T W O * S U C C U L E N T * S I S T E R S

Word Cloud Fun

2012-02-02T17:36:00.001-08:00

How fun is this? I’ve started seeing these “word clouds” on different blogs so I decided to investigate. You go to the site and then you can basically put in any words you want. I was thinking about the “Our Father” or the words of President Lincoln or something from the Bible about love (for Valentine’s Day) but I settled on the kids’ names in our family. Here they are. Some of my grandkids will see this on Facebook since all our blog posts go directly to my Facebook friends. Try this yourself. It’s great fun. You can change the font, colors, etc.

Best wishes, Linda

Valentine Hearts to Love

2012-01-30T21:34:00.001-08:00

I had a lot of fun making even more Valentine heart wreaths. Take a look:
I had some plain twig wreaths and decided to see if I could come up with something different and pretty.
With this wreath I took some leftover hearts from the heart door decoration and placed them on scrapbook paper squares. Then just glued them down here and there and put on a cute fabric bow.

Michele (niece) had the idea to cut out a big heart of red felt and put it in the middle of this twig wreath. Then she made a really luscious bow. I think it turned out pretty sweet. My Mom has it on her front door as we speak..

Mom had a pretty wreath on her dining room door and I just cut out a bird from pretty paper and glued it on. I think it spiffed up the wreath. Gave it a focus. Don’t you think?

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.
Linda

Partying at these great blogs:

Thrifty Decorating
Shabby Creek Cottage
Yesterday on tuesday
A Glimpse Inside
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
Trendy Treehouse Party
Kristen's Creations Party
No Minimalist Here Party
Look What I Made on Creations by Kara
It All Started With Paint Party

Heart Door Decoration

2012-01-27T21:36:00.001-08:00

Michele (niece) and I decided to make new Valentine Decorations for our front doors. We thought it would be nice to have a Large Fabric Heart with a pocket for holding valentines and heart “flowers” similar to the Egg Door Decoration from last year. Since this is similar to the Easter Egg Door Decoration you can access that post if you have any problems. Last year we made large Easter Eggs with pockets. They are quite unique. You might want to check them out.
These door decorations are so darn easy. All you need is a glue gun, scissors, cardboard, two coordinating fabrics, and some polyfil. Oh, the chenille stems for the flowers and the Wonder Under. If you find that the directions for the heart are not clear, you can go to the Egg Door Decoration post.
Start by finding 2 coordination fabrics. I chose one fabric with hearts and I cut these out to be the “flowers” on the pink chenille stems, too.
I had a big box and cut out a large heart. It measures 17 inches wide and 15 inches tall.

Next I wrapped polyester batting around the heart…

and used a hot glue gun to secure the batting in place.

Then I added some polyfil so that the heart looks like a big pillow on one side and flat on the other.

Next I cut out a piece of fabric to wrap around the cardboard heart.
(I didn’t realize that the ironing board at my Mom’s was so stained from the steam iron.) Darn, why don’t I ever notice that kind of thing when I’m taking these pictures?

walah!

This is what the back looks like…

Now we need to put on the pocket.

Then I cut out a piece of fabric for the back and hot glued it down.

Time to make the “heart flowers” to go in the heart pocket. I used Wonder Under to afix the heart fabric to the hot pink felt. You could also glue them together. Then I cut out the flowers and glued them onto the end of a chenille stem. Oh, and I used some foam hearts, too.

Moving on… I put the heart flowers in the pocket of the heart and also some pretty envelopes which I made last week.

Didn’t this turn out very cool? I’m lovin’ it!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy crafting…

Thanks, Michele, for helping me with this wonderful Valentine decoration!!
Best wishes, everyone. Happy crafting.
Linda

Partying here:

Dragonfly Designs

Yesterday on Tuesday

Bunny Jeans Blog Hop Party

Very Merry Vintage Style

Momma Hen Scoop

Li'l Luna Link Party

Blue Cricket Design Party

Type A Party

Procrastination Tuesday

Take a Look Tuesday

Craftomaniac Monday

Making Monday Marvelous

Mad Skills Party

Made by You Mondays at Skip to my Lou

Masterpiece Monday

Grosgrain fabulous

Keep It Simple

Valentine Linky Party at Summit Street

Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes

Valentine Craft Party

Sunday Blog Love at Cherished Treasures

Michelle Paige Clever and Crafty Valentine Party

Freckled Laundry Friday Party

Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Check Me Out Saturdays

Young and Crafty Party

Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Weekend Wander at While He Was Napping

