Craft Room Rennovations

Have been doing a bit of rennovating in my craft room over the weekend. I had this computer armoir in here on the west wall. It's nice with lots of storage but the monitor always seemed like it was setting in a tunnel in the dark, or I was looking down a tunnel in the dark, or something like that, lol! Anyway, I was tired of it so I unloaded it and took it out. I had to put plastic lids under the corners to even get it to budge, it weighs a ton. I did manage to get it out of the room and down the hall way and out in to the living room by myself. Took me about a half hour, lol! All last week, Michael's had their white cube storage thingy's, can't remember the name of them, on sale for 50% off. One day they even had an additional 20% off sale items so I loaded up on the storage cubes. I ended up with eight. I put them all together, a couple each night and when the weekend rolled around and I got that armoir out of here, I placed all the cubes as I thought I would like them and then I measured the top. I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of plywood and had them cut it to the exact dimensions. Took it home, sanded it a bit, painted it white and put a couple of coats of polyurethane on it and stuck it over the top. It turned out pretty cool. Now for the shelves!!! I had them cut the extra wood into shelving and I will hang that above the desk, hopefully on both sides. I love how it opened up the room quite a bit and looks so much brighter with white against white walls. Now I can add my own splash of color. Hope you have a great day, Hugs, ~Jody

How about...............

I have to tell you this funny story. I was driving to work this morning like I do every morning down this long stretch of road that has recently become a construction zone, uuuggghhhhhhh, and the signs say will be for the next 2 years, UUUUGGGHHHHHHHH! Anyway, I was following this person, don't know if it was a man or a woman driving, but it was a burgundy colored mid size car. On the back of the vehicle was this bumper sticker at about trunk level and it said......... how about a nice cup of shut the f___ up!!! OMG, I laughed so hard. Some people think I'm such a hard ass but let me tell ya, I have nothin' on the person that owns THAT car. I took a picture of it with my superior Wal-mart track phone and sent it to my home email address but guess what ??? it didn't make the trip. Not sure where it ended up but I certainly hope I don't know the person who received it. LOL Not sure you could have read it anyway, the light was awful, etc. So, ya, that was my funny start to my day! The sun was shining, the music was good and it turned out to be a terrific day. Hope yours was just as enjoyable! Hugs, ~Jody

God's Creations

Look what I found growing in my backyard yesterday? I got a slip of this plant from an old friend a year or so ago. He said to just put it in a pot with some dirt and leave it where it can get some sun and rain water and forget about it. Well that's exactly what I did. I have moved it from the last place I lived and moved it around my backyard a couple of times making way for other plants and such but when I went out yesterday morning to do a little gardening there it was in all it's glory. Isn't it beautiful!! I don't even know what kind of plant it is but it sure is pretty. I hope it gets some more blooms on it. Hope you have a great day, Hugs, ~Jody

September Tea Party

We had our tea party for the month yesterday and was alot of fun. We went to the Milk n'Honey Tea Room on Busch Blvd. in Tampa. One of our tea ladies actually owns this tea room so she was glad to see us all come to her place. She hasn't been able to go to our monthly teas as much since she purchased the tea room, she has had to work on those Saturdays at her own tea room, lol! Anyway, we had some delightful sandwiches. And the scones were Pina Colata And the desserts were delictable!! Kathy, the tea room owner, (top left) has a little dress up room in the back for the kids and lots of hats hanging on the walls so we each chose a hat to wear and had a group picture taken. My daughter is a waitress there and she was the one taking the pictures and she was talking to me while she was taking the pictures so the look on my face is kinda funny but it was a fun picture, lol!!! We had a great time!

Newest Creation

Good Evening Bloggers! I took a little break from the Halloween banner this weekend and made a really cool necklace and earring set. I needed something to do while I sat in front of the TV and watched all the 9/11 shows over the weekend. I did take time out for a football game in which the Steelers got spanked but this is what I came up with. I purchased this pendant and the four smaller pieces at Michael's in Rockledge, I think, while I was over there for Christmas last year. They were on the clearance rack so I got them for a song and they are PURPLE, well sorta lavender anyway, my favorite color. I have hem-hawed around all year trying to find just the right color combinations to go with it and finally settled on some that I already had. I did find a couple other beads at Michael's the other day that kinda matched so I mixed them all together and VOILA'. It turned out way pretty, I think. A bit to fancy to wear to work probably but it will work nicely for the next tea party, doncha think? Here's a couple of close-ups so you can get the full picture. I am very pleased with the outcome and can't wait to wear it. I have a cream colored dress that it will go nicely with and the tea party for September is next weekend, I better get that baby dry cleaned tomorrow!!! Hope you have a great evening, Hugs, ~Jody

09.11.01 ten years later 09.11.11

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Hugs and Prayers going out to all those directly affected by the events of that dreadful day. We will never forget!

