New Easter Kits!

Hey there, Sweets! I just HAD to pop on here and show you two kits that I FINALLY got the prototypes made for and got listed in my etsy shoppe! Oh my...I have had these kits on the brain since literally before Valentine's Day. I'm so excited to share them with you!

It all began when I started looking at vintage bisque dolls months and months ago. This led to vintage bisque animals and to my new fixation: vintage bisque BUNNIES. Oh my...they are just sooooo sweet. And with Easter coming I knew I'd find something sweet to do with them!

THEN I found these incredible vintage Easter egg "picks." I don't know what the eggs are made out of but they have this lovely "pearlescent" sort of sheen to them and are surrounded by the dearest little blooms. One had a crack in it but the rest are just perfect. I knew they were meant for something special but I wasn't sure what.

The next thing I found was a sweet little bisque basket, also antique, which I ordered all the way from Australia. I was shocked when it came and was so...well, tiny. I guess I didn't read the description well enough and imagined the basket being big enough to tuck Easter treats in, rather like the plastic baskets I have in my etsy shoppe. But I got over my surprise quickly when I realized this basket would be perfect with the little bunnies I had already started collecting.

And then it hit me. You girls know what I mean....I can just FEEL that certain elements are DESTINED to be something special but until that lightning bolt hits, I just line all the pretties up on my studio shelf, hoping for inspiration. And it came! The time to turn my inspiration into reality didn't come with it, however! You mamas know this very well, too, don't you? So today I was not gifted with hours of time to work on this. Instead, I decided it was time to give it to myself. Or steal it. Granted, Rachel and Andrew were unusually happy today, playing together...as if someone finally told them they would make good playmates for one another. Apparently this was a new idea??? But they rolled around on the floor together like chubby, happy little bear cubs, squealing and screeching for a good part of the morning. I must give Barbie's The Princess & The Pauper some credit for my work, as well. My friend, Kim, gave Rachel the DVD for her birthday the other day and I am really embarassed to admit that the number of viewings has officially gone over into the double digits. And despite my dislike for Barbie (that's another blog, Sweets), I have to admit this is a good movie with some lovely messages, sweet lessons and catchy tunes. In fact, I could sing you just about any of the songs if you'd like to hear them (please say no). So Barbie gets some creative rights to these kits, as well!

Here's Kit Number One:

And here's Kit Number Two:
Those are teensy flocked bunnies, Sweets! Vintage, of course!

Now if by chance you are not the type that wants to put this kit together and would rather purchase the box as you see it in the photos, made by me, just let me know and that can be arranged!

These kits are in my etsy shoppe if you should "need" one....and there's more pretties coming soon! I'm a freaking machine!!!! hehe!

Off I go for a late birthday dinner. Hubby is slaving away in the kitchen making some yummy treats for me! And can you believe, besides dinner there is a variety of lovely cheeses, wines and even mint 'n' chip ice cream! Without James, I swear I'd live on cold cereal...

Oh and if you want a good (sweet, sentimental) cry...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtOy8R01fTA

Have a wonderful evening.

Hugs....Cheryl

You're Invited to a Tea Party!

As I mentioned in my last post, my little Rachel just turned 4. And though we already celebrated her birthday as a family, we are still in the midst of planning a "friend party" for her that is only a couple weeks away. It's her first "friend party" so she is very excited! She was my "shy girl" and hardly spoke a word to anyone outside of our family until this past year so until this birthday, the idea of throwing her a party for she and her friends was just plain mean. But she has come out of her shell! So this year will be the first time she has a few little friends over for a party and she has invited the sweetest little group of six little girls from her Sunday School and Awana classes, as well as her cousin. We talked at great length about what sort of party Rachel would like to have but she settled upon a theme we used for Emily's fourth birthday, as well:
A Doll & Teddy Bear Tea PartyEmily's party like this was a grand succes as you can see from the photos. There was real tea cups and saucers (filled with apple juice!), a linen tablecloth and napkins, as well as a tiny table for the girls' dolls and teddies to sit at and "drink tea." Wish I had a photo of the doll table (which included our friend Bailey's "Dino," as well!). Since we are still in the planning stages of Rachel's Tea Party I am searching high and low for special touches and unique pretties that will make this occasion extra-special. And oh my gosh, Sweets! There are so many lovely things I can hardly believe it! It makes me wish I could give my OWN tea party and invite you and YOUR little ones! So....as you may have guessed from the title of this post, you are invited to a special Tea Party Edition of Monday Yummies today! Find your little girl, if you have one, and tell her to grab her dolly or bear.
And Let's Party!

