Happy 4th of July

To continue with my tradition of posting a tour of my home on every holiday, I present you with Independence Day. First off, a picture of my house with my flag out front.
Just inside the kitchen is the banner that I sewed using vintage and recycled fabrics and bias tape.

And, as promised, on the living room coffee table lies the coordinating table runner. It's reversable. It has the red bandana/centinial fabric on one side and colorful flip flops on the other.

I didn't really go all out of decorating the house this go around because I've been busy planning the church 4th of July Breakfast. We are having pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipping cream.

I also made 150 of these Mentos "firecrackers." I used up a bunch of paper and ribbon I wasn't crazy about. I will put these on the tables as the decoration.

Basic instructions: Remove paper wrapper. Replace with 2" x 3" piece of paper (I ran my adhesive runner up one side and then just rolled the Mentos over the paper). Tie knot in 3" long piece of ribbon and adhere with a small glue dot. Repeat 149 times. LOL.

And, finally, every year the girls in my family (aka the growgirls) wear matching Old Navy t-shirts. This is my uniform for this year. I'll wear it with a skirt and a flag bracelet

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Happy 4th to all of my American friends. Thanks for stopping by.

A patriotic banner

I just love making these festive buntings. I made this one a little different. I used a lot of vintage fabrics (I love the bicentinial one) plus some fabric samples. I used red and blue vintage bias tape on the top. And, it's a bit longer than I usually do so I had to swag it. It's hanging over my kitchen widow that looks out to my flag.

I'll be back in a couple days for an Independence Day tour of my home, including the table runner I made to match the patriotic banner.

There's No Place Like Home

I haven't done much crafting lately except for plastic lollipops, silk flower bouquets and other props for our church production of the Wizard of Oz. My niece is a munchin, my sister is painting scenery, my mum is a director, and I'm the stage manager and prop master. I also get to operate the 8 foot tall Wizard who comes complete with beaming yellow eyes, smoking nose, and moving mouth.

And, I also helped design our publicity. Here is our poster:

If you are in the OC area this weekend or next, come see our show. To get tickets, send an email to: tamiwalkoz@aol.com I think the Saturdays are almost sold out so you might want to hurry.

Easter Open House

Continuing with my tradition of posting a holiday tour with pictures from around my home, here are some pictures showing Easter at my house. First up, I made hot cross buns on Good Friday. We made bunnies out of plastic grocery bags at work this week. I found the fun idea on the makeandtakes blog.

Here are a couple pictures from my front yard. The geraniums are around all year. The pink flowers come up every spring.

Now, we'll go inside my house, starting with the wreath on my front door (it's store bought.)


My niece made a whole series of wooden block decorations in Kindergarten. There's one for every holiday.

Here are a few pictures from my kitchen. We have three cupboards with glass doors. They each get decorated along with the shelf above the kitchen sink window. And, the egg garland I made this year goes above the windows that look into the front yard.

And, finally, these are the eggs my niece and I dyed today. I displayed them in a wooden egg holder I found at an estate sale.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Easter!

Egg-cellent

I've been crazy for bunting lately. After I made the heart one and hung it in my mum's kitchen, she fell in love with it and asked me to make her a banner for every big holiday. So, here is the Easter bunting.

I designed the shape and used all types of mismatched fabrics that I had. Some were scraps leftover from the baby buntings. Others were from old sheets. Most were from fabric sample cards that I bought from a flea market at the fabric store.

I made this one the same way I made the heart one. I zig zagged the front piece to a piece of white felt, used my scalloping scissors on the edge and attached all the eggs with double fold bias tape.

The next holiday banner will be for the 4th of July. I have some really great fabrics already picked out, including a vintage bicentenial fabric.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Easter.

I still make cards

Ha! It's been a while but I made some cards. For the first one I stamped the leaves and sentiment with SU Best Blossoms. The bottom is plum color paper that I punched with my new Fiskars Apron Lace border punch. The top is striped purple and white paper I've had for years. For the next card I used SU Touch of Nature colored with Prismacolor pencils. I masked the image and stamped SU French Script. I used another new Fiskars border punch for the bottom along with some ribbon and some twill that I stamped with a Hero Arts sentiment. Lastly, this is a really quick card with DCWV papers and Cornish Heritage Farms bunny and sentiment.
Thanks for coming by. Have a great day.

The Spice Girls

I had three participants in my Spice It Up Challenge. They all took a totally different and creative approach to the challenge to makeover a spice container. Here are the entries:

Jan from Far North Designs.

Christie from I Must Stamp.

Catherine from Paper Garden Projects

The judges (my very crafty mom, sister and niece) had a very tough time choosing. My niece was the tie-breaker. She chose Christie's pretty purple vase as the winner. Christie, I am sending you the Love book along with some goodies. And, because it was so close, Catherine and Jan will also be getting treats from me.

Thank you ladies for sharing your talent.

