Happy Memorial Day!

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Camila on Pinterest

What a beautiful weekend we have been having here in Ohio. Spent some time camping,and visiting with friends, a parade this morning and a BBQ with family. Thankful today for the life God has blessed me with. Thank you to all of the men and woman throughout our nation's history (and those who are there today) who have served to make this country great! Hope you have had a wonderful weekend as well!
Happy Memorial Day!

A Day at the Zoo!

We have had so much rain in Ohio that it was such a treat to have a nice (warm) day outdoors. A few of my MOPS friends met us up at the zoo yesterday. Here are a few photos of Liam's first trip to the zoo. I am seriously considering getting a family zoo pass and visiting a few more times this summer.

This guy posed for me! :)
Liam was facinated with this guy. He kept saying "k, la, bear" (still working on it)

Some of Liam's friends checking out the mini horse.

Mommy, a goat!

Surprised by his fearlessness. He just went on up and touched him. A future 4-Her perhaps?

Next trip: The Monkeys, Lions, and Polor Bears.

The Winner is,..........

#227 Kristen and Sean

Who shared her favorite dessert:
"I want to win! My favorite dessert/baked good, without a doubt,is Red Velvet Cake. Yummo! Something about the texture of the cake with buttercream frosting just tickles my taste buds."

Hope you have fun shopping over at TrendyMeg for something lovely! :)

Thank you everyone for all your sweet comments and sharing your yummy dessert (ideas). I hope you all had a chance to enter the fun giveaways going on this week. Hopefully in the near future we will have another fun giveaway. Until then,..time to get back to sewing, and crafting! Stop in anytime and chat with me.

A Monday Surprise {Giveaway!} (Closed)

So,..my secret is now reveled!! I am giving away $30.00 credit + plus shipping (Yes that includes International) to spend in my Etsy Shop! Which is enough to buy one of my aprons! I decided to join "Sew Momma Sew" during their BIG MAY GIVEAWAY event! Make sure you stop over there and see all the other shops that are participating as well. I have been soo excited about this giveaway and feel proud of my secret keeping skills. ::Smile:: How is that for starting Monday off with a bang?








Here are a few new listings over at Trendymeg!

How to Enter: Leave me a comment telling me your favorite baked good or dessert Make sure to leave me your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.

Even though I don't require you to be a follower, I would love it if you would! :)

Extra Enteries: (Up to 3 extra entries. One for each task)

1. Become a follower (link on the left hand side of the page) and come back here and comment that you have done so. If you are already a follower comment as well.

2. Go to TrendyMeg and look around. Come back here and leave a comment telling me what you would buy with the store credit.

3. Go "Like" my TrendyMeg Facebook Page! Then come back and leave me a comment saying that you did so.

NOTE: DO NOT forget to leave me your e-mail address when commenting. The Contest will be open until this Wednesday, May 25th at 10:00pm (EST). I will contact the winners shortly after.
Best of luck to all of you!!

Quiet Rainy Days

link unkown

Most people hate when it rains. Me,..I love it! I sometimes think that I should have been born in the UK. With all of the rainy days these past few weeks, I have felt inspired. Rainy days allow me to stay indoors and create! Something I have been doing a lot of lately. In the next few days I hope to post some new aprons in my etsy shop,..and there will be a fun surprise coming soon. ::wink:: We will see if I can keep the fun "secret." (No, I am not expanding my family just yet....just throwing that out there.) Hope you are enjoying a warm cup of coffee, and snuggles with your loveys.

What I Have Been Up To,....

It has been a very busy few weeks. I have been sewing, and planning for my very first craft show that occurred this weekend. Sorry there has been a delay in my postings. Between my mommy duties and church activities it has been a bit crazy at my house. I have finally decided to step out and do something a bit out of my comfort zone. I am putting my sewing talents and broadening my little business outside of etsy. I met a really nice girl at a bookstore a few months ago who I started chatting with about crafting and such. She shared that she was a part of this Crafting Collation of young artists in the area. She gave me a business card and some Facebook info and I was intrigued. After looking into it, I decided to join! It has been such fun getting to know other women who love to craft and create like I do. I wanted to share some photos of the event I participated in.


Do you see my husband in the back there? He was busy creating an inventory data base for my shop. He's not really into the crafty part of the business,..but it was nice to have him there at the show with me.





I am loving my new business cards that I designed (and my dear husband helped with) that are doubled as tags.


Oo La La Apron!







Here is a photo of a new friend Emily of Zween! Sitting next to her at the craft show we shared ideas and admired each others work. If you get a chance, check out her shop! She has some fabric art work, sweet little felted fruit pins and sassy card designs (I bought a few at the last show).






Not much luck selling any aprons,...the show was small (in a coffee shop) and only a hand full of people came out. I did make some contacts. I met a lady who owns a crafty store that sells art from local talent. She now has four of my aprons in her shop to sell! So exciting!!

I want to say that I am blessed with some amazing friends! Friends who braved the rain and came out just to support me. One friend who drove her toddler and infant out to visit me (not an easy task). Thank you to all of you who came out to support me. It made me feel encouraged and loved.

Hope to do more shows in the future! Until then, I will keep my sewing machine running.

