Sunday, February 06, 2011

Makin' Mosaics at Heidi's Studio

What a great day! Four awesome former Aleene's co-workers gettin' together for some creative fun and catching up. Heidi and Denise hadn't seen each other in 11 years!!!


Jean, Denise and Heidi crafting away!

Jean's stepping stone had star appeal. She started with some plates she already had.

Denise choose a Mary Engelbreit theme for her stepping stone complete with little teapot accents.

As for me, I had four stunning plates a friend sent me a couple of years ago for a Christmas present and they arrived broken (I never did tell her...) and I finally made them 'whole' again. Can you see the dragonfly? I still have two more broken plates...


Denise gives Jean a little helping hand on her creation.

Great job ladies!!! Can't wait for our next BIG adventure!

Love ya, Heidi!!! And thanks for helping us express our creativity!!!

Some eye-candy in Heidi's Studio - all of the flowers were made from soda cans!!!

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Love Feast


It was my turn to host the newcomer's club gourmet dinner group so I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early and have a Love Feast...(this was the first time the group has been to my house - before I moved five months ago my house was tooooo small to host any kind of gathering)

Yes, we can call people to invite them to a party or send an e-vite but I'm an old fashioned mail an invitation kind of girl (both of my parents worked for the post office for years). I made a quick invitation using Word with some fun hearts - make your invitation fun - it sets the tone for the entire party and gets your attendees excited in anticipation as to what the evening will hold.

Next was my menu (wish I'd gotten pictures - it was too hard to fix the entire meal and get photos too). We had yummy appetizer salads served in mini martini glasses. Then it was on to chicken wrapped in puffed pastry with, of course, hearts on top cut from puff pastry. We had root vegetable au gratin, fresh tarragon green beans, sundried tomato and basil rolls (thaw Bridgeford frozen bread dough and knead in the tomatoes and basil - yummers) and for dessert a chocolate cake with caramel sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Needless-to-say after all that I've added more walking to my to do list this week.

Carnations on my front door

I got my China out of storage (haven't seen them face-to-face in over six years) and added a vase of carnations for each of the guests to take home. I found the vases at the dollar store - they had LOVE written all over them. I also found cute Valentine's Day socks for a buck - they made great inexpensive favors - one person even put hers on right then and there. Yep, you'll notice the sliding door was open - the weather has been gorgeous!!!

Appetizer Salads in Mini Martini Glasses - I cut hearts from red peppers to add a 'loving' touch.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Happy Groundhog's Day


It's certainly not Punxsutawney Phil, but it's the kind of critters we have around here. Spring here we come!