Bedrooms 11/30/09

Let's look at some lovely bedrooms today since it's a holiday weekend.

Isn't this lovely in its English countryside feel? What a joy to see that old trellis used in such a way.

A tad formal in its elegance this bedroom could be home to a courtly gentleman or a ranch out in the west.

A lover of plants must live here, but for me, it would have to be faux plants as I kill just about anything I try to water.

An English author resides in this bedroom. Very simplistic.

A retired ballerina resides here and even has a barre with which to practice on every day. Lovely...and not at all "put together" by an interior designer. The owner's taste definitely shows through in this room.

I love this look but my ceilings aren't tall enough to establish the look. My bed, however, looks very much like the bed...sans the poster frame.

Since we lived in the San Francisco Bay area, this scene is very reminiscent of our home there. Rain on the windows and plants just outside the door are a very common scene for that area.

~*~

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Random Thoughts for Pink Saturday 11/28/09

Be sure and visit with Beverly at howsweetthesound for Pink Saturday. You'll see lots of pink, chicks.
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The end of October I won a giveaway. I usually enter just to add my name to the pot never thinking I'll win it, and it's not a big deal with me anyway. I mean I love them but I just want to help support the bloggers. Anyway, several days ago I received the package in the mail from the blogger. I actually gasped when I opened the box. It far exceeded my expectations. Pictures never do the items justice as I well know, but this is just stunning in person. I'm delighted, Debi, just delighted!!!!

Full of little surprises...

...and more surprises.

The cutest tag I've come across in a long time.

And...squeeeeeeeeal...some vintage jewelry!!
~*~

And this is the kind of tree I'm going to have for the holidays next year hopefully:
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And now that we've had the "eye candy", let's go to the...

Random Thoughts:
Recent experience. Men cannot multi-task like women. Love Bunny got quite distraught recently when I asked him to do something and he was doing something else. Now, this didn't involve something hard. But he actually got a bit testy. Men want one focus at a time. Heaven forbid we should disturb them when they have a tool in their hands! And just think of all the things a "mom" can do at one time. *Smile* Men don't seem to have the ability to do that, but they are worth keeping around. I love my man!
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A book was recommended lately called Cracking the Boy's Club Code and it is truly wonderful for those women who are still in the working world. Basically it tells you to stop acting like a little girl when dealing with men. Lower your voice instead of that high little girl voice and you'll have more authority.

Dress for success! Yep, if you dress like a slut, you'll be treated as such. When I was in the working field I dressed professionally. Nothing on my body gave away my modesty. I cringe now when I go into stores and see what they wear for work! Even in my lounging I don't wear what those women wear to work. Flip flops? T-shirts? Sneakers? Bra straps showing? Tummies showing? How in the world do you expect to be treated like a lady if you "put it all out there for show? And don't give me that "Well, they should respect me"; noooooo, they shouldn't if you don't respect yourself! Act like a professional woman; you'll get farther.
~*~

Never drive around with a license plate that says "SPDBRAT." Duh...
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Money talks, but chocolate definitely gives ME a buzzzzzzzzz.
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While driving by the high school on my way shopping the other day I noticed the cars in the student's parking lot. Let me tell you, most of them have more expensive cars than I have. Now, we do not live in a wealthy town. This ain't Hollywood, folks! But those kids couldn't possibly afford those kind of cars even if they do work. Mom and dad had to buy it for them. Oh, maybe they pay for the gas, but there is no way most of them could afford a car as nice as the ones I saw in the lot. We never bought our kids a car. They bought it, maintained it, bought their own gas and worked at jobs to do this. It has served them well. They are both very independent and well off today for the things we wouldn't do for them. I feel sorry for the kids today who will now certainly inherit the debt from our government and will not have the extra money we had.
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Love Bunny had a meeting with the bishop this past week to discuss some details on home teaching assignments. Just before he was to leave I noticed he had on a Harley-Davidson t-shirt (the one for H-D biker wanna-be! LOL) Conversation went like this:

She: I woudn't go visit the bishop in a Harley-Davidson t-shirt.

He: You're going to visit with the bishop?????

She: No. Let me put that another way: YOU'RE not going to go to church and visit with the bishop in that t-shirt.

