Top Ten Projects of 2008

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is having a Top Ten Projects of 2008 party. Back in January of 2008, one of my resolutions was to be more creative, so this is a good reality check for me. I went back through my posts and scraped together ten of my projects from 2008 and here they are.

#1 - Glittery Letter Banners

I'd been wanting to make some of these for ages, so in January I made my inspirational word for the year: FOCUS.

I also made these for a giveaway.

And this one for Halloween.

And this one for Christmas.

#2 - Wall quotes

I'd seen these in a magazine, and when I spruced up my office I just had to have this on the wall.

#3 - Lavender Wands

I did a tutorial on these in May when the lavender was blooming.

#4 - Lavender Sachets

I made lots of these throughout the year. They are so quick and easy and fun to personalize.

#5 - Halloween Silhouettes

I saw these in a shop but they were too big, so I designed and made my own. Simple and fun.

#6 - Felted animals

I saw felting on a blog and LOVED the idea. I actually made a few other animals before I made these dogs, but they seemed most photogenic.

#7 - Halloween Vignette

I love Halloween and always wanted to do the buffet up like this.

#8 - Halloween Wreath

I'd never had a good Halloween wreath so this was my creation for 2008.

#9 - Flower Baskets

I'd wanted some of these for ages and finally found the baskets at Home Debit.

#10 - Redwork Embroidery

I just barely snuck this one in in the last few days of December.

So looking back over the year I feel pretty good about being more creative, but I'd like to do more home decorating projects. Teen2 says she wants to redo her bedroom, so maybe that will be the first project of 2009.

Please join Rhoda and all the other creative bloggers out there at Southern Hospitality. Maybe you'll be inspired too!

Winter Surprises

I always prune my roses in January. So last weekend I was out there pruning for hours and I found a few surprises. One was this pink rosebud. Even though the weather has been chilly, here is a rose still putting on buds!



In shady area of my garden mosses are starting to bloom again. Here are some on a stepping stone. I also find moss on the bark of the oak trees, on the roof, and directly on the soil. I like mosses, and often wish I had more.

I found another wonderful surprise in my friend JB's garden on Saturday. Look at those finches gorging on Niger seeds! They were plentiful and almost tame; I want to get one of those feeders. And in my own garden I saw these little birds clinging to the wall eating bugs I guess. I think they are bushtits.

Sometimes winter can seem a little boring. Maybe that's because we are all inside by the fire oblivious to what's happening outdoors. We'd probably be amazed at what's happening if we only got out Amongst The Oaks.

Tasting in the Shenandoah Valley

We had a nice adults-only Day Out yesterday. We went tasting in the Shenandoah Valley with some old friends. First we visited the Sobon Winery. Next to their tasting room they have an interesting museum of Shenandoah Valley history. The d'Agostini family immigrated from Italy in 1856 and started this winery. The Sobon family purchased it in 1989 and have since produced some impressive wines using sustainable farming practices in their carbon neutral facility.

Here we are: me, the Lord of the Manor, UF and JB.

After a little wine tasting we drove down to Plymouth for dinner at a restaurant called Taste. We had never eaten there, but they had and {WOW!} what a treat. It was fabulous! Their seasonal menu offered many temptations, but we started with mushroom cigars that were absolutely wonderful. But then I'm earthy and LOVE mushrooms and goat cheese. Then the girls had the Del Rio Arugula salad, LoM had Watermelon Radish salad, and UF had Roasted Cauliflower soup. For our entrees we had Pork Roulade, Rack of Lamb, and two unlisted specials; Beef Short Ribs and Hoki. Then the boys had desserts; Affogato di Gelato and Creme Brulee. And everything was perfect: the ambiance, the service, the food, and the company.

Here is my entree. Sorry about the lighting.

We had a delightful day out and we brought home this little souvenir to enjoy later here Amongst The Oaks.

Goodbye to Christmas

Today was "Goodbye to Christmas" day. I undecorated the Christmas tree and put away all the decorations, garland, and whatnot. I still have to do the outside decorations, but it was raining, so I'll wait until tomorrow. Maybe the rain will let up.
But I just couldn't put everything away so I left up these lights around the mirror. They do add a bit of cheer to this dreary month, don't you think?

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a safe and warm celebration last night. The Lord of the Manor and I stayed home, drank a very nice bottle of Merlot, watched a movie and went to bed early. At midnight I heard fire works signaling the beginning of a new year. And this morning we started it out with a brisk walk. It was very quiet out, I guess everyone is sleeping in and/or recovering from excess libations.I want to share these photos from Hope Valley and Lake Tahoe that we took on our trip. The beauty of snow covered mountains never ceases to amaze me. The first two are in the Hope Valley area.

This photo is of Lake Tahoe from the road to Emerald Bay near Inspiration Point. The road was closed to traffic so we started walking up, but a snow plow driver told us to get off the road, so this is as far as we made it.

This is Emerald Bay.

And this is Cascade Lake from the same location.

Wishing you all a safe and prosperous New Year from Amongst The Oaks.

Winter Crafts

One of my New Year's resolutions way back in January was to do more craft projects. And over the year I have done a few, but one I'd been wanting to do just never happened until we went to the cabin. My idea was to make a redwork tea towel of all our trips so I took these tea towels and some red embroidery floss and finally finished one. I had sketched them out and this one seemed easiest, so here is Mexico 2007. Ta Da!

