DIY Gift Tags

 For many years I have made my own gift tags. I bought a paper punch many years ago that is a tag maker that has a punch that puts a hole in the top to hang it.

Fiskars Tag Maker

For years I would make about a hundred tags out of plain card stock in green, red and blue. Then I would use a holiday stamp to decorate the front of the tag and write the To and From on the back.  One year I decided to make tags that were stamped with pictures on the front, and instead of writing on the back I punched out ornament or circle shapes and stamped the kid's initial on the shape. I didn't need to write who it was from, because we all knew who the crazy woman was that made the tags, lol.  

Tags made with stamps and ink and punched shapes.

Different backs of the tags

The next few years I punched tags out of Christmas printed paper and then used a "To and From" stamp on the back. These were a lot less work, but I was back to writing the names again. The writing was the part I disliked the most.

Tags punched from one sided printed paper

Then a few years ago I had a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself. I went back through my cell phone pictures and found great individual pictures of each one of my kids, grandkids, and couple pictures of my kids and their spouses. Next, I went to the Walgreens photo department online and downloaded the photos of the kids. I ordered sheets of wallet size photos of each of the pictures. I used the tag punch, centered it over the picture and made sure the hole was not in the forehead of the kids. I love these tags! All I have to do is attached the picture to the gift, no writing needed. I will only have to update them every few years.

Photo tags. I don't publish pictures of my family, hence the added flowers.

Last year for my grandkids I had a little fun with one of their gifts. I had their picture tags to put on the gift, but instead of just hanging them on the gift, I incorporated them into the wrapping paper. The kids had fun finding their pictures. 

It was hard to take a picture of this shiny paper without the glare. 

I am sure I will get tired of the picture tags one day, and I have no idea what I will come up with next. But right now they are still my favorite.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I have done a few blogs on my dog Edy. She is always sleeping and always in the weirdest positions. Her 15th Birthday was June 17th, so in honor of her Birthday, I am going to make not only fun of her, but all the dogs in our family.

A rare time when Edy is actually awake in her bed.

 

Edy's normal couch sleeping position.

While we are sitting in the family room watching TV, Edy is usually in her dog bed sleeping. Almost every night we will glance over at her and comment on her sleeping position. Most nights she is on her back with her legs straight up.

Edy's normal dog bed sleeping position

Every now and then she will be hanging over the side with her head on the floor. It does not look comfortable at all, yet she will stay like that for hours. A few weeks ago we took her picture and sent it to our kids and they sent the following pictures.

The weird head on the floor picture we sent to the kids.

This is Dakota our daughter's dog and Edy's half sister. She is 12 and 1/2 and smart enough to at least put her head on the blanket while she is hanging her head off the bed.

This is our older Son's dog Dahlia. She is 12 years old and has taken a different approach to the head on the floor position. This one is with her head forward and her front legs out front. I am not sure it looks any more comfortable. 

This is Nelly, our youngest Son's dog. She is 5 and 1/2 and the baby of our dog family. She is the funniest of the group, very awkward and uncoordinated. She looks the most uncomfortable to me. 

My husband and I loved how the kids instantly sent these picture in response to our text. I guess Edy isn't alone in her weirdness. 

Making a Ring Bearer Pillow and Flower Girl Basket Special

My Son got married last year to a wonderful woman that he has been with for over 10 years. I was so blessed to be able to help make some of the accessories for the wedding. Two of the accessories I was in charge of were the Flower Girl Basket and the Ring Bearer Pillow.

My Daughter In-law had a sister that was born a few years after her. Her sister Chelsea died of a genetic disorder when she was just under a year old. My Daughter In-law wanted to include the memory of her sister in the wedding, by including Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet into one of the wedding accessories. After throwing some ideas around I suggested we include it in the ring bearer pillow. 

First, I did some shopping online to order a simple satin pillow and basket with a bow. It took awhile to find the one I wanted, but it was worth the wait. My Daughter In-law's Mother brought the bonnet with her on a visit, and now I had everything I needed to create a special ring bearer pillow in memory of Chelsea.   

