Sunday, September 26, 2010
Brooch Bouquet Completed...
Here it is... Ta-Da... Viola... Drum Roll Please.....
My sister wanted the underlay ribbon in a plaid to match the kilts being worn at the wedding & the overlay ribbon is an emerald green to match her shoes & engagement ring....I love it!!
Brooch Bouquet
So my sister is getting married....
Which in turns means that all the decorating and planning has been laid in my hands. About 3 months ago I suggested to her a brooch bouquet. I loved it when I saw it & since her taste is a little more eclectic than most, I thought she would love it too!
So of course from the picture I saw online I said I could make it for her. I mean how hard can it be to make a bouquet with pins right? You simply stick the pins in a round piece of foam and viola....
Yeah not so much. First you had to buy all the pins. This took months of my mother & I searching. We went to every thrift store, consignment shop, yard sales, antique stores...Everywhere.
So turns out it's a little more complicated than what I had thought.
This required tools & supplies, besides the pins & ribbons.
We needed
Needle nose pliers
Wire cutters
floral wire
floral tape
You have to take floral wire, wire it around the backs of the pins so that the pin stands up straight without drooping when you hold it by the "stem".(which depending on the pins weight has to be doubled for strength)
We did this with the needle nose pliers so that they were NOT coming off.
Then you have to wrap the wire with floral tape , this part sucked.
Then you have to arrange them, this part took forever.
Then when you have it in a way that it looks full & gorgeous, you wrap the whole lot of stems first with the floral wire for more support. ( We did it at the top, middle & bottom of the stem)
Then wrap the whole stem with floral tape.
So this took
120 brooches, earrings, pins, 14 hours, 4 people & a hell of a lot of patience.
But here it is, we still have to do the stem with the ribbon
(my sister is out getting it now so it matches her shoes)
Isn't it gorgeous? My daughter who is 10 said she wants one when she gets married. My sister said she could use this one! Wouldn't be fantastic if this became a family heirloom?
Which in turns means that all the decorating and planning has been laid in my hands. About 3 months ago I suggested to her a brooch bouquet. I loved it when I saw it & since her taste is a little more eclectic than most, I thought she would love it too!
So of course from the picture I saw online I said I could make it for her. I mean how hard can it be to make a bouquet with pins right? You simply stick the pins in a round piece of foam and viola....
Yeah not so much. First you had to buy all the pins. This took months of my mother & I searching. We went to every thrift store, consignment shop, yard sales, antique stores...Everywhere.
So turns out it's a little more complicated than what I had thought.
This required tools & supplies, besides the pins & ribbons.
We needed
Needle nose pliers
Wire cutters
floral wire
floral tape
You have to take floral wire, wire it around the backs of the pins so that the pin stands up straight without drooping when you hold it by the "stem".(which depending on the pins weight has to be doubled for strength)
We did this with the needle nose pliers so that they were NOT coming off.
Then you have to wrap the wire with floral tape , this part sucked.
Then you have to arrange them, this part took forever.
Then when you have it in a way that it looks full & gorgeous, you wrap the whole lot of stems first with the floral wire for more support. ( We did it at the top, middle & bottom of the stem)
Then wrap the whole stem with floral tape.
So this took
120 brooches, earrings, pins, 14 hours, 4 people & a hell of a lot of patience.
But here it is, we still have to do the stem with the ribbon
(my sister is out getting it now so it matches her shoes)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Eat, Pray, Love...
This is my new read... So far I am loving it.
I have always had internal conflict with the thought of soul mates. I have read so much about them, at one time I believe that I shared a very brief period of my life with mine. But what I have learned is that soul mates are not always meant to find each other in every life & lives out there days in pure bliss.. Sometimes they are not ready to be together, each one is at a different point of their journey so to speak, and still have lessons to learn before they can be together. They do usually find each other across their lifetimes, but sometimes in different forms, not always as lovers. Sometimes they are your father, your child, your friend, a neighbor, even just a stranger you pass on the street. Your soul always knows its them, whether your brain realizes it is or not.
This used to torture me, why we couldnt have them forever. Why they would have to leave us if our souls were made for one anothers. It still bothers me from time to time. But there was a point in the book, lets call it the " Pray" section that got my attention and for the first time in a long time put my mind and heart to rest. It hit me so hard I had to underline it.
