Happy New Year 2013

First of all....

Hope you all had a wonderful New years eve!!  

Best wishes to all in 2013.

I have decided to pick a word for the year once again.

This year I have chosen  "Simplify" .  

I'll use this word as a guide in the year to come.

Thank you so much for continuing to read and follow my blog. 

 

10 years ago....

We welcomed our baby girl 

into the world. 

Welcome to double digits sweetie!

 

Blessings

We had a wonderful Christmas! 

Family over for both Christmas Eve and Day.

Laughed lots, ate too much, made a mess opening gifts, played games and visited until my throat was scratchy.

I had to  show you one of the centerpieces from our table. I saw this on Pinterest and loved it. So bright and early Christmas morning I stepped outside to trim some greens from the bushes. I'm sure any neighbors that spotted me though I was nuts. It was 0°F at the time.

Greens in a mason jar...add water and fresh cranberries which are ever so kind to float. 

Drop in a floating candle. Ta-da...

Simple and festive.

 

Cork tree

A few weeks ago at a craft show, I saw a woman selling wine cork Christmas trees. 

I thought..."hey, I have corks...I could make that!"

I changed things up a bit to make it more "mine" and love the result.

I'm thinking I have the start of a tree collection when paired with my Dr. Suess tree. 

 

O Christmas tree

Once again I've been browsing Pinterest

...likely too much...

in an effort to find fun ways to use the book pages that have piled up from previous projects.

I saw the cutest little Christmas tree 

by Jana at Scrapbook Abundance.

(below)

Source: preprostobogastvo.blogspot.com via Halle on Pinterest

I wasn't exactly sure how she put it together so I "winged it" and ended up with this silly little tree.

The funniest thing is that the wire I ran up the middle is very flexible. So the tree wiggles and wobbles at the slightest touch. 

I'm calling it my Dr. Suess tree since it makes me think of something you'd find in Whoville.

 

Bursting out the red and green

 

It's not too early, is it? 

The last paper bag book (previous post) I made had more of a vintage feel. 

For this one, I went with the typical red and green Christmas theme colors. 

It's filled with tags awaiting photos and memories.

I found some fun embellishments in my stash of goodies for the binding as well. 

Beads, bells and trinkets give it fun texture and movement.

I feel like I'm starting to get my mojo back. It must have been lost in the yard...all the raking must have brought her back to me.

 

It's beginning to look like Christmas....

Fall wreath for mom

The other day, my mom said that she wished she had a Fall colors wreath for her apartment door. 

I took it upon myself to get something made up for her.

I salvaged everything including the straw hat out of the Fall decor/costume box. 
I think she'll be  pleased.

 

A week in review

Since Independence Day fell smack in the middle of the week this year, Mr. G took a week's vacation. We've been busy...mostly with 4th of July festivities and trying desperately to stay cool during them.
To that end, my neighbor brought over some fabric and we started making neck coolers.  I was reminded of them while browsing Pinterest.
I think I stitched up about 20 of these...at least 4 being "little kid size". We kept them in a cooler of ice water during the parade so that everyone at our gathering could pull one out whenever they needed it.

I even sold the one off my neck to a carnival worker when the kids were playing games. I could have made a fortune ...and then promptly get a big fat fine from the city, I'd suppose.

By the way...your eyes aren't deceiving you in the above picture....it does look a little foggy. 
It's so humid today that my lens fogged. 
See...

Ah...that's better.


The garden is producing...snow peas, green beans and kohlrabi so far.




Ah crud... my ADD is showing again....
I got off track...
I was talking about the 4th of July.












While Mr. G was helping set up a canopy and such, I walked the kids to the carnival. I had them sit for a caricature. You can see one of those cooling neck wraps around Big J's neck.









The parade is always a great time....

Friends, food and fun right along the parade route closely followed by a water fight and more food. 

This little cork covered car had to be my favorite of the day.
That's a lot of wine!!

We're still trying to stay cool...current temp is .....

Yuck!!

The cool down is coming "they" say...I hope "they" are right.

See you next week...working on a project with bottle caps.

Inspired by Pinterest

In the weeks leading up to Easter I saw a few ideas on Pinterest that I thought...

"I could totally do that!"

 

I made this wreath for my mom's apartment door. 

And these cute little deviled egg chicks for Easter.

Of course, today I went to link to the original pin and share the link to the owner of the photo...no luck. 

It says "original pin deleted". 

All I have is the photo in Pinterest. 

I'm not about to post someone else's photo on my blog without being able to give a photo credit. 

Yet another reason that I'm now labeling my photos. 

 

Happy New Year!

I decided on my word for the year...

Drum roll please....  **REDUCE**

This one word will play many roles throughout the year.

