On the left are my Valentine roses looking a little sorry, faded and droopy. I rarely remember to refresh the water in the vase. Robert usually gets me a bouquet of mixed colors which I love for the variety. So when they are looking so sad, I know it’s time to make a vase of rose bloom potpourri. You can too!

Step 1: Get an empty bowl, vase, or pretty container that is see through. I chose a round crystal bowl that was my mother in laws.

Step 2: With a pair of scissors, snip the buds off the rose stems. If there are any that are not dried yet, you might consider leaving them on a paper towel in the sun and letting them finish drying out. Most of mine were already dried.

Step 3: Carefully place them in your container, letting the petals face outward if possible. This will give you a nice color around the bowl.

Step 4: Place one or two roses face up on the very top so you see the petals which will give it a nice appearance.

There you go! Quite beautiful and colorful isn’t it? I put it right beside my reading chair so I could enjoy it every day.

Reaching back into my photo archives, I ran across this project that me and my daughter did together. It was a “Love Notes” book project courtesy of Ali Edwards. You can find the project instructions and free downloadables HERE.

It required a little printing, a little cutting, a little sewing, a little gluing and a dose of patience too.

But we had so much fun working on this craft project together. Robert must have liked receiving it too. He has it placed in his box of “special keepsakes” that consists of mostly lovey dovey things I’ve made or written to him. It’s not too late to do this project yourself. You probably have the materials already needed on hand

My sister, Carol,  loves to create and is quite talented at many things.  She cooks, sews, knits, crochets, quilts and on and on.  Recently we were together and she was sharing some of the things she was doing so at my request she has sent me pictures and I am going to share a few with you this week.

Aren’t they just the cutest things you have ever seen….Thanks for sharing Carol….and there is much more coming.

Oh yes, it is obvious Valentine’s Day is around the corner. I know it’s a sappy holiday where lots of people (especially men) feel pressured into being romantic. I for one love this holiday because it gives me a chance to tell the people  in my life how much I love them, because sometimes in this hectic day to day life we live we forget to convey that little message to the people we love the most.

So here’s just sharing some of the eye candy I’ve seen around

Twig and Thistle has a free printable download that you can create your own Valentine gift bags. Super cute, super easy too.

Then there is Jack’s Daughter with this 1950’s style Rockabilly Candy Heart dress (I just learned what rockabilly was this weekend when my daughter asked if I’d make her one of these type of dresses. I was like rock-a-what??? I’m feeling so old when it is obvious I don’t know the younger generation’s language.

Or how about this craft project from Kaboose that you could do with the kids. Click on the link to get the step by step directions.

Handmade hair bows for little girls have come a LONG way from what I used to put in my daughter’s hair to keep it out of her face. Now they are a major fashion statement for these little fashionistas.

And one last one because I do find the artwork on this card A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E….from Kindred Knits.

Do any of you have something special you are doing for Valentine’s this year? Robert will be in Phoenix with Kevin this Valentine’s Day (playing golf no less) so I’ll spend this lovey dovey holiday all by lonesome myself, probably with a good chick flick and a bowl of popcorn and M&Ms. I think of it as me giving myself a little love

Remember the book I mentioned I needed to read “A is for Apron” by Nathalie Mornu?  I loved the material in it, not to mention the 17 patterns that were included.  The patterns are on 8″ x 8″  pages and require you to increase them by 400%.  First thought is a photocopier but the pattern is too big for that idea.

I remember watching my Mother cutting patterns out of newspaper so I decided it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to accomplish the same and began to gather my tools.  The most important one is the calculator!  Tissue paper leftover from a Christmas gift was perfect as it measured 24″ x 24″.  The tissue  paper  became the perfect element to draw the pattern on as the widest width measurement I would need was 18″.  I used transparent tape to put two sheets together giving me plenty of room for the entire project.

First step, measure the fold line length of the apron body as shown in the diagram and take it times 400%.  That calculation told me the length of the apron from neckline to hem would be 29″ at the center fold line.  Once I had this measurement I continued around the page as shown above  making notes of measurements at specific points, every 4″ to 9″ getting width measurements, etc.  I then was able to transfer those measurements to my tissue, making dots that later would be connected by free hand.  End result….a book that cost me $15.00 will reward me with 17 patterns if I elect to use them.  If you have purchased a pattern recently you know the savings using this method is big!  The project took me less than an hour and most of that time was spent on my calculations and measuring the dots on the tissue.

