tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62003216173628116742026-04-29T05:47:24.220-04:00Everyone likes a little sparkle in their life.Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-21123586392255598172013-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:002013-04-15T09:00:02.681-04:00

My family has decided it's time to finish our basement. When we bought the house we new this would be on our project list. We've lived in our home for almost 6 years and now that our kids are getting bigger it's getting a little cramped. We figured the easiest way to add space is to make the space we already have livable. First things first. My husband and I are DIY-ers. We are not professionals

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-47840336839778468682013-02-28T21:12:00.000-05:002013-02-28T21:12:16.430-05:00

This wedding was held in a planetarium. Wedding Colors: Palm Beach Coral & Silver Jewelry Colors: Crystal & Sterling Silver All of the ladies wore this necklace and earring set Crystal Swarovski Crystals & Sterling Silver (I know that sounds a little redundant-but that's the name of the color.) What They Wore: Both dress styles were from David's Bridal in Palm Beach

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-92018792976749761692012-01-12T12:37:00.000-05:002012-01-12T12:37:34.669-05:00

That was the sigh of relief that just escaped me as I sat down in a chair. After a wonderful 4 day weekend in MN we are home and my house is back up and running at a normal pace. It's crazy the amount of dirty laundry that a family goes through in only 4 days, so that's at the top of my "to-do" list. The drive was over 12 hours and it's good to be home. We couldn't have asked for better behaved

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-50496225151088147372012-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-05T17:31:21.201-05:00

My ribbons and various notions were overflowing my shoe box storage system. Since one of my resolutions this year is to become more organized I figured I would tackle this little project. Like any good crafter I scoured the various stores and websites for any ideas I could find. I came across rain gutter storage that would work great, if I had more room. I found shoe box styles with holes in

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-43435244048985475452012-01-03T09:30:00.004-05:002012-01-03T09:30:04.521-05:00

Happy New Year! The Christmas tree and all of the decorations were taken down and put away this weekend. Which means my house now looks naked. I love it when my home looks as if Christmas threw up all over it but right now it's just strutting around in it's birthday suit. My mantle is bare. My front door no longer jingles. It's a sad sight. The great thing about holidays is that there is one or

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-55104959790234235482011-03-30T11:59:00.000-04:002011-03-30T11:59:22.192-04:00

Just a quick post to let my readers know... I heard from my friend, Sawa, she and her family are ok. It was a huge relief to hear this information. Now, as anyone who pays attention to the news knows, the scare is radiation levels. If you pray, please keep Sawa and her family in your prayers. ps. I should be back to crafting and blogging regularly soon. I'm hoping the flu season is done

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-80549654919020186372011-03-15T16:09:00.000-04:002011-03-15T16:09:31.460-04:00

Dear Sawa, If you are reading this, please leave a comment and let me know that you and your family are OK. This is the quickest way I know of to reach you. I will be putting a letter in the mail soon, but I'm worried that the postal service isn't working correctly at the moment. I've tried to locate you on a map, but every map I've looked at shows that everything is demolished, and this scares

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-39538112957375209802011-03-01T11:53:00.000-05:002011-03-01T11:53:22.045-05:00

This recipe is called "Easy Goulash" because that's exactly what it is, EASY. Some may call it homemade hamburger helper. Some may call it goulash. I like to call it a very easy way to "hide" the veggies and the kids gobble it all up. :-) Since this meal was an experiment on my part, it feeds a small army. My recipes normally do that when I'm experimenting. I'm always nervous about running out of

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-60977272658543779422011-02-28T14:58:00.000-05:002011-02-28T14:58:20.804-05:00

You've probably noticed I've been MIA lately. The last two weeks have been a little bit chaotic and a little bit relaxing. Let me explain what I mean... Chaotic because:With three children in the house sickness spreads like wildfire. We've been sharing coughs, fevers, and sniffles. Also, teething and loose teeth have been making my children very cranky. By the time bedtime rolls around we're ALL

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-21772845072882284932011-02-14T22:43:00.000-05:002011-02-14T22:43:45.458-05:00

I made a little something for one of my tiny Valentine's. She took it to school with her, but I was able to get a couple of pics before she left. This cute little mailbox was made out of a repurposed container. I spray painted the lid with Krylon Fusion "Fairytale Pink". Then wrapped the container with some sparkly white scrap fabric which I hot glued in place. And then decorated it with

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-91101281616022751572011-02-08T10:47:00.000-05:002011-02-08T10:47:09.777-05:00

It was actually the worst!  I'm talking about my Versatile Valentine's Dress. I got the least amount of votes, so I was eliminated in the first round. Darn! Even though I was eliminated, Amy is doing a feature on me at her site today. You can check it out at Naptime Crafters. It was hard finding a picture of me that I liked that I wanted to submit to her. As sad as it was to see I was

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-21549327141013107672011-02-04T11:00:00.024-05:002011-02-04T11:00:01.912-05:00

Today the voting begins for AMERICAN CRAFTER so make sure you go vote. If you don't vote at least go over and check out Amy's Blog it is filled with all sorts of fun projects and cute pics. Here is my entry for the contest this week... I'm hoping it's good enough to continue on. Theme: As you can see this one dress can be worn MANY different ways. Making it perfect for everyone, every

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-63183980720703613122011-02-03T14:27:00.013-05:002011-02-03T19:18:30.854-05:00

This post was prompted by my husband's comment the other day about my Christmas gift from him- "I can't believe you haven't posted about your spice rack yet." So to show him some love, here you go. :-x Here is the before shot of my "spice cabinet" Packed in nice & tight and I ALWAYS needed the one in the back. So I would have to unload half of the spices in order to get the one I wanted.

