15-MINUTE VINTAGE FORK PROJECT

I had wanted to make something special for my hair stylist, Stephenie's recent birthday, and I had seen a great vintage fork craft on Mrs. Jenk's blog: A Little Birdie Told Me at her posts here and here. (If you haven't visited her blog yet, please check it out. She's sooooo creative!!!) The fork holds a recipe card, photo, or actually any card. Well, my hairdresser loves vintage like I do, so I thought it would make a great gift for her!

It's super easy to make (check out Mrs. Jenk's directions on her blog)....except for the bending of the fork. I first tried heating the fork in a low degree oven. But it turned out with a bit of an uneven bend, so that was a good excuse to keep that one for myself (hee! hee!). I used a background of Eiffel Tower scrapbook paper)! See below: So, the next day, I bought another frame and tried again. This time, at the suggestion of my creative hubby, I put the fork in a vise and then bent it. That was much easier, and I highly recommend that method. I put a few different pieces of scrapbook paper in her frame, so that Stephenie could change them out whenever she wanted. Here's what the finished gift looked like, with each of the different papers:

My favorite is the last one with the "words".

Another helpful tip I discovered AFTER I made the first one. Put a blank sheet of paper into the frame (or use the paper which came with the frame) and measure & mark the two spots in the center where you will want to glue down the fork. That way, when you start gluing, you don't worry about getting the fork centered after you already have glue on it, etc. By the way, I used E6000 glue, which worked great. Just let it dry overnight after you're done.

I found all the cute "foodie" scrapbook papers, as well as the Eiffel Tower paper at my favorite scrapbook store, The Crafty Scrapper, in Waxhachie, Texas. I don't even do scrapbooking, but I love buying papers, ribbons, brads, etc. in there for other projects. Here's another photo of the one I kept, this time shown with a card setting on the fork.

Dream big! Patti

HERE IT COMES AGAIN!

I am just so loving this snow!!! The snow was back again yesterday here in North Texas! It was sooooo beautiful!!!! We got 1 to 2 inches! It started snowing when I got to work that morning and didn't stop all day! I wanted to take photos on my lunch break, but the snow was coming down so hard that I was afraid I would get my camera wet.

I told my husband that when I got home from work, if there was still a lot of snow on the ground, I either wanted to build a mini snowman in our yard or drive to nearby Waxahachie and take photos of the beautiful Victorian houses covered in snow---if I could get there before the sun went down! (I couldn't do that last week when we got all that snow because the roads were too treacherous!)

Well, unfortunately, there wasn't much snow left when I got home from the office; even though it snowed all day, because it was in the 30's, much of the snow that had built up during the day had already melted. So much for the idea of going around taking photos.

But the darling husband had built a little snowman for me on the hood of his truck!!! How sweet was that! He knows how much I love snowpeople!

Stay warm!!! Patti

WHAT A VIEW!

My youngest brother just moved into a new apartment on Lake Carolyn in Las Colinas---Irving, Texas. It's just right down the street from his old apartment, but this one is larger & newer--it's really beautiful. They just finished building it. It has that loft feel to it with exposed pipes and painted concrete floors (kind of a bronze color done with a beautiful paint technique using various shades). But I was most impressed with this gorgeous view, which I just had to share with you --this is right outside his balcony!

If you double-click the first photo to enlarge it, if you look right above the middle bush, you can see a duck! It was such a beautiful day, it was fun to watch the many tenants & their dogs out for a walk along the water.

Congratulations on your new apartment, K!

Have a great day! Patti

SWEETS

Just in time, I happened to think to snap photos of the roses my sweetheart gave me last week for Valentine's Day! They arrived last Thurs., the day we had the record-making snowfall here in North Texas. Our office ordered in Chinese food and the roses arrived while we were all together eating lunch. My darling husband also gave me the pearl and cross necklace that I really wanted when we were shopping at Harvey's in Corsicana, Texas the other day, but wasn't going to buy for myself, so he got it for me! So sweet! Thanks, Honey!

I made Peanut Butter Blossoms for him with dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses (his favorite), gave him a gift certificate to eBay (he loves shopping on eBay!) and a heart-shaped coupon for a dinner out to a restaurant of his choice (which he hasn't redeemed yet). We were so tired by Sunday night that we didn't feel like going out (that's a first for us!).

So delicious with a cup of hot Chai tea----especially on a snowy day!

