M is for...

Sweet Maranda. I made this for a dear friend's sweet baby girl. She is 3 months old and today was the first time I have seen her. Soooo cute!

I will post a tutorial at some point on how to do these. They are very easy. And if you are not a crafter or just don't feel like making one (shameless plug coming...) hop on over to my Etsy Shop and order one custom made for you!

Butterflies and Lap Trays

Today, I got an automated call from the school district that due to inclement weather (flooding in this instance) the schools were closed for the day. Rather than just watch t.v. I put the girls to work making these little lovelies here.

I found the plain lap trays at Hobby Lobby. They come in a variety of colors so you could even do yellow, red or blue for a boy if you wanted to. I used paint pens for the name and embellishing. The girls love them and have been sitting at them for the past 1-1/2 hours making butterflies and playing with sticker books. Not a bad way to spend the day I'd say.If you would like to make some cute beaded butterflies like these head on over to Just Tutes for the tutorial. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I have been wanting to make personalized lap trays for the girls for quite some time. I figure they will come in handy when I want them to busy their hands and craft with Mommy.

Monday Musings - Friends

" A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."

- Arabian Proverb

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."

- C. S. Lewis

"I can trust my friends. These people force me to examine, encourage me to grow."

-Cher

"I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends."

- Walt Whitman

Sunday Scrapbooking...

For my mom for Mother's Day (shhh Sis if you see this) I have taken the few photos that I have of my Grandmother who passed away just this past month and compiled them into an 8 x 8 scrapbook.

Grandma's favorite flower was a gardenia, hence the front cover photo.

The little blurb in the top right hand of the right page says "4 Generations". That is my Grandma with my little sister, Mom and niece.

The photo on the right is the very last moments I ever spent with Grandma in late 2006. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit her with my family.

That's my Mom, Grandpa and Grandma.

There were a couple more spreads, but you get the idea. The butterflies were rub-ons and I thought they added a nice decorative touch. As you can see I love black and white!

Pay It Forward Crafting Style...

Sorry, this Pay It Forward is closed.

I found a new blog today... it is called Not So Idle Hands. Emily is the blogger and she makes such cute stuff. I joined in her Pay It Forward Crafting Style game. Here it is: Making handcrafted items is a dying art, but they are so fun to make and get! So, here's a little game to encourage the handcrafting to live and thrive. The first 5 people to leave a comment on this post, will receive, at some point during the year, a super-duper handmade gift from me! What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise. The catch is that you must participate as well :) So before you leave your comment here, write up (or copy and paste) a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then, come back, let me know you are going to play, and anticipate the arrival of your super-duper handmade gift! Remember that only the FIRST FIVE comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: 1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make. But, I will try my best to make sure that you do :) 2. It will be done this year (hopefully sooner than later) 3. You will have no clue what or when it will be. Please make sure to leave your e-mail address too so I can get a hold of you. Have fun! Don't forget to go visit Emily at Not So Idle Hands.

Friday Favorite Ideas from the Week (4/24/09)...

I LOVE to browse blogs and find ideas that I want to try. As you can see by my blog list at the right - there are many places I visit and I do it every morning to see what great things others are doing. So... I decided on Fridays, I will share my favorites that I found during the week. I don't want to step on any bloggy toes, so I will just summarize what the favorites are and then give you a link to visit the sweet lady and read about her idea in full.

Kimm at Reinvented has some awesome ideas for containers for plants and gardening. I heart the polka dot pot!

Nikki at Whimsy Love came up with this very cute cupcake planter idea. Who doesn't love cupcakes?

Everybody loves Martha right? Well I love this idea for a button clock!

Jessica at Entertaining House has this fabulous idea for a chalkboard made by recycling an old frame. So cute!

Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick made a curtain to hide her master bathroom shower. I would love to do this with ours. Very nice!

Katherine at Smokey Mountain Cafe has a recipe to die for called Barbecue Shrimp Deaux that I think my family would like.

And finally, Kimi at Meddling in the Affairs of Dragons was "just thinkin'" when she came up with some wonderful reminders of who is really in control of it all. Kimi has had a tough week as she knows many people in the military including her husband who is a Marine who have or are going to be deployed again really soon. Please go and give her some love and tell her thank you for the sacrifice her husband and family have made for our country.

