Happy Mother's Day!

Now, ain't that the truth!

Been gone from the blog for awhile.  

For a good reason.  

(Yes, I've been working on complete vs. incomplete sentences with my third graders and that last one was not a complete sentence, but I always think of us as talking casually and I always tell my students that conversational communication is quite different than written communication – and don't mention the run-on sentence I just wrote there too.  Don't worry, the English language is not going to h#*l in a hand basket  in my classroom!  Wait, where was I?)

So, 

I was wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day!

Me?  Why I spent the day reading The Fault in Our Stars.  Baby Bee has been nagging me and nagging me to read it.  She even put this note on the book.

And she was right.

Should have grabbed the box of tissues before I started crying (for the first time on page 111). 

Then she made me watch the movie trailer...

Really.  

Should a 13 year old girl make her mom cry so much on Mother's Day I ask you?

Well, she did.  

And we cried together.

What a perfect Mother's Day.

Buzzingly,

P.S.  Love the image at the top?  Why it's from my favorite artist dujour...
Katie Daisy!
You can find her oh so bright and colorful and delightful and inspiring (and another run-on sentence there) work on etsy
at
The Wheatfield.

Have You Heard About These?

I'm afraid I have a new obsession.  Just a week or so ago our local Big City newspaper ran a feature on these and the seeds of the obsession were sown. 

Then, there was an article in Parade magazine this weekend and that just enough to make the obsession bloom.

(And no, for those of you who still get a daily newspaper and read Parade magazine, my obsession is not Pioneer Woman, although I do like her a lot.)

I began to stalk them. 

And pin them.

And try to figure out how to convince my brother to build one for me.

Or try to figure out why I marred a guy who doesn't really know how to build things.

Or even learn how to build one myself.  After all, I am woman....here me build.

Okay,  I digress....as usual.

I want one of these................

Right in my front yard.

And I even have a good excuse to build it since one of my picket fence posts rotted out and needs to be replaced.  

Wouldn't one of these be just the spiffiest fence post cap? 

I know you're with me people.

So.....now I must plot and plod along. And dream. And start a book collection to put in this when I get it.

Do you think I'm crazy to even consider this?  

After all, we live right across the street from an elementary school.  What better group to serve could we have?

Or do you wish your neighbor would build one too?  

And think of the conversations you might strike up with your neighbors about books.

Or do YOU want to build one for yourself?

This last one is my personal favorite...

there's just something about a stone wall that grabs my heart!

And as for that big announcement?  

Well, it's still coming.....but I think I will wait until things are "set" up a bit more.  

And it is the biggest reason I haven't been able to write the best post ever in long time.

I am SUCH a tease!

P.S. Do you want to find out more about the Little Free Library movement?  Why you can go here and find out tons of information, get plans, or even buy pre made book houses.  

I've Been to Panem

I couldn't help it.

It started out innocently enough.  It was just a simple paperback novel.  I'd heard about it.  Some of my friends had mentioned it.  The idea intrigued me.  And I definitely wanted to read it before I saw the movie.

And Katniss had me.  She had me like she captured the hearts of the people of Panem.

I loved Peeta and Gale.  Haymitch piqued my interest.  The history of this Panem and District 12, Prim, the Capitol, Cinna, and President Snow all fascinated me.

So, I've been in Panem for the past few days.

I read The Hunger Games and hungered for more.  (So glad I didn't have to wait for them to be published.)

Finished Catching Fire at 1:00 AM on Easter Sunday.

Wrapped it all up today with Mockingjay when I should be getting ready to return to school.

But ultimately the flawed, self-aware Katniss is the one who captivated me for the last few days.  And now, I'm sorry it's over.  I couldn't wait to get to the end, but now I'm sad.  I have no doubt these characters will haunt me for a long time.

Have these books captured you?  

Are there others that had the same effect on you?

Will you be going to Panem?

My Tea Party and Book Exchange - At Last

Yesterday was a wonderful day and just perfect for a warm and cozy tea party.

My special guests were:

My mom, the Sewing Bee, my friend, the More Creative Bee, and my friend, the Fabulous Phyllis, plus Betty from She's Sew Pretty and her sweet daughter.  My daughter, Baby Bee, was our server and also fellow partaker of tea and treats.

The menu:

We started with homemade scones, lemon curd, and a version of clotted cream.  I found a recipe for clotted cream that used mascarpone cheese, whipping cream, a little sugar, and a little vanilla.  

I made two teas - English Tea and a Wild Berry Plum green tea from the Republic of Tea.  We (okay, mainly me) enjoyed the Wild Berry Plum tea so much that it's all gone!  I'll have to buy some more.  It was just delicious.  We also had ice water and pink lemonade.

