Dear Diary~THERE's NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!!

 

Just finally stopping in for an update on how it's been goin!! We were included in the ice storm and lost our power for 4 days. We actually got it back on Christmas Morning!! YAY!!

Just let me say I feel so blessed to have a home and memories were made from this. I did feel like I was "livin in a van (my orange car) down by the river"!! LOL But this little sweetie got me to the gas station for my coffee addiction and to Micky D's for food. And to warm up in. I finally had to give in and go stay at my SIL for one night as she called and said it was getting down to 6 degrees. I just didn't want to leave my house. On the first day I covered up with my blankeys and sewed on decorations on a sweater for Sim for his ugly sweater contest at work. And guess what he actually won!! Woo Hoo!! $10.00 gift certificate for Kroger's!! We can always use it!! We also used up both the batteries we had in our laptops to watch one of my fav movies "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

 

 

This is a selfie I took of myself awhile back when I was watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"! I guess the Grinch got me goin alittle wild n crazy!!



 

 On Christmas Eve our power was on for 10 minutes and then a power surge hit my neighbors pole and the fireman on my street turned off the main breaker and stopped what could have been something terrible!! But 8 of my neighbors got power back. We headed over to my MIL to see if hers was on it and yes it was!! We had a warm place for the night!! Woo Hoo!! I slept on her 2 seater couch and my legs kept kickin her Christmas tree Oh my goodness lot's of fun things to remember and cherish!! Sim tried the chair but that didn't work for him he went up stairs to his old bed. Brooke slept in my MIL bed with the cat cuz the cat hates Sim and wouldn't come out of the bedroom!! LOL My MIL was over my SIL due to the fact she didn't have power and it was to late for her to come that night.

 

This picture is a lot prettier than it looks!! If you look real close you can see my donkey weather vain in the top middle.

 

Just a couple of random shots of my yard. This tree has now been cut away from the wire. But was kinda scary layin on the power line like that.

BUT we did have a great Christmas with family. Christmas eve was at my cuzins and they were laughing cuz you could tell the ones without power! We were all layered up with clothes and I had a crocheted hat on to cover a multitude of sins with my hair!! LOL Good fun and laughter and exchanging of gifts! I got my favorite Starbucks gift card and chocolate covered cherries and a cute little cast iron pan to make brownies in with the mix!!

And then on Christmas we went to my SIL and Caylee was there and we had a good meal and exchanged gifts. My SIL got me and Sim a basket with two gift cards one for a steak dinner and then the movies!! AND some goodies to go with it!! Well guess what we went yesterday and had steak and went to the movies. We saw Grudge Match very sweet and funny.

 

 

And for some crazy reason I posed for this pic for Sim!! Could be trouble for me later!! LOL But we we had a great time which felt like forever since we were on a date!! Oh good times!!

And my best Christmas present Kaitlin is home for Christmas!! And ever since we have had bad weather!! LOL Both her parents were without power!! Poor babygril!! But we have had good times together and laughs. 

 

This is a lil brooch I made my MIL for Christmas. It turned out pretty sweet. I am working on a few bird items. And a really cool Crow item I made up!! LOL Always thinkin up something!! By the way everything posted in the single pics I posted last time that I made are sold!! I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!! We sure did!!

XOXO Love ya Fran.

 

 

And where oh where did November go?

An exchange; a barter.

 

Awhile back a very good and adopted blog friend who calls me Aunt Frannie asked me if I wanted to swap one of my Pigg Dolls for a surprise!! I said for sure!!! Jill is a folk art artist and creates the best altered art!!! She re-did this cool car for me for Halloween and made two felted dolls and a ghost for it!!! I LOVE it!!

 

As I look back I can't believe I didn't blog one time!! But the month sure got away from me!! I went and started out with the flu and bronchitis for the first two weeks!! I was so blasted sick!! And then I had to get myself going and back to playing Cinderella. I had a craft show I did but was still feeling run down. But I did it.

 

Last weekend I did two days up at our Farmers Market. That was kinda cool cuz Sim was there with his birdhouses and my niece and sister in law with their jewelry. I always like doing shows where I know people!!!

 

 

 

 I made up some gift baskets in berry baskets. I use to make gift baskets a lot but they are so expensive to make.