Show and Tell Saturday at Be Different, Act Normal

Snow Day in Connecticut

2012-01-22T10:51:00.001-08:00

Yesterday it snowed – 6 inches – I do like snow. I just hunker down, keep warm, and look at all the stuff on PINTEREST!! I’ve been spending hours and hours on PINTEREST. Just lovin’ it. There’s way more on there than can possibly be made but it’s fun looking…

Check out my Pinterest page.

I put out the Valentine flag. I’m not sure people put out decorative flags anymore, but I still like it.

Woods next door…

Birdhouse tree…

Best wishes to stay warm. Linda

Valentine Hearts on Pinterest

2012-01-05T10:42:00.001-08:00

There are so many wonderful things to see on the web, from all around the world! Here is a place where you can “collect” the pictures of things you like/want to make – with easy access back to the original website. What could be better? I used to have to put everything on TWO SUCCULENT SISTERS to remember how to get back to those great blogs. Now I just have to click on a picture and it takes me right back to the original blog. Then I can see what other wonderful things these “super bloggers” are doing now. Here are some blogs I want to remember to visit.

Valentine Hearts by Linda Brecht

It actually took me a while to find the originator of this heart. That could be a problem with Pinterest, giving rightful due to the person who made the item.

Lacy, vintage heart pillows by Sandra Blanks

Very, very succulent….

Finally, at Lilybeans paperie a beautifully done pincushion heart but I don’t see why it couldn’t just be a decoration. It’s lovely to look at, even.

Hope you enjoyed these heart projects. There are more but I couldn’t properly identify who the originators were so I didn’t put them on here.

Be sure to visit Linda’s Pinterest page.

And Carol’s Pinterest, too.

Have a great day!

Gluesticks Party

Terrific Under 10 Party

Someday Crafts Party

Transformation Thursday

Tales from Bloggeritaville

Strut Your Stuff Party

Hooking up with Hepworth's party

Beyond the Picket Fence party

Tip Junkie Homemade Party

Happy New Year - 2012

2011-12-31T22:12:00.000-08:00

Here is my Mom at 102 years old. She baked her Christmas pixies, raisin filled sugar cookies, mincemeat squares, and her Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies. She gave everyone in the family a tin of her homemade cookies. I gave her some of my homemade candies to go on top of the cookies in each tin. Everyone loves Mom's Christmas cookie classics.

Christmas Pixie Cookies

Best wishes for a healthy, happy New Year in 2012. Linda and Carol

Happy Christmas to All

2011-12-23T21:36:00.001-08:00

Here are three little elves that decided to visit us this Christmas!

I had the bright idea to make the kids in the family elf costumes and then go and get pictures taken professionally which is what we did. I even made the baby little elf shoes with pointed toes and bells on them. They are all made of felt so it took no time at all to make them.

Blessings at Christmas and through the New Year to all our followers.

Linda and Carol

I hate Cake Pops!!

2011-12-17T22:54:00.001-08:00

Well, I don’t hate them. But I’m totally done with making them now. I’ve made about 400 cake pops over the last few months for 2 shows that my sister and I did in Pennsylvania. I also made tons of Cracker Toffee, Marshmallow pops, and Caramels (a family recipe which was handed down from my mother’s Aunt Emma).

I made these little snowmen Cake Pops like the Chick Pops I made for Easter. I made 100 of these.

We made these Angel Marshmallow Pops, too. They don’t have a face just a paper doily attached to the cellophane bag but the tag says it all.

We made hundreds of Chocolate Cake Pops covered with chocolate melts and sprinkled with crushed candy canes among other types of sprinkles also. They were delicious when I first start.ed making them but after a while I wasn’t even interested in tasting them. Well, that’s a good thing really..

