Patriotic Ragamuffin Garland & Look What I Won...

Well, I have to tell you there is nothing easy about crafting when you have a playful kitten and poodle around! Lexi was trying to help me cut the strips for the garland and Midnight had to wrap herself up in them.
Here is the next color she couldn't leave alone!
Somehow we finally got all of the strips cut and into piles and look who shows up again! It is a good thing she is so darn cute!......lol
Anyway, I have made two garlands so far (sorry for the picture I couldn't seem to get a good one in the window). They really are easy....the hardest part is getting all the strips cut or torn. Here is a tutorial I did if you are interested in making one.
Here is one just laid on the mantle. They look great anywhere. I have enough material that I can do more, and if I have time I will.
I also won a giveaway at Christina and Victoria's blog called As Time Goes By. They had three giveaways of yard sale items they had found that they thought people would enjoy. I was lucky enough to get drawn for the gorgeous tablecloth and napkins. Guess what the price was???? $1.00!!! Can you believe it? Anyway, look at all of the detail and there are no stains on the tablecloth at all and just a couple I found on the napkins. There are 11 napkins! That was some great thrifting!! Thank you so much for these beauties!

Hope you all are having a great Tuesday and staying cool wherever you are. I will show you my Patriotic decorations later this week.

I LOVE Etsy......

I wanted to show you some of my latest purchases and share with you some of the talented artists on Etsy. This America banner was purchased from M.L. at House of Whimsy. She has recently opened an Etsy store and you definitely need to go check it out. She makes some really fun and whimsical things.

This little ballerina birdcage was also purchased from M.L. at House of Whimsy. It is hanging from the curtain rod in Lexi's room. You know Lexi is a beautiful ballerina and she absolutely thinks it is the cutest!

This is my adorable nest pillow and was purchased from Wendy at The Shabby Nest. She has all sorts of goodies in her Etsy shop and has a sale going on right now until July 3rd. Fly on over and visit her. You won't be disappointed.

Here is another purchase I have made from Ramona at A Day in the Life of Ramona. It is a little house pillow filled with buckwheat hulls. I LOVE it and it makes a little crunchy sound when you move it. I think it is just adorable and right now it resides on my bed. It has moved around several times already!

Here is an adorable little vintage looking chipboard plaque. This is from Cherry at Cherry's Jubilee and looks so cute hanging from a shabby shelf peg in my bedroom.

Last but not least, I have bought several things from Lori at Morning Glories and Moonflowers. She makes different jewelry all of the time. It is really hard for me to stay out of her shop with all of her wonderful creations.

If you have never been shopping on Etsy try it. All of these wonderful ladies also have FABULOUS blogs that you will enjoy. So, even if you don't buy anything from their store be sure to stop by their blog and say hi! Thank you for all of the wonderful goodies!!

My Blogiversary Winner is.........

Linnea of Neabear and B-Daddy's Nest!! Congratulations, you will now have a cloche!

Flaunt Your Red.....

I have been wanting to join Nancy's Flaunt your Red party but I don't have much red. This week I thought I would share two chairs that I have under my back patio. A guy my husband works with said he was getting rid of these and did he want them? Hubby knows the kind of thing I like and he said yes. The best part about it......they were FREE!!

If you haven't already entered don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway here.

My Blogiversary Giveaway......

The drawing is now closed so I can find my winner!
Well, today is a big day! It is my one year anniversary on the blogs! I absolutely LOVE blogging and all of the friends I have made from it. So, to thank all of you for making it such a wonderful experience, I am having a giveaway. Nothing major, but quite a few of you still can't find a cloche. Well, I have found one for you (I know it is dirty, you will get to clean it up!) and all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post! The base of it is a dark wood and it is mirrored. If you hate that, you know a little spray paint is all you need to make a base the color you want. The contest will end on Saturday (who knows what time, just whenever I decide...lol) and I'll use the random generator to select a winner. Good Luck!

Also, Beth from Rambling Gal was the first one to make the correct guess on what I was making in my last post. It is a ragamuffin garland. I hope to show it and my July 4th Patriotic decorations next Wednesday.

Wanna Guess??

After not feeling crafty for quite a while now, I have started a little project. Want to guess what I am making?
Oh, and guess what??? My blogiversary is tomorrow. Yep, the blog will be one year old. I will be doing a little giveaway so check back........

Summer Fun with a Best Friend.....

We can't stay out of the pool cause it has been so hot here! Hope you are having some summer fun! Enjoy your Monday.

Summer Play Willy Wonka Junior - Aladdin Last Year...