" People think your soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you and then they leave. And thank god for it. The problem is you cant let this one go."
A paragraph later it continues " their purpose was to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little big, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so a new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That is their job, and they did great, but now its over. Problem is you cant accept that this relationship had a real short shelf life."
This passage has given me peace. This whole book has brought a calmness to my brain. It makes me want to learn how to enjoy life instead of trying to turn it into a to do list...
I have always had internal conflict with the thought of soul mates. I have read so much about them, at one time I believe that I shared a very brief period of my life with mine. But what I have learned is that soul mates are not always meant to find each other in every life & lives out there days in pure bliss.. Sometimes they are not ready to be together, each one is at a different point of their journey so to speak, and still have lessons to learn before they can be together. They do usually find each other across their lifetimes, but sometimes in different forms, not always as lovers. Sometimes they are your father, your child, your friend, a neighbor, even just a stranger you pass on the street. Your soul always knows its them, whether your brain realizes it is or not.
This used to torture me, why we couldnt have them forever. Why they would have to leave us if our souls were made for one anothers. It still bothers me from time to time. But there was a point in the book, lets call it the " Pray" section that got my attention and for the first time in a long time put my mind and heart to rest. It hit me so hard I had to underline it.
" People think your soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you and then they leave. And thank god for it. The problem is you cant let this one go."
A paragraph later it continues " their purpose was to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little big, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so a new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it. That is their job, and they did great, but now its over. Problem is you cant accept that this relationship had a real short shelf life."
This passage has given me peace. This whole book has brought a calmness to my brain. It makes me want to learn how to enjoy life instead of trying to turn it into a to do list...
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
I told you she was smart....
If you didnt want to take a nap when you were little you would just cry until you fell asleep.. Nothing you could really do about it, nap time means you are taking a nap. Mom has that off button which allows your crying to not affect her decision on the nap. A childs nap time is necessary.. It preserves the little bit of sanity we are trying so desperately to hold to.
My Taylor... Smart. Very smart. She cries, then she screams, then she rattles the bars on the crib like a prisoner in jail, then she kicks, the she calms, the calm before the storm.. This is when she knows I will have to take her out of the crib...
She screams, then throws everything out of the crib, flails her body around to the point where I am afraid she is going to crack her head open. Here's the point where she is smarter than me. She pushes the nipple in on her bottle & dumps the whole thing over her head. OVER HER HEAD.
She KNOWS this requires an immediate bath, followed by Mommy stripping her bed & washing down the crib. Knowing this, she is very satisfied that she bought herself an extra 20 -30 minutes out of the crib.
After she is more than happy to lay down quietly & nap. I am left without the sanity I was trying to preserve.. scratching my head wondering how I was one upped by a 17 month old.
Her nap time bottles have been changed to water, she hasn"t out smarted me yet.. I think I still have another few months before she does.
My Taylor... Smart. Very smart. She cries, then she screams, then she rattles the bars on the crib like a prisoner in jail, then she kicks, the she calms, the calm before the storm.. This is when she knows I will have to take her out of the crib...
She screams, then throws everything out of the crib, flails her body around to the point where I am afraid she is going to crack her head open. Here's the point where she is smarter than me. She pushes the nipple in on her bottle & dumps the whole thing over her head. OVER HER HEAD.
She KNOWS this requires an immediate bath, followed by Mommy stripping her bed & washing down the crib. Knowing this, she is very satisfied that she bought herself an extra 20 -30 minutes out of the crib.
After she is more than happy to lay down quietly & nap. I am left without the sanity I was trying to preserve.. scratching my head wondering how I was one upped by a 17 month old.
Her nap time bottles have been changed to water, she hasn"t out smarted me yet.. I think I still have another few months before she does.
No Taylor....
NO TAYLOR..... OH TAYLOR NO
This must be the most commonly used phrase in my house lately. It is the reason for my lack of blogging. This beautiful, smart, cunning, sneaky little thing I call Taylor is in the process of taking total control over my house.
She runs this house. I find myself at least 3/4 of my day saying NO TAYLOR, STOP THAT TAYLOR, TAYLOR CAN YOU HEAR ME? NO NO NO....
