Easter Cloche Swap!

I participated in the Spring/Easter Cloche Swap, hosted by Sandy at 521 Lake St.

The directions were simple......

Make a miniature Spring or Easter Cloche for your partner and include a few extras! 

My partners were Michelle and Ashley, who blog at A Tattered Quilt Cottage.  

I had not traded with Michelle and Ashley before...it's always fun to trade with new gals!.

I forgot to take a picture of how the cloche was packaged.....they used a plastic strawberry container, you know the kind you buy the large strawberries in, and filled it with pink Easter grass! So clever!!

How sweet is this?????  Michelle and Ashley used vintage Easter treasures to make this!

They also created a darling clothespin doll....she's dressed in her Easter best, holding on tight to her Easter bunny!!

Love this Easter button!! The paper is darling and the duckie is just too cute!!

Michelle and Ashley also sent me hand wash, lotion and a must have for every flea marketer.....anti bacterial hand wash!!

Thanks to Sandy for hosting such a fun swap, and to Michelle and Ashley for wonderful Easter treats!

chris

Spring Tea

Two weeks ago, the ladies club at St. Thomas hosted the 11th annual Ladies Spring Tea.

I offered to host two tables........I wasn't sure what my theme would be, but I knew I wanted the tables to have a theme that went together.

You know......

peanut butter and jelly, ice cream and cake, salt and pepper

I decided on......a little drum roll please......

Sweet and Sour!

As a hostess you are asked to provide the table decorations, the place settings, tea cups, and favors if you want.

The centerpiece goes home with one of the ladies at your table.

I made sugar hand scrub for each table....the sweet table had grapefruit fragrance added to it...not really sweet, but the color worked and the sour table had lemon scrub.

I created a mini candy bar for each table....pink and white candy for the sweet table, and yellow and white for the sour table.

My two favorite tea pots at the event

And my favorite table at tea this year.....a centerpiece with a wonderful pot full of herb plants....embellished with gnomes and lady bugs.

Love the bright colors!!

Hosting a table for the St. Thomas luncheon is one of my favorite things to do! 

chris

The Storm Door Is Open!!!

The weatherman says the storm door is open!

That means the Bay Area will be getting some much needed rain! If the weatherman is correct, we should be seeing a few days of rain!

I know there are a lot of you out in blogland that are hoping to see the end of winter storms, but we need the rain so badly here, I say bring it on!

This was the view from my desk this morning!

I haven't seen this is a very long time!

I'm hoping the patio cushions that I forgot to move in will dry.....I didn't really believe the weatherman when he said we would be getting rain this week!

I guess that will teach me!!

chris

A Little Card Making!

I spent an evening this week crafting two birthday cards.....

Nothing fancy, birthday wishes written on the back

and dropped in the mail

It felt good to do a little crafting.....

I just might try to get it together to make a few Easter cards!

Crossing my fingers!

chris

Secret Leprechaun Swap!

I'm way behind in sharing the wonderful St. Paddy's Day treat's Pam sent me. No excuses but between work and celebrating Mr. Math's 60th birthday last weekend I just couldn't find the time....I know,  you are thinking what a lucky guy Mr. Math is to have married someone so much younger than he is!! TeHe!  All the girls, and their families were home for a long weekend...he was so happy to have them home to celebrate with us...the best present he could ask for!  Getting ready for them to visit and then cleaning up after they've all gone home keeps me busy!

So my apologies to Pam for not posting sooner......

Any Who.....

Pam who blogs at Virginia Retro was my Secret Leprechaun in the swap Vivian who blogs at Viv Out On A Whim hosted.

The box that my secret leprechaun sent was wearin' the green!

Everything wrapped so carefully.....

Pam decorated a mini terra cotta pot, with green shamrock flowers and a pot of gold!!!

So sweet!!

an embellished box with candy, shamrocks and a pin......I wonder how she knew I was a little Irish girl!

Two St. Paddy's day tags....I love these!  I have a soft spot for tags

Some wonderful St. Patrick's Day ribbon,

AND

a silly Leprechaun boy!! Love his impish smile!!!

Many thanks to Viv for hosting and to Pam for taking such good care of me.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

chris


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Treasure Island!!!

This past Saturday night daughter number 4, Kate, sent me a text asking if I wanted to go to the Treasure Island Flea Market on Sunday.

A friend had given her 4 tickets, (apparently you can buy them ahead of time), that she could not use...Kate and her boyfriend were planning on going, along with some friends, and she wanted to know if daughter number 3, Erin, and I wanted to go....

My response was

DUH!!!

Of course we would go!

Flea Market friend and I have talked about going to the Treasure Island Flea Market but never have been able to make it work..

Treasure Island is a man made Island in the San Francisco Bay. It was built in 1936 and 1937 for the Golden Gate International Exposition.

So a couple of different things about the Treasure Island Flea Market......

One, have you ever heard of a flea market that doesn't open until 10:00am????
Nope, neither had I!

AND

Have you ever heard of a flea market that has happy hour from 10:00am until 12:00pm?
All the cocktails are two for one during happy hour!!

The market was packed! Lots of vintage goodies, tons vintage shoes, but also lots of new, artsy stuff.

