Sweets for the sweet

Wow! Time flies!! I've been sooo busy lately I haven't been able to blog. School....work....laundry......93 year old grandfather....not mention those 2 little boy chillins of mine sure do keep me running! But let me tell you, all of my little sweet things for my Mr. Loud were soooo much fun! The night before V-Day he shyly looked over at me and said, "so I guess this all ends tomorrow huh?" At which....in all of my infinite sarcasm (yes that's what he's used to!) said, "well duh.....I can't let this go on forever, you would grow to expect waaaay too much from me!" lol! But, I think I might just throw him off every now and then with a little sweet "just cause" gift. Gotta keep em guessing girls!

Update on the goldfish......there is a strong possibility that I ate every single one of these.....but of course when Mr. Loud asked about them I blamed the boys. It's really convenient having children to blame things on.

And of course I couldn't go to work on V-Day empty handed. I made this cute little candy stand with $2 plates I got from Target and a $1 candle stick from The Dollar Tree and with a little hot glue, ta-da...one super cute candy stand! I even got all of my staff, and a few other peeps, a cheesy heart shaped box of chocolates. I also made little gift tags for them out of some old blank business cards that I use for tags when the boys take goody bags and such to classmates/parties.

And all of those little sweet 14 days of Valentine's for Mr. Loud paid off...cause look what was delivered around noon. He always sends pretty roses though. He says that's the one thing he knows he can always pick out without needing a size or preference. He knows I don't like red and he always sends beautiful colors. He started that on our wedding day and hasn't stopped yet. After a while I told him to quit buying them and get me a rose bush instead that I could plant and always keep. The next occasion I got roses....again....but this time with a gift card to Lowe's for a rose bush too! LOL! Gotta love him.

 

Then I got crafty...again! We have a running joke at work among myself and 2 coworkers. We are knee deep in a 2 year IT project that has us about to pull our hair out and think about joining AA (ok so that's not gonna happen because I really like, I mean LOVE wine....and Strawberry Harvest Abita....and Purple Haze too). But anyway, we always chant, I LOVE MY JOB, I LOVE MY JOB, PLEASE REMIND ME! So I had an idea. I would make us reminder shirts! I just used Microsoft Word and created a line, printed it onto Avery fabric transfer paper for light fabrics, cut it out, and ironed it on! By not using the Avery template the image did not get turned around and stayed in the format as it was designed. 

And ta-da....when you look in the mirror your reminded....I love my job!! Yep...I know....BRILLIANT!!! We wore it to an administrative meeting....everyone wants one now! I may have started something. 

And of course I wrapped my 'work boysfriends' t-shirts up so they got a little V-Day gift too. I have not only 1 but 2 work boyfriends! At least that's what me and Mr. Loud and the boyfriends joke about! The 3 of us travel alot on business trips and spend an incredibly crazy amount of time together at work...and I'm extremely nosy and into all of their business....so it really is like I'm their girlfriend! Plus....they carry suitcases for me, buy me supper, and have even been know to hold my purse while I got to the bathroom....gotta love that! And their sweet wives laugh about it too. I am really blessed to really enjoy my job and get to work with great people! (and I really really DO LOVE MY JOB....just some days are better than others)

My step daughter had a birthday the other day, so I made her a little gift for her brothers to take to her when they all go out to dinner soon. They were so proud, they love their sisters and miss them terribly. They are growing up and 1 is busy with college and work and boys and the other one is having a busy senior year, work, and of course boyfriend....and unfortunately don't spend much time with the little boys. Maybe when they get older it will get better. 

Check out that cute little paper flower. That would be from the new Sizzix die I just picked up with my 40% off coupon from Michael's. I print a few coupons each Sunday and stick them in my car...you never know when Michael's or Hobby Lobby might call my name!

Oh and as you can see....I'm still trying to learn to sew! I printed a fleur de lis out that I like....cut it out, pinned it to fabric and cut the pattern out. Then glued it to my shirt and rough stitched it to my t-shirt!

But then I didn't like the black thread I used so I added some gold fabric glitter paint to the whole fleur de lis and I like it better. Not perfect...but not too bad.....I ended up with a little gaudy Mardi Gras shirt....but hey....Mardi Gras is gaudy itself so I'm thinkin I did good! Ha!

And I made some ugly cake rocks...I mean balls....for V-Day. Well it turns out you aren't supposed to use the whipped icing....and that is what I used! It doesn't hold together......who knew?!!?! 

So i decided to try it again....this time with the right icing!

This time I used dark chocolate cake and classic chocolate creamy home style icing. After mixing the baked cake and icing in my mixer I covered the bowl and left it in the refrigerator over night. The next afternoon I used a 1/2 tbs to scoop the balls out and rounded the tops. Placed them on a cookie sheet then threw them back in the freezer to reharden. 

Then I melted some chocolate almond bark in the microwave and dipped each ball and layed it on waxed paper. After the chocolate harded I drizzled some extra chocolate on top just to make them a little more purty!

And look how much cuter these are than the 1st batch!!!!! 

Mr. Loud and the boys ate a dozen before I ever made it to work with them. Needless to say, they didn't last long there either! 

Cococat wasn't the least bit interested in the cake ball excitement that was raging through out the house!

Turns out Big C is an artist! Check this waterfall scene out! Not bad for a 9 year old!! He started art class this year after school with a local art teacher. He LOVES it!

This was his 1st painting. He actually wanted to give this to his TEACHER for her BIRTHDAY! Well Mr. Loud had a little talk to him and explained that isn't something to give to his teacher, that that was something his Momma would want to keep forever, and get teary eyed when she looked at it when she was 90ish. There may have been some bribery involved because he still wanted to GIVE IT AWAY for a few days until Mr. Loud had another talk then, funny thing, I never heard anything else about that teacher getting it! Good choice Big C!! No teacher will ever appreciate your art the way your Momma does! (but wasn't it precious he wanted to give it to her?!)

Does your cat smile in her sleep? Pretty sure Cococat is a happy spoiled cat. 

This is what you end up when you carry all of your plastic bowls to work and don't bring them home then need to take some dirty rice to work for a going away lunch for a coworker! Desperation breeds creativity. I just didn't want to take a heavy glass dish to work....so I came up with this idea! I cut the tops open, cleaned out the bottles, put the dirty rice in them, taped them back up, and put them in a plastic bag and easily carried them into work. Oh crap...this was AWESOME!! Everyone was like...."unbelieveable! " Pretty sure I started something at work.

I got some new stencils and another Sizzix die.....so I made a little sweet springy colored frame for one of my nurses for doing a project....I'm thinking I'm going to do this monthly for a job well done. We'll call it team building and appreciation, because not only do I LOVE MY JOB...but I REALLY LOVE MY STAFF!

Have a good weekend.....unfortunately the books and a paper are calling my name tonight!

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