Mom in the dress

I have recieved emails & comments about Mom's dress & how it must have looked on. I didn't have pics to include in the previous post but I do now...thanks to my brother Kelly!!! =)


From the left in the back row we have my sis Christine, brothers: Darryl, Bruce, Joe, Jim (my real Dad) The front row left to right we have Pat, Mike, Mom, Dad, Laurie & Kelly. I am not in this pic because I was a lil diaper wearing babykins & the neighbor was babysitting me.

Here we have Mom, Darryl, Memiere (my Dad's Mom) & my Dad

Mom & Dad

The "Secret Project"

The "Secret Project"

On November 12th was my Mom's 23rd anniversary of her passing. I was having a frumpy wumpy kind of day & then my brother Mike called me. Actually he left me a mssg on the answering machine that he was just calling "to talk" Oh boy...I wonder what he needs to talk about. Did I say sumthin wrong in my post about Mom? What could it be? I called him back & he told me he has something of Mom's and asked if I'd be interested in looking at it. I was like, heck yeah!! I didn't even know right away what it was but was interested! He went on to tell me it was the dress Mom wore to my brother Darryl's ordination. He went on to talk about me being all into crafts & wondered if maybe I could make something out of it for us kids. Of course I said YES!!! He said the dress was stained from water damage but the beadwork might be able to be used to make ornament type sachets. I went to pick up the dress that very night. That's when Mike told me the story of the dress. Apparently Mom had a dress ordered for the Ordination but it hadn't come in yet. She gave some $ to my brothers & sent them out on a dress buying adventure. Ate the time St Vincent DePaul was near our house so they went there. It was there that they picked up the dress. There was no time to order another or go to a speciality shop...the Ordination was too close!! So this dress they picked out would "do" Mom wore the dress to Darryl's Ordination into the Priesthood (did I say that right?) and people remarked on how she looked like a Princess. I knew when I took it home I had a big task ahead of me. I wanted to honor my Mom & siblings & not ruin the dress. It took a good month before I even made the 1st cut. After that it all came together & sachets were born. I presented these sachets to my older siblings on Christmas Day after the meal. When Darryl opened his he sniffed it. I went on to tell him "it doesn't smell like anything but an old dress" I then handed him the photo that was taken at the Ordination of the family...with Mom in the dress. I had hoped to scent the sachets with Charlie perfume as it was my Mom's favorite. Even though Mom was not with us...she was!!!

The dress

Beadwork around the waist

Beadwork around the neck

back of neck beadwork

back of waist beadwork

The dress still had the pricetag in it!! A nifty $3.00 bought this!!!! I wonder why Mom left the tag in there.....Just think though, her dress was ordered & I'd imagine it was a nice dress, probably far more expensive than this...but this dress was the dress my Mom chose to wear when the day came. Mike said the ordered dress made it there in the nick of time but Mom thought it more special to wear the ones her kiddos picked out...and she was called a Princess!!! How cool is that!!!

Brayden could sense my emotions, he always does. Now, I don't know why, and you can call me silly but deep down I think he even knew this dress was special & he took it upon himself to nuzzle in it & pose.

Been at it again

I just finished putting together the hot cocoa kits. Yesterday I made the mix & this morning I made the milk chocolate spoons to stir the yummyness with. I plan on giving these sets to neighbors, friends & the gals at the office as a lil sumthin fun for Christmas.

We had a small glass yesterday & it was yummy but today I made myself a cup & used one of those spoons & holy beans!! Total fantasticness!! Those spoons kick all sorts of arse! Ahhh I love having a double boiler for such tasks. Next week it will be put to work big time! Peanut butter balls will be made, chocolate covered pretzels & rods, peanut butter cups & turtles.

