Back In Business!!

Over the past week and a half I have come to appreciate a little something that I have regularly been taking for granted...the Internet. After several visits by service people from our lovely local cable company and a new modem...it seams that I once again have the ever beloved Internet connection. Yes, all the green dots on the modem are flashing which is such a wonderful feeling. For the past year we have battled a horrible Internet connection. However, you know how it goes...the minute you pick up the phone to call and complain and demand better service, "lows and behold" as my grandma would say...it starts working again. It is like the annoying fax machine at work...it malfunctions, you call the tech guy, he gets there and the machine works perfectly fine. Oh, and just like that pesky computer that freezes over and over again and you once again call the tech guy to come fix it and sure enough...it works just fine for him. I think you see my point. Machines have a mind of their own and will take every opportunity possible to make you look like a fool. Or, at least that has been my experience anyway. But this time I beat the machine and we got our Internet speed upgraded for free. :-) Oh how I have missed reading all my favorite blogs! I have so much catching up to do.

So, during this time of not having Internet I have been pretty busy! First of all on Wednesday Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's day because I was going to be out of town visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for the annual February birthdays. Jeff and I went out and had a nice dinner and then we went to see Coraline!It was great and I want to see it again! Stop motion is absolutely amazing.

After our Valentines date we came home and I started packing (for my 5:30 am roll out on Thursday) and finishing up last minute birthday and Valentine's day gifts. I FINALLY made marshmallows! For years I have wanted to do this but just never got around to it. So, for Valentine's day I decided that marshmallows would be the perfect gift. For my first try, they turned out pretty well and they are fantastic dipped in chocolate fondue...more on that later.

Oh, as for the p.j's I have been working on...did I ever mention that I sewed the button holes on the back side of the pants? Ugh. Lesson learned...never ever sew after a long day at work. EVERYTHING ends up wonky. I think that they are salvageable though, whew!

I also made soaps for my sister and mother for Valentine's day. I ordered a ton of fancy glycerin from From Nature With Love and also a dark chocolate fragrance oil. The order I placed arrived on Tuesday in just enough time to whip out some soap! The soap smells yummy. I thought chocolate and marshmallows would make a lovely Valentine's day gift. :-) I added cocoa powder to the soap for the speckled look.

For my mother and sister's birthday, I made them mason jar pin cushions. Every sewer needs a mason jar pin cushion. They are so happy and cute! I have some of the cutest dress form and thread print fabric. I have been looking for the perfect excuse to use it and I think this little project was it. I found this fabric with my sister in Batesville, Arkansas at the ol' Marshall Dry Goods last year.

For my mom, I needle felted a scarf which was project inspired by this book. There are so many great projects in this book!






















For my sister I took the same design concept and applied it to a different project in the book.

I was able to wrap up the "great felt food project" for Violet just in time to leave for the trip. I really love the way it turned out and it was so much fun to make. It is very time consuming but there is something very satisfying about it too. So, here are ALL the pictures, hang with me here for a sec. Ok, you saw the posting of the bread. Here is the rest of it:

Organic Turkey and American Cheese:


Swiss Cheese and Lettuce:


Pickles and Tomatoes:


Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayo and The Finished Product:

Oh and I made P.B.&J. too!

So, that is it for now. Stay tuned tomorrow for the blog on my vacation!

Cheers!

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

On this fabulous winter evening I am doing fabulous winter things! It is so cold outside...a bone chilling 28 degrees and dropping! We may even get sleet. I never thought I would be so excited about sleet but, the thought of going to work late tomorrow sounds fantastic! I would do anything to stay cozied up in my bed.

Well...I guess for those of you that live in the northern states, 28 degrees may not be very cold to you but, right here deep in the heart of Texas, that is dang cold! I can't believe I just said dang. So, back to the fabulous winter things I am doing....there is a hot pot of chili on the stove, The Holiday is playing (for about the hundredth time since November) in my DVD player and the surround sound is echoing throughout the house so I can hear the dialogue in every room, packages are being wrapped...

...tags are being made (out of shrinky dinks this year, I am obsessed with shrinky dinks) and placed on packages in preparation for Christmas Eve festivities...

...and I found the elves that I lost yesterday! One of them popped by today for a bit of after work chit chat. This little elf helped by wrapping the soaps that I made. What a fantastic job she did!

