Paper Box Tower "Cake"

I've been busy turning this tower of paper boxes into a cake for Mr OP's birthday - I don't think it'll get stale, do you ;). I'm going to add little gifts inside each of the layers.

 I've been getting a lot of tags back for his "Remember When" book from family and friends. Today a friend of his from the Air Force (30 years ago) sent their tags back along with some great photos - LOVE IT!

One other thing that I wanted to share was that My Uncle Bruce died suddenly last Sunday. He was a wonderful man and Christian and will be greatly missed by our family. Love you Uncle Bruce!

When life gives you one hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. - unknown

Photo Editing Fun!

I finally had a few minutes to try the latest photo editing site that everyone is raving about - PicMonkey. Can I just tell you how easy and fast it is to use?! I liked picnik, but this site really does seem a lot faster to me.

 

I had a ball playing around with the different effects and they have a note on their home page that we'll soon be able to make collages - yeah! Great news for header photos!!!

 

I cut these lilacs from our bush in the side yard on Saturday and they still look and smell wonderful. The bush gets full light now that we took down the apple tree - or I should say after the hurricane took down the apple tree and we cleaned up the huge mess.

 

I made a mental note to take a bunch in to work tomorrow for Linda. She had to have her bush cut waaaay back and she didn't get any flowers this year. Maybe I should write myself a real note.

So, what photo editing programs do you use?

The Bump?

No I'm not talking about the popular old dance. I'm talking Bumpits for your hair! We had dinner with my SIL and BIL and darling nieces a few weeks ago. Little Miss Sydney (9years old) walks in with her her perfectly coiffed with a bump. I told her how I try to make my hair a little higher with teasing and hair spray. She told me her secret - Bumpits. We all laughed and had a wonderful night. The next morning Mr OP and I walked out onto our front porch and there was a Bumpits for me. Too sweet!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers last week - you are all so special to me!

Hi Peeps

 

Yes, I couldn't resist buying these darling little peeps on my latest junque trip. I don't think that they're really old, but I LOVE how cute they are.

 Vee's daughter gave her some and I fell in love with them. Who knew that I'd happen upon a flock? a gaggle? What do you call a bunch of peeps?

This was a rough week for me. I won't go into details, but I could use some good thoughts. The weather is gorgeous right now. Warm and breezy - just right for a spring morning. The rain is on it's way (thank goodness) - we really need it.

I'm off to enjoy this great weather while we have it! What are your plans for today?

Cool Stool Make-over

The table in my studio is an old engineer's drafting table. Some of you may remember, it was a Christmas gift from Mr OP 2 years ago. He had it hidden in pieces all over the house:) I find that I like to stand most of the time while I'm creating, so the table is perfect.

Although now that we have a laptop I blog from my studio now too. And, I prefer to blog sitting down. The stool I'm using was my Gram's. I was a little too uncomfortable to sit on for long periods of time (we all know how much time can be lost when blogging), so I gave it a quick no-sew make over. I bought a round pillow form, put it on top of the stool and tied on a dresser scarf, then another the opposite way. Works for me! I want to eventually paint the stool and my table white, so this will be easy to take off and put back on.


Does anyone have any other no-sew ideas?

Waiting for the glue to dry...

I didn't get a chance to snap any photos this weekend, but I sure did manage to do a lot of other things. I decided to go to the market on Friday night instead of Saturday morning. The place was like a ghost town. Perfect for shopping in my opinion - no one leaving the cart in the middle of the isle and wandering off. It was clear sailing.

Mr OP went fishing with Roy on Saturday am, so I decided to change the living room around to make way for the A/C in the window in the coming months. I love to rearrange the furniture. When the boys were small and Mr OP worked second shift (3-11) I'd change the furniture a lot and even move from one bedroom to another. I only do it 2 times a year now, but I love the new look. 
 

 Now instead of changing the furniture around I am constantly changing up my knick knacks and such. It's fun to take things from one room and use them in another. It's great to take photos of your vignette's, that way you can pull out a re-run of something from years ago when you have "decorator's block."

 I did all of the laundry on Saturday and hung the wash out to dry. Nothing like climbing into bed on sheets fresh off the line, the smell is wonderful! Our gardens are growing like crazy - the lilac bush has a ton of buds, the daffodils are blooming everywhere, the poppies and the bee balm are up but no buds yet.

Today Mr Op and I went to Renninger's Flea Market in Adamstown. The weather was iffy so there really wasn't a lot of outdoor vendors. I did manage to get a few things for crafting (remember I love to use vintage items in my handmade crafts). I'll share later this week.

Wondering about the title? I'm working on a little project and "waiting on the glue to dry," so I thought that I'd take the time to pop in and say hi.

Do you try to be creative with the titles of your posts?

Handmade Papercrafts and Tags

Making those Easter tags for Tom's girls had Bucky asking me to make one for her Mum. I have to tell you how fun they are to make.

 

I can make them as 3-D as I want because they aren't going into an envelope. I used moss for the birds nest on this one with small pearls as the eggs.

