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Sunday, May 11, 2008
He hates to take me to the dump... (Mother's Day)
Hope you all had a weekend, and a good Mother's Day!
On Friday morning when I stepped outside my *new-but-still-in-the-construction-phase* front door, heading to work (in an office attached to our home), this was my view:
The tree the sun is shinning through is a tall cedar, (if you look to the left there is a rope swing that Mark put this up on a broken branch at least 15 years ago!). It was a wonderful way to start the day!
On Saturday we both spent a couple hours mowing and gardening. I sure was sore after that! But today when I went outside to walk around I knew the pain was worth it:
Here's a row of metal chairs sitting by my white lilac bush:
The blue one is one I got at the dump last year! Mark hates to take me to the dump when he goes, he tells me we're NOT supposed to take stuff out. Who wouldn't take this blue metal chair home? And WHO would take it to the dump in the first place?
The two rusty white chairs on the right are ones that Mark's foster parents gave us about 25 years ago! And they were OLD when we got them! They have layers and layers of paint.
The green one, which is a rocking chair, was one of 3 they gave us, but I talked Mark into sandblasting it and painting it a few years ago. I think I'm going to leave the other two rusty ones the way they are. I love their charm, how they've aged as gracefully as was in their power!
The chairs are sitting in front of my white lilac bush, which I grew from a little start a friend gave me about 5 years ago. On Mother's Day Mark always brings me breakfast in bed, and on my tray this morning he put a sprig of these white lilacs. That was a treat to wake up such a beautiful scent! (and the coffee too, I only get coffee in bed on Mother's Day!) Here's a closeup of these fragrant flower:
When I sat down at my piano at the church today there was a huge bouquet of flowers that included pink rhodies and very fragrant lilacs! The bouquet sits on a table right in front of me. We had a guest speaker today who spoke of floral bouquets. Each element representing something Biblical, such as the vase being a jar of clay, with God's thumb print on it or the water in the vase as the Living Water. The flowers he spoke of represented people in our lives. It was a very good message!
I got to talk to my mom on the phone today (she lives about 10 hours from us). She and my dad sang a duet in their church today called, "Hello Central, Give Me Heaven". They sent up the sheet music to me this week, knowing I would enjoy both the sheet music as well as the song itself!
Blessings to you all!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 10:57:34 PM PDT
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Thursday, May 8, 2008
Print these out on fabric...if you dare!
Go ahead and try it. Print something out on fabric. Yes, right there on your computer printer. I've shown you several times already. I survived. You will to! Just save these images (Right click, then SAVE AS...), then print them on fabric. You can try the freezer paper trick, which is to just iron on fabric to the freezer paper, which you've cut to printer paper size. OR You can just very carefully scotch-tape all the perimeter of the fabric to paper, then gently feed it into your printer.
What you'll end up with is a piece of fabric that you can cut and sew, or even glue (using fabric glue) to you latest project! A tote, a journal cover, maybe a note card. Anything! Go ahead and try it! To get you started, here's some silhouettes. (I've posted these before, but I'll post them again so you don't have to go looking in my archives!).
I made a sweet wall hanging for my mother for Mother's Day. I used vintage sheet music to print the words on, which says, "Mother, Always caring for her nest." To make the words pop a little I used glitter. For the bird's nest i used a branch from one of our trees that had a little moss on it, it looked perfect with my little birdie resting on it. My mother loves birds and I guess I picked that up from her.
My girls call me the "bird lady". I feed all the birds in Oregon right off our deck. Today Iwatched in amazement at the pretty yellow finches feeding in my feeder. Then sailing in beside the sweet yellow bird along came a Strawberry Finch! What a lovely sight. Right about then the sun finally broke through. I went out and moved four rose bushes. I know, it might be a little late in the season to move roses, but it was a "move 'em or loose 'em" sort of deal. You know, Mark and that new lawn mower....he's trying to cut a path where I've planted roses (or was that visa versa-depends on who you ask). But not to worry, I found better spots for them anyway. Plus I was able to spend some time outside while the sun was out!
Melissa Frances is doing a giveaway for some lu containers that she's designed. Go post a comment in her blog to be entered!
Mimi is a new blogger! Go now to her blog, Dandelion Wishes, and say "hi"! Mimi makes the cutest cards! And she has an Etsy store, one of her items is soldered charms. Remember back to my Hankie Project Day? Well Mimi made a charm with a piece of vintage hankie...which is what I'm going to do with my pile of hankie scraps I had left over!
