Monday, August 23, 2010

My Swap With Dana!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Monday! The sun is shining and I think it is supposed to be a pretty mild day. We are back in school and back into a routine. Still finding time to go to the pool after school, squeezing the last few drops out of Summer!

As promised I want to share my wonderful handmade goodies that I got from Dana  in our swap. She is so talented, and everything looks and smells soooo good! You can get all of these goodies on her website, she is working on new Fall creations right now, I can’t wait to see….

Here is her folk lamb. The detail on him is wonderful!

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Primitive Sunflower Tarts, these are fabulous!  Mine are scented with Apple Cinnamon…Yum!

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Mini Sunflower Tarts. I think they are too pretty to melt but Dana always says “please melt them Sarah, enjoy them”!

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Close up~

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Love these, Dana custom made these flower shaped tarts, I asked for them to be the brown beeswax and they turned out so nice!

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Here is a closer look, dusted with cinnamon!

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Primitive Olde Crow Tarts~

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Mini Pineapple Tarts~

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A closer Peek~

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Primitive Button Tarts, love these. Dana scores all these great prim shapes into them! Especially LOVE the one that says Prim!

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These are darling! Mini Ball jars, you can even see the word Ball on the front, again…the detail is unbelievable!

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Measuring Spoons~

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Prim Bunny Tarts~

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Bunny close up~

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Primitive Blessings Flicker Light. This was from a previous swap with Dana. I don’t think I ever shared it!

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Lavender Tarts, they smell divine!

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I TOLD you she spoiled me! What a dear and generous friend she is! Thank you Dana, I will enjoy these for a long time and I will think of you whenever I look at them or melt them (if I can ever bring myself to melt them)! Haha! :)

One more picture to get you in the mood for Fall. Dana’s Pumpkin Tarts (also from a previous swap). These are my absolute favorite thing that she makes!  They are scented in Pumpkin Crunch, my favorite scent!

Dana's Pumpkin Tarts

By the way, Dana is having a giveaway over on her blog! Maybe you could win some of her goodies! Click HERE to become a follower and enter!

That’s all for today! I am going to do some work around the house and then I am heading to the gym later! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

I will leave you with this quote.

“Friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil - but
      it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small silly 
      presents every so often  - just to save it from drying out completely”.
                                                                            - ~Pam Brown~

Give that special friend a call today, let them know you are thinking of them. Or maybe stick a small package in the mail just to make them smile! :)

Until next time, take care.

~Sarah~

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Where Did The Summer Go? I Am So Ready For Fall!

Hello everyone! Long time no blog! It has been a very busy Summer, as I am sure it has been for all of you too! We just got back from our family vacation to Kansas City. Almost all of our school shopping is done, good thing because the first day is right around the corner! Whew… It seems like we blinked and Summer was over.

We finally got some relief today from the intense heat we have had. We went to the farmer’s market today and could sit out on the deck while our steaks grilled without breaking a sweat for the first time in many days! I hope where ever you are the weather is pleasant!

I haven’t blogged in a while and I have missed it. I have a few things to share. First, I think you all know by now that Fall is my most favorite season. Well, I got a couple new signs that I just have to show you. Obviously I haven’t started decorating for Fall yet, but now that I have these signs I am just itching to! They are both made by my talented friend Lisa. Check out her selling blog Black Sheep’s Mercantile. Thanks Lisa, I couldn’t be more happy with my signs!

This one Lisa custom made for me. Every year it is a tradition for our family to have a pumpkin carving contest after we have visited our local pumpkin patch. This sign has special meaning to our family!

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Here is a close up. I just love the detail and the distressing.

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And here is the second one. It is a great sign that I can easily find just the right spot for!

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Another close up just for fun. I love the wood she used!

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Doesn’t it just get you in the mood for Fall?

Here is something else that will get you into the Fall mood. I LOVE these 1803 Candles. Here is my little stash of Autumn scents. Some I have ordered straight from their website. And some I have purchased from a wonderful  store called Aunt Patty’s Attic. Check out their blog HERE.

