Farm Themed Baby Shower

     Sorry I have been away so long. I wish I had more time to spend on my blog, unless that means getting hurt or sick to do so, never mind! Just thought I would show you a pic of a resent baby shower our church gave; when I say resent I mean within the last six months. Of course we had a farm theme. Each table was a little different. The candy apples were fun to make. This was my very first candy apple making experience and a dear friend was doing most of the work. So, it is a little questionable as to whether I made candy apples or not. (:  
     You can see a little of the food table in the back. We had stuffed eggs, chicken sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit salad, veggies and a tray of mini cheese cakes. It was a fun day with games and gifts for mom and baby. We have had other projects but I still have no good camera. This was taken with my phone.
     Have fun being creative and "Smile- sunshine is good for the teeth".

Bookmarks

More bookmarks hope you like them. I have been busy with other projects lately and have not had the time to do as many as I hoped.

Story Time Bookmarks

Here is bookmark number two. This time I used watercolor and ink. I do like a little color every now and then.Each bookmark measures 7.5 x 2.5 inch on watercolor paper.

King Richard III

First of all I desperately need a new camera. This one has had it all my pics are blurry. With that said, my newest project is making bookmarks. This is a pen and ink done on wet canvas. The canvas is not wet but you can use wet mediums on it such as ink and watercolor. I do not have the time to do many large projects, bookmarks I can handle. You might think, big or small what difference does it make, you could just do it when you have the time. The problem is when I draw or paint I tend to zone out and can think of nothing else, small projects can be done and finished and I want ignore my family.

It has been a long time sense I have worked with pen and ink; I had to practice some before getting started. Adding color to the cape was scary, but it turned out alright, I just need a finer pen next time. I have started a new pen and ink bookmark but I am doing it on heavy watercolor paper. I am trying to decide what I like best. I would like to get some prints of the bookmarks and maybe sale some. Hope you are finding ways to be creative. God bless.

"All Wrapped Up"

Giving gifts is such a joy; I do believe I enjoy giving them more than receiving them. Just to bring a little bit of joy to someone else brings the greatest pleasure. It is not just the gift I like, it is the packaging also; making that gift special for each person. Today it is so easy to just go out and buy paper, gift bags and purchase a card.We do not take the time to put ourselves into anything anymore. Hear is a simple idea.

I used buttons, ribbon, a hot glue gun, brown packaging paper and a box that had a separate lid.

I wrapped the lid and box separate


I did find and buy( yes I bought it ready made, only because it was perfect), a blank flower card. It was a real photo of a flower. I think it turned out nice. My niece will be very happy on her birthday.

"Baby Shower"

Recently a friend and I decorated for a "Bird Themed" baby shower, at our church. It was so much fun.Here are just a few of the pics.

We made a cup cake stand .I am a big fan of cup cake towers!The stand is made from three different size cake plates. These stands had rounded edges and you need flat edges on the plates for cup cakes. We put glass over each cake plate trimmed with eyelet. The cup cakes are topped with birds nests filled with blue and green candy almonds. The nests are made from toasted coconut. Some of the eggs have hatched and so there are chicks on some . We purchased scrap book paper in 5 different patterns to make birds, a banner, and other various decorations. You can see one of the little birds sitting on the table. His feet were made from swigs we hot glued into a v shape.The idea was to make the decorations have a patch quilt design, different papers but having coordinated colors . The bird house roof is covered with the scrapes of paper left from making the birds and banner.

We filled aqua blue canning jars with fresh flowers from the yard and some weeds I pulled up from the side of the road.

These are hydrangeas from my sisters house; the pink water in the bowl was made with red and blue food coloring . It was simple but cute.


I so enjoy doing things like this. The best part is having friends and family to do it with.

GOD has blessed me with a wonderful church family. They are truly my family and are a joy to be with.

Homemade Cards

I needed a card for a couple at church, that are getting married; I looked in the stores but with all the many cards out there, I could not find one. I decided to make my own. It was a lot of fun, but it did take a little time. I even made an envelope. For the art work I did pen and ink; it was very simple but it worked nicely. I used card stock and printed the poem on velum which I then glued to the card stock at the top. The drawing I glued to black card stock and some scrap book paper, which I had on hand. The black strip at the bottom is just a piece of card stock that I glued onto the velum.


For the envelope I used brown light weight packaging paper and lined it with hand made tissue paper. The tissue paper has pressed dried leaves in it; I found it at the Dollar Tree. The tissue paper also made the envelope sturdy. To make the envelope, I took a pre-made envelope apart to see how it was constructed; then I took measurements of my card and made a pattern to fit. I then glued it together along the sides. The flowers on the outside of the card are also made out of the same tissue paper and some seed beads. I also continued the same vine pattern from the card to the envelope.

Painting

My children, that is two of them anyway, take piano. Their teacher Lynn is the sweetest person. She is one of those people that just warms your heart when your around them. It is amazing how God puts people in your life in places you never dreamed.

