Tole trays are not that cheap but I do love them so. I have several around the house; they display so nicely. What is rather cheap AND satisfies my desire for pretty tole trays, are these pins. Found on ebay for under $5 a piece, I can wear one or several at a time. I always get compliments on them, and it's a fun collection to add to.
I am starting on a new project, making shell crosses (will post completed ones soon). With Easter just around the corner, I really wanted to work on something that would make me contemplate this Holy time. I hated to dig into my own sea collection — everything has such memories — so I did order from U.S. Shell. Here is the first shipment, having arrived yesterday. Weekend, here I come!
My sister and I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore in a modest split-level in a subdivision of working dads, stay-at-home moms and kids, lots of ‘em. We walked to school, rode our bikes everywhere and lived for the days when the telephone repairman would work on a pole nearby and leave us a rainbow of hundreds of plastic-coated wires to play with. Summers amounted to lots of wagon-float parades, where moms came out on front steps to cheer a one-minute event, which had been days in the making. On warm evenings the neighborhood kids would be bathed and in their jammies, wet hair combed to heads and smelling of baby powder. Our parents would let us run around outside before bedtime while dads talked about yardwork and moms fanned their faces and exchanged stories of pre-school and successful recipes. There were lightning bugs to be caught, playing cards to be clothes-pinned to bicycle spokes, and the bell of the Good Humor truck to bring us all to life on the most oppressive and humid of August days.
I watched my teenage daughter take off her Ugg boots this morning and, without a thought, lay them on her bed. I would no sooner take off a pair of shoes, even slippers, and put them on my bed than I would leave a wet towel on the bathroom floor after a shower. I'm sure that I was that way when I was her age. Mind on other things, OK to live in a bit of disarray.
We used to call my little sister Monkey Face; she was absolutely adorable. Here are some pictures of the two of us from the early 60's. 
Bethie home from the hospital; a little more daunting to me than holding a baby doll.
My mom dressed us up in really cute clothes: stirrup pants, white leather mary janes, gingham, pigtails.
For Easter, our Nana knitted us these matching yellow coats, PapPap would get us corsages, and of course there were pretty dresses, new pocketbooks, and Easter hats!
Ballet recital.
And one of my favorite pictures of all. I believe it was a snowy day outside and Beth and I were playing dress-up. I had on some goofy winter hat (we called it the light bulb hat), you can see apron ties hanging, so I must have put on one of my mom's. There's some sort of cape involved in my get-up. And it appears I have a purse. But the piece-de-resistance is the mittens I have on my feet. (You can see the thumb sticking out on my left foot). I have no idea why I chose to put mittens on my feet, but at that age I think every kid thinks "why not?" And you can see Beth in the background sitting on the sofa (in her diaper and a long sleeve undershirt — back then we ALWAYS wore undershirts) and she's pouting because I wouldn't let her wear the "mitten" shoes.
I used the My Funny Valentine sheet music as wrapping paper (see my Valentine blog where I used the sheet music as a prop), and as packing to keep the hearts from getting damaged I used a cut-up vintage bed sheet. I often come across these and fall in love with the pattern. With all the mailings I do, I decided that cutting up the sheets into small strips using pinking sheers created the perfect packing material for small boxes.
Someone at school recommended a Mexican restaurant close by and it was, hands-down, the best Mexican I've ever eaten. Good food and lots of talk about what kids at school did for her special day. I had to pick her up at the end of the school day, so rather than go all the way home, I dropped her off after lunch and then went to some area flea markets and antique shops. It was at a last-minute jaunt into a Goodwill that I found this mini-cake stand. How perfect would this be for the cakes I had just made! And for $2.02! (And do you know why Goodwill uses that funky pricing system? I always have wondered and so I asked the checkout girl . . . it seems that people will come in and take a crayon or pencil and try to change the price on an item, so by making a price $2.02 or $6.26, the first and last number always match and so it is harder for a person to change it.) 
And, by the way, for about the most colorful cake and cupcake decorating you can do, get the cans of spray on color. Using Wilton Food Color Mist Spray is as fun, fast and gratifying as spray painting a piece of furniture. There's no taste. Just lots of tacky color. It makes me feel like I'm in a cheesy beach town watching the guy in the kiosk spray painting names and beach scenes on license plates and t-shirts.
Both my camellia bushes are in full bloom which means lots of little bowls of blooms all around the house. Yay! Spring is just around the corner.
Today's the big day! Here is Harleigh's cake, waiting for her to come home from school. I've always wanted to get her one of these Josef Original birthday girls, and this year, with the big 16 happening, it seemed the perfect time. I used these mini springform pans from Williams-Sonoma. They are the perfect size! I used two to make this cake, cutting the "muffin top" off of each to make the cake flat.
I visited a particular flea market over the course 3 years, every time eyeing this child's old tin washing machine. When the booth owner decided to call it quits and sell everything at a drastic discount, I snatched it up. After all, if it hadn't sold in 3 years and was staring me in the face now at half the price, then it was meant for me.
