Happy Day

Happy Chinese New Year's! 

We decorated a short light strand with little paper lanterns to celebrate.

The red message banners on the wall,

Em and I made a few years ago out of a red plastic tablecloth.

Now to make some Chinese chicken and break open a few fortune cookies.

l' Escargot

A very special delivery from some very lovely neighbors.

We shared a duplex in Germany back when all our kids were much younger.

They are still in Germany--oh I wish we could visit. 

This is the only way to eat those little snails--a chocolate version. :-)

Holiday Notes

Make yourself a little holiday notebook.

Just print off the page below or get the PDF HERE.

Fold it up like the Thanksgiving and Notion booklets. 

Keep track of gift ideas and holiday plans in a booklet small enough to fit any wallet.

Wow!

This photo is from a pinterest board and I just love this mushroom house.

A gypsy caravan playhouse in one corner of the yard, and this in another.

I could so easily collect playhouses! :-)

Hearts Game

Vintage cards from a 1950's Hearts game (Whitman Publishing).

Love those big earred elves.

Vintage Finds

Shopping around a variety store that was going out of business after many, many years

I found a bag of quilt scraps for 1/2 off the $3 tag.

I can't say that I would have picked the fabrics from the get-go

but it will be a nice snap of change to add depth to a project.

Not that I have any project planned--yet. :-)

I found two of these dry paint transfers that I hope will work.

They were probably from the 80's.

Lots of little finds in this store,

10 yards of 100% cotton ric-rac for 50 cents,

cocoa brown cross-stitch fabric for 75 cents,

and some ribbon from the 80's with strawberries, tomatoes and cherries on it.

Shopping

When I was a kid there were still lots of stores like this (Woolworths, Kresge, Murphy's) with a candy counter and everything all displayed on tabletops, in their own little glass box.

I wandered around this store up in Michigan feeling very nostalgic, 

admiring all the old-fashioned stock of hairnets, shower caps, pink foam curlers 

and the old-time displays of hard candy and saltwater taffy,

to be purchased by the pound and packaged in small white paper bags.

This is the kind of place to find small kites, water pistols, sand toys,

embroidery floss, Flair markers and Dennison star stickers. 

HP7 part 2

Yep, we saw the final movie of the Harry Potter series.

This board-above-was up at our local theater showing the Hogwart's school houses.

We enjoyed the movie, except the very sad parts,

which had Em and I looking at each other in the dark and wondering why we were torturing ourselves.

But, all's right with the wizarding world now!

Maple Tree Camp 2011

Camp has begun again!

Every summer the girls and I try to get together a little camp for each other.

To us this means lots of art projects, a field trip or two and lots of fun. 

We began this year with a little drawing and sketching.

We decorated our sketchbooks with stickers made from Allsorts downloads, here and here.

Thank You Jenny! :-)

Grocery Shopping

I want to shop for some "pink sugar" today, don't you?

And I wouldn't mind a red polka dot dress with a blue bow in back either. :-)

Royal Trip

Tomorrow's the big day!

This is the place--Westminster Abbey. We visited London back in 2004, a little too early for the Royal wedding, but a whirlwind, fun two days. We had been living in Germany for two years and we were so happy to hear English spoken--albeit in a funny accent. :-) 

These crowds at Buckingham Palace are here for a changing of the guards.

I'm thinking tea and cakes (apple juice and muffins) are in order for the early (4am) morning tomorrow. :-)

Royal Ring

You could say that some of us have the fever--the royal mania.

Em made this replica royal engagement ring last night.

She saw a TV commercial selling a replica ring and said "I can make one".

Ahhh, music to my ears!!  :-)

I found a velvet ring box for her and look how elegant it turned out.

Em wants to know if she can get up at 4am (here in the US) on Friday to see the wedding activities.

