Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Our Christmas tree will be going up this weekend. Our outdoor lights will not be going up this year. Our decks and porches are being rebuilt and I don’t know if they will be done in time to make decorating worth it this year.

Most all of our Christmas shopping is done, yeah! I will not be out shopping on Black Friday, double yeah!!! I wish all of you that are going to be out there great success in finding what you are looking for. I also hope that folks remember to just be kind to one another. I think that would make shopping on Black Friday much more fun too. Remember, kindness spreads.

In the past few days, I have been glancing back at a few of our holiday photos from last year and thinking about how it would be possible to take different portrait photos of the family this year. It is pretty hard when I have no intention of changing anything about the tree this year. As you can see from some of the crazy photos, our family is a little nuts. I guess it doesn’t really matter what the set up is, just taking the photos with these clowns is memorable for me. Last year everyone was such a clown that it was almost hard to take the photos because I was laughing so hard. By far, these are in no way the funniest photos taken. These are just a few that I thought were cute and I would share. You can see more of the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnmamaw/sets/72157622992635261/ You will get a better idea of what I am up against when I break out the camera.








I love this photo. I took so many photos the kids were seeing spots. I think this was my clue to stop.


The photo below is my favorite photo from last year. It is just so Luke, always keeping an eye on what his sister is doing.





I am still thinking I should change up some of the decorations on the tree but I have a style that is a simple, country look and haven’t thought about changing it in years. The other day Joe and I were in the store and he found Christmas lights that he and Joey would love to put on the tree. They were shot gun shell lights. I giggled and almost considered it but it just doesn’t seem right. I think they should put up a Christmas tree in their man cave/barn and decorate it. There is no telling what it would turn out like. Wow, I just totally got of track there.

In looking at the photos though, I would love to come up with another angle setup or something different and special for the 2010 photos. If you have any suggestions, I am open to hearing them. If we don’t change it up, it will still be lots of fun to take the photos. We always have fun doing them.

We are looking forward to spending time with the family for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to have a long weekend. This will be one of the first weekends in a while that Joe has not been working late on Fridays and on call for Saturdays in such a long time. I hope he will be able to kick back, relax and get some rest. He is battling a cold and hasn’t been resting well. Hopefully this weekend will give him some well needed rest.

I am looking forward to hanging out with the grandkids. Doodlebug is planning a family baseball game. It is suppose to rain this afternoon and tomorrow but hopefully it will be nice weather by Thursday to get a game going. I discussed this with Granny last night and she is willing to play too, if we can get a runner for her. I told her that wouldn’t be any problem we would put Doodles on her team. I think Doodlebug runs faster than anyone in the family so, I want to be on her team too.

Well, that’s all I have for this blog entry. I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving day with all your loved ones.

Blessings and hugs to you all!

I am so far behind, I thought I was first...

The opening line of this blog was on my newest T-shirt that I purchased for myself. I chuckled so much in the Mast General Store, I think people thought I was nuts. It just seemed to really apply to my life these days.

I have been so busy around here trying to launch this little business that I have not had an interesting thought for a post here, which stinks. There are still plenty of wonderful things going on with the family and I should be sharing them.

DoodleBug graduated from kindergarten a couple of weeks ago. It was a wonderful little program and there were several grandmas and great grandmas sniffling and holding back the tears. They sang the song "Love Can Build A Bridge" by Wynona Judd. It was just beautiful to see those little faces light up while they were singing that song. I don't think there was a single grandma there with a dry eye. Even some of the grandpas teared up a bit too. I am sure some proud moms were tearing up too but there was something in my eyes and I couldn't see them. ;)

I was very upset with myself. I had not check to make sure I had full charges on the cameras and I only had enough power to snap off a couple of photos and grab a little clip or two. The school is offering a DVD of the whole program which, I ordered two.

It was not a cap and gown cermony; however, it was adorable just the same. Each kid was called by name to come and pick up their diploma. It was so fun just watching their moves and expressions and to see such pride in all their little faces.
After the cermony, Doodles got to take the rest of the day off. She was finished and so excited. She really had been looking forward to the ending of school for the last couple of weeks. Her last week of school, we were on a day to day count down. Each morning she would ask, "how many more days until I graduate?" Summer break couldn't have come at a better time for her.



A very short clip of DoodleBug on stage before the program started. You can just see how thrilled she was.


We spent much of the rest of the day at the park. Doodles played ball with her Great Granny. I think Granny had a really good time but was a bit tired afterwards.





