It’s trying to be Spring in Central Texas

I have some garden pink to share today amazing as that might sound given the harsh winter weather we been dealt. The first pink is in our screened porch. Hubby made a set of plastic storm windows that y go up when really harsh temps are predicted…harsh for Central Texas is anything below  say 30…this winter they were put up before Christmas and have stayed up until the middle of this week. The porch stayed in the 40’s so everything in there survived. Now we are ready to move things out and this pot of Pink  Kolanches is ready to go into the sunshine.

It’s not much, but, boy is it welcomed in contrast to the dead zone that is my lawn right now. Look at all those buds…it’s going to be fabulous…

It should be in full bloom when I return next week…right now we’re packing and heading to Galveston, Texas, where we will board the Voyager of the Seas  on Sunday for a seven day cruise of the Caribbean…shopping and nachos  in sunny Mexico, snorkeling in Belize and umbrella drinks by the pool. Place your orders and I’ll be happy to sip something special in your honor.  I’ll be sure to toast our hostess with something Pink…maybe  a strawberry Margarita.  Now head over to Beverly’s blog for everything Pink this week. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Happy Sunny Valentine’s Day

It’s so great to have sunshine again, the perfect weather for happy sunny thoughts. Elizabeth at Creative Breathing http://creativebreathing.blogspot.com/

sponsored a Dolly Dingle Valentine swap that I wasn’t swift enough to join, but my friend Nancy at My Crafty Little Page   http://www.mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/ invited me to a side swap that she was hosting. There were five of us, I think. I only had to make one for Nancy while she made one for Elizabeth and then one for  each of her swap partners…so what was Nancy’s total number of Valentines…too much like a math word problem to me. Here’s the one she made for me! Isn’t it cute?

She layered a very vintage BINGO card with a lacy heart and German scrap. She stamped a bright heart and added a bit of an old dictionary page that reads “Be my Valentine”.  It has a gold foil cupid to carry the message and it hangs on a red satin ribbon.  I love the look of that old German scrap…and the sweet faces are just the best.

 

I like them so much, in fact, that I had chosen similar vintage German Scrap for the Valentine she would be receiving…the children could be little German cousins.

 

“Love makes the World Go Round” is the theme of this tri-fold card…I used an old yellowed book in German along with a 50’s era school map and sheet music so Nancy could  sing along with the theme.

And I even decorated the back so it could be free standing and viewed from behind.

It was a really fun swap and I’ll try to be more alert and timely next year, but I must say that I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out.  Have a lovely day… count your Blessings and hug someone extra tight.

Pink Saturday in February means Hearts and Candy

Nothing is more fun in the middle of this gloomy winter than Valentine’s Day…it’s placed in the perfect season to really be appreciated or did it  catch on as a big holiday because everyone needed some pink and bright red to bring us out of the winter doldrums…like which came first the chicken or the egg?…Well, whatever the case, it’s just what the doctor ordered for me… Fancy Nancy at My Crafty Little Page http://www.mycraftylittlepage.blogspot.com/ invited  me to a valentine swap and this is her creation…

It’s full of ephemera from the very vintage BINGO card to the cute little German boy scrap.  And the gold foil Cupid is the perfect touch… Isn’t that the sweetest little face?

Nancy was inspired by the Dolly Dingle Valentine Swap that Elizabeth at Creative Breathing was hosting. I wasn’t quick enough to accept Elizabeth’s invitation, but was very happy to join Nancy in her side swap. This treasure joins more pink on my Valentine Tree.

Lots of pink to be found here. And look at this cutie from Mary Ann McKeating.

Wouldn’t you just love to have your old boxes of grade school Valentines back? I’ll  bet there were some pretty cute die cut treasures in those boxes. Well, enough reminiscing about the past…I’m off to check in with Beverly to see who is posting today. http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Donde esta Panchita? Hint…Somewhere Warm

It’s already month two of the Happy Homemaker Tag Along Swap hosted by the multi-talented Elizabeth…last month I introduced you to my year-long theme, “In the Kitchen with Panchita”.  I’m using a book filled with images of vintage Mexican beauties to find pictures of Panchita…This month finds Panchita in Veracruz, Mexico enjoying a well deserved vacation. You see, she spent the entire Super Bowl Sunday in her cocina making guacamole and nachos for Pancho and his football buddies. For Valentine week, he wisely decided to treat Panchita to a second honeymoon in someplace warm and sunny…this has been a bitter winter for us all and don’t we envy them in beautiful Veracruz?

