I Don't Know About You, But I've Been Pining For Spring!

While I was at Target the other day, I spotted these cute tiny milk bottle vases in the one spot. Jessica Such Pretty Things mentioned them last week on her Target Tuesday post, and I thought they'd be fun to have. These tiny bottles are really cute, and will be perfect on a shelf in the girls room - but for now, I'm using them to hold my pink tulips. Aahhh pink tulips - my second favorite flower - next to pink roses of course. ;o)

Since I can hardly wait for spring to arrive, I've been looking through some inspiring magazines. Thanks to Audrey and Laurel two great friends from church, I have a nice stack of magazines to enjoy. Thanks you guys!!!

Last night at church, I helped put on a baby shower. I was in charge of food and that includes making punch. I didn't want to make something fruity, so I came up with a Vanilla Cream Soda punch. It was good! What you do is make a vanilla flavored simple sugar syrup and add gingerale and vanilla ice cream. Super easy and yummy - and the great thing is, you can make individual servings of cream soda with the leftover syrup.

That's what I did today. If I wouldn't have forgotten to bring home the ice cream last night, I think I would have made mine a float.... Mmmmm

Vanilla Cream Soda Punch

2 1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 C water

2 TBSP pure vanilla extract

Gingerale

Vanilla ice cream

Put sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and heat on medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Cool in refrigerator until ready to serve.

For punch ratio:

Add 2 liters gingerale to 1C vanilla syrup (I added more gingerale so it wasn't too sweet)

Add scoops of vanilla ice cream to the punch.

*for individual glasses I added a TBSP vanilla syrup to the gingerale.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

A few months ago, a friend of mine on facebook put out a recipe request for a red velvet cake. I've never made one, so that started my search for recipes too. Last week Jana posted a recipe for red velvet cupcakes that looked so yummy, I knew I had to make them. I printed out her recipe, but then didn't end up using it because I didn't have any buttermilk.

A couple days later I was flipping through some magazines and came across this recipe, and I happened to have all the ingredients...

As I went to frost the cupcakes, suddenly two eager little girls appeared to help - imagine that!

These cupcakes are were so yummy!

Try 'em, you might like them! ;o)

52Q Week 4, 5, 6, & 7 Catch-up

Ok, well I've finally caught up with my 52Q mini art journal. From now on, I'm really going to try to do a better job at creating one card a week (like I'm supposed to) instead of doing a bunch at once. hehe

I bought a couple pretty vintage wallpaper packs last week, so that's one reason why I waited to make the cards. I wanted to use the new papers! I received some awesome papers! I'm amazed how fragile some of them are. But, the textures, colors, and feel of them are spectacular! I need to be careful because I can see how an addiction could start - yikes!

I'm still having fun with the image sheets I purchased from Retro Cafe Art Collage .

Here is this weeks card.

The question was "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

I made the cover to my mini art journal too.

Check out the 52Q flickr group. It's so fun to see the array of mini art journals people are creating.

A Fun New Challenge

Blithe and Blonde is hosting a rag doll challenge. Em has provided the pattern in pdf. format. All you have to do is make the doll in your own style. You don't even have to sew, if you don't want. The possibilities are endless. Make sure you read the challenge details and have fun.

I've already made my doll! But, I think she might need a friend.... hehe

Snowmobiling Fun

This past weekend we went over to my brothers cabin in Eastern Washington to go snowmobiling. On Saturday, six of us went out and rode about 50 miles and Sunday we rode 45 miles. The picture below is Scott and I standing in front of an ice fountain we came across. Can you tell we are smiling for the camera? hehe
We rode in the Fish Lake sno-park with over 180 miles of trails. My brother and sister-in-law are fantastic tour guides and take us all over the park. The cool thing is, their cabin backs up to the sno-park so you can just hop on the machines and go - no need to trailer anywhere. Here is my Daddy and sister-in-law Debbie taking a short break from riding.

While we were out riding Saturday and Sunday, my mom stayed back at the cabin with Sydney and Daphne. The girls waited so patiently for us to return because when we did, it was their turn to ride! Sydney had a blast riding on this cute snowmobile that was just her size.

Daphne had a ball going for sleigh rides over and over again. Grandma even went for a ride with Daphne.

We had a terrific weekend!

We are so thankful for our family and the fun times we get to spend together!

My Very Own "Puppy Love" Tag Book

Yay its here, its here!!!

I was so excited to see a package from Karla's Cottage in my mail box the other day - my "Puppy Love" tag book had arrived. I couldn't wait to open the package, because I just knew it was gonna be fabulous, and boy, was I right!!!