Happy Christmas Season, everyone! Less than a week to go. I’m trying to savor every moment of this beautiful time of year! Linda

Judi’s Gourmet Meal

2011-12-09T21:26:00.001-08:00

I visited with my sister in PA this weekend and we did a small craft fair while I was there. We made lots and lots of candies to sell but this post is about the special meal my niece made while we were there.
Menu:
Ultimate Crab Cakes
Twice Baked Tiny Potatoes
Fried, breaded Goat Cheese
Edamame (which is soy beans in their pods) boiled and buttered
Fresh Spring Greens Salad with fresh dressing – I think Balsamic Vinaigrette
Here are the pictures:
Ultimate Crab Cakes

Here is the fried goat cheese patties – she rolled them in Panko with some kinds of spices.

Judi fried these in very hot oil for only a few minutes so that they don’t melt and get squishy.

Here they are all done. Since I don’t like goat cheese I was reluctant to try them but once I did, I was SOLD. They were wonderful and I scarfed down quite a few of them. Judi said they were great on the salad, but I liked eating them just like that…plain. Yummy!

This is something I’d never had before…Edamame which is soy beans in their green pod. Marvelous. Marvelous. Marvelous. She boiled them in water and added butter and salt and they were so so good.

Next were the little tiny potatoes that were baked, scooped out, and then put back in the skins and covered with bacon and cheese. Judi said she never wanted to do these again since there were so many of them and it took so long to scoop them out. I asked if there was a recipe but she said that it was a twice-baked potato recipe.

She rounded the meal out with a fresh salad with strawberries and fresh balsamic dressing.

And for those who don’t like crab, she also made chili.

Thanks, Judi, for the wonderful feed!
Aunt Linda

Partying here:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Victorian Lace Pillows

2011-11-11T21:16:00.001-08:00

Some pillows I’ve been working on…

Carol and I have been working hard to get stuff ready to go to Jackie’s Victorian Boutique. Best wishes, everyone.
Pin It

My summer and unfinished/finished projects

2011-09-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

Wow. I can’t believe that I haven’t posted in so long. Summer was so great. I took my granddaughter to the pool and the beach. Many days were lovely and warm or hot and I sat by the pool reading books. One book was Basic Economics, the other Physics (not the calculation kind but the mind boggling star/planet speed of light kind). My 24 year old was watching a youtube video about the twin paradox and so that sparked my interest and we had a physics book lying around so I did get through a few chapters. I’m really interested. It’s just HARD. Got halfway through the Economics book. That’s a bit easier if I don’t get too involved in the graphs. It’s fun to learn new things.
I have a lot of projects that didn’t get finished like the little window house from Maison Décor.

This is as far as I got. I started it last April/May (who can remember that far back?).

I’ve got the two windows for the roof but I’m struggling with how to put them on. Gosh, I should just get to it.
All rightee then… I did get the cow mailbox done. I had a little help from Michael, my nephew. Okay, a lot of help. He cut out the cow from wood and then I painted it. And then he had to repaint it because it was so bad.

I bought a regular white mailbox, cut the top part of the cow out of wood, and painted the whole thing together to match up. Michael (nephew) screwed the cow onto the mailbox. Thanks, Michael!!!
My morning glories on the lamppost are doing great. They had a slow start but now are really coming into their own.

Little pink begonias.

Best wishes, everybody. We are getting into prime craft season coming up!!!
Linda

Partying at:

Sew Darn Crafty

Handmade Cabin Furniture

2011-08-01T21:23:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of my nephew, Michael, my brother’s kid, making furniture for his cabin in the Adirondacks. He has made some of the most gorgeous furniture. He even put in log stairs going up to the second floor of the cabin that are exquisite. No matter what Michael works on it comes out perfect. Is he a perfectionist? Yes.

This little table is so darling! Michael said it was really easy to make, too.

Here are some pictures of beds that Michael made for the cabin.

Here are the posts for the beds. He ground down the ends of the round beams so that they would fit snugly into the head and footboards. He said he had to grind down 24 of these!!

Here he is grinding holes for the posts to fit into.

Seeing how the beds fit together.

Putting the beds together at the cabin.

Here is the bed put together. Oh, by the way..Mike also put up these pine boards on the walls of this bedroom. Then he whitewashed them.

Doesn’t this look cozy?

Now a bedroom needs a bureau, right? So he had to make one of those, too.

These pictures aren’t the best but see the log on the side of the bureau?

