The Polka Dot Poppy

It's Christmas. Very Fashionable Snow Couple There's no people like snow people. Maybe it will snow.  We really need it this year.  We need a blanket of soft and beautiful snow to comfort us all this Christmas.We need the brightness and light and sparkle on the earth.  We need the hush it brings to busy streets so we can focus on each other and not the hustle.   We need the drifts to slow us down and remember what the season represents. I've been thinking so much about little children, as we all are of course, and how they are like little snowflakes - each one different and delightful.  Gifts from heaven sparkling with innocence and purity. Dancing around on the earth with a spirit of their own to some melody unheard to most of the rest of us. Joyful and happy, free and light. As a child I'd ever so gently and carefully catch snowflakes on my mittens and study their uniqueness.  Dare touch one and it would simply disappear.  Soft flak...

Eeek!  Spider Cakes!!! Here's a super easy edible craft for kids to do for Halloween.  I'm all for easy and inexpensive.  A dozen or so running down the length of your table would make an adorable centerpiece for a party.  Kids can make them and take them for a party favor.  Googly eyes keep them from being too terrorizing.       Here''s what you need -- "Snowball"  cakes, (got a box of a dozen at Walmart) some bendable drinking straws, Necco wafers (found those at Dollar Tree) and some cake decorating gel.  You could also use large marshmallows for the eyes if you can't find the wafers or gel.  Just cut them with scissors dipped in water and stick an m&m or Hershey drop in the center.  Do cut away a bit of the coconut topping so that the wafer or marshmallow will stick to the snowball.  I also trimmed the straws a couple inches.  My snowballs were pink but any color will work.   My littli...

Can it already be fall?  What happened to summer?  Parties, graduations, weddings, visits across the country, house sale, moving, new business endeavors.  It wasn't as though I was idle.  I promised pictures in my last post so I am determined to be a better blogger from this point forward.  I am at least back at it before the baby is about to start school but he has been born and he is certainly precious.  His nursery is beautiful and his Grandmother doting and to hear her you'd think he was sitting up reading to all the other newborns in the hospital.  I totally understand her love and she won't be an ordinary Grandma either.  Stork done entirely with flowers and an elegant little carrot nose.  Dendrobium orchid plumage The shower was a beautiful event and as expected the centerpiece, as you can see, was an unbelievable creation done perfectly by my sister.  Give her an inspiration and she certainly can make it bloom...

Polka Dot ribbon of course! The past few weeks my sister and I have been scratching together a plan for the perfect baby shower to provide a little nest feathering for her only daughter who is expecting in August.  We decided to put our spin on the ideas presented in Phyliss Hoffman's Spring Celebrate magazine and include our own touches.   Of course not being ordinary grandmas, we loved the idea of foregoing traditional baby blue or pink or ducks or lambs or teddy bears.  This, we decided, will be and understated elegant affair.  The "About to Hatch" theme suited us perfectly.  Knowing us well, my dear niece just said, "You two do what you want - you will anyway."  I must say we certainly do love a guest of honor with no preconceived notions or opinions.  We didn't even have to henpeck her into submission. Wrens hatched in a flowerpot in my garage For those who have...

 Mahoney-McGarvey House Brunswick, Georgia Quattro Itagioni jars covered with polka dot paper printed myself and tied with silk cord. Ceramic spoons can be purchased at Crate & Barrel Instead of allowing the fruit from our Kumquat tree to merely decorate the front lawn I have an annual marmalade making ritual each February.  Ta Da!  There are my lovely little jars. Since I can't even preserve a thought typically, this has proven to be an interesting enterprise on my part.  The single most important point I've learned in marmalade making is never, ever, EVER take your eyes off the pot of boiling citrus sugar mixture.  Results are disastrous and the clean up means you will be wearing syrup in your hair.  How you ask?  Well from trying to clean up what oozed under the cook top of course.  Had a small child tried to cross my floor they could have been glued there into perpetuity.  A pint of Kumquats will set you back ...

It's a new year and everyone knows that aside from organizing our closets the other annual rite of passage is committing to losing a few pounds.  I've discovered that the very best way to ensure you won't sabotage your diet the very first week of January is just put off even starting one before Valentines Day.  It works for me. While perusing the Internet the past few days I have run across some extremely interesting tips to help in the pursuit of a smaller waistline.  Aside from swearing off all white food - and please, I'm not intending to be racist here - you can just take a whiff of peppermint whenever you're feeling hungry and it will quell your desire to eat.  Well this is good news isn't it!  Those yummy little peppermint patties could actually help you lose weight! Who would have thought. The other even more intriguing tip for me and one in keeping with my love of decorating is to eat off a blue plate.  F...