Another Great Giveaway from OFG!

The Old Farmhouse Gathering Team on Etsy has put together another great giveaway that you can win!  Check out this treasury full of items to trim up your tree in style, and be sure to leave a comment to enter!  Good luck!!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTYwOTAxN3w5ODMwMzIxODU/win-half-this-treasury-trim-your-tree?ref=pr_treasury

Etsy Scavenger Hunt

Ready for some fun?  A team of Etsy sellers have put together an awesome scavenger hunt within their individual shops.  Check out this blog for more information:  http://etsyscavengerhunt.blogspot.com/.  Happy Valley Primitives is participating too, and the hunt starts November 1, so get ready to scour through lots of very nice shops to find the all important scavenger hunt photo, and while you're looking, maybe you'll find something wonderful for someone on your gift list! 

Fall Fun for that Necessary Room

The rain is here, so it must be time to decorate for fall!  Well, summer was short-lived here in the Northwest, and now we're on to autumn...my favorite time of year!  Here's a quick little decorating idea for that special place we all have...the necessary room! 

How many times have you been the lucky one to find that the roll of T.P. is empty?  Well, try this out, and only you will know where it's hidden!

You will need:  one roll of T.P. (toilet paper), a fat quarter of orange fabric, a fat 1/8th of green fabric, a 10x10 scrap of gold tulle.  Lay out the fat quarter, wrong side up, and place the T.P. in the center. Start on one side and begin tucking the raw edges of the fabric into the center of the T.P. roll until the entire piece of orange fabric surrounds the T.P.  Tuck the center part only of the gold tulle into the center of the T.P.  Fold and roll up the green fabric to about 4" tall tight roll.  Push the cut edge of the fat 1/8th into the center of the T.P., making sure to not push through all of the tulle.  There, now you have a cute pumpkin for your bathroom decor that, in a pinch, is ready for those 'necessary' moments!

Jump into Winter with this new Celebration!

SPLAT!  Ready for a snowball fight?  Today begins a new OFG Team Celebration for all things Winter!  It's not too soon to think about something new for your home decor as the weather begins to cool down.  Type WWHOFG in your search on www.etsy.com and find over 100 brand new items!  Since snowmen are one of my favorite decorating items, I've been busy drooling over so many unique finds here...hope you'll check out!

Harvest?...sigh...

There's a scene in "Finding Nemo" that keeps running through my head these days.  It's the part where Nemo is encouraging the Tuna, who are about to be captured and reeled up in a gigantic net by a fishing boat to keep swimming down, in an effort to break the mast holding the net and setting them all free.  "Keep swimming...keep swimming..." they all chant together.

I feel the need to chant to the sun as we venture towards fall to "keep shining...keep shining!" since our 'better late than never' garden is making so much effort to produce in the short time we have left.  We have plenty of zucchini, cabbage, onions and potatoes, but the tomatoes are just stuck...green as grass.  And I so desperately want to get some canned and oven dried this season! 

If you have never oven dried tomatoes, it is very easy.  To prepare the tomatoes, wash and dry.  Use tomatoes that are relatively the same size.  For smaller sizes, cut in half (like small romas or even cherry); larger sizes can be quartered, but will take longer.  Place, cut side up, on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle tops with italian seasoning and a bit of kosher sea salt.  Place in oven at 200-250 degrees for several hours, checking about every hour for doneness.  Tomatoes are dried when gently pressed and no juices appear (they should still be pliable).  Place in airtight container and refrigerate (or freeze).  These are amazingly awesome on pizzas, italian dishes, salads, or just snacking (my daughter loves them after school).  They have a very concentrated, intense flavor when dried.  Hope you'll give it a try...and hopefully, that will be what I am doing soon too!

Strolling through the pumpkin patch with PAFA!

I'm so excited to participate in my first celebration as a team member of PAFA!  These talented artisans have put together a colossal sized promotion of autumn inspired items!  Check out this link for all of great finds:  http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?search_submit=&q=sttpp.  Here at Happy Valley, I have several new table mats, an incredible needle felted wall hanging, lots of great prim dolls and more! 

But wait, that's not all!!!  Enter for your chance to win some wonderful creations by several members of this team!  Check out the PAFA blog at:  http://primitiveandfolkartists.blogspot.com/2011/08/strolling-through-pumpkin-patch.html to enter!

Win this Treasury full of Handcrafted Items!

Win this treasury!!! Stop by and leave a comment for your chance to win this great Thanksgiving treasury by some of my friends at the Old Farmhouse Gathering team!  One winner will be chosen amongst all who leave a comment, so be sure to enter!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/NjIxMTI3NHw1NzMxNzA3Nzc/win-this-treasuryturkey-trot-with-the

24 years and counting!