By the way, they're saying we may get 4 to 5 inches of snow later tonight! Can you imagine! However, after the 12.5 inches of snow last week, I'd believe anything!

Sweet dreams, Patti

VALENTINE WISHES!

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day yesterday and that you're having a good Monday! Patti

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

I was inspired by Jen at Tatertots and Jello's post here to make the wreath below for Valentines Day by glueing 100 red/white Valentine paper cupcake liners to a ribbon-covered 8" foam wreath. Jen is one of the most creative bloggers out there, so I was so excited to have found her blog a few months ago. She has the most amazing projects!!! Hope all of you had a very special Valentines Day! Patti

SNOW MUCH FUN!!!

We had snow much fun driving around town yesterday looking at the snowstorm of the century! The historic homes were especially breathtaking....like the one below! We don't see snow very often here in North Texas! And especially not this heavy of a snowstorm! The snowstorm Thursday broke 3 records: The heaviest snowfall for the date, the heaviest single-day snowfall, and the heaviest snowfall in a 24-hour period! The Dallas/Fort Worth airport had an official reading of 12.5 inches!!! I was at the office Thursday during the snowfall (we ordered lunch in!) and then watched it from the comfort of my home that evening, as it just continued to come down non-stop! It was treacherous going home Thursday after work (in fact, I almost couldn't get out of the office parking lot---my wheels kept spinning!). On the way home, everyone was driving about 20 miles per hour. When I finally made it home, I had to get Don to pull my car into our garage because our driveway was iced over. I was unable to go to work Friday morning due to the ice, but made it in that afternoon; then after work, I had the most fun taking these photos. By then, some of the snow had melted, but it was still so beautiful! Below is Mom & Dad's house.

The trees covered with snow were so beautiful; however, it was so sad that so many live oaks around town had so many broken limbs. My heart goes out to those homeowners.

Below is the side of our house:

Front of our house:

Driving by some more historic homes around town:

A closer-up of Mom & Dad's:

The lovely house down the street known to us as "the castle house".

The view from our side yard to across the street from us:

This historic home was for sale last year, so it now has new owners (I've always loved this house!):

I posted various snowmen and her highness--the snow queen's , photos in yesterday's post; however, I saw this guy today sporting a yellow hoodie with colorful mittens and scarf and hope you bear with me as I post yet another snowman photo:

Texas Snow Pictures around Blogland:

I'm having so much fun viewing my fellow Texan bloggers' snow photos: Valarie at Glimpse of My World posted gorgeous snow photos here and photos of her beautiful blue McKinney, TX snow-covered cottage here! Check out my cousin, Nola, of Alamo-North's beautiful snow-covered tree and her darling doxie, Chili, out in the snow here! Laurie Anna, who has one of my favorite shops in Canton, Texas, posted amazing snow photos here! (Notice her sunny yellow home peeking out of the snow in her first photo!) Tina of Cherry Hill Cottage posted a stunning snow photo here! Dixie of Frenchlique, TX blog fame posted sweet photos of her grandchildren building a fort and the cutest snow person here! You have to see the funniest redneck snowmen posted here by Mindy at Primitiques 'n Poetry in Poetry, Texas and her beautiful birds in the snow photos here. I'm sure there are tons more Texas snow photos out there, but this is as far as I've gotten tonight.......

Stay warm, Patti

SNOWQUEEN & OTHER SNOW PEOPLE IN NORTH TEXAS!

Can you believe this snow we got here in North Texas!!! It's so amazing! We drove around town and took in all the beauty and snowy goodness! Here's our favorites out of the photos we took! The lovely snow queen holding court on Ennis Avenue in front of the historic Raphael House in Ennis, Texas.

She was my favorite "snow person" we saw today!

Here's the gorgeous Raphael House. I got to see the inside on a house tour two or three years ago.

Second place in my favorite snow sculptures would have to go to the snow family below!

Look closely at the snowman photo below. I can't believe I didn't even see the cute little white kitten peeking out from behind the snowman when I took this photo!

This one must be a Dallas Cowboys fan, judging by his cap:

In Texas, you have to have a cowboy snowman:

A conehead:

A lifesaver for a mouth:

Looking down....

Hope everyone had a Happy Friday! And that you're warm and cozy and snuggled under the blankets, just relaxing at your home and enjoying the winter wonderland! Sweet dreams, Patti