 

I love these old leather buttons and decided to highlight them by just stringing a few together and tying them to the top of the tag.

 

Bucky's Mum loves to garden and watch the birds. I had these sweet fabric swatches with the perfect graphics for these tags.

 

The cameo-like flower piece at the top is a reproduction - but works perfectly for that vintage feel.

 

There is another frost warning tonight, but it's supposed to get up into the 80's by the weekend. Just like a woman - Mother Nature can't make up her mind.

So have you been doing anything crafty lately?

Scents of Easter and Spring

Flyboy and Little Bride to Be surprised me with this beautiful purple hyacinth on Easter - my favorite Easter flower! It makes the whole house smell wonderfully like Easter. I've found that people either love the smell or hate it. Me, I LOVE it!

 

Earlier in the day I picked some daffodils from the way back of the yard. The yellow's and whites just scream spring. I love their fragrance too, but I don't associate Easter with their smell - just springtime.

 While I was in the way back I saw that the bluebells were blooming too and snipped a few of the delicate stems for a mini arrangement.
 

I've got all the Easter decor down and ready to go back into the attic. I'm ready for spring, but the weather around here doesn't seem to know what it wants to do. We've got a frost warning for tonight, so I'm glad that I haven't planted any of my pots yet.

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Linda's Dream

My friend Linda's dream of meeting Kevin Costner came true Monday night. He and his band Modern West were playing in NY City. After the concert she and her daughter Ali waited around for a chance to meet him. She said that the concert was fabulous, but meeting him was unbelievable!

Yesterday

 We had such a wonderful Easter yesterday. Flyboy and Little Bride to Be were here for about 2 hrs after church and then went to dinner with her family. We have to keep it fair with holiday time now:) I sent along an extra Paska that I made. I forgot to snap a photo before it was wrapped up.

We gave the kids a gift certificate to the movies instead of an Easter basket this year. I couldn't resist making this gift card holder when I found this photo old photo of Flyboy. He was 8mos - he walked by 9mos. Our Little Bride to Be loved it and wants to make it into a magnet!

My parents, MIL and my brother were here with us for dinner. I missed  having kids around - they do add to the fun of a holiday. I'm off today and plan on doing some crafting, cleaning and laundry - in that order:) Have a wonderful week my friends!

Thrift Store Finds at The Old Parsonage

I needed a quick thrift store fix, so I ran over during my lunch break yesterday. I found a few good things. I've been looking for some more storage options for my studio and found this cute shelf.

 I think that it was typically used as a bathroom shelf, but for $8 it came home to the studio. I also bought the cream colored jewelry box. It's perfect to store shipping tags and other small things. I have a few of these and they make great storage containers.

 As I was getting ready to check out, I saw these toe shoes out of the corner of my eye. They aren't for storage, but they do add a little something to the decor. Love how they look hanging off the side of the mirror.

I stayed up fairly late last night re-arranging things and making space - it sure feels good to organize things. That's one thing that I plan on doing Monday (I have off), organizing and cleaning - fun! The little pitcher below was a thrift store find too - it's perfect for my colored pencils - don't cha think?

I'm headed to the butcher in the morning to buy our ham, turkey breast, kielbasa, bacon and liverwurst. The bacon is for breakfast Saturday morning. The ham, turkey breast and kielbasa are for Easter and the liverwurst is to go with the Paska, along with a homemade "mayonnaise." We're dying eggs tomorrow, making candy and making Paska. Plus, I'll get the potato filling ready for the pirogi. I'll finish making the pirogi Saturday and then store them on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and corn meal in the downstairs fridge, then  I'll boil them off on Sunday for dinner. We serve them with lots of melted butter and sauteed onions - mmm.

I'm not sure that I'll be around much the rest of the weekend, so I'll wish you all a blessed holiday weekend tonight.

Handmade Easter Tags

I've been keeping busy with my paper crafts. This week I made a few sympathy cards, birthday cards and, just tonight, some extra large tags for Easter.

Tom asked me to make a few tags to tie onto Easter gifts for their girls.  I loved pulling out my girlie things for this tag. What better to use as a background then pink crowns - LOVE it!

 

 I added a die cut circle from corrugated paper to give the tag some different texture and then glimmer misted the butterfly with Bubble Gum for some pink shimmer.

This one's pretty girlie too. But, I used a vintage image for the center of my medallion to draw your attention. Is everyone ready for the holidays this weekend?

I've got to get cracking on my Easter candy. I bought the ingredients, just need to make myself a schedule to get everything done. I'll just pull out last year's and revise it for this year. I do have my pickled eggs and red beets pickling in the fridge. They will be nice and purple the whole way through by Sunday - yumm!

Thursday is my MIL's birthday - still need to think of a little something to get her. I'll have to hit target on my lunch break tomorrow to see if anything strikes my fancy. There's always a plant - she loves houseplants.

Hope that you are all well and tucked away safe for the night.