Crafting...

 I've been doing some last minute crafting the last couple days.

 My neighbor just had a baby girl, her name is Julianna. Her room is all done in pink, white and brown.

 I thought it would be fun to do a monogram for her wall.

 I also quickly tied a fun polka dot blanket.

 I had the special opportunity to pick out a vintage chandelier and vintage baby carriage for her room. My neighbor mentioned that she had been searching for the chandelier and carriage with no luck. While traveling a few months ago I came across the chandelier at a vintage market

 I knew as soon as I saw it she would love it! Doesn't that just scream baby girl room!

The price of $110.00 was pretty reasonable, I would have tried to negotiate, but someone else had their eye on it too... I couldn't take the chance of loosing it. The carriage was a find a few states away while traveling in California. We are headed over for "happy hour" to toast Juliannas arrival so I will try to snap a few pics of her room and the carriage.

 I had pinned a few driftwood and twig Christmas trees on Pinterest and decided since I had a bucket full of driftwood to try making one for a friend for Christmas.

 I used some shells my sister in law sent me from a trip to Florida, a few pieces of "fake" beach glass, a starfish and of course the driftwood I picked up from a local beach this summer. I hot glued it to a piece of black velvet that I attached to a canvas with staples. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

I spent Friday afternoon crafting in the cottage! I had a couple wedding gifts to make!

One of my favorite gifts to give at a wedding is to frame the wedding invitation. I have been doing this for probably 20 years. A friend of mine framed my wedding invitation for me =)

The above wedding invitation is for one of my nieces. It was fun to create a card to match! I wish I was going to get to go to their wedding... it is on a ranch, with cowboy boots... LOVE!

This one is for a friend who is getting married in September, it was really hard to photograph with the darker paper behind it.

The little white flowers are one of my favorite decorations to use for weddings, they are a shimmery white, I add a little rhinestone in the center. Simple and elegant.

Another cute little card to match!

Flying, flowers and bunnies

 The hubby and I finally had an opportunity to go flying this afternoon!

 It was a gorgeous day for it too! My first trip up in the plane this year. I was a bit nervous... it had been 6 months since I flew in our little plane. It was down for it's annual, then received a new paint job. (You can see the daffodil fields off in the distance :))

 I forgot to take my camera! Gah! So, luckily I had my phone... not the best pictures, but that's okay.

 Photo op! Hehe! We flew to a nearby airport and had lunch, yes cheeseburgers ha! $100 cheeseburgers anyone?!

 Then flew back home, right over the daffodils. The tulips are almost ready to bloom. They will be gorgeous next weekend if the sun stays.

 The last few days have been warmer and sunny, just what I needed to get my behind outside! I made a visit to my favorite garden store and purchased some plants and little bunnies. Then planted up some Easter baskets.

The little iron bunny almost looks like a chocolate bunny!

 I found these great striped pots at Lowes, thought they would be cute planted up with a little bunny for a few friends.

 I think I have a thing for bunnies! But I couldn't leave this one behind ;)

 I have a friend with a thing for purple.

 Another friend likes blue;)

 I made up a few Easter cards to accompany the pots.

I hope they enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter! Enjoy every moment!

November cottage crafts

 Last week we had another fun evening of crafts in the craft cottage.

 I added some fun Christmas lights to the ceiling for added light and did a few tables instead of one big table.

 We each brought appetizers to share.

I am trying to decide if it is easier to have smaller groups and several different tables or everyone at one large table.

This time we made a reindeer ornament out of corks. My friend Jessica found the idea online and had everything for us to make them!

So cute!

We also made Christmas tags in a little tin to keep or give as a gift.

We all had a great time learning new craft ideas and chatting all evening! We have another one scheduled for December 3 to do some Christmas cards and gifts. With each class we get a few new 

faces.  We are really enjoying planning these fun classes for our friends too! 

Fall Cottage Crafts Class

 Last month we had a fun fall craft class in the cottage. We each brought a brunch item (the class was on a Saturday morning from 10-12). I supplied coffee, tea, cocoa and hot spiced cider.
Our crafts for the morning were Homemade Vanilla, a tissue pompom and Fall wreaths made from fabric, felt, silk sunflowers and ribbon. Each wreath turned out so different! It was a great morning with great friends!

We've scheduled our next class already and it's full! Next week we are doing Christmas gift tags and a glittered tin to keep them in or give as a gift. We will also do a Christmas ornament. We are each bringing an appetizer to share since this class will be a weeknight after work.  I've got almost everything ready for the gift tags and tin, just need to finalize the ornament. These little classes have been so fun to do with my friends!

We've already planned a few more classes too! We are doing 20 Christmas Cards for one class, we are doing an ALL day Christmas present class (when the day is done we will each have 5 completed gifts to give or keep for ourselves *wink*). We will do a candy/cookie swap with recipes and have a recipe book to take home along with our goodies, and I think we are going to do a Chocolate Covered Cherry class too! This Spring we have some friends that will do some fun classes too! We will be doing hypertuffa pots and a floral decorating class.

I couldn't end my post without including Liam in his Halloween costume! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely fun filled day!

New light fixtures... Christmas...

I finally decided on a new light fixture for the laundry room. The room has an entrance from the garage that we use as a "mud room". The entrance from the garage has a chandelier, so I didn't feel the room needed a second one. My laundry room still is not done... I know, it has been a long project for such a small room! Haha!

While I was shopping for the laundry room light fixture, I came across these pendant lights I thought would be a quick, easy fix for in the kitchen.

The hubby was in doubt...

but once they were up, with very little difficulty, he had to agree they were perfect!

Here is a picture of the ugly red saucer that was there before, so glad those are gone!

I am currently making some decisions to have the cupboards altered and painted, all new counter tops, and probably a few new appliances too. It's so hard to make decisions sometimes =)

Have you noticed all the Christmas decor already out in the stores? Wow! I couldn't resist these gorgeous  large scale ornaments.

Creating this card for a shoebox swap I am participating in has put me in the Christmas spirit extra early this year =)

My bag is packed, my "shoebox" is loaded with kits, can't wait to meet 16 other ladies I've never met before and 1 very close friend to craft all day!