What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Pies, Cakes and Cupcakes, Oh my!

We had a slight dusting of snow last night. I went outside to snap a photo of it before The Bean got up (in case he missed it). I have this funny rock face nestled in my rock garden. Doesn't he look cold?


I've been overly crafty as of late. I am in four Valentine swaps - a record for me. The swap buttons are all on the side over there. I had to decorate two heart shaped candy boxes and fill the candy cups with bits and bobs and odds and ends of ribbon, buttons and all things red, white and pink. Sadly, I had enough, er, treasures, that I could have filled a dozen boxes. I had a lot of fun decorating the boxes and then filling them up. They are not due out yet, so I cannot post photos yet.

I am also participating in a Valentine Swap at the Misadventures of Mama and Jack. I had to make 14 Valentines. This was my first attempt at mass card making. I generally just make a card here and there for certain occassions. I think they turned out cute, but I am anxious to hear what others think. They are cupcake themed, so I don't think I could have gone too wrong.

Then there is the Hanging Heart Swap at Sweet Goodness. That one had be bewildered for awhile, but tonight, I hunted and gathered and came up with my project. I was leaning towads a Valentine Cone, but decided to so something different. My partner is an Art Teacher - so talk about pressure. Eh, gads!

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My Valentine Tree: I keep my tall natural looking woodsy tree up through Easter in the living room. It looked so bare after Christmas with just the white lights, that I decided to go ahead and make a Valentine's Tree. Truth be known, I still have a shelf of Santas up that I haven't taken down and here I am full out Valentine decorating. I found several miniature glass cakes, cakes on cake plates and cupcakes at Wal-Mart for 50¢ each after Christmas so I decided to go with a SWEET theme. I also found some plastic red and white striped ribbon candies and glass peppermints as well as some red glass heart ornaments at Hobby Lobby. At Hobby Lobby I also found some sweet litle porcelain plates with slices of pie dangling from them. Suddenly I had a red, white, pink and all things SWEET theme. At Target they had these silver fancy swirled initial gift tag tie ons for 9¢. But, all they had were X's and O's. Well, hello? "XOXOXO" Hugs and Kises for my tree!

The tree in the corner. (Excuse the other messes and the Curel bottle. I have a Curel bottle in every room. I am addicted to my lotion!)


"Be Mine" tree topper - a $1.00 pillow from the Dollar Tree.


Cupcake ornament scored after Christmas for 25¢.

Small glass cupcake with glass "cherry on top".

Pink glass cupcake with "cherry on top".

The chocolate glas cake slice on a blue glass cake stand is one of my favorites. I made the felt cupcake with the cherry on top beside it.

I made this cake slice without a pattern and think it turned out prety darn cute, if I do say so myself!

And ya gotta have some glitter - a red and white glittered birdhouse that I made from an after Christmas purchase.

The red beads and red and white pompoms were all after Christmas finds. I bought the little conversation heart buckets at Walgreen's last year, but I found another set at the Super Cheap Thrift for 50¢ last week. Kismet!

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:29 PM

    Yummy looking tree! I love that you even made a stem for the cherry on the cupcake you made!

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  2. Oh man, that is CUTE! I saw those ornies at WalMart before Christmas but it never occurred to me to put them on a Valentine tree. That is just darling!

    Love your new header photo!

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  3. Hi Shara,
    I reposted a picture of the brite balls and it looks much better. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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  4. I love the tree! What a grand idea! Wouldn't it be fun to keep it up all year long and just keep decorating it for every occasion? : ) Thanks for sharing it with us!

    Jan

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  5. I love your tree! And the X's and O's are such a creative idea! :) I'm all about the cupcakes this year. :)

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  6. How fun! I love your Valentine tree.

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  7. Your Valentine Tree is SWEET! One of these days I will decorate for every holiday...lol....for now, I live through all my celebrating bloggy friends!

    You sure did take on lotsa swaps! I can barely manage one at a time!

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  8. Anonymous1:02 AM

    Nice tree, really cute one. I have never seen such trees.

    How are you celebrating mother's Day?

    What you gifting to your mother to make her day special?

    Lovely photos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous1:25 AM

    Mother's Day holiday, in the United States, celebrates motherhood generally and the positive contributions of mothers to society. It falls on the second Sunday of each May. It is the result of a campaign by Anna Marie Jarvis (1864–1948), who, following the death of her mother on May 9, 1905, devoted her life to establishing Mother's Day as a national, and later an international, holiday.

    ReplyDelete

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