Tuesday, June 22, 2010

A Wax Tip, and a Pineapple Wax Mold....



Hi Friends! I want to say a very big Thank You to all of you who wrote some very nice and sweet comments about our dog. It was so nice to read all your kind words and even though I've never met most of you, you all really feel like good friends to me, so that made it even sweeter. Thank You again.

So, I do have a wax tip for you.....some of you may already do this, and I have been doing it for awhile, but just in case~I will throw it out there. Ok, when you are at the end of a burning candle, there is always some wax left....maybe a good 1/2" of it or so.....well KEEP THAT WAX! :) Get out a knife and get the wick end out, but get the wax, and you want it in pieces because you are going to burn that wax in your tart warmers! It still has a fantastic scent and sometimes depending on when your candle goes out, you could have quite a bit of wax in there, even enough to do a couple rounds in your tart warmer.


I love the White Barn candles because I think they are really well scented. I buy these when they are super cheap, and it is the 3 wick ones....but they always have a ton of wax left over at the bottom, so I have little baggies full of the left over wax from them, and burn them later in my tart burner! Yeah....it's like a free tart! :)


And speaking of wax....you all know how much I love to make wax bowl fillers and do-dads....well I have some blackened beeswax sitting around here, and I have this cute little pineapple mold, and I thought "why not?".....So, here these little bowl fillers are:


Aren't they cute? I think these would look cute sitting in a bowl/tray or tied to a package, or anything....we all love our prim pineapples! :)



And here is a quick pic of those yummy sugar pantry cakes we made at Patti's last week:




And now I need your help! Do you know those backsplash tiles that you can buy at the hardware store? Well, I just love them, but am not quite sure what to do with it....I want to make something with it or use it in a craft project but not sure what to do. Any help? Any ideas?

I thought about staining it and either using it in a frame or cutting it into something....but nothing is coming to me yet.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Goodbye Old Friend....


This evening my dog Martha passed away. She was 13 and loved very much by all of us. She will be greatly missed.


Goodbye, my old friend.

Friday, June 18, 2010

My Lunch and Craft Date


Yesterday, I had an outing at Patti's, where I also met up with Michelle and Teresa.
Patti invited us to her place for lunch and then Teresa came up with a great and easy craft for us all to do together right there in Patti's kitchen.
Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling the absolute best because while I was getting ready to head to Patti's, I pulled something and got a TERRIBLE kink in my neck, which felt absolutely debilitating! It hurt so bad....but I took quite a few pills to help ease the ache and headed out the door anyway.
I am so glad I didn't miss it because WE HAD A BLAST!!!!!! We laughed until we almost cried, and most of the time they were laughing at me b/c of my ridiculous neck injury and trying to craft.....
Our craft that we made was primitive sugar pantry cakes. I made another version of some pantry cakes before, but Teresa had a very quick and easy recipe that had molded pantry cakes ready in approx. 20 minutes....but be warned, your hand may get a little cramped from stirring! ;)
Here we are all chatting away, while one would slave over the stove......



Some of our molds getting filled up.....


And here are some of my finished sugar pantry cakes. Not sure where the picture is that I took of them all, but I have a whole bunch of little cakes, and some are made from the small heart molds, and tiny tartlet molds....they all got sooo good and grungy! And they smell FANTASTIC! Can't wait to wrap some cloth around them and set them out!



After we did some crafting, it was time for lunch. And Patti served up this most wonderful tuna in shells salad.




It was sooo yummy!



Patti also treated us with some terrific desserts, but I forgot to take a picture of those. :) And check out what Michelle made each one of us....isn't she so cute! Thanks again Michelle!



Here are some snapshots of Patti's beautiful flowers around the shop.




So, that was my very special lunch and craft date with some very special ladies yesterday! Can't wait till the next one! ;)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Beginning to Summer.....

Hi Friends! Hope you are all enjoying your start to summer! Mine has been, let's just say.....INTERESTING! :)
Take a peek at what we've been up to:




A trip to Barnum & Bailey Circus....




Some pics of my little guy (as promised) finishing up his and also the girls' baseball and softball seasons.....



A 12th birthday party on the hottest day of the year........



And a cast.......

I also need to throw in there that not even 2 days after Gracie's fractured wrist, there was a broken toe on my husband! Yikes....it's been crazy. Hope things settle down soon! :)
How about you? How have you been enjoying your start to summer?

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Story of my Harvest Table....


Well, I have mentioned before that sometime I would share the story of how I aquired my harvest table, and I guess today, since I actually have some free time, is the time to tell you about it.
So, grab a cup of coffee, this will take a few minutes! ;)
*************************************************************************
My family and I went antiquing after church,one Sunday in July of 2008 to my favorite antique shops. It just so happens that a cousin of mine works at the antique shop and we got to talking about our likes and interests in decor. I told her that I love more prim antiques, over victorian and so forth. "Well", she said...."have you seen the very prim and old table up here....it is so neat?!" I said "oh, no I haven't...."
As soon as she took me back to see it I WAS IN LOVE! She told us that everyone just loves it and stops and looks at it, but you have to have the right house for it, and you have to have enough room for it, because it is 10 feet long.

