Sweater "Cozy" Inspiration

It doesn't really "feel" like winter here in Hawaii, and its too hot for hot chocolate,soup or sweaters.
I have however, been noticing a lot of sweater "cozy" items online-

I like these sweater plant covers.

These bracelets-so easy to make these!


Pillows-what a cozy thing to have on your couch...

Bowls? this sure would keep your hands protected!

A nice wine/Apple cider cover...

Yes! Candle covers!

And...Anthropologie-need I say more?

I was inspired to make some of my own vase "cozy's" so I headed to the thrift store and bought some various clearance sweaters in different colors.


I slid my clear 99 cent vases through the sleeve to see how where to cut it off...

and then snipped away.

Funny, I didn't even care if they were Liz Claiborne,Old Navy or Gap sweaters. I would never wear them here.

I tucked the excess fabric in side and didn't glue it down, in case I need to wash the vase or cover.

There! All three covered and cozy!

I like the cable knit sweaters.



My nice fall vases.

Now I will try to make pillows from the rest of the fabric.

Fall/Autumn/Harvest Party

Last night we had some couples over for our Harvest Party. This was the invitation I had sent out...( showed it on a previous post)



I twisted three strands of inexpensive garland together and placed them on one side of our screen door.





I put a wreath in between the front windows,



and put a pumpkin and leaves in our planters.

I also placed a pumpkin and glass hurricane outside by the front door.

Inside I used a bunch of stuff I already had...

I thought I'd show you the inexpensive decorations I used...(pictures were taken in candle light and in flash mode)



I bought this grass/wheat thing? at Ross for only $4.99, and the tablecloth called "Sultan". I Loved the paisley pattern and colors in it. It also fit the length of my table! I wanted to use something with height (and the wheat stocks I wanted at the craft store were too pricey to tie into a big bundle..)so I used this grass thingy.

I sat the "grass thingy" and the wood candlestick on top of an old wood Pepsi case that I turned upside down, and then set my thrift store cornucopia on it as well. I placed the artificial leaves and pomegranate's in the cornucopia.

Next I put my miscellaneous garage sale find glass hurricanes on the table then wove my Walmart garland around ,over and through the candle holders. I also added the other wood candle stick to the table and I placed leaves in the glass jars.

I also added the real mini pumpkins to the tables and a few of my Oregon pine cones.

Outside on our lanai I had decorated my garage sale buffet table ($10!) by placing a clearance Pier Import runner on top...

then a Pier Import black, metal lantern. I got the copper ice/drinks bucket at a thrift store -it says "Cheers" on the front.

I bought a mum at the grocery store and put it in a woven pot I already had and added more leaves and pumpkins and also added a few branches of leaves into a clear vase.

On our outdoor glass table I added a piece of burlap cloth, a wood table runner and another lantern.

I also added pine cones, pumpkins and more artificial leaves.

Next on our table I added my wood bowl, candle and pine cones,

...plus I added another mum and my acorn candle from last year.


We share in a "potluck fashion", then we all play a version of "How well do you know your spouse?" game. Questions like..."Where was their first road trip in their own car?" "What would you spend $100.000 dollars on?" "What do you like about being an adult?",etc..

The guys and girls have different questions that they answer, then we all meet in the living room to compare our answers. We laugh- lots and lots of laughter!

This was the 3rd time we've had a potluck " get together" this year, and it has been so, so much fun!

I'm already thinking about our next one -maybe for Brian's 50Th birthday or for Christmas...

Now for theme!?

Harvest Blessings

This is an older set called "Harvest Blessings". I love it because of the "wood cut" look of it.

I used my Really Rust and More Mustard stamp pads and a technique called -"Rock and Roll" to stamp the images.

Then I took my craft sponge to shade around the images using the rust ink .

For added "bling", I used a gold clip with some ribbon and attached it to the corner of the card.

I added some older Stampin Up paper to the background and "pop dotted' the words on the bottom.

Happy Fall and many blessings!

The Three Dollar Slipcover

I bought this chair for Lily's room,painted it white and still hadn't properly covered the seat.

We don't have a fabric store nearby , so I also bought this Hotel collection Sheet at the thrift store because I liked the square texture and the thickness of the fabric.

I cut off the top of the sheet with the stitching so I could use it as the edge around my chair cover.

I traced around the chair pad and cut out two pieces to sew together.

I stitched the ruffle edge onto the top piece first, then sewed the second piece to the first piece.

I left a smell opening to turn it inside out.

The perfect edge that I didnt have to cut and sew -because it was already to go, when I cut it off of the sheet. I'm easy/lazy? like that.

The stitching left a nice little detail on the edge of the cover.

I wanted to be able to take it off and on, so I could wash it when needed.

With the extra fabric, I sewed a pillow to put inside the ruffle pillow cover.




Here it is next to the bed..oops- no, I didn't iron anything before taking this picture.




Sweet spot for my sweet girl.

Ryan turns 2!

God sent a wonderful addition

into my life two years ago..



A sweet bundle ...


a happy little guy.
a snow baby ...
A cutie pie
one handsome dude.

Today Ryan turns 2!

Love you, love you.