After scones, Baby Bee served us some savories.  I made mini quiches, cucumber sandwiches, and - what I thought was the most delicious - a chicken salad with dry roasted almonds on oatnut bread spread with basil butter.  Those were yummy!  We also a had a salad of spring greens with a pomegranate dressing.  

The book exchange:

The guests brought 3-4 books each and then we drew numbers for who got to choose first.  The first time we went in number order, then reverse order, and then we went by everyone's first initial.  The book exchange sparked lots of conversations about what we had read, wanted to read, and our favorite authors. I think everyone went home happy with some new books to enjoy.  There was lots of Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks, and Jodi Picoult.  

The table:

I finally decided to kind of have a garden/spring/literary theme.  Alyssa from Boston Bee had a great idea to include literary quotes but I had such a hard time picking out the "perfect" quotes that I ended up running out of time to get those made.

I used a burlap tablecloth for that garden look.  

The plates were Nantucket Basket from Wedgwood - my wedding china.

On top of the white plates I put my green depression glass in the dogwood pattern.  

Our teacups were the blue glass (depression glass???) and our stemware was from Tag.  

The flatware was my grandmother's silverplate - Spring Garden by Holmes and Edwards.

I used my Nantucket Basket teapot and my Song Bird teapot from Rosie B. Farmer.  I used this set's creamer and sugar too.

The napkins are some I've had for a long time.  I think they might be Martha Stewart from Kmart, but I'm not 100% sure.  The napkin rings were just some mini wreaths I picked up several years ago at Beverly Crafts.

My centerpiece was a vintage looking blue pot filled with pansies.  (some left from the 1/2 flat my friend gave me)  I stacked some books with blue and green covers around the flowers to continue the color scheme.

The lovely surprise:

When things go wrong, they always seem to happen at the most inopportune time.  Well, Sweet Bee Cottage has old pipes and an old main line.  And.......you might already know where this is going......but about and hour and a half before the party our main line clogged.  Lovely, right?  I don't even want to think about what would have happened if someone had to go to the bathroom as soon as they arrived.  Luckily we found a plumber to come out and clear the clog.  So as we enjoyed our tea treats, right outside the windows in our sunroom, our main line was being cleared.  More loveliness, right?  Oh well.  At least it was cleared quickly and by the end of the party I could allow my guests to use the bathroom.

I also gave each of my guests a S-P-R-I-N-G garland I made and some other sweet little feminine treats.  And I got to use my milk glass taco again to display them.  

Well, now I'm in the mood for another cup of tea.  Baby Bee has agreed to join me in a cup.  She found she enjoyed the tea.  Won't you join us too?  Or,  I could still make a latte for you.

I'm so happy to be sharing this table at Between Naps on the Porch.  

Thank you so much for coming by!    

Thoughts on a Tea Party

Well, I'm getting ready for my little tea party this Saturday.

Invitations have been mailed out (well better late than never with those).

Now I need to plan the menu.

I have a plethora of tea party books to choose from.

Maybe an Orange Sour Cream Tea Bread from this book?  Doesn't that sound yummy?  

This book is full of all sorts of sweet treats.  The recipe for Strawberry Tiny Tarts looks delicious.  

 I'll need to have some savories too.  Mary's book doesn't exactly have recipes, but it has wonderful ideas for tea sandwiches.  Maybe pecan studded cream cheese with chive butter?  Or how about almond chicken salad with basil butter?  

 Taking Time for Tea is divided into seasonal teas.  Well, technically it's spring, but the weather is supposed to be rainy and cool on Saturday.  A recipe for Warmed Brie on Toast Points with chopped dried apricots sounds yummy.  A little bit of comfort food sounds good, doesn't it?

This is one of my favorite tea books.  This one has such intriguing recipes.  Some are a little too ambitious for the amount of time I'll have to prepare.  Lots of savory treats - Ham & Tomato Scones, Chive & Potato Scones, Roquefort & Pear Brioche Slices........

Now we come to my favorite tea party book.  It makes me want to have a tea party every month.  (That might be because it has a theme tea party with plans and menus for each month!  LOL)  Some of the themes are The Queen's Tea, a Hiker's Tea, Tea & Roses, and my favorite - Mother's Day Tea.  It is so beautifully illustrated by Carolyn Bucha.  There are tips on how to have a large tea party, how to make tea sandwiches, how to make a tea cozy, and tons of recipes.  

Shhhh.....don't tell Baby Bee.  I snuck into her room and "borrowed" this book for some ideas.  Hmmmm...it also has a special tea for Mom.  Do you think I should bookmark that page for her?  That wouldn't be too strong a hint, now would it?

