The Sweet Life

Valentines 2010

2010-01-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to make 2010 a very organized year, I spent about 2 weeks carefully packing, arranging, photographing and labeling all my Christmas decorations. It was a massive undertaking, but I feel a sense of accomplishment in doing it.

So, with all of that and getting new furniture in the next week, I have decided not to put up my valentines tree. I will, however, be working on some valentines crafts. For every holiday that is coming up, I dedicate a corner of my craft room to that holiday and fill it with crafty goodness to get me inspired. My inspiration corner doesn't take as long as decorating a tree, so I worked on it for a bit last night. I just love the pretty colors and the cheerfulness my corner gives me. I love how it turned out!

Vintage Christmas Monday

2009-12-07T03:59:00.000-08:00

This is my second week sharing in the Vintage Christmas Monday hosted by Joan at Anything Goes Here blog. I am really excited to share this item. My Snowman music box. My mom has had it since I was little. I'm not sure exactly when I took possession of it. Every year when I unpack it, there is always something missing or broken from it and I have to search for old pieces and parts to repair it. Fortunately this year I didn't have to fix anything. It does lean a little bit, but that just gives it character. I'm hoping it will last long enough to give to one of my children one day.

Vintage Christmas Monday

2009-11-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Joan at Anything Goes Here is hosting Vintage Christmas Monday and I am so excited to be participating! I decided to post mine tonight since I will be going out of town in the morning.

I am slowly building up my collection of vintage Christmas item. I'm just going to go ahead and start with my favorite vintage item, my mother's old glass rolling pin. Of course, it didn't start out a "Christmas" item, but my mom made it part of our Christmas tradition. She would get it our every year and decorate it with Christmas greenery and cute Christmas candies, ornaments, etc. I was so pleased (ok, so I cried like a baby) when she gave it to me. It just brings back such wonderful Christmas memories from when I was a kid.

I'm kind of lacking on the decorations around it right now since I had to start from scratch. It just needs something else.....Maybe I'll look around tomorrow for something to jazz it up. Any suggestions?

Bragging about my new purchase....

2009-11-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

Every year our local DBPA host Hometown Christmas in which local and surrounding area Artist and Crafters come to display and sell their works of art. Not having attended in several years, I decided to go this year. I am so glad I did. I met a wonderful lady, Lori from Ellenay Designs. I just could not stay away from her table! She make the most beautiful hand crafted jewelry. Every piece is so unique and detailed with such care. I really had a hard time choosing what I wanted!
I think I made a good decision. If you get a chance, stop by her Etsy shop and take a look!

Christmas Giveaway!

2009-11-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Carla at CosmoGirl's Emporium has a wonderful giveaway going on now till December 1st! She is giving you three chances to win. Don't miss out!

Black Friday Purchases

2009-11-27T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm not a real big shopper, especially on days like "Black Friday". I never go shopping on black Friday. Too many people and so much chaos. I had initially decided to stay home today and play in my craft room, but my little sis mentioned that she would like to go and look around in a few stores. My hubby and daughter decided to brave it and head out at 5:00 am. I, on the other hand, didn't leave my house till after 9. I figured if we left later, the early birds would have their door buster deals and be heading home for a nap. I guess I was right! It wasn't that bad! So I didn't stand in line in the cold for hours to get twenty bucks off a TV.....I don't need a TV. Nor did I push and shove my way through crowds of coffee stimulated cranky people to buy some worthless junk as Christmas presents for friends and family just to make sure everyone has a gift to open......pointless! Instead, I decided to make it a day for me! I did, however, buy a couple of people gifts that I knew they wanted and will love. I'm not entirely selfish.

First stop? Michaels of course! New Cricut carts for $35! One for me....and yes, I bought 2 more for Christmas gifts. I can't show the other two. Might ruin a surprise. For myself, I bought some styrofoam balls, paper cones, gold paint for pine cones, some containers, a much needed circle punch and my favorite glue. I also bought some of Martha Stewart's new flocking powder in red. I can't wait to try it! Oh, I picked up some glittering blue embossing powder too. That stuff is great!

