Thursday, March 31, 2011

Necklace Redo Series #2

*Don't forget to enter the Special Plate Giveaway here!*

Time for Necklace Redo #2!!  How about a headband?
Materials:
Necklace
Stretchy headband
Needle/thread
Felt/fabric
Glue gun

I used a headband I already had...


Started by taking off the clasp and ring....


I cut the headband in half. Then I sewed and wrapped the thread around the beads....


Before sewing the other side I measured it on my head...had to trim some off....


Sewed the other side and then cut some felt strips or you could use fabric....just something to cover up the sewing in case you wear the headband with your hair up.......


Glued the felt on both sides...



...and the finished product!!! Look at me and my Photoscaping skills!!

Thought you'd like to see it action!!  Would love to hear any different ideas about attaching the necklace to the headband!

Visit my Link Party page to see where I'm linking to!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I ♥ Etsy-Sew Cute and Crafty

Don't forget about the Special Plate Giveaway!!!
To enter click here!

Today I wanted to share a very special Etsy shop with you.  Last December one of my cute, dear little friends celebrated her daughter's 1st birthday.  Being that the 1st birthday is such a milestone I wanted a special gift so of course I thought of a Dolly and went straight to Etsy.  I found some cute, cute dollies in about the $30 range but unfortunately the seller had stopped taking orders since it was the Christmas season.  So back to searching I went and found a similar doll in the Sew Cute and Crafty shop.  It was just as cute, was $15 and could be personalized with a name!!  Bingo!!  But that's not all.....
Come to find out the seller, Kathleen is local and is using the profits from her Etsy shop to fund her adoption process!  I wanted special and boy am I glad I got it!  And my friend thought it just as special as well.  It's not every day that you get to 'kill 2 birds with 1 stone'!
Here's the cute Dolly....
I even got to pick out the body fabric!!

And here's some other items....
Onesie

Dress

Personalized Tote

Diaper Cake
Photos courtesy of Sew Cute and Crafty
Her diaper cakes are some of the best I've seen!!

Besides checking out her Etsy shop, please stop by her website Our Tree of Hope, she's been blogging about her adoption journey.  Surely you need to 'kill 2 birds with 1 stone' in the near future!  ☺

Have a Happy Day!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Soiree Day-Birthday Traditions and a Giveaway!!

Wanted to do a little something different for today's Soiree Day.  I had a nephew and my only niece have birthdays within the last 3 days and thought I'd share our family tradition.  We always get together and the birthday person chooses what's to eat and what kind of cake/dessert they want.  We've done this for a long, long time!  And in the last few years my mom has added a 'special' plate that the birthday person gets to use!  And in thinking about this post I realized we never did the big-stylized parties that are the rage nowadays.  Probably because of money but I'm not bothered by it.  I love the tradition we do have!  And I think it's good to start my own which is still in the making as Lil' Hunkie is only 16 months old!  Of course the milestone birthdays are different.  I did have a Sweet 16 party and I remember getting 21 presents for my 21st! 
I like this definition of tradition:  
 long-established action or pattern of behavior in a community or group of people, often one that has been handed down from generation to generation
I think it's good to have a birthday tradition, it keeps a family together.
Here's a few photos from our celebrations:


3 year old nephew's cake! White with strawberry filling....yummy!
He loves Cars!!  When the trailer came out for Cars 2 he would make my brother sit at the computer and watch it over and over and over......   ☺


Easy decorations!


My 15 year old niece's cake, sniff, sniff.....
She's the oldest grandchild and it's a little hard to watch her grow up!  She chose chicken and tater tots as her dinner and wanted strawberry cake with chocolate icing with a touch of strawberry icing.  Apparently she's on a strawberry kick right now!  My sister added the fresh strawberries.  Also, my sister requested some whoopie pies as she didn't get any either when I made them for our church meeting!

Very yummy!

And lastly (sorry for the long post! it's my longest so far!) here's a few pics of the cake I made for Lil' Hunkie.  Yes I had a big party for him but I couldn't not do anything on his actual birthday!!


Yep! I have a special plate too!  And I'm just now realizing I didn't use it for Big Hunkie's birthday!  Probably because he worked that day.........


Recognize the critters?  They are squirrels!



It was yummy too!

OK now on to that word Giveaway!!  How about owning your own special plate?! 
When I purchased the plate at the Dayspring Outlet last summer, they had a special...buy one get one free!!  So I still have the free one in the closet and I believe it's purpose is to be given away!
Here's what ya gotta do, each action will get you an entry:
*Be a follower of Vintage Gwen
*Leave a comment about your birthday tradition
*Follow Vintage Gwen on Facebook
*Follow Vintage Gwen on Twitter
(if you already do any of these then please leave a comment so I'll know you want to be entered)
I will choose the winner in a week and announce in next Tuesday's Soiree Day!

Whew! Have a Happy Day!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Taking a time out.....

...........to say Thank You to not only my newest readers but of all my readers!!

Photo courtesy of Wikigallery.org

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started a blog and I'm still learning!  It seems as if there will always be something to learn!  I'm grateful and thankful that you are here with me on this journey.  I've connected with some awesome women and am amazed at what brings us together!  Each and every one of you have your own 'brand' of inspiration.
So thanks, not only for reading my 'brand' of inspiration but for sharing yours with me!
Happy Reading!
and if you're a blogger as well...
Happy Blogging!!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Vintage Gwen Chapel-Our Cornerstone

I've mentioned in an older post about going through the Praying the Names of Jesus devotion right now.  Today's post is inspired by this past week's name...Cornerstone or Capstone. 

