Touring Toni's Home...Part 2

Here is Toni's warm and cozy family room...

She always has interesting arrangements on the fireplace mantle..

A close up of her family heirlooms..

And great ideas for displaying old books..gonna steal this idea!

Already 'stole' this one. ;-) Found a belt at a thrift store and bound the books together~doesn't it make it look much more interesting?

The top of her entertainment center.

The master bedroom.

The bookshelf houses all the family's wedding photos and memorabilia.

Toni created the mosaic necklace holder..beautiful!

The guest room.

Her office..

She made the valance from a tablecloth from World Market and trimmed it in this darling fringe.

She had enough left over to make napkins, too! Gorgeous!

This is a little cloche display that sits on her dining room table..her sweet husband took notice of the little Valentine girl, the clock and the 'jewels' splayed out and said "So I guess this means that it'sVALENTINES and it's TIME to buy JEWELS! :-)  Funny guy!

Thanks, Toni for being so gracious in letting me show off your beautiful home!! Looking forward to seeing you in April! ;-)

If you're interested in entering the One World One Heart Giveaway..go here.

Touring Toni's Home..Part 1

As promised..here are pics of Toni's house. I made Toni "ham it up" for the camera! ;-) She's such a good sport!!

Living room. She'd rearranged it since the last time I was there..

..her darling secretary desk she'd bought several years ago at a garage sale and painted it..she's displaying her collection of chintz-ware in it.

I love how she displays her treasures!!

Kitchen..ever the dutiful wife, she has dinner already going in the crockpot!! :-)

Look at the fabulous idea for the cloche! DOMINOS! I haven't seen THAT before!!

Darling display in her kitchen window.

That's it for now..I'm dashing out the door to meet a friend for lunch. I'll post more of her home tomorrow!

One World One Heart Giveaway 2010

Lisa Swifka from A Whimsical Bohemian is hosting a worldwide giveaway for bloggers and I'm playing along this year!

As Lisa says ""The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way."

The rules for this giveaway is simple. Just leave a comment (and one comment only) ON THIS POST and you'll be entered! The winner will be announced February 15th, so be sure to check back then to see who won.
And check A Whimsical Bohemian where all the bloggers who are participating are listed in the sidebar.
I have discovered some wonderful blogs by visiting Lisa's blog and would have never found them if it weren't for her fabulous idea!! Thanks, Lisa!!

So for my giveaway....I created a romantic card/tag that's housed in it's own envelope..

I embellished the tag with crystals and the envelope with vintage tatting, cameo button, and pink satin ribbon with the words 'Cherish' and 'Love' printed on it.

I'll also include a couple of suprises tucked  in!

Visit the links at A Whimsical Bohemian sidebar and make new friends, get in on more giveaways and just have fun...because discovering new friends all over the world is the what this event is all about!

P.S. if you scroll through my blog, you'll find a tutorial on how I made the envelopes! ;-)

Back from San Diego..and seeing Lindy!!

It is not a slight thing when they, who are fresh from God, love us.

~Charles Dickens~

Steve had business in San Diego, and I got to come along! Zac and Amy were sweet and motored down from Seal Beach for a day's visit.

Lindy is 7 weeks old now and getting more beautiful~ and we're falling more in love with her!!

Oh! How wonderful it was to hold this sweet baby!

And Grandpa is so smitten,too!! ;-)

A sweet  family portrait!

We stayed with Dave and Laura, and all of us were treated to lunch at our friend's restaurant in Old Towne called 'Cafe Coyote'..it has THE BEST Mexican food!! Ritch and Lehn graciously hosted us in a private room. 'Twas fun leisurely visiting with them over a fabulous meal.

After we said our goodbyes to Zac, Amy and Lindy, Dave and Laura and us browsed through the shops before driving back the their place for Port and conversation. The end to a perfect day!

I got to pop into Toni's house while I was there..(she lives two doors down from Laura) and I snapped a few pics of her cute house...stay tuned for the tour!!

Mini-Album from Envelopes

We've been having some major storms blowing through California! Our power even went out for a couple of hours. We frittered away the hours playing games by the fire~kinda fun!!

I wanted to show you what I made with a bunch of recycled envelopes. You can click on the picture for a closer view.

I gave a tutorial in the previous post. After I decorated several envelopes I made tags to fit in the pockets.

I punched a couple of holes in the side and added rings to bind them together.

I attached the envelopes two differnt ways~right side up and sideways.

I made mine a inspirational 'book' of sorts..but it would make a darling photo album..just put pics on the tags and each page...

See the little 'Treble Clef' paper clip in the upper right had corner? You can get those at the major office supply stores for a fraction of what a scrapbook store would cost!

And here's the back of the book.

It's a fun little project..perfect for using up scraps of paper and bits and bobs of embellishments!

My  inspiration was the quote:

Live Simply

Love Generously

Care Deeply

Speak Kindly

and

Leave the Rest to God

I stamped the words on label stickers that I'd 'antiqued' using spray paint in Wood Tone.

Then just cut out each verse and attached it to each page..

Hope you try it!!

Many thanks to my sweet friend, Judy, who taught me how to make these darling books!