Tink Says Happy Halloween!

Have a safe and fun Halloween!


Sandy at Teacup Lane

Grandma Christmas Trees Garland

Embellished with beads, yarn, letters and ribbon

Here is the final product as promised...many of you know I first blogged about these

 Grandma Christmas Trees 

(here).  

The trees are cute plain but I wanted to see how they would look with a few embellishments.  I found these little bead letters at Michaels and had to try them out.  The rest of the embellishments I had on hand except for buying a few ribbons in red and green. 

Another BIG thanks to Michelle The Royal Sisters for sharing her fantastic pattern (here)! 

Let's take a closer look at each one...

L O V E

HO...HO...HO

M E R R Y

C H R I S T M A S

J O Y

P E A C E

All six trees embellished

And finally the full garland presented...do you have a favorite tree?

The Grandma Tree Garland!

I liked this garland so much I started making more Grandma Trees in red, green, white, light blue, hot blue and rose.   They are super easy to make - can't say that enough.   There are so many uses for these cute little trees - you can attach them onto gifts too!

If you really like this garland stay tuned because I will be having my first give-away in November to celebrate my FIRST Blogoversary -  you can have a chance to win this crocheted garland and some other goodies.

Thanks for coming by to visit.  

Have a lovely weekend.  

Grandma Christmas Trees

Another great pattern, Grandma Tree Tutorial, from Michelle The Royal Sisters (here) and lots of fun to crochet!  This one isn't finished yet.  

I'm going to embellish it with beads and ribbon to make it into a garland.  

For now I'll just tell you it will be included in a gift package for a lucky someone for a special occasion coming up next month.

Up close...

Six little trees in a row...

Doesn't it look like a star!

I added an edging of single crochet.

Please come back tomorrow to see the finished project.  

Front Sidewalk - BEFORE and WIP

 BEFORE

This is the before of our front yard - old, overgrown trees (2) and too many overgrown shrubs in the planting area were pulled out last Fall.  

This is the flagstone walkway that the builder put in with no sand/gravel sub base.  Only one person can walk on it in single file - it is so narrow and way too curvy.  I think a drunk person must of laid it down.  

See the ugly white drain spout!  It drained right out on the sidewalk - what dummy did that!

BEFORE

Not very welcoming is it...you should have seen it when the shrubs and trees overwhelmed the little pathway.  And see how the flagstone walk had sunk down.

Over the years I tried everything to stop the weeds from growing between the flagstones...black weed mat...gravel....nothing worked.

The landscaper removed three of the flagstones so we could mark in orange paint where the new walkway would be.

The work begins - out with the old flagstone!

Hurray the old flagstone is finally removed!  We are saving it to use in the backyard.

New pathway marked in Orange 

I wanted the entrance to the walkway from the driveway to be nice and wide!

New more gentle pathway marked in orange

We don't mind having a smaller planting area.  Less plants to worry and care for is our plan.

Preparing for the gravel sub base

Our poor grass is being trampled with all the heavy equipment.

This is going to be WIDE too

Lots of work went into preparing the gravel sub base - they packed it down good.

Now we won't have water seeping under the driveway

It's the little things like this that make me so happy - downspouts out of sight and out of mind!

Burying the downspout...no more ugly white drainpipe

Ditto!

New gentle curving walkway subbase

Packing down the gravel sub base. 

There's the huge tarp they used

Nice and WIDE 

Putting markers in to level gravel sub base

Looking better 

Our grass is a mess - look at the packed down mud where the downspouts were buried

This is our Mountain Green Maple tree just starting to change colors!

The landscaping crew started laying the stone pavers today - they are about 3/4 done with the front walkway.  Of course, the landscaping has to be done and new lights installed before it is completely finished.  We are having a walkway put in the back too so this is an on-going project for another week or so.  Stay tuned for more.

