Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! What a beautiful weekend it is going to be! We' re looking forward to lovely Sunday. My husband and son have been busy cleaning up outside preparing for the Spring. They spent a lot of time cleaning the beds and prepping them for planting. I even got some pansies~just a few! It's been a busy week. Easter Recess was filled with my children's friends, neighbors visiting, Church services for Holy week, and even a road trip to visit a dear friend who has an incredible country decorating store! We celebrated Caitlin's 8th birthday too! She received her very first American Girl doll!

May you all enjoy your Easter and spend it with those you love!

More Easter Crafts & A Party

 

I've been busy doing a few more crafts for Easter.  It's just amazing what you can create when you sit and relax and rest your mind. I find so much peace creating little things.
 I also put together this wreath as I have had it for years (purchased from Terrys Village catalog) and decided it needed to be spiffed up a little! I have so many wooden signs and knick knacks that I thought I would just hot glue them on and add a big checkered bow! It is now hanging in my kitchen !  Spring is in the air here! I put out my little fountain  and hung my lantern....I'm ready to go. The rockers are back on the porch for relaxing too. Next up is the flowers but that will be by Mother's Day!

A friend of mine told me about a dessert that sounded too good to be true. She said it takes two ingredients--angel food cake mix and a can of crushed pineapples. Nothing else. You don't make the mix according to the box; you literally just open the box and dump it into your bowl, open up your crushed pineapple and pour it in and then stir. It becomes frothy and you then transfer it to a 9x13 dish  (don't grease it or spray it) and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. It's a soft yummy dessert. Two ingredients. Can you beat that? Put a dollop of Cool Whip on top and it's even better. Try it!

We had our annual Easter egg coloring party today with our neighbor friends. Genny, Julie and Jackie joined my son and daughter to color eggs and enjoy lots of great desserts. Caitlin and I made a bunny cake but when it came time to make the ears out of licorice, we decided to make it a cat instead! I got that recipe from Kraft. It's called the Cool Bunny Cake (now called the Cool Cat Cake in our house). It's a layers of oreos, vanilla pudding, cool whip and marshmallows! Topped off with coconut! We also made fruity pebbles rice krispy treats and cupcakes. Christina (their Mom) made a strawberry cake and a big bunny rabbit chocolate chip cookie! We invited our friend Stephanie to come too! Stephanie, Jackie and Caitlin are in my Brownie troop. There was lots of nibbling and giggling at this party and then the kids just had a ball playing capture the flag outside. Just a beautiful day!

I hope you are having a great week as well!

Two Great Items to Share!

Happy Friday morning! I think this week just went whizzing by! The kids are off next week for Easter Recess! Hurray!

Just wanted to share with you two things I saw and I think are adorable! First, is the deviled egg chicks! I fell in love with them! Black olives snippets for the eyes and a tiny niblet of carrot for the nose and your best deviled egg recipe! I have to make these!

I'm also going to be trying the Kool Aid eggs! I know this idea has been around for a couple of years now but I never tried it. It takes 2/3 cup of lukewarm water per packet and then dip your eggs. I understand grape is not a good choice cause it comes out gray but the other colors are super vivid! I will still have to do my traditional PAAS eggs though cause the smell of vinegar on egg coloring day means Easter to me! As does the scent of hyacinths!

Just a quick post! I'll be posting more this weekend!

Spring is Here!

Well, technically anyway...we had snow the other night plus we are expecting a little more tonight and more next Monday.....but the calendar says it is Spring, and I'm going with that! I've been busy with a few craft projects inspired by other blogs. After seeing what other ladies are doing with their Easter decorations and left over odds and ends, I copied a cute idea and made Easter Bunny pulling a cart of eggs. I used buttons as wheels and had picked up the little boxes from Dollar Tree. There are 12 in a package, I believe. The creativity on so many blogs is amazing. I have been trying so many craft ideas and really enjoying myself!
Plus it's so nice to use so much more of my Easter items that may end up sitting in a box forever. Now they are being utilized!

I'm busy collecting things for Easter baskets. Caitlin knows Easter Bunny delivers very shortly! I also make Easter baskets for my neighbor's three daughters who are my children's best friends. Next Wednesday we are having our annual Easter party at my house. I have had this since Billy was born in 1999 and every year our neighbor comes. Like me, she has added kids since 1999 so now we have Billy, Caitlin and Genny, Julianna and Jaqueline. We have lunch and all kinds of desserts and then we color eggs. Billy and Genny are now 14 and still love participating in our special things, I am grateful to say. I hope to continue this tradition as long as I can. We have a great time. I'm blessed to have a neighbor who is like a sister to me!

