Romantic Chic Wedding

Weddings are wonderful, aren't they? We recently attended one of my niece's wedding, which was held at a beautiful California golf course.  The setting was lovely, nothing like the setting sun for an outdoor wedding!  The reception, held inside the golf club, was romantic chic and you know how I love that combination!  To top it off, the bride let me paint a few signs to use; my pleasure.

presenting....Mr. and Mrs!

presenting....our daughter, Jessica on the right

and another of our nieces on the left (there were 8 attendants each)

presenting....our family

presenting....grab a treat, candy!

("Love is Sweet   So Grab a Treat" sign)

presenting....a lovely romantic cake!

I loved the pink swirls and roses.

presenting...each table had cupcakes as centerpieces

presenting...Happily Ever After Starts Here

presenting....Mr. and Mrs!

This one is my VERY FAVORITE photo! 

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ray!  It was an honor to witness your marriage ceremony and then celebrate at your reception. May God bless you as you begin you journey down the road of life together.

Blessings & hugs, Heidi

Just checking in!

Just wanted to pop in and say "hi"!



One of my sisters and I drove 10 hours south to visit family a couple weeks ago. I ended up at the piano playing "No Never Alone" and was quickly joined in by my father and mother!  That song was one of my favorite hymns when I was about 10 years old. I can still remember singing it at the Sunday night "Singspirations". I know that even in times when things feel dark I am NEVER alone as God is always with me!  It was fun playing it with my dad on the guitar.

In the few days I was out of state there was a huge SNOW storm here.  (Mark took the above photo of the front of our place.)  We were without power and phone lines for a few days.  And I missed it all!

The weekend I returned Mark and I went to the lighthouse at the ocean bar to see how it looked out there after all the flooding we had here.  There was so much drift wood, and the ocean was full of more logs and stuff coming out of the opening of the river.  There was even a dairy cow washed up on the beach.  I took some photos, as it had a tag/ID number on the ear, in case I could let the dairy owner know where the cow ended up.  This isn't the first time we've seen a cow washed ashore.

Then there's the three grandchildren....here's Ellie & Claira in the middle of a sweet tea party.  Ellie said, "I'm so glad Claira is old enough to have a tea party now!"

Claira absolutely loves having her photo taken!

This is John Mark, just after his first ever school program! (Kindergarten!) It was also his day day of being 5 years old.  Now he is 6!  He's one of the sweetest boys you'd ever meet!  We had a wonderful birthday party for him here this past weekend. Load of fun!

"Happily Ever After Starts Here"...a sign I painted for a wedding we're going to next month!

I've been busy painting signs for my Etsy store orders!

Blessings & hugs, Heidi

Mark's Valentine Gift to Me

You must just know my Mark, he's the sweetest person on earth. When Valentine's Day comes around I can always count on him to bring me Haagen Dazs Rocky Road Ice Cream.  (He's precious---he picks it up on the way home from work, then I eat it right away!)  He's never sent flower to me.  Well, except the ONE time he did:  It just didn't work out---the florist was SO busy, they delivered the roses the DAY AFTER Valentine's Day!  It was supposed to be a surprise; it was!  But being the person I am, I refused the flowers, and made sure the florist credited Mark.  We both agreed after that experience, that the only way to be sure I was happy was to stop and buy the chocolate ("any chocolate", I told him) on the way home. 

But this year is different.  You see, today he bought this for me:

Because we love adventure, he bought one for himself as well!  We'll take them when we go camping.  Plus there are a number of great trails around here for us to explore. Now isn't this the Valentine's Day gift you always wanted?  I love my Mark!

I told him it needs some pink and he sent me the link to this eBay item:

"I am a grandma,", I said!  He said, "Age doesn't matter!"  He has so much confidence in me, I'm honored.  So, OF COURSE, I took it out for a few test rides on our road.  I did fine, luckily our old Lab Sarge MOVED out of the way at the last second, but that was a close call!

My question for you all:  What unusual gift has your loved one given you for Valentine's Day?

Hugs, Hearts, Love and Blessings,

                    ~Heidi

I *heart* you!

Some Pinterest Interest here...
In looking for some Sunday School kids crafts via Pinterest I found this paper heart. I've seen this around, probably for years, but never have tried myself to make one.  They are called "Swedish Hearts".