Penne Pasta with Proscuitto Sause

I don't normally post about food but this recipe has been a favorite of mine for a loooong time now. I got the it from the Regis and Kathy Lee show back in 1983, I think and I just love it. I don't make it alot because it is dripping in butter and cream but it came to mind while I was in the grocery store last night so I bought all the ingredients so I could make it tonight. I also got ALL the CORRECT ingredients on the first try from memory, that's saying alot for me, lol! Maybe I have made this a few times. Garlic bread goes well with it. Here's the recipe if you are interested: 8 oz. Penne Pasta (I used Rotini tonight so any pasta will do) 4 oz. Proscuitto (ham) cut in strips (the proscuitto at my store only comes in 3 oz. packages and it was plenty for me) 3 T. Butter 1 Small Onion diced 2 Small Tomatoes diced 4 T. Parmesan cheese 1 Cup Heavy Cream (I used whipping cream because they didn't have a small heavy cream and I didn't want left-overs of this, lol) 1/2 Cup Peas (I used frozen ones because I will eat the rest of the bag) Ground Black Pepper Saute ham in butter and onions. Add tomatoes, peas, cream & pepper in that order stirring after each addition. Simmer until thickened. Add parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. Makes 4 small servings. YUM!!!! Enjoy, ~Jody (NOTE: my apologies for the way this recipe is showing up on the blog. I actually typed it out in normal recipe form and it looks correct on my draft however, when I publish the post it all runs together. I have tried many MANY times to figure out what I am doing wrong with this but to no avail so I guess you'll just have to muddle through. If anyone knows what I am doing wrong, please feel free to leave me a comment on how to fix this, it makes me crazy, UGHHHHH!)

Sneak Peek #3

Good Evening Bloggers, have been putting the finishing touches on panel #2. Sooooo cool!!! I just love the new tokens and adornments that Tim Holtz has out. I was able to pick those up at my LSS last weekend as well as the new Christmas ones too. This panel turned out just as well, if not better, than the first one. The spider webs were embossed with black and the fuzzy orange thread around the outside came in a halloween scrapbook paper pack that I got for free at one of the 'garage sales' that Scraporium has. A lady had it on her table for sale and when I picked it up and looked at it she said oh that's been used, you can just have it! Worked for me, the thread matches the black that my daughter gave me and there is enough to use it two times and I have four panels, all together. I'm thinkin' two orange and two black, whatcha think??? Anyway, here's panel #2 Thanks for stopping by! I'll be working on panel #3 this weekend and I'm sure I'll have to make a trip to Whimsodoodle. They are calling my name and it's only Thursday, lol!!! Hugs, ~Jody

Sneak Peek #2

Ok, so I've spent most of the day in my craft room playing with my new "door decor" today. I have to admit, it is turning out really cute. See what you think of the first panel? The little black caldron I made out of sculpey clay, ha! Even had a handle made out of wire and brown sculpey clay. The little shelf is just a piece of trim molding from the miniatures department and all the bottles were from a piece of scrapbooking paper I scanned and then printed on cardstock and cut each one out. I popped them up with different size pop dots so they would look 3 dimensional. How cute is that???? The eye hook holding the 'W-wicked' token is from Home Depot. The "B" I cut with my cricut and covered it with glitter and then hair spray so the glitter wouldn't get all over. It kinda works! The feathery trim is some yarn my daughter had that she said was to hard to crochet with so she gave it to me. It looks just perfect on there, I thought! On to panel #2.......................... Yesterday, I was invited to Jimmie B's to hear the band "GreenFlash" play. If you don't know of Jimmie B's, it's a beach bar in St. Petersburg. A cool little place to catch some rays, have a couple of cocktails and listen to some really good 'ol tunes. And there's Ms. Barbara jamming to the music. She's the one that invited me. Her husband is Marty, the one in the baby blue shirt. It was a great time. Thanks for the invite Barbara!!! On the way over there, a draw bridge had gone up at John's Pass to let a big boat through. It was cool to see. It's not something that you see every day, at least I don't, so here's a few shots of it. And then we were on our way! Hope your Labor Day weekend is going great!!! Hugs, ~Jody

Sneak Peek

Good Morning bloggers, I have caught the Halloween bug already this year. Seems a bit early but that's ok, it will give me plenty of time to put together my new 'door decor', ha! I ordered some of the chipboard banner pieces from CTMH, actually I ordered two sets. They come in packs of 8 and we, meaning my younger sister and I, were going to split the one package and then we would each have 12. We WERE going to make another set of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas this year but she's mad at me for voicing my opinion on some things, actually pissed off would be more like it. (My family prefers sugar coating everything, me, not so much! I tend to call them like I see them, which, as history could tell, hasn't gone over well with them!) Anyway, don't look like that will be happening now, SOOOOO, I am going to use the left over 4 pieces and make a Halloween banner for my door. I have started so here's a look at the beginning stages. I have a pretty good arsenal of Halloween stuff all the way from Tim Holtz to CTMH to Crafty Secrets, etc. I have chosen inspiration from several different places, too many to mention names, so Thank You all for your inspiration. I'll let you know what it looks like as I go along. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Labor Day Weekend, Hugs, ~Jody