I also bought these gorgeous birds for my Christmas tree. They are items that would usually not get my attention, but there was just something about them and they look fabulous on my tree! Didn't hurt that they were 40% off, PLUS I got an additional 25% off of my entire purchase!

On our final stop before heading home, my sister talked me into buying some shoes called Sanuk's. When she first showed them to me and said she liked them, I thought she was joking. Surely she was joking! Not really my style. I thought they were really ugly. Then she told me to try them on......wowwwww, comfy. So I purchased 3 pair. Of course, she's getting a pair of them for Christmas since she introduced me to my "new best friends."

Christmas Fun

2009-11-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

I am so excited! I found all the boxes of Christmas crafting fun and swap stuff from last year! I unpacked everything and layed it across the eight foot table in my craft room just so I could look at all the pretty Christmas items and I left it there for about a week.

I'm loving all the bright lime greens and vibrant reds. That gives me an idea for decorating one of my trees! I'm thinking pixies, vintage santas, silver tinsel and those wonderful Christmas lights that were so popular when I was a kid. I think they are called C9 lights. I have boxes of those I have never even used! So now it's craftin' time! So much do do, where do I start?

Wonderful Holiday Giveaway!

2009-11-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Castle and Cottage Blog has a fantastic giveaway and it's really easy to enter. The winner will receive a $40 gift certificate to her Etsy shop. She has some pretty amazing items there! The drawing will be November 14th at noon, so don't wait!

Joli Paquet trick or treat swap

2009-11-03T04:05:00.000-08:00

My partner Wendy told me she likes the traditional colors of orange and black for her Halloween decorating, but she is really getting into purple and green too. So with that in mind, I created some goodies using those colors I was sure she would love.

I also included some supplies she can use for her own creations.

Of course, I couldn't forget some sweet treats for her to snack on!

Joli Paquet Trick or Treat Swap

2009-11-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

I only joined 2 Halloween swaps this year since I was so busy with some other work projects. I joined the Joli Paquet swap which was a lot of fun. My partner Wendy made a really cute bag and filled it with some wonderful treats!
I can't wait to get started on the cute little mini tag kits she included. And the shimmery material gives me a great excuse to get out my sewing machine and make something special for next year. Thanks Wendy for all the wonderful Halloween goodies!

Goodbye Halloween 2009...

2009-11-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

Once again, Halloween has come and gone leaving behind tired little ones with belly aches from the buckets of yummy candy and sweet treats devoured throughout the evening.The creepers have left the building, having done their jobs of lurking, crawling and spooking.It's time to say goodbye to Halloween 2009....

This ole' witch is tired.

Sophie's ready for Halloween!

2009-10-21T09:53:00.001-07:00

Sophie
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

Ok, so trying to put a witches hat on a 7 month old Lab was not the easiest (nor smartest) thing to do, let alone keep it on her. Lab's are notorious for chewing and eating anything in sight. So why would I think that mine would be any different? She was a good sport about it though. Maybe because she was tired from running in the yard and decided not to put up a fight. Maybe she just decided to surrender thinking to herself "my idiot human has her camera out again and if I don't give up now and just wear the damn hat, then she is going to make me do some stupid trick.....sigh."
Good news is, we both survived and she only tried to eat the hat twice!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-03T05:28:00.000-07:00

Once again, Halloween has crept up on me. So many things to do! It's is a race against the clock to get everything done that I had planned. The problem....I get distracted easily.......I will start to decorate a corner of the house, need some tape, glue, wire, etc., wonder up to the craft room, and 2 hours later come down and tell my husband "look what I made!" Completely forgetting about the project that I started down stairs. So what am I to do? I guess I will have to make Halloween year 'round!

Meet Sophie Rose!

2009-04-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest addition to our family........Sophie Rose. She is the sweetest most cuddly puppy!

Home Sweet Home

2009-04-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

All of my herbs in my wonderful new flower boxes.

Spring is here and it's time for front porch rockin'! I love sitting out here in the afternoons. The breeze off of the lake is amazing.