I was just smitten....speechless, in fact! ;) I said to my husband immediately...."This is it, this is the kind of table that I have been talkiing about. * My husband and I talked about someday adding on to our house, and I could see a lot of the design in my head and the one thing that I wanted in that room was a big harvest table to seat all our children and someday grandchildren at for holidays and get togethers! *
Well, my husband liked it and thought too that it was very nice and quite unique, but wasn't as excited as I was. "We have a table" he said. "I know, but this is a one of a kind....we will never find one like this again, and it is even on sale!" ;) * The price tag had an original price and then it was marked down quite a bit and marked firm. I thought the price was FANTASTIC! My husband was kind of agreeing, but not with me on the overall picture.
So, we later left the store: EMPTY HANDED. :( I was ok, and I didn't argue with my husband, but I just felt in my heart that that was MY table, and it was meant for me....the piece I had been searching for, but I obeyed my husband and agreed that there were other things that needed our financial attention!
So, it was now getting later in the evening, and my parents had stopped in with dessert, and later left when it was getting late. My husband having the summers off, got ready for his work week of painting a huge old building that he was hired to paint. This certain building took around a month or so....it was very large and he worked by himself. He would get up early in the morning, load up our trailer with all his supplies and ladders and head out by 6 or so to get a head start before the heat would really hit. He would then usually come home for lunch because the job was only a few blocks away from our house.
This particular Monday I was planning on having a little baby shower luncheon for my good friend Amy who was having a baby girl in August. So, 3 of my closest friends were coming over for this luncheon and I was making it all cute and pink and we were dining out on the deck. I told my husband to get home a little before noon so he could be with the kids for lunch and tend to them while I hosted for my girlfriends.
All was going well....My friends and I started having our lunch even though Bob wasn't home yet for the kids, but that was ok...I got them their quick lunch and then they were back to their playing. So, I heard him finally coming home and he came out to us and greeted all of us. He then came up to me with his one hand behind his back and said that he had something for me. He brought his hand out from his back holding an old antique scale, and he said "Oh, that's right, this is what I wanted...." *I will quickly give you an inside hint....when we went antiquing, he wanted an old antique scale to weigh clay on for pottery....and he had seen a few when were antiquing on Sunday, but couldn't make a decision on any...*
So, immediately I was SPEECHLESS AGAIN and got a little choked up.... "You didn't?" I said. And he just looked at me.....by this time all my girlfriends are like what? "What's going on?"
I was in shock......did he really go and get this? He said "I have it, it's on the trailer!" I quickly ran to the car, with all my girlfriends running behind me (including the one that is soon to give birth!) :) He certainly did have it, and I was just beside myself.....I was ecstatic! I couldn't believe that he changed his mind.
So, I had to fill the girls in on the whole story, and they were just as awwed and as happy for me as I was. They later left, telling me that they couldn't wait to go home and tell their husbands what Bob had done for me, hoping that they would take a good hint too! ;)
Bob later told me that after we got home the night before, he started really thinking about the table and he couldn't get it off his mind, and he found himself also believing that we would never find something like that again, at that price then yet. He made up his mind that he would go back in the morning and get it, and he even told my dad his plans, and told him not to say anything to me. He got up early in the morning and left like his normal routine, but never went to paint....he went right to the antique shop and was there like an hour and a half before it opened! He was sooo worried then that it had already sold the night before, and he wanted to make sure that he was the first person in the building that morning to get it if it hadn't sold. Sure enough, it was there waiting for him to bring it to it's new home....and he picked up his scale then too! :)
So, that is the story of my harvest table.....I wish I knew more about its origination, where it was found, where it was used, but no one knew. All the employees of the antique store told my husband, that he was truely aquiring a treasure..."you just don't see pieces like this anymore" one man told him.
The neat thing about it is that the table is painted this very light moss green, but it goes perfectly with my rug, and I think it fits our home just perfectly! :) So I would have to say this is one of my most favorite pieces! :)




Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Great Things by Great Friends!


Morning Prim Friends! Today is looking absolutely beautiful and it isn't supposed to be so hot, YEAH! :)
I wanted to share with you some new things that I received....I think you will like all of them!
First off, I must share with you our new, but very tiny addition to our family:

Isn't he cute?! He and his 3 brothers/sisters were orphaned from their mom, so a friend asked us if we would want one, and we took this little black cutie! We already have an orange and white male cat that is 3, so he is trying to adjust to this new little one roaming around the house.

Next take a peek at this awesome giveaway that I won from Colleen!

Let me tell you how great these look and smell! I just love these bowl fillers that she makes....what a great, great giveaway! She had them all packaged up so beautifully! Thanks again Colleen!








I also got this great magazine from Patti at her shop. I certainly enjoyed this prim magazine with lots of great reads and prim pictures with a cup of coffee.

And when I was down to visit Patti at her shop, she sent some great tarts along with me that she made. Let me tell you what....I burned the sweet orange chili pepper tart and it smells so good. I actually have it burning right now in my tart burner. It is so great! Thanks Patti!~

Well,I certainly got some great little gifts from some veary dear friends, don't ya think?! And I am so happy to have great friends!