HELLO OUT THERE!!

 oh dear oh dear..   what a horrible horrible blogger I have become.  I love my blog.. I don't know why I have avoided it.  well, not that I really have avoided ..  But I have no great excuses.  I guess Ive just been busy. 

 I have been able to do some Easter crafting!  I get so much inspiration from my little grandpies.   Look how cute they turned out as bunnies, lambs and chicks!    and one little sunshine!

 Maybe inspiration isn't the right word.   maybe obsessed is more like it. lol!

 They are just all so cute!  I cant help myself.

 Anyways..  I hope you are all well.  I feel so bad that I haven't kept in touch.  I really pretty much think I have nothing interesting to say that you haven't already heard a hundred times here! lol!

 I'm so glad that spring is in the air.  Even though I can not complain one little bit about the winter that we barely had.  Its still refreshing and exciting to know nice weather is on the horizon.. flowers, green trees and before you know it ...  the beach!

 I'm really hoping for beautiful weather for Easter day.  I have plans!  We're doing a big egg hunt for the kids.  I ordered a whole bunch of "junk" from oriental trading to fill eggs with.. Most of which will eventually end up in the trash.  but it'll be fun for at least that day!  

I'm also going to make a bunch of  bunny and chick instruments for the kids and let them march around having their own little Easter parade!  Gotta do this stuff while they are little.. someday they wont want to play grammie's games anymore!  gotta have fun now and take lots of pictures!

 hopefully they will humor their grammie for a few more years to come!  lol!

well that's all for now folks!  I just wanted to stop in and let you know I'm still alive and kicking.  Now.  I'm shall come visit all of my bloggy friends!  have a good night!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

dancing donkeys and valentines day

Just a quick stop to wish you all a Happy Valentines day!   I kept saying that I needed to make a donkey.. She really didnt turn out as I had her pictured in my head..  but its ok.. shes cute enough.  

 I have heard from many that she looks like a pole dancing donkey!  lol!  (notice that her pole is upside down!)  anyways.. I took her pole away and she is now just holding the heart.  silly donkey.  But someone said to me "every body has to make a living..  and if you have a nice ass....  may as well flaunt it!"  lol!!  but my donkey has a little bit of morals..  and she doesnt want to be a pole dancer.  lol!

 Here is a pic of me an my valentine of the last 40 years!  isnt that crazy!?  thats a longgggggggg time!  but I loves him and he loves me..  and together forever we shall be! 

OK.. all my bloggy lovies..  Ive got to go to work!  and Im seriously running out of time here..  

so Happy Valentines Day! 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

happy day before valentines day!

 So.. I'm pretty sure I lost track of a bunch of the valentine photos that people were sending me.  We ended up with 27 girls in the swap. And I believe everything went off without a hitch.. which is pure luck.. it doesn't always happen that way.   believe me... that's part of the reason I quit hosting and doing swaps..  anyways.. this one worked out well.  (I only got one teeny weeny complaint.)   I think all swaps have been completed or are in the mail.. probably the only hold ups are the too and from Canada ones.. and that's mine and my friend Martha's.. so I think we're all good!

 I'm sorry but I did not try to match names to photos..  the photos came to me through email, facebook and phone..   I just tried to collect them all in one place and then made them into collages.  I am soooo very sorry if you sent me photos and you don't see them here.  I am truly not as organized as I used to be!  lol!

 Its always fun to receive special treats in the mail for any occasion or no occasion at all!   It looks like everyone that joined it received a nice package and that was the plan!  

Cant believe that Valentines day is tomorrow...   not sure what I will do with my house.. there's such a long way between now and Easter!  lol!  

OKeedokie girls!  that's all for now.. I hope everyone has a great day!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo!

Did ya miss me?!

 oh boy... I haven't been here in a couple weeks.  Been busy busy busy!  worked on the craft room a lot, then on the new guest/den room (the old craft room), we through a large benefit for a coworker with breast cancer and raised over 7000.00 for her,  had two birthday parties,  and then I was sick this past week..   Anyways..  here I is! lol!    I have had a few minutes here and there to play in my craft room with valentine goodies and I made this valentine garden the other morning with all my precious little people in it.   isn't it cute!?

 I also made these two doggie valentines.   I used the first dog in some valentines last year too.  Hes just too cute.   I didn't make these for anyone special, they are just out in my kitchen.  I do need to get busy making some valentines though for my little pies!  I think I'm going to make them up some little goodie bags with popcorn, choc milk straws, fruit snacks or raisins or something.. and will dress everything up in little valentines pics.. rather then giving them candy..  maybe give them some sticker books or something also.   I'm sure their parents will appreciate them not having candy...  but we'll see what happens when I actually get right down to it!  lol! 