There is still more to complete but...maybe I am really starting to see the light. I know I already said that several posts ago. I seriously don't know what I was seeing because I was in total darkness. But this time, 2 days before Christmas, there is light. I go with my bad self!

Cheers!!!

Let The Christmas Crafting Continue...Follow Up...

Hello all! The soap I made yesterday turned out very well. To me, there is something so satisfying about making something yourself. Of, course, I kept a bar of soap for myself! I made the soap for Jeff's grandmother, aunt's, and mother. They don't know about my blog so the Christmas surprise is not ruined. :-) I purchase my glycerin and other soap/bath essential supplies from, From Nature With Love. It's a great company with great customer service. Their prices are fairly reasonable too! (Just a side note, my brother-in-law made that cutting board and I love it!)

I chopped the block of soap up after I pulled it out of the mold and was able to get as much as I needed out of this mold.

I have also been working on some tissue holders for them. I purchased some tissues today for the holders and was able to cross that project off my list. I am getting so close to seeing the light! But, there seems to be so much more to do!

I went to a Christmas party this afternoon that was rather lovely. Great food, friends, and wine! But, while I was gone, this picture appeared on my camera. I am pretty sure Jeff took it because I know I didn't and I don't think my dogs have the ability to take pictures (and not to mention don't have imposable thumbs). My pets are so spoiled and lazy!

If you can see, the center piece decoration has glass Christmas ornaments in it. My mom gave me this center piece and this year I decided to jazz it up by adding the ornaments. Cedella, the kitty to the right, is obsessed with shiny objects and kept knocking them out of the center piece. So, I got smart and hot glued them to it. Ha! She has not broken a glass ball since!

Cheers!

Let The Christmas Crafting Continue!

The countdown is on! There are only 12 days until Christmas. For some reason that makes me want to bust out and sing the 12 days of Christmas. Well, anyhoo, I will spare you all of that. Today I have been working on finishing up some Christmas projects. Several years ago I made soap for gifts. I had some glycerin and a rather fantastic soap mold so, I thought why not make soap again this year?

So, I got out the mold and lined it with freezer paper:

I don't have a double boiler....ah, if only Jeff read this he would have the perfect Christmas gift idea for me...so I just made one out of some kitchen items I have. You can't go wrong with a big pot and a Pyrex bowl.

I chopped up some cocoa butter glycerin and avocado and cucumber glycerin that I had so it would melt easier and put it in the boiler.

I am a fan of lavender and usually have a ton of lavender buds and lavender essential oil laying around so that is what I went with for the scent of this soap.

My favorite part of making soap is poring it into the mold. I got this mold from Southern Belle Soap Company some years ago. I don't think think they are in business anymore which is disappointing.

My house smells so good, like an English garden. That will only last so long though, the dogs need a bath :-). Tomorrow the soap should be ready for me to cut into bars.

Cheers!

Happy Mother's Day

I was sitting around the other day trying to think of what to get the mom's in my family for mother's day. Then, I realized, why get them something when I can make something. So the ideas started racing. I decided for my mother, grandmother, and my aunt I would make lined zipper pouches and handmade soap to put inside. For my sister, who is a a fairly new mom, I made a zipper pouch and a matching hobo bag. She has been admiring the one I made for myself so it is just
perfect!



Here is the hobo bag I made. They are so easy to make it is ridiculous, not to mention a lot of fun to make too! My little Bernina has been working overtime!

These are the zipper pouches. I have never sewed with zippers before. It was really easy. I wonder what took me so long to try it? I can't imagine anything without zippers now :-)! I like the way these turned out so much that I am going to have to get busy and make a pouch for myself. Jo Ann's was having a great sale on some of their home decor fabric the other day so that is what I used. I love all the colors in the different fabrics...so vibrant and happy!

The soaps I made in my wooden soap mold. The base is Shea butter and the scent is warm vanilla sugar, the bath and body works scent. I love the way it smells. I have a friend who wears it...it is basically her trademark scent...so when I smell these soaps it reminds me of her. There is a great company called from nature with love where I purchase my soap making supplies. They have a ton of their own original scents and make a lot of the bath and body works scents too. Now I just need to think of a way to wrap them up and put them in the zipper pouches!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Cheers.