This is the ring bearer pillow before adding Chelsea's bonnet.

This is Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet. 

It was very important that I not cut or alter the bonnet in any way. Luckily handkerchief bonnets are held in shape by one thread in the back, so all I had to do was snip that thread and it now would lay flat. The next thread that needed to be snipped was the stitch attaching the bow to the pillow. The bow was attached to the ribbon across the pillow so when I snipped the stitch I could lift the ribbon away from the pillow without the bow coming off.

The edge that is folded up is where the thread was that was pulled and tied to make the back of the bonnet. I just snipped the thread where if was tied and when the wedding was over, I put a thread back in and it was a bonnet again.

The front side of the bonnet after the fabric is folded under.

I folded the plain fabric of the bonnet under the lace trim and hand basted it in place. I then folded both ends under to make it the correct length to lay smoothly under the ribbon. After putting the lace under the ribbon and tucking the ribbon ties from the bonnet under the lace, I tacked the lace to the pillow.

The sides were folded in and then pinned in place to be basted.

Front side before it was basted.

The end result was a beautiful tribute to Chelsea and a great way for her to be a part of this wonderful occasion.

The finished pillow. The bonnet was tacked to the pillow under the ribbon.

To jazz up the now plain flower girl basket, I had some pretty flower and pearl ribbon that I added on the top of each side of the basket between the two bows at the handle. I just used a bit of hot glue to tack the added ribbon in place. This was an easy change, but it made a huge change in the appearance.

The plain flower girl basket that has the bow that matches the ring bearer pillow.

The flower girl basket with the new ribbon.

My Grandson Victor the Ring Bearer with pillow!

My Granddaughter Mae the Flower Girl with her beautiful basket.

It sure didn't hurt that my granddaughter and grandson were the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer to make my creations even more beautiful. 

Music Bucket List ✔️

 I don't know about most people, but I have a Music Bucket List. This is a short list of 5 Songs and 4 Artists. My list was started as a teenager and included the first 4 songs/artists, and the last 1 was added as a newly married woman in my twenties. The last one on my list was the first one checked off.

My husband and I met in 1981 and married in 1983. In 1983/84 a Bryan Adams song came out that became our song, "Heaven". I fell in love with the lyrics and it became our song immediately. After we were married in Ohio in 1983, we moved to California and went to see Bryan Adams' "Reckless" tour. We are on the lawn at an amphitheater at the Orange County fairgrounds and heard Bryan sing "Heaven" live. I still remember that night so clearly, sitting on a blanket up on the grass hill, with my wonderful husband, I think I was over 5 months pregnant, listening to one of my favorite singers singing our song. How could I ever forget that experience? We heard him sing "Heaven two more times in  on his "Bare Bones" tour. The first with just me and my husband, and the second time was in 2013  with the daughter I was pregnant with in 1984, and she was pregnant with our first grandchild. How cool is that? Music Bucket List #5 ✔️.

In 1973 Billy Joel released "Piano Man" and it instantly became one of my favorite songs. I loved Billy Joel's music then and still love it today, but "Piano Man" could not be topped. Is there a human on this planet that does not know, and love that song? I think not! Just less than a year later in 1974 Elton John came out with "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."  I would be hard pressed to pick which one of those songs was my favorite. They are songs that you turn up loud and sing even louder no matter where you are. I was singing one of them the other day in a store and did not care who heard me. As a matter of fact I am sure there were other people in that store singing with me. You just can't stop yourself. In 2009 Elton and Billy were touring together and my husband and I went to the concert in Indianapolis, IN. Elton sang "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" the 3rd song in the set and Billy sang "Piano Man" the 36th song in the set. They did not disappoint. To go to a concert with two of the best Music Artists of all time, at the same time, and who entertained us for 3 hours was truly one of the best concerts I have ever attended. Music Bucket List #3 and #4 ✔️

