A Crown...

...fit for a Princess! 

A few days ago, while looking for something else, I ran across this crown in one of our costume boxes and thought it would be fun to share. I made it about ten years ago for our daughter. Check out that Royal jewel! It is a brooch from our collection of costume jewelry that I pinned to the front for some extra bling. The rest of the crown is decorated with stickers, sequins, metallic rick rack, decorative jewels and of course glitter. The back is decorated with lots of long assorted ribbons and tulle, 

perfect for dress-up!  

April Showers...

¹show·er noun \ˈshau̇(-ə)r\

a : a fall of rain of short duration

Reflection in a puddle after an April Shower. 

Flowers drying off after an April Shower. 

Blue sky after an April Shower.

The warm, sunny weather last Saturday made the buds on the trees and in the garden burst open like popcorn. Flowers and leaves were popping out everywhere adding spots of color around our yard. The bees were buzzing about, birds were singing their happy songs and the smell of freshly cut grass and BBQ's filled the air. But spring weather is finicky and ever changing. Now after a brief day of sunshine it's back to April Showers, patches of blue sky among the clouds and sporadic glimpses of sun now and then but the grass is getting greener and the flowers are filling in. It won't be long and the clouds will be gone and the sun will be back, 

at least for a day or two! 

chicks & bunnies

Easter Cupcakes....chicks, bunnies & baskets!   

A basket full of folded "Napkin Bunnies". 

I set a "Napkin Bunny" on each plate at the table and put the rest in a basket near the snacks. A fun little addition to our Easter celebration. 

city cows

When you think of living in the city, cows grazing in a pasture is not the typical image that comes to mind but we feel fortunate to live next to such a place. Everyone loves to visit the cows and the cows love to have visitors. They always come running in hopes that you'll feed them, which we do. This new little calf is very playful and wants so badly to play with the dogs. She runs and jumps trying to get their attention, that is until her mother comes over and snorts at us. That quickly puts an end to playtime which then becomes snack time and the calf soon forgets about the dogs. As for the dogs, they too are easily distracted and go back about their business of sniffing, marking and chasing each other while I, in the meantime, continue to soak up the sights, smells and sounds of this little bit of country right here in the city. You can't help but stop and enjoy the cows and their beautiful surroundings. 

  

A Tile Quilt

This is how our new patio is going to look....like a tile quilt! At least that's what I think it looks like. It is beautiful and I can't wait until it's finished! 

First step: Decide on pattern, arrange tile layout, then cut and fit  

As you can see our dog wanted us to throw the ball but he decided he was afraid of the tile and didn't want to walk across it so he dropped his ball and went back inside after we made a temporary tile-free path for him. 

Second step: Attach tiles to patio with cement

Third step: After it is dry grout will be added in between the tiles 

paper quilting

 The last couple of weeks I have been working on these invitations for a mother/daughter tea party I am planning. After lots of trial and error, getting hung up on details and fussing over finishing touches I finally called it good and mailed them off last week. 

On the left is my first sample dress attached to my first version background. 
The invite on the right is a modified version of both the dress and the collage background. 
The one in the middle is a finished invitation.

I used my sewing machine to paper quilt the dresses, hand stitched most of  the embellishments such as beads and buttons, then attached the finished dresses to the background which I collaged using vintage sewing patterns. No two dresses were alike.

This is the back of the invitation. I tried to include as many sewing terms as possible in my poem and used my collage again for the background.  I also embellished the four corners (not shown here) with flowers that matched the dress on the front. 

Sew much fun!!! 

tackling tangles

Yesterday while I was sewing beads on a project, due to unforeseen circumstances, I ended up 5 beads short! I didn't want to remove what I had done because I really liked the blue beads I was using so my choices were either to head to the store and buy more OR use some I knew I already had although they were connected, literally, to another project. I was in a hurry so I decided to use what I had but the only way to remove the beads without ruining the other project was to unwind the entire spool of string to get to the other end. It seemed simple enough so I began to unroll the string being very careful as I unwound it, yard by yard, setting it in layers as I pulled it off to keep it from getting tangled. Finally I reached the end, removed the 5 beads I needed and finished the project. So far so good. But my counter was now covered in a pile of blue string and beads which I knew I needed to tackle sooner than later, knowing full well that sooner would be better, so I began rewinding the cotton string back on the spool. It started out pretty well and I was quite pleased but before long the monotonous task began to slow down as the string started to somehow wrap around itself. I was now stopping every few winds to pull out knots or weave the spool through loops to untangle it. Unfortunately my quick, easy fix ended up taking about as long as it would have taken to drive to the store and buy new beads but after a little extra time and a lot of patience it is now wound back on the spool just as it had been. My only concern now is that my knitting project might be 5 beads short!

Mary Janes

I made these sweet little Mary Janes today. Double sided paper would have made them a bit more interesting on the inside but other than that I like how the first pair turned out.

Afternoon Taste Testing

~Wedding Food~
Our oldest son and his fiance invited me to join them at their Wedding Venue Taste Testing this afternoon. I didn't know what to expect and thank goodness I hadn't eaten before hand because there was so much to try. I think I sampled everything and was completely full by the time we were finished. Every single thing was absolutely delicious.

speaking of Wool...

Working on these adorable felted wool Easter Eggs which I started a few years ago while on vacation but when I got home I put them away and unfortunately forgot about them. Time to finish them up and get them in a basket. 

felted Wool Easter Eggs
 (before)

What's for Dinner?

servin' up some....
TV Dinner!!!

A Cupcake TV dinner that is! Aren't they cute? Yummy too. And so much fun to make for April Fool's Day. I got the instructions from the Hello Cupcake cookbook. It is full of wonderful cupcake ideas and inspiration for a variety of occasions and themes.
Hope your April Fools Day is full of fun!