Thank You, Kathi!!!

I received the sweetest of surprises in the mail today from my very dear friend, Kathi. It brought a tear to my eye and a huge smile to my face. Take a gander...

First up is the gorgeous box/drawer that she shared here. She did paint the wings on that butterfly with glitter and boy, is it ever pretty. My picture certainly doesn't do it justice. You'll just have to take my word for it. The stamp she thought I might like and I can't wait for my card-making mojo to return so I can use it effectively. And that charm bracelet! It has got to be one of THE most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.

Here's a close-up:

She told me that she started off with the I Love to Scrap, the special friend and knitting needles charms (she couldn't find one with a crochet hook). Those three thrill me to pieces, but then she added the cell phone (which opens, just so you know) to represent my busy life with the girls (no minivan charms out there, I guess) the baby booties with the girls' birthstones (sniff, sniff), the flower pot for my attempts at decorating the porch, the butterfly because I love them and the watering can for my backyard garden and nurturing spirit. 

How fabulous and special is this??!

Thank you SO very much, Kathi! I am humbled and honored by your generosity and thoughtfulness!

What a great way to start my week!

Hope yours started off wonderfully as well.

*Ü*

Reveal of the Crochet Snippet...

Now I can share the full reveal of the crochet snippet I shared earlier. It was a birthday present for Erin and I had to wait until she received it before sharing. Since she was coming to visit, I gave it to her yesterday. Thankfully, she loved it!

I was a little nervous, because not everyone likes doilies, but I fell in love with this book after seeing this doily in progress on  the Sew Ritzy~Titzy blog, that I went out and bought it. I thought Erin might like the detail in the doily I selected to make and I had fun creating it. I have a feeling each of the doilies in the book will be made at one point or another.

The girls are off school today, which is a compensation day for teachers after having done conferences this week. Our school does the conferences after the school day so it makes for a couple of really long days for the teachers. Both girls got wonderful reports from their teachers. They are good, hard workers. Jessica's teacher made a point to let me know that Jessica brings a lot of background knowledge to her work. All the trips to the museum and such are paying off. Yay! *Ü*

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

It was a QUIET Weekend...yay!

I'm hopeful that the people behind us finally got the hint that letting their dogs bark is not a good thing. It appears they kept them inside over the weekend and while they've been out a bit today (and yes, barking) it's not been for prolonged periods of time. Yay!

Over the weekend we finally found a second hand dresser for Amy...another yay! It's a bit bigger than the one she was using and all her clothes fit, with room to spare. *Ü* She's happy with it and the fish in the tank are happy to be settled again. They don't NOT like being moved. LOL Speaking of the girls, I also managed to find the source of the beeping/alarm noise I've been hearing every night at about midnight. I thought I found the source last week, but I was woken up again the other night, so when we moved the dresser in, I told the girls they HAD to find the culprit. They looked only half heartedly (of course, because they slept right through it), and I managed to find it in a couple of minutes. For Christmas, Amy got a set of text messenger toys. One can text back and forth between them. Anyway, somehow the alarm got turned on one of them. I found the one where the alarm hadn't been turned on I guess. To ensure it wouldn't beep again, I took the batteries out. Whew! No wakey, wakey at midnight last night. Ahhhhhh....

Yesterday, while watching the playoff games, I worked on a beaded crochet bracelet I wanted to make for my friend's mom (who is "gram" to my girls). Her birthday is later this week. I was going to do a pattern with the beads at first, but decided to go totally random (gasp) because I liked how the beads looked all jumbled up in the bag they came it.

I got it sent off today and hope it arrives in time.

Thought I'd show it off for perspective. I used beads from Hobby Lobby and they are size 6. The robe is kind of stiff when I'm done, so I have to make it a bit larger than I'd like to get it to meet at the end for sewing it together. I was pleased to have been able to get it done in a day. Amy asks every day if I've worked on her giraffe. She was patient yesterday knowing I was making the bracelet for Gram. She even made up a birthday card for her while I was working on the bracelet.



I took Buster to be groomed the other day. Dang, I'm always amazed at how much smaller he looks when the bush is gone. Even the groom commented, "Who'd have known there was such a cute dog under all that hair!" LOL

Just love that face!

And I got a sweet, sweet surprise in the mail today....a card from Sparkle!!! I love it Sparks, and so do the girls! Thanks so much for thinking of me! If you've not been to Sparkle's blog, you are in for a real treat when you go. She is a MASTER with the Copics and color combinations. Her cards are just fabulous!

I made it out to the craft room today and worked some more on "the purge." I have some empty spaces now! Still not done, but making progress. My piles to leave the space are getting bigger. Oh my! But it feels good to finally make a decision on some of this stuff. Speaking of craft rooms, if you don't subscribe or visit Tresa's Fabulously Artsy blog...head on over, she posted a video tour of her studio today! It's terrific and inspiring!

