Wilton Edible Accent Stars

Thanks to the Wilton Edible Accents I got at Michaels, I'm ready for a cookie exchange.

Crafting on Ellen

If you like to craft, you'll have to check out this Ellen segment...

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2011/10/ellen_in_my_ear_crafting_1014.php

Thank You Gift

So, what do you give a dear friend who takes you to her lake cabin for a long weekend, feeds you and entertains you? This is a person who has everything and expects nothing for her generosity, so the search for something special was especially hard...

The photographer / crafter in me decided to print some cards from the photos I took while I was there - Michaels has great inexpensive blank cards that I love to use! Once I printed the cards, I placed them in a plastic envelope, tied them with some raffia, included a twig, some bark and a little moss from our trip to make it extra special.

I made a photo collage too - she doesn't get to the cabin as often as she'd like, so I'm hoping the collage will be a nice reminder of the lake and cabin that she so dearly loves.

Joan

My Home

It's been over six months since I moved and I keep meaning to share my small living creative ideas.

In my small home, everything has to have a function - the coffee table has one of those lift-up tops so I can craft while I'm sitting on the couch.


The wicker basket holds the craft project I'm working on at the moment. The red round box holds wine glasses (now, if I can remember that they're there when I need them!) The metal art work is going to become my 'to do' board - this weekend I took all of my projects I need to work on and wrote out my goals for each one on a separate piece of paper. Since the artwork is metal, I'm going to use magnets to keep my to do lists visible and when someone comes over, I can easily take them down and stash 'my secrets'.


This antique buffet was given to me a zillion years ago by my Aunt. It was made the year I was born (it's stamped inside one drawer). The buffet holds my treasures and in the cabinets below are my DVD's, photo albums and stuff I want to keep out of sight.

I don't have a true closet (I know, it's so hard!!!), so I attached hangers inside my clothes 'cabinet' to hang all my necklaces. My earrings go on the fabric covered styrofoam wreath.

My bedroom. I'm still looking for ideas for nightstands - I love the columns but I need more storage.

The printer drawer holds all my tiny treasures.

My bathroom - tiny, but functional. My theme (no surprise!) is butterflies!!! I keep all of my costmetics in a clear glass antique vase.

My office is in my kitchen and I put it there because I HAD to have a view as I worked, since this is where I spend the majority of my time. I got this fabulous desk that fits perfect in my small area - it folds into itself and everything is at my fingertips.

This 'credenza' is perfect to back my computer desk - I found it for $25 at a furniture store - I had no idea where I was going to use it at the time, but it's perfect!

I had this great 'goodie' server that I just couldn't leave in storage, so I now have it on top of my file cabinet and it holds little things that are dear to me - if you look really close, you can see an ancient bottle of Aleene's Glitter that sold for 69 cents.

Here's the pride and joy of my home - the kitchen - I LOVE IT!!!

I got the table from Target for $99 - my UPS guy doesn't really like me anymore...especially after delivery the table and huge vertical blinds.

My baby stove - it's original to the house that was built in the early 60's and works great!

I needed more space to hold things in the kitchen, so I bought two of the crates from Michaels, painted them, found a dish rack at Ross and I now have plenty of storage.

I made the curtains from fabric from a fantastic local fabric store - The Cotton Ball. I love leaves, so I added leaves hanging from each point - they're made from shells (appropriate since I leave at the ocean).

That's it for now!!! More to come.

Joan

Beth is wearing the 'bow' I made from pom poms and chenille stems.

Old Aleene's Friends Christmas Celebration

Tonight was a night for catching up with friends from the old Aleene's days!!! Lauren Johnston and I used to appear on the Creative Living television show, Beth was the Producer and Linda Lou was the set stylist. We go way, way back. Seems like we haven't changed, but kids and grandkids have gotten older.


Before dinner I went shopping for Betty's party - it was great fun to put a girlie party together complete with boas, tulle, glittery netting, flowers and mirrored balls (we went to school in the 70's so when I saw 5" mirrored / disco balls on sale for 1/2 price, I just had to pick up several for the tables). I also had a duh moment - remember me talking about making cupcakes ? I was at the stoplight near The Madonna Inn heading somewhere completely not there when it hit me - order a Pink Champagne cake for Betty's party - it totally went with the pink girlie theme I was thinking of. Perfect!!! I need to take a few minutes tomorrow and make sure everything is covered - it all came together while I was in Michaels tonight.