Today marks a wonderful memory...24 years of marriage with my husband, Matt!  Of course, it seems like many more, since we dated for over 4 years first.  But I feel like it is so incredible in this day to be able to commit to one another for so long, through good times and bad, and still share such an amazing love for one another.  It's sad, but I sometimes feel like some couples could benefit more by what Matt and I share, the ability to communicate and support one another so well.

And so, I am remembering that special day with this bouquet of flowers table mat that I created.  The center area is hand needle felted and includes a variety of color tones for the flowers, with pink as the base.  The leaves feature four different green shades which details the shading, veins and subtle effects of leaves, just like in nature.  The inside of the scallops each have a pearl flower button with a teeny pastel pink button on top.  The whole piece was blanket stitched to a wool backing with a pink crochet thread.  It's a beautiful piece that only took a couple of hours to design and make.  Making these types of table mats is really fun and easy to accomplish.  Just keep in mind the delicate beauty of a flower in bloom and watch it grow from there!

Hope you have a very enjoyable day!

 

Whaahoo! The worse day fishing is better than any day washing dishes.

We're back from a fun week of vacationing in Oregon!  After several days visiting with family, we ventured over to Diamond Lake, a favorite fishing spot from my hubby's childhood.  Snow still packed in the banks, we were just sure that the mosquitos wouldn't be out this early in the year, but, alas, there were there to greet us in massive form.  Now I know what a swarm of these little buggers is, as they lurk above in formation with the wind casting their carnivorous shadows, and timing the dive to exposed skin just right.  Itch, itch...

Thank goodness for Nic, who blessed us with her plump 17" trout for dinner one night, and as I'm told, a hearty "whaahoo" shout out once she knew this beauty was on her line.  Cuz, if we were to rely on Matt to catch dinner, well, that tiny minnow would've surely left us with noisy tummies.  Overall, they caught several and I happily snapped up pictures from shore, that is, while spraying repellant.  I multi task well when necessary.
 
And, yep, our new "boat", an inflatable giant at 10.5' long really did well.  We took some razzing, cause those die hard fishing dudes just couldn't take that little boat seriously, but it's kinda funny how we had the stringer of fish to prove that size just doesn't matter!

I didn't get too much stitchin' accomplished, as it appears that dish duty only fell to those who stay landlocked.  It was so worth it though, to see many beautiful memories created between a father and his daughter and a new vessel, christened the S.S. Tolly.  May she have many more watery adventures ahead!

A new chapter at Happy Valley...My designs published!

I'm so excited to announce that I have been asked to design needle felting projects for Clover Needlecraft, Inc.!!!  The past few days have been very busy, as I have just completed several designs for Clover's project sheets.  It's an awesome opportunity to publish some of my work with a wonderful company.  Ahhh, yes, and on top of all that, I was provided with an ample supply of Clover's outstanding felting tools and roving to work with.  I'm like a kid in a candy store!  To think, before working with Clover, I did all of my needle felting projects with a single non replacable barbed needle!  Clover's tools utilize several needles, or you can use just one if you like...the point is, there are options.  This was also my first experience working with Clover's felting brush pad, which, again was SO much better than my foam cushion (the needles don't get stuck in the felting pad!). 

So if you haven't tried needle felting, I encourage you to give it a go.  The few tools needed to get started aren't very expensive; it's a very portable craft, and the design ideas are really limitless.  See a flower and you can re-create it's beauty.  That's what I did in this pink hydrangea.

Stay tuned here, and I'll announce when my projects, complete with how-to instructions, are available at your local craft stores and to download online.  And, let me know what magical creation you make...I'd love to see it!

Flag Day Challenge Fun

It's time for a challenge, and my friends at the Old Farmhouse Gathering have put together a wonderfully fun little competition for Flag Day!  Many artisans have put together a patriotic display for you to vote on!  Go to:  http://www.etsy.com/, type in FDOFG and see all of these creations.  Click on the button to the right of this post to be taken to the OFG blog, where you can cast a vote for your favorite.  Be sure to follow the directions and enter your email address, as you could win a prize just for voting!

Of course, Happy Valley Primitives was up for this challenge...here's a peek at my entry, a large wool table runner depicting a proud flag as the foundation for our beautiful country:

Voting starts June 4th, so be sure to cast one for your favorite!  Happy Flag Day!

Can this seamstress be saved?