Photo courtesy of eos-chaos.com
The author gives a little bit of history about cornerstones that I'd never heard about and it got me to thinking.
"The royal name was often inscribed on the cornerstone and among the ancient Canaanites before the of time Joshua, the laying of the foundation stone was often accompanied by human sacrifice.  Tragically a number of skeletons, especially those of small babies in earthen jars, have been found at various sites."
Yes tragic, don't really want to think about it!  What I did think was when we accept Christ as our cornerstone; our foundation, shouldn't we sacrifice our life?  Lay it down and take up Christ's?  Mark 8:34 -35 NLT "..."If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.  If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it."
Was this tradition a foretelling of Jesus' words?
Or how about this thought...yes we all start as 'baby' Christians, but God wants us to be warrior Christians.  And to be a warrior Christian you need to be out of diapers and off milk...you need to realize who your Cornerstone is and sacrifice being a 'baby' Christian and start building on that Cornerstone!

I think God was trying to remind me who He is and who I am in Him.
So thankful for the reminder today!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Darling Day!

Today's Darling Day is mostly Easter!
In our weekly 'trash' mail was the recent Tractor Supply ad.  Chicks have arrived!!  I plan on taking Lil' Hunkie soon to check them out!  He's fond of dogs so my guess is he might be fond of Chicks too!  But we'll only be looking!

Courtesy of Tractor Supply's website.

I found a Darling new blog this week, K.I.S.S.{Keep It Simple, Sister}.  She also suggested the Chick outing for kids!! She did a stinkin' cute tutorial yesterday!  She took the Dollar Tree silver trays and made Easter Silhouettes!
Photo courtesy of K.I.S.S.{Keep It Simple, Sister}

I'm going to have to make one now!!

I found this necklace on Etsy (of course)....it just might have to go in my Easter basket!
Photo courtesy of Tickle Me Pink Boutique.

I ♥ vintage soldered pendants!!

Thank goodness for my nephew's school fundraiser this week or else I would never have known about Mixed Bag Designs!!  I'm amazed that this is a fundraiser!  It's a company that offers the coolest bags and totes and even has wholesale!

Medium Totes


Foodies

Aren't they cute? And these are just a few of what they offer! Their prices are very reasonable as well!
This drug store tote is on order for me!!
Photos courtesy of mixedbagsdesins.net


Happy Darling Day!!  Hope these inspired you!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Necklace Redo Series! #1

I'm excited to bring you the Vintage Gwen Necklace Redo Series!!  Rissa at Hazel and Honeysuckle has inspired me!  She did a fabric flower series that you should check out!
While I was at Goodwill getting the picture frame for my picture frame tray tutorial I also picked up some necklaces.
These were $2 a piece.  Gonna give them a little umph!

I've already done one with a very old necklace and bracelet I had in my jewelry making supplies for my hairdresser back at Christmas...


For #1, I did something similar, here's the supplies:
Fabric flower
piece of felt
chain necklace
hot glue gun


I then removed the locket and the extender from the chain necklace. (Will save the locket for something else!☺) And then simply hooked the two necklaces together.


Put a line of glue down the back of the flower and laid the joined necklace on top.  I then put a line of glue on top of the necklace.


Then I glued the felt circle over the necklace.  You could also use a piece of the same fabric.


And that's it!! A simple pretty necklace!

Thinking about doing a giveaway at the end of the series....your choice of a redo!!
What'd ya think?


See my Link Party page to see where I'm linking to....
and  now here:

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Show and Tell-Babycakes Whoopie Pie Maker

So I hope you're not tired of me and my Babycakes!! I can not tell you how excited I was purchasing my new Whoopie pie maker!!  Mainly because it cost me less than $3!!! Can you say 'Savvy Shopper'?!!
$21 store credit + $10 Kohl's cash+15% off coupon, taken off my cell phone= $2.70 and a great big Whoopee!!
☺
So I had bought a whoopie pie kit on clearance after Valentine's day and had a church meeting last Sunday that I needed to bring a snack for so here's how it went:

I love that it came with a rack and utensil to help get the pie out!

I made 38 of these in under 8 minutes and didn't heat up the house!

These were the first ones I did at 2 minutes...I adjusted the time to 1 1/2 minutes and no more brown spots.


It also came with a decorator's bag and tip...piped the filling on.  I didn't care for the filling mix...it called for butter....cream cheese would have been better!  I should have went with my gut!
But........

........they were gone in no time!!! I had walked by my Dad and he was eating one and with a mouthful full he grinned real big and teasingly said "them ain't no good"!  I ♥ my Daddy!!
So I didn't even get one.  But that's OK cause I made a whole lot of other people happy!!

Who else has been Babycaking it?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Soiree Day-Rainbow Party

Today I am excited to bring you a party I found through the Whatever Goes Wednesday link party at Someday Crafts.  Wendy of Ramblings from the Sunshine State gave her daughter the cutest rainbow party!!  Looking through all the pictures, Wendy did a lot of creative details and that's why I wanted to share!

I think the invitation sets the tone for the rest of the party and this one certainly did!

Cute, simple way to help decorate one of the tables.


I love this!! 


Always has to be a special birthday shirt!!

Goodies for the favor bags....do you notice the coolest thing ever?!


Paint chip notepads!!!

I've never seen this before....I think it's very creative!!


Rainbow slushy!!


Chocolate covered Oreos.
Just one of the colorful treats!

The birthday girl was suppose to wear a tutu....didn't want anything to do with it so genius mom put it around the cake!!

Are you ready to see the inside?


Can't have a rainbow party without a rainbow cake!!!

This is just my highlights.  Go check out the full details here, and let Wendy know what a great job she did!!


Thank you to Wendy for letting me share!
Pictures courtesy of Ramblings from the Sunshine State.