Okay, I need to finish up dinner, so will close. Hope you've had a great day and terrific start to your week.

Pretties for Me!

I was going to head out to my craft room this morning to get back to the purge, but as I was eating breakfast, I got a call from our dental hygienist’s office saying they had a last minute cancellation and could I come in this morning for my cleaning? I said, “Sure!” (especially since I got the email reminder over a week ago and had only just responded early this morning) Let’s git ‘r done!

This office is fantastic, let me tell you. The hygienist we see is super friendly and gentle and she’s a crafter, so we spend the time chit chatting about crafting. She’s complimentary of my projects, which is always a mood booster. *Ü* Today, though, I got some pampering as well as the cleaning. They had one of those paraffin wax deals warmed up and asked if I wanted to pamper my hands. Heck yeah! I get terrible, cracked (they bleed, too) hands in the winter, because I simply forget to lotion up 800 times a day. So, while my teeth were getting cleaned, my hands were getting soft. Awesome! They are always doing something sweet like that. Last time I was there, they gave me a huge homemade pretzel! It was yummy!

Anyway, I didn’t need to tell you that part, but it leads me to my new pretty. The office is near a *gasp* mall, that I rarely go into because it’s a lot more upscale than I am and most times I just can’t afford the pretties they sell. But, I had a gift card to Macy’s in my newly pampered hands and I was willing to use it. (Remember when I took Steve’s friend to the doctor after her knee replacement? Well, she expressed her thanks by giving me the gift certificate….totally not necessary, but appreciated. Anyway, since I was close by, I thought I’d do a teensy bit of shopping. And I came away with this:

Isn’t it purty? I’m tickled to no end. You see, I’ve not worn a watch in years. My girls would mess with it when they were little and invariably it got broken or whatever, so I just stopped wearing one. But now that they are beyond that stage…well beyond, in fact…I decided to get myself a purty watch! I also picked up a pair of clip on earrings thinking they’d be easier to wear than the pierced ones, which have been bothering my ears, but they have to go back. I didn’t even make it out of the parking lot before I had to pull them off because they hurt, too. I’ll look for something else soon, Jane. Thanks so much!

And my other pretties? They are from my good friend, Erin G. She’s the one who inspired me to try bead crochet with her crocheted creations. And she blessed me with a gorgeous bracelet for Christmas! Looky here:

Thanks, Sweetie!

She also sent me this fabulous cookie cutter….gee, I wonder why this made her think of me?? LOL I am feeling the need to make some cookies! *Ü*

So, I think you can understand how I never did make it to the craft room today. A day with some pampering sure beats getting down and dirty purging.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a terrific Tuesday!

Jeanne

A Couple More Presents...

I sure kept myself busy today. I haven't said anything, but Steve finally ordered his flat screen tv and it arrived yesterday. It's a 42 inch one and he's gotten it hooked up, but we still need to figure out all the bells and whistles.  Up to now we didn't have any curtains on the big window in the great room (where the tv is located). Steve is now nervous about people being able to look straight into the room and seeing his new baby. So, he asked me to look for some curtains. I was able to find some simple (inexpensive) ones at Walmart this morning, along with the rods needed. I decided to put them up and surprise him when he got home from work. I maybe should have waited for him though, because at one point I lost my balance and fell, twisting my knee pretty good. It's not swollen, but it sure hurts! I didn't let it deter me though, and I got the curtains up. It looks okay. I like a lot of natural light in a room, but these are fairly sheer so some is still allowed in. The color looks decent in the room. Whew.

Once that was done, I turned to a project I needed to get done in time for swim class today. We hang out with some good friends we've made over the past year or so. Jessica is in the same class as Annabelle and her little brother Ryan (who's 4) often plays with Amy while she waits for her class to start. Heidi has watched me create project after project as we sit together and chat away. I really, really wanted to make some projects  for this great family. So, this morning I got busy. I made Heidi a covered ornament like I showed in a previous post. For Ryan, I made this super cute elephant. The pattern is from the same booklet I used to create the lions the other day.

And for Annabelle, I made this

She should be able to wear it as a pony tail holder. The flower is 3 inches wide and I layered two buttons on top of each other for the center. The fabric is from Hobby Lobby.

I couldn't post this earlier in the day because Heidi reads my blog and I didn't want to spoil the surprise. *Ü* They all seemed very happy with their gifts. Yay!

And now I must close and get back to work on a few more projects...this is what I get for starting too late to do what I want to leisurely. LOL Ah well, it's part of the fun of the season, right?

Have a good one. Thanks so much for stopping by. Oh and I forgot to let you know that Jessica's ear quit hurting on Sunday and she's been fine ever since (knock on wood). Thank you to those of you who asked.

Til next time!