This is the front of my February tag…

It incorporates an old Spanish book, my chosen scrapbook papers, a crepe paper dress, a floral embellishment, and a picture of the happy couple. Since I popped her up on the January card, I did the same with this one. Besides, it makes the skirt show better. I’ll probably trim the hem with a little glitter and I may add a crepe paper petticoat for extra dimension.  The backside uses the same paper and ephemera along with Mexican Loteria images…

La Palma, El Sol, and La Sirena seemed like a good group for a couple on La Playa. (Unfortunately, the mermaid is anatomically correct and so she needed coverage.) Of course, I’ll be playing with additional embellishment techniques all year long. The crepe paper is not in my usual bag of tricks, but I’ve taken a class with Ann-Denise Anderson, a Texas Paper Cowgirl crepe paper queen and I’m willing to play with it. Panchita’s dress is better looking “in person” than in these shots. So, there you have it…

The January tags had rounded corners, so these might have to be trimmed to match, but I sort’a like the pair mostly because I was playing with pictures of warm places!  So this month’s “outside the comfort zone was the crepe paper skirt…who knows what next month will bring?

Birds of a Feather Flock together

Last week we had a dusting of snow and I took a couple of pictures of the little bird prints in the snow along the walk.

Aren’t those just the sweetest little prints?

It looks as if they were huddled together keeping warm. The birdbaths out in the lawn were frozen solid.

So I was adding hot water to a birdbath on the patio…I had dozens and dozens of birds all morning long…guess the word was out among the flocks that food and warm water was available in our back yard.  We doubled up on our suet blocks and made sure the feeders were always full so that at least their little bird bellies were full and warm. This has been such a hard winter that we are trying to help them as much as we can…while I was out in the yard, I snapped this picture of a reclining woman statue…

I had bought her in a local artists market in Haiti…being from the warm Caribbean, she is certainly not accustomed to the cold! I’m surprised she did not crack and break during the night. Several of our stepping stones have stress  cracks and one is even broken in half! Is it any wonder that the birds gather together for warmth? Makes me cold just looking at the pictures. And today is freezing again, so while Mike is carrying sheep pellets and extra corn down into the meadow for the deer, I’ll take a kettle of hot water out to the patio birdbaths…

I love winter clothes…it’s the winter weather I hate. Happy Groundhog Day!

I love cozy winter pajamas and fleecy robes…I love wearing wooly scarves and leather gloves. I have a couple of coats that are so dang cute. And after our hot Central Texas summers, we all look forward to cooler weather. Until it actually gets here!!! Just let the temperature drop below 60 degrees, or let the weatherman start talking about wind chill numbers and the romance of winter disappears…immediately…Hubby and I just returned from the grocery store, and I’ll swear half of New Braunfels, Texas, was there stocking up for the next predicted cold front. It reminded us of the shopping frenzy that precedes the coming of a hurricane along the Gulf coast. Our version of extreme cold is the low 20’s…sure, some of our more northerly friends scoff and talk about single digits, but when the wind blows, my nose runs and my eyes tear up, and I’m ready for spring. So we long for comfort foods like mac and cheese, and soup, and chili, and stew…well, that must be a universal reaction to winter. Half the hot chocolate inventory was gone and there wasn’t a single Marie Calendar Chicken Pot Pie to be had. We were able to get the makings for stew and taco soup. But we really wanted a pot pie bubbling in the oven…don’t offer me your favorite recipe if it means another trip to the store. I’m gonna hunker down with my new super soft throw and a couple of books and wait for the spring thaw. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day and if that little critter knows what’s good for him, he better not see his shadow!