This picture shows the whitewashed walls.

Good job, Mike.

All this talent in one person. Unbelievable.

Best wishes, everyone. Linda

Moose Coasters

2011-07-17T20:21:00.001-07:00

My nephew made these really cool coasters. He made some country/log beds and has some “logs” left over so he cut them across about an inch or so high.
This is a “mini moose brand”. You only need to heat it up with a lighter and then sizzle it wherever you want to. In this case, my nephew sizzled it onto the little log coasters. And it comes out brown and burnt just like you see these, no painting involved.

Are these the coolest things or what?

Then he also bought a bear brand. They are really reasonably priced. I might have to buy one. :)I have to look and see what the different brands are. They are used for branding steaks. I looked at some of the pictures from this site. They also brand grilling chicken and baked potatoes, too. I'm trying to think of what to do with them as far as a craft goes. Fun. fun. fun.

‘m
He’s already sold 2 sets on ebay. I think he could sell them at Jackie’s Victorian Boutique even though they are far far from being a Victorian item.
Hope everyone is having a succulent wild summer. I’m so darn busy there is hardly any time to blog but I am preparing a super garden extravaganza of pictures from my garden. I’m very excited to show everyone but, gosh darn, there is so much to prepare so that everything looks good. It’s amazing that all the flaws/dirt/mess shows up in pictures when you don’t want it to.
We’re working to get mulch on the gardens – it’s mostly done, at least the front is. Then I can take pictures and show everyone. I’m so happy about the way the front yard turned out.
Best wishes for a warm, happy summer. Linda
The other sister wishes the same thing for everyone, too.

Having Fun Here:

Young and Crafty

Funky Junk Interiors

Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie

Sugar Bee Crafts

Anti procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia

LadyBug Blessings

Tutorial Tuesdays at Hope Studios

Embellishing Life

Under the Table and Dreaming

Making Monday Marvelous

Today's Creative Blog

God Bless America!!

2011-07-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July, everyone. My son, David, lit off these fireworks tonight. It helped make the day/evening more special. Mom was here, too.

That's my Mom's voice saying, "Wow, that was great!". She's a pistol!

Best wishes, Linda

102 Years Young–our Mom

2011-06-29T10:29:00.001-07:00

Everyone asks our mother, “How did you get so old?” Then she goes into all the ways she stays healthy, happy, and mindful. I’ll do a post on that sometime but for now I wanted to show how we celebrated her birthday. We had the party at my brother’s boat club on Long Island Sound so you’ll see boats in the background of many of these pictures.
This is NOW.

This was THEN.

Mom and her mother and father. Her father used to call her “Gal”. Her mother lived to 101 years old and was always ready to go anywhere. she loved being busy, too, just like Mom.
We were thinking about the party and my daughter came up with the them of “Camping in the 1930’s” since Mom was such a great camper. So we tried to think of things to put on the tables like apples, old lanterns, old crocks, bowls, fresh picked hydrangeas and roses – things that have been around a long time.
And things that they may have had on the picnic table in the 30’s like pickles in canning jars.
Here is one of the tables. Oh, and the American flag… patriotism was high in the 30’s. Is it high today? I hope so.

I used red and white checkered tablecloths and put old fashioned candies in canning jars also.
I had bought an old wooden soda bottle box at an antiques store a few years back and decided to fill it with real bottles of soda.

We set up Mom at a round table.

I made momentoes to celebrate the 102nd birthday using the old camping picture as a starting point. I cut out the upper parts of the people and put a fabric “tent” in back of the cutouts to make it give the whole thing a three dimensional look. I used that favorite stuff of mine – Double sided Pellon Peltex. It is so thick, it acts like cardboard but you can iron fabric on the fack and the front without any sewing involved. So then I printed out words on fabric for the printer that can be ironed on also and that went quick. I glued on a string for a hanger and some more three dimensional stuff – shells.

On the back I wrote a little story about the camping days as told to me by Mom. I printed it out on the fabric/paper that irons on and I swished on a strong tea solution to give it a more aged look. Then I ironed it on the back.

My nephew came around and said, “Why not make a real tent?” I said, “How?” and from there these wonderful tents evolved. Mike made the tents, I supplied the materials.
I bought some old looking duck fabric at Joann’s and some 2 x 2’s for a wooden support base and Michael made up the two tents in no time. And did the kids have FUN!!!!