Lynn teaches piano out of her house on Mondays. On other days of the week she and her cousin continue the cake business that their grandmother left them. She lives in what I believe to be her grandmothers old house. The house is one of those farm houses with the big country porch with swings and rockers; you know, were people use to stop and visit one another. The good old slow days ,where people took time to relax. The house is situated on the top of a hill overlooking pastures. The sky just seems so much bigger up there. My boys take piano, mom relaxes, and enjoys the beauty of God's creation. If Lynn knew how much I enjoyed her yard she might charge me for therapy.(: In the warmer months there seems to always be a cool breeze blowing up the hill. Aw www... how peaceful.

Well on one of those therapeutic days in spring, her dogwoods were in bloom. I had my camera with me and could not resist. The sky was a bright cobalt blue, as you can see from the photo. It was just breathtaking! Latter I decided to paint Lynn's blooms, and God's sky (yes, I know the blooms are God's, all of creation was created by him and for him, but you get what I mean.(: This painting was the most fun and relaxing; I did not worry with drawing it all out, I just painted. I enjoy impressionist painting; I know this disturbs some of my friends, but I love the bright colors, and the technique. I most enjoy works by Claude Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Degas and Seurat. (: I know my realist friends may not appreciate this as much, but thank you for loving me anyway. This painting puts a smile on my face every time I look at it and it brings me back to relaxing moments in Lynn's yard.(:

Around the House

Red is my favorite color. The brown in the vase is coffee beans; they look

nice and smell great also. I thought this arrangement looked like winter.

My table is so small it is hard to find a runner that isn't so big; I used

two place mats, from Wal-Mart, they were cheaper also.

I really like these plates; I like the bird and I like red.

This wreath was a big find at Hobby Lobby. It was on clearance

for $5.00. I could not believe it. I actually thought it was a

mistake.The vine wreath without the flowers

is worth more than that. I thought the flowers on it were nice as well.

It is so fun to make your home look cozy!

Learning to Sew

A friend encouraged me to teach my little girl to sew.

Of course she did not want any help; she's a big girl you know.
She said, she is ready for the sewing machine now.
A pillow for her doll.

Thanksgiving Decorations & Food

First Wedding Cake

Tomato Time

"My husband is not planting cups"

"Small tomato plant"

Our garden! The big plants are potatoes.

It is gardening time again! I just can’t wait to take a bite out of a, garden fresh, tomato! I do love tomatoes! I have friends that do not like them, but I over look that fault.: ) We keep the tomato farmers in business during the winter months. I have a green house, and I always plan to grow tomatoes in it, during the winter, but so far it has not happened yet. This year we are growing heirlooms in hopes the tomatoes will produce the whole season. The hybrids do not seem to last.

In the past we have had problems with cut warms; these little guys go along the ground and just, Timmmmmber, down go’s the plant. My husband puts a cup, on each of the plants, and this puts a stop to their logging. The first time my husband did this, his brother picked on him saying that, "my husband must be confused, that it was cut warms, not cup warms." His brother’s laughter turned to sorrow when the little loggers cut his tomato plants, to the ground. :( In case you are wondering ,why not blue or clear cups? My husband uses red cups because he read that the color red stimulates growth in tomato plants. "Most tomatoes do seem to be partial to red."

My sweet husband comes up with some very interesting ideas that always seem to work. Last year we did have beautiful plants and an abundance of tomatoes. But God is the master gardener, so he may have given us a good crop despite our strange gardening techniques.

Let’s see, what shall I make first, maybe tomato and basil salad or tomato sandwiches or marinara sauce ooooor, maybe I should not count my chickens before they hatch.
Happy Gardening. (:

Homemade Gifts

We have a newlywed couple at our church and we, the ladies, wanted to do something special for them. We have been working on a cook book. A friend of mine gave me the idea. It has been a lot of fun! Most of the work was done on Publisher and Excel. The photo album has a thick plastic cover, over canvas, which will keep it clean, as do each page. The picture in the center is a oil pastel drawing of grapes. On the second page is a photo of the couple, all of the lady's signatures are around it . There is also an index page to list all of the yummy recipes. We have a Bread, Main Meal and Dessert section; you could do a lot more, but we are a very small church. There are also bible verses and cooking tips scattered throughout the book. Also there is a picture, with each recipe and serving suggestions, so she will know what each dish looks like and what is good to serve with it. I like cook books with pictures! In the back is some pictures and instructions on: napkin folding, table setting and quantities for feeding crowds. It is so much more fun making gifts than buying them. (:

A Lot With A Little

I wanted it to look like she was in a tree house. Her drawers are under her bed.

We bought a memory foam mattress,
to fit into the space sense it was a little
bit shorter than a twin.


We have a small two bedroom home. Our boy's shared a room, but my little girl had no bedroom, other than ours. Down the hall was an area to put the washer and dryer. We moved my washer to my bathroom and my husband turned the washer area into a cosy little girls room. Everyone at first thought this was strange and small but it turned out great. Hear are some pictures. We put up curtains that can be closed for privacy.There are storage boxes on the shelf. I hope if you feel like you have no room, that this will encourage you to make due with what God has provided you and get creative.


This is a close up of the bird.