Arc the Elf

Arc made another mess. This time on Pride and Joy's face. After leaving his good-bye note with the paints he got into, he decided to add a little extra on them!

Pride almost woke up when he painted her nose and the bursh slipped and got her cheek

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Shades of Memories

A Christmas gift for a very special person.  I couldn't wait for her to see them today, I wanted to post earlier, but she reads the blog and would have seen her gift early.  These lamps are a great gift and the possibilities are endless: sports, pets, wedding, anniversaries, birthdays.  I don't have a price yet, just finished them last night, and I don't even know what I have invested into them yet.  The one on the left is turned off, and they even look great that way.

This is what I started with, a couple of lamps not even the right color.
Some old and new photos.

Spray painted bases after taping the cords.

You can use any lamp, all we need is the shade, bring or email the photos to us and we will take it from there.

Or we can do it all.

Thanks for visiting

A Christmas Tree Full of Memories

Was looking at my Christmas Tree today and realized that there are a lot of wonderful memories hanging on the branches and each one seems like only yesterday.  My Christmas Tree doesn't have a theme, it is just an eclectic mix of ornaments ranging from ones I spent probably too much for to those that are handmade and priceless.

As you can see our Christmas Tree fits just nicely into our bay window and I love the traditional colored Christmas lights.  And it looks like Santa has already been busy putting gifts under the tree.  I hope some are for me!!  One of my favorite ornaments I made in the hospital with my mother when I was twelve and had broken my leg.  He's a pine cone Santa that always takes center stage on the tree.  His face was made with an old nylon and we used my mother's lipstick to color his nose red.

I have already told my daughter she could have him since she too broke her leg a few years ago.  Until she is old enough to leave home and have a tree of her own he will still get to hang around for me to enjoy.

Another one of my favorite ornaments is from the town my mother and I visit often to enjoy their Nights Before Christmas Tour of Homes.  It's Madison Indiana, and we were lucky enough to go again this year.




Each year we visit I put
the date on the ornament
to remember.  Some day I hope to move there.




I've collected a lot of ornaments from places we have visited, they make great keepsakes and you get to remember those trips every year when you pull the ornaments out to hang on the tree.




I have to laugh, the ornament with the wine cork on top of it to the right was made by my mother to commemorate the wine we drank at the Thomas Family Winery on one of our trips to Madison, Indiana.

Next to it is this years newest homemade ornament, 

a pine cone angel. My daughter and I each made one at our local city greenhouse's holiday open house.

Every family member has ornaments on the tree, even our pets!

And I try to make sure I put a date on each ornament if it doesn't come with it already on it.

My Son Loves Clocks!

A Ukrainian Egg. Just Love It!

Do you see the Christmas Spider?

I used to do quilling years ago and made many of these wreath ornaments.

Mod Podged this American Girl Ornament for my daughter when she got Samantha a few years ago.

Santa Mouse carrying his packages up the ladder on the side of the tree.

Made by...you guessed it my mother.  Joy to everyone and Merry Christmas.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpsed at my Christmas Tree.   I just love sitting and looking at it, what wonderful memories it holds.  I look forward to putting it up every year.

Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Everyone!

My Car was Stolen

Went to Kohl's to buy my last Christmas gift.  I was in and out in exactly 10 minutes.  The line on both sides of the store went around the corner.  No Way!  Off to the jewelry counter.  As long as they are not waiting on someone for jewelry they'll check you out.  Out the door I go,  but where is my car. I went a couple of rows over, thinking , well maybe I parked over here.   No car. Are you kidding, Do you know how many white cars there are. I have my arm up in the air clicking the button, hoping the horn will start to honk.  I was zig-zagging the parking lot. I had to look like an complete idiot. Panic started to set in.  I started making a mental note of everything that was in there, Pride and Joy's mom had some Christmas gifts in the trunk, and I had some in the back seat.  Do I have full coverage on it?  Here I was patting myself on the back for getting in and out of the store so quick, obviously not quick enough. This guy was good, because I was literally in there for 10 minutes. Thinking he couldn't have gotten very far, I bring my arm down to dial the police, so I can catch the fool who stole my car. 91... and just before I hit the last 1. I look up.  I didn't have my car, I had the truck, our red truck.  I walked by that  #^*! thing about a dozen times. I just stood there staring at it. If I had a tail, it would have been tucked so far up my behind it wouldn't have been funny. So I slithered into the seat and went home, but not before I called Ethel so she could have a good belly laugh. So this Kiwi moment belongs to me this time.