The campfire was added to mimic the old campfire in the picture. Someone put corn on the cob in the pot for effect.
Mike even used sticks for the posts of the tents just like Dad used on the tents of old. The ropes were added for effect, too.

Here’s one of the tents filled with kids…
It doesn’t look as nice as if this whole thing were on the beach….
Oh, this is neat. My daughter came up with the goody bag for the kids….
HOBO Bags. She put the goodies in a handkerchief and tied them on a stick. They were a big hit.

Here’s a little hobo.

Some pictures of Mom…

We took some pictures of Mom in front of the tent. Mike had the idea to put up a blanket in the back as a backdrop. So glad he did because this has a more authentic feel to it.

Mom by the water…

It was lots of fun planning this party and being creative to recreate a 1930’s camping on the beach picnic.
Hope everyone enjoyed seeing these pictures. Best wishes, Mom, for a Happy Birthday year and many more…
Love
Linda and Carol

Partying at:

Very Merry Vintage Style

Tea Rose Home

Life in My PJ's Party

Helicopter Mom Party

Hope Studios

Sugar Bee Crafts Party

Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes

Sunday showcase party at Under the Table and Dreaming
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors

My Romantic Home

Chic On a Shoestring - Flaunt it Friday

Chocolate Party

Fingerprints on the Fridge Party

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Whipperberry Party

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage

The Trendy Treehouse

Somewhat Simple Party

It's a Hodge Podge Party

504 Main Street.

Easy Peasy Grandma

More Pictures of the New Dining Room

2011-06-23T21:25:00.001-07:00

Okay, I’ve worked on the dining room some more and here are the pictures.
The doors came out really nice.

I’ve always wanted doors between the dining room and the family room. Well, I am not disappointed. They came out great!
Then I wanted to spruce up the curtains since I’ve had these curtains for a few years and wanted to have the feeling that they are somehow new. So I bought some pretty green/pink plaid fabric and made these bows.

Okay, then I redid the cushions on all the dining room chairs. (The whole dining set needs to be refinished – it was my Mom’s and I got it when she bought a new dining room set.)
I tried all kinds of fabrics from my own stash and finally settled on polka dots. I love polka dots but I didn’t have enough of one color of polka dots so each chair is graced with a different color polka dot cushion. I saw a tutorial online about how to cover cushions. It was easy.

I covered the stools that are at the kitchen counter in polka dots, too.

That’s a Snippets picture on the wall. I bought a book by cindy Walter called “Snippet Sensations”. I bought her second book, “Snippet Sensations2” also. I planned to do more than just this one picture but it didn’t happen.

Would you believe I bought this rooster for $3. at a tag sale? It originally came from Homegoods and had a price of $29. on it. It’s large.

I learned about making “feathers” at well, somewhere. I tried find the blog I saw this in but can’t find it. I did want to share this “feather” though. I just love it. Tomorrow I’ll seriously try to find out where I saw this. They have the patterns there also. Cut the pattern out of pretty paper. Then take a pipe cleaner and sandwich it in between the two papers. Glue the whole thing together. Then cut diagonal lines all the way up the “feather”. Then I sorta pulled them to give them character.

I hung one of the turkey to see if he’d like that…

I think I have everything that I wanted to put in this post. I’m SO tired! It’s midnight – uh, oh After midnight…falling asleep…
Happy weekend everyone!
Linda

Dining Room Makeover

2011-06-10T21:49:00.001-07:00

Pictures of the dining room in the process of being painted:

We added French doors in between the dining room and the family room. Here are the new doors. They are not cleaned up yet.

We painted the dining room a very, very faint off white pink/cream/apricot color. Almost white. And we painted the trim pure white. I really love the way it turned out.

There are four windows in the dining room, two overlooking a tiny pond that my nephew dug out for us. We’ve had frogs and fish in there and right now just frogs because the fish died this winter in the extreme weather we had here in Connecticut. See the pond through the window?

