Easter Decorations

Easter is almost here and I have had my decoration up for a while now, but finally got around to taking a couple photos.   This is my buffet in my dining room.

Here are a couple close up photos.  I have a big collection of paper mach bunnies and a few chicks.  And like most bunnies they multiply in numbers.

This is the dinning room table.  On the table is a small quilt is made from a 'Bunny Hill - Rabbits Prefer Embroidery' pattern.  My mom made this quilt for me - thanks mom, I LOVE this quilt!  If you are familiar with this pattern, you may notice a few differences.  I substituted a few bunnies drawings of my own design.  I wanted the embroidered bunnies to look like a few paper mache ones in my collection.

This is a photo of my mantle in my living room.  I kept my mantle fairly simple, and just put a few of my larger bunnies.

If I remember correctly, this is the first easter bunny I purchased almost 17 years ago!  As you can see my bunny collection has grown (I haven't taken photos of my kitchen yet).

I am linking up with these Blogs ...

http://romantichome.blogspot.com
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
http://www.iheartnaptime.net
http://www.niftythriftythings.com

Button Cards

I bought a new set of stamps last week - it has been quite a while since I have stamped anything!  I had been eyeing this Button Boutique set of stamps from Papertrey Ink for quite a while.  My hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I showed him these stamps and he said go order them - I did.

I have been wanting this set of stamps because I thought it would be a great way to use some of my Grandma's old buttons.  I try and use them, but sparingly - I almost cringe at the thought of sending one to someone and only have it end up in the garbage.

Valentine for Teacher

I wanted to make something special for my boys school teachers.  I found the idea for these treat bags here at the 'Oh Happy Day' blog.  She gives a nice tutorial on her blog.

I made my flower a bit larger and used floral wire instead of toothpicks.  For the centers, I also cut a strip of fringed yellow streamer and wound it around the wire instead of making a ball - easy peasy.

Valentines and Valentine Monster Boxes

This week is Valentine's Day - I am excited!  Last year was a bit of a bummer as my boys told me that they wanted 'store bought' Valentines --aghh!  Valentine's Day sucked last year with Sponge Bob and Spiderman.  This year I am back making valentines and I seriously loving it - it feels like valentine's day!

I covered some Fun Dip candy with a strip of paper and then added the stamped images to the top.  I used some cute Papertrey Inc. valentine treat stamps.  I cut the circles out with a Spellbinder die.  A few of the valentines I add doilies.

This weekend I helped my boys make some Monster Valentine Boxes to take to school.  I think my boys had as much fun making these boxes as I did.  We had fun making the teeth and joking about monster cavities.

Valentine Heart - embroidery

My youngest son starts speech therapy up again this week, so in order to keep myself occupied during his sessions, I am starting a new embroidery project.  One of my favorite holidays is Valentine's Day so I decided to come up with a decoration for my kitchen.  I drew this heart myself (yes - no pattern used) and then colored it in with water color pencils.  This is the first time I have ever colored onto fabric and I sure hope that the color will stay!  I plan on doing some hand embroidery around the heart and flowers.  I have purchased some thread but still not sure what color of thread to use around the lace - white or grey?  Anyway no hurry with this project as I know that will not have it finished by this Valentine's Day.

I plan on turning this hand embroidery into a wall hanging.  I have been making various pink blocks since Christmas in anticipation of this Valentine project.  This started out as a table topper, but I made a few too many blocks - so now it will be a wall hanging.  I am not sure if this will be the final layout - I want to wait until I finish the embroidery (it may change again).  I am not using a pattern so I can make it any size I want - or until I run out of fabric!

Vintage Trick or Treat Quilt - finished!

Whoo Hooo, I finally finished up my Halloween Quilt!  I started the hand embroidery back in August when my boys started back to school.    I thought that it would take me about a year to complete!!  It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I had to chauffeur my boys to various events (speech therapy, religion class, cub scouts, etc)  I would normally just sit there playing games on my phone.  I decided I might has well work on a craft while I wait at all my boys activities.  There were only a few times that I worked on the embroidery at home - mostly when my boys or I had the flu.

I took my quilt into a quilt shop to have someone else machine quilt the quilt.  I picked out a leaf design for the quilt.  I had them quilt right over the top of my hand embroidery.  I love how it turned out!

I have to say that one of my favorite parts about this quilt is the Pom-Pom trim - but that trim is really hard to sew on.  Some of my trim is not sewn on straight, there are some parts of the trim that are showing under the binding.  It bothers me, but not enough to rip out all my stitches!  Oh well, it is sure cute and I love it!

Anyway, I am done, done, done and it feels so good!  The only bad part is that I now have to put it away in a drawer until October.  Would it be really strange to have Halloween decorations out this time of year?  I have this strong desire to go find my Halloween decoration in the attic and put them up - I am not kidding.   I collect papermache Treat Buckets, and I know right where this quilt will hang! Who is up for Halloween in January?

I am starting to work on a valentine wall hanging quilt.  I want something to work on once my son's speech therapy starts back up.  I have started making some of the quilt blocks.  I don't have a pattern so this could get interesting!!  I will try and take some photos this week.

I am linking up with ...

http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com
http://richardquilts.blogspot.com

Snowman Bucket

 A while back I was working on a few Jack-o-Lanterns buckets - well, there was one experiment in which I took a large styrofoam ball and hollowed it out to make the base for the bucket.  Hollowing out the styrofoam ball was rather easy, just cut off the top and scoop out the insides with a spoon.  But I never liked the end product - the walls of the bucket seemed too thick.  Well, I left this hollowed out ball sitting in my closet for a few months.  Then one day, I pick up the hollowed out ball and started walking it to the garbage.  After having it sit in the trash can all day, I got to thinking that this might make a cool 'Snowman' bucket.

So I rescued the styrofoam ball from the trash can, and started to make the Snowman.  I inserted a dowel for the nose and covered it with paper clay.  I then took a small stryofoam ball and cut it in half for the earmuffs.  I then covered the snowman with 'snow' paint, and painted in the eyes, cheeks and nose.  I guess he is kind of cute for an experiment gone bad!