Can you see it.... Can you feel it.... Can you smell it....

What am I talking about you ask - only the most glorious season of the year...

Fall


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 Technically it's still about 3 or 4 weeks away, but who cares I will still say it's Fall after Labor day!

I can feel the change coming, the nights have a slight cooler breeze.  It's getting darker a tad bit earlier than it was last week.  We could go almost to 8:45 and still have light out.  Now, it's 8:30 and the sun is set. 

We'll be able to buy pomegranates from the market, yummy! I can also see the pecans on the trees, before you know they will be falling and ready for the picking. Soon pumpkins will start to appear.  I can go into Bed Bath & Beyond just to smell all the cinnamon scented pine cones and candles (yes, I do that). Baking treats is my absolute favorite thing to do....(squeal) ← can you tell I'm excited, lol!

Halloween and Thanksgiving decor is out.....Even Christmas is out.  Well in Hobby Lobby it is, they start putting it out in mid-July.  Crazy right, but they have a lot of space to set up. So I can understand.  I took out my Christmas tree's too, they have to be pre-fluffed. What...you don't pre-fluff the branches?  I know, I'm crazy but this is my favorite time of the year....I'm always super busy, I have classes at night, and my weekends are jam packed with errands, so  I start early. 

Between the studying and catching up on some movies with theHubs this weekend.  I will be trying my hand at baking.... breads, biscuits, rolls.  We'll see how that turns out.  I know it's still a little warm out, but I 'm so ready to start the Holiday cooking and baking. *\(",)/*


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 Every one have a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend!

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Summer vacation is over....

Why do the weekends go by so quickly? Because time sure does fly when you're having fun that's why, lol.   This was the last free weekend for everyone here in Houston.  School starts Monday....so does the crazy traffic, the getting caught behind school buses, and the waking up super early to avoid all of this.  I myself will start my evening classes on Tuesday...yay!!  So, for everyone that starts school tomorrow good luck and have a fantastic semester.

Now for this weeks project.  My next project will probably be in two weeks, just till I get situated with my class schedule.

I'm showing off a new tote that I made for my niece Aubrey.  It was for her second birthday.  I really enjoy sewing and making thing for my loved ones and for myself.  

Red on the inside.

For this tote bag I sewed a double pocket on the outside for some extra storage.

If you make it, then tag it.  My tag "Fifi Made This"

Okay are you ready to be attacked with cuteness.....really how can you not love this.  I made this as the special little add-on for the tote.

After about 7 different variations, I really liked the way I drew this little elephant.  I then traced on felt and sewed on the extra little pieces.  Then I drew the letter "A"  for her name and made it too.  Cute huh!  Her birthday theme was "Circus".

This has to be my favorite tote that I have made so far.

Until next time!  Thanks for stopping by.  

Participating at all the fabulous parties on my party page and here:

Its So Very Cheri

Crafty Texas Girls

Coastal Charm

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Easy Lime Syrup!

This will probably be the last post for Summer....not the last post ever but the last post about anything to do with Summer.  Labor day is around corner and that usually means bye bye Summer.  The Fall season will start soon and I can not wait.

Okay back to the post.  

Last weekend while running errands with theHubs, he promised to take me to Sonic to get something cool and refreshing while we endure the "awesome" heat here in TX.  Well we totally forgot to stop.  I said don't worry, I'll see what we have at home.  While creeping over the Internet I found recipes for snow cone syrup.  They are all pretty much the same and so easy I decided to give it a try. 

Yes, Yes...I know I'm all late to this band wagon of cold, cool, fresh beverages, but this is the first time I ever tried this. I was super excited and theHubs totally loved it.

This has to be the easiest thing to make EEEEver!!  Well I wanted to to flavor it and all I had were limes.  One of theHubs employees has a lime tree and she gave us a bag full of limes.  I'm really thankful to all our friends who are always sharing their fruits or veggies with us.  I was in the middle of making frozen lime cubes, since I don't like to waste things, I used some fresh lime juice to flavor the syrup.

Okay here is what I used and what I did:

2 cups of sugar to every 1 cup of water.   

Fresh Limes

For this batch I used 2 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar.  Brought it to a boil, making sure the sugar was dissolved and the mixture was clear.  Took it off the burner and while letting it cool, I used 8 limes to flavor the syrup.  Then I added a couple of drops of green food coloring. There you have it, Lime Syrup......YUMMY!

Of course it was complete agony waiting for the syrup to cool down.  But when it finally did I just used my blender to choppy chop the ice!  Served it in styrofoam cups like the snow cone place does it then hand a cup over to theHubs with a spoon and a bendy straw.  

It was sooooooooooo good and I want to make them all the time now.  

 I just used a jar to store the rest of the syrup in and popped into the fridge.

*edit - You can flavor the syrup with kool-aid packets....I sooo totally didn't believe this.  But yesterday I made some more syrup and added a cherry flavored packet...oh my....it was yummy.  Two thumbs up from the hubby as well.

Everyone have a fabulous week! Thank you for stopping by.

Sharing at all the awesome parties on my party link page and here: 

It's So Very Cheri

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So I did make a promise.....

To show off some pictures from our vacation last month.  Well I have yet to download pictures from my cameras.  I am notorious for it.  Ask my family....I can have pictures on my cameras for months.  So sad!! lol!  

Well, what I will show you are some random pictures that I was able to get with my phone before the battery died.....\("o)/ nooooooooooooo!  If you follow on Instagram @fifiybr you've probably seen these before and they're not the best of the pics....so don't judge.

Quite a bit of pictures....so you can just scroll thru if you don't feel like reading any descriptions.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Driving down I-10 East, lots of wetland.