I need a vacation from my vacation

I took a few days off work and came up to Sacramento for some fun times with my friend, Suzie. A little over a week ago her son decided to get married while I was up here. My weekend was spent dipping strawberries, cookies and pretzels in white and dark chocolate, helping choose music, helping decorate the reception tables, and generally running all over town buying supplies. The good news is that everything looked (and tasted) wonderful and the bride and groom looked gorgeous. The bride and groom's son Hayden ate about 20 of the pretzels. So, today is Sunday, or the day after the wedding, and Suzie and I decided to relax and drive up to the Sacramento LDS Temple. It was really nice and quiet up there. I fly home tomorrow via Jet Blue. Can I just say that I love Jet Blue!?!

I've been featured!

One of my favorite blogs for great ideas is Tip Junkie. It features inspiration from lots of creative ladies. My felt sports pennants are featured this week along with with several other tips on fun things to do with kids.

If you love giveaways, Tip Junkie has lots. Check out this one

How to donate to Locks of Love

Every two years I donate my hair to Locks of Love. I can't think of a more worthy cause than helping children to feel more self confident. I want to share my experience to show you how easy it is.

Here is what you need:

• 1 big ziplock bag
• A cut ponytail measuring at least 10 inches
• A padded envelope
• LOL hair donation form

Just fill out the form and mail the hair in the ziplock bag in the padded envelope. There are some guidelines for the hair. There's even a video that shows how easy it is to donate. So, if you are thinking about getting a haircut soon, consider making a hair donation to Locks of Love. If you do, I'd love to see before and after pictures.

Now, some before and after pictures. My hair was layered so the longest piece was over 14 inches, but most of the ponytail hair was in the 12 inch range. In the past 4 1/2 years, I've donated about 35 inches of hair to Locks of Love.

I'm not that great at taking my own picture but I think you get the point. :)

How to have a great birthday

Monday was my birthday and I went with my mum, sister and niece to Disneyland, for free. We started the day at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel Storytellers Cafe.

First, I made some new friends.


Then, I had an amazing buffet breakfast. I was happy about all the healthy choices. Then, came my birthday dessert, sure it was only 9:30 a.m. but it was an amazing chocolate mousse covered in chocolate ganache.

Then, on to Disneyland where we rode a gazillion rides.

And, we made more friends.

Our one day ride total:

Jungle Cruise

Indiana Jones

Astro Blasters

Space Mountain (twice)

Honey I shrunk the Audience

Teacups (twice)

It's a small world

Big Thunder Mountain

Winnie the Pooh

The Haunted Mansion

Pirates of the Carribean

And, I got a pass to come to California Adventure for free within 30 days. woo hoo!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have a few treats to share with you today.

This is a brownie baked in a heart shaped muffin pan. The frosting is chocolate ganache poured on top. I made the flower with chocolate clay. I haven't chosen a recipient yet. I had lots of Heidi Grace Love Blossoms goodies leftover so I used the flocked paper to cover Target mailboxes and the tops of the candy packages. The mailboxes were super easy with the Paper Garden template.

I make pink candy every year. I don't use a recipe. It's just melted white chocolate and crushed candy canes spread thin onto parchment paper. I have a bunting addiction. I made a 10 inch heart template and cut several different red and white fabrics and white felt. I zigzagged stitched the patterned fabrics to the felt. Then, I used my new Fiskars scalloped pinking shears to cut the edges and finished it off by straight stitching red seam binding on the back. It's hanging over my kitchen windows.
Have a lovely day. Oh, and I'm part of the Craft Critique Valentine's Day Carnival of ideas today.

Thrifty Crafter Frame

Rebecca from Fiskars gave me a challenge. I was sent a big box of Heidi Grace goodies from the Love Blossoms line and an inexpensive wooden picture frame and challenged to make something.

The tough part was that there was so much gorgeous stuff to choose from.

Wooden Provocraft Fame

Super thick Die Cuts (I used the "C", "H", "O", 2 blank squares and 3 little hearts and 2 circles)

Plastic Shapes

Ribbon (I used the pink one, 4th from top)

Die Cuts

Rub ons (I used the "l" and the "e")

Cardstock Stickers

Here are some close ups. I painted the front, back and sides with light pink paint. I distressed the heck out of all the paper and embellishments. I didn't think the L or the E matched so I made my own with rub ons. This frame was inspired by a frame made by Stephanie from Homegrown Hospitality as seen on Fiskars TV.

I made the frame for baby Chloe. I also made her a pink and green baby bunting. Isn't she gorgeous? (Ash, don't show Chloe, it's a suprise.)

Weekend Happenings

Our Super Bowl spread complete with cheesy football and veggies, apple pie, chili and cornbread, sugar-free rootbeer, white cheddar popcorn and helmet jell-o jigglers.

My niece and I went for a walk along the wetlands at sunset yesterday. She took the picture of me. Be kind, I was makeup-free yesterday. Lost a front tooth.

Sitting by a big tree.

Looking toward the beach. The hills in the distance are actually Long Beach, it's beach faces ours.

Thanks for stopping by.