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-35700877110632358312011-02-02T12:19:00.000-05:002011-02-02T12:19:37.245-05:00

The weather guys are calling this blizzard the biggest in 10-20 years. Well I know how old I am and I don't remember having this much snow in my lifetime.  My mom used to tell stories about having so much snow they could sled off the chicken coop. It was drifted up to the roof so they would climb up and just go for it. The snow began falling last night and it hasn't stopped yet. It's

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-20273377046576697022011-01-31T11:44:00.000-05:002011-01-31T11:44:41.566-05:00

This weekend was BIG for the blog. 1st:  Sparkle made it to 1000 visitors!Now I know that this isn't huge (some blogs I visit get this in a few hours), but when you're first starting out it seems like a big milestone. Think of a baby standing up to furniture or sitting on it's own for the first time. 2nd: Sparkle now has 15 followers/subscribers!Again, not a huge deal to many (most of the

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-30885155678840928472011-01-28T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-28T09:00:13.403-05:00

As I was saying yesterday, Josh was just in the Urgent Care last Friday. He wasn't there for himself that time. He was just the driver. He took A, our 2 year old. She was throwing her nightly bedtime tantrum and decided instead of her usual fit that this time she would tear her nightlight out of the wall-which broke the bulb. When she did this we saw a flash in the hallway, so it must have arced.

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-14334051176523774742011-01-27T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-27T09:00:15.522-05:00

We had a little scare last night. I made shrimp pasta for dinner and I probably won't be making it again any time soon. It tasted great and the kids gobbled it down. So why won't I be making it again, you ask?  Well, Josh hiccuped at the same time he put a piece of shrimp in his mouth. You can probably guess what happened next. That's right, that little sucker slid right down his throat. No,

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-55463697918424851382011-01-26T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-26T09:00:04.414-05:00

This past weekend we FINALLY made time to hang out with some friends' of ours. They recently were blessed with a new baby. (He is such a little cutie.) He was born just before Thanksgiving and it's almost Valentine's. Why did it take so long? It seemed like every time one of us had the time it didn't work out for the other one. For instance, our family of five spent at least 5 weeks going through

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-9589953775968253102011-01-24T14:43:00.003-05:002011-01-25T23:15:24.258-05:00

Brooke over at All Things Thrifty is constantly doing projects with black glaze. I have admired her creations for quite awhile. I wish she lived closer, I would totally save my money to hire her to decorate my home. Seriously. Go check her out. She is A-Mazing!  I finally had a piece of furniture that I could try her techniques out on. Remember this? We were no longer using this dresser

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-9206829629778060852011-01-21T09:00:00.002-05:002011-01-21T09:00:00.396-05:00

The wedding ceremony took place on a farm with the reception in the hay loft. Wedding colors: Pink & Black Jewelry Colors: Rose, Crystal AB & Black Bridesmaid Necklace Rose, Light Rose, & Crystal AB Swarovski Crystals, Black Seed Beads & Fuchsia Ribbon Bridesmaids Bracelet Rose, Light Rose & Crystal AB Swarovski Crystals, Black Seed Beads & Sterling Silver

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-62971756444348380782011-01-20T09:00:00.002-05:002011-01-20T09:00:08.271-05:00

This wedding was held in the Holmdene Garden at Aquinas College. Wedding Colors: Tiffany Blue & Charcoal Jewelry Colors: Grey & Sterling Silver Bridesmaids Necklace Grey Pearls and Crystals What they wore

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-78338005496169253772011-01-19T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-19T09:00:01.556-05:00

I would like to share a little story about my daughter, M. She is in Kindergarten and very outgoing. For Christmas she received a doll named Jenny from Santa. Since the day she got her she has been telling me that she is taking Jenny with her to college. I have no idea where this came from. (I'm thinking she got this idea because the neighbor girl who babysits for us is away at college now.) I'm

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-21029570288165093032011-01-18T09:00:00.010-05:002011-01-18T09:00:12.229-05:00

I had a few extra minutes to myself yesterday and so... I got rid of two of my most annoying friends. Tom and Bert. They visit me every so often and I CAN'T STAND THEM. Whenever they're around I feel so crappy. They put me down, and tease me all-of-the-time. You're probably thinking, WOW this chic has issues. Just getting rid of friends because they're annoying her. What is her deal! Let me

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-27599342061024343642011-01-17T15:25:00.002-05:002011-01-18T15:28:38.223-05:00

Our Family Movie Night Snack from this past Saturday. Look at that gooey caramel layer.  We got this recipe from an Aunt and I have no idea where it originated. We have been making these gooey goodness bars for years now and once you try one-watch out! They are so ADDICTIVE. I'm not exaggerating. There was a time when we first started making them that we made 2 batches within 5 days of each

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6200321617362811674.post-84383232609087600342011-01-14T09:00:00.001-05:002011-01-14T09:00:05.972-05:00

When I first started making jewelry everyone I knew was getting something sparkly for a birthday or Christmas gift. Lucky for them I have moved beyond jewelry to sewing, and other things. Here are a few of the very first pieces I made. I talked my little sis into digging it all out of her jewelry box and bringing it over for a photo shoot. Chandelier Earrings Sterling Silver and Emerald

Hopehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00651661917037983706noreply@blogger.com0