Sunday, October 31, 2010

Take time to stop and smell the roses

Happy Sunday!!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has so much going on with life and we forget to stop and smell the roses.  I've had a little time to myself this past week to reflect on what all is going on in my life during this phase and I am so guilty of putting myself on the back burner, trying to make sure everyone else is taken care of.  I have come to finally realize that we all need to stop, take some time for ourselves also because if we don't take care of us, we can't help others.  So with that being said, here is what I did for myself and also  a few things that I was able to do during the week.  Not much, just some "ME" time :)

My first thing I did yesterday was I made an appointment for me to go get a well needed massage!  I was able to be taken into the quiet room to enjoy this wonderful fountain and sit on the most comfortable cushy chair to relax a little before going to get my massage.  I have to tell you that I didn't realize just how much I needed one and if any of you are going through a lot of stress these days, go get one! :))  Really bad picture as it was from my cell phone and it was pretty dim in there lol.


I made these magnets by using my friendly plastic :)  The one boo boo that I did was get the heat gun too close to one of the bases and I melted it a little too so it isn't complete round.  Can you tell which one it is?  lol

I decided one night to make some homemade quiche.  It just sounded good and very soothing and with having such a crazy and busy week I said yuppers.  Love making this much as I then have leftovers for us hahahaha.  It is always nice to come home and relax after such a busy day at work and not have to worry about cooking huh :)

I changed out my little wall hangings to reflect my Fall theme.  It was hard to get close-up's of them but one says "Thankful" and the other says "Blessed".  That totally reflects how I feel right now.


I also started my other mini for one of my dear friends.  Hoping to get more done this weekend :)


How did I end my evening?  My hubby and I were able to go to the Longhorn BBQ for a wonderful dinner and I came home, filled up my large soaking tub and relaxed in a hot bath with Epson Salt and Lavendar to finish bringing out all that toxins from the massage.  Heavenly!!


Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

xo ~ Laura

Friday, October 29, 2010

Christmas in October???

Happy Saturday!!

I know, you are probably thinking why on earth are you working on Christmas items now as it is still October right?  lol  Well since Carissa moved out in May, they don't have any Christmas decorations so I figured I would start making them some special decorations for their own place.  You know me, I love to make all sorts of things :)

I had bought this wreath, flowers and doves at the Dollar Store so this only cost me $3 as I had everything else.

As many of you know from all the wedding posts, Carissa and Brandon are avid outdoors people.  In fact, they have spent the past 2 weekends buck hunting.  This is Carissa's first time out and even though they haven't gotten anything, she has had a great time.  So with that in mind, I had to throw some outdoors into this wreath.  I had these wooden Moose cutouts for awhile so I painted it up, put a gem as the eye and now it's a part of their Christmas!

The doves on it are very special to Carissa and myself.  Many many moons ago, I received a pair of doves that were from the movie Home Alone.  Every year it is a tradition, from when she was 2 years old, to help me hang those doves on our tree.  Last Christmas I was on a mission to find her a set of her own so that she could start her own traditions with her kids when she has them so online I went and believe it or not, I found some!!  She opened it and started just bawling and no one could figure out why but I knew.  Those are the very special moments that I treasure the most.  Something that means so much to the ones I love. 

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Shopping does wonderfuls!!

Happy Friday!!

Posting a few hours early due to having to get up early for work.  I had a very rough day today as I had to deal with Dad's Primary Care Physician and have the talk that I haven't wanted to really deal with.  Hospice.  Reality really hit as he said it is time.  This doesn't mean that he will be gone tomorrow but he is declining at a pretty rapid pace so it's time to have In Home Hospice Care.  On my way home, I was upset which I know if normal so I decided since I was done working for the day, to head over to GW to see if they had anything there to work on.  Well I am very happy to report they did!!

Here is what I got :)

So let me break this down and what I'm going to be doing with these :)

This is so cute.  It is only about 3" tall and I love the rustic look on it so I'm not going to touch it but will be making a cute arrangement for it.

I'll be repainting this one and doing vinyl on it.  Connie over at Shady Creek Lane has given me lots of motivation to do more with my vinyl.  Thank you Connie :))))

Another vinyl project :)

Thinking wedding item here.... have to wait and see ;)

This will be used in many projects.  Can you believe I scored all this for .99 cents!!!

So after shopping, I came home to just relax and went outside to let the dogs out.  There was a beautiful rainbow a little earlier than this picture which made me smile as I was talking to a dear friend of mine on the phone so when I looked outside, I saw this beautiful sunset.  Not to bad for a cold late Fall day.

Have a wonderful day and cherish the time and memories you are making with your family and friends and happy crafting!!


xo ~ Laura

Holiday Candles

Happy Thursday!!

