Are you ready for...

Trevor's 4th Birthday. That's how the invitation started. My middle guy turned 4 a couple of weeks ago and we had his party this weekend. He LOVES Gravedigger (he is now the proud owner of 10+) and wanted a Gravedigger cake and since I made his brother a pig cake everyone thought I should be able to make him a Gravedigger cake. Well, after some thinking (alot) and some sketching (of the truck) I decided how to build this cake. Here are the results:

And finally, here is a picture of Trevor with his cake. Can you tell he absolutely loved it? He told me, "Mom that pretty cool and I don't want anyone to destroy it!"

Quote

One of my Valentine's gifts was the Reba CD Love Revival that was only available for puchase at Hallmark. The following is the quote that was on the inside cover:

"To me, true love is the sweetest thing in life. That's why we're all either in love or looking for love. Sometimes you have to work for it -- especially when life gets in the way -- but I believe true, deep love is always worth fighting for."

Valentine's Revisited

A nice evening was had by all. The kids enjoyed the candy they received from Grandma and of course the candy they received from mom and dad had to wait until today. I made the above cake using this red velvet recipe. I only used 1 ounce of food coloring and omitted the pecans, the kids won't eat them. All in all, the cake was fabulous and turned out much better than it did for Christmas, seen here you have to scroll down to see it.

I did receive some nice gifts and I especially like the book of Angel Stories. If you don't believe, I think after some of these stories you would be a believer.

How was your Valentines?

Happy Valentine's Day

As much as I would like to boycott today, I guess I am not able to. The boys had their Valentine's Parties yesterday at school and were so excited. I have a few small things for them, the gotta have SweetTart hearts, Strawberry Creme Heart Shaped Peeps (never seen these before but they love Peeps) and a little M&M dude filled with of course M&M's. No stuffed animals, no purchased card I made them a little heart and I think that's it.

It's open...

After much thinking, deciding, considering, pondering (you get the idea) I opened an Etsy shop. I am selling under Simple Snow Stitches, which can be found here. I'll be adding more items at a later date, but wow, it does take time. And time for me is very precious right now. I'm trying to juggle a bunch of things. Once I get in the groove, I'll be a bit freer.

This is a picture of what I sent to my swap partner Jennilee. I took part in the Hanging Hearts Swap over at Sweet Goodness Swaps. You can view the some of the other entries at over at Flickr here. Here are two of the items that I have listed at over at my Etsy shop.

And finally, this is one of the dolls that I make. I will be working on getting a few more of these done and listed. I'm not sure how long it will take me, but I will be working on it.

I'm also working on window seat cushions for a friend of mine. No photos yet, but I'll try to get pics taken of them before I send them off. And I'm working on some quilt projects, well, actually I have a big one that I need to finish up before April.

I really have been busy working on projects...

My little guy turned 2 at the end of December. With his birthday being so close to Christmas, we had his birthday party last weekend. He carries with him a hippo that we thought was a pig and he and "Pig" are best buddies. Now, "Pig" can be replaced with other animals as long as we eventually find "Pig". Since he loves his "Pig" so much I decided to make him a pig birthday cake.

This is him blowing the candles out on his cake. The pig was a big hit with friends and family. One nephew wanted the tail, on the snout and another one of his feet. I'm not sure you can see in the photos but he is laying on a bed of mud (it was an easy way to cover some mistakes). On with some fun craft projects. I have been working on a heart garland to hang for Valentine's Day. Each heart measures approximately 3". This one I added beads to, I have a few that are just hearts, with smaller hearts on them.
This one is a WIP. But coming along quite nicely.

I've also been working on some granny squares, that I am going to make into some pincushions, I think. These are so easy to stitch up while sitting and watching TV at night. And now that I have the basic pattern in my head, it really requires not much thinking.

This crocheted heart did require some thinking. It came from a pattern for a bookmark that you are supposed to use the fine bedspread thread/yarn for. But I just used a 2 needle and used some Peaches & Creme yarn and it turned out okay. I think I made an error or lost my place on the right side, it looks a little funky. But I am going to add a ribbon and add it to my garland. And finally, I have been wanting to start and finish a quick quilt. I was browsing through some quilt patterns I have and remembered about the Jingle Jolly Table Quilt over at Happy Zombie. And although it was put out for Christmas I had purchased a charm pack called Flirtations by Moda.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, although I still need to quilt and bind it. I have a few "errors", where I did not match up the corners just right. But I really like it and will be displaying it on my kitchen table. Hmm, I think I have some St. Patricks' Day Fabric and Easter Fabric. This would be a great way to change the look of the kitchen table every month. Oh the ideas are flying right now. I wonder if that box of fabric from Nonnie that I am sure is late 60's - 70's fabric (some of it resembles the dresses my mom wore in high school), would make a nice table topper. Gonna have to dig it out and use some of it!!!

A little challenge for me...

I've started reading again. I stopped reading for some reason and I'm really not sure why. I had a book on my nightstand that I started reading before I had my 3rd son in December of 2006. The book is A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett. I loved the book, long book, great read, I just could not finish it. I was reading a John Grisham book, The Innocent Man, and I finished it one evening and decided that before I start another book I needed to finish A Salty Piece of Land. I did, I finished it. This was before the New Year came in. In December, I read 2 books, Sisters by Danielle Steele and The Innocent Man , and then finished A Salty Piece of Land.

My goal for this year is to read 2 books a month. This month I have read Playing for Pizza by John Grisham and am currently reading The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King. When I finish this book, I'm not sure what I will read but I will be sure to update my list in my sidebar. Any recommendations??