Then she looks at me, smiles, comes over, and hugs me while she says Mom.... Like she is saying Oh Mom, you silly woman... Then goes right back to what she is NOT supposed to be doing.
Her lastest antics include.. Drawing on my cream colored couch 3 times in a week with a blue pen. Why do you let her have pens you ask... I dont. I hide them all, up high, in child locked drawers, rooms whose doors are always closed, I hide them so good I have a hard time finding one when I need it. But Taylor, she is smarter than your average 17 month old. Its not only pens, she is not biased, a crayon will work, a metal object that leaves marks on the walls.. Right now I have a beautiful mural of red, yellow & gray metal marks on my WHITE diningroom wall, yellow crayon on my front window, and a few doors which has been tastefully redecorated by my little monster.
In fact I just said No Taylor about 4 times & caught her with a pen as I wrote that little paragraph.
See I organzied her dresser the other day, to switch out the winter to the spring, get rid of stuff that didnt fit her anymore and so on.. So while I was in the bottom drawer, the sock & blankey drawer, her favorite to play in... I discovered under her socks & blankies PENS. She had about 10 in there. Perfectly hidden underneath socks which she un-paired to hide them. See I told you....CUNNING. Along with the pens were about 30 of her "sissy's" forbidden colored paperclips & post it pads,some bandaids.. still in the wrapper.. as well as most of my makeup brushes that I have been going crazy looking for, an oreo, not eaten but saved for later I guess.. and the biggest mystery of our house... the missing toothbrushes. It seems like I buy new toothbrushes every week. She had about 3 weeks worth. I couldnt help but giggle to myself about find the stash of my little hoarder.
I am not sure if she has realized that I found her little hiding spot. But I keep checking to see what else she will put there.....Oh Taylor.
This must be the most commonly used phrase in my house lately. It is the reason for my lack of blogging. This beautiful, smart, cunning, sneaky little thing I call Taylor is in the process of taking total control over my house.
She runs this house. I find myself at least 3/4 of my day saying NO TAYLOR, STOP THAT TAYLOR, TAYLOR CAN YOU HEAR ME? NO NO NO....
Then she looks at me, smiles, comes over, and hugs me while she says Mom.... Like she is saying Oh Mom, you silly woman... Then goes right back to what she is NOT supposed to be doing.
Her lastest antics include.. Drawing on my cream colored couch 3 times in a week with a blue pen. Why do you let her have pens you ask... I dont. I hide them all, up high, in child locked drawers, rooms whose doors are always closed, I hide them so good I have a hard time finding one when I need it. But Taylor, she is smarter than your average 17 month old. Its not only pens, she is not biased, a crayon will work, a metal object that leaves marks on the walls.. Right now I have a beautiful mural of red, yellow & gray metal marks on my WHITE diningroom wall, yellow crayon on my front window, and a few doors which has been tastefully redecorated by my little monster.
In fact I just said No Taylor about 4 times & caught her with a pen as I wrote that little paragraph.
See I organzied her dresser the other day, to switch out the winter to the spring, get rid of stuff that didnt fit her anymore and so on.. So while I was in the bottom drawer, the sock & blankey drawer, her favorite to play in... I discovered under her socks & blankies PENS. She had about 10 in there. Perfectly hidden underneath socks which she un-paired to hide them. See I told you....CUNNING. Along with the pens were about 30 of her "sissy's" forbidden colored paperclips & post it pads,some bandaids.. still in the wrapper.. as well as most of my makeup brushes that I have been going crazy looking for, an oreo, not eaten but saved for later I guess.. and the biggest mystery of our house... the missing toothbrushes. It seems like I buy new toothbrushes every week. She had about 3 weeks worth. I couldnt help but giggle to myself about find the stash of my little hoarder.
I am not sure if she has realized that I found her little hiding spot. But I keep checking to see what else she will put there.....Oh Taylor.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
A Womans Heart....
I was just watching the Titanic.. It was on & I just couldnt force myself to change the channel. The kids were sleeping as is Pat...and I found myself to be overly emotional for a movie I have seen about a million times. Then there was one line that hit me...
