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Thursday, December 15, 2011

Sterling Pear Photo Shoot

Sterling Pear Gold Christmas Tree Skirt
About two weeks ago my friend Janet, the co-owner of Sterling Pear asked for my help styling a photo shoot for her of some of the new products including a gold quilted tree skirt, stockings and table runner. She wanted gifts to go in the stockings and around the Christmas tree. Our friend Jeannette had picked out the most lovely gift wrap and gold silk ribbon and she needed my help wrapping the "gifts."

The papers were beautiful colors, thick and textured with multiple silk-screened layers or flocking. I wrapped each gift and then tied each bow a different way. I even used the Easiest Bow Ever Tutorial on the big present on the left. The ribbon only came in one width which would have overwelmed the smaller boxes so I cut in half lengthwise.
Sterling Pear Gold Quilted Stocking
The pictures came out lovely. Be sure to check out all the other unique items from Sterling Pear including mantle clips, keepsake storage boxes, and hand painted ornments.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Welcome December

It's all about the advent around here. My mum put out her beautiful advent calendar today. Every morning the niece opens a door to find a piece of the nativity and a treat.
The niece opening the first door this morning. She found an angel and a chocolate.

This is what it will look like on Christmas Eve.
And, we started a new tradition this year. Dana from Made posted about wrapping up 25 Christmas books and having her kids open one every day until Christmas. So, I raided my mum and sister's bookshelves and found 25 Christmas-themed books for my niece to read.
Some are fun


 Some have a good message

And some tell the true story of Christmas

I have a few favorites
 I wrapped them up and put sticky letters and numbers on them.
 Every day the niece will choose a book to read. I'll let her choose if she wants to start with 1 (the calendar day) or 25 to count down to Christmas.

Some are a little long so I put a shorter book the following day so the niece could finish the previous book. I tried to alternate the fun with the more faith-building so there is a good mix. The niece loves to read and open presents so I think she will enjoy this.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you have time, stop by my other blog, The Vintage Sheet Blog, I'm doing a little gift guide and giveaway link up party.


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Vintage Sheet Love

Exciting news: I'm the new leader at the Vintage Sheet Blog! I've been a follower of the blog for a long time now so when I found out that Jen was moving on to pursue other things, I immediately raised my hand and sent her my ideas.

It's been a busy but fun project. But, I love vintage sheets as seen on these projects posted here on this blog:
Owl Bags
Pink Bunting
Green Bunting
I also have an Etsy store filled with vintage sheet fabrics pieces and pillowcases.

It will be fun juggling two blogs but I have a plan. We Grow By Own Dreams will still have recipes, holiday decorating, papercrafting, and non-vintage sheet sewing projects as well as the occassional random post. The Vintage Sheet Blog will have my projects and tutorials made with vintage sheets as well as link parties and other vintages sheet fun.

So, stay tuned because I still have a coule recipe tutorials as well as Harry Potter party details to post about here, on We Grow By Our Dreams. Thanks for stopping by today.


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Harry Potter Party Overview

We do parties big at the Grow Home, especially my niece's birthday bashes. This year, we had a Harry Potter party complete with a multi-course banquet, potion-making and Herbology classes, an egg hunt, pinata, and a game of Quidditch. There were so many details and I took so many pictures that I am going to do a quick overview as well as more detailed posts with the food, decor, and games.

Welcome to Hogworts.

Party attendees were students at Hogwarts. The Birthday Girl was named, "Student of the Month."
There were many potions on display. Some silly, some creepy but the students mostly enjoyed mixing their own potions.

 

 We transformed our living/dining room into a banquet hall.

I'll do another post on just the food but in the meantime, here are pics of the bubbling punch
 chicken legs, mashed potatoes and carrots
 and the cake.
 The kids played a very competitive game of Quidditch.
 The students enjoyed learning about "Herbology."
 
 Of course we did the traditional Pinata and opening of gifts too.


All the students went home with handmade owl goody bags full of treasures. 


