Today:

An early-morning rain. By the time the sun came up, there were just a few drops left to show it had happened.

The first bud on my lilies:

The first flower on the raspberry bushes:

The peonies are getting ready to bloom:

My "annuals" are coming back for their third summer:

It was lovely to spend the day in the garden.

For Your Easter Basket

If you are looking for a good Easter gift, this book is wonderful! It is clever, interactive, and just gosh-darn cute.

Buy it from your local, independent bookstore. :)

April Fool's Day

So it snowed here yesterday and today. Perhaps Mother Nature's idea of a good April Fool's Day joke?

Happy Saturday

Last Saturday the sun came streaming into the house for the first time in what felt like a long time (at least when I'd been home to enjoy it!).

It was finally warm enough to open the windows...

...which the cats took full advantage of.

I took advantage of the energy that comes with a beautiful day. Among other things, I:

* made these chocolate "freckle" candies. I got the idea (it's so simple you can hardly call it a recipe) from Gingerbread.

* scrubbed the kitchen floor (not everything gets a photo). :)

* vacuumed the whole house.

* did a bunch of laundry.

* cleaned out the freezer. (And it looked so pretty as the cold air hit the warmer air in the sunlight).

* and made these cherry ice cubes. My mom used to make these for my birthday parties when I was little. Now I like to make them and put them in lemonade. I guess the warm weather got me thinking about it! You just take maraschino cherries and put them in your ice cube tray, then fill it like you usually do. This photo is from before they went in the freezer. Once they're frozen they look lovely and frosty and pink!

After a very grey, rainy/snowy week, the sun is out again on this beautiful Saturday. Temperatures are supposed to be up. Here's hoping for another productive day! I'm off for a run now to enjoy this spring weather.

Beautiful Summer Dress

Grosgrain is having another super-wonderful giveaway! Go check it out. (You have got to see the "before" pic of this dress. Kathleen is one talented lady).

Summer of 69 Thrift Store Refashion Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a really cool St. Patrick's Day project - I found the link on The Crafty Crow. I'll share my own finished photos of the project later on.

In the meantime, The Crafty Crow is also hosting a giveaway - you could win a doll kit from Pretty Ditty! The dolls are so cute. :)

Hop on over and check it all out!

A Recent Project

A friend of mine has a table and chairs that belonged to his parents when they were first married. The chairs may not have been recovered since then, and they needed some work. I helped pick out fabric and brought over the tools we needed to fix up the chairs, including my staple gun.

Mostly what needed fixing were the bottoms, because there wasn't any support there, and so the cushioning had been pushed out over time:

We took all the seats off the chairs and cut and sanded wood to the right size, then attached the wood to the frames of the seats to support the cushions.

Then we took the fabric we had picked out, and recovered all the chairs:

His idea was to do each one in the same fabric, but a different color. 

And it was so easy to do! You just cut the fabric to the right size, pull it taut over the cushion, and use the staple gun to secure it to the frame. The hardest part was definitely making the bases for the cushions. If you have a chair with enough support already, you can recover it in no time. Go try it!

And Another One

Oh, wow, I LOVE this dress. I must have it!! But I am still sharing the link with you, cause I'm nice like that. Also cause I have to. :)

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Just a Quick One to Say...

...that Not Quite June Cleaver is having another giveaway!

And speaking of giveaways, my one-year blog-iversary came and went without me mentioning it! It was earlier this month, and in celebration I will come up with a giveaway and let you know what it is soon.

A little bubbly to celebrate.

Deliciousness

Hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. Yum.

[Still feels very much like winter here. More snow predicted for tomorrow.]