It needs work…

These are the other two windows and the china cabinet that my friend painted roses on. The old picture is my grandmother and grandfather on my father’s side. This was her second marriage since the first husband and child died in an accident. This was their wedding day. She wore black because it was her second marriage.. but hand sewed all live flowers around the entire hem of the dress on the day of her wedding.
My grandfather on my mother’s side hand made this violin. I remember him whittling it when I was a kid. The violin bow was my daughter’s bow when she was a child.

I painted these tulips on the window glass one winter’s day to add some liveliness to the windows. The bird is painted with the Donna Dewberry One Stroke style of painting.

The table. The next project (among many) is to have my dining table and chairs refinished.

Hope everyone enjoyed seeing this makeover.

Sharing at these Wonderful Parties:
Saturday Night Special at Funky Junk Interiors
House of Hepworth Thursdays
Transformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage
Beyond the Picket Fence

Vintage Hat Redo

2011-06-03T19:35:00.001-07:00

Here is a hat that has been hanging in my front hall on the hat rack for years (see previous post). It fell off and I saw how dusty it was so I decided to fix it up a bit.
This is the “before”. Not only dusty but had some old black netting in a bunch on one side and the chin elastic strap hanging from one end.

What can we do here? Let’s see. We can clean it up a bit and take off the ratty looking netting and elastic cord.

And we can add a rose. This makes all the difference.

Now all the luscious pictures…

When my eight year old granddaughter caught sight of this hat, it went directly onto her head!! And then she modeled it for all of us… That girl knows style already.

It now sits happily in my dining room. A simple makeover with big results.
Best wishes, Linda

The Gypsy Corner
Having fun at THESE PARTIES:
The Thrifty Groove

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DIY Showoff
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Vintage Hats

2011-05-31T11:53:00.001-07:00

Some years ago I was really into old hats, hats like my grandmother and great aunt used to wear. My Aunt Emma always had a hat on her head. The hats she wore were sometimes nothing more than some netting on top of a wired base. Like this: See the netting? It’s kinda raggedy from age.

This is the top.

Here is another one kinda like what she wore.

She wore this type also. It sat flat on the top of the head and the “points” were wired so they were shaped to conform to the individual’s head.

This is a bigger, fancier hat, equally old. I’m sure that Aunt Emma had one similar to this one, too.

I saw a hat rack in a magazine years ago, filled with old, vintage hats. In those days we didn’t use the word “vintage”. Things were just plain OLD. Anyway, I bought a hat rack to hang on the wall and then had to get old hats to go on it, which I gleefully did at tag sales. Through the years I put old pocketbooks up there, too. This is in my front hallway. Can’t really see the mirror, but it’s under there.

They can get pretty dusty sitting up there …

Best wishes, all. Linda

Having fun at these GREAT parties...come join us!

Sugar and Dots Party
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Tea Rose Home Party
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Bird Mobile Redo

2011-05-27T22:19:00.001-07:00

Remember this bird mobile I made at Carol’s house in PA? It was so fun to make because we only had to cut out birds from all kinds of paper, including sandpaper. Then we glued the paper birds onto a Christmas garland wire with berries. That was serendipity because I was going to glue them on regular wire and Carol said, “What about gluing them on this?” (leftover garland wire from Christmas). Perfect!
Sometimes I think I need a whole room filled with all kinds of stuff all over tables all around the room. Then I can look from one thing to another (instead of going through the many bins I have with the various things – beads, ribbon, buttons, fabric, craft papers, stickers, etc etc etc.) I think it would be good for the creative process.

Okay, well we repainted the dining room this week and I wanted to declutter the room SO I took this pretty bird mobile and put it on this old wreath which has been hanging in the dining room also.

The bow looks yucky since it’s been hanging in the same spot for 5 or 6 years undisturbed. Dusty, too. So I yanked that sucker off and here is the result. Much nicer, I think. Cleaner looking.

Here are a few of my favorite birds.

Here’s my most favorite – the sandpaper bird.

