Happy New Year!

Gee wiz, is it that time of the year again? Where did the year go? I still haven't gotten to do any of the things I "resolved" to do in the year 2008-- Oh well, whoop dee doooooooooooo!

My only wish is for health and happiness for all those I love. That and to win a huge lottery. Health, happiness the lottery and calorie free chocolate that tastes really good and-and-and.......

Trash to Treasure Tuesday~

Here is a little dresser that I pulled off of a curbside pile of trash. It is an old-old dresser fully made out of oak. It is only 26 inches high, and is basically the same height as the twin bed it sits next to. There was one handle missing, so I replaced all of them.... and added a couple of coats of white paint. (love that shabby chic look) The top of the dresser has burn marks where someone had placed cigarettes around the edge-- bunch of uncouth sorts who owned it previously I imagine~

You can find more Trash to Treasure finds by visiting Diane at "A Picture is worth 1,000 Words"

2008~ A Year in Review

2008--- where did the year go? Doesn't it seem like the older you get and the slower you move--- the faster time goes!

Cindy at "My Romantic Home" is hosting this 2008 Year in Review, what a fun idea!

Here are some photos of my home from this past year~ I couldn't make a mosaic, so I'm using something I already had made (and previously posted) If you run your mouse over each photo....there is a magnifier.... pretty neat!

Here is another slideshow of my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8341340@N05/show/ showing my home and some things I've made....like a huge pirate ship in my backyard!!

Ho-ho-ho....

Merry Christmas~Here is my grandson being very leary of this fat ol' guy who is holding him..... he choose not to cry seeing how his reward was a candy cane lol.

Two new babies~

Here are a few things I recently made for a new baby girl...A crocheted daisy loom blanket~ a banner with her name on it "Isla" ~ and a captured cupid so she will always be lucky in love~And.....here is my newest baby girl!....A steal at 2 bucks!

Questionaire~

I got this questionaire off of Brenda's blog~
1.Do you like cheese? Yes, pepper jack is my favorite.
2.Have you ever smoked? Yes, french inhaled-- I was so styling~for about a week lol
3. Do you own a gun? No...
4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? Yes, Josh Groban singing Christmas songs (of course)
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Tremendously nervous. I hate shots and I always seem to have to get one.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Great idea...oh, and they taste good too.
7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? Avay Maria
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Soda
9. Can you do push ups? No
10. Who is your favorite Grey's Anatomy Character? I don't watch that show.
11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? A blue sapphire ring I recently bought myself :-)
12. Favorite hobby? Shopping, I do it so much I've decided its a hobby.
13. Do you eat "exotic" foods? I have eaten escargot and caviar and raw foods that most would die for... but never on a regular basis.
14. Do you have A.D.D.? Yes
15. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Oh the pressure, just one? *gasp* okokok howza'bout indecisiveness?
16. Middle Name? Lynne
17. Name 3 thoughts your thinking at this exact moment? Its cold. & I wonder if I keep drinking this diet Dr. Pepper if it will keep me awake tonight. & I should get offline and watch my program, its just started.
18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Craft paper, a 2" scalloped edged punch and some pink pom-pom fringe.
9. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? diet Dr Pepper, diet Pepsi and hot tea.
20. Current worry right now? I'm worried about my cat Zacky, he has been missing since Monday night.....
21. Current hate? Cold weather
22. Favorite place to be? Home.
23. How will you bring in the New Year? Safe at home~
24. Where would you like to go? Back to Maui *4th time*
25. Name three people who will complete this? nobody...lol
26. Do you own flip flops? No
27. What shirt are you wearing? Short sleeve t-shirt
28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, they feel cold.
29. Can you whistle? Yes
30. Favorite color? Pistacio green.
31. Would you be a pirate? Yes, dripping in pearls~
32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I soak in a tub without singing.
33. Favorite girl's name? Heather
34. Favorite boy's name? Steven
35. What's in your pocket right now? lint
36. Last thing that made you laugh? A scene from the show "Keeping up Appearances"
37. Bed sheets as a child? yes, no plastic lol
38. Worst injury you've ever had? Thank the good Lord above, none besides normal bumps & scrapes.
39. Do you love where you live? Yes
40. How many TV's do you have in your house? Four
41. Who is your loudest friend? no one is louder than me lol
42. How many dogs do you have? One
43. Does someone have a crush on you? Yes, and if he says no, he is so getting a poke to the eye.
44. Do you get embarrassed easily? No, mad yes, embarrassed nope.
45. What is your favorite book? none~
46. What is your favorite candy? Cadburry milk chocolate
47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? nooooooo
48. What song do you want played at your funeral? I don't want a funeral. I just want to be cremated and put in a cardboard box and put on a shelf in the garage. Whenever anyone is mixing cement for an outdoor project I want to be mixed in the mixture :-)
49. What were you doing at 12 AM last night? Tossing and turning in bed.
50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I better get up and hit some yard sales!