 Stay tuned for futute posts on all the food, the decorations, the games, and all the handmade details.  My sister spent months doing research and creating all the handmade details that made the day so special. It really paid off with an amazing event that the niece and all her friends will remember for years to come.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Happy World Card Making Day!!!

Welcome to We Grow By Our Dreams. I hope that you have had the opportunity to see all the other wonderful Christmas creations made by the talented Operation Write Home cardmakers. If not, click here.

Below is my card that I am happy to share with you before it is sent to a hero serving abroad. I hope that the hero will use this card to keep in contact with his/her family and let them know that they are loved and missed.


If you like to make cards, please consider making cards for our heroes. You may also help out by donating money to pay for postage. Every little bit helps and our heroes appreciate it.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I've Been Published Times Two

Long time no blog. Sorry. Hey, but I have some good news. I'm in two publications this Summer. One crafty, one not-so-much.

The first is Just Cards Magazine. They published a baby card that I sent them in a bundle of ten cards over 2 years ago. This is the third card from that bundle that has been published. That reminds me I should send them more cards. :)
Next, totally-nothing-to-do-with-crafting-but-still-cool, I wrote an article about remembering September 11th. It was published in our Police Officers Association publication, Justice for All. I was honored that they wanted to print it, especially since they usually only print articles written by fellow officers. It's on page 4 if you want to read it. And, look, they even printed a picture of me (the officer authors don't have that!)
Thanks for letting me toot my own horn. I'm currently trying to create the best sugar-free coconut cream pie recipe. I'll let you know (by way of a tutorial) when it happens. Let me know if you have any tips on coconut cream pie.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Memorial Weekend Blog Hop-Miss You

Welcome to the We Grow By Our Dreams hop along the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Weekend Bloghop. Hopefully you came here from Ky's Bunny Nest. If not, you can start at the top of the hop by clicking the above graphic.

I'm in love with the yellow/white/gray color combo and the ruffle technique that I learned from Sandy, our fearless OWH leader. So, I made this card for someone serving in our armed forces to send home to a loved one. 
I hope that this card will help someone at home to feel very loved. That is why I make cards for Operation Write Home.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Please leave a comment so I can know that you were here. :)
Next hop: Deborah from Thoughts of a Grasshopper

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A Royal Tea

We love any excuse for a party around here. And, like most people we anxiously awaited the nuptials of Kate Middleton and Prince William.
  We wanted to celebrate with the British people. We live in California so that meant watching the wedding live at 3 a.m. We didn't dress up. Hey, I was lucky to get the fam up that early. But, when food is involved, the family can't resist.

Of course we had our herbal tea. Our favorite is chocolate coconut (very non-British but yummy.)
Actually, we started our party early by having Fish n' Chips for dinner. Then, woke up to the rest of the goodies. For some reason, we had no problem having another huge meal at 3 a.m.
We bought the scones and some of our other treats at Bristol Farms. In fact, they were ready for us with a whole section dedicated to the Royal wedding. We enjoyed the scones with clotted cream and marmalade.
I made some cucumber and egg salad sandwiches. The cucumber are then niece's favorite.

Welsh cheese with crackers. Not only are we Welsh but this was our little tribute to William's mother, Princess Dianna.
I made an English trifle with blackberries, angel food cake, lemon pudding and whipped cream.
For dessert number two I made chocolate bread pudding.
For dessert number 3 we had a small grooms cake. This was another Bristol Farms purchase. It was a chocolate cake with crushed cookies and dried fruit with a ganache frosting and dusted with gold.
That's the end of the food. Ha ha ha. I decorated the dining room with British nick knacks and I covered a bulletin board with a map of London and other London postcards, photos, brochures and souvenirs.
We loved the wedding. But some of our royal guests could care less. This is Moses (aka the Prince of Egypt)
 And, this is Kinsey, she is a corgi like the Queen's dogs.
I wonder if the Queen's dogs sleep in this position.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. Sorry I didn't get these pics up a couple weeks ago. And, sorry the picture quality is poor. We don't have a lot of natural light at 3 a.m. :) I'll have another post this weekend. For sure.

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