It's that time of year peoples.....Laissez les bons temps rouler!!

OMGOSH....please forgive me for taking so long to write a new post peoples!! It seems I'm having some technical difficulties in getting my routine down with my new job. I do LOVE it though. Meeting so many wonderful folks if only for a short time span and knowing that each day will be a new group of folks to meet. I have met some characters too, let me tell ya!!!

If you have been coming to sit under the old Southern ooak tree to visit then you know in my last post I told y'all about going to Hobby Lobby (ohhhh I could live there I think...hehehe) and buying some new paints for some Mardi gras ornies. Well....I got them painted and they turned out really cute and that's not just me saying that now....really....it's not.

 This one is for Diana to keep once I change the tree to it's new Holiday. It's a fish with the words painted   "Fish River Grill".

See.....cute, ri iiight?? I've had several customer tell me that they loved the tree and the painted ornaments. That makes it all worth while and makes my heart smile too. I really enjoyed painting them and decided that since I'm at work during the day and Diana likes to keep her Christmas tree up all year at the grill that I would change it into a Holiday tree for the rest of the year. Each hand painted ornie has some of my Mardi Gras beads that I have caught over the years at the awesome parades we have down here during this time of year. I also left a few glass ornaments not painted and just added beads inside of them. Pretty effect by just keeping some simple.

Fish River Grill #2 official Mardi Gras tree!! I loved that she used purple and green colors for it for Christmas time because those ornaments can stay on it all year. Besides the ornies I painted I also added some Mardi Gras beads, some happy/sad face garland, some beaded mask necklaces, paper mask, a pair of musical Mardi Gras glasses, a pretty purple sparkly mask that my sweet friend Karen made and a Fleur de Lis tree topper. See the two little reindeer? Diana loves her reindeer and I wanted to keep them out all year too so they will be decorated as well...BAHAHAHAHA!!!! Don't they look ready to "PARTY" with their purple feather boas?

This hand painted glass ornie was done to add to the wreath.

Here's the wreath I made. I love making wreaths and I'm going to make a new one for each Holiday I change the tree to. I hung it on the register desk at the grill so that as folks walk in they can see we are in the Mardi Gras spirit to "Laissez les bons temps rouler". (Let the good times roll)

If you're in the area come see us at Fish River Grill #2. I promise you will LOVE the food and will not go home hungry!!!

Until next time.....remember...GET UP AND DO SOMETHING peoples!!!

Regi

P.S. Pssssst....I'm going to be adding some new items to my Etsy shoppe later this afternoon. 

Mardi Gras is coming soon!!

CHO CO me Boos.....I'm so excited that it's almost time for Mardi Gras!! Mardi Gras is officially February 17th but we all know that all the FUN and festivities start before that day. Our parades here in Gulf Shores actually begin this month...the first being on the 17th. I LOVE LOVE LOVE a parade and one where they throw beads and other items are THE best. If you're a local then here's the link to this years parade schedule.

I think that I'm going to put up my small table tree in the front room or maybe even in the family room if I can keep one tiny, mischievous cat away from it...hehe and decorate it for Mardi Gras. That means that I need to get to painting some glass ornies to put on the tree. I've been doodling some ideas and remember....these are just doodles...^_^

I will use greens, golds, purples and blues with these and of course glitter. Ya just have to have glitter to make it a true Mardi Gras bling bling. I'm thinking of doing a few ornies with just beads from past parades inside. Perhaps use some of the beads as garland for the tree too. Owww weeee.....I need to get started.

Until next time...........Do SOMETHING,
Regi

Happy Tuesday!! pssst..it is Tuesday, ri iight??

Happy Tuesday...the sun is shining...no wait...it's behind a cloud...ooohhhh there it is...it's shining. Nope...it's gone again..hehe  Seems Mother Nature can not make up her mind today. One of our "AWESOME" local photographers, Steve Jones, caught Mother Nature having one of her "I just can't decide" moments on his daily beach walk this morning. Steve has captured some amazing photos of our beautiful area and I think you would love to take a peek at them. Just visit HERE to see more of his work.

