Hi Blogger, it me, S'mee....

Is anyone even still checking in? I'm not sure. But if you do, thanks. I am sorry I have been such a slacker lately. I'm o.k., but I just can't seem to find the blog motivation. That said I have been crafty lately...gearing up for the holidays.

I love Halloween. See the Halloween posts in the archives to find other things I have thrown together in the past. This year a few different items. I hope to have a You Tube "how to" up soon. In the mean time here are a few of the items I have been working on:



Chair Scarves. I used a window scarf I bought 3 years ago, cut into 4 parts, hemmed it and then threw it over the chairs and tied it off with a ribbon. Free and easy recycle!


I went to the fabric store and found $2 and $3 per yard fabrics on clearance and essentially just cut the one twice, hemmed all raw edges and threw it on the table to make a base cloth that would go all the way -and then some- to the floor. I had the gal at the store cut the top fabric to a square; however wide it was, that would determine the scale of the square, so be it. Hemmed and thrown on the table. Not Free, but almost, and totally easy. Plus both clothes can be used for other occasions, dressed and accessorized with other colours or item and that will decide the mood later!



An old recycled wreath, this one black, topped with 99c Store (really bad) black roses, tipped with a bit of green glitter and red roses spray painted with flat black. (In the photo the original red really shows through, in real life the red is more of a suggestion than a visible colour.) I just snipped the roses from the bunches (4 black, three red) and used the wire in the wreath to secure them in place. I added left over ribbon in a bow and there you have it. Recycle + $7.00



This is the one I am most excited about. I was sharing a snack at a friend's home when she served her goodies on the most gorgeous plates. White background with black printed toile "solid" plates and also as an edge. I adored them! Too expensive after the inquiry of where and how much? What to do? Head down to Dollar Tree and find some flat edged plates! At $1 a piece this would be a great alternative. I used a permanent on any surface ink and some scroll designed rubber stamps, and badabing badaboom I have my black and white plates. Not toile, no solids, but with the same feel! I think they'll look really awesome on the Halloween table, but also later and not so spooky! $8.00 for a whole new set of dishes!

Well that's it. See you soon, I hope!



Click on the photos to get a closer look!

Love is spoken here...

For a few years here in our little neck of the woods we enjoyed a small family full of the most adorable children, a talented man, and one of the most dedicated mothers I have ever met. The dad played the piano in our church pretty much for every occasion as he was one of the few who could play at all. I remember one of the first times I met his wife. We were at an "Enrichment Activity" ( a church women's only activity, usually some learning, always fun and always some kind of food involved!) This particular night we were playing games. I can't really remember the exact game but Van was supposed to know-do- or something with a hippopotamus. The trouble was that Van was brand new to the United States, fresh from Vietnam and spoke only the very basics of English. Most of the time she would just shyly smile and nod and hope she didn't look to out of place. We all took turns trying to help her understand what a hippopotamus was and I finally just drew one on the paper table cloth. She took one look and repeated "hippopotamus" only in Vietnamese, with a huge smile.

Over the few years we all watched Van as she taught herself and her children English. She would ask for words from time to time, but her concern was that her children would be left behind educationally, so she not only taught them to speak English, but to read it as well. Her oldest little girl blew us all away when as a Sunbeam (Sunday school class for three years old) she was not only able to speak so maturely, but read from the King James version of the bible, old English style - Thee, Thou, and such, and understands what she read well enough to explain what she had read.

A few more years and a few more children- and all three of them were just as bright, polite, and well mannered. Van was it and a bag of chips in the mommy department. Always quiet and shy, always soft and loving.

It broke all of us apart when they announced their house was up for sale in anticipation of a move to Michigan. Ack! What would we do without the man who would arrange all of our music and play whatever we needed? What would we do without a sweet mother and her three little ones? Carry on.

I have waited for them to settle in before sending them a small house warming (which from the weather in Michigan nowadays might better have been an electric blanket). I found a piece of tin and recycled it with the word "love" in block letters, and the words "Love is spoken here" in Vietnamese. I hope they can find a place for it in their new home, the message sure reminds me of them all.

