'm not sure where to start, and failing scares me. I want to do more family things, but chores and what not seem to take over. I know that is my decision, but that is how the things are controlling me. Why have collections of things? What purpose do they truly serve if they are just sitting there?

I know I'm rambling a bit and I don't me to sound down, because I'm not, I'm just realizing that I want to change things, I'm just not sure where or how to begin. I keep dreaming about us living on an old(or new) farm with some acreage, homeschooling, and having a little store of antiques to sell. And hubby would have closer job(or something out of the house) so he wouldn't have to commute 2.5 hours each way to work. I am just not a neighborhood type person. There is nothing wrong with subdivisions, I just don't feel like I fit into them. Problem is, we bought our house at the top of the market, then it crashed, and now it isn't worth anywhere near what we paid, so we can't get out of it. I just really wish hubby didn't have to work so far away, it's draining for him, but with the mortgage, he doesn't have much choice.

Ok, so changing the decor is not going to help things, is it? But I can get rid of things and simplify, that could help with the rhythm of the home. And praying, that can be and is done daily. Hopefully something more local will become available for hubby.

I did check to see how Replacements Ltd bought things, and I would have to ship it all to them on my own dime. There is no way that is going to happen. So I'm going to try locally. And yes, I think it will probably have to go in small lots.

I'm not sure why I'm sharing this all with you, I guess I just need to write things down and maybe some of you know how or what I'm feeling. And for those of you who simplified your life and your home, was it hard? I mean, how did you start and was it difficult to let material things go? How did you choose what to keep? And afterward, were you happier with your home?

I know I seem like I am all over the place in this post, I'm just trying to sort things out in my head. Maybe it's the New year approaching and I'm a person who thrives on change, I'm not sure, I just know that I need some sort of lifestyle change, and I think simple would be better.

Ok, I'm done, no more rambling for right now, I have work to do. And please, I would love some words of wisdom or inspiration.

Love,

Tiff

Let it SNOW!!!!(and decisions)

Those of you on the East coast know what I'm talking about, we are getting Snow! And it not just snow(which I love) but wind too(which I don't care for), so it's quite wicked outside. But it makes for perfect conditions inside to get some work done. Yesterday I cleaned and organized the basement playroom. Today I'm working on reorganizing and cleaning the mudroom closet. I am trying to make it more efficient for all the snowboots and snowsuits. And next I'm going to tackle my craft room which is about to become my 10yr old son's bedroom. I'm not looking forward to the work and trying to figure out where to put it all, but I know he will love his new room and I will have fun decorating it like an old fashioned boy's bedroom(I'm not changing the paint or stenciling).

I'm on a clean out the house kick right now. I'm tired of the clutter and lack of room to put things away properly. And I'm a bit tired of the prim, at least in the kitchen. I think I may lean more towards "farmhouse" in that room. Does anyone have any goods pics or blogs for that type of style? I have an idea in my head, I just would love some inspiration.

Which leads me to my next BIG decision, I'm going to sell my entire collection of Pfaltzgraff Folk Art dishes. I have well over 400, maybe 500 pieces, and it is just monopolizing my kitchen. I would like to sell it in one lot and not individually, so I'm not quite sure what ask for it, but the ReplacementsLtd value of it all is probably close to 8,000. I have a lot of rare items and the majority of my pieces are not the China made ones. I think it will just make my kitchen easier, because right now I have cupboards filled with the dishes, but I don't use most of them.

Here are two pics from Christmas morning. The first one is Mason enjoying an orange from his stocking.

And here is the pic of the kids coming down the stairs. I take this shot every year.
Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Day 24, Merry Christmas Eve...

Day 24, and it's Christmas Eve already! I hope you all are snuggled safely in your homes and enjoying your family. I'm sitting in the chair next to the tree, the fire is going, the boys are playing(and tracking Santa on Norad), and it's almost time for everyone to go to bed(except mommy and daddy).

Here is the outside of our house. We kept it simple with just some things on the porch and garland and lights on the fence. And luckily we have made it through without any lights going out, yay!

It's near impossible for me to take a night pic of the lights, but it does look pretty in person.
I got a surprise early gift from hubby this afternoon. It's a Santa and reindeer for my laundry room. He thinks it's ugly, but I love it :)
Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!! I'll post later tomorrow with the kid jammie pic and a post about our morning tradition.

Tiff

Day 23, Family Room and More....

Day 23, already. I lost my pace of the daily posting, sorry, I blame it on the trip :) We did arrive safely home at 2 in the morning on Monday. We all survived, just a bit tired. Mason did remarkably well, though he did have a lot of stranger anxiety while we were there, but who can blame him. And he isn't too fond of going in his car seat anymore, but hopefully that will pass soon.

Finally, I'm sharing pics of the rest of the house with you all. Here is the family room, sorry about the not so great pics, my camera is showing its age.

Here is the main tree. It's decorated pretty simply, just gingerbread, dried oranges, a few felt ornaments, wood candy canes, some big wood snowflakes, and faux popcorn and cranberry strings.

I got this shelf at GW for $10. It's more functional right now than pretty, but I love the lines of it.
This is the chair and ottoman that my mom gave me. I covered the ottoman and the seat cushion in new fabric, but I haven't tackled the rest of the chair yet.
A paint by number that I did two years ago.
This is the other end of the family room, looking toward the front of the house.

On this smaller tree, I did fabric crows and faux fruit.

This is the small desk that my mom brought up for me, she bought it in Kansas when I was just a baby.

And while my parents were visiting, my dad bought me this old glass lamp for $10! He rewired it for me and I hung it over the desk.
My hoosier.
And here is my foyer.




And the downstairs half bath. I painted the window trim, the mirror, and the sink stand with Old Village paint's Pewter color.


And here is a peak at my youngest daughter's birthday present(her birthday is Christmas day). I took a GW find and spraypainted it silver(love the silver spray paint BTW) and added 50 of those new squinkies things. I had to modify the inside a bit for it to work with them, but now does.
She collects gumball machines, so I know she will love it.
A pic of the 4 youngest in W.V.And last, Mason, playing with a baby doll in W.V.

I'll try to get on tomorrow and share the outside of the house.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Lots of Love,

Tiff