"Bunny on a Stick" Show 'n Tell Party!

Welcome to the Grits and Glamour

"Bunny on a Stick" Show 'n Tell

and

Spring Cyber Party

If you are not familiar with "Bunny on a Stick" - you might be asking yourself what strange object might I be referring to.

"Bunny on a Stick" is an item that was sold this Spring at Pier1, for the unbelievable cost of $2 !!

Throughout the past few weeks...posts have been popping up everywhere.

Projects using "Bunny on a Stick" were multiplying like....bunnies.

So - I thought...

"Self, how fun would it be to see ALL the projects in one large Bunny Party?" You know what - self agreed with me - so here we are.

I look forward to seeing everyone's projects...

Please add your permalink addy to Mr Blinky only after you have added your blog entry.

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One of my projects is a repeat of last week's Met Monday post,

graciously hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Do you remember my Spring topiaries which I topped with "Bunny on a Stick?"

You can re-visit that post by clicking here. Here is a short recap...

Bunny on a Stick Topiary Topper...

Finished topiary dressed with pink cherry blossoms and french silk ribbons...

I decided that if Bunny were cute "on" the stick - he would be doubly adorable "off" the stick...

(yea, its kinda cheating since this is the "Bunny on a Stick" party...but its my party and I'll cry if I want to!)

Here is one of my fave vintage kitchen scales which I collect...holding my onions and garlic

... and here it is dressed in its Spring Vegetable Splendor!

But...it needs a little something-something...hmmm...thinking...thinking...

Hey....how did that "Wiley Wabbit" get there?

ohhhhh - he's so cute!

I love this collection of faux veggies. In the summer, I create a "faux" veggie platter I will share.

Here - you see my veggie scale and some silk forsythia that just screams Spring!

And since all Bunnies were welcome...

I thought I would also share this little fella. He is made of marble. I took a pic of his sweet, little partner - but the pic did not come out well.

Here you see him guarding the Robin's nest - another Pier1 find ($4)

While you're enjoying everyone else's "Bunny" projects...help yourself to pink cupcakes, and some pink lemonade courtesy of Eddie Ross at

EddieRoss.com

Lemonade picture courtesy of eddieross.com

Most items seen above all available in Eddie's etsy shop. Check it out!

mmmmm.....

I hope you have a Hoppy Week...Barb

Don't Forget! "Bunny on a Stick" Party tomorrow!

Don't Forget Tomorrow...

"Bunny on a Stick" Show 'n Tell

and Spring Cyber Party

Show us your favorite "Bunny on a Stick" project.

Also, you can bring a snack to share.

I am bringing "Bunny Nose Pink" Lemonade.

Here's a small logo to grab for your sidebar!

It's gonna be a "hoppin'" good time.

Don't have a "Bunny on a Stick?"

Then share your favorite Bunny or Bunny Project.

(This is an equal opportunity Bunny zone. All Bunnies welcome!)

Mr Linky will be up on or before 6pm tonight.

See ya' there!....Barb

ps - the "Bunny on a Stick" is available at Pier1 for $2. You still have time to run out and grab one...or two...or three.

Met Monday!

Welcome to Metamorphosis Monday

A wonderful event hosted by

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

(click on the blog name to go to her site, and see all the other wonderful Met Monday participants)

My Former Dining Room - Before and After Projects

When we first moved in several years ago to our NC home, the game plan was to paint some basic colors - get the gazillion boxes unpacked and settle in as quickly as possible.

Why the hurry?

Our son was getting married, and had requested the ceremony and reception be held in our back yard. I had a few months to get ready. So I concentrated on some basic "quick-fix" projects.

Several years ago, I taught "No-Sew" classes for JoAnn's Fabrics, traveling from store to store doing demonstrations. I have always been a fan of Quick 'n Easy decorating...so I am happy to share these projects with you.

This is the formal Dining Room...

some may recognize that this room is now our

Red Morning Room ...

When we moved in, several windows featured upholstered cornice boards.

Note the non-descript cornice seen above. That definitely had to go...

Here is a close-up of what it looked like when we moved in.

Not entirely an eye-sore...but it certainly did not do any justice to the

Herbal Green painted walls and the pink and white transferware dishes.

It was time to call in Crafty Cat...

She is testing the durability and "comfort" level of the fabrics.

A few yards of fabric, a few yards of a coordinating fringe...and an electric staple gun later...

A brand new cornice was created. I love this chintz fabric.

I also love the curve of this cornice board.

A close-up of the fringe...I love fringe and think most projects are not complete without it.

But, I wasn't quite satisfied with the overall look.