 

 

 I also have been making these LiL Scrappers hand made and designed by me!! The birds and tomatoes on wooden thread spools!!! Oh my goodness I love making them a lot!! I also used a bottle cap to put the moss in. They measure 3 1/2" high. They would make a cool pin keep!! LOVE them!!! That red one is calling my name!!! LOL

 

Here are a couple of my new creations!! "Papa Hoot" SOLD!! He was kinda cool and up cycled from a wool skirt I got at the Salvo. I added a cool mustache to him. A very wise Owl!!!

 



 

A new Snowman doll that I thought looked like a bird with the carrot nose up and down!! So I named her "SNOW BRYD". She is still available in my Etsy Shoppe!!

 

 

 

And you know how I LOVE a challenge. I had someone ask me if I could make this dachshund kinda like one she had seen on Pinterest as she couldn't find anyone who made them. This is not exactly like the one on Pinterest but is my own design. I made three of them!! LOL The one in this pic is my favorite!! I made it from an old vintage coat a friend have given me to use!! I used faux fur for the neck and an old vintage rhinestone button. Old vintage buttons for the eyes. And red cashmere from a sweater for the hat!! Oh I just love it!!! 

 

 

This one I used the same color brown felt like most dachshund's and a little baby Santa bootie for the hat with a gold jingle bell. Gold trim with one of my little grubby tags I make that says "Santa Paws".

 

 

 These little sweeties measure 3 1/2" high x 8". They are all hand sewed. I will be making more of these for sure!! I can see them for Valentine's Day!! I have one more that I need to finish the hat up on!!

Well that is alittle bit of where I have been. I swear time just seems to fly by so darn fast!! I got my surgery date for December 13th for my bladder. I am trying to get everything caught up for that. I have my last craft show this Saturday. AND the most important thing is Kaitlin is coming home the 19th of this month til Jan.6th!!! My Christmas is gonna rock!!! I miss my baby girl so much!!!

I actually think I am excited about Christmas sometimes I am not!!! We are putting up the tree tomorrow. I have missed blogging but have been keeping up on my facebook page!! Stop by and like my page. You can find it on the side of my blog. Come and see what things I can get myself in trouble with!! You know me!! LOL

XOXO Love ya Fran.

 

Been canning the PRIM way!!

 CAN YA DIGG IT?

I have been really concentrating on my Funky Farmhouse section of my Esty Shoppe!! And oh my goodness  I LOVE it!! My whimsical and Fran style is goin crazy!! I LOVE this one so much!! I made one of my Mice Pin Cushions (also available in my esty shoppe) and grubbied him up real good!! And made 3 little tomatoes and grubbied them up real good too!! Added some green moss and a grubby tag!! And a matching prim flower on the top. I will be listing this little cutie pie today.

Also just added these sweet lil pin cushions to the shoppe. Up cycled little girls shoes and vinatge easter seals on the tag. So sweet!!

This is our sweet grandaughter Caylee Roxanne in her bird nest!! Isn't it precious!!

 Sim and I are so geeked as we are going down to the kids on Halloween for a Chili supper, Halloween trick n treating with Caylee and then back for a s'more campfire!! I can't wait for that!! I'm not sure what Caylee is gonna be. But I can bet it's gonna be a princess cuz she loves them so much!!

Well I'm off to finish some cleaning I have been doing and hoping to get some creating time in also.

Love ya Fran.

XOXO

Celebrating 175 years!!

 My church turned 175 years old this year!! I am the Church Historian and I have been working on this for almost a year now! The celebration was this past weekend. We have the only historical marker in my hometown. As you know I love history of all kinds. So this is the perfect thing for me. I didn't realize though exactly how hard it was gonna be!! LOL I reached out to the community for wedding pictures. I kept thinking what has brought this church together the most over the years.!! WEDDINGS!! Alot of the weddings took place in the 50's. That is just about how far I could go back for pictures to be donated. The dress in the back belongs to me and was given to me when Hunny died a year ago by the family. I also got her wedding photo and old cake top. What a blessing I put her dress on my mannequin and the other dress is from the 1930's from another lady moms wedding but not at our church.

This is a close up of the dress.

This is a closeup of her wedding. 

