The Best Birthday Present

When our youngest daughter was turning six we had many phone calls from grandparents inquiring what present to get her. No one knew - nor did we.

She was not a girly girl and never had a doll. She did not want to be a princess. She preferred being outside digging around for bugs or playing with a neighbor's dog. Yes, she was a bit of a tomboy; although she 'looked' like a girl.

I spent days pondering over what to get, and what to tell her grandparents. An idea came to me.

The morning of her birthday a dump truck came and dumped a load of topsoil at the end of our driveway! Plain old topsoil, not the nice stuff from the garden center.

Her grandparents gave her one of those short shovels with the handle on the end and a toy dump truck.

This was the best birthday present ever. Our daughter LOVED it. (I don't think we saw her again until she was eight). She and the neighbor's children dug in it for hours every day. They dug, and dug, and dug, and did imaginary things.

She is years down the road now from the 'dirt pile' but she remembers it as the best present she ever received. The only thing that did suffer a little was the plumbing in the bathtub.

Valentine's Day Sale!

Valentine's Day will soon be here, so go ahead and get ready now. Instead of giving your little sweethearts a lot of candy or sugary treats, choose something that will last.

The Gingham Grasshopper has beautiful jewelry for babies and children in sterling silver and gold. You'll find adorable baby rings with heart themes, or a classic pair of pearl earrings.

Right now we have some of our most popular personalized jewelry for children on sale! Wonderful engraved necklaces and lockets with engraving included. Add a few charms to create your own personal style.

The sale lasts until February 14 - but hurry so you will receive your gift on time. Our beautiful packaging is always free and you can get a free gift card, too.

We also have some beautiful selections for teens or moms on sale. Visit us online: www.theginghamgrasshopper.com

Winter Decorating

After Christmas when the decorations come down and are stored away, the house seems to look rather bare. I surfed around online looking for some winter decorating ideas and found some nice ones. But most of the ideas used lots of snowflakes and ice-blue colors; it seemed to look as cold inside as it was outside!

I decided to look for things to "warm" the house up. Living in the deep south it doesn't get terribly cold; but we think it's freezing when the temperature drops below 38 degrees! Never mind, it's still suppose to be winter.

I found a wonderful throw blanket in the closet that hadn't been used in quite a while and decided to make new pillows for the sofa. Winter pillows, with a moose and a bear. Louisiana is far too warm for moose but that's okay, too.

The blanket was a rich, warm burgundy on one side and (fake) sherpa on the other; it was perfect. I found an outline of the moose and bear online and traced them onto squares of muslin. Then I used a sewing machine stitch and brown thread to make the designs.

I laid my designs out onto the blanket and cut two larger squares for each pillow. The designs were sewed to the burgundy side with a strip of sherpa tucked along the outside. The sherpa side of the blanket was used on the back side of the pillows. They feel cozy, too.

For the table I found some items at the dollar store. Candlesticks were used as a base and the glasses were glued to them with glass glue.

I also had a long narrow strip of the blanket left over from making the pillows, so I decided to use it for a table runner. I filled in the larger jar with beads, but acorns or whatever you have would also work. Of course, snowflakes would look great too.

The colors here are rich and they warm up the table nicely.

Nothing says "warm" quite like a wooly plaid blanket. I have an old one that gets used a lot and I found a winter scene decorative pillow to use with it. The perfect place to curl up with a book and a bowl of popcorn.

Rich colors and lots of warm, fluffy blankets ready to use can really warm up the house and invite family and friends in from the cold.

The items here have cost me little (or nothing) except a few hours of time. All the bare spots from Christmas are gone and a warm and relaxing look has appeared.

Pass the popcorn!