Arc the Elf

 "Elf on the Shelf" is a book that comes with a elf, the concept is, he comes out around Thanksgiving.  His job is to report back to Santa every night to let him know if your children are being good.  You are not allowed to touch him, or his magic powers to return to Santa will go away. Every night mom and dad move him to a different spot. My grandchildren named their elf  "Arc" (don't ask)  

Arc was caught zip lining across the living room.

Pride and Joy get very excited every morning to see where he might be. 

Here  Arc was caught toilet papering the house.  Joy (Hunter) was so excited when he woke up this morning to see the mess he made. If you look close you can see him pointing to Arc on the book shelf.

Christmas is so much fun again with grandchildren

Cookie Tree

 Well we did it!  The Cookie Tree did get made. I wasn't all talk this time.   But I couldn't have done it with out the help of Prides mommy.  It was a lot of fun.  We were suppose to make two batches of the dough to complete the tree.  That was 10 cups of flour.  We of course split up the ingredients, and made one at a time.  In the process burned up two mixers!  The first mixer I burned up, smoke was pouring out of it. I thought I was in love with it, it was a tilt mixer with a bowl, (Kitchen Aid wanna be) but if you didn't hold the bowl it would spin into space.  But I was happy with it. After I killed that one, I pulled out the old hand held mixer.  Again Smoke! Are you kidding me, I felt like I was mixing cement.  Nothing left to do but go to the Christmas tree and open the gift I got myself. 
Yes, I wrapped! 
A KITCHEN AID MIXER!

OMG!!!!!  Every home should have one. Throw all the ingredients in and walk away. Unless you add all the flour in at once and turn it on, then you will be wearing the flour like it was.  Prides mommy came to the rescue, Martha Stewart took a dish towel and covered it, then turned it on.  Duh!  Works great!  I was so happy I kept it I was thinking about selling it, I named her Pearl!  This is her new spot in the kitchen, notice how her strip coordinates with the one on the cabinet.  Meant to be! 

 By the way you don't need 2 batches to make one tree. We had enough to make 2 1/2 trees. We used the recipe that came with the cutters. They were  fantastic.

 

Before the frosting

We have to come up with an easier way to frost them

Day 2

Oh yeah, we made the mint balls too!
MMMMmmmm 
Move over Peppermint Patties these have you beat

Pride is pretty proud of her Cookie Tree!

Christmas Tree Cookies

OK, so the pilgrim cupcakes didn't get made, but I did have good intentions. I imagined all the fun it would have been to make them with Pride, (Raegan)   That was just as gratifying. Well maybe not, (note to self), plan a little earlier next year.     

So, I'm going to attempt to make these for Christmas, we'll see if that happens.  I do have Prides mom involved in this to keep me on track.  

 You can get these cutters just about anywhere.  I saw them a Joann Fabrics. They run about 10.00.  Looks like fun! 

Pilgrim Cupcakes

These are adorable! 

 Can't wait to make them for my grandchildren!

Click here for recipe

http://www.tonyastaab.com/2011/11/pilgrim-cupcakes.html

Screened in Porch

Here is some porch furniture I inherited from my Dad.  It was in pretty bad shape, but it's base was oak, so I knew it was quality made furniture. The fabric was just a little tired.

I hated walking out in the porch area, this rug and the upolstery,  YUCK

I figured it was time to recover and get a new rug. Now, what color?

 

After I painted it this color, I felt like it I was on the Golden Girls Lani, it had a shimmer to it.  Which wouldn't have been so bad, but the fabric has a shimmer to it also.  So back to the Menards to save big money. And this is the color I chose below.

Much Better!

Just to ease your mind, those aren't pee marks, The furniture was so dirty, I took a scrub bursh and a hose to it. It was dripping wet when I was finished with it. Ever try to pick up a couch that has been saturated.  Couldn't budge it.  It wasn't going anywhere. 

Took a whole day to dry out down in the Carolina heat.

 

Now I am not a blue person, but this fabric just jumped out at me, I fell in love with it.  And it looks like the rug is a keeper now. Doesn't look bad with it.  I love it when that happens. 

That's Magilla Gorilla in the corner there

 I was considering painting the brick wall behind the sofa, after consulting with my designer (my son) and got a definite NO! But he did suggest a mirror.  Now for me more is better.  So off to the garage to look at the stash of mirrors I got at the auctions.  

                     He was right.                                       A wall of mirrors.                                I love it!                        

The only bad thing is I finished it at the end of the summer I can't enjoy until next season. It's full of all the outside furniture.                                                                                                           Thanks For Stopping By!