(apologies to anyone from Vietnam if I have missed spelled the above, sources tell me it is correct, but I may have goofed it)

Click on the photo to enlarge and see more detail.

weekend project

I got an e-mail from a friend of mine last week asking me if I could make a bouquet for a wedding taking place at her home this coming weekend. Luckily for me, the bride wanted silks. Thor and I will be gone three days before the wedding so fresh would have been a problem!

We went shopping Saturday afternoon and that night I went to work. I was surprised that the bouquet used all the stems we purchased, but it did! She requested all white flowers with a bit of green. There are two dozen roses, 16 large 8 buds, 5 stems of cascading blooms, and another five bunches of ivy.

I used the red and gold bud leaves as accent colour and to bring in a bit of the fall colours she plans, and also the deep green large leaves to poke out in the bouquet and also as a way of 'plating' the base and supporting the ivy bunches.

She wanted burgundy and metallic gold ribbon, and again, lucky for me I had a spool that was approved! She wanted a small "shoe lace" bow and braided stems, so I did that for her, although I forgot to get a shot of the braided stem.

They also requested a matching boutonniere so I used the same combination of flowers and greenery and there you go.

My friend liked them very much, I am hoping the bride does as well.

Check out Food Chronicles, I understand Robyn got a last minute call to prepare and decorate the cake. I can't wait to see what she does!

Ribbon Wreath

Hey! Remember fourth grade? If you don't, this just might bring back a few memories. It's a tutorial on how to make a ribbon wreath...just like those ones we made way back in the day with tissue paper...only this time we're using ribbon. Go ahead and give it a look see!

adventures in sewing!

The previous green curtains were atrocious! We found a discount fabric store and searched for bargains. We found too many fabrics we wanted but let the budget make the final decision.

For $3.oo a yard, #5 loved this crinkly semi sheer, at 52 wide, it was a deal and a half! We decided that if we placed the fabric on the horizon rather than it's intended vertical we could get away with about 1/3 the fabric! Too add length and interest she picked out another piece of lightweight, but darker and with a bit of texture fabric at $4.99 per yard. One yard was all we needed. The base fabric is a deep brown with black circles randomly placed all over...really cool!

She wanted to tie the curtains up with pearls, chains, ribbons and whatever else she could find, so I added button holes to the top. Clipped to the cafe rings and between she and the best friend they looked so much better than what she had before. Also, even with the semi sheer weight, they are opaque enough to provide much needed privacy from the neighbors!

Just a reminder of the loveliness that was their love seat! E-gads! We shopped Craigs list and couldn't find a sofa any cleaner or the appropriate size...well actually we did, but the $50.00 they wanted for it was ridiculous! We found a second sofa, but it was in another city, weighed about 345 lbs. and in addition to the $15.00 price tag they wanted another $20.00 for delivery. um no.

So while we were at the fabric store we found a mushroom gray upholstery fabric for (get this!) $2.00 a yard! For $20, we had a nearly new piece of furniture! Can you believe it's the same couch? The small rug was a miracle find at $10.00 and with the exact mushroom, brown and beige we needed! Whoo hoo!
So there you have it. The 5 day transformation!

accessories from a thrift store!

When it comes down to it, you need a place to put your feet up at the end of the day. We went in search of accessories at the local thrift stores and this is what we came up with:

2 pressed tin flower pots, turned up side down and glued (with tub caulking) to the underside of a cupboard door for a sofa table. All recycled, the pots from mom's house, the cupboard $1.00 from the Habitat For Humanity thrift in Provo. The small fish bowl (so long "Soup" we knew and loved thee well!) is filled with button cast offs.

An architectural fleur de lis adds a touch of sparkle on top of the deep brown book case. Recycled from mom.

$1.00 each buys empty frames, mirrors. A few personal photos along side a $3.00 shelf, all from Deseret Industries, Provo. (-except photos, they were gifts from a friend.)

