Goodbye Winter

As winter comes to an end I am always open armed in welcoming spring and warmer weather but I wanted to take a minute to cherish some good things that happened this winter. We got a new car and my husband got his first job in his field. We had so much snow. We added to our family with a furry bundle of joy. I have expanded my cooking repertoire to cooking every night and making wonderful bread. We have had almost a half of a year together as a married couple and we are making big plans for the future.
What do you have to celebrate?

On a side note, with the schedule changes around here and increased level of stress I haven't been crafting much, but hopefully things will settle down- I'm ready to sew! Any projects you're working on?

Thrifty Thursday- give the dog groomer the boot.

I found the best poodle groomer last year. The owners could be straight out of "Best in Show" and they are true show groomers- Mingo always came home looking absolutely spiffy. When we added our second poodle (Mingo is a doodle but we always got him trimmed like a poodle b'c he's an f1b) there was just no way we could afford two grooming bills every 3 or 4 months at $100 a pop. So, I started looking into grooming them myself after my parents suggested it. Of course my Mom would suggest this- she cut the families hair when we were growing up- I got some silly haircuts though....
I digress, and really, it's best to avoid thinking about those times...did your parents cut your hair? how about your ears(along with a "woops, sorry honey")?


For Christmas we got an Andis professional electric razor with 4 attachments for different lengths. We ended up buying nail trimmers at $15 and and grooming shears at $6 and I think the razor costs about $100 and has a two year guarantee. Eventually we'll have to replace the ceramic blade which isn't too expensive. Regardless, we're still ahead here at $121 for two dogs for two years of grooming!This is the second time we've groomed Mingo and the first time we used the razor with no attachments to get close to his face and to trim his feet. Trimming his ears and tail took some time and I admit that the first time we trimmed his ears he looked a bit goofy-hello learning curve. Watching lots of youtube videos on poodle grooming really helped.

before

during- lots and lots of hair to sweep up


after- a perfectly happy dog and well groomed if I do say so myself and a nicely padded wallet thanks to all this savings!

Only Wednesday?

We're on a new schedule in our house. With my beau's new job he is getting up at 6:30 and we're hitting the bed around 10:00. We used to be night owls and I'd force myself awake to get into work at 9:30. Not anymore! I'm kinda digging this new schedule though- this morning I made breakfast, packed his lunch and prepped a chicken for the crock pot (my first whole chicken prep- it was a bit too early for me to have the innards not in a bag-eww) all by 7:20 and now I'm reading blogs! Sounds pretty good! I feel all mom like, caretaker and productive.
My brother said something to me when he visited about making things perfect no matter where you are. I've put off making some finishing details around the house because we're going to be moving again. We've been here two years and we're moving in the summer. There are two places with long curtains and I'm dying to update them- you might see those in projects soon! Long curtains fit at any house right? Hmm, maybe a shower curtain too....

I'm off to love on my adorable puppies that are snuggling on their bed and then try to conquer my day.

Tuesday Tutorial-Tassle Mania!!

I have always loved the fabulous over the top tassles. I've found some tutorials in blog land and decided to give it a go. These are my first ones and I'll definitely amp up the glam factor on the next few.

I took a bunch of pictures but they don't seem to coincide too well with the steps- I'll have to get better at this. Feel free to ask questions.

1. Gather your materials. You'll need:
-a topper- I used a Christmas ornament and a small door knob with the metal parts running through removed
-a cap from a hairspray bottle or whatever you find that fits the base of your topper.
-Your chosen trims
Twine if you are having long trims coming from the center as in the pink and green one.





you can see in this second picture that I've already looped the ribbon through the knob for hanging. (step 3) and gathered my middle (step 2 )

2. gather your middle and tie with a piece of twine. For the pink and green tassle I cut up pieces from a sample fabric square. For the lighthouse tassle I didn't do this step.


3. Secure your topper to the cap. This can be done one of two ways. For the lighthouse topper I just hot glued it on. For the pink and green topper, I used a black door knob so to make the hook I strung a ribbon through the hole and tied a not on the bottom. Next you need to make a hole in your plastic top and put the ribbon not through it thus connecting the ribbon loop to the knob and to the plastic top.



4. Take your middle fringe set and put inside your top with lots of super glue to secure.


5. Add your next layers with your trims to your desired satisfaction, building layers and covering the outside of the plastic top.





I thought I was done on this step with the pink and green tassle- I showed it to my husband and he said it looked like an octopus- black trim to the rescue.... What do you think? Should I have left it like this?




And Voila- beautiful tassles. The lighthouse one is commemorative for my husband and I- he proposed at night on the top of Cape Hatteras. The pink and green one I love but have nowhere to put it just yet....

Love is grand.

I hope you had a wonderful valentine's day. My husband blew me away with amazingness as always and we had a perfect night. He cooked a fabulous meal that included my favorite lobster macaroni and cheese and crab legs paired with a great Malbec and a first course salad. He knows just how to spoil me.

happy headbands

This week I've been making headbands. After work I'll come home and throw one on and it instantly makes me happy. how could they not?! Instant sassy. These are all inspired by other blogs out there.

The original for this headband had one big heart, but I like my three. I used sobo glue and everytime I wear it some sequins fall off that I have to replace- so you should try something different if you make one.