First off, the cover of my tag book. Karla made each cover, added embellishments, and assembled everyone's book that participated in the swap.

The first tag was made by Leslie - Junkgirl Studio . I love the super cute vintage image of the boy and girl on a park bench! Leslie added all kinds of sweet touches like glitter, rick rack, an eyelet ruffle, and a button. It is just darling!

Hmmm... now what do I say about the second tag? Besides, it was made by me. hehe

My third tag was created by Nancy - Nancy Matters. I love the cute little puppy on the front! The back of the tag looks like a vintage postcard - which I love!!! I should have taken a pic, I know.

Isn't this one precious? Tag number 4 was made by Kathy Country Chintz. All the details on this tag are terrific. I love the old calendar used as the background, all the glitter, velvet ribbon, old button, and vintage image. Oh, and you should see the back on this tag too - fabulous!!!

Tag 5 was created by Debra Ganas. She used a darling image of a little girl and her doggie peering out the window. Very charming - love it!

The sixth and final tag was made by Susan Goffman. This tag is loaded with all sorts fun stuff! I love the color combo of red, aqua, and yellow. Susan embellished the tag with wonderful trims, flocked flowers, and a cute crocheted flower. Fun, fun, fun!

I want to thank all the wonderful artists who made the tags that I received. Thanks for taking the time to create the tags. I'll cherish these wonderful pieces of art always. Thanks so much!!!

And Karla, thank you for all the time you spent organizing, assembling, packing, creating, etc... etc... You are amazing!!!

This Years Valentine & Some Teacher Appreciation

For as long as I can remember, I've been my daddy's valentine. Last year he started a new tradition of giving me an old valentine (instead of a box of chocolate) to add to my collection.

Although the chocolate was always a special treat, I LOVE getting a special Valentine to display. This year, I actually received 3 valentines from my daddy but only took pictures of two since one needs a little repair. The one pictured up top was made in Germany. Isn't the detail is amazing? The valentine below was also made in Germany and features the cutest children!
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Today, was the teacher appreciation Valentine's Day box lunch celebration at Sydney's school. I signed up to make 2 lunches. The lady in charge told me this is one of the staffs favorite events since they love to see what comes in. After she told me that, I wondered why I signed up... I always psych myself out hoping I can come up with something creative.
Anyways, this is what I made..... first, the menu
I found the basket at a thrift store, and created a collage for the top using fabric scraps, a copy of a vintage valentine, and various embellishments.

The second basket was also a thrift store find. This one I spray painted red and added a collage to it as well.

I purchased the cute frozen Charlotte image from Kristin at Retro Cafe Art . Make sure you check out her store, she has lots of fun stuff to play and create with.

And, here's a peek at the lunch....

This turned out to be a fun project.

Just our little contribution, to show a teacher that we appreciate the job they do.

Valentine's Day Decorating

I thought I'd share a few pictures of how I decorated for Valentine's Day.

Sorry for the dark pictures. Our living room is on the east side of our house which faces a lot of trees so it's hard to get good lighting...

I love collecting vintage valentines and I have them displayed all over the place.

I usually put this pink tree up in the girls room, but decided I wanted it in the living room this year. I only have a few ornaments so I filled in with vintage valentines, and old millinery flowers.

Here are a couple of my favorite vintage valentines with snowman.

I created a couple things this year too...

My old flirty eye composition doll needed a party hat, and I made a cute little candy box to display as well.

For the candy box, I took a small Russell Stover chocolates heart shaped box and embellished it with crepe paper, a piece of vintage wallpaper, silver glitter and some vintage millinery flowers.

I want to make a few more of these. I think a group of them would be so cute displayed in my silver trophy bowl...

Another project I did was this darling kit I purchased from Tiffany Shabby Scraps.

It was so fun to put together!

I love buying kits because I end up learning some type of new technique to use later.

I'm not putting away my valentine craft supplies just yet. I signed up to make a couple boxed lunches next week for the teaching staff at Sydney's school, it's for their Valentine's Day Box Lunch celebration. Should be fun!

Valentine Swag Makeover

I gave this swag a little makeover today...

It was a piece of "junk" I found at the Goodwill outlet a few weeks ago. I thought I would make use of it for Valentine's Day since the letters were painted on heart shaped wood..
I painted each heart pink and then painted on letters to spell "Be Mine". While the letters were still wet, I sprinkled them with red glass glitter. The red heart between the words is covered with glass glitter too. Next, I cut a bunch of pink and red fabric scraps 2" x 8" and tied them to the grapevine.

A super easy makeover that looks great on our front door.