Happy Easter!

It's Springtime and that means Easter and that means Bunnies! Here's my favorite bunny who lives inside the wreath on my front door.

Mine is made of heavy watercolor paper to withstand the elements outside. Our humidity tends to make his ears curl a bit (same thing it does to my hair/hare) but I think that just adds to his cute character.

I've included a pattern for you to enlarge and trace onto the paper of your choice and a copy of the tag you can add to the ribbon around his neck. I used scallop scissors to soften his look and give him a little frill.

So this should get you started and then you can add your own creative touches.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Girly Letters

It's equal time for little girls after my last post of animal letters for boys. Here are some lettering ideas with a feminine flair. Again, I drew the letters with a permanent pen and colored them in with colored pencils.

I've also shown in the above photo, how the luggage tags are packaged. I find them at Office Max or Staples Office Supplies, neither of which we have in our town, so when I do find them, I stock up. These make sweet tiny gifts to tuck into a birthday card or hang tags for wrapped gifts.

Animal Letters

Here's a fun little gift. These are luggage tags I made for a dear friend's twin grandsons that I will be meeting for the first time today. I've been invited to a "Sip and See", but I'm hoping it's a "Sip and Squeeze"! The only thing I love better than squeezing a baby is squeezing two babies.

I've been told babies need tags on their diaper bags for when they're spending the day at "mother's day out" so I siezed the perfect opportunity for piddlin' a little on this rainy morning. The top and bottom samples are made into laminated tags with a little kit you can get at an office supply store.

The middle sample is done on white paper stock and then glued to colored stock. I will add that to a gift later. All the letters were done with permanent markers and then colored with colored pencils. I added lines and dots just to jazz it up a little. So pack up your markers and pencils and piddle around in the jungle...

International Day of Women

Yesterday, March 8, was the International Day of Women or Donna Day (and that's pronounced "don-ya") and a small group of us women celebrated in style.

I was invited to a luncheon and my contribution was to be the party favors. Much more fun for a piddler than making a salad. I thought I'd show you a quick and inexpensive favor that you can adapt to Easter or any spring occasion. Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge and see the details.

Using a 2-dozen egg carton tray, I cut it into 6-egg sections with an exacto knife. I wanted to use the hinged carton but when I looked in my local grocery store, I couldn't find one plain without advertising stamped on it for less than $2.99 and I needed six so I thought that was a little too expensive. So I went to an egg company where they sell large numbers of eggs and picked up a couple of 2-dozen egg trays. They are easily carved into the size you need.

After lining it with a few strands of Easter grass, I filled each section with all kinds of treasures...an assortment of chocolates, a tiny baby chick inside a plastic egg, and a tiny little accordian book I'd made with quotes about women. I then placed the whole thing in a cellophane corsage bag and tied it with a ribbon and added a name tag and a daisy. Everything was color coordinated and looked fresh and spring-like...just the look I was after.

I'm still looking for inexpensive small hinged cartons to use as gift-wrap. I can just see a tiny gift tucked inside and then wrapped with a beautiful ribbon and a gorgeous silk flower hot-glued on top. It'd be great as a graduation gift for a very studious grad with a gift certificate for a favorite book store with a hang tag on top that said, "for our favorite egg-head"...or a wedding gift with a tag that read, "for a couple of good eggs." Okay, Judi, stop now. Just let your imagination run wild!

Pauline, The Dancing Queen

There was an ad in the paper last week about a Czech Polka Fest. St. Wayne and I had no plans for Saturday afternoon lunch, so we thought we'd check it out. We're so glad we did!

We got there about two o'clock and walked into the Sokol Hall which is huge. It's very unlike what you'd expect from the outside. There were people everywhere...some standing in line to buy plate lunches of sausage, or chicken noodle soup, or barbecue...and some at the bar to buy beer or soft drinks. There was a band complete with a tuba and an accordian and polka music filled the air of the huge hall.

After choosing our lunch and beverage of choice, we made our way to the last two seats at a long table full of people. Little did we know at that point who we'd chosen to sit beside. As fate would have it, we were in for a treat!

I tossed a bag of kolaches we'd purchased to take home on the table as we were getting seated and one of the ladies announced to the entire table, "Oh look, she bought us all kolaches." That should have been my first clue that we were seated in the rowdy section. It was definitely a party atmosphere and we couldn't decide what we were enjoying more, eating the lunch, listening to the music, or watching the dancers. It was definitely sensory overload!

When the next song started, the couple next to me got up to dance. When they walked away I read the back of their vests. We were seated with the king and queen! I'd never really dined with royalty before, so I was pretty excited. At the end of the song as they were coming back to the table, I checked out their attire. Red, red, and more red. He in red pants and a red vest, she in a red skirt and a red vest, and red boots! The backs of their vest had embroideried "Queen 1995" and "King 1995." They were so cute!

When they sat down, I leaned in and whispered, "So what does it mean to be queen?" I quickly learned they were from the big city and their Czech chapter, which has 1,000 members, nominated three couples as queen and king, and they were chosen. All year, they travel with other couples to cities all over Texas to dance the afternoon away.

She went on to tell me she and King Robert had been married 54 years and let me know "that's a long time to be with one man." During the course of the afternoon she also expounded on his "selective hearing." I laughed all afternoon listening to her talk about King Robert. She loves to dance and never gets tired, in fact, she gets "ansy" when she's not on the dancefloor. The King does get tired more easily than she does but that's okay because she'll dance with other husbands...because their wives get tired, too. It all works to her advantage and she sat out very few songs during the afternoon. And when she wasn't dancing, she was entertaining me.

Before we left we exchanged email addresses so I could send her my kolache recipe. I hesitated to tell her that I, of German descent, made kolaches. She wants the recipe because it's easy and although she used to help her grandmother make them, she thinks they're too much trouble. I don't know if she'll take the time away from dancing to make them, but I'm sending the recipe to her all the same.

I'm so glad we went "out of the box" and did something unusual on Saturday. I would have missed getting to know a thoroughly delightful couple. Here's to our new royal friends...Queen Pauline and King Robert...may you have many more years of dancing and laughter!