I cut the paper a few times and sure did feel like a dummy...it's not as easy as it looks.  Maybe I needed better instructions than the site gave.  I'll keep working on that.

But through this I found a lovely new-to-me blog called "Three Pixie Lane".  I just love the home decor photos she blogs about.  I'll be spending more time on Christie's blog for sure! Here is her header photo:

If you like to blog-surf I think the best time of the year to do that is February, there are SO MANY yummy Valentine's photos and ideas posted this month! I'm inspired now to decorated for Valentine's Day. (Yes, I'm way behind so many of you!) I just stacked a bunch of red and/or romantic books in a corner.  And I'm hanging my vintage sheet music hearts together as my window banners. 

I *heart* you all!  Here's a heart you can cut out for a card:

(Directions: Copy to computer and enlarge as desired.

Only cut the SOLID lines, fold dotted lines.

Can be sandwiched in a solid paper to make the

pop out "I *love* you" show up even better.)

And you all know, "Love is Sweet"...

Now to get my hands on some chocolate!

        Hearts and Hugs, Heidi

(the Google search I did for hearts and cuts outs was very helpful, too!)

What? Monthly? Not good!

I realized the pace I'm blogging is monthly now. I don't like that, but until I can get blogging back to top priority on my daily lists I guess monthly it'll have to be!  Anyone out there struggling with this too? Throw in way too much time on Pinterest....don't get me started on that distraction,...err...wonderful place!

So, a few photos of signs I painted in January:

For a precious baby girl on the way.....a princess, for sure!

"Our Little Princes...." with custom name.

 This is a must for all couples.....and for children and babies, too!

"Always Kiss Me Goodnight" (shown in black lettering)

 Home is....

where your horses are!

(A sign for a horse lover!)

 This sign was given as a gift. I paint a lot of this type of sign.

You can add any words, names, dates, etc.

"Love is Sweet".....this continues to now be my top selling sign.

I can paint it in any color and any font!

Ice Cream Parlor.....an event coordinator ordered a few of these

signs for her event.  I loved painting this....wanted ice cream that night!

What else?  How about "Cupcakes"....can you think of a sign for a cupcake table?

Welcome to Our Home, layered over the family name, with the date.

I loved painting this sign, I've done a few and enjoy seeing the color

combinations the buyers select.

 Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...perfect for a baby boy shower!

Both the girl and boy signs in this set have been very popular lately!

Those sayings are making a come-back, I guess!

To The Beach......I have so many "beach" signs to paint,

but just not enough time!

Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice......

perfect for a baby girl shower gift!

 A dream is a wish your heart makes.  A Disney sign?

See the three reasons I love being a grandmother?

Blessings, Heidi

So much fun at Sweet Woodruff Acres

  

I had the grand kids a few hours early on Christmas Eve-Eve (we celebrated Christmas Eve two nights in a row!).  While we were in the kitchen baking, we somehow got way off track when I taught them how to make a blow up balloon squeal loudly!  Then we three got rowdy and ended up rolling on the kitchen floor in laughter.   I think we were all super excited about Christmas (and maybe had too many sweet by then, too!)

Jessica & Craig had wrapped all their gifts in brown craft paper.  For the tags they had sepia photos of the recipients. The kids absolutely loved this, they didn't have to look for names, but their own faces.  These gifts were so pretty! 

I made plates of gingerbread cookies, Tex-Mex Snack Mix, bags of candies, mini-gingerbread houses and more to give out to neighbors and friends.  

 This is one of the small wood cutting boards I made to give out as gifts.  I took my Scottie Dog cookie cutter and enlarged the pattern.  I cut them out of wood from myrtlewood trees that grow on our property.  Did you know myrtlewood only grows in two places on earth?  Yes, here in Oregon and in Israel.  How cool is that?  I wanted to make more of these, but ran out of time, as well our wood wasn't dry enough yet. It takes at least 6 months to really season it well.



This Oregon state shape cutting board was made the same way as the Scottie Dog one above.  I have an Oregon state shape cookie cutter  that I traced and just enlarged the pattern to the size I wanted.  These cutting boards were one of my favorite crafts this year, right up there with my gingerbread house decorating party!  More on that next post!

Have a great weekend.

May you have 2012 blessing this year!

Hugs, Heidi

(Linked with Cindy's My Romantic Home Show & Tell Friday here.)

No Rhyme or Reason--Review of the Season!