The displays looked so pretty. My vision came together real good. We also had some other displays.

This one has Hunny's fur cape. The other coat with the fur collar belonged to an awesome lady that went to our church for years. It was found in the crawl space of her house after she died. The guy who bought the house was selling it at a sale. The black purse also belonged to another lady from my church and I just happened to go by when her son had a sale. Other vintage items are mine from estate sales. 

Most of these items are displayed at my house in my vintage living room.

 

 These cool hats belong to a another friend from church Mother's. Her Mother wore hats and gloves all the time. Some were even made by her Mother.

There was another big display from the Sunday School class. I had another table set up with vintage photos and information through the last 175 years. It was a three day event with music on Friday night, an open house and luncheon on Saturday. And then on Sunday we had people in our church service throughout the years that came back to help us celebrate!! and we had an awesome dinner afterwards.

This was the place mats we used that one of the men from my church donated for us. It is a vintage map from the 1800's with the streets and our church shown on it!! It was so cool of him to do that for us!! It added to the celebration. Our church is so pretty and it was all decorated for Fall. It was great having it but I am glad it's over. It has taken up alot of my time but was worth it.

Now I am ready to get back creating and focusing on the two craft shows I have coming up. 

XOXO Love Fran.

Hangin out on the East Coast!!

This is where I started right pass the Canada border!! We stayed in Rochester New York the first night. I really like New York and the pretty mountains. The Fall colors were everywhere. I got a coffee cup with this on it!!!

 My most favorite little trip we took was to Mystic Connecticut. I was suppose to see the ocean. But I didn't. Darn it. But I did see the Mystic River in this cool town. Julia Roberts made the movie "Mystic Pizza" here in this little fishing town. We ate at the very place where the movie took place. We got the house speciality pizza minus mushrooms for me!! LOL I hate them bad!! 

It is so cool they play the movie over and over throughout the day. There was a photographer there and he took pics of this couple eating their pizzas they got. It is still very popular after all these years. I got a coffee cup!! LOL

 My next favorite place was "The Cheesecake factory"!!! This was a special lunch for me n Kaitlin. She wanted to take me out to lunch there. As I love cheesecake and The Big Bang Theory!! Oh my gosh this place looks nothing like the one on the Big Bang!!

 Isn't this the coolest column? They are huge and so pretty!! And all through  the restaurant. This one is in Hartford Connecticut where Kaitlin goes to college at The University of Connecticut for her Masters.

 This is the awesome burger I got!! Let me say I could only eat half of it!!

 And this was my piece of Cheesecake I got!! Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter!! OMG it was to die for!! Half of it went home with me!!

 And this one here was my Sister in laws!! S'mores chocolate Cheesecake!! They melted the marsh mellow over it before they brought it out!! She had to take part of it home with her too!!! Seems like they might have even been better the second time around!! LOL

And of course this was one of my very favorite things was to be with my baby girl!!! We had a great lunch and day. We did get to do some shopping. Not much I need things were pretty high priced. 

"The Berry Farm" Berry Spoon

 "Farm Chick" pin cushion

I also wanted to share with you my new line I have started in my etsy shoppe!! It is my "FUNKY FARMHOUSE" section to go with my new Funky Farmhouse I am re-doing around here!! I am just making up alot of cute little things to help you make your farm house look alittle funky too!! And it is alot of fun and I have alot of thoughts and ideals running through my head. Got a few more things that just need a little tweaking and then they will be added to the shoppe!!

Happy October girlfriends!! It's good to be home!!

XOXO Love ya Fran.

WELCOME TO THE FUNKY FARM!!!!!

You know what is so cool? I have been trying to go alittle bit funky farmhouse around here lately and I remembered we had these cool seed sacks out in the barn and I also remembered that Sim had bought one that had a F on it!! After I hung this up as a curtain I realized that it said FUNK FARMS on it!! Rock on dude!! I was doing a happy happy happy dance!! Sim doesn't like it cuz it doesn't cover the whole window. But I kinda do. The crows help out alittle on the side but they are from my Fall decorations. When Sim gets done painting in this hallway I am sure it will change. But for now it makes me happy!! Doesn't take much!! LOL I had everything here that you see.