Last night my brother Joe called to see if I would be able to & interested in painting up some lightbulb ornies for him to give to his fellow bakery workers for Christmas. So last night I took my supplies downstairs (my craft room is a complete disater!!) and began painting. So we have 6 snowmen & 6 Santas all ready to go. Tonight I will make the few necklaces I need to finish & box them up. Tomorrow finishing picking up & tidying will be done around the house. Thanksgiving dinner is at our house. I think we're ready....LOL

If I don't post before Thursday have a safe & Happy Thanksgiving. A word to the wise if I may....ELASTIC pants!!!

Return of the Christmas Tree

I finally got my rear in gear today & put up our bedroom tree =)

There's still soooo much more decorating to do upstairs but this is a start.

We didn't get the outside decorating done but hopefully this week I will get it all finished. We're going on week 3 of decorating.

The back entrance still needs yuletide joy, our bedroom needs more, then we have the upper landing....that part is almost finished. Then it's just my craft room.

I did some crocheting & painting while the race was on. I'm not sure if it's noticeable in the pics but I painted snowflakes on the blue Christmas ornies.

Only 39 days until Christmas!!! Are you ready???

Yuletide Joy Arrives in the Den

Wooo Hoooo! Fever broke last night after 5 days of feeling like complete monkey butt with some sort of flu/cold business. My Christmas decorationaliing had been on the back burner all week! Totally uncool!! But, today my lil brother came over & we took ALL of the Christmas stuff down from the attic. I won't go up there by myself...it's haunted..no joke!! It has metal crosses nailed in each corner...and I ain't movin them! Anyways, I had my backup in JJ just in case sumthin odd happened.

We bought a new tree for our bedroom this year...well I decided to use it in the den instead!!! =)

Two things I NEVER do on a Christmas tree...use colored lights or mis matched ornies. I'm one of those weirdos who need everythign to match & have order. Well this year I decided to try something different & use colored lights. I also used our old ornies, ornies from Ken's Christmas tree, ornies Ken made when he was a kiddo & some we've made ourselves. Ya know what? I absolutely LOVE it!!! It means so much having these memorable ornies on the tree. The felt gingerbread man Ken made in Kindnergarden, a potpouri ball we used as decoartion at our wedding hangs from it. It's hard to believe that lil lacey sacet is almost 13yrs old...where does time fly. There are ornies we used in our 1st apartment, ornies we made when we had no $ to purchase some. Ya know, each of these ornaments has a story. A very special story. I could gaze at this tree for hours. We decided each year we'd make a special ornament for this tree. You might notice we have no angel or star atop the tree...that's what we're going to make this year =)

My Current Addiction Takes Over

Ok, so I have a bit of an addiction with lightbulbs now!!! I went out & bought 6 packs of them tonight. So don't be surprised if one finds it's way into your home!! Cuz honestly...what in the heckles would I do with this many lightbulb ornies? I had a few people tell me I should sell them...I dunno. The vote hasn't been tallied for that one yet.

Ok, onto some pics now!! =)




The Santa's are not finished & only one of the snowmen is. But remember, I'm impatient at times & had ta take a photo!!

A doggy

And here's Bacon the pig!!

Mr Mooooove over bacon!!

I can't wait till tomorrow to make more...perhaps a nutcracker, or Christmas Tree, orr a rooster!! who knows. I have just a few hours before the sun comes up to dream up some ideas.

Lightbulb Ornies

What does one do when the fate of our country is put into voters hands? Why we paint lighbulbs!! Or at least I opted to do that this afternoon to keep my head from exploding. This election has me pretty fired up!! Anyways, onto the ornies (abreviation for ornaments).






I took my drawer of paints downstairs so I could still kep my ears open on the election stuff & went to town painting.

It's a pig in progress =)

On the far left we have a lady reindeer, then a boy reinderr & lastly a doggy. I know nobody wants to see the contents of my curio cabinet but it's the only place I could hang these semi wet ornies from to photograph. And well, we all know I'm not one for having much patience...expecially when I'm excited!! What a funtastical project this was. And a wunnaful way to use burnt out, or in our case the lightbulbs after you changed over to energy effecient ones!!

Don't throw out those bulbs!!! Make something!!! I double dog dare ya =)