Please join me for:

Gina at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursdays

Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

Artie at Color Outside the Lines for Vignette Fridays

Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

Stephanie Lynn at Under the Table and Dreaming for the Sunday Showcase Party

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Linda at Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Orange n' Black

Courtesy of Flickr and Others Photos

1. dlrp halloween 2010-256, 2. dlrp halloween 2010-217, 3. Halloween Time at Disneyland, 4. Halloween Mickey, 5. Halloween lanterns, 6. dlrp halloween 2010-270, 7. dlrp halloween 2010-262, 8. Halloween Raven!, 9. Elegant Deco Flapper on Half Moon--Vintage Halloween Place Card

Just a few more days until Halloween!  

Don't you just love orange and black?  

I know I do.

Hope our front sidewalk is finished by Halloween so the kids can trick or treat.  

Oh, boy, what a mess!  

Wednesday the landscaping crew started work on the front slab - soon no more ugly concrete showing.

It has started to rain as I am typing this ~ ugh ~ thank goodness the landscaping crew covered everything with a tarp before they left.  I hope it doesn't turn into a muddy mess.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

REDnesday - More Flickr RED

Courtesy of Flickr and Other Talented Crafters

1. Heart Christmas Ornaments, 2. Tucked Away each Year!, 3. Best Friends, 4. Peppermint Redbird, 5. Peanuts for Christmas, 6. Chenille Lamb, 7. scrap blanket detail, 8. Some WIP, 9. Papai Noel

RED Day Again!   Hurray!    

Please join Sue at It's A Very Cherry World (here) for more REDnesday!

I was in withdrawal yesterday.  The landscapers ~ accidentally ~ cut our cable line for internet, TV and land base phone yesterday morning while digging a trench to bury our downspouts.  Luckily a serviceman came this morning and fixed the cable line.  We have lots of DVDs so not having TV wasn't too bad but both hubby and I missed having internet.  

See the cut orange cable line!  That's for our internet, TV and land base phone service.

All spliced back together!!!

Thanks for visiting me! 

Have a great REDnesday!

Mosaic Monday - Simple ~vintage~ Stuff

Courtesy of Flickr and Diane of Saturday Finds.

1. Bowl of Todays Treasures, 2. Vintage Christmas, 3. 50's Vintage Crib Rattle, 4. Lot of Vintage Floral Supplies

Simple ~vintage~ Stuff I like...just because.

I'm highlighting another favorite blogger of mine - Diane of Saturday Finds - 'cause you can't have too much vintage anything.  Check out her gorgeous blog (here).

(click on any legend number to see a larger full photo and to check out all of Diane's goodies on Flickr)

Please join Mary at The Little Red House (here) for more Mosaic Monday.

All Sorts of Things To Share Today

Good Bye old flagstone!

THE YARD

A view out of our front door...Monday the landscaping crew will start replacing our old flagstone walkway put down by the builder of our home 15 years ago.  The builder just plopped down the stones...didn't bother leveling the ground or laying a gravel/sand base...apparently just spending the cheapest amount he could (we weren't the first owners of the home).   

We are having stone pavers put in for the porch slab and the walkway.  The old flagstone will be used around our driveway and shed in the back yard.  We had all the overgrown trees and shrubs pulled out last Fall.  We want to go with as few plants as possible and as small too.  And no more mulch...we are having river rocks instead.  Our goal is low maintenance. 

THE REFRIGERATOR

Imagine my surprise when I opened our freezer the other day and saw this growing inside it!

It's Alive and Growing!!!

And our refrigerator isn't that old either.  Hubby just turned off the ice maker until we get around to having it fixed.

Now this is an ice cycle!

Pretty good size...isn't it?  

THE CROCHET

From Plain....

To Fancy!

I posted about my first try at making these crocheted grocery bags (here).  But you know me... I thought they needed some embellishment so I added contrasting edging (single crochet) and teeny tiny flowers.

Ta Dah!!!

It's like taking special care to wrap a gift in pretty paper and ribbon rather than throwing the gift into a paper bag. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress of our new sidewalks.  I'm so excited...can't wait until it is all done!

Have a lovely weekend!   

It's beautiful here - sunny skies and warm weather!