I have been in such a baking mode lately.  Guess I'm gearing up for Christmas lol.  These are some of my all time favorite cookies and so easy.  That is what I'm all about... quick and easy! 


They are called Applesauce Cookies and here is how easy they really are.

1 Pkg of 2 layer spice cake mix
1 C. Raisins
1/2 C. Cooking Oil
1/2 C. Applesauce
1 Egg

Mix all the ingredients today and scoop onto a cookie sheet with a teaspoon.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Enjoy :)

I was out running my weekly errands on Sunday and saw some candles in the store and thought I could do that and for a lot less so I gave it a shot.  It was really hard to get some good shots of them but maybe you can tell.  They look very pretty in person.  You'll just have to trust me ;)  lol



Well I do have to say something.  Yes I'm going to vent just a little.  I've noticed over the past few days I've lost a few followers.  I guess my posts haven't been exciting enough as I've been dealing with life.  I want to say thank you to all my "faithful" followers who love and accept me for who I am, just me and not someone I'm not.  There... I've said it and I feel better :)

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Sunday, October 24, 2010

My tree :)

Happy Monday!!

So I was able to work on a few project this weekend which felt wonderful :)  I am amazed on how theraputic it is.  I had posted a little while ago about a tree that I found at GW.  Here it was in progress.

I have now finished it and just love it.  This will come in so handy through all the different seasons and holiday's!!  I'm excited for all of them :)

I had come across these yummy looking pancakes over on Amy's blog at The Idea Room and showed my hubby them on Saturday and he said those look good so Sunday morning I decided to give them a try :)

Now I used wheat pancakes and didn't have anything to put the cinnamon mixture in so mine doesn't look at nice as Amy's but they tasted delicious!!  Hop on over and check it out and give it a try!!

Well I'm hoping that this week goes a little smoother than last week.  Dad is settling in some and has put on 3 lbs since he got home on Thursday which is a good thing.  I gave him a treat on Saturday as the other day he wanted Mom to go get him Kentucky Fried Chicken but she didn't feel well so I surprised him and brought them over a dinner (which is really about 3 lol) and he ate every bit of it and he was very happy he got what he wanted lol.  Anything to put some weight back on him and get him stronger :)

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Mini Album

Happy Saturday!

So November is a busy month for me birthday wise.  I have 2 very dear girlfriends that have been there for me through thick and thin and their birthday's are only 4 days apart.  They have been part of my strong support through all of these up's and down's with Dad's health and I wanted to do something very special for each of them so they have both seen some of the mini album's that I've done and wanted to know how to do them which I will glady share but in the meantime, I'm going to surprise both of these wonderful and special ladies with their own memory mini's :)

I have started the first one and am ready to put the additional pages in it for the pockets and then will be decorating it.  I absolutely love and enjoy doing mini's as you can personalize them so much and it makes them even more special.

I decided to go with the brown and turquoise blue them for the first one and here are a few shots of what I've done so far. 


Larry has to work today so I will be free to craft away and am SO excited for it!!  My Dad is back at the Assisted Living apartment now and is happy as a clam so for now, some of the pressure is off.  Thank you for all your love and support through all this.  You will never know how much that means to me :)

I hope that you are having a fabulous week and wish all of you wonderful friends a fantastic weekend!!

Happy Crafting!

xo ~ Laura

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Some rearranging for Fall

Happy Friday!

For the first time in over 2 weeks, I was able to come home and just relax for a few hours and not worry about running all over God's creation, finishing something etc.  I came home after work and just sat down for over an hour, catching up on email, reading the news and surfing and it felt GREAT!!!  Hoping this is a sign of weeks to come and I can catch up after the past few weeks of turmoil :)


As I was sitting here surfing, I glanced over at my fireplace and thought ya know, it is pretty boring inside there lol.  We've lived in our house for over 8 years and we have never built a fire in it, just decorated it for looks so I thought what a better place to put some of my projects and show them off for Fall and Thanksgiving :)



I did notice that I still haven't, even after all these years got that darn paper sticky off the glass door!!  lol.  Guess I'll get on that one :)

Here is a shot of it with the lights on and flickering flameless candles.  They are getting weak so looks like I'll have to go back to the Dollar store for more :)



After I had just taken these pictures,  I did get a call from my youngest daughter and she was over at my DIL's house getting her hair curled as she was getting her engagement pictures taken later on that day. My Son built his wife a little shop in the backyard (she's a hairstylist) and the two kids were in the house playing while my Son was working. When the girls came out of the shop, they looked over at the house and water was pouring down from the upstairs bedroom area. It looked like it was raining so hard so they ran in the house and the upstairs Master was flooded with a few inches of water along with the entire bathroom. My granddaughter had went in there to go do her little number and obviously clogged it and left the handle down and the water just started pouring. They went downstairs and it was coming out of the light fixtures and down the walls and on the floor too. Needless to say there was a big rush to get things cleaned up. The damage hasn't been totally assessed yet and they are in the process of drying everything out. Would you think my granddaughter is in trouble??? Well you couldn't be upset if you tried as she got so upset and said "Oh no I ruined it. My playroom, oh no, I'm sorry. Quick, get lots of towels". Accidents happen huh. So with all that, I was wondering if my "peaceful" evening was going to end there but it didn't so here is what I was able to do.