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 10:47:41 PM PDT
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Monday, May 5, 2008
Melissa's Birthday Dinner
You just have to know one of my favorite things to do is prepare a birthday dinner! On Saturday night this was our menu:
Baby Back Ribs (grilled by Mark), Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Fruit Salad (made by Anja), Jello Salad (for John Mark), Olive Garden Bread Sticks, Steamed Peas & Carrots, Macaroni & Cheese (for John Mark) and Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!
(Yes, do check out the link for the breadsticks. In addition to the recipe I sprinkle sea salt on these. Serve with real butter. They are so easy and so good!)
Kris, Melissa, John Mark and precious Ellie came; My brother, Charlie, and his wife, Anja came. And Jessica pulled up just a couple hours before we started! Mark was at the grill!
Here's the birthday girl, with me, Jessica and John Mark (who had a mouthful of fish crackers!):
I sewed an apron for Melissa's birthday gift, using Butterick pattern # B4945:
The pattern has some cute styles, I hope to make another one soon :
Happy 26th Birthday, Melissa!
I am making a couple more items, using the same fabric as the apron. Hopefully I'll finish those up this week!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 5:11:25 PM PDT
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Sunday, May 4, 2008
Mon Ami
Mon Ami Cafe & Antiques is my favoirte coffee/cafe/antique shop! I stopped by there last Saturday and took some photos for today's "Sunday Show and Tell", hosted by Cerri (Little Pink Studio). Here's just a few of the many pictures I took:
Good food. Always. And I always order white chocolate mocha. Always.
The writing on the wall has been going on for years. After visiting for probably 10 years, I finally had the courage to ask for the marker and I signed the wall for the first time!
There is a large glass case that holds more vintage jewerly than you can imagine:
All through the store there are vinettes, that are arranged by theme, or color, or patina, or whatever, always a joy to shop through:
There's always fun signs, and this one caught my eye right away:
I live an hour away from this shop, which is located in Florence, Oregon. If you are ever in Florence, be sure to shop and shop here, you'll thank me for telling you about it!
We had a wonderful birthday celebration for Melissa last night. I'll post pictures this week. And Jessica made it home safe and sound, just one strap across the load in the back of the pick up truck. (I forgot to take a picture.) As we were unloading everything, she saw the abundance of tie dow straps Mark had put in the back pouch for her to use. She said, "Oh, that's where they were!" She made it home fine and didn't loose a thing! Thankfully!
Congratulations to my nephew and his wife, (Daniel & Ruby), on their college graduation yesterday!
This afternoon, after church, Mark and I worked on our porch. The porch deck is finished and today we built the stairs! Looking good!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 10:53:25 PM PDT
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Friday, May 2, 2008
Goodies in the mail...it's Friday!
It's Friday! Yeah, I love weekends, especially this one...Jessica comes home from college tomorrow, and tomorrow night we're having The Party for Melissa's 26th birthday! How did time fly by so fast and now I have 26 and 21 year old daughters? I feel like I was just 25 the other day! ;)
I'll show you what I made for Melissa next week...after she opens it! And I'll show you how Jessica packed the truck on her own after she pulls up tomorrow! For today I want to show you some fabulous mail! I have to tell you that blogging rocks! It's da bomb. It's so fun! How could you not blog? I've met the nicest, kindest, most generous people ever since I began blogging in November of 2006.
As you know, my offer for brown-paper-bag-scrapbooks is STILL GOOD... If you post on my blog on "500, Yes, You Read that Right" , then email me with your address, I will be happy to send you a free brown-paper-bag-scrapbook. Just ask. No strings, no cost. It's my pleasure to give to the blogging community at large a small token of my thanks for all the fun we have here! Well, a special gal, Marilyn (who has no blog, but should!), sent a "thank you" back to me for the scrapbook I sent to her! This was a treat, take a look:
Hankies with hand crocheted edges, a delicate rose doilie, a silk pouch filled with mother-of-pearl buttons...all from one special person, Marylin L.! Thank you!
Yesterday I also got a special gift from Ann (Keeping Up With The Tatums). And I will tell you, it's hard to keep up with Ann, she's the most creative person around! I love her style of crafting with vintage papers, yet her "look" is so crisp and new! She's got more of these birdies in her Etsy shop, Duct Tape and Denim.
But don't stop there, check out her altered spoons! They are so creative! I made a ton of spoon magnets, and now Ann makes me want to pull more of my vintage spoons out to craft some more! (If only there were more hours in my day!). Go look in her shop, you'll *love* everything there! And, thank you Ann for this birdie. The paper is one of my favorite hymns, "He's the Lily of the Valley". And I love the paper flowers, too!
And, in yesterday's mail, I received my tag from Jessi (Scrappy Jessi). We did a one-on-one tag swap! If you want to swap tags with her (or me!) just ask! Her tag is so cute, check it out:
I'll be showing my pictures from my favorite anitque/cafe, "Mon Ami" on Sunday!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 1:55:38 PM PDT
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Thursday, May 1, 2008
Let's Play Barbies
May Day
We made it! We made to May! May 1. May Day. Mother's Day, May. My Mother's Birthday, May. What a great month! May-be the sun will come out long enough for us to do a little gardening. May-be the sun will come out long enough for us to start going to the lake cabin. May-be our front door project will be closer to completion. What are your "May-Be's" looking like these days?
Today is Jessi's Toy Party! Yes, you still have time to play. Just bring out your favorite childhood toy and post a picture on your blog. It's that easy.
Let me introduce you to my Barbie. Back in the day (you can tell the year by looking at my girl, here), it was simple. Barbie was Barbie and she had a friend, Midge. Pretty much the two of them had to fight over the new Ken, but he didn't show up much in our house (for some strange reason, I don't think any of us 6 girls had a Ken doll).
My mother gave me my Barbie for Christmas when I was about 8 years old, maybe 9. She gave it to me in a Velveeta cheese box, cushioned with scraps of fabric for me to make clothes for my Barbie. My older brother, Mike, gave the case to me. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to receive a Barbie and a Barbie case! I still have both today.
I'm working on some birthday gifts (sewing projects), which I can't show! I'm also having internet connection issues, which will resolve themselves only with time. I went over my provider's "threshold ratio" and got tagged with a "bandwidth violation". Which means I have to sit in a chair, facing the corner, for a couple weeks. I have upgraded to the highest "level" of bandwidth usage, but cannot actually use this until my penalty period is over. Does anyone use WildBlue? Let me just say, it's not pretty.
Speaking of Pretty. How'd you like Neil Diamond's new song last night on American Idol, "Pretty Amazing Grace"? I'm going to have to buy his new CD, "Home Before Dark (Deluxe Edition) ". I still have many of his earlier albums, and have always enjoyed his music. Yes, I said record albums. Would you believe Mark and I still have every record album we ever owned?
So for the second part of my childhood "toys" I'm going to list MUSIC. Songs, records, piano, choirs, any kind of music. Music was my childhood joy. Along with my Barbie.
Better sign off before "they" see I'm not sitting in the corner....
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 9:14:52 AM PDT
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Be sure to write your name in cement!
We're slowly but surely making progress with our new front door! Friday night after work Mark and I cemented the posts for the porch/deck. That was hard work. To dig the hole we first had to cut the holes out of the blacktop! Once we got that accomplished the rest was easy. I asked Mark if I could be the one to have the joy of putting the cement in the holes, setting the post. Of course he let me, then I initialed my work:
 When the project is complete is when I'll post pictures! I promise! But the moral of the story is: Sign your artwork, everyone!
Joyce (Scrap for Joy) and I exchanged tags (we said one, but we each sent 3!) last week. I adored the tags she made for me. She read through my blog and found things that were near and dear to my heart. The bottom tag has my favorite Bible verse stamped on it. Here's the set of three:
And here's the cookie tag up close, it's adorable!:
If you want to do one-on-one tag swaps, go ask Joyce! She's wonderfully creative!
I won a blog drawing over at Darla's blog, Bayside to Mountain! She sent a paper pack that included an original of one of her long lost relatives, who I believed lived here in Oregon at one time! Thank you, Darla. Here's what arrived in my Saturday mail:
On Saturday I drove up to meet Jessica and exchange vehicles with her. She moves out of her college apartment and needed our truck to load her furniture. She'll be home for summer the end of next week! It was fun to see her, have lunch and do just a little shopping. On the way to meet Jessica I stopped at my favorite store in Florence, "Mon Ami". 
For the Sunday Show and Tell on May 4 we are show our favorite antique shop, and "Mon Ami" is my feature! So it was perfect timing. I asked the clerk for permission to photograph the shop for my blog, then I proceeded to take a ton of photos! I'll be showing these on Sunday, but for today I'll post one picture. "Mon Ami" is a coffee shop-antique shop-gift shop-tea house-gourmet deli- and more, all snuggled in a tiny little shop in Florence. After my last post about Lemon Squares, this dessert in their dessert case caught my eye, "Luscious Lemon Bars":
Did any of you make the Lemon Squares yet?