Notice how wrinkled my tissue paper is; my Mother would frown at me over that, she pressed the paper before she cut her patterns…  I have fabric in mind for the new pattern so keep coming back and I will show it off

Note:  Visit www.creativechcis.com to see all the new aprons added online this week…that is how I spent my cold vacation days, doing what I love most, creating.

I was invited to participate at Fave Crafts in their presentation of sewing tutorials for the holiday.

I took an apron already in my supply of inventory and here is the result.  Click on the link to view:

http://www.favecrafts.com/Holiday-Sewing/Holiday-Apron-Tutorial

Most of us are pretty good at taking leftover food and making a sandwich, soup, or a warmed up meal.  When it comes to fabric sometimes you have small amounts of fabric, too large to throw away but what do you do with them?

Deb and I both have come up with a few ideas.  She has used hers to liven up a gift bag with colorful fabric, here’s an example.

I took some of the leftovers and decided to try a  few ideas putting them on hand towels for Christmas. I was working with a 4″ deep strip that is the width of the fabric.

Here are a couple of the results of my efforts.  I cut the reindeer out of the strip of fabric and using a satin applique stitch on my machine placed it in the center of a white towel.  Added a red ribbon that says, “Merry Christmas” and hopefully someone will enjoy placing it in their bathroom or kitchen.  The second towel is just a strip of fabric with a narrow satin ribbon sewn into place on each side to hold the fabric.  Then a Christmas ornament embroidered in red with a “Merry Christmas” greeting.

Give it a try for yourself, start by perusing the little leftover bundles at the fabric store if you don’t have any on hand.  Never know what you might make and if you do, please, please, share photos with us….

Perhaps you remember me telling you about my rocking chair that my husband gave me a number of years ago.  I wanted to spruce the chair up with a new look for my new bedroom.  So…I decided to give it a makeover that would add a splash of color to the solid white paint.

I cut fabric that complimented my bedroom colors to fit the head rest and the seat of the chair.  Once you get the pattern you want fold the fabric in half to be sure both sides are the same.  Simple trick but one it took me a while to always remember was necessary to a great finished look.

Fabric has a tendency to slip and slide on a wood chair so I used some spray adhesive and sprayed a layer of batting the same size of the fabrics and placed it on the chair.

Then I sprayed the top of the batting and placed the fabric on it and I was ready for my electric staple gun.

I placed staples about an inch apart at the very edge of the fabric and ever so quickly I was ready for the trim that would provide the finished look to the edges.  Notice I have the chair upside down on the floor so it wouldn’t move around on me.

Glue gun in hand I worked about 6 inches at a time making sure I covered all of the staples completely and in approximately one  hour total effort I had created a new look for my old rocker.

Cost of renewal under $5.00 and when you read my article on the curtains, and other redo of the room you will note it fits right in   Hope you enjoyed and are challenged to give something you have a new look.

I can’t get enough of inspirational magazines and web sites lately. I thought I’d share a few things I’ve stumbled upon that I think are pretty cool, to buy or to make.

Better Homes and Gardens – Decorating with Pumpkins

There are a slew of painted pumpkin ideas at Parents.com. I am so loving this mod looking pumpkin below but they have all kinds of ideas for more traditional patterns too.

Cozy by the Sea, a favorite blog of mine, shows you how to make these “magic wands” that any kid would find charming and oh so delightful to eat. Be sure to stop by her blog for all kinds of other wonderful finds and inspirational ideas.

Step 1:  Sew the seam with the wrong sides of the fabric together. Press the seam to the back not open.

Step 2:  Trim the back seam allowance to ¼“ being careful to cut only the front section. Press the seam allowance to the back side.

I use my cutting guide to lay over the seam to ensure I am getting the 1/4″ and a straight line!

Step 3:  Press the larger seam allowance over the trimmed seam allowance, completely enclosing the ¼ “ seam. Press the turned under seam allowance flat since this is how the finished seam will be sewn.

Step 4:  Once you have turned and pressed the seam, you want to top stitch the pressed under seam allowance 1/8” from the folded edge or as close as possible.

Step 5:  Stitch 1/8″ in from, and parallel to, the original seam along the entire length of the flattened fold. Both finished top stitch lines can now be seen on the right side of the fabric.

Check out the finished product! You can download a PDF printable version of this tutorial by clicking the link under the Tutorials section.