Did I ever tell you that Baby Bee dressed up as Fancy Nancy for Halloween?  She was in second grade and my mom - the Sewing Bee - made the costume from a just a picture in the book.  I found the perfect fabric - lilac silky stuff (clearly I don't know my fancy fabric names) and a lilac sequin dotted tulle (hey - I knew that one) and it was FABULOUS!  MARVELOUS! AND GLAMOUROUS!  (Oh and yes, I "borrowed" this one from Baby Bee too.)

But, then again, I digress.  I certainly do have a tendency to do that.  Miss Fancy Nancy does have some great ideas for a tea party.  We could play Fancy Freeze Tag or have a doll tea party.  

Well, I'm going to have to make some decisions and soon!  I sure wish you could come to my party.  

But I know you'll be there in spirit.  

Thank you so much for taking the time to come by.  It's such a treat to see you!

Oh, and if you happen to head on over to my ebay auctions, I am donating a portion of the proceeds for the next few weeks to the American Red Cross.  It is such a worthwhile charity and I know some of what we raise here will go to help those in Japan.

Blessings to you!

Tea Party and Book Exchange Invitations

Look what I made!  

Thank you Karen from the Graphics Fairy!

Thank you Shabby Blogs for the tutorial on FotoFlexer.com.

Thank you Picnik.com for the final invitation.

And a final thank you to Chris at Red Gate Farm for the inspiration to use Picnik and print them off at my local photo developer (i.e. Walgreens).

So how did I make this you ask?

Well, I wish I was a graphics expert, but I'll tell you what I did

********disclaimer here - I've probably done this all wrong, but maybe if I can do it, you can too *********

1.  First I found the perfect vintage graphic from Karen's (the teacup) and uploaded it to Foto Flexer.

2.  Then I really wanted a gingham in a springy color to serve as the backdrop - I found an image from an old JC Penney catalog and uploaded that as the background (also to Foto Flexer).

3.  Then I played on Foto Flexer with the layers, cropping, etc.  And honestly, I just messed around with it until I liked the way it looked.  Of course, I saved it.  Don't forget to do that!

4.  Now I took the newly created file of the two layered/merged images (gingham and teacup) and uploaded it to Picnik. Then I just used the free text editing and added the details for the invitation.

5.  Saved that invitation and then uploaded it to Walgreens where they were ready in about 45 minutes. 

If I do say so myself, I am pretty pleased with how these turned out.  

*********

So, 

will YOU come?  

What books would you bring?

Gardening?  Fiction?  Magazines?

I'll keep you posted on the details of this little shindig!  

And thank you so much for buzzin' in today!  

Oh and I'm showing this off over at My Romantic Home.  Thank you Cindy for hostessing this fun little (well - not so little anymore) party! 

Do You Have a Favorite Design Inspiration?

It's a chilly night tonight with all the fog we've been smothered in and it just seemed like the perfect night to snuggle into the library with a quilt and read a few old books.

As I perused the shelves, I focused in on my decorating, gardening, crafting, and cooking shelves.

A name popped out at me...........

Mary Emmerling!

I have several of Mary's books.

Cottages is my all time favorite!

How about a trip down memory lane with me?

I started to buy her books when my husband and I were first married in 1990.

Can I show you a few of my favorite pictures from a few of these books?

Well, you know how I am......I'm going to show you whether you want to see or not!

 My dream cottage!  If we had enough sun, I'd have roses growing up the sides of Sweet Bee Cottage!

 Love this simple kitchen.  (But I have to confess, I could never have a kitchen like this - I'm not that great a housekeeper.)

Love this red gingham chair!  Wouldn't you love to work in a spot like that?  We need a new chair for our computer armoire.......maybe I should look for one to reupholster in red gingham.

Look at that table and chairs!  I would love to have wicker chairs in my dining room.  I have some all picked out - I just can't buy them right now.  Someday..........a girl can dream, right?

I had forgotten I even had this book.  I remember looking everywhere for a heart-shaped tube pan.  Never did find one.  

Don't those flowers look gorgeous on the table?  Lovin' the different colored chairs too!  Still looks fresh and this is from a book from 1993!

 There's that heart-shaped cake again!  Never made that cake, but I think I need to now.

I'm not much of a drinker, but I have always loved this little bar area!  I even bought a milk bottle carrier but somehow it never looked as great at my house as it did in this picture.  

(Since then I've painted my milk bottle carrier bright red and I use it to hold potted plants.)

I looked to see what Mary Emmerling has written lately and she has a book on turquoise (the stone not the color).  I'd love to see some new books by her, wouldn't you?

After looking through these books I've discovered that the pictures that I'm drawn to wicker chairs and floral pillows.  Apparently that is all it takes for me to decorate a house!  

Will you come over and sit in my wicker chairs strewn with floral pillows???

You know I'll bribe you with scrumptious treats!

I'll even bake that chocolate cake for you in a regular tube pan!

Thanks for buzzin' in!  I hope you know how much I appreciate our little visits.