I found the tutorial for this flower here and thought it would be perfect on a headband.




I've been re-purposing this fabric and decided it'd be a great go with everything headband. The tutorial I found for the flower is here. I attached the flower to a pin thinking I could wear the headband with or without it and that I could then add it to blazers if I felt like it. This is definitely the best fitting most stay put headband. I took a regular hair elastic and cut it in half then measured my head where I would want the headband. I then subtracted the amount of the elastic from this total and made the fabric that length. I added some extra stitching for detail. Just sew the elastic into the fabric fold at the end.



I am definitely going to make some more! What do you think?

Wise Words

We have been blessed with a job offer at a great company. We're picky people though and want to hold out for another company that he got a second interview with. Here's where our problem is- He had to accept the first job by this Monday at 3 and the position starts the 14th. Meanwhile, he won't hear from the second company until the end of the week! And we really want that position-more money, long term and more of what Derek wants to do. We called and chatted with the interviewer about Derek's status and he is "the leading candidate" but still no confirmation-we have to wait until Friday! eeep. So we have been weighing our odds here and been all befudled. He's going forward with the process of starting with the first job with the risk of "quitting" his first day if he gets a better offer.

I know- it feels bad in the soul. Have you ever been in this situation? Any advice?

We've asked our siblings about their opinion. We got some great advice. Really, some perfect gems...

Stay the course

Hmm, you're in a pickle

Tuesday Tutorial- Wine Cork Wreath

I have been collecting wine corks forever- I'm sure we all have. And I have been content with them in their pretty glass bowl until about Christmas when I needed that bowl to display glitter festooned items and the corks got relegated to a drawer. The plus side to this, other than the glitter everywhere, is it got me thinking about what else could I do with all these wine corks?! In my blog perusing I found this wreath that definitely inspired me. So here we go!!

1. Get all your goodies out you are going to need. I have so much of this crate and barrel ribbon from wedding gifts. I was thinking some might show through so I tea stained it but that was not needed at all, you should still probably wrap it with ribbon to give a smooth surface. I got the foam wreath at the dollar store.





lotsa corks! I counted about 60 for this project- that a I collected over many years. And go ahead and use your valentines bowl to separate out the best corks that you'll want to put on the top layer.

2. Wrap your ribbon around the wreath form, securing with hot glue at the beginning and end. No need to hot glue each wrap.





3. Find some fun treasures along the way. I had forgotten that I used to write on the corks the celebrations. Amongst others I found "26th birthday" and "meet Derek's parents" Gotta make you smile.



4. Begin on the inside with hot gluing your corks- I used my funky non traditional corks here as they won't be seen much.



5. Continue with gluing them all evenly on the form and you'll get to this. I knew I was going to take the next step here so I didn't worry about the spaces in between.


6. Now add your remaining corks at different angles all around for interest and a big fabulous bow. Voila!



I'll probably go back and change this bow to a better ribbon but it's all I had at the time. I also really like that I can continue to add corks and fill it up if I wish.

Monday Madness

How can today be bad when?....

I won a fabulous giveaway over at Crap I've Made? I've heard from Char but not the sponser yet- I'll let you know what I get! :) On the post, this is the set I loved.

My honey accepted a job over at Novozymes? I guess my good thoughts worked.

I found this gem for only $3 at goodwill over the weekend? I'm so ready for warm weather and picnics!

Motivation for the week-

"patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish" John Quincy Adams

a little of this and that

This has been a rough week for me. Not a lot of crafting or a lot of feeling awesome- sometimes that is just how it goes. I've been working mostly on this knit hat for my beau and it'll easily be done by tomorrow night-just in time for spring? Regardless- he's really excited to have something from me that I made and it looks so good with his blue eyes.



Last night I sat down for a breath of fresh air and made this headband inspired by this post I modified it a bit and am dying to wear it- it'll look great on date night tomorrow with my hair curled! The man says it looks like a flapper head band- I hope that's a good thing because I'm feeling sassy in it.


Tonight I found some love and whipped up a lemon merinque pie for my sweetheart to celebrate his first job offer today!! We are thrilled and excited to see where this will take us, but fingers crossed for the an offer from his dream job next week-I know, we're picky. I'd never made a pie crust from scratch before- I know, blasphemy for a southern gal. I learned that they shrink when you cook them- we didn't have quite enough crust and this was my first merinque- it turned out delish!


just talked over how to do the peaks from my husband- next time it'll be perfect! but you know it tasted yummy, just look at this next picture :)




Check out my cutie snuggling with his best friends- feels a bit like a "where's waldo" huh? Sweet Mingo.





Today I posted on:



Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get a comment one day and make some Blog world Friends :)

eye candy

finding some things I just love today! check them out

be still my heart. cupid please chase me down in these

I just love this bracelet. I'll take it in gold please! Just the right amount of sweet and girly.

forget the diet or 'gourmet' food. this bacon mac looks yummers.

while we're on my love affair with anything mac n cheese oriented, how about these cute cards?

me and my toussled pony tail are rockin' to "we no speak americano" by YolandaBECool&DCUP found on www. ilistentoeverything.com :) seriously love it as I jump around while making my spread sheets ps. it's a remake of "Tu vuo fa l'americano" by Renato Carosone. Which is also awesome.