So you can see I'm not just making up this peek a boo game with the sun at the moment. Would I kid ya about something like that? Oh nooooo...not muah!!! Stop pointing that finger at me...ya know I wouldn't...well...not often anyways. HA!! Thank goodness the sun shone brightly this weekend for us but I have to admit it was a bit chilly. We didn't let that stop us from going on a beach walk though. HEY...that's what hoodies are made for and sweatpants and thermals and thick socks. Yes, yes..I told ya it was chilly!!! Our beach has been undergoing a sand restoration and if you take the time to sift through the sand they blew up on the shore then you can find some wonderful treasures the ocean gave up. The Chazman and I definitely took the time to sift through and here's some of the beautiful shells we found.

These are called Olives and I bet ya can guess why..hehe!! Do you see the sewing pin? I put that there in some of the photos to give you something to judge the size of some of the shells. Tiny little shell there and just think that most folks just walk over them or on them. It's the perfect little size to put inside one of my glass vials, don't ya think?

 These are called Whelks. You don't find the big ones complete very often but even the broken ones are so pretty and can be used to add to your beach decor. There's another tiny one!!!

These little beauties are in the Nautilus family. I would so love to find a BIG one of these. Wouldn't have to be as big as the one Dr Doolittle rode in (although that would be AWESOME) but a nice size one would be great.

This is a Canarium shell and probably the biggest one we found (The Chazman found this one while digging a hole in the sand..hehe) It's three inches long and the photo does not do the colors running through it any justice.

These are Moon shells and I love these. I see dragon snails coming out. How about you? We found one that was perfectly flat...you could see the spiral on top but I think that it just couldn't form itself into a shell. My camera wouldn't pick it up but it is a pretty little thing.

These are Auger shells and I have no clue as to why the photo came out a bit fuzzy. I know that my faerie muse said that these were not shells at all but (looking around) unicorn horns. Perhaps she was trying to keep anyone from seeing them. ^_^  She has given me some inspiration though...hmmmmm!!

These are wing oyster shells. I have been collecting these for a good while now. These in the photo we found this weekend though. Of course since my faerie muse jumped in about the auger shells my mermaid muse had to put her inspiration on these. They are really mermaid scales!! See where this might lead?

Of course no beach walk would be complete without finding some of these scalloped lovelies. Yes..these are called scallop shells or as the Chazman calls them 'FAN" shells.

Now all of the above are just a few of the shells we found. We love to find the broken ones that show all the beautiful twist and curves that are inside some. I found this one right when we were leaving and I'm so happy that I looked down.

Isn't this beautiful?  The twist inside....the perfect spots on the outside. I see a mermaid tail curled up and I'm hoping what I have envisioned....I can sculpt.

WOW....I'm writing a novel today aren't I and I'm not finished just yet either..hehe!!  I promised to show some photos of this month's Holiday tree. If you haven't been following me long, let me explain, in short version. The Chazman and I wanted to keep our Christmas tree up and decorate it for each Holiday during the year. Was that short enough? HAHA  Here's this month's....St Patrick's and Easter!!

Simple but pretty I think and the Chazman loves it. That's really what counts...making my little man happy. How do you like the Mardi Gras beads we twisted and used. Purple, blue and pink for Easter and green and gold for St Patrick's. Each year we will add more to our monthly trees but for now we will enjoy what we have.

I also worked on some cute clay charms to put on some hair twist for little girls. I have them sculpted out and am going to get them bakes and painted today. Wait....I think perhaps a little kittie got hold of the bear...his nose looks a little smushed. Ohh I need to resculpt him and hopefully, I will have them listed in my Etsy shop by tomorrow.

 I'm listing this cute little rabbit too. Come and shop...please and send friends...lots and lots of friends...hehe

Until next time..........Hugs,
Regi

February Holiday Tree is up!!

