Today is my big sister’s birthday. And although she is in heaven, my family and I will celebrate it with the most chocolate cake ever, because that is absolutely what she would want.
This darling illustration I found in the Etsy shop Tummy Mountain. Lloyd’s artwork, entitled “what cake”, epitomizes my sister and me.
If you are looking for something special for your sister(s) for a birthday, for the holidays or just because here’s a little help! Just click on the images below and start shopping!
Happy Veterans Day. I’m taking the day to honor my beloved father, Allyn Duane Thompson. He served his country as a young man in the Navy and retired later through the Army, fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was awarded two Purple Hearts. He raised his children to deeply love their country and respect those that sacrificed themselves for our freedoms. I love you, Dad. Thank you for what you gave. I wish I were in Texas today to give you the biggest hug possible, I don’t think I’d let go.
In lieu of that, rain or shine, our family will thank local heroes at the Veteran’s Day Parade, a beautiful tradition of our special town of Petaluma, California.
Thank you to all soldiers that served and those currently serving this great country and to their families for sharing them.
One more shout out to a loyal blog follower that I seem to always have on my mind when I think of our military when blogging- MizSmoochieLips, a young woman & mother that represents to me all military wives and military husbands at home while their S.O. is serving. I wanted you to know that I appreciate the daily sacrifices you make from the home-front on our country’s behalf.
Here are photos from Veterans Day 2005. Look at the Color Guard bearing the flags, doesn’t that give you goosebumps? And the caravan of vintage Jeeps filled with veterans from several different wars is always breathtaking. Jeff is driving the old fire engine, Jamie riding side-step tossing candy to the crowd and Sarah is holding the sign (that I completely misspelled and didn’t realize until AFTER the parade!) I have to giggle when I enlarge this photo, Bennett is on the other side of the truck popping his head up just inside the windshield under the mayor’s arm. Yay! I got them all in one shot!
You can easily decorate for your home and create great gifts using store-bought glass jar candles and clip-art images.
Smaller scented candles, with removable labels, are the perfect size and price to decorate for teachers’ gifts, gift exchanges, stocking stuffers, and hostess gifts. For dinner party decorating, I buy the tall, non-labeled veladoras candles found in the ethnic food aisle of the grocery store, to use at place settings on the dinner table. Unscented is best for burning candles in quantity and during a meal, but be sure to keep their wicks trimmed short to keep the flames low. When shopping for jar candles, look for ones with very straight sides, if they taper, you’ll need to make curved labels and that’s pretty tricky.
I use images from clip-art books that can easily be found at libraries and book stores. You can also use your own art or computer-generated text, copyright-free artwork found online, and even a copy of a cherished handwritten letter. For this project, most images can be either scanned to your computer or copied straight from a clip-art book and printed to size at your local copy store. Once I measure my candle for wrap size and place my artwork centered within the appropriate dimensions, I print the images on 8.5″ x 11″ white vellum. Vellum is a frosty, translucent paper that easily feeds through a desktop printer or copy machine and can be found at most craft stores. This type of paper wrapped around the candle allows the flame’s glow to show through while burning for a great effect.
(SAFETY NOTE: Some of the images in this post show lit candles with paper scraps on the table for the purpose of concept only. Please do not wrap paper around glass with lit candles!)
Although color images work well, I love the look of black and white art. From one book, I chose images of old product brand graphics to use on the small white candles. Once the images were printed on the vellum and cut to size, I wrapped and secured the vellum with glue at the overlap. Instead of wraps, for the pink candles, I printed decorative border frames on standard office paper, trimmed them out and wrote names on each before wrapping them around candle. With tall jar candles, a monogram, a typewritten name or a vintage image are just a few of the ideas for personalizing your guests’ place settings.
Get even craftier and decorate glass jar candles with buttons, ribbons and scrapbook embellishments. When giving candles as a gift, it’s also nice to give a little matchbook that can be used in the wrapping!
Have fun!
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Tagged candles, clip art, co-worker gifts, gift exchange, teachers gifts