A collection of vintage suitcases and a complete bowling bag! The suitcases were $3.00 a piece as was the bowling bag, shoes and ball inscribed with "Brownie". The suitcases and bowling bag act as a catch all by the door, the shoes and ball are accessories in the book cases. Look for them in the photos!

Doesn't everyone have one of these funky flower vases from the florist? She filled hers with more buttons and set it beside a rusted metal basket found at Urban Renewal in St. George for $5.00.

$1.50 for three antique bottles, a small paper mache globe, black with light tan lines and markings, a small silver tray, $2.00 and arranging books by colour on the shelves. (Notice the bowling ball in the right corner on the floor?)

Very difficult to see in the photo, but on top of the left book case is a pendant, a small painted piece of glass with the Eiffel Tower and "Paris!" written in script. On the other shelf are her bowling shoes, a small ceramic vase, and on top a glass bowl (recycled from mom) filled a new unnamed as yet fish, and the fleur de lis.

recycle!

#5 is an English Major with a French minor. Between you and me, she is a book snob. She has particular tastes and anyone who reads "fluff" just make her crazy. Part of her education required her to study "Romanticism" -which she abhors. She would rather sit through a Lawrence Welk revival than to ever have to read and or discuss romantic poetry again.

When I saw the state of one of her bookcases (wobbly!) I thought the best thing to do would be to try to somehow secure it. Limited tools and finances led me to recycle! She handed me a stack of poetry books and there you go! I started the project without her knowledge and got one side completely done before she came home and discovered my creative side. We needed to leave and gather some other things before the stores closed, so her best friend said she would stay behind and work on the book case. She had it almost finished by the time we got back home! I love the way it turned out, it was really cool and for an English major, well, what more could she want than book shelves full of words?

Thanks D! What a great friend!

Click on the photos for a closer look!

the Art

#5 loves contemporary and abstract art. She found some pieces that spoke to her and asked her best friend who was also visiting and myself if we would join her in making some art for the walls in the living room. The walls as shown in the post prior, were empty. The only art in the house was a poster print of Jesus and another of a temple, both green from too much sun exposer, one placed in the kitchen and the other in the hallway.

The first photo is #5's first attempt at painting. She was disappointed in it, although I really liked it. To me, it seemed somewhat cosmic and it makes me want to look at it for a while to see all the things moving in it. I liked it and so did the other girls in the house, so we talked her into keeping it and putting it up.

The second one is an abstract of the First Vision. She wanted something religious in the way of a painting, so this is what I came up with.

The third painting is just another abstract using a combination of elements that were in some of the other pieces we were doing. I wasn't sure she would like this, as I did it while she was working. Turns out she thought it was great. Who knew?

This fourth one turned out to be her favourite however, again, I wasn't sure she would like it at all. Later on I will explain how we changed/recycled/converted an old bookcase with poetry books, but with that in mind I made this collage using pieces from the books she had and also a bit of paint, a photograph from National Geographic, and ink. The quote on the base says: "de gustibus non est disputandum" or " there is no accounting for taste" in Latin, which she thought was hilarious.

The next one is based with text poetry from the books, with small pieces flying up and away into the light stream. This one got approval as well. I guess I should say there was one painting that needed to be reworked to make the cut, I thought so as well, and also one painting (ugh, that I neglected to photograph!) that she chose to hang in her room instead of the living area.

The last one was done by her best friend. It's a copy from one of #5's favourite artists, and although I do not know the artist's name the title of the painting was "Temple". Her best friend took almost two entire days copying this to almost perfection. I am sure the artist would be hugely flattered. It was amazingly close.

Before

yikes. This is what I have been up to the past week. Seems #5 needed some changes in her life. Part of those changes meant dealing with a less than responsive (or responsible for that matter) landlord and manager for the small BY-U approved housing. Took a bit of doing but I think we are making some head way.

Then there was the matter of the condition of the interiors. Not being allowed to paint over the dead flat bright hospital white walls that have been neglected (for several years by the look of them), we opted for the things we could change.

