Happy New Year 1973!!!!

Yes, I do know it's 2013 :)

I found this 1973 Ladies Home Journal in a thrift store and I had to buy it for $5.

 Looking at the original 60 cent price mark, I realized I paid a 500% mark up. I guess that's what 40 years of  inflation will get you.

I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane see what it was like 40 years ago.

Do you know what we did according to the Ads in 1973?

We smoked. And did our hair. And smoked again.

,,

Then we bought ugly lamps.  I take that back, ugly floating lamps.

There is no spray paint in the world to fix these.

Then, after we applied make-up all over our face,

with  a paint roller,

We then obsessed over our self-cleaning ovens, which I laugh at, because my oven now is self-cleaning. And to be honest, I really don't care.

If I were old enough at the time, I would have failed the 1970's.

This is my favorite ad ever.

Especially since I turned 40 this year. Read the text in the next two pictures.

 I totally am getting grayer and fatter because my husband loves me too much. That is TOTALLY my new excuse.

 I never work off painful feelings by cleaning a closet. Seriously. Maybe that's part of her problem. Cleaning closets always makes me depressed.

Holy cow, she's two grey hairs away from a visit to a padded room.

Somebody get her a Kent and a box of Clairol. Stat.

I don't think she smoked enough.

Or the wrong thing.

But see, she's not getting older, only better...with her fat, grey,decorating self!!!!  

:)

I hope your 2013 is amazing. I wish you a wonderful and blessed New year for you and your family full of hope and promise.

And just to prove I lived through the 1970's:

Here I am rocking out one of my Mom's handmade creations. Gingham style. See the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. :) Did you notice the majority of our ornaments are either Snoopy as a reindeer or made out of L'eggs pantyhose eggs?

Happy New Year! Woooo-hooo 2013!!!

Jen

Fabulously Creative Friday linky party!!!

I almost forgot!!! I can't believe it's Thursday already!

Please link up all of your fabulously creative things~! I know a lot of you like me have done a 2012 wrap up, so please feel free to link that up as well!

Make sure you link to your post, not your blog, and linky love with a  back link is always appreciated. I can't seem to find the button, so I'll have to make a new one for 2013!
I am also linking here. :)
Jen

Favorites of 2012....

Well, our celebration of Brown and grey food did not happen as planned. One of my family members had a last minute heart procedure Wednesday, and by the time I got home on Friday, we rolled right into the flu! Talk about rolled; it was like we were a set of bowling pins, all knocked down at once!!! We've been on quarantine since then. :) I made it out briefly to Christmas Eve service, and we felt a bit better on Christmas and thought we had weathered the worst and were past it. We went  to my Mother-in-Laws and then my Mom's, but then on the 26th, a few of us had a fresh round of fever and chills.Even though we had to cancel everything we had planned, the positive side is that we have just spent a  lot of nice low key time together, hanging out and snuggling in a fever-induced haze. And I guess it was also a blessing we all had it at once so maybe by next week we can venture out to do some fun stuff before the kiddos have to go back to school.

Though I will say something that I know all of you mom's will agree with. I am tired of taking care of sick people. Oh how I love them, but Momma needs a trip to Anthropologie or Homegoods on her own. :)

I wanted to share some of my

 favorite projects of 2012:

Starting my own bulbs

Adding a built-in bookcase to make my studio space

Our bathroom renovation

Our dip-dyed table leg project

repurposed encyclopedias

Spray painted trophies

and how to carve your own stamps

I had such a fun year  with you! You are my favorite thing too!!!Thank you for sticking with me and hanging out. Without you, I would not have a reason to be here!

I hope you have  a happy and blessed New Year and I can't wait to show you all of the fun things I have planned. And yes, My Mom's kitchen is FINALLY done. Boy talk about a renovation story. I'll be sharing soon!

Love you all and Happy new year!!!!

Jen

Happy holidays!!!

I hope your 2012 Christmas is filled with blessings and joy!!!!

From my home to yours!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Jen

P.S. if you want to track Santa with your kids and see where he is.. you can see his flight pattern on the NORAD site!