She will be joining me of course--I'm driving my family crazy watching all the coverage of the royals. :-)

Not a Sculptress

We all went to a community art night and made bowls for a charity event. I fear mine will not be among the desired bowls when auctioned. I just flat out stink at sculpting! The above is supposed to be a fish---I hope whomever glazes/paints it makes it look better. It was fun though and wish I could have tried throwing a pot on a wheel--it was uber crowded in that room. I guess everyone wanted to send the clay whirling in circles. :-)

Country Living Fair 2009

Pumpkins and Gourds all over the place at the Country Living Fair this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. How lucky I feel to have had this in my own "backyard". It was fun and inspiring, tiring and expensive. Meg and I got there just as it opened and it was mobbed--long wait at the ticket/entrance booths--Meg was smart and brought her knitting which she pulled out while we waited in line. :-)

Here is a farm wagon full of fabric pumpkins--very cool idea.

Artist Debbie Thibault gives a speech--about her inspirations and artwork. She seemed very nice. The room--an old schoolhouse building--was jammed with people--not even standing room left. Meg and I got there early and we got seats in the second row.

Isn't this an unusual colored background field for Dresden Plate? I really liked its boldness. I didn't take very many pictures during the day, first of all I wanted to take pictures of the products being sold and it wasn't encouraged for obvious reasons. But, I fairly haunted the Earth Angels tent. I really like the work of Jody Battaglia and she was very friendly. I was still too shy tho to ask her about taking her picture at her table. She had decorated her table with old children's toys, a dollhouse and all of her little figures. Really neat!

Floating Fun

Paddling quietly through my weekend. These babies are super quiet in the water and we are having so much fun with them.

My husband finally got me to try his kayak about a month ago and I was instantly hooked. I have done canoes and a double kayak before but steering my own boat is a huge thrill. I didn't realize I was such a control freak! :-) I get a real kick out of paddling to my own drummer.

I didn't take a picture of it but I have got a large square plastic-coated make-up bag on board near my knees so I can have quick access to camara and snacks and still keep things reasonably dry. It does looks like I have a make-up kit on board tho, which is funny 'cause I never worry a lot about make-up. Just a little eye-liner and go. Oh, and the bag, it's polka-dotted. :-)

How's your weekend? Enjoy!

Fresh Bundle

I stopped in at Vogue Fabrics in Evanston to see what that store was like. I was loving the shelves chock full of ribbons. The very yummy cake ribbon is by artist Laura Foster Nicholson.

Sanrio in downtown Chicago (Shops at Northbridge) was a must stop for Em. The Hello Kitty egg sitting in my pile of ribbons has a rubber stamp inside. :-)

Museum Fun

We are making some progress on the packing thing and also the having fun on spring break thing. We visited Chicago for two days and had a whooping good time. Now, while most of the time we seemed to be going from one ethnic enclave to the next, we visited the Oriental Institute on the Univ. of Chicago campus first. Chock full of artwork from Babylon, Persia, etc., it was just perfect for us. Loved all of it.

Don't cha love the blurry pictures from museums? Anyway, the two little objects on the left here are "coptic dolls". They can still find similar items today with rag doll bodies attached to the head-neck piece shown here. Doll, dolls, everywhere dolls for me. :-)

Emily's Bakery

Emily and I were busy yesterday baking small apple pies. We made doll-sized snickerdoodle cookies, too, all for Emily's pretend bakery. :-)

We have several good picture books featuring bakeries, like "The Story of Cherry the Pig" by Utako Yamada, "The Bake Shop Ghost" by Jacqueline K. Ogburn, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, "ella the elegant elephant" and "ella takes the cake" both by Carmela & Steven D'Amico. Reading these together makes you want to open up a bakery all your own. Yummy!

Colors in the sky.......

We went to a balloon fest more than a month or so ago--you can tell--everyone is wearing shorts still. :-) The colors in the evening sun were so pretty. We followed the balloons for a while--trailing after the "follow vehicles" that had to get to the balloons as they came down to earth again.

My favorite was this one--below.......

It would make a beautiful quilt.

Watercolor and a Chipmunk For Free!

I went outside this afternoon and fiddled around with some watercolor paint. I really am no good but it took my mind off the chipmunk in my studio. Yes, that's right a chipmunk in and among my art stuff down in the basement. I have no idea how he got in there but I want him out! I used to like the little things but I have firmly changed my mind. Anyone who wants the thing can request a special delivery--tomorrow. We are going to try and live-catch him and release outside--hopefully that works....cause I don't want to share my space with the jumpy, smelly fellow.