Color of all things in the dining room and kitchen!

I have loved Shabby Chic for a many years thanks to my sister's help :) I didn't know how to add color again and quite liked adding colored accents without worring about it clashing with the walls and curtains in these 2 rooms. My oldest daughter (16) talked me into adding color after my husband ripped out the radiator heaters and we had to repaint all rooms. My oldest also took these pictures and drew the horse on the wall below before we covered it. You can check out her creativity here at Klazane. Everyone helped with the painting and the rooms turned out beautifully :)

Fish Bowl Treat bags for a birthday party

In the name of "use what you have first" before you buy supplies, the girls and I came up with a treat bag we gave away for Lizzy's "sea themed" birthday party. The fish "swims" between 2 pieces of sheer fabric.

I had sheer fabric that I bought on clearance at Joanne's Fabric a few years ago. These are like the tucker bags I posted in June except we used foamy for the back. The sheer fabric is folded in half with the fold side up at the top of the bowl. We tucked a foamy animal inside the fold of sheer fabric, set (yarn) strap in place to be sewed over, pinned it all, then sewed.


Sewing with foamy on the bottom was very easy. We made the stitches very long, which gave the bag a nice look.
After sewing the bags were trimmed with pinking sheers to cut down on fraying.Bags were then decorated on the foamy side by the kids with smaller foamy stickers. While they were eating lunch, some of the older kids filled the bags with real sea shells, taffy, stickers, erasers, and a piece of chocolate :) Our frugal find was finding sea shells at the dollar store.

By the way, I thought I'd let my friends know I'm still alive. We have had alot projects to do this summer which has taken me away from blogging. I've felt a little overwhelmed with them all. I hope to post about them when things slow down, we have pictures :) I can't wait to check out what you all have been blogging about :)

Down Under Tucker Bag

Next week we will be boarding the Boomerang Express and going down under to Australia, (aka vacation bible school) . We are trying to use things that we have at home in order to keep costs down. Klazane and I will be helping with Pre-K and K for the week. We will be giving the kids lil cards with scriptures on them. The teacher's kit came with a brown tucker bag and we could buy them for $1.24 a bag. I say no worries Mate, this is cheaper! I have a good bit of felt and yarn. We made about 45 of them and didn't need to buy anything.

The front of the pouch is 5" wide and 3.5" high in the center. The back & flap is 5" wide and 6.25" high.

Materials:

1 piece of felt

33" of yarn

E18 Code

What does E18 mean? It means your little girl dropped the camera face down with the lens extended. So, we are looking into the Canon Loyalty Program. We found it through fatwallet.com . I don't think Canon advertises this program. It is an upgrading program for refurbished cameras. Klazane has a nice camera, so in a pinch I could borrow hers and we also have our first Canon (2 mega pixels).

Three Things Meme

I have stolen this meme from Kim.

Three

…… places I’ve visited: Puerto Rico, OBX North Carolina, Indiana

.… cars I’ve owned: '64 Chevy Chevelle (that was a cool car!), '78 Impala, '95 Beretta (my husband's cool car from the 90's!)

.… foods I love: chocolate, brownies, mochas (see the theme?)

… jobs I’ve held: Mc Donalds, US Army Mailclerk, bank teller

… authors I love: T Davis Bunn, MacArthur, Beverly Lewis

… places I’ve lived: southeastern Pennsylvania, Virginia, northeastern Pennsylvania

… favorite hobbies: crocheting, sewing, Facebooking

… bones I’ve broken: zero

.… TV shows I watch: LOST, that is all I watch besides Fox news

… songs that make me turn up the volume: depends on my mood

… favorite drinks: WATER, tea, water

… fun board games: Parchessi, Yahtzee, hmmm Parchessi?

… stores I could spend a whole day in: Christmas Tree Shoppe, Williamsburg Pottery, The Crossings

… chores I put off as long as possible: bathroom, dishes, laundry

… chores I kind of like: cleaning the pool, cleaning out the garage, putting the kids to bed, I love that time :)

… things I would rather chew glass than do: argue, ask for donations (fundraisers), getting all huggy and kissy, I'm not usually a physically affectionate person, so if I hug you spontaniously then you know I am feeling the love, ha ha

… reasons I hate attending parties: I don't "party" unless you mean kid parties, and those I don't mind

… favorite dog breeds: Rottweilers, that is what we have, but will probably never get another because she has had many health issues, I'm more of a cat person anyway

… things I just don’t get: my daughter's math homework (calculus), God's mercy and the fact that he forgave me of all people

If you decide to do this, let me know, I'd love to read your answers!

It's June

I remember sitting like this when I was little. It no longer looks very comfortable to me :)

Lizzy received a little book in the mail a week ago and wanted to fill in every page to show how excited she was to get a piece of mail.

It's beginning to feel like summer after 2 months in the 50 and 60s.

Grass in growing where we had work done in our yard. I'm actually excited about that, but then again it doesn't take much to get me excited.

One more week of school left for the girls... tomorrow we're going on a field trip to an amusement park :)

Spring Light!

I haven't been online much lately, mostly because of spring.
Spring cleaning in the house
Spring yard work
Spring clothes (washing & putting winter things away)
And more fun stuff.
It's been fun spending time outside until almost 8pm. I'll try to take some pictures so I have more to write about.
We are eagerly working through school so that we can finish up for the summer by June 12th. We began the school year late because we were waiting for materials and it was our first year with the cyber school. I don't want to push to get done earlier. I think it would be too stressful for both girls.
I am really excited that spring is here, we have alot of projects to do and I'm motivated to get to them all before it gets too hot here in the northeast.
Yesterday I talked to both of my sisters. I needed that. We don't live close to each other and I'm happy yesterday was the day I got to connect with them both.

Pretty Banner

Thank you Klazane for making me such a pretty banner.
Thank you my sweet daughter ;)

Laura Ingalls Wilder

We have been reading the Laura Ingalls-Wilder's books and have really been enjoying them. When I was a kid no one in my family liked watching the series on tv. The books are amazing to read with children.

A lap afghan and a mini quilt for Fluffy

I started the white crocheted afghan back in October and hoped to finish it in 6 weeks. Now I know better... it took 6 months :) I can't wait to send it.... which will be very soon. The ity bitty quilt is for my daughter's stuffy, Fluffy. Lizzy is going to quilt it tomorrow after church so we can remove the safety pins. It'll be fun. :)

Here is an update on things: My diet is going well. It's a life change and I think things are going well. I was in a stall last time I blogged about the diet. That lasted about a week and a half. I needed to begin an exercise program and needed more fiber. Boy, those 2 make a big difference.

I began Phase II which is closer to normal eating. I am eating grains, but usually only whole wheat. I have weak moments where I indulge with the chocolate, but, I've gotten back on track each time.

I want to be more consistant with asking God for guidance in all I do (including eating and exercise) every morning.

There's no garden yet... I'll blog about that another time... I have about 3 weeks til I can plant those things that can't be planted til after the last possible frost... I have friends who are going to let me borrow their tiller, which is an amazing thing because they are expensive to rent. I am so thankful for this. I hope to get it soon. I'll let you know more when I get to start tilling :)