Easter Blessings

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. ~ John 11:25-26

Pin It

Catching up...

* Disclaimer - this post is long and most likely boring.  Read on anyway...

The days are just zooming by!  I'm sure many of you are feeling that way as well.  This time of year is always hectic, especially with school-aged kids.  Programs, sports, holidays, meetings, prom, graduation - to name a few.  I often wonder how we scale down from so much of this.  The answer?  Not participate in so much, maybe.  But, with four kids, it doesn't take much to get this busy.  My kids aren't even involved in much separately, but add them all up... my calendar is full.  I try to say "no" when I need to and remember that it won't be long before they are all on their way to other phases of their lives.  So for now, I just keep my calendar handy.

I hope you all enjoyed Easter and Mother's Day.  Yes, I think it has been that long!  Anyway, it is raining here today and very dark.  I've just come down from a very busy week and finished up some major PTA meetings (my last year as the high school PTA prez).  So the past two days have been a whole lot of "nothin'".  Time to re-focus, re-organize, etc. for the next several weeks.  And, time to blog!  Just a few snippets of what's been going on around here:

I made this little dress from Simplicity 2432 at the last sewing retreat.  It was supposed to have a little shrug, but I didn't think she would wear it.  I added a little bling to the top and a pretty ribbon.  The bodice ended up being a little too wide for her.  I should know better than to go straight from the pattern.  But, she loved it anyway.

A good hunt!  Thanks Easter Bunny!

 

I bought a pretty fan for my studio.  The lights I have can get very warm and I cannot part with my sweet little chandelier to put in a ceiling fan.  So, best of both worlds!  Isn't the popcorn ceiling purty?

I've tried using my crock pot more, at least once a week to help quicken meals but still have something better than fast food.  The only drawback - its getting warm outside and you can't make cold crock pot meals!  A friend of mine gave me a super-crazy-good recipe for chicken tortilla soup!  Oh man, she wasn't lying to me when she said I would love it!  So much so that I took pictures of it!  There are so many recipes for this, but if you would like this one, I would be happy to share it with you.

 

I bought the "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook and decided that I MUST purchase yet another crock pot.  They obviously come in different sizes.  Who knew?

It's so cute!  And, Mother's Day rolled around and I was surprised with three bouquets of flowers!  All different and unique like my kiddos.  I love fresh flowers!  

 

 

 

 

I loved the sweet message on my kitchen chalk board.  It usually says something profound or simply "It's good to be the Queen", but this made me smile!

Next post I'll fill you in on a few of the crafts I was able to squeeze in.  I also have some very exciting news to share soon.  I hope you'll stop back by!

Pin It

An eggsallent day!

From this....

.... to  this  in  no  time  flat!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter!

Mona Pin It

Easter Greetings!

The Resurrection - Matthew 28:1-9 (NLT)

   Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to see the tomb.  2Suddenly there was a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat on it.  3His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.  4The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
   5Then the angel spoke to the women.  "Don't be afraid!" he said.  "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  6He isn't here!  He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen.  Come, see where his body was lying.  7And now, go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee.  You will see him there.  Remember, I have told you."
   8The women ran quickly from the tomb.  They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel's message.  9And as they went, Jesus met them.  "Greetings!" he said.  And they ran to him, held his feet, and worshiped him.

What a wonderful, beautiful time of the year to celebrate and reflect on the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  And, how wonderful God is to remind us this time of year with such lovely weather and flowers - just a few of His daily gifts to us.

Wishing you a blessed Easter Sunday!

Mona Pin It

Miss Rhea's Easter Basket Swap - Revealed!

What fun I had in being one of the 71 swappers in this great swap!  You can go to Miss Rhea's blog to check out the other participants and see the amazing baskets they created.  Thanks so much Miss Rhea for hosting this swap!

I was partnered with two sweet gals, Amy of Paper Trails by a Paper Lover and Rosalyn-Sue of The Little Bluebird Diaries.  They sent me just the sweetest little baskets!  Glitter and candy and flowers (and candy!) and ribbons and tags and a sweet little photo holder!  There was even a JoAnn's gift card - no way!  They really did their homework!  Check them out!

