Let's see...tea party...what does that bring to mind? Hannah and I are hosting a Teddy Bear, Grandma, and Me tea party for some sweet girls this Saturday. Have you ever hosted or been to one? Do you have any pointers to share? I am making place cards. Tomorrow night I will back the cakes and I will ice them Friday night. I am planning to start the tea party by making hats from gift wrap I bought at the Dollar Store. I saw someone do it a couple of years ago at a VBS program. I better practice on Hannah before Saturday. That would be wise. I will have the girls sing, "I'm a little tea pot...". I have a teddy bear version of musical chairs as a game we can play. We will have tea and cakes then the girls can play with a miniature tea set with the teddy bears. I found teddy bears after Christmas at Kroger for $2.25 each. I bought several with the idea of using them for VBS decorations this summer. The idea of using them as part of the tea party makes the purchase all the more satisfying...did I just justify my spending?! Yeah, I think I did. I started getting things I want to use, washing them, and putting them on the dining room buffet. I would like to have a tea party story to read to the girls. I will have to try the local library branch. Their hours are limited so it is difficult for me to get there. Hmm...what to do. Have any ideas?

mower expenses

Hmmm...I have built into our budget some money to have the mower tuned up every year. I save up $225.00 for this service. They clean, fill fluids, charge batteries, blah, blah, blah to it. I say blah, blah, blah because that seems like such a waste of money compared to buying other things that I like such as stamps or paper or going to DisneyWorld for vacation. Well, they picked up the mower today and called with sad news. It needs more maintenance this year. After they replace blades and belts it is going to cost over $550. Man, that hurts me! Ever have a bill go over your budgeted amount?

On a better note, here is a link to some free note cards that I read about on LollyChops that you can download. I am new to LollyChops. It looks like alot of fun stuff on her website!

I purchased a couple of melting pots from The Gingerbread Shed in the fall of 2008. One is styled like a small crock pot. You place a candle inside and turn it on. I heats the candle until all of the wax is melted. I really like it. The other melting pot is really cute but it seems a little dangerous for a klutz like me. It lookes like a punched tin lantern. I also purchased some Baker's Bits Nut Bread Delights to melt in it. These little chunks of wax smell so wonderful! But I digress...I have knocked over that silly melting pot 2 times already. What a mess! It ran everywhere. I don't recommend this style to anyone as klutzy as me.

I am still working on those name tags for Cardinal Regional. I did make a card for a dear friend, Lois, that is in the hospital. I did not take a picture but I used some of the same items that I am using for the name tags to make it. I put a quilt on the front and a sentiment from PTI Quilter Sampler. It is such a sweet set for making cards.

Name tags for Spring Cardinal Regional 2009

Well, I have a couple of name tags put together for the Spring Cardinal Regional. What is the Cardinal Regional? Well, it was started by ladies from churches belonging to the IL/MO ARBC. Don't you love all the acronyms?! Illinois/Missouri Assembly of Regular Baptist Churches. The ladies originally organized the Cardinal Regional to help Camp Manitoumi which is supported by all of the churches in the IL/MO ARBC. We have attended their family camps since 2001. My kids have attended the Junior weeks at this camp for several years. The ladies continue to do camp projects and fund raisers throughout the year to support the camp. Many people have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ at this camp. Every summer that my daughter goes to camp, there has been at least one girl in her cabin that accepts Jesus Christ as her personal Savior! Wow! That amazes me every time that I think of it.

I mentioned in my post that I was using an idea I saw on Lauren Meader's blog. I used the same PTI stamps for my quilt. It was a lot of work but the little quilt I made for each name tag is so cute. They feel soft and are fragile like an old quilt. To give the quilt more substance and allow me to pin it. I took a 1 1/2 inch square of chip board (actually a cereal box that I cut up) and covered it in quilt batting. Then I wrapped the little quilt that I made from paper around it. I mounted the quilts on layered Bazzill paper. I don't think I would have gone to all this work if there were a hundred needed...they only need 25-30 name tags. I can do that many!

I am working on name tags for a ladies event to held at church. The speaker is Julie Leonard who is a missionary to Brazil that our church supports. Julie's theme is from Matthew 5:16 Sowing from the Heart. She says her favorite colors are lavendar and purple. So I am going with those colors and a quilt motif. I saw this great idea from Lauren Meader that I am working from to make the name tags. I have one made but it needs tweaking before I share it.