Kate and her roommate were looking for small patio furniture for the house they share in San Francisco. And their boyfriends, who are also roommates were looking for bar stools.

The boys found their vintage bar stools....nice and sturdy, they look like they could survive living in a house with 4 young men. And they only paid $30.00 a chair...not too bad!

The girls found two vintage patio chairs!  I think the vendor was tired of them asking if he could do better on the price..... he finally said give me $30.00 for the two and just take them!

I'm not sure I would go back to the Treasure Island Flea Market.....the prices are really, really high, and very few vendors seemed willing to negotiate prices.

 The weather was just perfect, considering how foggy San Francisco can be.

And the views.....well, they speak for themselves!!

The Golden Gate Bridge from the flea market lot

Looking from Treasure Island toward San Francisco and the Bay Bridge

The San Francisco Bay Bridge heading from Treasure Island to downtown San Francisco.

I'll spend a Sunday with these two any day!!!

chris

Puppy Love!

I swapped Valentine treasures with Chris who blogs at A Little Creation.

And Chris thought of everything!!

I opened a lovely box and what do I see?

Two cute pooches looking at me!!

She printed pictures of my dogs off my blog to make this sweet Valentine! Chris sent Chloe and Cassidy a soft toy to play with and some Yummy dog treats! 

Just like chocolate in our house the dog treats did not last long!

Chris printed pictures from previous posts and used them in her wrapping. Such a clever idea!!

Chris also made Mr. Math's day! This was the first time someone I've swapped with included something for him!

Sudoku is right up his alley!! He still takes about the other Chris who thought of sending him something for Valentine's Day!!

Some wonderful vintage Valentine's, lace, a vintage hankie, a jar of red and white buttons, and lots of special papers for crafting had my name written all over it!

Oh, and how can I forget the tin of  Dove chocolate!!

Chris was a wonderful blogpal to swap with!!

Thank you again Chris for everything!!

chris

Spoolie Swap!

I participated in the Valentine Spoolie Swap hosted by Sue, who blogs at It's A Very Cherry World.......and guess who my partner was???

If you guessed the hostess, Sue, you were right!

So nicely wrapped, and a vintage Hallmark paper coaster too!!  I do love the vintage paper coasters!

I just love this Spoolie!! How did Sue know that I am the queen?? Has she been talking to my family???

Love the vintage trim, and the glittered heart! So cute!! 

I continue to be amazed at the talented ladies in blogland!

Sue also included in the package a Valentine Tea Towel, a soap with a wonderful flower embellishment on the top and a shadow box!

Isn't this the best?  

Love the details around the window!

Sue, thank you for being such a great swap partner, you took good care of me with all your special touches!

This is a picture of the Spoolie I sent Sue.  I included a few other Valentine treats for Sue, but as often happens with me, I forgot to take pictures!

Things are getting back to normal here at the Xavier Ct. House.....my daughter and granddaughter flew back to Arizona yesterday. Today is the day for putting Miss M's toys away, and getting the bedding and towels washed.

Happy day off!!

chris

A Valentine From An Imaginary Friend!

A couple of weeks ago, my imaginary friend, Tammy, sent me a Valentine!

But.....

I did not get it until Monday night......Tammy sent an email asking if I'd gotten it....she couldn't remember if she'd mailed it. You know how it is...we all have so much going on!  When I saw her email I knew what had happened....the neighbors around the block have the same house number as we do and sometimes our mail gets delivered to there. I went over and guess what????  They had my Valentine!  They apologized for not bringing it over sooner but they'd been on vacation for almost a month!

Wouldn't that be nice!

Tammy and I were partners in a Christmas swap a couple of years ago and have kept in touch.  Every once in awhile a package shows up in my mailbox......or an unexpected email is delivered to my inbox.

"Hey imaginary friend", what's new?  Just checking in...

What a sweetie!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, blog pals are the best!!

I'm behind I sharing my valentine swaps, I will try and get a post up tomorrow and one Sunday..

My oldest daughter and my grand Miss Margaret have been here for a week....I've been enjoying my time with my girls from Arizona! Between going to the park everyday and the library for toddler story time and crafts, there hasn't been much time for blogging!

Happy Valentine's Day!

chris

No Tea Party!

Our Valentine Tea that was scheduled for this past Saturday had to be cancelled!

Our hostess and her family came down with the stomach flu......so no Valentine Tea.

We missed seeing each other, but no one wants to get sick and no one who is sick wants to host a tea party!

I spent my time Saturday, putting a few Valentine's out.

I did a few smaller vignettes...In the past I would decorate my sideboard, but one of our girls gave us her flat panel TV, (who could say no to a gift like that), but it did not fit in our entertainment center and I ended up using my sideboard for the TV.

I may still switch things around but I did not want to buy something for the flat panel just to buy....one, I didn't really want to spend the money. and two, I couldn't find something that I just loved!

Valentine's from previous swaps! 

Love unpacking the Valentine box!  So much fun to look at such wonderful creations!

A favorite Valentine of mine.....one my Dad gave to my Mom!

I've seen some wonderful Valentine displays on other blogs! 

I decide to go with simple displays this year, just don't have quite the energy to get to put out too much. Work is very busy, and it feels like I just got Christmas put away!

Are you doing much Valentine decorating this year?

chris