Just checking in to wish you a Happy St' Patrick's Day!!!!

My 10 year old asked me, "Why does it say Lucky?"
I told her the Irish story, but then added,
"I think it is because I feel so blessed, and Lucky is a fun way to say Blessed....."

And I do feel very blessed....  
A fun family....   Nice sunny weather....
A hard-working hubby who happily hands over the whole paycheck twice a month, so I can keep pluggin' away at silly creative stuff....  And play with the kids....
....And I have so many other blessings.....
I can't count them all....
Lucky me.....!!!!!

I borrowed this "Keep Calm and Pinch On" print from Stephanie,  the Hands-on Housewife....
she was so kind as to design and share it....
Thank you!!!!


(p.s.  Disclaimer of sorts.....  Sorry the photo's aren't excellent, I am not really good with indoor photography.... And then all those reflections on the glass and mirrors.... Yow-zi!)

And this is my favorite St. Patrick's Day Item on Etsy....  from OwlCreekCeramics....
Love it!!!!



Enjoy your St.Patty's! 
I will have to think of some green food for the fam.....

Wishing you a very happy new year: 
TWO
THOUSAND
TWELVE

May the Lord bless you and your loved ones

2012 is going to be the best year ever.....
Yay!!!!

This summer I came upon this wonderful box of 1000 flashcards from  1964......I loved it, but...... I am NOT a mixed media artist....  or a paper artist, though I dream of being one one day....
I really hoped to see these cards made into something
fabulous,
stupendous,
breathtaking,
artistic,
exquisite .....

_So I was very much so looking forward to having these cards come into the hands of a true paper artist....
And they did..... I was soooo excited.....!!!!

Enter Bonita Rose,
          ......Life.Love.Color.Art........

Bonita is a paper artists from Fargo, North Dakota, with an eye for word art....
Her mission statement is to always remain true to herself and living her life happy, no matter what. It's a choice. She always tries to go where the peace is. Always.

Her first small canvas art is "Ethereal"
featuring the ethereal flashcard from the box.....

Her second small canvas is "Fastidious"
featuring the fastidious flashcard from the box......

Well, her Artist Trading Card word art is just strikingly fantastic; I am so excited to see them....!!!  So grateful she was willing to share....  I can't wait to see what else she comes up with!!!!
....according to my calculations, she has 998 cards to go....  :-)

Visit Bonita's website for additional astounding creativity

linking up to
The Scarlet Lime
One Lucky Day
Lara Birch
Crafts 'n Coffee
the Key to My Art
Design Memory Craft
Shabby Chic Junk

Remember this this chunky textured white sweater pillow...?

Well, it has a new home!
It now lives in Texas.....
In a lovely vintage chair, of course.....

And it lives with a happy family....
Look at how cute and sweet these three children are! 
Three:  thus the number three, of course.....

This big smile is melting my heart!
Thank you so much, Anita, for sharing these photo's with us!

Love'em!
:-)

Crystelle

Lo and Behold!

The current Idaho Falls Magazine has a whole article devoted to Spud Day in Shelley, Idaho.  Spud Day is an annual event celebrating the potato harvest.  This year's celebration runs from Wednesday September 14th through Saturday September 17th, 2011.

And there is a very cute picture of the adorable running Miss Russet:  Kaitlyn Anderson sporting a potato sack dress, Marilyn Monroe style, but created by.....me.....!!!!
It is fun to see my spud sack creation in a magazine, and having the lovely Miss Russet make it look incredibly fabulous.....

I made this potato sack dress last month, and I'm telling ya, it looks much better on Kaitlyn than on my dress-form.....

Miss Russet:
a real Idaho Beauty!

Her is the cover of the new Idaho Falls Magazine:  September/October 2011 issue. 
Pick up a copy today!

Where do you fold your laundry.....?
I fold mine on the bed.  That way I HAVE to get it finished before I go to bed.  Works like a champ...
But yesterday.....  my daughter disguised herself as some laundry on the bed....
Did it work?
Do you see her....?
She is soooo tricky....!!!
She certainly had me going there for a while....!!!!

As per the request of one of my favorite blog followers (thanks Ashley...!!!!!): here is a way to protect your fabric upholstered chairs from getting dirty....
And it is wonderful because you can even wipe it off!

To the left you see a fun vintage solid wood chair I found.  I love this chair.  It even has lovely woodcarving!  Lucky me for finding it!
I painted it red and covered the seat with new fabric...

But this fabric I chose is light in color....
Do you really think it will survive my children (and me....) without getting smudged? 
I think not....!!!

So I need to do something to protect the fabric....

Here is my plan of attack!

I bought some vinyl from the fabric store....
I bought a whole yard, which is WAY too much, but I might need it again, so now I have it on hand...

Materials needed:

• vinyl, cut to size (larger than the seat....)
• staple gun

That's it!
Easy schmeezy....

Just pull it tight as you cover the front and staple the back.....

Here it is....all done!

You can't even tell it has that sterile looking plastic on the chair....
Right....????

OK, so when the light hits it just right you CAN tell, but that is totally  worth it, because I know the light colored upholstery cotton fabric would last two weeks around here (maybe) until it would be brownish.....


Makes me smile to see the happy colors.....
and they will stay that color!
YAY!!!!!
:)

Crystelle

P.S. You can also use this method to protect potato sack covered chairs, as the loosely woven jute fabric has a tendency to snag....

