Gift Guide for your not so average girl...

a treasury to help you find the perfect gift for her :)

she is cold as ice... but I bet I could melt her so...

In response to this weeks nonteamtreasury challenge #57 here for your pleasure is a weekend treasury :)

Cinnamon Star Ornaments are done! :)

It's true! :) I let them cool and then adorned them each with a small jingle bell for added charm :)

Here they are!! :)

Cinnamon Star Ornaments are in the oven!

It's true :) I'm so excited about them! The cinnamon is a bit intoxicating, I hope my family can get through the 2 hours they need to be in the oven :) I plan to also try another recipe to bake ornaments later today :) but for now, here's a pic of the cinnamon stars before the oven! :) The recipe I used is here should you want to try it :) Thought I admit I added ground orange peel and ground cloves to the mix :)

What are you getting into today?

Day of raking leaves

My sister and I were out raking up leaves and while the city picks up the leaves we rake, we have to put them in bags and hull them to the curb OR rake them there in one big pile... well we 1st tried a wheel barrel to get the leaves there since it was taking far too long to just rake the leaves to the front yard. The wheel barrel route lasted one trip to the front and then the wheel went flat and it veered to the left... all the way to the front :(. No bueno!

Continuing to rake and racking our brains as to an easier solution I remembered we had some plastic drop clothes that were huge - we could rake the leaves onto that and then take it to the front curb to be sucked up by the city! Viola!

Here's what it looked like from the deck...



...needless to say it cut the time in half! That plastic drop was big and could handle a lot of leaves! :)

Hopefully if you're looking for a way to cut down your time raking leaves you have a drop cloth handy to use. If not, the plastic tarps are pretty cheap at any home depot, lowes, etc.

Happy fall everybody :) Stay warm! :)

winds of change...

..they're coming soon...

a great collection of items for that special someone :)

treasury in response to the nonteamchallenge :) #56!
http://treasurychallengenonteam.blogspot.com/

So cozy at home...

with the wind whistling outside painting a beautiful picture of leaves frolicking down the road... why not stay inside and enjoy the home... enjoy!

Good times, good finds and good food in NYC! :)

This past week my mom had rounded up the three of us girls (easier said than done ;0)) and stayed with our cousin Liz (who you might know better as the writer of Sex and the City, and she's the co-author of best seller He's Just Not That Into You) in the Big Apple :)

The trip was a blur we were SO busy!!

The 1st day there my mom had gotten us amazing seats at Dr. Oz' show! While they were moving the set around, Dr. Oz came closer to where we were sitting an my mom went ahead and asked why he doesn't wear a tie! :) He then grabbed the microphone from the guy who gets the crowd pumped up for all the applause's and asked what her name was!!! (squee!!!) Dr. Oz then said "Janel asked why I don't wear a tie" and went on to explain that when viewers normally see someone in a tie at their home its normally a guy who is serving them papers so his look is in between the tie and scrubs. Which was pretty cool and made sense. Dr. Oz was really personable... he had a segment where a girl had made brownies using a can of pumpkin mixed with Duncan Hines mixed topped with a bit of drizzled peanut sauce, well he brought over the platter and shared them with us!!:D In addition to all these fun tidbits, you might see my mom, sisters and I on the 400th show of his :). I'll be sure to post the youtubes of it when I see it :0). Before we made it to Dr. Oz's show we roamed around Rockefeller Center and across the street where we saw Billy Bob Thorton and Matt Lauer for the Today Show. We were literally 12 feet from them!! Crazy fun times! :)

We then galavanted around in the NBC store where someone offered us Jimmy Fallon monologue tickets, so we grabbed food before hand (yummy chicken that I can't remember the name of the restaurant :s) and once we went through all the security, briefing and were there for the monologue it felt like it took not even 10 minutes! Still, we had some laughs and it was really cool to see the set that they use... and that the background of a window with building lights behind it is fake :s. I did not know - ha!

Wow, that was just day one. Maybe I'll share day 2 tomorrow or something this is getting to be a LONG entry! :D

Onto a picture ;) - this is one of the items I scored while visiting! :) Found in a jewelry and second hand store called Jillery. It was so charming I had to share :)

These are a few of my favorite things!