YUMMY THING ONE: Pretty Vintage Teacup from The Rose Cottage
I love vintage tea cups and saucers. I have a little collection that I started years ago. I've even started a collection for my girls and plan to give them a new cup and saucer at each birthday and for other special occasions. I think it would be so special for them to have a lovely collection of their own by the time they are grown!

Here's a really pretty teacup and saucer that is just the sort I love....vintage, delicate and covered in roses, of course!

YUMMY THING TWO: Tea Pot Picks by Pink Buttercreme
You really must check out this seller. I just discovered her through a group of etsy cottage-style sellers that I belong to. These adorable "picks" would be lovely party favors. Wouldn't they be so charming mixed in with roses in a vase for a centerpiece at our tea party?
YUMMY THING THREE: Rosey Potholders by Vanilla Rose

I have some potholders from Vanilla Rose and I adore them! They are so well-made and so pretty in my pink and white kitchen! And one MUST have a pretty pot holder when one serves at a tea party, now musn't one?

YUMMY THING FOUR: Tea Pot Necklace by Timeless Trinkets

Isn't this precious? It would make a lovely hostess gift or birthday gift.

YUMMY THING FIVE: Tea Party Cookie Cutters from The Queen's Treasures

I do believe we need these, don't you agree? I can picture sweet sugar cookies with pink sprinkles cut out in these shapes and placed on a lovely platter for the tea party.

YUMMY THING SIX: Pink Princess Cookbook

This looks like a book that would be enjoyed in my house!
YUMMY THING SEVEN: Cupcake Sugar Bowl from Tami's Attic

O.k. this is totally me, dontcha think, Sweets???? YUMMY THING EIGHT: Dainty Tea Party Server

EEEK!!!! Isn't this gorgeous???? I can picture this piled with petit fours or the aforementioned sugar cookies!

YUMMY THING NINE: Child-Size Punch Bowl Set

Oh my! My mother will DIE when she sees this.

YUMMY THING TEN: Sweet Flowers Baskets by Perwinkle Vintage

Wouldn't these make lovely party favors and/or decorations??? I've ordered a couple of these lovelies from Cheryl Miller and I can't wait to get them! I can picture these hanging on the back of each chair at a tea party or even the Easter table....

YUMMY THING ELEVEN: Rare German Tea Party Figurine

This is just charming. Three little sweeties having a tea party in what looks like a Kate Greenaway painting!

YUMMY THING TWELVE: Blank Girls' Hat for Embellishing

I am working on some ideas for party favors and this may be just the thing. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these for each girl and let them "decorate" them with pretty flowers and trims as an activity? I can just picture all the little girls sitting around the table in these hats....and they might be able to wear them again at Easter. I guess that depends on how much direction I give in the decorating of the hats, though, doesn't it?? :)

YUMMY THING THIRTEEN: The Dress I'll Be Wearing ;) by Betsey Johnson from Dressaholic Therapy

O.k. maybe at my DREAM Tea Party....totally scrumptious, right, Sweets????

Well Sweets....our Tea Party has been fun, hasn't it? The sun is shining again after a rather dreary weekend and this week is full of fun. Tomorrow I turn 31! I am going to go out to coffee or dinner or something with my good friend, Kim. And then Thursday my little mama and I are going to go shopping. AND I am hoping to meet the Sweet Analise for coffee, as well! We haven't ever met in person, even though we live in adjoining towns, and we decided it's high time to do so. I'm so excited to spend some time with her! Be sure and stop by her Sugar Sugar Shoppe for some yummy Spring supplies. I ordered a few things the other day and when they came Saturday I was just thrilled by all the crafty "candy" packaged in the yummiest fashion. Just DELICIOUS.

Hope your Monday, as well as your week, is just lovely.....

HUGS,

Cheryl

Welcome, Spring!

Oh it's feeling like Spring here! I saw an entire orchard in bloom yesterday....all pink and lovely. And I'm HOPING the tulip tree in my parents' backyard is still in bloom when we go over there in a week or so. I just adore those big pink blooms. Maybe it's called a magnolia tree but we call it a tulip tree! I think I need at LEAST one of those lovely trees here. That and lots of rose bushes. Landscaping the yard is top priority right after the fence this Spring. My poor hubby...there is so much more work than there is time but we also know we'll live here forever so there is really NO RUSH at all.