" A womans heart is a deep ocean of secrets"
I dont think any one line could be more true. Women think with there hearts, we smile with them, love with them & hurt with them. I think if a man or anyone for that matter could look inside a womans heart for even a moment they would be surprised as to what they find. Would they realize that they dont know this person so well? Probably I think because, I know that I dont know myself so well at times. Would they be surprised by what they found? I know I am surprised by the occasional memory that is triggered by any number of random things. Would they be amazed at the secrets we keep locked up in our hearts so well? Secrets that we ourselves dont even realize we are keeping in them at times. Would our secrets hurt or heal? Would it be beneficial for someone to be able to know what you keep there? I dont know, at times yes, maybe it would be.
I know there are secrets in my heart, secrets that I repress because they are too painful, secrets that I pull out from time to time just to take myself someplace else for a moment, secrets that I am grateful are mine and secrets that I wish one day to share with my daughters so that they can understand their mother better and really know who I am or was... Yes a womans heart is a deep ocean of secrets.... I think we need it to be that way... I know I do.
" A womans heart is a deep ocean of secrets"
I dont think any one line could be more true. Women think with there hearts, we smile with them, love with them & hurt with them. I think if a man or anyone for that matter could look inside a womans heart for even a moment they would be surprised as to what they find. Would they realize that they dont know this person so well? Probably I think because, I know that I dont know myself so well at times. Would they be surprised by what they found? I know I am surprised by the occasional memory that is triggered by any number of random things. Would they be amazed at the secrets we keep locked up in our hearts so well? Secrets that we ourselves dont even realize we are keeping in them at times. Would our secrets hurt or heal? Would it be beneficial for someone to be able to know what you keep there? I dont know, at times yes, maybe it would be.
I know there are secrets in my heart, secrets that I repress because they are too painful, secrets that I pull out from time to time just to take myself someplace else for a moment, secrets that I am grateful are mine and secrets that I wish one day to share with my daughters so that they can understand their mother better and really know who I am or was... Yes a womans heart is a deep ocean of secrets.... I think we need it to be that way... I know I do.
Monday, January 18, 2010
She's humming....
Taylor has ALWAYS loved music.. She stops & dances immediately upon hearing music, doesnt matter if its the radio or an advertisment jingle, she will stop what she is doing & dancing for the duration.
She loves to play with a harmonica, recorder, toy drums, her little piano, anything that makesnoise music.
Nothing makes her happier.... or makes me happier to watch!
So we bought her this kids song dvd with the basic childrens songs on it for christmas. Since Taylor was never one to watch tv I thought I would put it on for background noise so she could twirl, clap her hands & dance to.... yeah right...Can we say addicted much??
This video is on probably 4 hours a day.... Its the first thing she wants after her diaper in the morning... everytime we have a bottle we have to watch it.. She will run to the tv & screech, tapping on the glass doors where the dvd player is until I put it on.... Then her eyes light up & the dancing begins... It is adorable to watch her, though I want to stick pencils in my ears after 5 minutes...
This morning she was sitting in her chair drinking her bottle, with her blanket & her baby, watching this video AGAIN... & I hear someone humming the songs...
So I look around the room, no one is around but me & Taylor.. I know everyone is sleeping...
So I look at Taylor... & there she is humming the song almost perfectly while drinking her bottle... I was amazed... Of course I had to run into the bedroom & wake Pat up to tell him...
She loves to play with a harmonica, recorder, toy drums, her little piano, anything that makes
Nothing makes her happier.... or makes me happier to watch!
So we bought her this kids song dvd with the basic childrens songs on it for christmas. Since Taylor was never one to watch tv I thought I would put it on for background noise so she could twirl, clap her hands & dance to.... yeah right...Can we say addicted much??
This video is on probably 4 hours a day.... Its the first thing she wants after her diaper in the morning... everytime we have a bottle we have to watch it.. She will run to the tv & screech, tapping on the glass doors where the dvd player is until I put it on.... Then her eyes light up & the dancing begins... It is adorable to watch her, though I want to stick pencils in my ears after 5 minutes...
This morning she was sitting in her chair drinking her bottle, with her blanket & her baby, watching this video AGAIN... & I hear someone humming the songs...
So I look around the room, no one is around but me & Taylor.. I know everyone is sleeping...
So I look at Taylor... & there she is humming the song almost perfectly while drinking her bottle... I was amazed... Of course I had to run into the bedroom & wake Pat up to tell him...
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