While I was resting on the couch last week from my surgery I tweaked my Etsy Shoppe. I had also been wanting to add a funky farmhouse section to it. I look at my creations and realize they are a bit funky!! It seems like when I make things they always have that same look to them. So I added that section and here is one of my funky farm girls for the Fall. I have quite a few things to add to my etsy shoppe. Just gettin around to taking pictures of them. Boy it took me a minute to start feeling better this time. My pain level was quite bad. I did do some sewing and now I just need to grubby them up!! 

I have been in the Fall mood myself just like everyone. I can see that the trees are starting to change some. Kids are back in school. That always gets me in the fall mood. My baby girl Kaitlin started at UCONN last week. Her classes are kinda hard. But she will get it. She loves her intern job at the school. 

Here are a couple of my new pin cushions for the Funky Farmhouse section of my etsy shoppe. The blue one is upcycled from an old cutter quilt piece and I made one of my lil chicks to go on the handle of the little silver dish. It has a spool of thread and a little silver thimble on the other handle. It has a tag that says "Farm chick" on it. It turned out so cute. The other one is a tomatoe pin cushion in an upcycled tomatoe canning funnel with a grubby tag that says "homemade" on it. I just love making these kinda things. I am trying to sell as much as I can cuz I am going to see Kaitlin on the 22nd of this month!! My SIL and MIL are going and asked me to go!! WOO HOO!! Connecticut here I come!!

And wouldn't ya know it our garden produced alot of tomatoes and are ready to be canned!! Oh if only I had all the energy that goes with this!! LOL I will do it alittle at a time. We have been having tomatoes anyway we can think of!! Tomorrow night we are having bacon, lettuce, and tomatoe sandwiches!! Yesterday I made a big batch of chili!! My stepson Nick and his fiance Danielle heard I made chili and invited them selves over for dinner!! It was kinda cute. I made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it. A great Fall dinner and we even ate outside on the picnic table.

I am doing pretty good and keeping busy. I am trying to take things one day at a time so I don't get over whelmed. Been staying on my diet and I have now lost a total of 5 lbs. Laughing at myself as I am typing this cuz I just decided to eat a couple of cookies!! Which means tomorrow I will start all over and try not to beat myself for it!! I know I am not weighing myself tomorrow!! LOL

Hope everyone is doing good.

XOXO Love Fran.

Been makin a new friend and hangin out at the Fair and the Pumpkin Patch!!

I just fell in Love with this little cutie!! I hung out at the Genesee County Fair last week. I only missed two days!! I had a blast!! This billy goat was just so cute. I went everytime I was there and visited her. And guess what I almost have a billy goat all sewed up in honor of her!! Laughing at myself!! Always designing and creating!!

Friday night was date night with Sim and the Billy Currington concert!! OMG I Love Billy Currington and this pic of me was him singing my favorite song!! "Must be Doing Something Right"!! Loved it!! We also went to the rodeo and Demolition Derby. I was really good and only had Fair Food one day!! Why does all the food have to be so bad for you and smell so good!! LOL I am on a diet and I have been good for the last two weeks I have lost three pounds!! LOL It is hard for me as I tend to hold water cuz of my bladder disease I have. But the docter is proud of me!! She told me to keep it up!! I am trying!!

 

 I had a special order for this pigg. I went out to lunch with one of my BFF's and she loves blue so I took "Rosie" with me to see if Carol liked her. And she did!! I told Rhonda who bought her that "Rosie" was very outgoing and to make sure she got to go away sometimes!! Rhonda works nights at the hospital so she took "Rosie" to work with her!!! LOL I told ya she is an out going pigg!! 

 

Besides working on my Billy Goat I have been making pumpkins!! Which I LOVE making. I have a friend in Maine who wanted some of my pumpkins to sit around. I am diggin the Fall Plaid ones!! I might have to make me some if she buys those!! Keepin busy. I talk to Kaitlin almost everyday. She loves her job and started her college classes today. I am going to see her for a week in September with my SIL and MIL. I am counting down. I am also trying to get everything caught up this week I am having surgery for my bladder on this Friday!! It has been so hot here for the last few days. EWW!! We are moving Brooke upstairs to Kaitlin's room Lot's of changes but all good!!

XOXO Love ya Fran.