art with the girls

what a fun girls night out! and look at this beautiful, fun heart i made. my good friend L invited me to a girls night at art in the attic. we had such a fun couple of hours....doing art, drinking wine and hanging out with the girls. miss carol, who's attic space is to die for, was so sweet to teach us how to paint these beautiful hearts. i hung mine on my front door and just love it! hanging out in the attic was just what i needed....it's such a cool, tiny, cozy, filled with color and tons of creativity space...oooh i loved it!

healthy snack

my 5 year old attended a cooking class this week. the topic was breakfast. he absolutely loved the breakfast banana split! so much that he is making them at home now. chopped up banana, strawberry yogurt, sliced peaches, and topped off with granola. it's nothing new really, but it's new to him and he loves it. it's easy for him to make himself too which makes him feel all grown up. easy-peasy, healthy and yummy!

black and white trays

i finished up a batch of black & white trays today. i think they turned out oh so beautiful and would like to keep all of them for myself! this always happens....i love every tray i make so much that i want to keep each of them. how silly is that??! i thought these black & whites would make such fun 'chargers' for my dining room table. but i have packed them up and they will be delivered to the shop on thursday.

a new look for the smaller tray...paper on the inside as well as the outside. this one has appetizer plates and a kitchen towel. add your own bottle of wine or olive oil for a great gift. a great use for the tray would be to place it by your cooktop and fill it with olive oil and spices that are used for cooking. or, maybe a lucky someone would be served a yummy muffin and cuppa coffee in bed. this small but useful tray has a million uses.

soups on

one of my favorite soups....

homemade country cheddar soup.

a yummy soup for a winter day. and instead of my usual 'grazing' while the boys eat, i treated myself to something special today. my lunch on a tray. i love when i remember to do this for myself. it seems that time slows down for a minute and the food, for some reason, tastes better. i'm going to make an effort to do this more for myself.

happy new year!

happy 2008! what a great year 2007 was. i always get a little sad to say goodbye to the past year but challenge myself to reflect on the good and not so good times and learn from it all. a clean, fresh slate always starts the new year and this year i've made no resolutions. and it feels great! i'll just continue on my mission of personal growth from years past.

this clock table was one of my first projects of the new year. a raty old table i found at an estate sale finally got a face lift. i painted the legs black, stained the top and then hand painted the clock face on the top. i felt it just needed something ... it looked so empty with nothing on it. this large clock takes center stage and i don't even feel like it needs a table scape of any kind on it. ok...maybe it needs a tray! it lives in my basement family room and i love it.