Well....we might be fighting that gnarly, nasty bug here but nothing and I mean NOTHING was going to make me break my promise to my Chazman about our Holiday tree. I promised him when we talked about doing this, that it would be changed out to it's new holiday the first of each month. A promise to your child is one that needs to be kept.

HAPPY FEBRUARY BY THE WAY!!!  February is a month with several holidays...like Ground Hogs Day which is tomorrow and Super Bowl Day which is Sunday (yes to some that is a major Holiday..hehe) There's Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day which we are celebrating with our tree. There's also Ash Wednesday and President's Day too. So many possibilities!!

A friend gave me a beautiful mesh ribbon wreath for my birthday this past October (thank you so much Shannon) and I have it hanging on my front door....sooooo...naturally, it is going to get decorated. ^_^  It is such a pretty wreath and I'm going to try and keep it looking that way and what better way than to use a pretty Mardi Gras mask and party horn and oh yes.....a few Mardi Gras beads that we caught in the past.

The Chazman got to choose which Holidays we had the tree represent this month. He picked very well I do believe. I wanted to pull the two together so I made two of my Mardi Gras paperdolls holding pretty glittery hearts. As well as making some cute little Valentine's paper tags and heart clothes pin holders.

What would Mardi Gras be without the laughing and sad jester's? We added those to our tree too....of course we had to separate them so no trouble would be cast about...one at the bottom, one at the top. HA!!

There is tinsel with happy carnival faces and strands of Mardi Gras beads all around the tree. We love it!! So happy that we decided to do this.

The Chazman has a special strand of beads that actually have the jester beads on it. The tree kinda overwhelmed it so we found a place that it would be seen and enjoyed. A new addition for this month to the tea party gang.

So that gnarly, nasty bug may have me down but so not out. I kept my promise to my little man and he is smiling brightly. He made my day when he told me that "I was the bestest mom in the world....cause I was making such AWESOME memories with him". Now that is the bestest medicine a mom could get when not feeling well. ^_^  

Happy February and until next time.............Hugs,
Regi

According to the calendar...it's FRIDAYYYY!!!

This year is going by so fast. I mean, can ya believe it's been two weeks already. Ok ok almost two full weeks but close enough AND it's FRIDAYYY!!! The Chazman is home today...the teachers are in school. (it's a teacher/employee work day..and here I thought they worked Mon-Fri already..hehe) SO with that being said (about the Chazman being home) I had better get to work on this post because I won't have use of the computer for long. (unless he decides to sleep in and that means sleeping til around 10)

I finished the last two of my vintage tags for our January/winter tree. I think they turned out pretty dang good, if I must say so myself. Yes yes I know...I just did. HA!!!

This little sweet guy walking his little doggie out in the cold and not minding it one least little bit. I made another of my beaded snowflakes or "Winter's Teardrops" as I like to call them. Used some of my colored pens to add a bit of color. Little man was to blahhhh being in black and white with those beautiful colorful wings. I just had to add some color to him....just had to I tell ya!!

Here's the last of the four tags and isn't she adorable. Ya best be shakin those noggins "yes yes". ^_^   I have been seeing folks posting old photos of kiddos on horses and that's what gave me the idea for this tag. I love being able to use all of a photo, like the butterfly wings. Little man had the top part of the print and little miss has the bottom. Would never know though, would ya? I used several different vintage images for this one. The pony (so cute) The little girl is one and her hat, coat and hand warmer were another. I added a pretty blue silk ribbon/bow to her collar and added an inspirational saying that I so love " Spirit...the vital principle or animating force within living beings" (I encircled it with some bronze chain) I also added some German glass on the hat and hand warmer. It's hard to see it on the computer but it looks so pretty when the lights shine off of it on the tree.  Speaking of the tree, I guess it's time to show it to ya'll........