Elton John

Billy Joel 

Now for numbers #1 and #2. I was born in 1960 and have 5 siblings that were older by 7 to 15 years. So you better believe I was raised on Beatles music. I had two brothers that were in bands in their teens, and for every teenage band in the 60s and 70s  Beatles songs were standards on their set list. My husband loves the Beatles, and so do my kids. I even think my grandkids love Beatles music. I watched the "Get Back" documentary a few months ago and it revived my love of their music. Last week my Husband and I went to see Paul McCartney in Fort Worth. First, I never in all of my life thought I would ever be able to see any of the Beatles in person. Let alone Paul, who in my opinion was the most talented of the group. Then to see him at the age of 79 and 11 months still rocking was AMAZING. This man played/sang 36 songs, and played the acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin and piano without missing a note or forgetting a word. He told the best stories of his music experiences, paid tributes to John and George his departed friends and shared his music from the Beatles, Wings and his newest work. Then it happened, song #28 on the play list, "Let it Be". I was in tears! My favorite song of all time was being sung by Paul McCartney. At first I couldn't even sing with him because I was so awe struck. I did video him and about a verse into it I got a grip and started singing along. Best music moment ever!

Paul playing "Let It Be"

After "Let it Be", and the crowd calmed a bit, Paul started to play "Live and Let Die", great song, but not a bucket list song. What we didn't plan on, being scared out of our wits, lol. Just after he sang, "Live and Let Die" there was an explosion and fire balls shot up from the front of the stage and then the back of the stage and then indoor fireworks went off. Holy Mother of Pearl it was loud and Awesome! My husband turned to me and said, I have never been scared at a concert before. 🤣

First loud explosion and fire after he sang "Live and Let Die"

Fire and fireworks during the music

After that great music spectacle was over Paul went to the piano and started to play "Hey Jude". This song lasted over 7 minutes and we all got to sing with Paul McCartney! It was so much fun that everyone in that arena was singing the  na na na na's. So, I not only got to see Sir, soon to be Lord, Paul McCartney, but I got to sing with him. Music Bucket List #1 and #2 ✔️

Although there are other songs that I love and Artist I would love to see, these have always been the must see for me. Music is such a huge part of my families lives, and I always have a song in my head. Even though my Music Bucket List is complete, I will never be done listening for that next great song.

 

Hot Chocolate Gift Mugs

For Christmas last year one of the gifts I gave friends and family was my homemade hot chocolate mix. I have shared the basic recipe, which I received over 20 years ago from a friend in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The mix was outstanding as is, but I add a special ingredient to mine that I do not share. The original recipe is listed below.

I made a huge bowl of mix and filled some Christmas printed baggies with the mix enough for about 4 to 6 cups of hot chocolate. Next, I went to my Cricut cutting machine to make cute cardstock mugs. There is a great pattern from Cricut I used and it was so easy to make.

The Cricut pattern 

I had some Christmas paper I have had for over ten years from Stamping Up. The paper was printed on both sides with coordinating prints. This was perfect paper for these mugs because they will have different patterns on the inside of the mug and the handle.

Stamping Up paper I used for my mugs. Double sided with coordinating patterns.

I loaded the pattern in the Cricut machine and sat at the machine for a while cutting about a dozen mugs. Then gluing all the pieces together, matching coordinating handles with the correct mug. The pattern comes with a tag, so I cut them out of solid white, green and red paper.

Cut pieces. I did not use the snow flake for most of the mugs.

 

Outside

Inside

After adding some mini marshmallows onto the top of the mix, I tied the bag closed with a twist tie,  tied it with a ribbon, and then I dropped the bag of hot chocolate into the paper mug. Then I filled out the gift tag and tied it to the handle of the paper mug. Now they were ready for delivery.

These turned out so cute and just may turn into a new Christmas tradition. But with the right paper, it can be a gift for any occasion.

Hot Chocolate Mix

8 cups of dried milk

1 1/2 cups of sugar

15 ozs of Nestle's Quik mix

8 ozs coffee creamer

Mix all ingredients together

To make a cup of hot chocolate, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mix to 8 oz of hot water!

