Mini Crochet Flowers - How To

I had to laugh at myself after watching this short video demonstrating how to make the mini crochet flowers. Just look at the way, I keep touching the little flower.....LOL.....It's not perfect but I hope you enjoy it. It takes a long time to upload these short clips to You Tube.

Mini Cards - Quick & Easy

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Summer Brights

I've caught the crochet flower fever.....

They are fun and quick to make and so many possibilities.

I love this time of the year with all the colors around. No heat doesn't bother me. I slept in my native Panama without air conditioning until age 22. Now I'm spoiled, like everyone else who comes to live in the United States.

This wee flower is so cute....I've made quite a few of them....

and made mini cards....quick and sweet for anyone on your list of friends.

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Sunday Walk Through the Garden

Me and Carla took a walk through the garden. Took advantage of the overcast day to take some pictures. We are in need of rain badly. The eggplants have finally developed and they are the long and skinny kind. The squash plants have done well and we are getting quite a crop. I keep looking at my tomatillo plant but not sign of the vegetable developing. Lots and lots of yellow blooms....Some of the blooms have even fallen off so I don't know what is going on.




Summer Collage

This is what happens when the squash is not picked on time. They get huge. This one measured about 12 inches.

The Angels Wings Begonia from last year is doing great and it hasn't been re potted. We did not even cut it back because it really got to be a stick plant during the winter.

This is the tomatillo plant which I hope will produce delicious tomatillos. Tomatillos make great green salsa.

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Enjoying a beautiful Day and....

.....Wishing...dreaming...We could have gotten together with Andrea, Travis and my beautiful grand kids. Maybe next fourth of July weekend.

The weather was nearly perfect today. There is plenty to do indoors but I had to make time and sit outside before dark. Carla spent a good part of the afternoon on the porch. She has an easy life.

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Flower Collection

Here's a little sample of the Crochet flower collection I've been working on. The crochet flowers will be used on my crochet baby hats and headbands.

I have found another great use forthe mini flowers is to decorate greeting cards.

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Bathroom Makeover - Continued---

The bathroom is looking great! Today Cliff worked on the future storage cabinet. He took out the window and is using the hole to install a cabinet to store bathroom stuff.

The wainescotting has been finished and the toilet installed properly. Cliff had to remove the toilet and reinstall because of a slight leak.

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A Cottage Style Powder Room

The makeover done to part of our bathroom was done in two days but less than 48 hours. Just one more wall remains to be done. Cliff did all the work...with my supervision...The new design opened up this small space. The second part of this remodeling will include the shower section which also has another sink area.

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Sunday Easy Does It Dinner

One of the easiest side dishes I find is baked potatoes, cottage fries, oven baked fries....they go by any of these names. We also called them Papas at my house. Papas - is the spanish word.

I must say that using the Bar Pan stone from Pampered Chef makes all the difference in cooking these. The red things you see in the picture is a roasted red pepper which I cooked by itself whole while the potatoes were cooking.

Lets call these:
Chili and Cumin Oven Fries

Scrub well your potatoes and do not peel. Cut them in any shape you like but not too thin.

In a small bowl combine 1 tsp each of cumin powder and chili powder. Add some salt and pepper. You may use more of these spices depending on the amount of potatoes. You can also substitute and use curry powder instead of the cumin. Coat the potatoes well with the spices. Spray your pan with Pam. Drizzle olive oil on the potatoes. Cook them in a 450 degree oven until they get brown and sizzle.

Our dinner plate tonight also included fresh corn from Walmart and baked tilapia.
The corn was only 25 cents an ear and it was super sweet.

I did not mind cooking this meal....doing the dishes was as always a chore. Probably took longer to clean up everything...

Good night...It's late and I'm tired from all this writing.

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Bathroom Makeover at our House

This is the cabinet which held the sink.

After more than twenty years our bathroom/powder room is getting a makeover. Cliff is doing all the hard work as in most of his home projects.

This cabinet will be replaced by a pedestal sink which will help create the illusion of more space in our tiny powder room.

The waine scotting will line the bottom section of the walls.

Cliff work on the floor. We had some extras of the floor so we were able to use that.
The floor is still in good shape.

The shiny chair height new toilet

The Pedestal Sink is a nice touch in the cottage style powder room.

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Baby Cardinal Visitor

This cute little cardinal bird showed up just outside our kitchen's window at work. He found a place to rest from his flying lessons. Papa bird kept a close eye and called out. Later on in the afternoon he came back and I was able to take this picture.

We have seen a larger number of birds around our library since the addition of the bird feeder. It really is a treat to see more of them.

He has not grown a tail yet! but look at those big feet.

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Getting ready an Etsy Order

One of the fun things about preparing an order is deciding what extra little thing I will add as a thank you. I sometimes include mini cards. The small tags were made from a discarded library book. The only left thing to do in this order is to sew the flower to the pink newsboy hat.

This summer hat sports a wide brim which will protect baby's eyes. It will fit a baby from 3 months to 6 months. The twill ribbon can be adjusted for a perfect fit. The white flower is detachable.

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Summer Reading at the Mint Hill Library

The summer reading theme at the Mecklenburg County libraries is Be Creative at your Library.
All the children that sign up write their names on mini palettes which are all added to the bigger one. It's quite a sight. By now there's even more names added.

This picture came out a little blurry. I'm wearing one of the Summer reading t-shirts. Linda and the rest of the children's staff continue to add names to this wall. I will take another picture as the summer progresses.

Debbie and Linda

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Our Tropicanna

This very large bloom belongs to our Tropicanna. It loves this new location in our garden due to getting at least 4 hours of sunlight. The bugs haven't bothered it yet. I'm not crazy about the common Cannas but this one I do like because of the striped leaves. The word canna finds its origin in the celtic word cane or reed.

Close Up of the Tropicanna bloom

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