I know DoodleBug had a good time playing with Great Granny. I think Granny had very good time with Doodles too.



As for more recent, for the Memorial day weekend, we didn't grill. We went to Famous Daves on Saturday and ate ribs instead. With the rains coming and going, we couldn't insure the tempature on the smoker so we didn't even try. Although, on Sunday evening we did build a little fire in the fire pit and Doodles roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. That was a fun evening. She was so tired from playing that day she climbed up into my lap, stretched out and fell asleep before the fire was finished. It was sweet.

Hopefully here in a few weeks, I will have the Lily Field Designs business going and the online store front running well, a system to follow and more free time...OK I am laughing now about the free time remark. If you get a chance check out the Lily Field Designs blog at lilyfielddesigns.blogspot.com and become a follwer there. I also have a fan page on facebook and the web adress is www.lilyfielddesigns.com I will provide a link on this blog to those locations very soon.

Hope everyone had a blessed holiday weekend and a great week this week.

Blessings and Hugs!

Nothing Beats A Little Pizzazz

We hit the sales rack looking for some good little canvas sneaks for Doodlebug to play in. We found this not so attractive pair of red canvas sneakers that really wouldn’t go with much of Doodlebug’s clothing. Red really isn’t Doodlebug’s color unless it is Christmas time, which then she wants everything red. We found them in her current size as well as her next size up and even though they were not her colors, we bought both pair for $3.00 each. Who can pass up a deal like that? We sure couldn’t.

We always love embellishing add personal touches to things so, we tried our hand at adding some pizzazz and made these awesome graffiti sneakers. Doodlebug painted one pair and I helped with the bigger size.

The materials we used were a basic fabric medium, Gesso, Tulip fabric markers and a few bottles of squirt fabric paint and scotch tape.


The very first thing we did was to put tape along the rubber soles to cover them so we wouldn’t get any paint on that part of the shoe. Next we added a little of the fabric medium to the gesso, stirred well and thinned it down some. Then covered the shoes completely using a brush and left them for a couple of hours to dry.

After the long awaited two hours were up, we really started to have fun. Using the fabric markers, we just added all sorts of squiggle lines, over lapped colors and just went nuts. There are no rules here, our favorite type of craft. I loved Doodlebug’s X’s and O’s idea. When the fabric markers were dry, which didn’t take very long at all, we used the squirt bottles of fabric paint and added little designs, symbols, words and more squiggles. It was really hard to stop, as you can tell.
The second pair that we painted. I got to help, it was so much fun.


Doodlebug couldn’t wait to try on her recreated sneakers and show them off. I think she did an awesome job.



This was a very fun and simple project and kids really love getting involved in creating their own style. Speaking of personal style, Doodlebug’s new favorite, all time television shows to watch are all the old Punky Bruster episodes. We all know Punky was all about adding pizzazz. Papaw happened to find one of the Punky Bruster seasons on DVD in a bargain bin at Books A Million and she loves them!!!







Blessings To You All!

DoodleBug Makes Her First Skirt

Wow, OK before I start let me say, I am getting behind here since I bought my serger. My blog is not the only thing that has gotten behind since the serger came home, laundry, sweeping, mowing...OK, I must stop or I will be on a huge guilt trip and I really don't want to go there. Pleasure trips are more my cup of tea.

Well, Doodles finally got a chance to make a skirt for Fluffy and try out her machine. She is counting down the days of her last couple of weeks at school. She has big plans to spend a lot of time with Mamaw doing a bit of sewing this summer. I think that sounds like a fun way to me to spend some of those hot summer days, inside sewing with my best friend.

Well, here are a few photos of her process with her little sewing machine.


She first took a few measurments of Fluffy.


She cut a strip of fabric allowing a bit for gathering around the top of the skirt.


We were very careful with her using the iron. I wanted to teach her how much better her sewing would look if she got into learning to press her fabric and even showed her to fold under her hem and casing and pressed before we went to the machine. She needs a small iron of her own. I do wished I could find her Papaw's travel iron. That one would be perfect for her.

She did really well for her first sewing project. She has been drawing and painting since she was very small and I think because of that fact, she has very good fine motor skills for her age.











She did well making her seams and it was a simple little plan of sewing a casing and a hem then closing the back seam, adding ribbon through the top casing and wah la! Fluffy has a new skirt. She wants to make a purse next. This should be fun.