You will never guess what I had for breakfast this morning: 
OK, so the picture and the title of this post gives it away, but still:  a green smoothie!
Yummy!

I love my new green breakfast drink!

I know, my green drink doesn't necessarily look very appetizing, but it it is delicious, I guarantee!  I think that is largely so due to the fact that I know how nutritious it is, of course.

What is in my green smoothie?
Well, it's different every day, but today it was greens: spinach and chard and kale
But also fruit: two bananas, an apple, some strawberries and blueberries.

I haven't felt very well for a over a year, and knew I had to introduce more vegetables into my diet, but that seemed like such a daunting task, until my sister-law introduced me to the Green Smoothies book by Robyn Openshaw.

I have been drinking these for  a little while now and my energy level is definitely up.  I'm lovin' it!


Yay!
:-)
Crystelle

Whoever thought of making a coat tree of vintage skis was a genius!  They are so adorable! 
I've always wanted to make one of these coat-racks from old wooden skis, so a few years ago I started hunting for vintage skis.
Kinda hard to come by I discovered!
But I managed and found a beautiful pair of vintage all wooden cross-country skis....
I was so happy....!!!! and kept searching for pair number two.
About a yer later I found a pair of wooden skis with a red coat on them.  Now I could make my coat rack...right....???
Well.... I am sorry to report that I have more ideas and plans than I have time and energy to do things with...
Does that sound familiar to anyone.....????
So I was cleaning out the garage this week and found my beloved skis and sorrowfully decide that I didn't have room for a coat-rack anyway, and encouraged by my husband who really likes clean garages: I am selling my skis!!!
You can find them here and here.

In the mean time I fantasize about all the things I COULD have made out of them.....

I COULD have framed a mirror or picture.
Made bench or table.
Made a shelf-rack  A coat-rack with pegs to hang on the wall...
A fence...!!!  How about a picket-fence type headboard.
Coulda-woulda-shoulda...
In the mean time, I try to move on......  My heart is ripped in two...  But....there are plenty of fun things I can make still...even without skis... (sniff...)

Just kidding, I really can't do everything I want to, unfortunately...
BUT  on the bright side:
 I have everything I need....  and much more!
I am truly blessed....!

In the mean time:  our mommy Rex Rabbit bunny had babies...
Ohhh, they are sooo adorable.  The kids are in heaven...  they will available for free to good homes and will be super tame, because they have been played with so much... :)

Mom and Dad like playing with these cute little soft hairballs too....
They steal your heart in one glance... (sigh....)

The chickens are still happily roaming around... sharing their yummy eggs with us.

Anyway, as I was cleaning out the garage, it was starting to get dark, and I thought to myself:  this would be a good time to go for a walk, because I certainly wouldn't want to go AFTER it gets dark....!!!
So off I went in the farmer's field across the street from us...
I was having a grand old time, walking briskly with my dog, and lo and behold, about halfway through, it was getting pretty dark.. In fact I couldn't see much, except what was directly in from of me....

Al of a sudden:  there, on the right, about 3 feet away from me, I see something coming toward me...  I am used to critters around the house, so I wasn't alarmed, but squinted to make out what it was....  It kept coming toward me, black with a tall black tail straight up....  And then I recognized it for what it was:  A SKUNK! 
Backing up toward me....
Boy, did I start running!
I had no idea I could runt hat fast!  A little adrenalin in your system will do that, I guess....
And the dog ran with me.  She was HAPPY to run away too.  Too many skunk encounters, I guess....
The good news is: we got away un-sprayed...  PHEW!!!

And that is my story from last night, and I'm sticking to it....!!!!!
Have a happy weekend!

So I went outside today, and I found something interesting.
See, I have this "cute" display on my porch of things that I love:
Against the backdrop of an old barn-door and a double laundry wash tub:

• A road-sign (I acquired it LEGALLY!!!  There was an accident, and I asked the repair crew if I could have it...  They said YES!)
• A horseshoe I found in our pasture (I wonder how old it is.  It looks super old.  Big too...)
• A vintage mop bucket (from our ninety plus year old neighbors)
• A wooden apple-box (came with the house)
• Some wooden shoes (to remind me of my roots)
• And a little metal bucket with a bird's nest in it (my daughter found it under a tree, the nest that is...)
• And a vintage sheep-bell (my husband found it somewhere)
  

So, as I was saying, I went outside and noticed things were a bit askew out there.
Then I looked closer and saw this:
Three eggs.....,
And the birds-nest, which was arranged so lovely in the little bucket, now has those eggs in it.....

They are CHICKEN EGGS!!!!

I was wondering why there were only three eggs in the chicken coop today!

We have six chickens.  We used to have more, but I am afraid that a raccoon or two got them....
So we are down to six.
And on a nice day we get six eggs.  When the weather is not so nice we get less.....
Did you know that affected them?
I guess I knew that but never thought about it.
Our chickens just roam around the yard....  They are so fun to watch.  We enjoy them so much!  and they help us keep the bugs to a minimum!  Great fringe benefits....

I guess serious egg-chicken-farmers would put a lamp in their chicken coop to provide more light.  Their laying is affected by the number of hours of light they get in a day....  In the winter when there are less day-light hours, most of our chickens will stop laying eggs altogether.  but I have learned that even if it is summer-day, but darkish and over-cast we will get less eggs.  True.  On a nice day with lots of sun we get six eggs....

Anyway..... We love our chickens.  They are so fun!