My top projects of 2007

I have been so inspired by Cindy at My Romantic Home and by Tracy on Notes from a Cottage Industry, and when I saw theirs and Manuela's lovely entries about their top ten projects, I just decided that although mine are less magnificent, they are indeed, my top ten! So in no particular order, here I go with 2007 in Review. First and foremost, I think my best project for myself has been blogging. Inspirational, honest, and simply good for my soul. So my best effort has been Oatmeal and Whimsy.

1. Making Thanksgiving happen this year with some semblance of tradition and joy.... and these cute little favors on our tablescape look easy (and they were!) sO MY project here has been to make holidays a bit like "home" even though I've transplanted myself to my mom's for a while.

2. Earlier in the summer I created these tags for our local festival. I am the original Tag Lady. I love, love, love, to make tags.

3. My banner to honor a wonderful, giving, and special woman in our community, our hairdresser Brenda.
4. I created a tablescape and a blog entry to honor my grandmother's birthday in August. Sadly, this is the last day I was able to live like that because the day after I created this, my own dad passed away.... But although I can't probably do something like this to honor my loved ones (too sad for Mom), I still want to do something... that will be a challenge for 2008.

5. My first attempt at Mom's to bring my own artistic touches to HER home... I surprised her with a fall mantel. It turned out well.

6. My big dinner with new plates bought at an auction. This is the last meal I ever cooked for my dad. He adored the food and the cool table setting... He and Mom were such a pair to go "antiquing" so it was fun for them to see their chip off the old block.... and this was the last meal except for Doll Club I fixed at home... My top ten is kind of bittersweet, but I am still so happy to have captured it like this in photo and journaling.

7. The big kitchen clean-out. I was sooo ready for school to start with my organized kitchen.. Since I moved everything around and then moved myself in a space of about two weeks... I can't find anything when I go over there... haha... It seems so surreal to open a cupboard and find things I put there and never used from that cupboard... Very clean though.





8. I tried to make my bedroom romantic at home... and that worked, so now it is my new 2008 challenge to do the same here at Mom's in my room. I have some wonderful ideas...

9. Summery projects included gift ideas for clubs, Dad's birthday cake, the 4th of July summer cake with Mt. Dew, and just hanging free with my family.



10. The biggest project was painting my living room a lovely shade of red. The camera never did it justice. I love it.

Enjoy the rest of the week.... This has been a lovely way to remember a very memorable and special year.