We were featured on Bajanwed.com in a lovely hibiscus themed inspiration board!
They featured our tropical hibiscus favor boxes and hibiscus circle tags!

Check it out here:  BajanWed.com

Pinteresting

We are so excited!  Our Red Merry Christmas gift tags were featured on a Christmas Board on Pinterest that was highlighted in the 30 days of Pinspiration!  We were featured on a board by designer Dale Partridge on Day # 2.  Unfortunately, the pin did not link back to our shop, but rather to someone else's blog on Tumblr.  There was no mention of the original source, which is a little dissapointing.  But I left a comment, so hopefully people will understand that they came from our shop.  It's still quite an honor don't you think?

Red Merry Christmas Gift Tags

 

Day #2 of 30 days of Pinspiration

If you'd like to check it out for yourself, click on the link to enjoy 30 Days of Pinspiration!

Falling into Fall

We have been very industrious lately, having undertaken painting our family room a new color...you never realize how big a room is until you have to paint it!  We also ordered a new coffee table and tv console.  Putting the room back together, we realized it's time to decorate for fall-YAY!  Even though we still have 90 degree temps here in Texas, putting out the pumpkins makes us believe that fall is close.....even if it's still 1-2 months away weatherwise!  Here are a couple pictures of the mantel we decorated:

Mr. Crow and Mr. Owl usually make an appearance until Halloween.  You can kind of see the new family room color behind....it's called "Bamboo", looked a lot greener once we got it on the wall!

Sniffing the herbs....

Cheeto's new favorite past time seems to be sniffing the herbs.....first the catnip (of course) and then the basil....and then the mint and then back to the catnip!  It's so funny to watch him sitting between the pots and just moving his nose back and forth!  The herbs are all getting leggy, it's almost time to cut everything back and either replant for fall or harvest the seeds. 

The babies have hatched!  They are still ugly at 1 week and barely have any feathers!  They have been sleeping a lot, we try not to disturb them.  I couldn't resist taking a picture though.....hopefully soon they will get some feathers!

Mama bird has been busy!

Well Mama bird has been busy!  The other day we checked the nest and there were 4 eggs!  She hides in the tree by the door and sits on the eggs when no one is around.  As soon as we walk up the sidewalk she flies out of the nest to the tree.  Soon, I think we are going to have to start using the back door, because once those eggs hatch, mama could get a little aggressive trying to protect her babies!

Marie Antionette inspired fancy shoe favor boxes

Here are the latest crop of our fancy shoe box favors, in bright colors! 

Turquoise, Pink, Black and Chartreuse

Birds nest and baby bird egg

We found a nest in the wreath on our door, and just yesterday we discovered this baby bird egg in the nest!  We hope mama comes back to hatch it and that all the in and out of our front door doesn't disturb the egg!

Sweet Easter Figurine

A cute little Easter figurine to charm you!

We've been very poor bloggers since Christmas, most of our family has been sick with one illness or another since Christmas and we've been very busy!  A little spring fever perhaps.....here are a couple of pictures from our trip to New York last fall but they remind me of spring and summer so I'm going to share....

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!

We wish you a Meowy Christmas!

Hey, isn't there anything in here for me??

Rudolph out front leading the pack!

Santa, his sleigh and the reindeer on the mantle.........

Last weekend we went to a Dickens Festival in McKinney, TX.  They do it every year, but this is the first year we have been able to go.  Many of the shops around the square were open and had beautiful Christmas decorations.  Townspeople dressed in Victorian clothing walked around the square and there were activities for the kids and lots of goodies to eat!  Here are a few of the beautiful decorations we saw!

This guy was super cute sitting on a shelf!

We saw lots of cute snowmen!

This one is a particular favorite!

We also saw these beautiful rose brooches, some inspiration to make something similar perhaps!

And these beautiful paper roses are to die for!  Have to figure these out!

Lots of Christmas inspiration for shabby chic decorations!

The tongue!

Ever since Cheeto was a kitten, he has always stuck his tongue out when he makes "biscuits" and purrs.  I took this picture of him during one of his biscuit making sessions.

so imagine our surprise during our New York trip, when we saw this:

Here was this cow sticking her tongue out at us!  It just made us laugh and I grabbed the camera to take a shot!

Spooky Halloween Fare

Many years ago when my three nephews were young I happened to be keeping them over Halloween.  For dinner I decided to be a bit creative. I didn't tell them in advance what I was going to serve. On the menu was:

Spider Dip
Individual Meatloaf Rats
Ghost Mashed Potatoes
Eyeballs and Green Beans
Mummy Rolls
Graveyard Pudding

The youngest happened to come in the house while the meatloafs were cooking and asked what was for dinner? I casually replied meatloaf rats.  NO WAY he replied and went to the oven to look. OH GROSS!!!! Aunt Sue, are those really rats? Needless to say, dinner was a real hit with the three boys and I had three of the neighborhood mothers call and ask what had I served them. Word had spread through the neighborhood!

Since that dinner, I have served this menu to guests and family on Halloween and it is always a big hit.
I have pictures so Enjoy.  May you be inspired to have a creative meal this Halloween.

On Wings of Angels

One of our clients asked us to design angel themed place cards for her son's christening party.  We embossed the wings and hand glittered them with irridescent glitter.  Next we glued a white feather on the back to make it "fluffy"!  Hope she likes them!  These would be great for a baby shower or an angel themed Christmas party.

Apple Bread Recipe

As promised here is the apple bread recipe.  It was so good, we ate it all before we realized we hadn't taken a picture of it for the blog.  So you'll just have to take our word for it.....

3 eggs slightly beaten
2 c sugar
1 c vegetable oil
1 TB vanilla
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
4 c peeled, chopped apples (3-4 apples)
1 c chopped pecans
Topping:  2 TB sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1).  Heat oven, grease and flour loaf pans
2.) Stir eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla until well mixed in a large mixing bowl.
3.) Combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Stir dry ingredients into liquid ingredients until evenly mixed.  Add chopped apples.
4.) Prepare topping-combine sugar and cinnamon.  Batter is thick, spoon into prepared loaf pans. 
5.) Sprinkle topping on top of loaves.
6.) Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
7.) Cool in pans for 10 minutes and then run a thin knife around edges of pans to remove loaves.  Cool on wire racks.  Wrap tightly and store at room temperature.  Breads are better the second day.
Makes 2 regular loaves or 4 mini loaves.
Enjoy!

Happy Fall Y'all!

This week my mom and I went to upstate New York to visit family.  Fall has exploded in beautiful technicolor there.  It's such a nice change of pace from Texas to see rolling hills, farms and the trees in reds and golds.  The shops and houses are all decorated with pumpkins and scarecrows for fall.  It's so festive! We went to the apple farm and bought apple butter, hard apple cider and yummy apple cider doughnuts for a treat!  You can pick your own apples there, but we didn't this time.  We do intend to make apple bread in the near future, stay tuned for the recipe. 

Back to my teenage days.....

Ok, so it's not crafting related but I just had to share. My husband and stepkids and I went to the Nightranger, Foreigner and Journey concert last night. It sure does take you back to hear all the old songs! I have to say, some of the old guys still got it! Foreigner sounded great, just like on their records. Journey was awesome, it's amazing how much the new lead singer sounds like Steve Perry. We had a great time, here's a picture from the concert! Who was your favorite singer or group in your teenage years?

Elissa

Wedding Shower shoes

We just finished a custom order for 50 wedding shower shoe favor boxes. It's so fun to make each one unique.