A quick group photo before we hit the trail.

Gathering together to start our hike. We count out so we know how many Dames are in the group so we can keep track and make sure no one is left behind on our way out.

We begin our hike on the Historic path which will  pass along the New Manchester Manufacturing Company.

This mill was built in 1849 on Sweetwater Creek. The mill produced yarn to form cotton and in 1861, the company had a contract with the Confederate Government to produce the materials for Confederate uniforms. In 1864 with so many men fighting in the Confederate Army, most of the employees of the mill were woman and their children. Sadly those women and children were arrested in July of 1864 when the Union Calvary captured the mill and village all around it. If they agreed to sign an “Oath of Allegiance” to the US Government they were released north of the Ohio River and Indiana. Those that did not sign the oath remained in prison until after the war ended. That my friends is a bit of Georgia history!

Sweetwater Creek

There are so many beautiful boulders all throughout!

One of the terrific things about the Trail Dames is that we have so many knowledgeable women who share the history of the area. Here we are taking a break and soaking up Georgia history.

Hello lovely! I had great love for this one and I gave it a big hug! Hug a tree, it’s good for your soul. Really now! There is even a lesson on how to hug a tree. Check it here!

Moving right along the trail you will find it can you give a bit of a workout as you will find the trail rocky as pictured above.

Here are the Dames, getting their heart rates up! There are several areas where climbing up and up is involved.

We take a few short breaks along the way and when we do, there is beauty all around. I love the color and textures we see all around us.

Trail Dames with Cheryl our guide right up front! Ladies, it was so nice meeting a lot of you for the first time. I so enjoyed our day and look forward to doing it all again soon!

For those interested in the Trail Dames, click here to check us out and click here to see another post from a past adventure I had with them.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

I came across a wooden “Thank You” sign on the Weddingbee site. I saved it in my Pinterest Wedding Board and headed to JoAnn’s to pick up the simple supplies needed for the project. Take a few minutes to follow along as I show you the easy steps to make a wooden Thank you sign.

I bought two wooden plaques in different shapes and primed them. You can find these at your local craft store.

I then spray painted them with Heirloom White. It’s one of my favorites!

I used my Cricut Calligraphy Collection cartridge and cut out the words. I think these letters were 2 or 3 inches. I played around a bit to get the right fit. Terrible photo I know but you get the idea!

I used Scotch Tacky Glue to glue on the words. I like this glue the best as it has a thin applicator tip and makes a perfect thin line.

I used my trusty friend Mod Podge and applied a layer across the entire front side, back, and sides of the wood to seal the letters and add a layer of protection. So are you ready to see the final project?

Here they are! Photo credits to Tillman Branch Photography.

This is photo we used for the post wedding Thank You postcards we created using Vista Print! I am so happy with the results. They were very easy to put together and very inexpensive. Total cost for me? $8.00 as I had the spray paint and Mod Podge on hand. The small wedding details are my favorite. I hope this inspires you as you plan your events!

I will be linking up to some great parties this week. There is so much inspiration!

Made by you Mondays, Today’s Creative Blog, WhipperBerry, Serenity Now

It’s all good! ~ Donna

Manual focus 1.4, flash not used. I don’t normally shoot on manual focus, mostly because my eyesight is not that great, but here I simply turned the focus ring until the lights were blurry and snapped this shot.

50mm, 1.4

I used auto focus on this shot, focusing on Justin’s hand. The tree was a few feet behind him. Focusing on the subject with the light source a few feet behind the subject will give you this effect.  50 mm, 1.4, no flash

50mm, 1.4, manual focus ~ Simple white lights.

50mm 1.4 – auto focusing on the snowflake

Holiday Cheer Beer!

Ginobili was sitting on a table by the window. The Christmas lights were reflected in the window pane. She is such a pretty girl! I tell her that all the time. Yes, I talk to my cats and tell them how lovely they are. Crazy cat lady? Maybe. Anyhoo, I love learning new techniques and with all the sparkly Holiday lights, this is the perfect time to keep working on that bokeh!

It’s all good ~ Donna

Thank you Martha Stewart for this lovely, sparkly, glitter craft yarn. It’s called glitter eyelash. Super Cute!

I picked up these tree shapes at the Dollar Tree and the glitter ribbon at JoAnn’s. I had planned on using the ribbon on the trees but did not use it. I do love that sparkle!

This project is super easy! Wrap the glitter yarn around the tree…

Use a fabric or craft glue to attach the yarn.

I only applied the glue at the top starting point and at the bottom where I cut the yarn.

Tada! I had some candle sticks in my stash and I placed the trees on top. I used some double stick tape across the top of the candle stick for support and they won’t tip over so easy.

On the left of this photo you can see where I stacked two candlesticks together. I used double stick tape on them since I did not want them to permanently be glued together.