Also, I've seen so many beautiful cakes that some of you have made out there and found this while blogging.  I would have never thought of doing this ever!!  You have to check this out.  Now this is VERY creative if you ask me.

This bow is made out of geletin!!  Yes you can even eat it lol.  Hop on over to Nellie Cakes and see how it's done.  Hmmmm I may have to try it as it looks beautiful :)


Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

My lil pumpkin :)

Happy Wednesday!!

Whew what an exhausting day on Monday.  I need to win the big Lotto and retire and soon!!  I started out having to go to Caregiver training for Dad so he can be discharged from rehab on Thursday. Check!!  After doing that and spending some time with him, off to go find a new walker for when he gets back to the apartment.  Check!!  Came home and made a few adult bibs for him as he has a harder time hitting his mouth so to protect his clothes decided to give that one a try.  Check!!  Had to grab Dad's clothes and wash them so that Mom didn't have to worry about it along with 2 new sweatpant sets for her as all of hers is down at the house and she's getting cold.  Check!!  She lost her pill container that she takes for their medications in when they go to the diningroom so got busy with a small cigar tin and took care of that.  Check!!  Had to deliver the walker and clothes over to Mom and had dinner with her.  Check!!  Then as I was getting ready to go home and she said she was out of shringes for her diabetic insulin as the medical company was supposed to have sent them and that was supposed to be delivered by the 16th so off to the store to pick up a 10 pk of shringes and deliver them back to the apartment as she can't drive at night.  Check!!  Finally 10 hours later I am home for the night!!  Now you see why I need to win Lotto??? lol

Here is my cute styrofoam pumpkin I made.  I started out with just a plain ball and took my boner (tool for card maker) and made lines down it to look like a pumpkin and poked a hole in the top for the stem.

Then I painted it orange and put a cinnamon stick in it and let it dry.

Finished it off with a few pieces of twine and some ribbon to make it look like it was part of a dried vine and green stem.  Kinda cute :)

Here is the pill tin I also made :)




Cute giveaways I'm doing:

Have a great day and happy crafting!!

Hugs,
Laura

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Surprise!!

Happy Monday!!

Yesterday I went to go see my Dad again as my Mom has now gotten sick also with the chest crud going around so she hasn't been able to see him in a few days as I have her at home getting better on her breathing machine.  She has asthma also so the machine really helps her.  I told her she needed to take the next few days to really rest up as my Dad is scheduled to be discharged from rehab on Wednesday morning to go back to the Assisted Living apartment.

It has been a very long week and today my niece and I were able to surprise both of them with her visit.  She hasn't been able to see them in over 2 years so they really weren't expecting it at all.  First up, my Dad.  He had finished his lunch and he lays down afterwards for a nap.  He was sleeping when she arrived so I was able to wake him up and his reaction was just priceless!!  His words were "Well Hi!!  I am so happy to see you" :)  Brought a smile to all of our faces.

After visitng Dad I took her over to their apartment and Mom was laying down and I heard her ask if it was me and I said yes.  I told her she had a visitor and when my niece came around the corner my Mom was so excited and happy and said come here and let me give you a hug.  We were able to visit for quiet a while and it was definitely very good medicine for both of them.

I haven't been able to do much crafting over the weekend as I've been gone so much.  Well it will be waiting for me I know.  Family comes first and that is what my life is consisting of daily.  I will not be going into work (yet again) to get the Caregiver training done tomorrow so that Dad is able to be discharged.  The one thing I have been able to work on is my little holiday/season tree.  It started out like this....


The little flowers are off and the base has the first coat on it.  Another one still to come then comes the decorating so stay tuned for that. 

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Mixture of in progress :)

Happy Sunday!!

It has been a beautiful weekend so far here in the PNW.  A little on the chilly side but brisk and sunny and it feels so good to smell the fresh air :)  I really needed to get some housework done but I didn't feel like it so I went out in it and had a wonderful visit with my Dad and then ran my weekly errands and then came home and the hubs and I decided to stay in tonight verses go out to dinner.  It was nice as I was able to put on my jammies and start working on a few projects.