My son, Johnson, raced at the Watamolo District Cub Scout Pinewood Derby today. Whew! That was a lot of kids to funnel through those race tracks over the course of a day. The coordinator, Sam Hou, did an outstanding job! She is really good at this Cub Scout stuff. She coordinates the day camp in the summer for the boys, too. Any who...Johnson had fun but did not place in the top 5. I know Jim and I are okay with it and I think Johnson is too. He got to invite a fellow Cub Scout, Philip, over for a play date and they are having a good time.

Talk to you later,

Penguin Card

I did my own version of a card I saw on Patty's blog . She is such a talented lady. It is a penquin made without any stamping. My twist on the card was to use the Expression to cut the black and the white portions of the penquin's tuxedo; otherwise I used SU! punches.

• Misc: SU! curly label punch, SU! large oval punch, Provo George Basic cartridge & Accent Essentials cartridge, Souffle white pen


• Cardstock: Bazzill black, Office Depot white & orange & blue

I feel like I have been 100 miles away from crafting but I actually have accomplished a lot since my last post. I don't know if that makes sense or not. It goes back to the end of October when I was enlisted/coerced to agree to open my house for a Christmas walk to benefit the Fine Arts program at the high school. I cannot believe a said yes. I still shake my head when I think about it. A really sweet lady, Renee, had asked me to do it in 2007 but I just could not see how I could be ready in time. This year, I still could not see how I would have time to get ready but I did not want to put Renee off for another year either.

The week after I agreed to open our house, I found out that our church was going to put on its 1st Christmas Dessert Theatre and I was in charge of the tables. Maybe that sounds simple to you but there was a great deal of work involved. I enjoyed it all but I felt like I had no room to breathe. Every moment was filled with either cleaning/hiding things in my house or shopping/researching tableware and decorations for the church tables.

Our house had more Christmas decorations out in 2008 than it had since we moved here in 1997! The 1st floor of our house was not spotless but it was pretty clean. I did not allow guests to go upstairs as it was not a pretty sight. Our house is over 100 years old and it has some celebrity status in the community because the original owner endowed a substantial amount of money to the village when she died in 1982. She was 102 years old when she died.

I did not have time to make cookies for the open house so I bought some from a great local bakery. No, I did not tell everyone that I had made them...but I did not advertise that I had purchased them either...tee...hee. I had some great help the night of the open house. Jody and Danielle played Christmas carols on our piano. Shawna, Kelcy, Emma, my DH, and my kids helped supervise guests through the house and answer questions.

In addition to these two major events in my life, the day of the open house we also had a ladies Christmas brunch at church and I was in charge of hostessing and decorating a table. I had to pack a set of Christmas dishes to take to church and set a fancy table. My plan was to pack them as they were...dirty...and leave them in my car until the open house was over. Turns out my DH and another table hostess' DH, washed dishes for everyone! What darlings! I brought the dishes home and left them on my car until the open house was over. The tables at the brunch were just lovely. I wish I had taken pictures! Of the 5 tables decorated, each one was completely different. One table was all Fostoria glassware, one had a Cardinal motif, one had a snowman motif, one had a beautiful silver Christmas china pattern, my table was Pfaltzgraf Winterberry. I had given several pieces of Winterberry to my sister, Jan. She added to the set over the years. She wasn't using the dishes and her daughter was not interested in them so she gave it back to me. It is a lovely set of dishes. I added dessert plates to it for this event. I had to set the table for 8 ladies.

I also was in charge of the Secret Sister program at the church. Basically, the ladies sign up at the beginning of the year by filling out a personal survey. It shows their favorite colors, B-Day, etc. I randomly assign each of the ladies participating another ladies information. Throughout the year the Secret Sister prays and gives notes, cards, and small gifts secretly to her sister. At this brunch the ladies learn who was their Secret Sister for the year. I altered some pop-top cans for the unveiling. I again did not take pictures of this project. Each lady picked a can and popped it open to find a paper ornament. The ornament revealed a Secret Sisters. It turned out really cute and I used some of my lovely scrap paper to decorate the cans.

Back to the church Dessert Theatre...we had never done this before so I had to chose and purchase dishes, silverware, decorations, decanters, etc. I used my Cricut Expression to help with paper decorations. I don't have any pictures...whaaa...I was just too busy to really think about it and then...poof...it was over. In fact, I can say that about all of November and December, too! We did so much more than I can type here during that time but I think I am boring you so I will let it go and move on with 2009.

Can you believe it is February already? I made some adorable Valentines but I did not take any pictures. I have to get organized again or bust! Ha!