Yesterday was Melissa's birthday, but we are going to have The Party on Saturday night. I'll show pictures of that next week! Yesterday was also my sister, Sallie's birthday. I had made a tote-bag and towels for my other sister Kathy's birthday (which I showed here). But for Sallie's tote I experimented with printing on fabric, after ironing it on to freezer paper. It works great! Here's what I did, and what I made:
Just remember to print a mirror image of your picture. In my case, just silouettes, it didn't matter, for for words or anything else, it would make a difference.
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 2:48:50 PM PDT
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Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Lemon Squares
WANTED: THE SUN
If the sun doesn't come out pretty soon...well, let's just say all this rain and wintery weather is not making me happy. To add a little bright yellow-y sunshine tonight I made Lemon Squares. The lemons are some I brought back from California over Spring Break, from my sister Sallie's lemon tree...in her back yard! Mark loved them and has been eating them like oranges. Speaking of Sallie, it's her birthday this Sunday. And, guess what? It's my daughter Melissa's birthday, too! Then a couple days latter it's my sister Kathy's birthday. Happy Birthday to my daughter and my sisters!
So what are we going to eat as our snack durring American Idol tonight? Yep, Lemon Squares. I only had to squeeze one lemon...
Here's the recipe I used, go ahead and try it, it's easy to make!:
Lemon squares
First layer
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
Blend together thoroughly. Press evenly in a square pan (8X8X2”) building up a little thicker at the edges. Bake 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven set at 350°.
Then add..
Second layer
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 tbspn. Lemon juice (freshly squeezed if possible!)
Beat these ingredients together. Pour over crust and about 25 minutes more or just until no imprint remains when touched lightly in center.
Makes enough for dessert for Mark & I while we watch American Idol.
Here's what it looked like when I took it out of the oven (heart pan, not square, but then I don't like to follow directions):
I have a small collection of hammered aluminum trays, here's the hammered aluminum tray I used tonight:
When life, I mean your sister, gives you lemons, make Lemon Squares!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 11:54:44 PM PDT
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tote, Towels, Signs and a Win!
There are three birthdays in my family this next week! So I need to hussle! For one of my sisters I made a reversable tote and a pair of matching towels. The towels have nothing to do with the tote, other than the strip of fabric I sewed on was left over from the tote and I had a few new towels! For the tote I {roughly} used the instructions from this Better Homes & Garden site, Vintage Fabric Tote Bag. I made it completely reversable by finishing all the edges before sewing it together. I wanted to try using fabrics that really contrasted, and I like how it turned out!
Here's the towels with the tote:
Today I sent off another custom sign order. Here are the two signs I sent:
I won! I won one of Kim's (Because I Said So) daily birthday countdowns on her blog! She sent some fabulous vintage items, check it out:
Time for a post office run, and a stop at the lumber-yard for more sign wood. Enjoy American Idol tonight, making sure you have a good snack, too!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 4:18:09 PM PDT
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
Vintage Bling, Tiger the Cat and Pound Cake
It's Sunday Show at Tell (check here for the Flicker Group) and today's theme is vintage bling. One thing I noticed, some of the posters have a serious bling-bling collections! Wow, talk about sparkly vintage bling, well, just go look at the pictures. Here is a blue trio from my bling collection, lovely brooches I wear on my jean jacket:
I thought you might like to see our one and only cat, Tiger (I wrote about in my previous post). Here's Tiger, sleeping in a wooden flower container soaking up the sun:
 (playing around with PaintShopPro)
Today we had some friends stop by for lunch. We hadn't seen this couple in ten years! It was fun to catch up on our families, and we loved seeing them! Luckily I had just made a fresh loaf of my Pound Cake (I gave the recipe here) . Served with strawberries and whipped cream, this makes another yummy dessert:
This weekend we had snow again here in Oregon. It's just amazing to see snow in April. Mark and I are doing our best to fight off this last round of colds going around. Are there more colds going around because the weather hasn't warmed up yet?
Send the sun....and I'd love to see a little spring... I've got so much gardening to do, but it's just not fun when it's 36 degrees.
Have a great Monday (week)!
Blessings!
*Heidi*
hwoodred at 10:56:37 PM PDT
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