So, more fabric, some hemming tape and an iron, some covered buttons and tassels -

and I was able to create this...

This was the perfect touch. Not too busy as to compete with the chintz

fabric, but it gave the cornice some added "weight."

This was simple to make, an oblong piece of fabric was "hemmed" with iron-on hemming tape. Then, using needle and thread, I simply gathered the fabric up to create a swagged effect.

I added the covered button and coordinating tassel.

Before and After Lamp Shade Recover

I started out with two old lampshades I already had - in basic black. You can see the original pleated shade behind the chintz floral panel.

I cut four panels - two in chintz, and two in the solid green harlequin fabric used for the shade.

I simply used hot glue on the outside edges of the fabric panels to attach to the shade.

Silk cording glued in place covered the raw edges and areas where the fabric did not perfectly line up.

(sorry for the fuzzy pic)

A coordinating fringe was glued along the bottom edge.

Here is the finished project.

These two shades cost me about $6 each. I had the fabric remnants from the cornices, and I only needed to purchase a few yards of trim.

The best part is that it coordinated with the newly covered cornices.

I thought I would share one other project...sorry I don't have a "Before."

Another covered lampshade project...

This lampshade was a little more involved...I will blog about this project in-depth at another time. But, it was simply a matter of measuring one continual piece of fabric using a template to cut, using a spray adhesive to adhere, then gluing on some fringe and trim - and finally adding a small gold medallion. No sewing involved.

My motto - "have glue gun, will decorate!"

Here you can see both finished projects - the covered cornices and the buffet lamps and covered shades.

(This pic was taken as the Fall season was approaching, hence the Fall flowers, etc)

For the final "Before and After"...here is what the room currently looks like...

If you take special note...I still have not added the cornice boards back with fabric I purchased over a year ago.

I hope you have enjoyed this week's Met Monday post. Please make sure you stop by Susan's blog to see all the other great projects.

Have a Great Week....Barb

A Special Day!

It's a Special Day in the House of Grits.

The Lord of the manner is celebrating his birthday today!

There's gonna be cake and ice cream and his favorite dinner....

The whole house will get involved...

We will all sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President"...um -

I mean...."Mr Grits"

...and we will wish that all his dreams come true...

well....at least most of them!

Happy Birthday, My Darling Man!

Updated Info on Windows Live Writer...

I am, by far, the last person who needs to be publishing this info - but I have gotten a lot of emails since posting the info about Windows Live Writer this afternoon.

Since this is only my 2d post using Live Writer - I will add a disclaimer that this is how I added a post using WLW, but it does not mean it is the only way or the correct way.

If you are reading this, and you are familiar with WLW and see that I have inadvertently given the wrong info - please feel free to email me at:

barbgarrettnc@yahoo.com

I will make the appropriate changes to the info I am placing here.

Otherwise, here is how I created and posted a blog entry using WLW:

1. Download WLW

(like Rhoda at Southern Hospitality said, you only need to download Live Writer)

2. Once downloaded, create an account.

3. Sign-In

4. Go to Profile, then Space

5. Click on New Blog Entry

6. Create Blog Entry

7. Click HTML (upper right hand corner)

8. Highlight and Right Click Copy

9. Go to Blog, Create New Post

10. Click on Edit HTML

11. Place cursor in box, right click paste

12. Review, edit spaces as needed, Post Blog Entry

*Please note: When I hit the Post Blog button, I received an Error code, and thought it did not post. But when I looked at my blog page, it had indeed posted. So - again - I am not sure what I am doing wrong - or perhaps I am going thru many more steps than is even needed. Maybe some kind person will read this post and take pity on us and tell us whether this is right or wrong.

Hope this helps....Barb

Testing Windows Live Writer

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality posted a blog about Windows Live Writer. So - I downloaded it and this is my first "test" post to see how well it works.

So far - so good.

Pictures download pretty easy...that's super nice!

There's definitely some features you can do here you can't in Blogger.

Yep - I think I'm gonna like this.

Thanks, Rhoda!

Hope you're having a great weekend....Barb

"Bunny on a Stick" Show and Tell!

"Bunny on a Stick" Show 'n Tell

&

Spring Cyber Party !"

The posts are multiplying like....well....bunnies.

Those cute, fuzzy little "bunny on a stick" figurines are showing up in lots of blog posts featured in darling and different ways.

* Check out Debbie's Tablescape at Confessions of a Plate Addict, for example.

So - I thought it would be fun to have a

"Bunny on a Stick" Show 'n Tell

&

Spring Cyber Party.

Please join me next

Wednesday, April 1st

(nope its not an April Fool's event!)

and showcase your most recent project where you used this cute Pier 1 item.