Just some photo reviews of the past month or two!   Life was moving at a fast pace-->
Grandchildren; cookies; Thanksgiving; gratitude; family; friends; Bible; outdoor adventures; food; chocolate; meals; gifts; creating; painting; cutting and pasting (my favorite!); photography; warm fires in the wood stove; gingerbread house making party; and SO MUCH MORE!

Mark has been cutting little wood crafts for the children's church. 

These were wood star ornaments the kids decorated with a verse and  glitter.

Mark and I spent many evenings trying to photograph the moon.  It was a ton of fun wandering out in the dark nights!  This is what the front of our home looked like dressed in the Christmas lights Mark put out.  He loves doing this, and I so enjoy the lights. 

My cookie angel watching over the making of Russian Tea Cakes.

She (my cookie angel) reminded me to roll the cookies in powdered sugar!  I made so many cookies this year, for various events, etc.  I loved and sampled every single one.  I need to run...I slacked on that durring the freeze, and need to not let this rain stop me now!

The Christmas dish is from a set my mother-in-law gave me the first year we were marred (31 years ago this year!  I'm always on the lookout for these at the thrift stores, to increase my set from a set for 4 to a set for 10 or 12, to fit our family now!  I have found 3 plates so far, and a few bowls!)

For the last two years I've held a Gingerbread House Decorating party here at our home.  I invite our grandchildren, of course!, and other children with their moms.  This year our daughter, Melissa, did the same at her house with friends and family from her town.  I went over early to help her finish up her assembly of 21 houses!  Can you imagine how much work she put into making that many gingerbread houses from scratch?  It's a labor of love.   The photo above are a collection of just some of the houses they decorated.  I held my party here the next week.  I'll post photos of that soon.

Melissa and I, after the gingerbread decorating party.  The moms/children bring all the candy, sharing everything they bring.  Melissa made all the frosting tubes for them to use to attach and decorate the gingerbread houses.  She made all the houses with a pattern I drew out a few years ago.

I have a real estate salesperson friend who, every time she closes on a home sale, orders a custom sign for her client!  How cool is that?  The date of the "est." is the date of the home closing.  This is just one of the many signs I've painted.

Guess that's enough photos for this round...more soon,  hope!

May you have 2012 reasons this year to be thankful!

Hugs, Heidi

Fall Seasonal Photos

I'm trying to clean out, arrange, rename, save, delete and use some of my older photos.  So it's your lucky day, you'll get a hdge-podge of photos for your inspiration! These photos were from fall of 2009! 

(I used a vintage chippy plate, added embellishments, stamped the letters

and hung on my kitchen wall!)

(I made kitchen tea towels out of a bolt of muslin, then added the lace,

then stamped the Fruit of the Spirit on them.  Gave out as gifts.)

(A little vintage gift set!  Tea cup and saucer-though not an exact match!- and a set of

children's spoon and fork tied up with tulle.  Don't forget to add the mini-rose!)

(Our McIntosh apple tree in front of our home.  This year-2009-it was loaded. 

Some years are better than others!  We did have enough this year for

some applesauce, apple pie, apple butter, apple cookies, apple bread, apple bobbler...

so far that's what I've made!)

(Mile High Apple Pie......slice and serve with vanilla ice cream

and everyone will be very happy!)

(Apple Prayer Bread ready to go into the hot oven!)

(I saw this idea a few years back online, and it is about the funnest thing

I've ever done with gingerbread houses!  Miniature ones to

top your mugs!  Do make time to make these!)

(Simple to make, you'll need to experiment with your "door" size to fit on the

coffee cup or mug "rim".)

(These are my full size gingerbread houses. This is just a tip...

when you "glue" them together {with icing} use long stick pins to hold them

together just until dry enough to stand on their own.  I don't have to do this

on all of them, but when I have ones that give me a hard time, this is what I do!)

(The grandchildren love grilled cheese sandwiches cut out with cookie cutters. 

It makes lunchtime so much fun!)

(No crusts!  All fun!  Just use your cookie cutters!)

And one last photo....both our girls make excellent cheesecake!

Here's a photo of one that Jessica made Christmas of 2009...

Have a blessed weekend!

Hugs, Heidi

(Linked to Cindy's My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday here, Blissful and Domestic Bliss Linky Party here, Friday Flair at Whipperberry here, and Women Living Well Link Up Party here.)