This first photo is of the front door as you face the street. Note that the t.v. is placed on a dresser. Normally I would think, "O.k. clever. We can use the dresser as extra storage and as a t.v stand." Alas, no. This dresser has been held together by unknown forces for far too long! The drawer fronts actually just balance on their frames, one small move and the whole front falls off! (The collection of odds and ends on the floor were my fault...thrift store bargains, more on them later)

This second photo shows the lovely thin to thread bare curtains, broken windows that cannot be secured and are directly in line with the drive way and walk way access to the back house. Neighbors, the mailman, and any visitors have a direct view into the house at any time of the day! How convenient! It also shows the best of the two couches, this one actually a love seat with holes in the seats, thus the yellow sheet, which as most throws or slip covers has a tendency to shift during use. Note the small foot stool. There are two of these, I think they are cast offs from a glider rocker, as they both glide. The good thing is they are surprisingly comfortable, the height is good and the cushion is bearable. Behind the love seat are two book cases. The one on the right holds two of the girls' dvd collections and on the base shelf, one gal's nursing books. The other shelf on the left houses #5's books, well some of her books. That book case it also very wobbly and whenever you remove a book the entire shelf lists one way or the other and you need to steady it, lest it collapse in a heap. There is a "Medusa" lamp, which the girls bought together because there was no lighting in the house prior to the purchase. They didn't really like it, but for $20.00 it was a deal. In the left corner, not shown, is another bookcase #5 brought with her, also filled to the brim with her books; and a hanging wind chime that belongs to her roommate... the one thing said roommate insisted stay exactly where it is, all else we could do what we would.

The third photo shows what I dubbed the SLC Airport couch. It had a very firm (read hard) and very shallow seat and all it was lacking was baggage claim and/or the pleather roping to guide you to your terminal. That was our beginning.

The last photo is one final look at the love seat for later comparison. We decided something had to be done about the seating in this house. No one ever sat on the Airport couch because of it's complete lack of comfort, so the girls dismantled it and stored it inside a hall closet.

FHE (or whatever you need) Peg Chart

During Relief Society last month we had an Enrichment Nighta focusing on clever ways to spruce up your Family Home Eveningb. One of the gals went to the local lumber shop, bought a plank of pine, and had the Bishop's wife saw it into small 2 foot boards for us. (that Bishop's wife is pretty crafty!) So we came up with a cute way to paint the Family Home Evening jobs.

I was busy helping the ladies paint so I just paid for my boards and came home. I just got around to painting mine and this is what I came up with. I have a little family that I do work for from time to time and I thought they might like a job chart. I know she is very young and likes trendy things. Her home is decorated with burgundy and forest green. I thought she might like the Bohemian look. I was going to paint it burgundy (it has hearts and all, figured burgundy was appropriate) however my bottle of burgundy paint was dried out. Sadness and gloom.

Not to worry I just went with the green. I started out with the creamy coloured board they had at the church, then took a few rubber stamps and stamped a brocade background using a light tan. I added metallic gold swirls and blended the dark green with the gold and scrolled out some swirls and green vines, added a few medallions and there you go.

I painted the hearts green, added some stamped filigree to the edges, painted the drawer pull knobs gold and went to work embellishing. I had black wire and some beads in gold and green, a few copper, black and pewter swirl paper clips,and used that for the hangers. I painted names and jobs and then gave everything a coat of acrylic spray to protect it. They dangle and sparkle just a bit.

I think this is a great project, fairly easy and adaptable for any family. It would look adorable as a chore or helper chart, or a place to hang keys, whatever!