I am so pleased with the way this turned out. Maybe I’ll make another bird to fill in the place on the right that doesn’t have a bird there.
Or maybe not. :)

How it looks on the wall of the newly painted dining room.
Best wishes, Linda

Having fun at these WONDERFUL parties: Come join us!!
Weekend Warrior Party
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My Embellishing Life
Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts
My Romantic Home
Funky Junk Interiors
French Country Cottage

Stenciled Kitchen Floor

2011-05-22T16:47:00.001-07:00

Here is Carol’s stenciled kitchen floor. When I was visiting her in March I took all kinds of pictures. Since I only posted on Tuesday last week, I had to scrounge around and find something to post that is noteworthy. I think this floor is very special. Carol’s daughter, Judi, painted it.
There’s a little country sheep painting on one end, too. Love it. Carol’s house is so very decorated. I think mine is decorated until I go visit. Then I come home and get inspired.

My sister has an island in the middle of her kitchen so the checkerboard painting goes all around the island.

Tomorrow maybe I’ll post more about the stencils and paintings in Carol’s house.
Best wishes. Linda

Having fun at these GREAT PARTIES:

Under the Table and Dreaming Party
Funky Junk Interiors
La Casa Dominguez Party

Easy Roses Quilt

2011-05-17T18:30:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I saw a quilt in a magazine. The whole magazine was dedicated to women and for the research and cure of breast cancer. People, quilt shops, and women’s groups made and donated quilts and they were sold online and the proceeds went to find a cure for breast cancer.

One of the quilts in the magazine was so gorgeous I knew I had to try to make it. I had so much fun, too. Having lots of rose prints made it easy, too, since you need lots of different fabrics to make it interesting.

I cut out 4 varying sized sorta lumpy circles (oh, I know, like amoeba shapes) templates to make the large rose. Cut out 12” x 12” squares – 20 of them in varying shades of pink. Then I used the templates to cut out the petals of the rose alternating between light and dark fabrics so that each layer stands out. I put a dark shape for the largest, bottom petal. Then I alternate dark pink, then light pink, and so on. All of these are sewn on like raw edge applique which means no turning of the fabric. Just lay it down and stitch around the outside of the fabric. You just take a 12 in by 12 in square of fabric and slap on the biggest petal and sew it all around the edge. Then put the next shape on top of that and sew it down all around the edge. Keep going until it looks “finished”. In the middle of some of them I cut out a single rose from rose print fabric and stitched it right on top.

I even used doilies on some of the layers.

Oh, the leaves! Yea, well I just cut out some leaf shapes and put two with right sides together, stitched around the leaf part, turned it rightside out, ironed it, and put it underneath the first and largest rose piece hiding the raw edge under the rose piece. I didn’t stitch them down so they can “flop around”.

Wasn’t this fun? Would’ve been great if I had actually finished it but it has been folded up for 3 or 4 years now awaiting finishing. It’s badly in need of ironing which I tried to work around when taking the pictures. In fact, I had to take the quilting pins out of it to take these pictures, too.
Best wishes, all. Linda

Partying at:
Sew Darn Crafty

Succulent Dog, here.

2011-05-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've watched this video COUNTLESS times and showed this over and over to the people in the house as well as anyone who wandered in...

I can't recommend it highly enough for complete enjoyment!!! My mother howled with laughter. Then, of course, I had to go to youtube and watch all his/her other videos of talking cats, etc. This was the best one but there were other good ones, too.

Best wishes, all. Hope you all enjoy this as much as we did. It's really, really short.

Plant the Whole Earth with Flowers

2011-05-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

I love this sign. I hung it next to my front door.

I LOVE FLOWERS!!!

I bought this pretty verbena. It’s more of a hot pink, but here it looks kinda like lavender.

Pretty Johnny-jump-ups.

Phlox

And, finally, a really neat/unusual birdhouse with a cooking pot lid for a roof. Isn’t that too cool?

Best wishes, everybody. Isn’t this great weather????

Totally loving it!! Sunny and warm here in Connecticut USA

Interesting Artist–Andy Goldworthy

2011-05-04T22:25:00.001-07:00

I watched a movie last night called Rivers and Tides. The movie is a documentary about Andy Goldworthy. He’s an artist who works outdoors making sculptures with whatever is at hand, twigs, icicles, rocks. He purposely makes things that will be easily destroyed by wind or water. In the movie it shows a few sculptures he was working on that simply collapsed, one by wind, the other by tide. He was a little disappointed but not devastated.
He makes very interesting displays, all outdoors, all natural.
Interesting enough to check out some Google images of his work HERE.
Thought I’d share this with everyone. Take care, Linda