Driving through the French Quarter.

Walking around the French Quarter, this was one of my favorite things to see.  Balconies filled with plants.  I loved just walking around, plus I was trying to find out where Brad and Angelina live. No luck!! lol!!

Inside the St. Louis Cathedral near Jackson Square.  Beautiful stained glass everywhere.

We had brunch at Cafe Du Monde!  YUMMY!!
Beignets and Cafe Au Lait

Stopped by and bought stuff in the French Market.

We had a visit from swarms of Mayflies off of the Mississippi.  My pic does not even show the amounts that were gathered on street signs, lights or buildings. The news said that this was the biggest swarm ever seen in years.

Visiting one of the many shops off of Decatur St.  I think this was the Pepper Palace.

The fountain in Spanish Plaza by the River Walk.  It is surrounded with seals of the provinces of Spain.  We would have walked around to see them all, but it was really rainy those days, there was water every where and I had flip flops on....not good.

Okay....I do not, I repeat do not eat oysters.  But I will forever eat charbroiled oysters.   We stopped by Drago's which are known for their charbroiled oysters.....YUMMMMMMM!  Believe me they are the best.

This is definitely not the best picture, but its a pic of the Bienville Statue.

 Beautiful bridge crossing the Baton Rouge port.

On our way home we made a stop in Lake Charles....L'Auberge du Lac Casino Resort. I love this place, it's really very lovely. The rooms are awesome, the staff is great and great shows.  We just played slots.  I didn't become a millionaire, but we did stuff our faces at the Le Beaucoup Buffet.  TheHubs and I had points on our PlayerCards so instead of paying 20+ bucks per person we only payed  3 bucks and change total...woo hoo!!

Finally, crossing state lines!!

More familiar territory.  So happy to almost be home.

We had a fabulous time there.  We hope to go back again maybe next month.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

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I felt like I was sewing foreeeeeeeever!

Not really, it actually didn't take that long, it was the prep that took a while.
I must say you will be bombarded with a ton of pics.....sorry for that.  I'm a visual person, I like to see pictures and I feel that you will understand it better if you can see what I'm seeing.  I'm a weirdo like that, when people talk I have to see their mouth moving, if not all I hear is mumbles. LOL!!

Okay, now on to the project.  I have been wanting a mat for the entrance to my craft room.  Why you may ask....oh just because.  Well I went on a adventure looking for the right materials to make it.  I definitely didn't want to spend lots of money and I knew I wanted something handmade. By me, duh!! I went to Goodwill, sadly I couldn't find anything that I was totally in love with.  Now I realize I could have gone to Wally World to buy a cheapie for 5 bucks, but what would be the fun in that.  Then I went to $ tree and bought 200 feet of poly rope.  That cost me about 4 bucks. 

When I went to another Goodwill, I found this twin sheet for 3 bucks, it would have to do.  All the way home I thought about how I could snazz it up a bit.

I decided I would make some of the colors pop.  Boy, was I in over my head.   With 3 fine tip markers I went about my merry little way and outlined the green, pink and dark pink prints.  For this twin size sheet it took me 6 hours to finish!

Can you see the change?  It went from Dull to Cheery!

After the (6) hours, my fingers were cramping, my neck was aching from looking down and I had a headache from the permanent marker smell....but I was happy to be done with that.  Now I was ready to cut and tear.  What??  ←  that's what theHubs said....after all that you're going to cut it up.  Yup!  I took the pinking sheers and snipped about every 1 inch along the edge.  Then I just ripped it into what you see below.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture of the part where I tied the end of the rope and the end of the strip together.  Then I wrapped the rope a couple of times to cover it.  To start off the mat I folded the start of the wrapped rope down about 2 inches  (like this ║) then I sewed it together.  Then I just continued wrapping, turning, and sewing.

I used a zig-zag stitch for the whole mat.  I kept the center of the rope and the center of the foot aligned so I could get the zig-zag on both sides.  (╥)

Okay, I'm a lefty and I do most things backwards!! Lol!!  Well, this was totally my fault for not thinking this through.  I'm so impatient sometimes and I pay for it with mess ups like this.  When I was done with my first 50 feet of wrapped rope....I had a curving bowl mat......NOOOOOOOOOO!  Yeah, instead of running it through and turning left I was turning right.  So hence the almost bowl.  I had to start again and I did it correctly.  I took the seam ripper to the bowl and used this piece at the end.  So, it worked out.

See, I'm doing it the right way here!! 

Please ignore the Hobbit feet below!!  Geez, they look like stand in feet for the Lord Of the Rings movies, lol!!  There are shadows around, I don't have cankles okay! My feet are little and cute...so theHubs says, lol!! I love to stand on it barefoot because it's always cool. 

I really love the way it turned out!  Even though it did take the (6) hours to add the color I'm glad I did....it pops right?

I'm really tempted to make a bigger one...who knows maybe I will!  So in total it cost be less than $8.00 and my time. 

I'm glad you stopped by to check out the latest project.  Everyone have a great week.


Linking up at the fabulous parties in my party tab and also at these great places -
Craft-O-Maniac
Watch Out, Martha!

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Happy Birthday to.........

The most beautiful, the most awesome, the most loving, one of the most important persons in my life -

My Mom!! 

I love you!

She wouldn't want me to share her age....so I won't.  But she has raised 3 beautiful daughters (myself included, lol) and 1 handsome son.  She is a grandma to 7 real kids and 3 fur-babies...lol!!  Does this woman look like a grandma to you? Most won't believe it, lol. 

I hope that she has a wonderful and blessed day.



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