Speaking of Spring and the yard, we've been outdoors quite a bit. It's been such great weather lately and the kids have been loving it. Andrew fusses at the back door to go outside and when he does get to go out, he heads straight for the dirt. And there's lots of it! I haven't talked a lot about it here on my blog, but we built a house right next door to my inlaws and for those of you who may have just started reading this blog, we have only lived here since right before Christmas. Hence the WIP yard! Our house is actually sitting on the very dirt where my husband played as a little boy! And not only do my inlaws live in the home my husband grew up in, they live in the home where my father-in-law grew up! So my children are the fourth generation to live on this property. There's even MORE history just down the road but that's for another day...

Here's my inlaws' house from our yard...

And here is the back of our house from my inlaws' driveway...

And lest you feel sorry for me that I live next door to my inlaws, let me assure you this was all MY IDEA! My inlaws are angels (literally) and being neighbors is just all of our dreams come true. You can see by these photos that even little Andrew understands that Grandma and Grandpa live right next door. He has barely set foot outside when he decides he's going to go visit Grandma and Grandpa.

He is temporarily distracted by Rachel's dirt play....But soon wanders over to where he KNOWS the real fun is to be had...

Finds a ball on the way....

But then remembers what he came here for!

"Where's the doorbell on this thing???"

This is standing at my sliding glass door, looking past my inlaws' driveway, at the school yard. That's where Miss Emily is! And her grandma (the one who lives next door) is her teacher this year!!!

And I can hardly believe it...Miss Rachel just had her fourth birthday this past week! It was so fun. Here she is first thing on the morning of her birthday. She got to "order" her birthday breakfast so of course she picked Barbie Pop Tarts. DUH! I made her a "tiara" to wear, which she immediately put on, of course. :)

She got to open ONE gift that morning and it was one her Daddy picked out for her. There is no explanation for how she felt about this gift better than the following pictures.... My mama surprised Rachel by stopping by for lunch and we had a lovely visit. Here's Mama (a.k.a. Grammy!) with Rachel.

And here's me with Rachel and Andrew!

After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa came from next door to join us for cake and ice cream. Pink cupckes, of COURSE! They could NOT come quick enough for Rachel, though....

Analise, do you recognize the heart-shaped box and rosey tissue paper I "repurposed" in a birthday emergency???? ;) I realized I had not purchased gift wrap and since we live a ways from any stores that carry gift wrap, I started to panic. WAIT, I thought....I AM A CRAFTY GIRL...SURELY I CAN WRAP GIFTS WITHOUT WRAPPING PAPER!!!

Here she is opening something from Grandma and Grandpa with Emily nearby to ooh and aah.
I really HAVE to show you one of Rachel's favorite gifts that just happens to be my favorite thing I gave her, as well. Just look at these delicious hair bobbles by Bobbleicious! They are really cute sitting in her etsy shoppe but let me tell you how utterly SCRUMPTIOUS they are in person! Each clip or hair tie is a work of art. Hand-stitching, hand-beading, details galore, yummy colors...perfection.

In the next photo, the "standing up" one is actually attached to a rubber band and the two in the foreground are attached to hair clips...the kind Rachel has in her hair in the photo above. Aren't they amazing??? I got her the ballet slipper clips and hair ties, as well, and those were also a big hit.

Well this has been a photo-filled entry, now hasn't it?? One of my goals for this year is to share a bit more of me and my life with you. I have been thinking about the blogs I like best and they are, without exception:

-well-written

-personal and thought-provoking

-tender and at times, tear-inducing

-full of beautiful photos

So that's what I'm going for this year. And this isn't easy for me, Sweet Bloggy Pals! Though I know in my head that I enjoy blogs like this as a reader, it is hard for me as a writer to assume that my readers want to know what we did, what we ate and what we thought about what we did and what we ate! And rest assured, I won't be photographing our lunch this year. That I DON'T appreciate in other's blogs!!!! I also really don't enjoy photos of other people's feet, shoes and trees. Just a funny quirky thing about me, I realize, but you won't find pictures of our feet or close-ups of the trees (or lack thereof) around my house this year! ;) I am, however, going to talk a bit more about my family, my "process" as I create what I create and the way my family thwarts the creative process! That's my life....and I think it's a lot of your lives, as well. And isn't connecting with others what this whole blogging thing is all about?