I found this sign on Saturday at the Dollar Store.  Now I'm not going to be using it for Christmas though.  What am I up to now?  Well you'll have to wait and see.  Don't you just hate that when I do that to you?  lol

I decided to start working on some of the bigger centerpieces for the wedding.  This one is still in progress as I need to get a few more filler flowers but I think it is taking shape nicely.  The country theme is screaming with this.  Notice the grass and twig branches?  Trying to think ahead how many of these I will need and where they will be going.  I have to think about it now to make sure I get all the fall colors while their out as when they are gone, I won't be able to find them before the wedding.  My spare bedroom looks like a florist!!  lol

Well that's it for now and I hope that you are having a fabulous weekend!

Happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Friday, October 15, 2010

Busy Day!!

Happy Saturday!!

Yesterday was a very very busy day for me, in fact I took the entire day off of work to get things handled and to relax a little as I knew a lot was going to be going on.

First off, Mom and I had our Care Conference for Dad and they are looking at discharging him from the rehab on Wednesday morning, providing the nurse at the Assisted Living clears him early next week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  There was some good news and also so not so good news but we're just taking everything one step at a time.  The final diagnosis was he is at the "Failure to Thrive" state.

So what else was I doing yesterday?  Playing of course lol.  I had a vine that I had extra from some fall leaves I got at the dollar store so decided to try to make a pumpkin lol.  Now remember I did say try but I will show you anyway lol.

I also made an organza flower and thought well why not put it on the pumpkin too.  Hey, it's my pumpkin and I can do that if I want right?  lol  I call it my Charlie Brown pumpkin :)

I also stopped by Goodwill and found these few items.  Scored as they were 50% off so got all 3 for $4.00!!  I am going to use the little tree for the different holiday's so it will be looking a little different when I get done so stay tuned for that :)  You can never have enough wreath's around too lol.


I also got a request for a closer shot of my decorative pumpkin that I put on the front porch.  I can't take credit for the decoration on it as it came this way but got it for half off so had to get it lol.


Linking up to

 Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap    up           party!


Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Yummy!!!

Happy Friday,

While surfing around while I was relaxing I found this "Fall" recipe and I just had to share it.  It looks so yummy I am just going to have to try it :)

Here is the recipe.  Now I haven't tried it but I will :)  Sometimes I just love "comfort" food lol 1 can(s) (15-ounce) pumpkin puree, equal to 1 3/4 cups


8 whole(s) graham crackers, broken

1/2 cup(s) pecans, 2 ounces

1 tablespoon(s) light brown sugar

5 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, melted plus more for greasing the pan

1 1/2 cup(s) (14 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon(s) salt

1 teaspoon(s) cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon(s) freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon(s) ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon(s) ground allspice

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup(s) heavy cream, at room temperature

1 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract

Whipped Cream, for serving

Pecan Praline Topping, for serving
 
1.Set a rack over a baking sheet and line the rack with 2 layers of paper towels. Spread the pumpkin puree over the paper towels and let drain for 2 hours, until the puree is fairly dry.


2.Preheat the oven to 500°F. Butter the bottom and side of a 9-inch springform pan. In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers until finely ground. Add the pecans and brown sugar and pulse until finely ground. Add the melted butter and pulse just until incorporated. Press the crumbs onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for about 8 minutes, just until it is fragrant and lightly browned. Let the crust cool completely.

3.In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the cream cheese until it is very smooth. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar with the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. With the machine on, add the spiced sugar to the cream cheese and beat until creamy, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl. Carefully add the drained pumpkin puree and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in the heavy cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until the cheesecake mixture is smooth.

4.Pour the cheesecake mixture over the cooled crust and bake for 12 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 225°F and bake the cheesecake for about 3 hours, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 150°F; the center will be very jiggly but not liquidy. Let the cheesecake cool on a rack, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

5.Run a hot knife around the cheesecake and loosen the springform ring. Carefully remove the ring and transfer the cake to a plate. Using a warm knife, cut the cake into wedges and serve with the Pecan Praline Topping and whipped cream.

Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Outdoor decorating

Happy Thursday!!

What a beautiful weather week this has been so far so I decided to start putting out some of my Fall decor outside.  I'm not done by any means but at least I've started it lol. 

During the week when I got home, I was able to sit down and little by little paint more decor for some cards.  It is so easy and relaxing and love how they come out.  I can't wait to get some more cards done as we've got birthday's coming up really soon so have to get them done :)

We also had 2 little, and I do mean little visitor's the other night.  I opened the back door to let the dogs out and there were these 2 little critters just waiting for me lol.  They look much bigger in the picture but they were both only a little over 1/2"!


Well I hope that you are having a wonderful week and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura