Egggg-cellent

*SPOILER - if you are a part of Shara's Eggstra Special Swap I am about to reveal mine so if you want to be surprised . . . move along!*

So, as you know, I joined Shara's swap where you had to make an egg themed craft and make 13 of them. Since my Victorian Christmas ornaments turned out so well I decided to have a go at making them a bit more spring themed.



I made 4 different designs, 3 bunnies and an angel.









I really enjoyed making these! Who doesn't love crepe paper ruffles? I would put them on everything if I could.



I hope everyone in the swap likes my eggs! I added little fortunes to each egg so they will also get a little surprise there as well. I purchased the fortune cards from The Speckled Egg.

~RR

PS - do the photos look weird? I tried to "auto correct" them. (All except the first one.) Not sure I'm loving them.

What I'm Loving . . .

Just a post about things that are making me happy!

Annie's Bunny Grahams - I love them all but my new favorites are Bunny Friends which is a mixture of honey, chocolate and chocolate chip.



Made from organic ingredients and with only 20 net grams of carbs in 30 cookies I can have these as a snack with only a small amount of insulin. (130 calories and 4.5 grams of fat per serving!)

Too Faced Walk of Shame Collection - a gift from my sister!



A great collection with the best lipstick and palette. I think any complexion would work with these shades and LOOK at that cute bag!

My new Tarina Tarantino bracelet.



Cute, right?? I got it as a free gift with purchase at Sephora!

I love Le Sport Sac bags and my latest set, found for super bargains at Marshall's, is in this super fun pattern:



I have the duffle, the tote bag and today I found the make up bag. Le Sport Sac discontinues their patterns pretty quickly and since I never buy them at full price it's pure luck to find any that match on the clearance racks!

And a crafty love? These sweet paper mache eggs from the latest issue of MSL:



Wouldn't they also make the cutest orange pumpkins in the fall?

So what are you loving these days? Write a blog post (or a Facebook note) and leave the link in the comments section!

cheers
~RR

Let the Games Begin!

The judging is going on over at Plush You for the Winter Olympics Plushie contest. I've never been featured on another blog before! Now I know she is putting up everyone in the category BUT STILL. Go take a look! Featured HERE! (hee hee) Wish Hippolita Hoppington luck!

And you know I'm still plugging away over here filling up my very own ark, right? I realized that I didn't share one of my favorites:



I call him Percy. He is knit from cotton blend Yarn Gang yarn and his pattern can be found in Vogue Knitting on the Go: Quick Gifts. The Vogue to Go books are full of fun quick projects and can be found for a pretty good price in the Amazon marketplace. Percy needs to have his scarf ironed! I really like how he turned out but I think it's sooo much easier to make crocheted toys. I have three half made animals that I hope to share soon.

hugs
~RR

Always Last to the Party

I'm so behind in the times. I'm not exaggerating. I JUST started watching Grey's Anatomy. Um, yeah. You can't make that up. So the places and things I'm about to share with you are probably old news but they are brand spankin' to me.

Have you visited Pimp Stitch? They have collected some of the most fabulous sewing, needlework and all around crafty tutorials out there. Some of my favorites:


photo courtesy of Pimp Stitch
Printable Sticky Note Cozy. Who doesn't want to pimp their Post Its??


photo courtesy of Pimp Stitch
Doll House Potholders. Hey, if I'm cooking, I'd better be surrounded in cuteness.

Another new favorite blog is Happy Loves Rosie. I want my blog to look like that. I discovered it over at Lollishops which is also quite cute.

And have you started your Easter crafting yet? Hmm? Well how about those super cute polymer bun-buns?


photo courtesy of Swirly Designs
From, ahem, 2009. So last year? I think not.

So yes, I'm behind the times, but I'm having a great time being inspired. Now if only I were home in my craft room (and it was miraculously clean and tidy) and I wasn't exhausted all the time. A girl can dream . . . look out May, I'll be back and rarin' to go!

Anything new to share with me? And I don't really care how new it is. :)

xoxoxoxo
~RR

Time keeps on slipping . . .

Sigh . . . I'm so tired of sitting around. I'm tired of the pain. I'm being very impatient with this, I know, and the urge to be uber whiny is hard to repress.

I've been doing some designing:



Including actually writing down the pattern for my frog and a set of really cute jungle themed bowling pins and balls. I'm very excited about that project and will share it once I get the kinks worked out.

Today I am home alone well Mom gets some much deserved fun on an outing with my aunt. I am catching up on my TV (watching reruns of Grey's and the last season of Heroes) and working on a crochet project that I don't have to think too much about:



I've decided that since I'm sitting here I might as well make some things to be used for gifts next year because as soon as I can walk I'm going to be non-stop. All I can think about is cleaning. I can't wait to get home and organize my craft room, switch out the winter clothes for summer (please let them still fit! I know I'm growing doughy in my convalescence) and basically reacquainting myself with my possessions. (I have a major urge to purge! Spring cleaning mania? Maybe.)

Over at SGS we are thinking about having a late spring swap. If you don't know, there are 5 wonderful ladies "on staff" and we take turns handling the issues depending on who has what going on. I wasn't much help with the last swap due to my back surgery and Heidi and Shara were left to deal with what was definitely our most drama filled swap to date. They both spoke of quitting (and I don't blame them) but I may have convinced them to stick around a bit more. I hate that we had so many problems with flakers, nasty emails and just down right craziness. So we are working on ways to better screen participants. In all honestly, MOST people are great. But it's the small amount who are not that ruin it for everyone. So if anyone has any suggestions on how we can conduct a better swap please leave a comment here or over at SGS. Oh and we are always looking for swap ideas, too!

Stay well . . .
~RR

A Little Nookie

My sweet husband just sent me a wonderful gift, the new Barnes & Noble eReader, the nook.



I had mentioned to him last year that I was curious about it but was still on the fence. I love books. I love the feel of them, the look of them stacked up next to the bed, the smell of the paper, you name it. I couldn't imagine giving that up. Of course now I realize that I will still be buying books at the thrift and yard sales, etc, but that the nook is a great way to purchase new titles and carry your library with you. I have already downloaded "Shutter Island," which was a $4 special this month, and plan to start it tonight. There are lots of free books, including classics and cheesy romances a like, and many books under $5 and $10.

The nook itself is neat and compact. You can download photos, music and pdfs from your computer. I'm thinking to have a collection of knitting and crochet patterns on hand at all times!

Can you tell I'm excited? Since I've met Luis I'm always on top of the new technological trends, lol. His first ever Christmas gift to me was a DVD player. He couldn't STAND watching video tapes on my scratch old TV and when my roommate's father bought her a new TV he jumped right in with the DVD player. He actually carried it on the train all the way to Baltimore. This year, in addition to the nook, he also just sent me a fancy new phone:



I love that's it's red and has flowers on it. Hello, ladies phone! Louie has always treated me to fancy gadgets. I think he "understands" them more so then jewelry and flowers, lol. However he has also given me Lenox crystal candle sticks and a pretty china ring holder when I was upset for breaking mine. So over all, he's a pretty good egg and I'm lucky to have him.

Thanks for the gifts, dear! That nook will get plenty of use while my leg heals.

~RR

Family Ties

Hello! I'm hard at work on my eggs for Shara's swap so I haven't been doing as much crocheting and have no new projects to share. I do have a few finished animals that I am really happy with that I still need to photograph and I'm also in the middle of another animal for an original design contest put on by Red Heart Yarn. That's it for me for crafting news.

Soooo in the mean time I thought I'd share some favorite old family photos. Some of my cousins and I have been sharing photos on Facebook and having a blast! In fact we have plans to put together a "Pasta Sunday" where everyone will bring their old photos and we'll watch my parents old slides as well. So what is Pasta Sunday? When my mother was young she spent Sunday's eating pasta at her Aunt Gloria's with all of her cousins. They still try to get together these days for a modern day Pasta Sunday. So now on with the show!



This is my mother as a young girl. I love her sassy pose and stripey dress!



My parents not long after they were married. My Mom says that hair cut is called a Sassoon and was quite popular! The little dog is Tiffy and she used to bite people. She was my mother's first daughter lol.



My mother's parents, Helen and Wes, on a vacation in Atlantic City. Everyone thinks I look like my grandma when she was a young woman. She was really happy when I dyed my hair red in college because she always wanted a red handed grand daughter lol. Both are passed away and greatly missed.



This is my Great Great Aunt Sissy. She was my grandmother's aunt and her name was Lucia. She went by Lucy but I guess I couldn't say that as a child and called her Sissy instead. It stuck. (Sorry Aunt Luce!) She was quite the fashionable lady and gave me my love of vintage clothing. She gave me jewelry, gloves, coats and handbags to die for. I still harbor a dream of opening a second hand store called Aunt Sissy's Attic someday.

I hope you've enjoyed this walk down my mother's side of the family. This is my Italian side and we have a lot of photos. I don't have as many of my Polish/Irish side of the family but hope to find some and scan them in. Here is the current generation:



Myself and my sweet hubby Louie who has added a touch of South America, Colombia specifically, to our family tree.

cheer
~Rebecca