Holiday house walk round-up....

Welcome to the 2012 Holiday Housewalk!!!

I wanted to give you a bit of last minute holiday inspiration before we get into the full swing of the holidays! Here is a round up of the virtual house walk so you can either click to go house by house or go right to a home you'd like to see!

Sharing your traditions linky party...

I am so happy to be able to host this linky party with Angela. 

When she asked me I was thrilled to be ale to post about holiday traditions, though there were some awesome parties before me.

We have a huge holiday tradition at my house. Every year, sort of in memory of the way we used to spend Christmas Eve. I get my big Polish family and many friends together on the day after Christmas and we have a big feast. So we get 3 days of holiday instead of 2, how awesome is that? :) My favorite part is when I go to the  deli to buy some of the things and they try to talk to me in rapid- fire Polish. I just smile because I would hate to break the news to them that the only words I know are swear words. I am sure my Gram is rolling over in her grave.

We start by breaking the Oplatki, and eat what my Italian cousin refers to as "brown and grey food"(He knows nothing.). I know..... it' sounds appetizing, doesn't it? Really it's big bowls of Sauerkraut, Polish sausage and dumplings. Along with Pierogi and dill pickle soup,pickled beets and rye bread and all of the good stuff that goes along with it. We stuff ourselves until we are full, eat dessert, take a break, maybe play a board game or two, and then actually at some point, pull it all out and eat again.... kind of crazy, huh?

Do you have any special traditions that you look forward to sharing? Baking cookies? Reading a certain book? Just hanging out?

Here's the party rules:
* Anyone can link up to three posts old or new
* You can link up here at JenniferRizzo.com or at Cottage
Magpie, the links will show up at both places
* Link back to me,  Jennifer, (JenniferRizzo.com)and to
Angela (Cottage Magpie)  in your post. This might mean you
have to go in to your old post and alter it. Use a text link or use this
cute button (with link!)

* The linky will be open for link ups until next Saturday Morning.
* Both Angela and I will each select our favorite posts for a round up next
Saturday. ONLY posts that link back to us will be featured.
* Be a nice party go-er, and visit at least as many other links as you have
linked up yourself. (Seems fair doesn't it?)

I can't wait to read all about your holiday traditions!
I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!!

Fabulously Creative Friday linky party!!!

It's back, just in time for the holidays! All of your fabulously creative things! I can't wait to see everything as the new year rolls in! Link up!

Pom-pom apalooza....Pom-pom project round up...

Who does not love a good pom-pom?I know I do. I think they are going to be "hot" this spring...

 In fact, I think we need a pom-pom party to ring in the new year! Pom-poms are just so *happy*, and I think we need some happy this new year.
 Let's have  linky party January 14th!Bring out the yarn and scissors.... it's going to be pom-tastic!
(If you need a refresher on how to make a pom-pom you can see my how-to post here.)

As inspiration, here are some ideas from around the web that I just love!

Source: us.anthropologie.com via Jen on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Jen on Pinterest

Source: fashion156.com via Jen on Pinterest

Source: annehuijbregts.blogspot.com via Jen on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Jen on Pinterest

 Thistlewood Farm

What creative way can you come up with to use pom-poms?

Jen

With a heavy heart...

I know I normally write about much lighter topics, but I wanted to share my feelings with you tonight. I have a heavy heart thinking about all of those families at Sandy Hook elementary and in the community.It was such a senseless,tragic thing that happened and completely incomprehensible. I had felt incredibly sad about the entire situation until I read the list of published names and ages in the paper and then I cried and gave my own babies extra kisses. I cried for those children, for the families and for everything that was lost that day.
I prayed and read the Bible last night thinking of everyone involved and how broken open they must feel, how empty and lost.
I remember feeling like that the night my father died over 14 years ago, and then the night my sister in law passed away in 2002. It's a hard, painful and numbing thing to go through.
The thing is,life will never be the same again, but there will be healing. It will just take time. I am praying for them and will continue with my whole heart. I know The Lord will be there to walk with them in every step of their darkness. I know he is with all of the victims now.
Emmanuel is with all of us. In those heavy and wounded moments He is there.
I had been reading bits and pieces, until I had come across Lucy's post today from Craftberry Bush. She had mentioned verse 147:3-6 in Psalms. I was glad she lead me to it, It was what I needed to hear. And then I found a verse I had marked in Psalm 62 v8 during bible study.
-Trust in him at all times, O People;pour out your heart before him;God is a refuge for us-