He smiled. He changed his shirt.
~*~

At any given time, hubs can have 2 to 3 pairs of pants along with shirts on the chair next to his bed. I asked him recently if he would try to reduce it to one set of clothing for the next day. I think the key word he heard was "try". *Sigh*.........
~*~

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Marie Antoinette #3

Happy Thanksgiving. Hubby and I are off having the holiday with my daughter, granddaughter and grandson. I hope you're with family and enjoying the blessing of having those you love around you and lots of food on the table.

Another Marie Antoinette doll I finished in which I used the court jester diamond pattern since it's rather French looking and would have been frivolous and light-hearted for Marie. Throughout history the necklace has always been indicative of her beheading so I added that and a ribbon to the form.

And here she is on her pestestal.

And I should advise you to keep alert to this blog because....

...this Marie dress form will be a giveaway soon! Yep, you heard that right. She's going to be given away!!!
~*~


I'm grateful for patience. I don't have any but Love Bunny does because he'd have to have a lot to be married to me. So I'm grateful for him putting up with my impatience.
~*~

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Happy Thankful Thanksgiving

I wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving. We'll be traveling this day to visit our granddaughter so I wanted to put my feelings in this post. This is exactly how I feel this time of year: Thankful. Thankful for family, home, love and my Savior and His sacrifice for me. Especially love. Please just take a moment and ponder things that are so much bigger in this world than having "stuff." My best to each of you and my sincere thanks to each and every single one of you who deems me worthy to be viewed. You bless my life more than I could ever tell you and I hope and pray I touch yours in some small way. My heart has been very tender lately with feelings for the love we show each other. Again, Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. That's what life is truly all about.
~*~
Connie

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New Kind of Roses

Since I have to make some things—having been challenged by my eBay group—for my Christmas tree next year, I've been looking at some inexpensive things I can make along with some purchased balls. I found these scrunched flowers and though I'd share a tutorial with you.

They are originally made with card stock and this is what I had on hand tonight; although, I did make some with coffee filters since I have a glut left over from making the roses. Do NOT try the coffee filter roses if you've had too much caffeine! It could be detrimental to your well being. Trust me on this one! Stick with these "scrunch flowers."

Anyway, I'm going to show you how to do both and the difference. Yes, there is a difference. Coffee filter ones are very soft and "floppy" while the card stock dries rather rigid.

As I said I used what was available and I had these water colors so I used them on both. I'll try acrylic paints later. I also learned some valuable lessons you won't have to bother with since I've found all the hard things beforehand. ;-)

I made a template out of a sheet of copy paper. You will need 2 sizes and this is what I started out with: the large one is about 4" wide...

...the small one is about 2" wide. I think this is too big so I'll do some smaller next time.

Size comparison for you.

Cut 3 pieces of the large one and 3 pieces of the small one. Then spray a mist of water on each of the six flowers. Mist, not saturate and punch a hole in the center after placing all 6 together. Then scrunch it up into a tiny little ball—all six pieces. Scrunch, scrunch and more scrunch! Put a brad through them starting with the smaller 3 first and then adding the 3 larger ones.

This is the coffee filter one. Very pliable.

This is the card stock one. I experimented with the watercolors. Dabbing gently on pink and then yellow.

The two of them side by side.

This morning I got up and did this one with card stock and photographed it out in the early morning light so it has that ethereal blue light that comes just before the sun peaks and peeks over our horizon on this side of the world. I love it but it doesn't give the brightest and best light. The others were taken at my kitchen table at night with incandescent light.

This one I did with the original size of the small flower but decreased the size to 2 3/4" for the large flower. I like it much better. I shall try it again with 2 1/2" for the large flower and 1 1/2" for the small flower. I, also, did the watercolor with a brush that was almost dry. I wet the brush, dried it off with a paper towel and then stuck it right into the red paint in the paint tray. I didn't dilute it in a bit of water, just almost full strength and touched the ends very lightly with the brush. You can experiment on your own for the look you prefer. Very easy and cheap.

Okay, since Love Bunny is tired of having all this stuff on the kitchen table I've decided to skip the "coloring" part and just use plain white card stock for this one. My craft room is in such a disarray that I can't even function in there. Yikes. I guess I'd better clean it up a bit, but I needed a bunch of space on a table top to do this experiment. Hence, these are the last ones for a while until after Thanksgiving.