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Scents from left to right are: Witches Cauldron, Pumpkin Hollow, Pumpkin Cornbread and Simply Autumn. All are wonderful, I just love the look of them. And the scents are to die for. Try these out, you won’t be disappointed. For those of you who already have them, you know what I am talking about!

Here is a makeover that I did a while back. And I am just now getting around to sharing it. I bought this little cabinet with four drawers a LONG time ago at Goodwill for $4.00. Just like all of my other goodies it sat in my garage and patiently waited for me to make it over. 

Here it is before~

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And here it is after~

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Close up~

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I took off the porcelain knobs. Then I sanded the whole piece down and wiped it with a tack cloth. Gave it two coats of Americana black paint. Sanded and distressed it (I even hit it with a hammer in some places)! The new wood knobs I purchased at Michaels craft store, I attached those with a screw through the backside of the drawers. I predrilled a small hole first (in both the knob and the drawers) so I didn’t split any wood. I wiped off all of the excess saw dust with a tack cloth and then coated the whole thing with Minwax gel stain in Walnut.

It is the perfect length and width for the back of the tank on the toilet. It holds hair ties and bobby pins, q-tips etc. A great little wooden find! I love things with little drawers!

That is about it for this time! It has been fun chatting with you again! Next time I will be blogging about a wonderful swap I did with a very dear friend. But in the meantime, check out her blog! She is one very talented gal!!  Homespun Treasures By Dana. Here is a link to her website too! Homespun Treasures.

Until next time, take care.

~Sarah~

Friday, July 23, 2010

A Sweet Trip Down Memory Lane

Happy Friday my friends! The kids and I went to an olde time candy shoppe today! SO fun! All the old candies and drinks I remember from my past.The music was even from "back in the day"! Maybe you will see some of your favorites!

Enjoy these sugar-filled photos!

This is my ALL TIME favorite candy. I call it "swimming pool taffy". Whenever we would go to the pool when I was a kid they would blow the break whistle and that meant "everybody out of the pool". The whistle also meant… everybody head to the snack shack! This is what I would buy every time!

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Another photo of my favorite taffy!

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This was just one small section of a HUGE wall of salt water taffy!

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Remember these little wax juice filled bottles?...Exactly what was that juice in there anyway!? Oh well, it was yummy and I always drank it and then chewed on the wax!

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I have always had a love-hate relationship with Sweet Tarts...so tart and yet so sweet at the same time! Haha!

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Just a "little" bit of sugar in those Sugar Babies! *wink*

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Who doesn’t remember Bazooka!?

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Have a Coke and a Smile! :)

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Root Beer! Yum-O!

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Crush!

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Just a sampling of a big wall of soda!

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The atmosphere took me right back in time! Sammy Davis Jr. was singing “Who can take a sunrise, sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two
The Candy Man, oh the Candy Man can
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good”! You gotta love it!

Whenever you get a chance, take your kids back in time with you. The look on their faces is priceless!  I even got myself something! Cinnamon Freshen Up Gum! Do you remember it? “The gum that goes squirt”!

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!

Until next time, take care.

~Sarah~

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Wildflower Photos and Salt Dough Flowers

Hello everyone! Long time no see! I hope you are all doing well. Summer is a busy one with baseball games and other activities. Trying to stay cool during those baseball games is quite the challenge. It has been SO hot here lately.

At one of our son’s baseball games there is a wildflower preserve right next to the fields. So I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. I couldn’t believe the colors! All of the flowers were drifting in the breeze.

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Here is a picture I took on the 4th of July of the flag that proudly hangs on our front porch.

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And here are the rest of our salt dough creations. My daughter and I were busy! We kind of went a little crazy on the salt dough flowers! I just love them too much! What am I going to do with ALL of these you ask….I have NO idea! But they are so much fun to make!

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Did I mention that I LOVE the flowers!? Haha!

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My daughter and I just sorted through our Fall and Halloween cookie cutters! Yep, you guess it…that is our next project! It’s going to be Fall-tastic! So stay tuned!

Well, this post was rather random wasn’t it? Filled with some fun photos I have taken recently. I hope you enjoyed a little of this and a little of that!

Until next time, take care.

~Sarah~