My Dapper Toddler

I have been meaning to post some photos of Liam in his Easter get up. Unfortunately I bought his outfit months in advance and didn't think to try it on him before hand. He still needs to grow into those shorts. Hope you enjoy these outdoor shots! Yay for warm holidays!

Tuesday's Tunes

This is what I am listening to today,.....



Adele,....your voice continues to amaze me!

Happy Mothers Day!

link

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
-Elizabeth Stone




I am so blessed to have a mother whom I also call my friend. Thank you mom for all you have done for me. The older I get, the more I realize all the sacrifices you made for all of us. I am privileged to be your daughter. I love you!

I am also blessed to call myself a mother. Liam, you have made my dreams come true. You are forever my sunshine. I love you xx

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!

Wedding Reflections

One last note about the Royal Wedding and we shall move on.
The group VOCES8 a British Acapella group has recorded a song in honor of William and Catherine. It's worth sharing!





Also, if you are interested, there is a free download of the official wedding program available for a limited time, via the Facebook group: Royal Wedding

We wish William and Catherine many blessing in their new marriage.

link

I Heart Hats and Fascinators {Tutorial}

"A hat is a flag, a shield, a bit of armor, and the badge of femininity. A hat is the difference between wearing clothes and wearing a costume; it's the difference between being dressed and being dressed up; it's the difference between looking adequate and looking your best. A hat is to be stylish in, to glow under, to flirt beneath, to make all others seem jealous over, and to make all men feel masculine about. A piece of magic is a hat." (Martha Sliter)

I have always been intrigued by hats and fascinators. Any type of flower, or jewels for hair. I am sure many of you noticed the amazing pieces adorned on woman's heads during the Royal Wedding. It was actually part of the dress code! Can you imagine getting an invite that comes with a 22 page booklet of do's and don't when dressing for a Royal affair? I wonder how many people will start wearing these little beauties to weddings this year. Maybe they will start making a come back state side.
Here are a few beauties that I noticed during the wedding.

My favs! :) What cute sisters! (Will's cousins from the Spencer side)

Who can forget Princess Beatrice....

or her sister Princess Eugenie?

Like their fascinator style, or hate it,...there is no denying that they made a statement!

Even Duchess Catherine has been known to wear a few stylish fascinators herself.

With all the inspirational creative pieces I had seen at the wedding, I decided to make a few of my own. They are really simple, and you can make them on any budget.

Here is what you need:

1.) A hot glue gun, glue, and hair clips. I found these at my local Joann's. You can also use headbands instead. (I like the clips because of their larger surface area for gluing larger flowers on.



2.) You will also need some ribbon & a role of tulle.



3.) Large flowers and leaves.



4.) Don't forget the feathers! Any size, color or shape will do!



Glue the tulle on the clip and make sure to glue it in a gathered style to add some fullness. Next cover with ribbon and glue down. (I used the tolle as a vail, but you can also use it to add bulk around the flower)



Next step is to layer the feathers on and glue, then glue flower. There is no wrong way to do this. You can also glue beads, jewels, butterflies etc. Whatever you fancy!

Here is the end result to mine!





I tried to take a photo of myself wearing one! :) This is as good as I could get. ::Shrug::



I would love to see how yours turn out! Wouldn't it be fun to get together and wear them? Tea party anyone? Happy crafting!!

photos by: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Tea for Three (or more)

The Royal Wedding has been something I personally have been looking forward to for,...umm a very long time. Although (for years) in my dreams, I was the one walking down the aisle. ::blush:: Surprised I admitted that. Although if you would have walked into my bedroom when I was a teenager, Prince William graced my walls. Forget the movie stars, Royalty is where it's at. Tom wouldn't go for a room filled with posters,..so they all had to stored in my memory box in the attic. But I do have a china cabinet filled with little trinkets and Royal antiques. If you come over to visit, just ask I am always willing to "show and tell." So when the date was set for April 29th, I started counting down the days. I have a couple girl friends who also enjoy Royal watching, so I decided to have a little watch party. What's a Royal party without a tea length dress, scones, tea and fun "fascinators/hats?" (If you are wondering, yes I dressed up!) I wanted to show you a few pictures of my house during the celebrations!













My husband Tom surprised us all when he came down stairs wearing his kilt (that he wore in our wedding). He actually sat and watched the full coverage along with us. (Hope he doesn't find out that I posted this picture) I had to giggle at the fact that he has caught on to my crazy ideas and has decided to "join on in." If you can't beat them, join them eh? Just makes me love him more. He is my Prince Charming.

I plan on posting a tutorial on my "facinators" that I hand made to wear during the party. The end result was so cute.

I found the template for the Royal Bunting here. Can you see the flag with "It should have been me?" ha ha My fav!

The chocolate looking cake is an authentic wedding cake replica. I added proper British ingredients (so glad places in Canada carry British imports) and it was glorious! Prince William chose to have this "no bake" Chocolate Crunch Cake added to the menu, along side the traditional 8 tier wedding cake. It's the British version of a rice crispy treat really. A lot of Royal followers were shocked by this,..but personally, I love it! It shows how modern, and fun that "some" of the Royals can be. He likes what he likes! The recipe: here.

What did you do during the wedding celebrations? I would love to hear about it!