Window Dressing

My big old window has been glaring at me balefully since...oh...about Christmas. It got decorations for a few days around Valentine's Day (that was after decorations were 50% off!) and then a cute banner for the baby shower. But what next??

My cute neighbor sent me a link to The Sweetest Occasion, which showed an Anthropologie-inspired garland.

Perfect!

Here's my version.

I started by going through my stash of yarn, ribbon, burlap, etc. I did purchase four sheets of felt ($1.00 total) at Hobby Lobby. I braided yarns, ribbons, and strips of burlap. I cut circles out of felt and strung them on yarn...


And then I played with draping all my creations over my window.

Here's Option 1:

My three-year-old think the "option 1" way is smiling at her!

...And Option 2:

Which way to you like better, if at all? Everything hanging individually, or gathered together?

My husband calls this my "Modern Art Masterpiece" (and I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic). But you know what? *I* like it! I like the interesting combination of textiles and shapes!

Featured!

My Gathering Table has been featured on Remodelaholic!

Baby Shower!

My cute neighbor down the street is expecting her first baby...pretty much any day now! I volunteered to host a baby shower for her for neighbors and church friends last Saturday. I knew she had "work" and "family" baby showers, but good things come in threes, right??
Well, they should!

My next-door-neighbor is the Party QUEEN! She has all the beautiful dishes AND the beautiful ideas! Although I took care of the food, and helped with the decorating, she did most of the real work in the decorating. She has the vision!

Wanna see??

My beautiful buffet is the first thing you see when you come in the front door, so that's where we concentrated the cuteness!

On the left side, we filled containers with wooden blocks and Duplo Legos. A plastic dump truck sits on a tiny cake stand....

...On the right side, more Legos (regular size this time), colorful links, baby books, and word art I created on Wordle (I love that site). I had the frame in my "stash," and I gave it a quick coating of red spray paint the day before the party, and then I gave it to the new momma.

We stuck with mostly bright, primary colors. This was dictated by the new onesies strung on twine in front of the buffet. These were part of my gift as well.


My chalkboard got to stay. I wrote "Babies are such a nice way to start people" on it.

And what's that you see above?

Yep, pom-poms! I love pom-poms. I had never made them before, but they were SO EASY! And CHEAP! A 10-sheet package of tissue paper cost $0.99. You can make one big one or four small pom-poms out of a single package? Never made your own pom-poms before? Go see Martha for directions!


The kitchen table was dressed up with some colorful ribbons over top of the tablecloth, and more pom-poms in a glass dish.


The only idea that was truly my own was the garland I made for the window hanging in my kitchen. In keeping with the "onesie" idea, I cut out paper onesies with my Silhouette and letters to spell "Welcome Baby."


I neglected to take very many pictures of the food...I think I was too busy putting it out to think of photographing it! This was a "brunch" shower, so we had a hash-brown casserole, fresh fruit, cinnamon chip biscuits (divine), and blueberry muffins.


Do you see the beautiful drink dispenser on the corner of the counter? There is a funny-but-sad story to go along with it. It also belongs to my neighbor, and a couple of days before the baby shower I borrowed it to go to a couples' dinner party. My assignment was "drink," and the theme was Valentine-y. I made a great raspberry-rhubarb punch, and I cut out vinyl to decorate the outside of the dispenser... it said "Love Potion No. 9" and had hearts all over it! It was super cute...but I never got to take a picture of it, because....

....as I was taking it to the car...I dropped it! Yep, TWO GALLONS of sticky red punch and a million shards of GLASS all over my garage floor! If I hadn't have been so MAD, I would have cried!

I had to send my husband on to the party without me (other commitments to keep), and I spent the next hour pouring gallons of water over my garage floor and sweeping the mess out into the driveway. (And I'm still finding pieces of glass that I missed!)

The worst part was that it wasn't my dispenser that I broke! But thanks to my beloved Amazon, I found and ordered the exact same dispenser that night, and it even came before the baby shower! I'm so glad I was able to replace it.

The baby shower was a lot of fun! But I definitely enjoy throwing parties where someone else comes up with the cute ideas and I get to concentrate on the FOOD!

Oh, and by the way...the whole baby shower cost less than $50, and that included the gift, decorations, paper plates, fruit, etc!

CSN Giveaway!

The wonderful people at CSN Stores have offered to host another giveaway!

CSN Stores features over 200 stores with one checkout! They have everything you need to get ready for spring! Are you looking for a fun wooden swing set to keep the kids occupied while you do your spring cleaning? They've got 'em!

There are two ways to enter for a $35 CSN Stores gift card (in the form of a promotional code). You may do either one, or both!

1. Tell me what "Spring Project" you want to tackle this year
2. Become a follower of Red Hen Home

Winner will be chosen through a random drawing on Tuesday, March 1, 2011.

I can't wait for spring! My projects have been few and far between this winter (I'm sure you've noticed). But I bought a new air compressor a couple of weeks ago, and I can't wait to try it out!

Legwarmers are back??

As a child of the 80s, I am very familiar with Legwarmers. How about you? Do you remember high-top shoes, stirrup pants, and legwarmers? Or at the very least, socks pulled over your stirrup pants?

I can't say that I was particularly sad...or that I even noticed...how legwarmers gradually fell out of popularity. But not too long ago, my sister and I visited a yarn store that had a sample knit up of the CUTEST legwarmers ever.

It may be time to bring them back!

I made these for my sister using some of my "stash" yarn. The pattern calls for a bulky yarn, and I used a worsted-weight held double. If I were to do it again...I would use it triple. However, then I wouldn't have had enough yarn, so I guess it's a moot point!

The pattern is Bulky Cabled Legwarmers with Buttons.

What do you think? Should legwarmers come back or be banned forever?

One thing at a time

I can only do one thing at a time...that is, I can only be obsessed with one thing at a time!

It can be reading. Or knitting. Or furniture-refinishing & decorating. Or cooking.

This winter....it is knitting.
(Okay, there's a little bit of reading thrown in.)

Here's a cute little hat my seven-year-old picked out. (She had to have a hat, since I made her older sister a beret.)



The pattern is "I Heart Pom-Poms," and it's FREE! (my favorite price)


One skein of yarn was enough for this hat, although not enough for the pom-poms. Instead, I picked some pink and green yarn from my stash and made multi-colored pom-poms!

I think she likes it. ;-)