Valentines Swap

2009-02-15T18:48:00.001-08:00

Along with the beautifully created heart, she also sent a ton of ephemera!
Wonderful Jullie (Shabbyjules) sent me this beautiful Valentine for the Vintage Ephemera Swap "Sweets for my Sweet". She also designed my new awesome blog. Thank you Jullie!!! I love my new blog.

Moms old house

2008-12-05T06:37:00.001-08:00

Moms old house
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

While I was visiting all my relatives in Michigan, I took my mom by to see the old farm house she grew up in. Everything was so beautiful covered in snow. I just wanted to move right in. What a wonderful place this must have been to live in.

Part of tree zip tied

2008-11-12T09:16:00.001-08:00

Middle section ready to be placed
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

The magic of zip ties

2008-11-07T07:13:00.001-08:00

Finished
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

Last year, as I was trying to figure out how I was going to get this enormous tree in a storage box to store, I came up with an idea. Zip Ties! My husband, the collector of all things junk, had a huge bag of zip ties sitting on his desk. Perfect! So, I carefully straightened each branch as best I could. Then, with the help of my son, took each section starting with at the top, pushed the branches up and inward and zip tied the branched to the center pole. We did this all the way to the bottom. The tree fit perfect in the box.

When it came time to unleash the beast, all I had to do was cut the ties from each section starting at the bottom and fluff the branches. This could not have been any easier. It only took me about an hour to get the tree set up. Now it's time to decorate!

Hugs and Kisses.....

2008-10-31T09:53:00.001-07:00

Hugs and Kisses.....
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

I just love doing these jars. I found the idea in an old BHG book that I had. They are so easy and quick!

Materials needed:

Clean canning jar or other clear jar with lid
Black acrylic paint
Lime green nail polish (or other spooky color)
Sponge for painting with
Small plastic spiders, bugs and snakes
Black tulle or mesh
Black ribbon
Tag
Hot glue or other clear drying glue
Hershey Kisses

Instructions:

Paint the outside of the jar and the lid with the black paint using a sponging technique. Using the same sponge, splotch the green nail polish over the black paint. Let dry. Cut the tulle or mesh into square to fit between the two pieces of the canning jar lid so that the mesh hangs out of the sides a bit. Fill jar with Hershey Kisses. Glue bugs on outside of jar. You can also add little snakes for the "hisses" part, but I didn't have any on hand. Of course, I did glue rhinestones to the back of the bugs just to give them a little bling. Decorate tag with poem to say "Hugs -n- Kisses, Bugs -n- Hisses" and add ribbon and tie to the outside of the jar.

These are easy enough for the kids to help with.
Happy Halloween!

Bones just hangin' out till next year!

2008-10-24T09:57:00.001-07:00

Bones just hangin' out till next year!
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

Glimpse into Halloween Past.....

2008-10-24T09:41:00.001-07:00

Glimpse into Halloween Past.....
Originally uploaded by the sweet life creations

Today, October 24th. What? October 24th? Halloween is creeping upon us yet again and I can't help wonder "where did the time go?" I just didn't have enough "time" to prepare for our usual planning of childrens parties, making massive amounts of cool creepy cookies to sell and decking the house out with graves, spiders, bats, witches and homemade monsters and ghouls in every nook and cranny I could cram and stuff them into. Halloween has always been my thing. Our house was always know by local kids (and adults) as The Halloween House. For crying out loud, we even made the local news paper for erecting a giant spider on the side of our house. We were ruthless. There was nothing we wouldn't do for Halloween. "Build a life size casket?" No problem, we did it.
So I sit here, one week before Halloween night, no scary monsters on the porch, no bats hanging in the "Batroom" (only thing scary in there is the sink that needs to be cleaned, yikes!) no mummy's on the stairs waiting to scare the children as they wake from their nightly slumber. I have just run out of "time". So I make this vow to myself, right here, right now... next year is the year. I will not let the lack of "time" rob us of our beloved Halloween. I will start in June....ok, maybe July.... I will work till midnight every night if I have to. And I will bring Halloween back to Key Haven Lane and we will once again be known as "THE HALLOWEEN HOUSE"!