I hope they enjoy it as much as I did making it for them!

a. Enrichment Night (or Home, Family and Enrichment Activities) The Relief Society women get together and have all kinds of organized fun! There are few requirements; at least three ladies interested, an activity that enriches the lives of those who participate, and regularly scheduled. Some of the activities we have in our ward/stake are the "Alleluia! Breakfast" (held the first Monday after the kids go back to school at a specific restaurant!), Whine and Dine (1st Tuesday night each month), knitting, crochet, scrapbookers, "Hens without chicks" (any gal, kids stay home, and we go do something fun), cake decorating, book club, community calendar, humanitarian aide (a monthly project to help out where needed), self reliance, etc. It just goes anywhere!

b. Family Home Evening. Members of the church have, since the mid century, been setting aside Monday evening as "family night". NO meetings, a special time when the phone isn't answered, the focus is mainly on the family and being together. Many families use this time to teach various principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, sing songs, pray, play games, generally take care of family business and have a great time together. Charts are a fun way to keep track of who gets to do what job on FHE! It's an awesome program!

brunch!

Evidently I am one of those "ladies who lunch" or in this case brunch.

In our church, when a young woman turns 18 she is welcomed into the Relief Society. Before that she would have been in the Young Women's Program with girls aged 12 through 18. They have all kinds of fun learning and training, making goals and achieving all kinds of successes while serving and volunteering in the church, at their schools and in the community. Now they are 18 and sometimes it feels like they are suddenly thrown to the old ladies den never to have fun again!

We wanted to help them feel welcome and excited about being with the old ladies! We also wanted to introduce them to the younger women in the Young Single Adult Ward (18 -32 yr. old single men and women). They get to choose which ward they would like to belong to! The YSA ward is the best! (Well in my opinion , they have such a great ward!) SO we decided to throw a brunch!

We invited all the graduating senior high school young women and their moms, their Young Women leaders and their new Relief Society Presidents. Everyone knows it's much more fun to eat and chat than to just meet and say "hey!". I didn't get as many photos as I wanted but here's the jist of it:

We served a breakfast quiche of ham, bacon or spinach, fresh fruit, home made cinnamon rolls and muffins, juice and milk. Then, as the gals ate, our Stake RS President invited the YSA Presidency to come up and say a bit about the YSA ward Relief Society and the differences there as opposed to the regular "family" wards, besides all the cute guys! It was so fun to watch the young women try and encourage these new gals to come without insulting all us "old ladies"! It was funny! Evidently they have more physical activities, like volleyball, dances, and pool parties, they don't use hot glue very much, and they have FUN all the time! They do monthly service projects and have an extremely high percentage of Visiting Teachinga! They are so excited about everything it is hard not to want to go with them!

Then the Stake RS President introduced each new gal to the group and gave her a framed
Relief Society Declaration with a candy that said "Twix you and me, Relief Society is the place to be!" Corny? Yup, but who doesn't like candy with a cute statement?

We had a lot of fun and I think it made a small dent and hopefully the girls will feel a bit more comfortable making the transition into Relief Society!



a Visiting Teaching: In the Relief Society, each woman is given a partner and together they are assigned a small group (2-6) of other women to personally "Visit Teach" once a month. Visit Teaching consists of the two partners visiting with and teaching a brief Spiritual message to each of their assigned women at their individual homes. Part of their visit should be prayer, building friendship and trust, so each women feels loved and cared for, and just visiting! Inquiries should also be made to determine if the woman needs assistance in any way or support, or whatever. If there is a need, the Visiting Teacher can assist, or ask their leadership to help if needed. No woman should ever feel lonely or in need if everyone successfully does their Visiting Teaching. Every woman in the Relief Society should have Visiting Teachers.

another idea...

If you read the blog at all, you know that lately I have been working a lot with other women in my church. Much of our service has involved some form of a dinner or other meal. Because many of these meals gather many of the same people, we try to come up with ways to decorate the tables differently. But there's the rub.

Too many trips, even to the dollar store, depletes finances and break budgets; so what to do? Because our stake split two years ago we have literally nothing (zero cook ware/utensils, a couple dozen plastic plates and a some glasses that look like jelly jars) left in the kitchen. Most of what we had went with the other stake, and trust me when I say they didn't get to take too much - it was all very old and very used and really needed to be refreshed if not replaced anyway. However due to the circumstances of the stake split, there wasn't an immediate "Hey! Here's your new 'Let's build a new stake building and furnish it!' fund." Nope. So we have had to scape a bit.