We drove to Mulege in Baja Mexico and saw lots of cactus amongst the hills, and lots of shells at the beach so those are all the things I put in the design. Below you see my rendition of a jumping cholla cactus. I'm quite happy with the first one and have several others sketched out. I'll post photos as I finish them.


Another project that I finished was this SNUGGLE banner. When I found out about the cabin visions of red plaid started spinning in my head, so I got a few sheets of red plaid scrapbook paper and cut them into triangles. Then I glued them onto the stiffer white paper and cut out the letters. Unfortunately I used the wrong glue for the white glitter and they came out yellow! Awk! I tried to make them white again, but they were a disaster so I threw them out. So into my craft bag went the half-finished banner, some extra card, new white glue and the glitter. And on Christmas Eve there I was making new letters and finishing the banner. I'm glad I didn't give up and took supplies to finish it there.

And look, after seeing the banner day after day, Teen2 took its advice and snuggled up for a nap one afternoon. Under red plaid. Too cute.

Cozy Cabin

I'm going to sound like an advertisement for Sorensen's Resort, but I've just got to show you how cute their cabins are. We were in Ponderosa. It's a two room cabin that sleeps four people.

Here is the front of the cabin. It has a covered porch with room for your ice chest and the firewood that is replenished daily by the management.

Inside is a picture and explanation of the ponderosa pine.

Here is the bedroom side; two double beds, a dresser, a recliner, the wood stove, and a closet and bathroom (out of the picture to the right).

Here is the kitchen side; windows on three sides, table and four chairs, frige, sink, storage and range.

To make our cabin a little homier, I brought this "SNUGGLE" banner, Christmas dishes, red plaid table linens, and some woodsy candles.

But I didn't have to do a THING to improve the views. I love this little cabin.

Christmas in the Snow

We are back from the cabin in the snow and I must say we had fun, fun, fun!We stayed at Sorensen's Resort on Hwy 88 and it was perfect. We had snow, good food, a cozy cabin, lots of red plaid, lots of friendly "neighbors", and plenty of time to rest, relax, and recharge our batteries.

We left home Christmas Eve around 10:30am and drove up to about 3500' before we saw any snow, but a storm was predicted so we expected the worst. And as conditions deteriorated we just slowed to 30 mph and allowed the car to take care of us. I'm not a car nut (I'll leave that to the Lord of the Manor) but I've gained a new respect for our little car. It has all wheel drive and a stability control system that constantly adjusts to the changing conditions. We didn't put it in four wheel drive, and we didn't install chains, but it performed beautifully on those snowy and icy roads.

We arrived at the resort about 3:30 and got settled in. The Lord of the Manor made a fire in the little cast iron stove, and all night long the storm howled around the cabin.

We awoke on Christmas morning to a winter wonderland and no water, but we scooped up the fresh clean snow and melted it on the gas stove to make coffee and tea. Then we had Eggs Benedict for breakfast, opened presents, and went out to play in the snow. Our kitchen windows overlooked the little sledding hill, so I was able to watch the action even whilst making the apple pie.

We also went down to the parking lot to look at the cars. It had snowed quite a bit, but we weren't going anywhere, so it didn't matter to us. That's our car there.

Eventually we got the roast in the oven and sat down to Christmas dinner while the snow continued to fall and this cooled near the window sill.

This is typical scenery for the Hope Valley; it's just so pretty! And apparently it's popular around the world, as we had "neighbors" from France, Germany, and England. I'll show more photos later, but for now I'll leave you with this teaser.

Posted by Laura from Amongst The Oaks.

Christmas in the Country

We had a lovely day at my sister's house in the country. One of my favorite scenes was little cousin feeding the horses. He started with a few stems of hay, then went to handfuls of hay, then graduated to armfuls of hay, leaving a trail from the barn to then fence every time. It was so cute.

The older cousins had a great time wrestling on the sofa, laughing and just generally being teenagers.

And look, a special treat! Santa was there and I got my girls to pose with him. I've tried to get a picture of them with Santa from the time they were tiny, but lately they have been a little uncooperative about it. Maybe they are embarrassed to stand in line at the Mall with all the little kids? Anyway, with this Santa there was no complaining. They happily hopped on his chair and I got a great photo to add to my collection.

We are going up to the hills tomorrow to spend Christmas in a rustic cabin in the snow. This is the special new tradition that the Lord of the Manor arranged and I'm delighted! I'm looking forward to peace and quiet and the special magic that snow creates. It looks like Christmas Day will be stormy, so we'll snuggle up inside, play games, drink cocoa, listen to music, cook dinner, and enjoy each other's company. Happy Christmas to all of you from Amongst The Oaks, temporarily amongst the snow.

Old Family Photo Gifts

I had some reprints of ancestors made for my siblings. This morning (last minute 'cause the party is today) I started wrapping them. I had no idea what to use, so I scrambled around in the wrapping paper box, found this black and white toile and some black ribbon, and made these envelopes to hold the photos.

Then I made little tags to hold the ribbon down and the Lord of the Manor suggested sealing wax, so I found that and Voila! they're done. Now I've got to run. The Lord of the Manor has loaded the car, Teen1 and Teen2 are ready, and it's time to hurry off to my sister's house.