Monday Musings and Bluebonnets

Recently, a good friend of mine who knows I love to collect quotes sent me this one: People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within. ~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926-2004); psychiatrist, educator I also wanted to share a few pictures from our day trip on Sunday to visit the Texas bluebonnets...

Grandma

Okay, so it is late on a Friday night and I am working on a project for my mother for Mother's Day. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic looking through old photos. I don't know if it is the fact my Mom has survived a stroke and a fight with ovarian cancer in the past 3 years (most recently the ovarian cancer) and we are so fortunate she is still with us, or the fact that my Grandma passed away just a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to share what I found. Forgive the quality of some of the photos as I had to scan some of them and I also nabbed a few from a family member's website.

I think this may have been a high school picture. Isn't she pretty?

That's my Grandma and guess who she is holding? That is me at 2 months. I love this picture. That's my Mom, Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not really sure when it was taken. I'm thinking back in 2001, but it could possibly be earlier. Grandpa passed away just a few years ago. Grandma was able to come to my wedding in Texas. Again, I love that I have this photo.

I also am fortunate enough to have visited Grandma back in 2006 and I have pictures of her with both of my daughters. Grandma was a tough cookie, but she was as sweet as the day is long. My husband used to call her a "pistol". That always made her laugh. During a recent visit to see my Mom she was saying how amazed she was that Grandma was still "ticking" with all of her health issues and I told her the same could be said about her. I can only hope that I will be as strong as the two of them in the face of adversity. What a wonderful line of women to come from!

Humor me one more time

When Giz and Gadge passed last month, my computer that was hooked to the scanner was down. Thus I had to use the only pics I had of them that were on the camera. Because I don't think the pics did them justice and I am up and running on my own computer again. For your viewing pleasure (especially if you are a cat lover like me)...

Gizmo

Gadget

I still miss my little babies, but am ready for a dog. Now if I can just convince my hubby!

Monday Musings....

WHAT IS LIFE?

Life is an Adventure ... Dare it

Life is a Beauty ... Praise it

Life is a Challenge ... Meet it

Life is a Duty ... Perform it

Life is a Love ... Enjoy it

Life is a Tragedy ... Face it

Life is a Struggle ... Fight it

Life is a Promise ... Fulfill it

Life is a Game ... Play it

Life is a Gift ... Accept it

Life is a Journey ... Complete it

Life is a Mystery ... Unfold it

Life is a Goal ... Achieve it

Life is an Opportunity ... Take it

Life is a Puzzle ... Solve it

Life is a Song ... Sing it

Life is a Sorrow ... Overcome it

Life is a Spirit ... Realize it.

~ Anonymous

Happy Easter...

Last weekend, I thought about pulling the azaleas from the back yard. They looked dead to me. I am no green thumb and even my common sense didn't help, I really thought they were dead. Then an amazing thing happened. C figured out the sprinkler system hadn't been on like we thought it had. We turned it on and a week later....

They are beautiful and all the way around the pine tree in the center of the backyard fence. Special thanks to my friend G who hauled them from her yard 3 houses down the street about 3 years ago. I am so glad I didn't pull them out!

Have a wonderful blessed Easter weekend!

Sisters...

While my hubby doesn't want pics of our little girls plastered all over the Internet, I cannot resist posting these. I ran across them while organizing our digital images to maybe print some and start scrap booking.

It is so obvious how much the little one looks up to the big one isn't it?

This one is absolutely priceless! If ya have an itch ya gotta scratch it, right? Listening to their little arguments over who gets the best spot on the couch or who had the toy first reminds me of my childhood. I heard my oldest one say the other night sometimes she wishes she didn't have a sister and I took the opportunity to tell her that someday her sister will be her very best friend. The one who knows her better than anyone else and will stand by her through thick and thin. I was looked up to much the way that K is by N. I just didn't know it at the time. Five years separated us and we had many a run-in too. But, I am so glad she is my sister. Nowadays, I look up to her. M has an amazing strength and both inner and outer beauty. She has lots of patience with her children. She is the one who has been on the front lines of my mother's battle with ovarian cancer and has given so much of herself in the last 8 months. I am forever indebted to her for caring for Mom when we all are so far away. M if you read this, Mom was right on when she said God has a special place in heaven for you. I am looking forward to watching my girls grow and I know there will be rough patches here and there, but my hope is that they are truly best friends forever. Because there is nothing like the love of a sister.