Pretty little Christmas Party~

Heather at Pretty Petals is hosting a Christmas party... since dust doesn't show up so well in photos...I thought I'd join in! lol Here is my new white tree...which is tied to the mantel because I have it wedged in the corner next to the fireplace :-)
My two silver glittered deer from the dollar store sitting atop my chenille scalloped mantel runner I made~A silver beaded bowlie holding some vintage ornaments~One of two angels sitting on my mantel~ and noooooooooo there are no ashes in that urn~ dust yes, ashes no :-)My hall tree (which I converted the bottom into a cat bed) holding Santa's hat and balls...no, not HIS balls~

Cricut~

My bestest buddy loaned me her brand new cricut cutter. Can you believe that? Whos the lucky one now bi-atch?.....

...............meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~ (sorry, I saw that in a movie and it just cracks me up-- had to say it lol)

A Christmas Meme...all about meeeeeeeee~

Brenda has this cute Christmas Meme on her blog so I thought I would do it as well~
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Each member of my family gets a certain color of wrapping paper-- this way you don't need tags~ I do like to use wrapping paper/gift bags & baskets :-)
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial-- this year we went white.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually Thanksgiving day.
4. When do you take the tree down? Christmas day!
5. Do you like eggnog? LOVE IT!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? A barbie Jetliner
7. Hardest person to buy for? Someone I don't like~
8. Easiest person to buy for? ME
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, the one from my childhood
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I mail them off... costs me a fortune by time I make them and ship them out lol
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Yellow plastic rain boots when I asked for leather boots. They were in a LEATHER SHOE BOX --- you could SMELL THE LEATHER but nooooooooooo when I opened up the box...inside was stinking YELLOW PLASTIC RAIN BOOTS. Geeze, I think this explains a lot of my problems LOL
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Scrooge-- the old ones.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I shop all year long picking up things everywhere. I have several "gift" closets that I can pull from at a moments notice.
14 . Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, white lights on my new white tree~
17. Favorite Christmas song? Winter Wonderland
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Only if there was money involved for doing so~
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? When my daughter was younger, she got to open all her gifts the night of the last day of school before her Christmas break began. That way she would have new things to play with. (she is an only child) Now, we open gifts on Christmas Eve & Christmas day. (lots of presents)
21. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Just when I've got everything decorated just how I like it....its time to take it down. Next year, I'm starting in October~
22. Favorite ornament theme or color? This year-- pink, sea foam green, baby blue all with glitter of course.
23. What do you want for Christmas this year? Hmmmm seeing how I usually buy myself everything I am wanting, I can honestly say nothing-- I guess I'll have to wait until the ads come out on Sunday to see if this changes lol okokok, that was shallow, true but shallow. I wish for health and happiness for everyone :-) Whew, good save! *high five*

Out & about~

While hitting some yard sales last Saturday, I came across some pretty neat finds. One, ok two in particular. At one estate sale that I came across in my own neighborhood as I was driving home, I bought this huge roll of tickets for one buckeroo.... and this box of pearl necklaces for two bucks.