 I also have been working on putting my packages together for the valentine swap I hosted .  I had two partners actually, because I kept my friend Martha in Canada and I also had Shirley!  so that was fun and my packages went in the mail yesterday.  I just hope Martha's gets to her by Valentines day.  I'll be posting as many pics as get sent to me of what the girls did for each other.   They've all been doing a great job from what I can tell so far!

 Do you like my little valentine swan piece?    these swans used to be storks! lol!  I had made them for Vanessa's sprinkle as cupcake toppers a few years ago.    I pulled their legs off  and curved their necks and tada!  swans!  now I just need a cute vintage swan valentine.  I searched but could only find Victorian ones and that isn't what I want.  so for now the little heart valentine behind them works well.. in fact, that little heart was in the package that Shirley sent me!  (which I will show you when I post the rest.)

 Here's a photo of one of the birthday girls from this weekend!  Miss Scarlet turned 2!  how crazy is that?  I feel like she was just born.   Lol!  do you remember when I didn't have any grand children?  that really wasn't that long ago.. now I have SIX and two Steps!    Anyways.. Scarlet is a hoot!  shes a nut..  she makes us laugh and shes very busy.  she has time for a very quick hug and kiss and then shes off to spin and play.  she loves to spin.. she likes to be dizzy!  I guess I did too when I was little.  lol!  the other birthday, was her mommy's birthday, Vanessa.  they share the same birthday!  so we did scarlets birthday party on Saturday and then we had Vanessa's birthday at our house on Sunday evening.   so hard to keep up with them all!  lol!! 

And then there's this little Lilliana.. she's the cuddler.. she'd rather cuddle then play.. and is very happy to climb up and put her thumb in her mouth and cuddle forever!  and then she'll look up at you and say, "I wuv you".  

God I love all my grand babies so much.. 

but you all already know that.. don't you! 

Have a great Thursday bloggy pies!

I gotta go get ready for work.. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Valentine Swap!

Okeedokie, here it is girls!  Lets do it!  

Time to do a little swap.

We all like to receive a little something special in our mail boxes.

something that warms our HEARTS and makes us smile!

so lets send a little something to someone and make them feel blessed.. and loved.. and spoiled.. 

I'm thinking that we should send a special valentine card, and some cute valentine gifties.. I'm going to leave it up to you as to what you send.  we all love handmade things. so there should be at least one handmade giftie in your box of treats.

My number one rule for swapping is to send a package that you would love to receive yourself or something soooo cute that you almost cant part with it!  

It will be nice for everyone to receive a package that has at least a few little things in it.  

This swap is about having a chance to be creative and about sending and receiving a little extra love.. so make it special.

SPECIAL.. SPECIAL... SPECIAL

please.

sooo... Email me your NAME and ADDRESS to vivianneroni@yahoo.com.  

don't use that gmail address that's attached to my blog, because I don't really use that.   make sure on your email under subject you write VALENTINE SWAP..  so I don't miss it.  please also leave a quick message here that says, I'm in.. or something so I can make sure to look for your email. 

Mail out date will be Friday FEB 3rd. 

so sign up now..  and I will close the swap on the Jan 13th and assign partners over that weekend.  

There is one more stipulation..  please email me a photo of what you're sending to your partner, because after everyone receives their packages I will post all of the photos on my blog because its fun for everyone to see.

I hope I'm not forgetting anything.  I haven't hosted a swap in a LONG time..  

feel free to share the news, if there are others that want to join in.  it will be fun to have a bunch of us.  

and finally, here is a link to my valentine board on Pinterest..   I think there about 700 photos with tons of valentine inspiration! 

https://www.pinterest.com/viviann/valentines/

OK..  now I have to go get ready for work! 

have a great day!!

How about a valentine swap.. we haven't done a swap in a long time!

IN the back of my mind the thought of putting Christmas away is looming..  and the thought of putting Valentines out is somewhat exciting!  but not yet.  I started redoing the big upstairs bedroom and will be moving my craft room up there soon.  the room is truly in need of being gutted and refinished.  But that is not happening.  I recovered the walls and pulled up the carpet this weekend.  Will be painting the old chippy woodwork this week and will need to find a large area rug.  I also will have to do something with the ceiling.  So far there is a great improvement.  I should have taken a before picture.. but I would have been ashamed to show it!  lol!

Soooo..  Anyways.. It seems to me that its very slow out here in blogland.  And I thought maybe I could generate some activity and excitement.   so how about a VALENTINE SWAP?   I will post details this week, when I have it planned out a little bit better.  Any thoughts or ideas?  I'll do it the old way that I used to do the swaps and in the end collect everyone photos to post on one blog entry.  Its been a long time since I hosted a swap.   But I think Valentines day is the perfect theme.  sooo..

what do you all think?   please show your interest or thoughts here or I may lose the ambition to do it.

And....  Happy New Year bloggy pies!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxo