Happy Me!

Hey, everyone!  I'm right in the middle of Christmas decorating just as many of you are, and my head is literally spinning with ideas.  All the excitement makes this post even more fun.  A couple of weeks ago, I entered a GiveAway being sponsored by Elmer's Glue & hosted by Destiny @ A Place for Us.  This lady is super-talented & holds a special treat for all us -- she has been invited to be on The Nate Berkus show!  You owe it to yourself to go visit her blog so you'll know when the air-date takes place.  Yay for Destiny!  AND, YES, I WON!  This is what the contest looked like:

Giveaway

Elmer’s wants to also send TWO blog readers a pack of  goodies to have a mini Craft & Tell party, too! Leave a comment on this blog entry to enter. Must be a US resident to win (for shipping purposes). One comment per person please. Open to all A Place for Us Readers!!

• 3 X-ACTO Retract-a-Blade knives
• 3 CraftBond Extra Strength Glue Sticks
• 3 CraftBond Tape Runners
• 3 Mini Bi-fold 9×12 Foam Board packs
• 1 Painters Markers pack
• 1 X-ACTO Decorative Edge Scissors pack
• 1 Circle Cutter
• 1 X-ACTO Self-Healing Mat
• 1 Glue Dots pack
• 2 Photo Corners packs (various colors)
• 1 Gel Pens pack
• 1 Tacky Glue bottle

Winner will be announced Mon. November,14th on my FACEBOOK page ! Good Luck!!

And.......yesterday I received this wonderful package from FedX.

It was filled to-the-brim with fun-crafty stuff!

Can you believe this?

Opaque Paint Markers & a huge set of Gel Pens -- Neon/Glitter/Metallic -- Oh Boy!

Glue Sticks & Retractable X-acto Knives -- I didn't know about the retractable kind!

Tape Runners -- perfect for scrapbooking!

Decorative Edge Scissors -- Yes, yes, yes!

Foam Board & a wonderful Self-Healing Cutting Mat, plus more fun-stuff!

For someone who does as many different crafts as me and enjoys doing projects with the "Grands," this was an incredible gift.  Thank you Elmer's Glue and Destiny @A Place for Us.  

Thanks for stopping by and please come again soon!

CAS

It's a Scam!

Hey, everyone.  Hope ya'll had a great Thanksgiving & a fun "Black Friday."  It seems that someone did not have a good day and decided to hack into my email & try pulling a scam.  Several of you have gotten emails from my email address, begging for funds because I was supposedly stranded in a foreign country.  Rest assured I am in good 'ole Arizona, not lost, stranded or anything else.  It truly amazes me the great lengths people will go to try to dupe their fellow man.  Maybe we should just all pray for these people.

:) CAS

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey, everyone!  I hope ya'll are ready for a fabulous Thanksgiving Day.  I think I am ready, despite having had two of our grandchildren here Monday & Tuesday & falling off my bike.  Yeah, you read that right.  We have amassed enough bikes here so all the "Grands" have one to ride, so The Man scurried around and got all the bikes in good working order, including mine.  It has been a gazillion years since I rode a bike, and although I was a bit wobbly, I was doing pretty well until.......me and said-bike parted ways at a curb!  It could have been so much worse, but I did get a scraped knee & a really banged-up hand, wrist & lower arm.  I didn't break anything which is a total miracle!  I would show you a picture, but everything from my elbow down is "puffy" and a yucky shade of "eggplant!"  And......it's my right hand!  Thank goodness it was on our second day with the kidlets & not the first!

Anyway, I thought I'd share some Thanksgiving Day tablescapes & a few glimpses of my start on Christmas decorating.  I usually serve Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room, family-style.  This year I'm changing it up.  I got this idea from Kim at Savvy Southern Style, & she got it from someone else -- bless the many talents and wonderful ideas of bloggers!  There will only be six of us celebrating today, so I decided to keep it more casual & sup in the breakfast room.  I also have chosen to do a buffet (thanks, Kim).  My island is pretty big, so I decorated the very center with lots of Fall/Thanksgiving decor & did the table the same way.  I started clearing away all the Fallish decor yesterday, but kept out some key items.  It's my last dose of all these things that I so adore & my way of showing respect to this wonderful day of Thanksgiving.

First, the island.

Snacks & drinks will be served from this side

The main dishes will go here.  Because I placed all the decor items on a runner, I can always slide it back a bit if we need more space.

This wind-up snow globe plays "Turkey in the Straw."

I'm gonna miss all these colors.

The table is set with my Fiesta dishes sitting on chargers from Walmart last year.

I kept everything right in the center since we will have "young" ladies at the table, & I didn't want it to be difficult for them to maneuver around things.

The candles are not too tall so everyone can see everyone else!

A few glimpses of the beginning of Christmas decorating.

More to come about this later.

Always use this cute sugar/creamer set from Fiesta during this time of year.

Construction took place while the "Grands" were here!

A sweet gift from The Man.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I wish you a very warm and happy Thanksgiving Day with your family and friends.

I'm linking to:

WOW Us Wednesday

Presto Chango!

Hey everyone!  I hope you are all having a safe and special weekend.  I hope everyone takes time to remember our Veterans, past and present, who have fought and sacrificed to make this "The Land of the Free."  To all Veterans, I say "Thank you for your service."

Well, last week I gave you a little "tease" about something that was going to be happening in our kitchen.  Being that I'm not a super-patient person (except with my "Grands"), I was delighted at the speed with which this project happened.  It was exactly a week from start-to-finish.  Woohoo!  Last Friday, measurements were taken and a template was made for.......NEW GRANITE COUNTERTOPS!  I know that many, many of you already have granite & have had it for ages, but not me.  This is the first time, & I'm just thrilled!  So, on Tuesday, we got the call that they were ready & could be installed on Thursday morning, starting at 7AM.  We spent Wednesday afternoon removing everything from the existing countertops & drawers.

Just a little something I stitched up!

Hey everyone!  I know all of you have seen these little camera strap covers all over blogland, but in the event you might want to make one, I thought I'd share my simple method.  I scrounged through my fabric stash & came up with something I liked, and since we are into the season of gifts, I decided to make a second one as a gift for someone special to me.  I can't say anymore, she sometimes reads my blog.....shhhhh.

This is a pic of the one all ready finished & on my camera & the other one is in progress.

All I did was cut 2 pieces of the background fabric 2 1/2" x 25", but you should measure the wide part of your camera strap in case they vary in size.  Then I cut a piece of the top fabrics (the red & turquoise) 2 1/2" x 40".

These longer pieces will be the ruffle.  I turned under all sides about 1/4" & then did a decorative stitch which you can just barely see.  You could do a straight stitch or zigzag.  I just have these fancy stitches on my machine that I almost never use, so I thought I'd play a bit....lol!

Then you do a running stitch down the center & gather it up to fit one of the background pieces.  Don't fret over this, it does not have to be perfect.  And just because I already had this ribbon, I placed it over my gathering & stitched it right to my background piece in one step.

Please excuse my awful old hands.  They are "worker bees" & only get slathered with cream every once in awhile.....lol!  I'm attempting to show you my little decorative stitch.

Next you will pin the 2 background fabrics right sides together, enclosing the ruffle.  It's easier if you just pin one side at a time & stitch so you can keep the ruffle out of the way.  Then stitch the other side.  Just remember to leave the ends open.

I decided I wanted to reinforce the side seams, so I just did a quick zigzag down both sides.

Turn the strap right side out & give it a light press & VOILA.....

Undo the camera strap on one side & slide on the cover.  Then pat yourself on the back & take a goofy picture!  All kidding aside, the strap cover really is a lot more comfy on your neck!

Thanks so much for stopping by and allowing me to share.  I'm still hoping to have a big reveal for you by Friday or Saturday.  Stay tuned....wink,wink!

CAS

Happily linking to:

Sugar & Spice Party

Primp Your Stuff

Out With the Old, In With the New!

Okay, I know two posts in one day is probably way more of my rambins' than anyone wants to read, but just be kind and humor me.  I never specifically called attention to the window coverings in our kitchen-family room area, because, well, I really didn't like them & knew they probably had a short life expectancy.  In my favor was that The Man didn't like them either......bless that man!  About half the windows in our home had plantation shutters & then the rest had these lovelies.  Please, I don't mean to offend anyone who has roman shades.  There are some really nice ones that look fantastic.  We did not have that kind....lol!  Sooo......, yesterday we went from these.........

to.......

these,

and these!

They really look so amazing & change the entire feel of the rooms.

I love how clean they look.

Well, we aren't finished yet!  We are on-a-roll & have another major change coming.

Can you tell from this pic just what we may be up to?  This project won't be finished until late next week at the earliest, so this is just a tease.  I know, I'm bad!  Ya'll will just have to stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by and please come on over any time!

CAS

Bloggy Friends!

Hey, everyone!  We had a very small "Blogger Dinner" last night for some Phoenix area bloggers.  Life happens and there ended up only being 3 of us, but we had a great time.  Annette at One Perfect Room and  Kristy at Hyphen-Interiors are both just adorable.  I was definitely the "oldster" of the group, but age didn't really seem to matter.  We are all just "Bloggers" with things to share.

From left:  Kristy, Annette, & Me!

We dined at True Food Kitchen in Scottsdale Quarter which is right across from the 

Apple Store & Pottery Barn.  Do we all love PB?  I would say, "YES," especially all the 

wonderful knock-offs!

It was truly a lovely and fun evening.  Wish more of the area bloggers could have made it, but we will just have to do this again.  Right?

Thanks for stopping by.

CAS

Cloches & Apothecaries -- Oh My!

Hey everyone!  Hope ya'll had a wonderful Halloween.  We enjoyed our new neighborhood so much.  I may have mentioned before, that we had a total of maybe 15 Trick-or-Treaters over the 17 years we lived in our old neighborhood.  Well, we certainly surpassed that with about 200 treats handed out this year.  The entire neighborhood participated with tons of activity and endless fun.  And the kids had fun, too.....LOL!

Anyway, I'm so excited to participate in Marty's Fall Cloche Party this time around.  Only had time to do one new cloche arrangement, but threw in some older pics as well.  Hope you don't mind.

I have one new glass cloche that I've been wanting to use, & this party was the perfect opportunity.  Before I show it, I'll show you where it's going, and what the vignette looked like before.

My large handmade pumpkin (for the "how-to's, go HERE) looks good here, but.......

I think I like this better.

Again, before and........

After.  I just used a Fall Leaf charger that I purchased at Walmart last year.  Got the large tray there, too.

I love the reflection of the window.  I found this in Ross's several months ago, & it was less than $10.

The ceramic pumpkin just needed the addition of the sparklies!

Have several apothecary jars & got them all at Michael's with coupons.

At home on the kitchen island.

Got this little "Individual" mini cake server at HL -- again, on sale!

You can display anything in an apothecary jar, & it looks great!

My little thrift store cheese server all "spooked out" for Halloween.

Same piece with lemons & limes in our previous kitchen.

Okay, this is a pretty short post for me, because we have some major things going on this week.  Hope you enjoyed seeing my small (at least for now) collection of cloches & apothecary jars.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and please come again soon!

CAS

I'm happily linking to:

Marty's Fall Cloche Party

Wow Us Wednesday