The tickets I held onto for dear life... the box of necklaces I put back down. Two bucks? Who you kidding Mister.... Then I got to thinking... okokok, I like the colors of the pearls/ I use the old ones a lot/ I was running low/ poor guy probably has to pay his mortgage... All this going through my mind as I paid the three bucks for my items and drove home. WELL.... I get home and I'm pulling out the pearl necklaces--- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine! *wow* Four of the necklaces are two strands. *wow* And...drum roll please...... two of the necklaces that are double strands.....are real pearl necklaces!!! All knotted-- all heavy, beautifully colored, same sized pearls. The clasps are gone, maybe thats why they didn't think they were "real" This brings my "real" pearl necklace finds this year to 4. The last one I got in a box of junk for a quarter. I have a lot of pearl jewelry, these won't be lonely :-) I used to wear nothing but pearls...Maybe I'll get new clasps put on these beauties and wear them~

Mommas got a new robe....

I wore this pink fluffy robe ONCE, tossed it on my bed.... and it instantly became a cat bed for three of my four cats~ The gray cat is Baby, the tabby is Charlie and the tortoiseshell cat is Mocha.

Here is my fourth cat sleeping on the back of my couch...

His name is Mr. Zacky Man a.k.a. "Cowboy"

Magic elf....

Here is my magic Christmas elf. We have had him in our family for about 21 years. He comes out at Christmas time and does things like put up the Christmas tree, wrap presents etc. When my daughter was younger, he often times could be found on her bed when she came home from school holding a pre- Christmas gift for her. He spoiled her a lot~ He is sooooooooo silly, sometimes he can be found hanging from one of our ceiling fans.... or way up high on a bookcase.

Boutiques~

I always buy super things when I go to the boutiques (thrift stores) most of the time I rush to put things away-- not today! Alright, I put away about half of it.... lol

Here are some photos of the things I got today~

8 yards of pink chenille fabric -12 bucks

an old pillow doll wearing a red velvet outfit -1 buck

Vintage lighted/musical church -6 bucks

3 brass horns -3bucks

huge bag of Christmas ornaments -4 bucks

2 angels with pink flocked capes -50cents

a small Christmas tree in a black pot -4 bucks

and finally the "best buy" of the day taaaaaaaaaadaaaaaaaaaaa an ostrich egg nativity/musical thingy-ma-jigger!!

Here is the egg with the doors open showing the nativity. The music box is inside the bottom of the egg...pretty cool. It cost 8 bucks~
(Several photos above is a photo of the back of it...)

Altered tins~

I've started working on my altered tin for the "Altered tin Swap" I joined. I have no idea when I've to mail it out. The devil is in the details right? Well.... lets just say, I don't believe in the devil lol

Here are my two tins I've been working on:

I've never made an altered tin.... so my partner is in for it lol. I've made two, one was to practice on. However-- I worked on them both at the same time, and I could never remember which one was the "practice one" I think they both are turning out kinda cute if I do say so myself. All of the altered tins I've seen are rectangle.... so of course I had to do a round one.

One tin has a woven nest with eggs.... I think this one I'll mail to my partner. The papers...not that you can see them are from an old school text book from 1818.

The other tin is smaller...

Being that I firmly believe in "more is better"... I am about half way finished with these.

A few of my favorite things...

my grandson.... here he is practicing opening a present~my new wreath that I've got on the back of my bathroom door instead of a towel... inconvenient, but worth it. I love how the ivy just spills from it~

My new jewelry.... My Auntie Marie had a family ring similar to this one---that I've spent the past 25 years looking for one that was similar. Although her ring was square with a REAL blue sapphire and with REAL diamonds surrounding it. This one is sterling silver and the "diamonds" are just cut work in the silver. But...I love it to pieces none the less! Blue sapphire is my birthstone :-) The whole set was only $27 dollars at Walmart. *I know, what a deal!*

Sara over at Thrifty Decor chick is hosting this holiday "Show us a few of your favorite things" event.