I love everything about them!  Look at all the great goodies they blessed me with, too!  Thank you ladies - you just made my week!

Okay, now for the little baskets that I sent to them.  Like I said - I had so much fun.  I stayed up late at night trying to keep my ideas and thoughts from running wild.  There were so many options!  I made little felt bunnies, velvet bookmarks with pretty little trinkets, and glittered eggs for each basket and lined them with "grass" made of shredded sheet music.  So here they are:

Amy likes shades of red so I tried to throw in lots of reds and pinks.  The basket was covered in scrap-booking paper that I found this past Christmas and some red ribbon that I have been hoarding for some time now!  I found some cute little paper flowers to adorn the basket and gave her some of my favorite ribbon on a vintage wooden thread spool.

And Rosalyn-Sue likes cream, pale blush pink, and pale robin's egg blue so I tried to put a little of those here and there.  I used a nice cream felt to cover the basket and pretty silk ribbon to cover the handle.  I love those little yellow paper flowers!  She also got a pack of spring-colored glitter and a bookmark.  (Huh.  I just realized I gave her two bookmarks!  Rosalyn-Sue - I hope you like to read!)

I can't wait to see the other little baskets at Miss Rhea's.  I may have to save a few more yogurt cups and work on these throughout the year!

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Mona Pin It

Glitter, glitter - everywhere!!

We took the day off and went to my dad's in the country today for some outdoor fun.  The weather was just beautiful.  Really, I could live with that kind of weather all year long!  Anyway, usually when we visit my dad, my seven year old son loves to go for a ride on the riding lawn mower - fun, right?  

But my dad called in a favor and asked a buddy of his to bring over a 4-wheeler for us to play with.  It is actually the 4-wheeler he bought from my dad a few years ago.  We even broke out the tractor and riding lawn mower.  Hey, we're city folk and we'll ride whatever we can get away with.  We would have loved to ride the horses just down the road, but since the owner was home (and I don't know him!), he probably wouldn't have appreciated it!  

We also saw some llamas!  "Where are the llama photos?" you ask?  Well, I left the CF card at home.  A little hint - the camera won't STORE photos without the storage card!!

I know my dad was happy to see the kids having so much fun, but he was probably a nervous wreck by the time we left.  He was worried one of them would get hurt.  But, all was good!

Here are a few more photos of the eggs I glittered the other day.  I opted to paint the papier mache eggs and glitter them rather than making sugar eggs this year.  Those are so fun to do, but I wanted to be able to keep these year after year.

Then, as my glitter-fever progressed, I fancied up these little wooden bird houses as well.  They are about 4 inches tall and were so easy to do.  I hope I can find more where these came from.  They would be perfect for just about any time of the year! 

I just LOVE them and they fit so perfectly in my kitchen.  But, I've decided to give these to two lovely ladies this weekend! More on that tomorrow...

See you then,

Mona Pin It

I'm a busy, busy bunny!

I've been busy working on the little baskets for Miss Rhea's Easter Basket Swap... and "ta-da"!  They are complete and ready to be shipped!  I had so much fun making these.  The possibilities are endless so I had to just dive in or I would still be in the planning stages!  But, I am happy with the way they came out and hope my swap partners will enjoy them.  I can't wait to see what they send  my way!  I will post pictures after these sweet ladies have received their baskets - so stay tuned!  You can also see some sneak peaks at the Flickr group.  Wow, there are some gorgeous little creations there!

In the meantime, guess who came to visit early?  Yup, Peter Cotton Tail.  He's just hanging out with us, resting over Spring Break, getting ready for the "show".  He has a lot to coordinate, you know.  I thought I saw him texting earlier.  Probably reminders to his assistant, last minute details, etc.  Anyway, I'm glad he's here!

Miss Rhea inspired me so much with her beautiful glittered eggs that I just had to make a few myself.  You know how much I love glitter - I coulda glittered all night!  I'll show more of these in the next post with some other little goodies I had fun glitzing!  The cool faux mossy rocks came from BFF (she's clever, that one) and the "grass" from Lisa.  Don't you just love my pretty platter?  Yeah, Target.  Love that place.

Have a wonderful Spring Break and stay sparkly!

Mona Pin It