I hope for all of you, as we all struggle to make sense of the crazy things that are happening,and there is A LOT of crazy stuff happening, you can find His Grace in your life and it can give you hope and not fear. He has counted every hair on our heads and knows each one of us by name. He sent His only son to save us through Grace. And even as my heart aches, I know Jesus is here and his heart aches too. My Grandma used to give me bookmarks with the Footprints poem on it that had a beach scene with seagulls flying around. I admit, as a teenager, I used to roll my eyes and wonder why she'd give me something so stupid.What was I going to do with that? If I only knew how much I needed them.....

A Lot.

Jen

Make an Anthro-inspired mini-pom pom wreath...

I had so many questions about how I  made my mini-wreaths, that I thought I would do a tutorial on them.

I love the HUGE Anthroplogie wreath, but it is a bit out my budget.  I did calculate how much it would cost to make and it would be about 8-10 skeins of yarn and even on-sale that would be about  $60- $80. If you figure in your time, it's actually not  a bad price.

But, the small ones are so cute and quick, you could make a few for the backs of your chairs like I did! They are fast and the kids can even help make the pom-poms.

You'll need:

1- embroidery hoop. I used the second to next smallest size. It's about 6 inches.

Hot glue (be careful with the hot glue so you don't melt the yarn.)

1-2 skeins of white, thick wooly yarn

a 5 x 7 cardboard square. An old greeting card or card stock folded in half will do.

scissors

Ribbon For a bow. I found some very cute Swedish-inspired ribbon at Micheal's.

 Separate your two pieces of embroidery hoop. You can use both to make 2 wreaths because you won't see the back.

The size of your card stock and how much you wrap your yarn will determine the size and how full your pom-poms are.

Wrap your yarn around your card stock about 40-60 times. The more loops the fuller it will be.

 Once you have wrapped it as full as you like, carefully gather it together and pinch it in the middle. Slowly pull it off of the cardstock retaining the loops.

 Take a bit of the yarn and tie a knot around the bunch right in the center.

 Carefully cut all of the loops with out pulling the yarn.

 Once all of your loops are cut, you'll have  a shaggy ball. Take a sharp pair of scissors and trim the shaggy mess to a neat round shape.

 Carefully hot glue your  trimmed pom-poms to the embroidery hoop.

Don't be afraid to squeeze your pom-poms in together.

 Hot glue your bow, use  a scrap of yarn to tie a loop through the top to hang your wreath and your ready to go!

I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Jen

Make a jingle bell tree....

I bought some gold jingle bells on clearance at the end of last season. I wasn't thrilled about the color, but they were so cheap, I knew I couldn't pass them up.

 I had some white spray paint and some Krylon Glitterblast to try.

 I separated out all of my bells according to size.

 I hot glued them to a cardboard cone.

 I ended up doing biggest to smallest at first and then I realized I kind of liked them a bit assorted so I changed my a pattern up a little as I worked.

 After they were all glued on I took my cone outside and coated it with a few coats of white.

 I also covered some craft store cardboard snowflakes  which I sprayed later with the glitter blast color sparkling waters.

I liked it, but I did notice I had to shake the can a lot to keep it from clogging.I also sprayed my tree in clear glitterblast.

Once everything was dry, I hot glued my glittery snowflakes onto my Jingle tree.

 I think it's cute! I would recommend buying more bells than you think you need. I had three boxes and I had to trim my cone down, otherwise I could have used 4!

Make sure you visit these other awesome spray paint projects at:

and

and you can still link up your holiday home for a chance to win a spot in next years housewalk!!!

Jen

*This has been a compensated post, but opinions,ideas and jinglebells are all my own. *