Easter Wreath

Did for my office.

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Salt Lake City, Utah

 Recent trip to SLC. Spent some time downtown before we headed to the mountains.

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Christmas Mantle

I love all the modern devices we have. I was getting my state inspection tag that went out yesterday, and I started flipping through my pictures.  I showed this to my daughter and she said, "Mom you should post that and take a picture of it in the day time and post them up on your blog." Well I've done half of that idea.
I have been wanting to have a "Natural Christmas for many years."  What I haven't liked about the idea of natural Christmas is that you get no glitz.  SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo I have what I call Bark and Bling.  I have all the twiggy viney stuff and I have bling too.  Because I have become addicted to Pinterest, I have been collecting Bark and Bling ideas for a few months. I am trying to be a good steward of all my resources, and I am trying to use what I already have.  I think this came out well, and I spent no money doing this project.
Enjoy.
Ciao

Dollar Store Fall Decor

Here is what you need to get started. Some Dollar Store loose leaves, twisted sisal twine found in Wally World's home fix it area, and a glue gun. Oh and because I was streaming videos I stuck a cutting board underneath because I am messy.

 This was hard to take a picture and do, but below I cut the twine in various sizes and put a dab of glue on the back side of the leaf, then after several  tries, I came up with a genius idea. I cut the twine longer and put the dab more towards the middle and held the twine on both sides until it was almost set then made a sandwich and put the other leaf on the back side.  You are gluing two back sides so the pretty side shows.

 I thought I had it all done, but the little tree just needed something for the top so I had to eat a mango pop to get the stick. . . . .  what a deal. I glued some of the leftover leaves on the stick and we get the finished product below.

 I feel so crafty today.

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Mazzorbo Island, Italy

Love this photo. Superman rules even on a small island in Italy.

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A Wedding shower

The girls and I have been looking at buttons things on pinterest. We took this idea and decided that instead of covering it in flowers that we would cover their initials in vintage buttons from our collections. We found the letters we wanted at Hobby Lobby.  The bride to be loved it and we gave it to her for their new home. We felt it was a labor of love. The buttons had been gathered many years ago by my grandmother and my daughters grandmother-in-law. We combined the buttons and the Principessa and I made the letters. I did the A and she did the M.

Balloon wreath.  We saw the idea and my 2 daughters and I created this to put on the front door. I like ours better than any we saw on Pinterest. I think it was the bow that made it special.

Crayon Art  - We decided to decorate the wall by the food table with crayon art. This project took a lot more time than you would think. It got so tedious that there were 4 of us and we each took on a board. It was late at night when we were doing this and  the Principessa said, " We should put them in the sun like it shows on Pinterest. " Well I thought that was brilliant, but the hour was late and we needed to complete the project before morning.  I am definitely going to repeat this and I think I'm going to do a heart shape and put it in the sun.

We made these rainbow fruit skewers too.

We also did a lot of other pinterest ideas. We made Italian skewers and we made them vegetarian. We used only fresh mozzarella and put fake pepperoni in place of real meat.

We made mac and cheese bites. I had made them earlier in the week and thought that they were bland. After much discussion with the girls, I let them make mac and cheese. They made it with gouda, white cheddar, and  fontina. It was much better than the recipe listed, but they also didn't put the egg in the mac and cheese so it did not stick together very well.
This was a beautiful day for a very special young lady. I hope these pictures and links inspire you too!
Ciao

Favorite time of year

If you live up north you live for the beauty of the leaves turning in the fall. In Texas we live for the spring so that we can view the bluebonnets that are so abundant that you would think you are looking at an ocean full of flowers.  
This is the best time to be in the heart of Texas. 
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