For one of our first dinners we decided to place family sized decorated cakes on each table for a self serve type of dessert and it would also serve as the centerpiece. Kill two birds. Save some moolah. We have used this kind of idea several times, tweaking it a bit each time so it didn't get boring. In the times past we were always scrambling to gather enough plates or centerpieces from what each of us had in our own homes. This is a great idea, except we are having to lug large boxes back and forth and in the lugging, some of our pieces have either broken or gotten lost, chipped or misplaced, you get the idea.

We decided to take matters into our own tentacles and just get some pieces for the building. We'd get a small vase or jar of some kind, fill it with white flowers that we could add coloured ribbons to or change out to match looks, and add a cake plate to the top for whatever desserts we choose. This would be our "signature" look.

We took a drive down to Orange County to peruse a favourite decorating center thinking it would have everything we needed and we could get it at a huge discount... only to find they were in the middle of moving their warehouse to a different location all this month and half of their inventory was packed or already shipped. Grrr. But we found these adorable candle vases and our heads started turning.

For $1.95 each, we put 4 cases in the cart. We headed over to the floral section and found sprays of creamy white roses for another $1.50, discounted from $3.00. We grabbed a bag of dry moss and a chunk of oasis and we headed out for a restaurant supplier.

We got completely lost, but had to laugh because at the exact point where we figured we had made a huge wrong turn we decided to make a U turn in a parking lot and retrace our steps... we were in a restaurant supplier's lot! Not the one we were looking for, but a completely different one! So we headed in and searched for a cake plate to top our little vases. We found the perfect plate! A sushi platter, flat and gorgeous and at $12.00 each we thought it was great! Whooo Hooo! Well not so much. It had a small "foot" on the base of the plate, just a small 3 inch thin linear bump that made it wobble on top of our vase. Grrrr. Back on the shelve it went.

But as we turn to walk out we saw the clear pitchers we had been hoping to buy (some place else for $15.00 each) on the shelf for $4.95. Two cases later we felt like Providence had led us there! We asked the sales clerk if they knew how to get us to an Ikea, and we headed out. At Ikea we looked over pretty much every plate they had, saw a cake stand for $20.50 and figured we might have made a huge mistake in our design ideas. Then we headed down a isle that led us over to bake ware. The heaven opened, rays of light shown down and the angels began to sing! We saw the perfect item! A 10 inch tart pan in milk white! The little fluted edges were perfect and it looked great right side up and upside down! Wheeeeee!

So here we are, A beautiful little candle vase, a small floral arrangement, and a tart plate that can be reversed. The vase can be used with fresh flowers or silks, with or without the tart plate, and can also house a battery candle, or other items. It also has a small curve at the base (in the photo the vase is upside down) where you can tie ribbon if you want.

The floral arrangement is easily stored in the vase, and can be changed out with other colours of flowers, ribbons, etc.

The tart plate is large enough to hold a 10 inch cake, or several small individual desserts (Can you see how cute cupcakes would be?). It can also be used as a flat container for low floral arrangements, floating flowers, or to actually cook with! Can you imagine how cool it would be to serve a quiche or tart on each table and serve family style?

All in all the centerpieces are super versatile, easily cleaned and stored, and they cost us about $10.00 a piece. Normally that would be an outrageous amount to pay for centerpieces, but we never have to buy another centerpiece again! That and we found pitchers for $5.00! Yeah!

I'll post photos after Saturday to show how they look with actual food on them...they look a bit silly right now!

TIMOTHY

Here's another set, this time for a little guy named "Timothy". He is a huge fan of the movie "Automobiles", so his parents wanted his letters to reflect that theme in his room.

Luckily for me, this was a 'freebie' job so they didn't complain about the way the cars actually came out. Yikes! I need to work on drawing cars more often...these are a tad funky.

Tomorrow: Not letters but a recycle project!