Here is the color scheme I am working with. I love that little bird! This serving piece was a wedding anniversary gift from my Mother-in-Law.

I took a quick snapshot so you can see those little sweet trees on the buffet. I still have more decorating to do but it’s a good start! Do you have a Christmas color scheme? I have red and gold in my living room. What are you planning for Holiday Decor? I’d love to hear your plans!

I’ll be linking up to some great parties this week! Hop on over and get those creative juices flowing!

Today’s Creative Blog, Tip Junkie

It’s all good. ~ Donna

On a trip to JoAnn’s to pick up some crafting supplies, I came across this lovely, sparkling, buy me now yarn. Buy it I did! I’ll share what I made with it soon!

The glue gun came out and burlap and twine was transformed into something I really needed. Tune in to see what it is!

Super strong magnets are just what I needed for my Holzer Homemade Christmas presents this year!

My family live in Texas and I do miss them much over the Holidays. My Mom always made the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and so I made it just like Mom. Thanks Libby’s! I love your pie recipe !

Lot’s of dirty dishes in the sink last week. I do like hand washing dishes though. The warm suds are soothing. Crazy huh? I hate mopping and there are suds involved there too!

This guy, my handsome husband, ran the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving morning! I am so proud of him and his great accomplishment! I do wonder though if he was running from all the CRAZY that was happening in my home that morning. The smoke alarms were ringing, I was covered in flour, and my Mom calls to see if I watching the Macy’s parade. I love you Mom but I had no time for parade watching that morning!

He was a super help with the Green Bean casserole recipe we tried this year. Portabella mushrooms made this recipe a keeper! See how strong he looks here? 2 minutes later he was on the coach. Something about running a half marathon that morning and his legs were a wee bit wobbly!

This guy, my super Father-in-Law grinning it up while cutting up the Turkey! We hosted Thanksgiving in our home this year and it was so wonderful. We usually have Thanksgiving at my husband’s grandfather’s house but since they were  out of town, the Atlanta family came to our home. Super! I got to use all my wedding china and Justin’s grandmother’s silver.

I found these cute printables from Sissyprint. If you are looking for cute free printables, hop on over there! See what printables she has available for Christmas.

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and full of all things good. Thank you friends for stopping by My Sweet Things. You are truly appreciated! Cheers for today and stop by again soon. I’ll be sharing those projects later this week!

It’s all good. ~ Donna

I have come across a lot of delightful artwork using paint chips. I quick search on Pinterest and I was inspired. So clever and no cost! Perfect.

I picked up the photo frame and paint chips months ago. My upstairs hallway has been making a transition and this piece is just the pop of color I wanted for a small space between my son’s bedroom door and the hallway door frame. I used a 2inch circle cutter and a craft glue stick.

I love all the shades of purple and with the circle cutter I was able to whip these out in minutes.

I cut a piece of card stock to  5×7 which is the print size of the frame.

I glued the circles on the card stock in an overlapping pattern and placed it in the frame. So easy and colorful!

The Paint Chip Artwork works well with the color scheme as purple is the “pop” color I am using for the hallway which I painted months ago using Behr Ultra in Silver Sateen.  This is the ceiling medallion mirror I put together which is also in the hallway. In looking at these photos I noticed the same paint color in different lighting! I do love the purple and gray! Paint Chip Artwork? Do it! Need inspiration? Go to Pinterest!

I will be linking up to some great parties this week. There is so much inspiration!

Skip to My Lou Made by You Monday, Homemaker on a Dime Creative Bloggers Party,

It’s all good. ~ Donna

During one of my wedding inspiration searches, I came across a sweet blog named It’s the Little Things. Karla created a terrific wedding direction sign. I also found a wedding site called Aisle with Style who also shared a post on wedding direction signs. These two sites inspired me to create one! My son’s wedding took place at Hampton Park Gazebo and I thought a direction sign would come in handy to lead family and friends from the parking lot to the Gazebo.

I bought six, 10 inch pre-cut wood pieces and white craft paint from Jo-Ann’s Craft Store. You can see some of the pieces I purchased above. (The long stick with the pointy end was not used in this project.) The wood pieces cost less than two dollars a piece as I shopped during one of Jo-Ann’s half off sales.

A quick painting tip! Place your brushes in a plastic bag when working with painting projects that will have a delay paint time between them. I started painted one evening and finished the next day. The brush was still soft, moist and good to go!

I also picked up two, 3 foot long sticks of wood from Jo-Ann’s. The bottoms were flat and I needed to have them pointed at the end to drive into the ground.

A chisel, hammer, and a cute husband to the rescue!

All done!

I painted two coats of the white craft paint on the long sticks.

I used my Circut Expression Machine with the Calligraphy Collection Cartridge to cut out the letters.  I glued them with Scotch Quick Drying Tacky Glue. The precision tip on the applicator is helpful when gluing the smaller printed pieces. I used Mod Podge as a clear coat, and I applied it over the entire surface of the boards to seal them.

