My Grandma's Wedding China

I am over at the Andrea Howard Blog today, finishing up our mini-series on fine china. Today's showcase is extra meaningful to me, because it is the china which my Grandma chose upon her wedding in 1932. Head on over to the Goddess for more info and pictures.

Join me back here tomorrow for some more of my favorite pictures from the photo shoots of china. Who knew photographing dishes could be so fun!

Wedding Fine China

I am showcasing my china pattern today over at Andrea Howard Blog. In fact, Andrea and I are having a mini-series of sorts over there. We are talking about the fine china we own and adore. We are sharing how they came into our possession and the special people behind them. Today, I shared my wedding china. On Thursday I'll show you my Grandma's wedding china. So if you love all things pretty, click on over and feast your eyes!

More Easter Goodies

Easter was a fun season for us! Not only did we make our traditional Resurrection Rolls and put extra emphasis on thinking about Christ's Resurrection, we did several crafts and decorations. The one that I enjoyed the most was these origami lilies.

Origami is an art that I have always thought too hard and tedious for me to do. But when I saw this tutorial with step by step photos, I decided to give it a try. After a trip to the craft store to get some pretty papers, I got busy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could do it!

To add even more fun, I followed this tutorial to make some cute, coordinating birds!

I liked making these so much, that I made another set for my entry-way table.

Easter Goodies

Easter is long passed, but I want to be sure and post the goodies we made. I hosted a gathering of friends on Easter Sunday for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. While I wanted things to be pretty, I didn't want to be stressed or spend much money. So, I started looking around the house for things I already owned that could be used for decorations. I also perused the bookmarks on my computer where I had saved fun craft ideas.

For table decorations, the kiddos and I made coffee filter flowers using this tutorial. We had a lot of fun painting and cutting to create a variety of flowers. I took the flowers and used floral tape to attach the flowers to silk stems. We were excited about the result:

I found some railroad nails and tied three of them together with white ribbon to signify the nails used to nail Jesus to the cross. As an added decoration, we placed one of the coffee filter flowers in the nails.

Did you notice the table runner? I will post more about that later.

My First Real Project With The Cricut!

A few weeks ago, I got on a crafty kick. Remember? I made this book-page canvas wall hanging.

It was fall-themed, so I eventually had to take it down leaving a blank space on my wall.

Earlier this week, I saw a DIY post at Blue Cricket Design showing how to make a beautiful book-page canvas with a silhouette of birds. I decided to make one for the blank space on my wall!

Since I recently gained access to a Cricut machine and have downloaded the Sure Cuts A Lot program, I wanted to use it to make the silhouette instead of drawing it as done in the tutorial. I did a search for free SVG files of bird and branches and found this one. I imported the branch to Sure Cuts a Lot and manipulated it and cut it out several times, combining them to make a branch to my liking. I also cut out the bird in two different sizes to give variety.

I stayed up late into the night to finish it, because I was so excited to see the final product! I love the world that the cricut has opened, and can't wait for future projects. This one fills the blank space on my wall nicely!

We Don't See This Much!

Some strange things are happening around here!

We are seeing things we've never seen while living in this small town of ours!

Here is a picture of one:

Yes, there is a fire in our fireplace!

I know those of you in warmer, more northern climates are asking yourselves, "what's the big deal?" Here's the big deal: We have lived in this wonderful blessing of a house for six and a half years, and this year is the first that we have used the fireplace.

As you are aware, it just doesn't get very cold here in southeast Alabama, so I never really had any desire to do the necessary work (haul in firewood, clean the ashes afterward, etc) to have a fire. I also had babies to care for and worry about and a fire just didn't fit into the picture.

But, as babies do, mine grew up and wonder of wonders, we are actually having a cold winter (for a couple of weeks, maybe)! So we have been enjoying our fire. Sitting in front of it with a nice blanket and a cup of coffee has become my favorite past time.

And while I am talking about wonders, let me show you this picture:

This is the fountain on our town square. I love this fountain and have taken many pictures of it during the time we have lived here. But, I have NEVER seen it like this! These two weeks of winter have provided a beautiful icy display.

Room Re-Do

For several years now, our daughter's room has been a pretty pink girlie room! It was full of pink gingham with lime green accents. But this year, she decided that she wanted to re-do it for her birthday present. This sweet picture of her with some of her friends gives you an idea of the pinkness!


The inspiration for the new room came from our friend, Lindsey's room. Our daughter looks up to Lindsey, so it was a natural for her to want to pattern her room after Lindsey's. Our daughter picked out the bedding and the rest of the room was built around that.

After lots of shopping, crafting, painting and more, here is how the room turned out:


Lindsey painted the big C on an old ceiling tile that I had salvaged from the trash a couple of years ago. She also created the wall hanging you see on the right near the lamp.



The lamp is one I had crafted to fit in the pink room. Here is what it looked like then:


We removed the ribbon and painted the shade brown. Then we added a bow and button to embellish it.



We already had this jewelry box in her room. It has three little windows for placing photos. To make it fit in the room, we glued ribbons to the back of the spaces. We also added little 'gems' to make it even more interesting. You know, once you get started with that glue gun, it is hard to stop!


Add this canvas creation also by Lindsey,



and the curtain scarf and ribbon embellished mirror,




and the room is complete! Our daughter is thrilled! I think it is a much appreciated birthday present!

(You can see more of Lindsey's work by clicking here.)