I confess...I'm not a garment maker.  I can easily whip out a doll and even crank out her clothes with no problem, but when it comes to fitting a real live person, I am sewing challenged.  Yesterday, I seemed to forget all that, and found a beautiful piece of fabric to make myself a top...no sleeves, and yes, with a pattern marked with the word EASY in large caps.  A nice fitted dart in the front, and flare out around my, ahem, mid section...so it didn't seem like rocket science.  It's only 2 pieces plus the facing fabric; however, it still posed a great challenge to match the facing to the tunic pieces without them both not meeting up.  How is it that you can cut up two identical pieces, not on the bias, and one ends up an inch longer???  And now it has a gap in the back neck area, cuz I made it a size larger so that it would fit my mid section.  Not sure how to work with that other than to grow my hair real long.

Hubby, in his ever reassuring splendor, commented that "at least you didn't try doing sleeves again."  Ahhh, bless him.  He just had to bring up that knitted sweater I made him many years ago.  Hmm, maybe his right arm has grown longer since then, what with all the reaching he has to do while falling out of chairs laughing at my garment construction...

So, when will I learn?  I suppose never.  I really want to create beautiful things to wear, so I'll probably keep trying.  But the real truth is that the garment sewing trophy goes to my mom.  She has a knack for fitting a piece perfectly to the individual.  I should know, as my bridesmaids were just stunning!  Wonder if she'd give this old gal another lesson?

Today's story is for the birds

So here we are, finally enjoying the beautiful flowers of spring, along with warmer temps and a whole lot of better attitudes from the people who are so dreary during the winter season.  A new beginning for many little critters out there, gathering twigs and building nests, singing all the while.  It's no different here at Happy Valley, where, as I sit, I can hear the songs of the chickadees at my bird feeder, so delicate and happy. 

However, some are not content with just song and play...they are attempting to become just a bit too 'friendly'.  A very territorial robin is attempting to conquer my west facing windows.  The reflection is too powerful to resist plowing into, over and over and over again.  This is an annual thing, and we've tried masking the window, hanging predator looking critters and the like to no avail.  I just hope he gets his nest made soon and moves on his way.  Last spring, I had a little guy pounding that window until early summer, as his first nest was destroyed by a wind storm.  They are very persistent.

And this morning I am also greeted by the rat-tat-tat of a northern flicker woodpecker on the roof.  Yikes!  It sounds like a mini jackhammer creating a remodeling option up there.  Oh, please!  We have no more room at this inn...move on!  Ahhh...some peace at last.  A quiet moment now.  Time to sew!  May you have a wonderfully pleasant and creative day in your 'nest'. 

My annual weekend creative blitz!

Happy Monday to you!  Today, I awoke feeling refreshed and recharged, after a 3 day weekend retreat as my family left for Oregon.  It's an annual trip that my hubby and daughter make together, allowing them some wonderful time to bond, and me some well loved quiet time to create! 

This weekend my main project was to re-do the room divider "curtains" that I made several years ago...back when southwest country style was popular...wow, that was a while back!  This oak divider was made by my hubby, and it was designed originally to mimick the curves of our dresser mirror.  I have rarely kept it in our master bedroom, as it works better in the front room (or in this case, the entry) to divide up the open areas of the home.  The fabric was a wonderful thrift store find of home dec weight toile (4 yards/$4!). 

The little desk/chair combo was a discard from my hubby's great aunt, and we've kept it for over 10 years, intending to restore it.  I wish I would have taken a before shot, as it was a dark walnut stain, and completely falling apart.  The chair was entirely detached and the curved part of the desk was warping outward.  We believe that this piece is from the 40's or 50's and was perhaps a telephone stand?  It also resembles a old fashioned child's desk, as the seat isn't very large (I can fit in it, but wouldn't want to sit there often).  Hubby completely stripped this piece and restored it to a beautiful light cherry stain color.  Next up was the chair pad, which I made this weekend.  I first spray glued a thick foam pad, and then covered with a sturdy cotton fabric which was stapled on.  Next I made this hand needle felted floral design on black wool and made it into a slipcover for the pad, complete with zipper.  That way if I want to change it out, I can. 

Needless to say, hubby was both surprised and happy to see me finally complete these projects.  I have to say that I'm pretty happy with them too...and feeling pretty lucky that I have such a talented woodworker just a kiss away.  Have a wonderful day!

Bring on Spring...OFG Celebration Style!

It's nearly time for a spectacular OFG Spring and Easter Celebration! I've been busy putting together several new creations to debut on Friday, March 11 for this wonderful attraction. Here's a sneak peak at what you will find at Happy Valley Primitives. To see all of the great celebration items, go to Etsy.com, and type SECOFG in the search button. Celebration dates are March 11-25!