Weekend Recap

The rainy and chilly weather forced me to play house on Saturday, something I never tire of. Lots of reading and crafting. Had gotten this wooden jewelry box at a thrift store ages ago and am giving it a facelift. I love old jewelry boxes as storage for all my crafting goodies. Spent a good deal of time on it and hope to have it done next weekend! (Excuse the crappy pictures.)

I FINALLY got all my Christmas decorations up to the attic. And with the pretty Sunday (quite the opposite of the day before), I was feeling all Spring-ee, and so the Easter decorations came down from the attic.

Dear boy Gideon loves having mommy home for two days. He slept most of Saturday . . .

. . . and on Sunday, with windows open and the sun streaming in, there was lots of outdoor time and gazing at the outdoors to fill his day.

Harleigh is 21 today!

Here she is as a little girl. On the left, it was a Saturday morning and I told her she could pick out her own outfit. Who knew a bathing suit and turtleneck could work so well paired together! And she sure could rock inner-thigh rolls of chub. And on the right, a Cinco de Mayo work party from when we lived in Huntington Beach, CA. I took any opportunity I had to dress her up in costume. Not sure that the role of white artist tape was an accessory I had in mind to complete the Mexican-themed look.

And my daughter as a woman. Am honored and blessed to call her mine.

[Above photo by Ali Harper.]

Valentine's Day Office Card-Swap Party

Went to the boss last month and asked if I could throw a Valentine's Day party at the office. 

We're coming down off of the Thanksgiving/Christmas high, things are super busy and stressful, 

and we've never done a party for this holiday. 

He said go for it.

So I decided to do an elementary-school style card swap. 

Everyone making or buying a box to collect their cards, lots of fun heart-shaped decor, 

and food, of course food. 

Everybody put their "boxes" out in the morning, 

and throughout the day we all delivered Valentines. 

At 4:30 we brought our boxes to the gathering place 

and opened our cards and enjoyed food and drink.

The food consisted of sausage balls with a Dijon mayo dipping sauce (thanks, Josie!), 

artichoke dip with Tostitos scoops (thanks, Jessie!), 

and I made a hot Creole shrimp dip served with toasted baguette slices. 

Great grazing spread. 

Jessie offered to make a heart garland, the perfect statement piece to anchor the whole scene.

For a drink station, I commandeered the office sink that was ripped out during a recent renovation 

(and will be moved to storage)

The vintage mailbox above was Buzz's card-collecting vessel. 

He wanted something fun, and I had this at home. 

Love when my finds get lots of use!

Get a load of the candy hearts that include modern-day messages (text me).

I dressed the "bar" in a vintage tablecloth, and crafted a small felt, jewel, baker's twine garland that comes out of the faucet like a stream o' love.

The sink holds ice and drinks.

Cupcakes sport Dollar Tree picks (Thanks, Buzz, for styling these like a pro!).

My loot. 

The card in the left foreground is handmade by Buzz. 

He drew the design, then had a stamp made. 

The card itself is cardboard, cut and with rounded corners, one side painted red. 

The dude committed.

In addition to making the artichoke dip I inhaled, Jessie crafted these killer cards. 

Each one was hand drawn with the sentiment "I like you and _____." 

The fill-in was a word that reflected the recipient. In my case it was "crafting." 

Everyone adored these.

Shaun gifted everyone a bag of candy with these enveloped post-it notes attached. Each note was customized with an "I love you because ____." Very special indeed.

My valentine "box" was a vintage mailbox.

The only thing on my party preparedness list that we didn't tackle 

was a love-themed music playlist.

Next year.

A Week in IG

Continue to love Instragramming. Here are some images from last week. Lots of Gideon (as always). 

Spent a chunk of the weekend working on Valentines for the party at work this Thursday! You'd a thunk that I'd be DIYin' the cards, but sometimes a crafty girl just has to put on the brakes and pace herself a little. Store-bought cards it is. I found them at Ross, and they're vintage-looking. I used individual letter stamps to address them, and adorned the envelopes with stickers. I "signed" each card using the stamp below (lower right, with the pink handle). I love love love this stamp. With both letters and numbers, it allows me to stamp a sentiment in a straight line. I signed all my cards "XO DAWNEGIRL." The collection of heart-shaped baskets on the left were deeply discounted finds at Hobby Lobby from years ago. I've pulled them out to be used for the party.

The sink below was taken out of an office bathroom during a renovation. I have grand plans to use it as a bar for the par-tay. On a rare trip to Target (it's a place I avoid at all cost; although on this particular trip, I left with only the one thing I went in for!), I saw these candles (lower right). How adorable.

Valentine's Day Care Package

This year I decided to do a crafty package for my Valentine girlie. In addition to a candle, heart-shaped Peeps, cushy Valentine hand towels, a night light, and a sports bra, I made her pretty bunting, one that she can use whenever. It's about as sew-friendly a bunting you can do. I didn't even sew the triangles. The hardest part was incorporating the ball fringe into the spaces between.

There's a song I used to sing to Harleigh when she was a wee baby into her toddler days. Even though she's turning 21 this year, every once in a while the time seems right to sing it to her, each time filling in a name that "makes 3." Since we're far away, I wanted to remind her of this mom/daughter moment, and so I bought a dollar store puzzle, painted it white and wrote the song on it. Put it in a pretty box from Walmart that cost under $2. You'd pay more for a Hallmark card.



I found this plastic heart-shaped box at a local thrift store. I'm sure Harleigh can use it for jewelry or desk supplies. I also bought her a super cute pair of Aristocat kitten jammies and wrapped those in pretty paper. For the "ribbon" I used this rhinestone trim that a florist I met recently was working into some decor. He wound up giving me all his extra; put to good use here with a flower as a bow.



Some randomness from the weekend. Gideon being his cute self. Flowers from Trader Joe's. Used these for a breakfast we had at work. Used tin cans as vases and filled the rims with Spanish moss. Had Harleigh and Kasey here last weekend and missed them a bunch come Sunday when they headed back to school. Trying to eat better. Feel really good, and if I lose a few lbs., then even better.




Dropped a bunch of end-of-year-purging items off at a new thrift store in the hamlet. I've sorta sworn off thrifting for a bit, but on this particular trip, I couldn't help but bring home this guy. He's almost a foot and a half tall.