I used Liquid Nails to adhere the boards to the long stick. They held up really well but during the car transit, one of the boards was jostled in the back of the car and it popped off. Luckily I had packed the liquid nails with me to fix it.

Tada! Here it is! I made two signs since the walk from the parking was not a straight shot to the Gazebo. One sign was place by the parking lot, and the other was placed at the left turn taken leading to the wedding ceremony.

I am super happy with the results! Thanks again to Karla from It’s the Little Things and Aisle with Style for the inspiration and I hope my sweet sign inspires you too!

I will be linking to some great parties this week. Stop by, join the party, and be inspired!

Serenity Now, WhipperBerry

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Here is my wedding cake with the topper I made for our lovely wedding day in October 2007.

I searched my wedding details book for the information on where I purchased the cake topper and while I seem to have every other detail, I could not find the retailer I purchased the initials from. I did a search on the world wide web and came across Koyal Wholesale. While I did find many other retailers that offered monogram cake toppers, most offered toppers with the crystals already in place and they were very pricey.  Pricey as in $34.00 to $99.00 per initial. I had made mine for a whole like less and I wanted to do this myself as a gift to the kids.

Koyal Wholesale is a large wedding and event supply company. They offer many products including wedding favors, lights, curtains, paper lanterns, candles and so much more. They sell the initial monogram cake toppers I was looking for at an amazing price of $4.99 for a 3inch silver mirror initial. This was a super happy find for me. I originally wanted a large S as I had planned on the single last name initial but the S was sold out and had been for a few months. It is still sold out as I checked their site today. I decided to go with their first name initial with the & in the middle.

I purchased the 3 inch Silver Mirrored Monogram Cake Topper  first name initials and a 2.5 inch  Silver Mirrored Monogram Cake Topper “&” symbol. The crystals I picked up at Jo-Ann’s Craft Store when they had a half off sale and they cost me $8.00 for both packages. I had the Aleene’s Jewel-It from my wedding project. You can also find that at Jo-Ann’s or any craft store for around $3. The total for the cake topper pieces from Koyal Wholesale was $14.97 and the FedEx home delivery was $12.61. The grand total for the topper including all that is necessary to make it was  $38.58.  That was about the same price of one initial I could have purchased from other retailers.

Each bag of crystals had 85 pieces in them. I had just enough to complete the topper.

I  applied the Jewel-It to the mirror piece and used a toothpick to spread it out a bit.

The tweezers came in handy to place the crystals on the glue. I used the toothpick again to remove some of the excess glue around the crystals once I had them in place.

Tada! Here is the complete set. They are not completely dry here as you can see some of the glue on the right side of the A but the glue does dry clear and you can’t see it once it dries for a day or so.

I tried to get a shot to show the sparkle but with holding the camera with one hand and the initial with the other, it was not an easy task. They do sparkle though! Again, here the initial is not completely dry.

We don’t have wedding photos from our photographer just yet but this is a snap shot from Dad’s camera phone. I wanted to show you the scale of the initials on the wedding cake.

Another camera phone shot from the mother of the bride. I’ll be updating this post as soon as I get the official wedding photos in. Surprisingly, I do not have a single shot of the cake myself. I must have been wiping tears of joy at this point!

Last shot with my cake cutting photo.

I hope this post helps those DIY’s out their planning weddings or any event where you might like to add a monogram cake topper and some bling to your event.

I will be linking to some great parties this week. Stop by, join the party, and be inspired!

Serenity Now, Whipperberry, TidyMom,

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Sam, Jenn, Justin and I agreed to go as ABBA. There I am on the right in full ABBA mode!

Such an awesome time. I love this crazy group of friends and I am so blessed to have them in my life.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

McDaniel Farm Park Edition

McDaniel Farm is located on 134 acres and it has been restored to depict a typical 1930’s farm in Gwinnett County. The farmhouse itself is furnished with items that might have been  found in a home during that time period. There is a barn, blacksmith shed, carriage and tenant house. The park area offers 3 miles of paved and soft surface trails. There is a pavilion, grill and restrooms available as well. This is one of the loveliest parks I have been to and it’s located less than 10 minutes from my home. Sweet! My husband was out of town this weekend and Saturday was a gorgeous day so I packed up and headed out to the farm.

My traveling companion. Pumpkin Spice Latte. So good!

McDaniel Farm House. Eight family members lived in this tiny place.

If you are out in the Gwinnett County area, McDaniel Farm Park is a lovely location for an afternoon picnic. It would also make a terrific location for a photography session. I did see a photographer setting up with a client when I was on my way out.

For more weekly winners and to be inspired, visit lotus.

It’s all good. ~ Donna