The Chazman and I are so enjoying having it still sitting in the corner and winking blinking at us at night. The little bear on the ladder is holding a crystal in his hand and is getting ready to hang it on the tree. I have been using that ladder (which my parents gave me yearszzzzz ago) ever since Chaz has been in this world. He said he wants it in all the decorating we do throughout the year too. So I guess Ted E is going to be a very busy bear climbing up and down that ladder this year. ^_^

Did ya notice in the first tree photo my teapot collection and the Mad Hatter sign I made? Let me show you a closer photo...don't want ya to miss seeing it.

I love making little signs and I will decoupage this one later on so it will last for a longer time. The print is an image of one of the illustrations from the children's book, Alice in Wonderland. Well....ok...I guess ya probably already knew that. DUHHH!! I added the Cheshire cat sitting in the tree, the teacup full of flowers that's Alice's cup, the strawberry shortcake (I mean what's a tea party without sweets, ri iight?) the cute little extra teapot, the little Mad Hatter label and the sign that states " We're all quite made here!! You'll fit right in".  Since I collect teapots and my own original Mad Hatter is sitting with them, I just had to make a sign. I noticed now too in the photo of the tree and the teapots that there is a blank space in between the Mad Hatter sign and my mermaid soap sign. I guess I know one thing I will be doing today....making something to hang there...HAHA!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today to visit with me and I hope that you will do so more often this year. If you see something that I have made and would like some instructions, just ask and I will email you the how to's or even do a post about it. I love to share...sharing is a very good thing!! Also, I have decided that 2013 is going to be a year of giving. I will without announcement except in the post that will let you be "THE ONE" give the number of the comment for that post that will become "THE ONE" to win something that I have made during the year. I think it will be fun and hopefully get more to come and visit with me. I like my visitors and yes...I will stoop to bribery to get them to come. hehe

Until next time...........HUGS,
Regi

WOOT WOOT...ALABAMA Boys did it again!!

OK...(still woot wooting) yes I am VERY excited that our ALABAMA boys did it again....winning the National championship last night. They played awesome!! Congratulations guys!!

Ya'll will never guess what I did this weekend. Noooo...I'm not going to make you guess, I'll tell you straight away. HA!!  I took all my Christmas decorations down with the exception of our big Christmas tree in the family room. Do I see SHOCKED faces out there? hehe  I did take all the Christmas ornaments off . I let the white lights (just something about sitting in the dark with just the tree on and squinting at the lights...they look like shining stars) and the cranberry beads stay on it though. I have always wanted to leave the tree up to decorate for other holidays throughout the year but never had the "nerve" to. Well...this year I decided what the heck...I'll do it!! The Chazman is very excited...he loves when we decorate for holidays and man oh man are there some good holidays to decorate for. There's.....Valentines, Mardi Gras, St Patrick's, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know there are a few more in between.  For this month we are decorating it with just a winter theme. So far I have some of my handmade snowflakes on it. Here's the link if you would like to make some....they're FUN to make. We hung some vintage crystals on it....they are suppose to represent ice. HEY...it's a winter tree!! The cranberry beads represent holly berries which grow abundantly in cold weather plus I added a few more faux holly berries in with the pine cones. Our winter tree still needed a few more items so yesterday I started working on some tags to hang on the branches.

WOW....time really can get away from you when you are having fun...the saying is true!!! I spent most of yesterday finding vintage images I wanted to use. I just love vintage children photos but there sure are some creepy looking ones out there. Wait wait...I could use some of those for Halloween or All Souls day. I need to go back and reference those for later use. (where's that muse when I need her...she could have reminded me of that YESTERDAY) It takes time too in saving them....printing them out and sorting them. Today I'm working on detailing them, putting German glass on some, using lace, string, buttons, shells....just what ever I have stashed about that I can use on them to make them purty!!  Now, do ya see the last WIP photo..the one with the cones? Noooo, they aren't going to be clown hats..hehe...they are cones that the little snowbabies will be sitting in. I'm excited to get them finished. So I'm ending this post so I can.....PLAY!!!

Until next time..........Hugs,
Regi