I had to share these photos I took of our bunny Chestnut and our cat Dixie. Love comes in all shapes and forms and these two adore each other. Dixie likes to sleep on that chair and she is thrilled if I put Chestnut next to her. They snuggle and she even gives him a bath! If he doesn't settle down right away she does lose patience and swats him gently but then they snuggle. SO cute.

 

I hope you have a terrific day!

Pretty, Pretty Things!

On such a chilly morning, it's hard to believe Spring is just a few days away! I think Winter and Spring are the two seasons that go by the fastest. Spring ends up just turning into Summer and you suddenly realize you have transitioned from pants to shorts in a blink of the eye. I think Winter goes by fast but some may disagree cause of snow but I feel like it ends like the slamming of a door. You can have snow one day and two days later, there are crocus plants peeking up through the earth and it's all about Spring! No matter, I love all the seasons!

This past Sunday we went to Hicks Nursery for the annual flower show. What a beautiful day it was! When we first walked in we were greeted by this amazing arrangement and a beautiful plant called an orange star. The display reminded me of Haloween!

I had to buy one of these beauties and she looks so nice in my kitchen!

 

As we walked around I saw the most amazing orchids in such vivid colors!

They were magnificent! And all of the displays make you feel like you are in the Secret Garden!

Hard to belive they hold this all indoors. It really gets you ready to go home and plan your garden.

 

We bought some bulbs and seeds. I plan on planting a garden of Fall Fixins!It would be nice to grow some of what I LOVE to decorate with for the Fall and although I know my chances of it growing well are pretty slim, I'm gonna try!  I bought seed packets of indian corn and mini indian corn, bird house gourds, mini pumpkins, pumpkins and a few others. I also bought sunflower seeds!

 

Around the house I have been decorating still and creating! I embellished my Easter train!

 

All aboard!

Then fixed up some other basket displays in my parlor. Love african violets!

 

Put my garage sale finds for Easter in my kitchen display cupboard! Can you believe both of these bunny tea pot/pitchers found at garage sales for less than $2 each?

Garage sale glory! Woo hoo!

 

As were these little bunny girl candles. Gurley, I believe!

 

Oh, and here is one more great buy! This was from Family Dollar! A great plump owl! Only $5! Love him to add to my owl collection!

 

 

 

He is supposed to be an outdoor decoration but I put prefer to keep him in with the rest of the family! :)  Go to Family Dollar if you have one near you. They get great Spring/Summer items!

Last but not least, and sorry gals but this item is not in any store...my little chickie boo Caitlin, posing for a photo at the flower show!

 

Have a great day!

How Many More Days till Oct. 31st?

You probably think that's a strange title for a blog post. Halloween, now? think I'm a little nuts. Afterall, it's still Winter. As a matter of fact we may be getting a substantial snowstorm on Wednesday; possibly a n'oreaster. But...it's always Halloween here! in some place of the house, anyway. I swear it's a state of mind! I am NEVER not thinking of my Halloween or Autumn decorating. I have enjoyed doing my St. Paddy's Day tree, my Spring decorating and my Easter crafts. I was very content with that.....and then it happened. I saw a birdhouse in AC Moore. And the birdhouse I painted black. That's all it took!
And here she is now!

Whew that felt better! To craft for Halloween in February without any guilt! And my husband said I did a good job with the shingles! That's a foil mini cupcake paper for an awning over  the front door.

 Can you see the ghost? It's hard to get a good camera shot. My roof is all sparkly!

 

Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle

I used cupcake papers folded in half for curtains. They have little spiders on them. I saw that idea on several blogs so I can't take credit for that! It worked out so well.

 

 

Here is the rear. A little gravestone.

Back to the Spring....

Caitlin and her girlfriends that live behind us crafted Leprechaun traps! Did you know that Leprechauns like shiny things? Well, Genny, Julie and Jackie made Leprechaun traps with Caitlin. They filled them with shiny things to attract the Leprechaun's attention. We are going to set it out somewhere on the rear porch to see if we catch any. Problem is, what do I do with him once we catch him?

 

The girls wrote a letter to the Leprechaun and told him they had some treasure for him to see; just to lure him in!  They printed it up and fastened it to the container. You can use anything. Caitlin used an empty plastic milk jug that we cut open like a little bucket. Stay tuned....

If anyone wants to be part of some great giveaways then look at my blog reading list! SO many great ones! There is one through Raggedy Creations; her sale blog is called Pennys, Prims & Photos. You must check them out! The Rusty Thimble, etc. all have giveaways! Yahoo!

Have a splendid afternoon!