Though my very favorite person is not listed here ;)

Hope you like them too! :)

A child knows... your secrets...

but loves you anyway...



Pulled from my favorites... enjoy!

She likes feathers...flowers...trees and lace...

you might say she's an outdoors kind of girl...
but you'll find she's happiest when she's at home.



one of a few treasuries I'll be listing today... had to share! Enjoy! :)

Viking Hat with Huge Horns is done!

To do:

- Finish viking hat with uber huge horns - check!

- Figure out how anyone's made a beard before without a pattern - about to find out!

In the meantime I thought I'd share a pic of the completed hat! :)



Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! Over here in VA we're getting SNOW in OCTOBER. I'm sure stranger things have happened :)

The Viking Hat in progress

I've been working on some other projects this week alongside the hat and horns :) I've discovered I need to invest some $ in a camera because my phone as a camera, well, sucks :s. So my apologies for the crap photos, I aspire for better!! :) And will get a camera that takes clear decent photos.

Here is the hat and the 1st horn. The horn is not yet finished, it will be slightly curved and attached to the hat but I first want to complete both horns and then curve them at the same time for a better chance of consistency :)

Enjoy!

White Crocheted Snowflakes...OOOoooh... Dreamy!

I love me some snowflakes! I love how when they fall, being as white as they are, they cast a contrast against the sky... its all so scenic to me!

Oh and the days where it would snow from morning to night growing up... the sky would be a shade of gray... so pretty..☺

Yes, I love me some snowflakes, some winter wonder land and decorating the inside of your home as if you lived in a ginger bread house! I'll take two please ;).

In an effort to let other people decorate their trees and other trimmings in a winterwonderland fashion, keeping in mind the snowfilled winter skies I thought these pictures were fitting to list a few crocheted snowflakes:

I hope they get you in the winter wonderland mood too!

Autumn... You leaf me breathless...

a Sunday treasury for the fall season :)

enjoy!

Soar...

Soar...inspiring gift ideas :)

Mainly because I couldn't sleep and needed to do something to pass the time. :) I hope you like it! I think it may be my new favorite!♥

What I'm working on for the Hubs :)

The Mister has been asking for this awesome knitted viking hat & beard for a few months now... between etsy and ravelry I was able to find a pattern for the hat at Mamachee's etsy shop :).

Here's a pic from one of her listings :) what a cutie! :)



Here is the work I've done so far from her pattern and a shot of the yarn I'm using if you like the color ;)





I must add that I learned a new stitch in the process :) fpdc = front post double crochet ☺ Learning new things makes me so happy!!♥

I've had to add some extra width to the hat pattern only because my mister has quite a huge melon on him. Which is also why I haven't bought the viking hat and mustache set from someone else. I'm happy to do this of course after he said he'll wear it "all the time" :)lol - we'll see.;) But I love watching his face light up when he sees I'm working on it :) I'll keep you posted :D.

The final result will be similar to that of this picture from crochetjandra



only the beard will be a Chestnut heather :) by lions brand wool ease :)



Since my mister is somewhat of a red head, he's got some burgundy going on... so jealous ;) but I'd rather admire it on him though than have it for my hair ;D I love my mister :)

So - whatcha working on these days? :)

Heaven... Don't miss for the world...

Vinylartstudios inspired this treasury...



...for a lil reflection and reminder, the things of this world will pass away, we're made for more... thank God ;)

Pumpkin, Spice and Everything nice...

Because so many favorites were begging to be added to a treasury ;) Enjoy!

The birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees

...and this thing called love.



SO it's the weekend again which means its treasury time :) I've had numerous treasury features this week myself but would rather share those I've made :).

Was out taking pictures with my sister today as well to revamp some listings that have "gathered dust" and need a fresh face for the public. :0) I'll be changing up the pics in the next few days and doing a few new lists. Etsy is so addicting. :)

As for this treasury - enjoy! :)

Gray... but not subdued..

items definitely not lacking in vitality, intensity or strength :) thank you talented etsians!