Happy-happy-happy....

thanksgiving~

My Nativity~

This nativity set is the one from my childhood. I love it~ My parents never had a creche for the set....This set is very large, and it seemed that every creche we came across was always to small.
I now have two creches... I found one at Walmart, and this one, which I like even better. This one I got at a second hand store for $4 bucks. It even has a little nail that is perfect for hanging the Angel on the back wall.

There is textured stone on the back wall and a few stones on the ground along with moss & something that looks like dirt. Its very detailed and goes well with the set. Here is a close up of the little angel that hangs above the baby Jesus~ she is extra happy these days.

(She was never used when I was younger...always put back into a box because of the lack of a creche)

Here is close up of the baby Jesus...sweet, sweet, sweet~ This set was given to my brother first... he didn't appreciate it. He had it in a box out under his carport. My mother took it from him and gave it to me.

You can never say your not loved... because you have the love of God... always~

Trash to Treasure

Tuesday....

Here are two matching hand painted pictures I picked up this past week at a local thrift store for only $7.50 each. Are they not fabulous? The photo doesn't do it justice, the flash washed some of the color out of the painting--- these are cute, I'm talking super cute!I was needing two larger pictures to go on either side of my $10 dollar antique hutch that I picked up long ago. The two paintings fit perfectly with my shabby chic style! I shop at thrift stores (I call them boutiques lol) allllll the time and I have a house full of treasures that others have discarded as "junk"....hooray for me! Diane over at A picture is worth a 1,000 words is hosting this Trash to Treasure Tuesday~

Button Floozie~

Buttons-buttons- buttons...I just love buttons! I even have a tiny turtle named Button~

Anywho...

Here is a button tree I've recently made to go up on my fireplace mantel. The metal base is something I picked up for .45cents from a thrift store :-) I am wanting to make a total of 3 button trees-- all the same color of button of course...I just love matchy-matchy. That means more sorting! I started to pin each button onto the felt covered styrofoam cone and thought better of it after I realized I could go much faster with my glue gun. I sooooooooo need a holster for that bad boy! lol After thanksgiving, I'll tackle making the other two :-)

Yummy!

I was trying out a new recipe for this upcoming thanksgiving.... Cheese & garlic biscuits! Soooooooo good, I thought I'd share it with the everyone! Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits
2 ½ cups Bisquick baking mix

¾ cup cold whole milk

4 tablespoons cold butter (1/2 stick)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese

Brush on Top:

2 tablespoons butter melted

¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.2. Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and ¼ teaspoon garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.3. Drop approximately ¼-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop.4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.5. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter is a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in ½ teaspoon garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter.

Makes one dozen biscuits.

Angela over at Cottage Magpie has more thanksgiving recipes to share, check it out~

Paper party!

Jen over at Sanctuary Arts at Home is hosting a "I made it with scrapbook paper party." How fun is that?

Here are some things I've recently made using scrapbook paper.

Firstly, my Christmas cards.Now, these are not your typical cards--- I've used 3 scrapbook paper sheets per "card" which I've glued together and folded to create a photo album of sorts. (photos are of my grandson, I'm a proud Nana! lol)Each one holds 10 photos-- next year I'm going to put some on the backside as well. (second grandchild is a'coming!) Instead of using actual photos, I photocopied the photos so everything folds nicely and is less bulky~ I used foam core which I covered with wrapping paper as the front and back covers. I'll just tuck in my Christmas card under the bow and taaaaaaaaa-daaaaaaaaa cute as a button!Paper pinwheels-- These were created with the leftovers from the papers I used to make my Christmas photo albums.

Lastly... A paper covered tray--I picked up this small "table top" for .95cents from a local thrift store... at one time I had it painted white and on top of a stool as a impromtu table. Now its pink with a paper glued onto the center of it... edges sanded of course *love that shabby chic look* I have this next to me on my sectional sofa to use as a table to hold things so nothing slips between the couch cushions lol. It is small, only 14 1/2 inches across-- perfect for the t.v. remote control & a soda! lol