Catching up!

February has been busy and I have some blog catch-up to do.

First off, the Goat Delivery/Portland Wrap-up: After Granny and Wilbur were safely delivered to Apifera, Ophelia and I spent 2 nights with Cousin Chris and family and spent a few days driving around Portland thrift shopping. We {heart} Goodwill! We also went to Monticello Antique Mall and loved all the eye candy there. Top of the line junk and stuff!

Lots of biker dudes and tatooed people in here.
We were welcomed warmly when we asked where the closest Goodwill was!



I screeched to a halt when we saw this place.

Memorial shrine for those that passed recently.

Voodoo Donuts INVENTED maple bars with bacon and lots of other crazy combos.

We went for the french crullers...melt in your mouth, light and fluffy, eggy goodness; the best we have ever had. We decided to not go for the coffin full of donuts. Silly us!

Yep, we tried the photo booth. Ophelia kept sinking lower and lower in every photo!

Loved the oversized cardboard hearts.

We hit as many Goodwills as we could on the way home, including Battle Ground because I also wanted to pop into Uncovered Ruby. Lisa comments frequently on this blog and I wanted to meet her in person. Alas, she wasn't there but I left a note and picked up a few treasures.

Mt. St. Helens...gorgeous day for a drive!

Burgerville and Goodwill in Centralia is always a winning combination and was our last official stop before home.

************************

Second catch-up, Burger Day and Valentines with the gang...I made ribbon wrapped Valentine hearts and picked up some Frost doughnuts for the girls. (there was a fair amount of burgers and donuts in my February adventures!)

************************

And last but not least, I finally took a workshop from Lisa JonesMoore! She is a spectacular local collage artist and Salvage Studio friend. Beeswax Valentines seemed like the perfect Valentine treat for myself and I was right. My buddy Caroline and I took the class together and loved working with beeswax. It was warm and soft and smelled so good!

So, I think we are caught up...and the rest of Febuary is looking pretty quiet...so I will enjoy the dusting of snow, the bulbs popping up in spite of it and working on making this Little House ready for spring!

A Tutorial and Christentine Greetings

 Back on December 20, 1990 when we bought our Little House, we didn't have a Christmas tree. It just wasn't going to happen that year. So when I came home from work on January 25, 1991, Doug had purchased a living evergreen tree and had decorated it with Valentines and proclaimed it Christentine! So tomorrow is the 20 year anniversary of the first Christentine. We celebrate it every year with a 'Happy Christentine!' and some kind of blended decor. It works for me...no rush to get the holiday tree down and I love red! Our newly redone bathroom is the perfect Valentine-y space with its red ceiling and black and white accents so the tinsel tree that was in there was the logical choice.

Pink dove from Ormolulu,
Red Feather Butterfly from Bountiful Home
and
Valentine Fat Book from a Red Lead Swap.

For the December 2nd Saturdayz Urban Market I had made some Ribbon Wrapped Wire Stocking ornaments and then for gift pizzazz I made some Initial ornaments. So here is a quick tutorial for Ribbon Wrapped Wire Hearts.

You will need:


18-gauge wire
Pliers (round nose, smooth nose, or needle nose)
Wire cutters
Ribbon (I used Midori silk, double-faced satin and velvet)
Ruler
Scissors
Bling

Cut wire to about 14" long. Use round nose pliers to make loop and then bend wire by hand into your shape.

Attach end of wire around inside of first loop and crimp closed with pliers.

Cut 1 to 1 1/2 feet of ribbon to wrap around wire (depends on  how large you make your heart).
Tie around wire at top of heart. Leave a little tail at the top.

Wrap, overlapping slightly each time around.

When you reach the end, tie off at the top to the existing tail of your starter knot.
Trim ends as you like.

A group of hearts....
You can add bling to your loop or bend up with pliers for hanging.
Here I added a chandelier crystal to the pink heart.
But it could be beads, charms, another heart.

Happy Christentine!