Today I built a fire although it wasn't nearly cold enough outside to warrant it (this afternoon I gardened in a t-shirt!?!?!) and worked on my teabag cards. Have to get them done in time to get them to Feedle-dee-dee for Mother's Day shopping. An hour of putting jewels in the flowers.
This portrait, one done of my father by a fellow student when he was in art school, is one of my favorite pieces of art in the house. When recently my dad asked if there was anything in particular of his that I would want someday, I told him this painting. He packed it up and shipped it off; it was probably in a basement or attic of his, and he knew I would enjoy it more than he. And I do.
One thing I am rather proud of is my kitchen backsplash. When I moved into the house I had faux wood laminate countertops and backsplash. Knowing that replacing the countertops would be beyond my financial means, I focused on making the backsplash a little more appealing. On a yard-sale spree one weekend, I chanced upon a roll of vintage Delft blue tile contact paper. I bought it knowing that it was my answer to the dated laminate backsplash I hated so much. So, off to buy some paint to cover the laminate sin. Even my friendly ACE Hardware man told me that this was a bad idea (and I think a man in a red vest is the next best thing to God). But as a woman, I forged on, knowing that I could do anything I put my mind to. Armed with enamel paint which I presume means that it can cover ANYTHING with success, I painted the whole backsplash white. I then cut out individual tiles from the contact paper and adhered them. I wound up with something clean, fresh and ME. This all took place in 1999 and to this day not a tile has curled nor an inch of paint chip. I love it when whims pay off.
This morning I gave some thought to what one thing I would grab if, heaven forbid, something disastrous were about to happen to my home. This would be after saving the most precious things to me . . . child, dog, myself, photos, pocketbook (for its contents only). I looked around at all the things I've collected and love. Everything in my surroundings has a meaning to me, a memory to it. Suffice it to say that I love my home because it is just that . . . it's more than a house, it's a retreat, a nest, a refuge, a "place in which my domestic affections are centered." So, where to begin with the idea of that one thing.
While I don't know that I can afford or find another affordable second Carl Bray, I have found other desert paintings to add to the collection. Here is one in my bathroom.
Here are my Valentine's Day cupcakes. I make a mildly sweet whipped cream frosting which means a generous sprinkle of sugar on top won't make the cupcakes too sweet.
And as far as measuring laundry detergent goes, you'll never catch me measuring out of a box using that clear green plastic measuring cup they give you. My detergent goes into this plastic candy canister along with a vintage tea cup. (I do prefer glass containers, but in this case plastic is a little more safe; if I were to hit the cup on the lip and it were to break into the detergent, it would be a mess.)
So this year I came up with an idea (not to replace Poppy's corsage, mind you, but merely as an idea to test drive for other moms) of doing a silk flower corsage that includes a picture frame (or several if a mom has more children) and could stay a keepsake. My version also includes a "With Love" ribbon and a butterfly. I think at the beginning of each New Year I might find some picks with the year on them and could include those so a mom remembers from what year the corsage came. And, of course, the picture frame could date the corsage as well, with the year reflected in the age of the child. I love live flowers just as much as the next mom, but nothing can beat looking at keepsakes and momentos that remind me of why I love being a mom.
Didn't do any embroidery last night like I had wanted to do, but I was quite comfortable working at my table in the study, which means a whole different set of craft skills kick in - lots of glue involved. I love little jars for keeping things organized. They have a quality to them unmatched by plastic organizers. Here is a pimento jar I covered using the same kitten/yarn idea I had used on one of my matchboxes (see my January 8 post).
After our Tuesday evening fix of American Idol, I snuggled down in my chair in the ken, Gideon snoring and dream-twitching at my feet, NPR on the radio, and made these two valentines. Pretty little things that served their purpose to keep my idle fingers busy. I pulled the silver pipe cleaner from my Christmas stash 'cause as far as I'm concerned, every holiday should have a little glitz and glitter. And the kissing birds were just too cute an idea to pass up. I think I'll work on a few more tonite (my embroidery skills just aren't where they need to be so I think I'll work that into more designs).
Back in the days of Lakewood Antiques Market (those of us who lived for the second weekend of every month knew it as simply "Lakewood"), we'd happen upon the most wonderful finds. The Saturday or Sunday jaunt to this much-missed event usually involved a gaggle of girls. We'd pick a day, a time to meet, and a place (food court? at the "top of the hill"? the entrance gate?). We'd all have a "mission" and work in packs or go off on our own, but always with everyone's "missions" in mind. If kids were a part of the gaggle, they were each given $5 and encouraged to barter, which always made the purchase that much sweeter. The day had to include eating at the food court. I remember days hotter than h-e-double-hockey-sticks where we'd score an umbrella'd table, ahhhh the wonderful smells of funnel cakes and grilled hamburgers, sharing a table with strangers who, by the end of the meal, had become fast friends, comparing our stories of slick negotiating strategies.
I think the pussy willow is just about the loveliest thing that God came up with when he was in the midst of "think up plants" day in the creation process. And I suppose that when he came up with the pussy willow he had already created the pussy cat and the weeping willow tree. I've never grown them and think that I should if at all possible. I had them at my wedding. Lots of them.