• I'd like to reduce the chemical load in our home even more.
• Reduce the amount of stuff in our home.
• I'm going to reduce the amount of purchases we make so that will reduce our monthly bills.
• Continuing to reduce my waistline and other parts is super high on my list.
• By making bulk purchases, being aware of packaging and buying local, I will reduce the impact we have on the environment. 
• I want to reduce the amount of trash we produce even more this year.
• I'm going to reduce the vast quantity of art supplies I have stashed by being creative more often.

I wish you the best in 2012! 

Good-bye 2011

As this year comes to a close, I wanted to say thank you to all of you for continuing to stop by and read my ramblings. And a special thank you to those who have taken the time to leave a comment for time to time.
It really means a lot to me.

»-(¯`v´¯)-»   THANK YOU   »-(¯`v´¯)-»


I also I felt was time to check up on my goals for last year and see how I did.
Shall we take a look....?

ART:

• List at least one thing a week in my etsy store.

 I got better towards the second half of the year about listing items. I think I'm in a better routine now.

• Finish our vacation scrapbook

I haven't finished the scrapbook version yet but I did make a photo book through Shutterfly.

• knit or crochet one project using proper directions (something I really struggle with)

YES! I 've crocheted a couple twirly scarves with this pattern. I should dig that pattern back out and whip up a few more.

• Improve my photography skill

This one is not very measurable but I do think I've improved. My neighbor even used one of my photos as her son's senior yearbook picture. Hey, does that make me a published photographer??!! HA!

LIFE:

• return to our healthy eating regimen 

We go back and forth with this one. Although Mr. G and I talked about the changes we'd like to make with our lifestyle after the New Year. I'm sure with both of us fully on board, we'll do well.  

• workout 3 times a week 

I'm doing really good with this one now...after a long summer of not going to workout at all.

• weekly family board game night with full media blackout

We were really good until it got nice outside. Then we forgot about playing a game and got out of the habit. We're picking up where we left off.  New games from Christmas will help keep us going! 

• keep a journal 

I've been very sporadic about this one as far as a handwritten journal goes. I'm just not good at it. I  do feel like my blog is part of my journal keeping though...just not the personal stuff.

So over all...not too shabby for goal keeping. I'll have to give some thought to this years goals. 

Maybe I'll even try a theme word for the year...ala Ali Edwards.

Stay safe and have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every day...not just today...I am thankful for the many blessings in my life. Hopefully, I am able to express my gratitude to those around me more often than just this day.

That being said...I wanted to make sure you know...

I am thankful for you, my dear reader... stopping by to see my latest ramblings.  

I am always so appreciative of your comments. 

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tired Tuesday

After a fun filled, busy weekend... it's hard to believe that it's already Tuesday.

We over-indulged...

Enjoyed a carnival both from great heights...

and with our feet firmly planted on the ground...

The people watching is always fun...

Of course, we still had more fun to pack in yesterday...

A car show...

Parade...

Tractor rides for the kiddos...


We never even made it to fireworks. Everyone was tired, sweaty and slightly sunburned. A shower and bed sounded like the best option.









This morning the kids and I took my mom out to visit my dad's grave. He would have been 84 today. We left red, white & blue flowers and placed little stones on his marker. I think it would have made him very happy. He always said he was a late firecracker.  He always treated the 4th of July as part of his birthday celebration too. Time for family, friends and fun. Makes me happy to think of it as that way as well.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday weekend!  I think I need a nap now!

Stop by Kimmies blog to see what's up with my Tea Tuesday friends this week....

It's Earth Day

Personally, I think every day should be Earth Day or at least treated as such. Being aware of what we buy, what we dump, the resources we use and how it effects our planet.

I think so many of us forget about our trash once it hits the can. Out of site, out of mind. I know I've been guilty of this. 

We are fortunate to live in an area with really great curbside recycling. And I've sought out options for a few other items that aren't curbside recyclable such as #5 yogurt cups...which our county environmental center will take. 

Other things we do in an effort to be eco-friendly are:

• buying in bulk at our local co-op
• shopping local which includes farmers markets, buying beef from a farmer and shopping at our small local hardware store whenever possible so we aren't wasting gas driving to the big box store.
• turning junk into art
• reusing containers for storage
• patching clothing
• making blankets from old clothing
• buying used whenever possible
• buying safe, concentrated, plant derived cleaning products for our home as well as our health and beauty products (find out more) 
• grouping errands into one day or just walking for the small stuff
• drying clothes outside during the summer
• doing without or figuring out how to use what we already have

I hope some of these have inspired you to your continue efforts help keep our planet 

a safe place for all living creatures.

Have anymore tips for me? 

I'd love to hear what you're doing to be eco-friendly!!

PS...it's my friend Elizabeth's birthday today..stop by her blog and wish her a happy birthday!