These were the easiest and quickest. I used a compass to make 3 circles 3" round and 3 circles 1 1/2" and cut them out with some fancy schmancy scissors, scrunched them unmercifully after misting them and then glued them together with a button glued into the center. Use your creative mind and put things other than buttons in the center. Some glue and glitter in the center, a piece of jewelry, ribbon bows, bottle caps or anything you desire can be adorable. I don't know if I'll be making a bunch of these for the Christmas tree next year but I shall make some. I am going to also make them out of scrapbooking paper in pink with roses. With those I'll not mist them at all. I think it is thin enough to just scrunch, glue together with a button and put a little ribbon on them to hang from the tree or simply stand them on a limb for fillers.



Okay, okay, I just couldn't stand it without pink so I went ahead and just dabbed pink acrylic craft paint on the edges and look how much more depth this gives it. This last one is definitely the easiest and quickest flower.

This is absolutely, positively the last one before I publish this blog post. Again, the easiest way is to cut circles, scrunch and glue together. Very, very quick. I used 2 different designs of paper here and put some glue in the center and sprinkled it with some glitter. No spritzing the paper this time. Oooh, and I did a 1 1/2" on the outer one and 3/4" on the inner circle. A very nice flower for a card. Cut out several and have on hand for whatever occasion you have.

These would be absolutely great for making cards and putting a flower on them. Quick enough not to get too involved and you can make several ahead at one time and have them ready whenever you might need them. After all, they can't get any more "scrunched" without looking even better! Happy crafting!!!!
~*~

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Show Off Your Cottage Monday 11/23/09

Welcome again to Cielo's SOYCM. Click to visit the other participants and enjoy looking into our homes.
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As I've said, a great deal of my time each day revolves around this office. I believe in beauty in all I do and having it around me. This is my mouse pad and my note pad I use. Pink is the main color in this house.

A small pillow I have from an out-of-print Cyrus Clark fabric. It sits on my window seat in this office. I can view the street from this perch in my office but I don't really look out the window much when I'm on the computer.

Another tiny pillow I have that I made from an antique Wilendur tablecloth. That little rose in the bottom of the photo is a little Old Country Roses teacup my daughter gave me and I made a small hanging arrangement out of it.

The ribbon roses I made are on a vintage lace curtain that adorn that window.

One of a pair of hanging electric paper lantern my daughter gave me. There is one on each side. I added the roses and ribbon. They give the most romantic light at night.

Another lamp I froufrou-ed up many years ago. I buy them at garage sales, paint them and then decal, decoupage or paint roses on them.

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I'm very grateful to be able to stay home. I know a lot of women want to work forever but not me. Also, some don't have that luxury. I'm very fortunate that I have a wonderful hubby who can support me to be here when our adult kids call and want to chat with me. I'll be forever grateful for that.
~*~

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For My Porch

I'm going to tease you a bit with this one, chicks! First, little snippets of what I just made before we come to the BIG image. Now don't go sneaking down to the bottom of the post. Shame on you; you peeked!!

It's very windy in our city today. Cold and sunny though. My house isn't a great one for taking photos so I did the best I could.

A trio of paper roses along with a feathered background and some little faux flowers.

An exquisite embroidered ribbon that I attached with 3 pearl tip pins.

An old sweater clip glued on along with 2 more paper roses, faux pearls wrapped around it and shimmery iridescent posies.

Another view. Are you catching the vision here or have you guessed what it is yet? :-)

I took this picture with the sun shining and it isn't showing the beauty of the wreath but...

...this one does!! I photographed this one on the little grape arbor we have on our back fence so it was in shadow. I love this feathery wreath. I made it for my front door. Squeeeeeeeeeeealllll!!!!!

And attached to my red front door! Looks even prettier on the door and in person.
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A quick update on our son for those of you who read about his ordeal (read here) in April and are asking me about him frequently.

He had surgery 2 weeks ago and is doing much better with the pain in his leg. He still has blurred vision at times, still has ringing in his ears, but this surgery repaired his knee cap, which was severely injured when he was attacked. He can bear no weight on his leg for 2 weeks (this mean crutches) and cannot work for 3-6 months. So his boss is trying to find him a job that will keep him off of his feet. That's not easy for an RN. One of the gang is in jail, two are awaiting trial, one cannot be found and one is still not identified from the gas station tape. He is truly doing just fine though. For this I am truly grateful. We are so blessed!
~*~

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