My very first paper mache creations

Thought I would take pix of the very first creations I made when I started experimenting with paper mache and crepe paper. I had found a bunch of vintage crepe paper at a charity garage sale event and decided to see what I could do with it. This was about 7 years ago. I wanted to make paper mache dolls and have the whole dress be composed of crepe paper and other vintage items. I really loved fashioning the dress and hats using techniques for working with crepe paper that I had read about in a vintage book. But, they never sold when I listed them on Ebay, and I realized they used a lot of crepe paper. It was going to be hard to find gift boxes for them too. They are pretty big. So that led me to my pixies eventually. There is one other that I couldn't take a pic of, because my mom has it. It has a bunny head, but otherwise is very similar to these. The lady on the bottom is a little bit damaged, as my kitty Tigger nibble on some of the petals- bad kitty! Would love to know what you think of them.

Pixies are contagious!

Just had to show some cute little fairies made by Saffron for her art class. I thought they were so cute and fun. I was so flattered that she was inspired by my creations! Thanks for checking out my blog Saffron!

Spring pixies have arrived

Just had to get a quick entry to let everyone know that I have new pixies and fairies for Spring. I will be listing these tonight on Ebay. Somehow the mountains of snow did not keep me from creating, maybe it was inspite of the snow! Or maybe it was all the spring clothes and Easter decorations I have been checking out. Either way, I'm very happy I finally got something done and ready to sell! Hope you like them!

Snow! Snow! Just look at the Snow!

Well, we really got dumped on this time! But Sabrina is happy because there is no school today. And my hubby, Rob, took the day off to dig out! It will probably take all day to do that, I plan on helping too. This is going to make it hard to get in the spring mood to work on my ornies, it's hard to imagine green grass right now. But, I'm still dreaming and hoping. I took a pic of a display I had up for Valentines of some of my eiffel tower collection. I hope to see the real thing someday. They say spring in Paris is wonderful, just more to dream about! Well, time to get that snow shovel workout! Talk about aerobic!!

This has definitely been a crazy week. My computer crashed last weekend, and I didn't get it back till Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost went into a catatonic state! We took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy, and $138 later had the fun of reinstalling all my software (or rather my hubby did, what a sweetie!). Then I had to go through and relist all my favorites, catch up on email, blogs, ebay and etc. But I did get something fun in the mail, a purchase on ebay. It was a set of illustrations from an old book of different flowers. I tried to spread them out and get a pic for you, aren't they wonderful! Hope to use them this spring on collages and such. Can't wait for spring!!!

What a great week this has been! Last weekend Sabrina stayed with the grandparents, so Rob and I had an early Valentine's celebration. We spent lots of time at Barnes and Noble, ate out at restaurants (without being interrupted every 5 seconds), and watched a romantic movie, The Lake House which was really good we thought. We also got to go to one of our fav places, Axman which is a surplus store here in the twin cities. You just never know what you'll find there. The top pic shows what I found. The large tins were just 75 cents each and when I took the pic I realized that one had something in it. Turned out to be a little starfish nestled in some paper shred! The mini cutting board and mat knife were only $1! And, I'm a sucker for scientific glassware, like this bottle. Today, I went to Target, and checked out the $1 bins. That's my haul in the second pic. Everything was 75% off! So I really went crazy! Everything I got was 25 cents, except for the spatulas and measuring spoons which were 62 cents! Even with everything I got, I felt like I should have bought more! I LOVE clearance!

Today was Sabrina's Valentine party at school. I went in a little early to help out and got to work at the cookie decorating table. The first pic shows Sabrina frosting her cookie. They also got to play a game and make a craft. At the end of the party they got their bag of Valentines. They acted like Santa had just arrived! It was lots of fun, can't wait to see what they do for Easter.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

Time to make some Valentine cookies! So I pulled out my Mom's SOUR CREAM SUGAR COOKIE recipe, it's so good! Here's the recipe:

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter (I use promise margarine)

2 eggs

1/2 c. sour cream ( I use light sour cream)

1/2 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

4 c. flour

Mix sugar and butter. Add eggs and vanilla and sour cream. Mix in flour, soda and salt. If dough is too sticky add more flour. Roll out and cut with cutters. Bake at 375 degrees. (In my oven I bake them for exactly 8 min.) Makes about 2 doz.

I just used Betty Crocker frosting and sprinkles to decorate. I tinted the frosting in pink, purple and a butter color. They look so pretty and Sabrina had a blast helping me. If anyone tries this recipe, let me know how they turned out! I will probably make them again for Easter. Tomorrow is Sabrina's Valentine Party at school and I will be there to help. Will try and get pix!

Snow and Fairies

Yesterday, we got a small amount of snow (by Minnesota standards), just about 2". But it was very slippery, so there were alot of accidents. Normally they put salt down on the roads, and it really helps. But when it gets 0 degrees or colder the salt doesn't work. There was a 40 car pileup that even made the national news tonight. Was glad I didn't have to drive to work in it! Anyway, I snapped a pic of Sabrina getting off the bus to show the pretty snow. I also finished a set of fairy ornies that I think I will list on Sunday.

Birthday Party!

Saturday was Sabrina's "festival birthday party" as Sabrina called it! First pic shows her and Tigger checking out the presents. Her Grandpa and Grandma Duncan were there. And Mark ( a family friend and groomsmen in our wedding) and his two kids Kian and Ella were there too. You can see them in the second pic as Sabrina opens her presents. The last pic is of her blown out candle on her cake. It was a cherry jello poke cake with whipped cream frosting. Sabrina added the marachino cherries on top. It turned out pretty well, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had pizza and cherry cake because those are Sabrina's favorites, ( and pizza is easy!). We all had a really great time!

Happy 6th Birthday!

Tuesday was my daughter Sabrina's 6th birthday! So I went in to help out Tuesday instead of Wed. Brought the little indivually wrapped rice krispie bars as the birthday treat. I'm so glad I was there, they do a great job of celebrating. The bottom picture is Sabrina and her class and her teacher. She got to pick six kids to be candles and they stand up with their arms over their heads to look like a candle with a flame. Then she counts them, and as she counts them they sit down like they were blown out. I thought that was a really cute idea. The teacher made a crown in her favorite color which she is wearing in the top pic. It is also shown in the middle pic sitting on her school table. She got to decorate it with stickers. The teacher also asked Sabrina what were her three favorite things to do, and then all the kids made her a card. It was fun looking through all of them to see what they drew. By the way, she has a crush on one of her classmates, Kyle K. She says he's "so handsome!" I'm not too worried, as he doesn't seem too excited about romance yet. Tomorrow we will have a birthday party for the family and close friends. Should be lots of fun! Will take lots of pix I'm sure.