Good Morning Blogland--Rambling Journal

Well back from our visit in Chatham...and received a very interesting, or could be interesting call from CIBC...so as usual we are now playing phone tag.  Hope it's what I'm hoping to hear???...or at the least, not what I could hear :-)

Well Doug and Bridgette are narrowing down their venue for the wedding and the month....so exciting.  They are coming over for supper tonight, binder in hand.  Can't wait to see their excitement over looking over menu's and  service options.  This is going to be a wonderful weekend for me, as his mother...I'm totally into the 'circle of life'...and seeing your baby get married to a gorgeous and wonderful woman is part of my love affair with the circle of life.  Doug and Bridgette....my heart to your heart...may love and happiness be with you forever!  Hope to keep in touch with them while we are in Texas...because we can bring back things for their special day in our vehicle....kinda looking forward to that.  Having a car for the FIRST time while on a long vacation...yeah!...but nay on the credit card...hope to keep it in check!  Well back to tidying up, getting wash done.  Why is it when you are away for some reason our clothes in our suitcase must mate and double and yadda, yadda...better get off this computer and get into gear.  Shower, shop and then cook and maybe, just maybe....cut out the fabric for the roman blind for the main bathroom.  Now that would be awesome!

BlackBerry PlayBook post

Once again learning as I go on. Am posting this from my PB. Will find out how this works. Wish me luck :-)

Well after spending half the night trying to figure out  Blogger and Pinterest....my precious nephew came through and helped me out!  Thankyou Marty...I am in Ontario and Marty is in Sweden...a couple of e-mails and a BIG time difference...I woke up this morning to having everything I asked for.   Sunny day in Amherstburg, Ontario. 

DIY Candy Bouquet Themed--Retirement

This is the final bouquet....as you can see I did have a theme of blue.  I did take this project one step further and printed out on card stock "Because you are retired"....and then applied it to the non candy item.  Here is what I came up with...again trying to stay small to keep a compact bouquet, and trying to stay in the blue theme......BECAUSE YOU ARE RETIRED

• you can play cards more.
• you can help (wife) more around the house---blue scrubbies
• play hockey more--first aid kit
• suduko book--relax more
• gardening gloves--garden more
• Dinner gift card--have dinner on us

I'm sure you get the idea....here are my photo's...not the best picture taker I am...but am learning as I go :-)

laid out my supplies...forgot to tell you I use a pool noodle to stick my items in....way cheaper than floral foam.

filled my cookie jar/vase with hard candy

cut my pool noodle to size

wrapped my noodle with the blue tissue, and turning everything upside down, worked it into the vase as low as I could go...I ended up trimming the tissue, as I thought it looked sloppy...remember I'm not an expert at these...just loved doing DIY ideas.

I'm a quilter so I was able to neatly cut my card stock sayings...I attached them to my purchased items with tape, glue or staples.  I find when preparing my candy it's easier to just use plain tape to pre-stick my bamboo skewers....then I trim my duct tape to size, and secure the skewers to the back of all the items I wish to put in the bouquet.

I prepared some celo just by cutting squares, and folding them in a way that would make a nice spray...also did the same with my blue tissue and made my bow....everything is ready for assembling.

I decided to trim the tissue, thought it would be neater.

Then I just stuck everything into the pool noodle...starting with my largest pieces at the back, and placing them to make a nice compact bouquet.

Ta...Da....finished and admired :-).  Well our neighbour loved it!  We were unable to attend his retirement party because of a previous commitment.  This came together very quickly....wasn't inexpensive...but could be if you used smaller chocolate bars--mine were full size--a recycled container--overall without the gift card, you can easily make this for under $15 or $12.  You could make it even less expensive by using a container that doesn't show....thus not needing the hard candy to cover the pool noodle/foam.  Hope you give this a try.

Candy Bouquet with a Theme

Before I post my blog on how to make Roman Shades...or at least my first try on Roman Shades, cause I did learn some tips along the way before I go ahead and make FOUR more!  Thought I would post my version of a candy bouquet...and this one had a theme to it...plus this would allow me to learn how to attach pics to my Blog...good idea I'm thinking :-)

Our neighbour...a dear friend and the BEST neighbour...he takes our mail for us while we are vacationing (for 3 months!) which in my eyes is a BIG commitment.  What a sweetheart!  Totally deserving of a little attention from me.  I had made one other candy bouquet, successfully...but as always, your first one is a learning experience....this was just candy, and in my eyes turned out lovely.  My sister-in-law loved it, and I thought BINGO I have something else that I can 'make' for a gifty, thankyou, etc....

Back to our neighbour....he was retiring from a job that he had for 30 plus years, and is a very young at heart  family man.  I marched off to my $1 store and purchased me supplies.  They have a vase that is perfect for holding the candies.....and then meandered around the store finding items that would fit into my 'themed candy bouquet'.....here's a few things I picked up....

• playing cards
• small calendar 12-13
• Suduko booklet
• gardening gloves
• first aid kit
• small 'to do list' note pad
• various chocolate bars
• gift card to a chain of restaurants that we all love

And of course varying sizes of chocolates/candy...picked up blue tissue and more cello, blue duct tape, in my craft room I do have bamboo skewers and if I can think up what else I used I will put it in here....now to learn how to insert pics.  BRB

DYI Roman Shades

Wowser....computers really can be difficult for some of us...like ME!  Found my blog, but do you think I could figure out how to post to it!!!  lol....ok, so now I'm here.  Well tada!  finally finished the basement bathrooms roman shades.  They look just 'ok'....I see where I went wrong; how to improve...yes, I think I'm ready to tackle the main bathrooms shades.  I've always wanted to make roman shades....love the look of them....and truly a DIY'selfer like me to attempt.  For window coverings roman shades take the least amount of fabric...and most of the gadgets can be found in your sewing room, or are easily and inexpensively purchased.  There are a few tricks and rules so to speak if you want a truly custom and professional look.  So my basement bathroom was the perfect window to start with...I had fabric I loved, and since it is a plaid, I thought my straight line sewing wouldn't be off by too much...lol  Here is what I learned from making them....I need another row of rings to bring up the hem...may do that, but may leave them...all depends on how fast I work with the next four windows (yes FOUR!) and then we leave for Texas, and I can only dream about what I'll make for the rest of the rooms.
So recap:
extra row of rings so that more light comes into the room and just keep plugging away at it faster so I can move onto the family room....upstairs bathroom here I come to measure.

Also....since I'm so new at blogging.  I need to figure out how to include photos....so more to come.