Don't have a "Bunny on a Stick?"

Well, just put your best bunny forward - and flaunt your favorite fuzzy friend.

Mr. Linky will go up on Tuesday afternoon by 4pm.

I will be serving "Bunny Nose Pink" Lemonade with frozen mint ice.

What will you be bringing?

Won't you join me?

Here's a small logo to place on your sidebar ...

It's gonna be a fun event....I look forward to seeing you there!

Barb

Having Trouble Leaving Comments?

Are you as frustrated as I have been when trying to leave comments on someone's blog...and it says "Done but with Errors"..or something of that nature?

I did not understand why I could leave comments on some blogs, and then on others I could not. It was very frustrating. There had to be a reason.

So...I did a little digging over on the Bloggers blog, and the best reason I could come up with was this problem is caused by the "Setting" in which you allow comments.

I had recently changed my settings - and found that I could not even post a comment on my own site in repsonse to someone else. When I went digging for a solution on the Blogger blog, it recommended that you use the "pop-up" form for leaving comments.

I changed my settings and now I am not having any problems.

So - if you have seen the number of comments reduced on your blog - or have not seen some of your regulars leaving you messages (Robin - this means you! :-D ) -

this is probably the reason.

I thought I would put this out so maybe we can all get this resolved.

Hope this helps...Barb

Foodie Friday!

It's my first ever Foodie Friday!

Talk about good timing... it just so happened I cooked dinner tonight. :-)

This very fun event is hosted by my friend, a talented writer and blogger - Gollum (Michael) at Designs by Gollum.

Please stop by her blog to see a full list of all Foodie Friday posts.

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So my family is all together and I could not be happier. I have been trying to make up for all the home-cooked meals they missed while they were in Iraq.

So what happens when one wants Mexican and another wants Pasta?

Mexican Taco Pasta....of course!

It's actually one of my favorite, easy-to-fix comfort foods. I can prepare this dish, make a salad, fix garlic bread and ring the dinner bell in well under an hour.

It's pretty common sense cooking - but I took lots of pics...

As with most of my dishes, my first visit is to my handy-dandy scale filled with onions and garlic. When I am out of onions and garlic - we eat out because I do not know how to cook without them. :-D

I also start with a generous portion of cilantro, rough chopped and set aside.

While I am chopping the veggies...I heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan.

Here are some of the basic ingredients...

...many of them already in your pantry.

Oh... what is that I spy in the lower left-hand corner?

How did that get there?

Okay, it's not exactly an "ingredient" needed for the dish...but as the saying goes...

"I like to cook with wine...and sometimes I put it in my food."

Yea...that's me. :-D

So...while the veggies are being chopped...I start my pasta water.

I like to add salt, olive oil and fresh herbs. I threw in a handful of cilantro.

Saute onions, garlic, ground beef and half the cilantro until done.

By the way - this is one of my fave kitchen gadgets. It's a "burger-chopper-upper" from The Pampered Chef. It works really well when browning ground beef.

Next, drain burger then add one package taco seasoning mix - stir well.

Add one large can of tomato sauce, and one small can of tomato paste.

Add a can of Southwestern- style Mexican style Corn w/ Black Beans

(I like to add extra black beans - but did not have any handy)

Mmmm....baby bella's. Pre-sliced...pre-easy! ;-)

Toss 'em in....

Can you smell the scents? Cumin, onions, cilantro, tomato....oh yea!

Turn the heat to medium, and just let your sauce simmer.

Now it's time to break out the ole' Pasta Bowl...I lugged it back from Mexico when we went to a downtown market outside of Cancun.

Ain't she a beauty? It holds a LOT of pasta!

Once the pasta is cooked al dente (in Southern speak - that means "pert near done!")

:-D

go ahead and mix well with sauce.

Well, this looks awfully plain. Time to dress it up...

Add a layer of shredded cheddar cheese - then some crushed corn chips.

Chop some lettuce - I used romaine but any kind will do.

Add the lettuce around the outer edge of the bowl.

Finally, add some sliced black olives and fresh, red tomatoes. I happened to have some left-over red cherries which I halved.

I used my hand-painted Portuguese pottery plates. I love how the colors of the dish are reflected in the colors of the plate.

This is a down-home comfort dish with a twist of worldly flavors....

So the next time your family is indecisive about what they want for dinner....give them both.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing dinner with us tonight. There's plenty more - so you are welcomed to seconds. :-)

Please make sure you head over to Designs by Gollum to see all the other fabulous Foodie posts.

May You have a Comforting Day...Barb