Howling at the Moon

When I saw this one, it was like I was back in Costa Rica right away, although it's quite some years ago that I was there. The green, the flowers, the animals; when I think of paradise and the variety of all creatures that must be living there, I think Costa Rica equals it the most. I couldn't wait to make it and as soon as the craft store opened and I was finally able to buy the supplies needed, I ran out the door. I finished this piece the same day. Templates and instructions you can find here . ~*~ My French Knitted Names were featured by Creative Jewish Mom , by Sum of Their Stories , Oui Crochet and by Meet Our Life ! Thank you very much, Sara, Julie, Susie and Sabrina!

After a long winter with some cold days, even some snow, and especially a lot of rainy days, our fence is looking weathered and grey. In some places it looked green also, but with the hydroblaster my husband spouted that away. To make the fence look a bit nicer and more cheerful, I made stars from wooden popsicle sticks. Not that much work, but the fence looks much better. 

One of my favorite things to do when I was a little girl was French knitting, but the only things I ever made of it were small rugs. There wasn't much more to find than rugs in the small world of children's crafts books. But a while ago I saw French knitted names and I think this looks so much better than rugs! I did something with wire and French knitting before , but didn't think about making names for a second. I love this idea! Perfect for a little baby present for example!    ~*~ Both my Dragonfly Shirt and the Mango Ice Pops were featured by Creative Jewish Mom ! Thanks, Sara!

One of my favorite summer vegetables (or is it a fruit?) is rhubarb, so I was really looking forward to making this Rhubarb Strawberry Smoothie ! It's even better than I thought! ~*~ Next: Rhubarb Upside Down Cake , because I have plenty of rhubarb left to make more rhubarb recipes!

Last week there was Garage Sale in the village I grew up. We didn't participate ourselves this year (my daughters make bracelets every year for sale and I crochet some small things they can sell, because I think it's a good way to teach them about money), because I thought it would be nice to walk around the village this time to look for children's books. We found some books, but I also found a beautiful lantern, that would look perfect above the coffee table in our living room. I painted it black and bought a nice looking LED light bulb for it and this is how the lantern looks now. Unfortunately the spiral light bulb was a bit too big to fit through the small opening in the lantern, so I have to buy another one, but for now this not so splendid looking bulb will do. I just love my new old lamp!