So after the upsetting treasury delete yesterday :S I got back up on the horse and made this lovely :)

Currently, as I type, this treasury is at #3 on the hotness scale for treasuries on etsy. This has never before happened to me and I must share! :) Thank you for taking the time to take a peek HERE :)

Shh...

I woke up this morning before everyone else, luckily the situation proved to be inspiration for the title! :)

Shh...

I will say, after I had the treasury up for half the day, I went to look at who had left comments and somehow hit delete :/ talk about a bummer!! Luckily I had sent the artists who were featured in the treasury each an email so I was able to piece it back together, good as new... less all the lovely comments that were originally there :( but not all was lost ;)

God is so faithful

We bought our house a little over two years ago, not long after we moved in did we realize it had water problems. So much so that one room has been left untouched with a dehumidifier to hold over the room until we could do something about it. Recently my once a mechanic husband has been swapping services with a friend of his who is a general contractor, which means we got to take a closer look at what water problems the house really has for a very fair price. Initially we thought that a sliding door toward the back of our house put in by a previous owner was the main culprit so we went ahead and purchased a new sliding door.

Upon installing the door our contracting friend found out that the people who "harry-homemade" installing the old sliding door also messed up when putting on not only the roofing causing the water to not run away from the house, but also put on "town home" gutters that are not meant to take the load of water that runs off our single family home... and in addition to finding out we need new roof... the guys peeled back bits of our siding to reveal that there was no Tyvek put down to the plywood before adding the shingles, ergo our entire house not being wrapped in a nice blanket of Tyvek means that the water was rotting our house and this was, well... not okay.

SO yay! New roof, new siding and probably some other new things we are bound to find along the way of this soon to be redid home!

But I saved the best of this story for last. When my husband was helping the contractor remove the old sliding door, they found that the harry homemaker thought it was a good idea to rig the wiring under the door and not put a protective case around said wiring. Had the wire gotten "hot" on its own and touched any metal portion of the door the next person to touch that doors handle or any other metal part of the door, well that would be the last of them. SO not COOL! If anything, let this be a witness to people who try and do things to "improve" their home on their own. BE SAFE about it. The whole house could very well end up in a pile of ashes... so believe me when I say its worth the money to get someone to do it the RIGHT way, the FIRST time. :s

My wonderful husband is out today working on his buddy contractors vehicle again, and tomorrow we'll be going over what changes we are hoping for the house, and what we can budget. But I feel its important to share not only the message of when buying a house do all that is within your power to get a house inspection (we were sure the Broker/Realtor had this done for us, but had they, really, these issues among a few others would have been brought to light and (hopefully) rectified)... but ALSO to point out how God has been so faithful to us and not giving us more than we can handle. The 1st year it was our a/c/heater that went out on us and we had to replace the entire unit - but we were able to do it financially (thank God). I'm just so thankful we hadn't known about these other issues than or I think I might have been ridiculously overwhelmed at all that was needed... baby steps. And I realize, these are not first world problems in the least... we are blessed beyond what we even realize. And having house issues I'd say is better than having a health issue. Thank God, I do. But would also appreciate prayers during this time. So far, I haven't felt over whelmed but see this as an opportunity to change some things about the house that we've wanted to since moving in... creaky flooring, soft spots in theflooring, etc.

Anyone have some housing issue stories to share? Feel free! Would love to be in understanding company ;)

On the hill...

Today's treasury:

I can scan the horizon... I can reflect... I can wish for winter in the spring of the day... and hope that my dreams will never fade away...

And I wonder... does the moon feel at home?

Does it feel loved by all the twinkling stars around it, blanketed by the blackness of the sky? ...always on a journey... back to where its been...



Today's treasury started with a few of my favorites that I'd been collecting, excited to share and put to a story of some kind :)... and it ended with a fun science artsy treasury instead! I used Etsy Search to find some new shops and their beautiful pieces :) This photo was my center piece by lovely meluseena...



Enjoy!

Little Girls Precious Granny Square Baby Blanket

About a year ago now, I was in Iowa visiting for Thanksgiving Holiday. My parents took me and my husband to a thrift store to find some knick knacks for the house and I remember at the time I was looking for a doily for the bedroom. The thrift store had their blankets and larger doilies hung up on hangers and as I went sifting through the rack I stumbled upon this thick soft rectangle blanket. I'm not sure if the creator had further provisions for this piece because it was too wide to be a scarf and not wide enough to be a lap blanket. But the yarn was beautiful and they were selling the item for a mere 50 cents! I realized that the amount of yarn in this item was at least 4 skeins and with the weight of this yarn we were looking at $5.00 per skein. So what would take $20.00 of yarn to make this unloved item was being sold for next to nothing! SOLD! My mom ended up shipping the half a blanket to me a bit ago since we had too much stuff to carry back with us for our flight as it was...once I unraveled the scarf/blanket/thingy and made my 4 balls of yarn, I knew I would make a baby blanket out of it due to the colors but not until my friend from Iowa told me she was expecting did I set to work! I have since purchased the white yarn and a few skeins and changed my mind about what colors I would put together with what.

I also did some hunting for options on how to connect granny squares and found this blog not only helpful but entertaining ;) I love the colors she uses in her creations! I ended up using the effect of "crochet as you go" to connect the squares and I'm pretty pleased with it ;)

Here is the first of two blankets I've created with the yarn from the thrift store.






I love how sweet it looks and I know my friends lil girl will make it all the more precious! :)

I'll share the other blanket once complete! :) I think it will be the boys version but still adorable as ever! :)

Thanks for reading!and yay for thrift stores! :)

Lovely Fall...

the oranges.. greens... browns... the way the trees start to bow... as their life retreats until the spring...



Okay, last day of the 3 Day weekend and I'm trying to keep the idea of going back to work out of my mind... so, here is my distraction for this morning... please enjoy this treasury... onto another project!

Delicately Refined...

Newest treasury!



Some of my new favorites mixed with a few of my older favorites. Many of my friends from the Etsy thread "We Love Vintage Do You"

There are many days I miss the solitude and the peacefulness of a walk along a dirt road in the midwest... the adventures had as a kid before there were lots of video games, we were outside much of the time... things seemed simpler then too of course. I can still appreciate the breath of fresh air the scenes of nature bring and the items that remind me of times gone by... delicately refined.

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky... as we walk in fields of gold...

My latest treasury...always excited to share! :)



So she took her love... for to gaze awhile...upon the fields of barley

In his arms she fell as her her hair came down... among the fields of gold

~Sting

****************************************

I've had Stings song in my head lately while perusing etsy and seeing the lovely images of fall fields... I remember in high school listening to this song and dreaming about what it might look like, this field of gold and the peace that might be found there... thank God for beautiful music, talented musicians and artists of all kinds, no? Enjoy!

Autumn loves it when I come to her house...

My latest treasury... always excited to share! :)




we play games, drink tea...we make things, she tells me stories... I am captured by her elegance, enchanted by her colors, her style... how she changes the leaves & romances winter to fruition... once she's gone, I always look forward to seeing her again... I'm so glad Autumn loves it when I come to her house...

DOMO!!!!

Hello! :) Next on the to do list became an amigurumi Domo! :) My friends son has a birthday coming up and this was a last minute put-him-together-though-you've-never-made-him-before project. I looked at a few pictures of Domo and set to work. I had safety eyes already at my dispose so that was lucky :)- I don't know of any stores that carry them, only those online. I did improvise the pattern and typed it up as I went. There are a few things I want to tweak on it but here is my first amigurumi domo! :) Enjoy!

Bomb-Omb is done! :)

Feast your eyes! :) I knew I'd be using sparkly fun yarn for the fuse end since it added to what Bomb Omb is! :D I also used a separate gray yarn from the one I used to build up the top of his body because I thought it looked more like a winding fuse :) All in all I'm happy with how he turned out - hope you like him too! :D

Update: If you want to make your own Bomb Omb I wrote up the pattern - you can purchase it here.