On Monday, Lexi started her summer play rehearsals for Willy Wonka Junior. She was quite excited because this year she landed a small part, in addition to being in the ensemble. She is a Candy Man kid named Matilda and has a few speaking lines plus a small (very small) solo in one of the songs. She loves it and the show will be in July. Of course, I'll show you pictures during final dress rehearsal.
Last summer she was in the ensemble in the play Aladdin. It was one of my first posts so none of you that read my blog now saw it, so I thought I would share some pictures. It was really a cute show. Lexi is in the front in purple.

This picture shows the lead characters. The boy in the front played Aladdin and the girl to his right (from looking at the picture) played Jasmine. They were both really good. The taller girl to the left played the Genie. She was excellent! Lexi actually got a call back for the Jasmine part and it was the first time she had ever auditioned!

The kids had sooooo much fun and did a great job!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday!

Spider Plants.....

I first want to thank you all for all of the wonderful Birthday wishes. You sure know how to make a gal feel special!!!

These are my two big Spider plants that I over-wintered at my little part-time job. There are a lot of windows and they thrived through the winter. Well, now it was time for them to come back home. See all of those "big" babies they have sprouted?
I bought several large mason jars from the thrift store, cleaned them, filled them with water and then I cut a bunch of babies off. I like them to start sprouting long, strong roots before I plant them in the dirt. These are now at my part-time job, so I still have my Spiders there to enjoy.

Here is one of the big ones out back under the patio on my old stool. Doesn't it look happy to be home? The other one is out front between my two chairs on the front porch.

I love growing Spider plants because they are so easy to grow. My two big plants started from some little baby clippings last summer from a neighbor. Hope you are all having a great Monday.

It is MY Special Day.....

to me!!!!! Yep, it is my Birthday today. Should I even tell you how OLD I am????? Oh, I guess I will. I am 48!!! I can't even believe it!! I think I feel younger because I have a 10 year old! Anyway, I am just going to enjoy MY day!! Hope you all have a great weekend!

After the Storm and Yum....

Yesterday afternoon we had a storm roll through. It did your normal lightning and raining, no hail (in this area) thank goodness.....but this was the sky after it was through. Beautiful puffy clouds and the sky was pink and blue. Really neat looking!
This is our breakfast this morning.....muffins. You can see I still haven't done anything with my tray, but oh, I LOVE it!
I have to tell you there is nothing quicker than these Betty Crocker muffin mixes. You add 1/2 cup water, mix, pour into your muffin tins and bake. Easy peasy!! They are also very delicious! Try them if you need a quick breakfast.
Hope you all are having a great Thursday!

Water Balloon Fun.....

First, you buy a package of water balloons and get your poodle Lucy to help you fill them up!
Then you throw them up in the air as high as you can (remember you can enlarge any of these pictures). Do you see it at the top of the picture?

............and see if you can splat it on your head!!!

Lexi got laughing so hard she was just about crying.

What fabulous summer time fun!

Hope you and your family are getting to enjoy some of it. Pure joy!

Yard Sale Treasures.....

Lexi was my yard sale partner on Friday and Saturday and we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and there were a lot. These are the books we found for Lexi. They all sound really good and she is excited. Most were .50 with the exception of the Chrissa book. It is an American Girl book that was just published this year....it was $1.00.
I found a couple of the Better Homes & Gardens special publications for .25 each. One of them is from Spring 2009 and the other is Spring 2007.

This large snacks bucket was .50. It still had the original tag on it of $7.99.

Now my favorite finds. I have seen several blogs where people have these fabulous trays and I was wanting one, badly. This is the first one I found and it was $1.00! It is large and fairly heavy and I absolutely LOVE it. I'm not sure if I am going to spray paint it white, bright yellow or aqua. I'll show you when I decide. I still can't quit looking at it!

Then, at our last stop we got out of the car and I spotted this set, the red tin tray, four glasses with cherries on them and the matching carafe. I stood there and looked at it for a bit but really couldn't decide. The price tag was $7.00 which I thought was very reasonable. I looked around a bit more and then went back to it. All of a sudden I hear the lady saying if you want it, it is $1.00!!! SOLD!! I couldn't grab it up quick enough as I was handing Lexi the $1.00 to go pay her. I got it home and the more I look at it, the more I LOVE it. I am so glad I ended up with it.

Here is some up close detail.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We did!

Lucy.....

wants you to have a great weekend! She loves to be on our porch swing also. Hope you are having some beautiful weather like we are and we'll see you next week!

We had ours.......

did you have yours??? Sonic had free root beer floats from 8:00 p.m. to midnight last night. What a tasty treat!