Texas Longhorns

 Growing up in the Midwest I have seen many cows.  I know the common types of dairy and beef cows like, Holstein, Jersey, Guernsey, Angus, Beef Master, and Herefordshire. They were boring cows in many shades of brown and black. As a kid we would drive by fields and I would hardly give then a glance. Then I went to Texas and saw a Longhorn for the first time.

It is a jaw dropping moment when you are driving along a Texas road and you come across a field full of Longhorn cows. They defy reason. They make absolutely no sense. There stands a normal looking cow with the most outrageous horns that can extend to over 8 feet from end to end. You stand there and look at them just trying to figure out what life with those horns is like. How do they keep from wounding each other as they walk by? Do they have an awareness of the width and naturally compensate for them? Is it hard to keep your balance when you move your head around? Is it hard to laydown and get up? So many questions.

The longhorn came from the Iberian Peninsula by Spanish conquistadores during the voyages of Christopher Columbus to Hispaniola. The cattle was used for food for the colonists. The cattle was taken to Mexico and over time they wondered North. They arrived in what is now Texas in the 17th century. The cows became feral and were mated with cows from Europe. The end result was the longhorn. The longhorns could live in the heat of the South and the cold of Montana. They would eat weeds, brush and cactus and could go days without water. Longhorn meat is very lean and back in the early days animal fat was more desired, so the Longhorn population slowly dwindled and was headed towards extinction.

There were Longhorn enthusiasts like a man named J. Frank Dobie who started gathering small herds that they kept in Texas State Parks. This was after someone in the United States Forest Service put steers in a refuge in Oklahoma. Because the Longhorn is so hardy, and can breed for many years the longhorn became more desirable. Nowadays their lean meat that is lower in cholesterol and calories is also more desirable.

At the stockyards in Fort Worth they have a cattle drive with Longhorns twice a day about 363 days a year. We took a trip to the stockyards a few weeks ago with family that were here for a visit. The cattle drive runs down the main street in the Stockyard District, and in between the drives the cattle are put in a corral near by. When you walk up to the corral to see the Longhorns, there goes the jaw drop! They all look different. I think the tour guide said no two are alike and their horns are all different too. Some horns curl up, curl down, twist or just go straight out forever. They are just so amazing to look at. Nothing says Texas like a Longhorn.

Old, New, Borrowed and Blue

 When my daughter was married 10 years ago I sewed a piece of my wedding dress into the seam of her dress. I also took a cuff off my dress and we put it around the stems of her bouquet. She also wore the pearl earrings I was married in and wore a string of the pearls her father bought me in Spain.  It was fun to find ways to incorporate my wedding into hers.

My wedding dress cuff on my daughters bouquet.

Applique from my dress sewn in the seam of my daughters dress. 

When my Son and Daughter in-law (Allison, her middle name) got married last year. We decided to do the same tradition in their wedding. We had Allison's Mom give her a piece of fabric and a cuff from her wedding dress. We used the cuff for her bouquet like my daughters.

For Allison's gown I took the piece of the fabric from her Mom's dress, folded it in half and basted the open side across from the fold, pulled the thread to make the fabric form into a circle. Then I sewed the ends together to close the circle.

Heart jewelry piece I used in the memento.

I had a silver cut open heart jewel that I found in some jewelry beads. I took a blue piece of silk ribbon and filled the heart bead with the blue ribbon. Next, I sewed the blue filled silver bead onto the middle of Allison's Mom's wedding dress fabric circle.

Allison's Mom's wedding dress fabric. Old and blue all in one.

I cut an applique flower from my wedding dress and then sewed my flower and her Mom's heart piece into the inner layer of the skirt lining of Allison's dress. Even though the bead was a tiny bit bulky, where the pieces were sewn on the dress made it so Allison couldn't tell they were even there.

Both pieces sewn in place, ready to be a part of Allison's big day.

It was so special knowing that a piece of my dress and Alison's Mom's dress were a part of her dress when she walked down the isle to marry my Son.  It is also a tradition that can be carried on to the next generation.