Four Oh!

So... this week I turned 40. Yup, the big, fat, 4-0.

It is definitely different than when I turned 30. When I turned 30, I didn't feel any different until I hit 36... for some reason I felt I went over the hill. It hasn't really hit me yet, I mean the fact that I am 40. I feel like I am still in my late 20s', but in the mirror I see a much older me, and I guess people expect me to act mature too. I had to do a reality check and ask myself some questions...

Do I feel like I’m living on the edge?

No,

Do I feel I am stuck with nowhere else to go in life?

Nope,

or do I feel a little confused and lost?

Well, to tell you the truth maybe a little.

I have no idea what the next decade will bring, but I am a firm believer that life is what we make of it. So I am in the process of reminding (hypnotizing) my mind that I have fabulous years ahead of me.

Thanksgiving is over, but I am really grateful for the life I have, especially for my family and friends. Those of you who sent me birthday wishes, phone calls and gifts thank you so much!

During the holiday season, I think about my family in Japan more often but this year even more so, since I went back this summer... I miss them a lot. My mom and sister called the day before (they are one day ahead) and we talked for a while. It was great but I wish we lived much closer. So I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness. That lifted my spirits up.

One of my friends and I have our birthdays close together, so we went out for sushi and celebrated together and it was lots of fun. You will not believe who we sat near at the restaurant... Mitt Romney, yes, I am serious! I AM NOT KIDDING! We sat at the table behind them. I SO wanted to ask for a picture, but my better half said, "Oh, leave him alone, let him enjoy his sushi." I decided not to bother him. The picture would have been a great keepsake though. Then after that guess where Mr. TRH took me...

Tiffany...I wrote about this before, but ever since I saw "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" in my preteen years with beautiful Audrey Hepburn, one of the places I fantasized about going to was Tiffany. One time I was in front of the store and peeked in from a distance, but I only saw one customer and three sales people. I felt a little... ok, a lot intimidated and didn't go in.

But this time, there were a bunch of people in the store and I was with my hubby. He bought me something that I will treasure for a long time.

Speaking of "things I will treasure for a long time"...on my birthday morning, I received three special handmade cards from my kids with lot of hugs. They were filled with kind words and helped me a lot from missing my family and friends in Japan. They reminded me that my family is here. They are the sweetest kids I could ever ask for.

Birthdays are a milestone to reflect on the past and how I lived as well as plan for the future and how I want to live from this day on. I think everyone deserves to celebrate their special day with loved ones and maybe get some gifts as a special treat.

But, perhaps our life filled with the little things and events we take for granted is the ultimate gift.

Link Love 85!

Hello, I have been a bit busy lately, but I will write about that sometime soon...

Are you ready for the link love for this month?

The Wunderbar shared an easy to follow tutorial on her blog to create anthro inspired woolen hats. Isn't this adorable? I love all the sparkles on the hat. Great job!

I love hexagon quilts in general, but I love the story goes with quilt. Geta from Geta's Quilting Studio and her 3 other sisters worked on this special quilt for their mother. Now, her sisters are not quilters, but don't you think they did a nice job? I am admiring all the machine quilting that went in to this quilt. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful quilt and story.

How adorable! Nest Full of Eggs created this patchwork blazer for her little man. It is a lot more work to sew the squares together then to start sewing the blazer. The subtle texture and red trim work surely made this blazer one of a kind. LOVE it!

I have made so many fabric folded flowers in the past, but this hair accessory created by Peaches and Bees is very pretty, I had to include this in the link love. She made it especially for the special photo shoot for her daughter wearing a kimono in a Japanese garden. You can see the pictures on her blog.

Ok, I chose this last project for the bright idea... have you ever used craft punches on leaves?? Grow Creative shared the idea she saw on Color Me Katie. I love simple and easy projects such as this one; we can create something to beautify our surroundings in no time.

Thank you all for sharing your creations. The next link party will be on December 26th... Hmmm... It is right after Christmas, can you make it? I will be waiting to see what you are all up to!

What You Can Do With Washi-Tape 1

I am in love with washi tape, and I know there are so many things you can do with them. Here is what I did today, 10 minutes before I headed out the door for my recipe group (even though I am the slacker of the group for attendance, I love hanging out with them when I can, because they are so awesome).

I made Kara-age(deep fried chicken), and I thought it will be fun to make little flags with plain tooth picks.

All I did was cut 2" of tape, put one side of the tooth pick in the middle of the tape and fold in half. Then I snipped the end into a "V" shape to make it look like a tiny flag.

In no time, I had "customized" toothpicks to make my dish a little more special.

Do you love washi tape like I do? What do you use it for? If you have a unique way of using them, please share with us. :)

Link Party No.85/ Denim flower necklace

I am going to share how I made this denim necklace today. It all started when I altered my jeans... I had scraps from the bottom of the jeans. Toss? No way!

I decided to make a necklace.

First, I cut out several circles in two different sizes. Then, fold the circles in half and start sewing...

Then open the circle once, and fold it again in a different direction, so the middle part will look like a "+". You need a large circle and a small circle to make one flower. Layer them together, and then sew pearls in the middle. Make a few dark flowers (right side of the fabric), and a few light flowers (wrong side of the fabric) to give the necklace some shade and an interesting look.

I used sheer ribbon to sew the flowers on.

You could use the ribbon all the way to tie it in the back, but I decided to use chains and such to finish it off.

Ta-da!

I am loving this new necklace, the best part is that it didn't cost me much to create this. A necklace like this will make my outfit "pop", but it's not too fancy so I can wear it in everyday life, I love jewelry like that. :)

Ok, everyone, what have you been working on, or were you too busy with the holidays? No, no, not you guys, I know you have something fabulous up your sleeves. Please share what you been creating, visit each other and have fun!

As usual here are the rules for linking:

1. Please post something YOU made. It doesn't matter if it is crochet, quilt, clothing, anything would be fine. I want to see it! If you use someone's idea or patterns please give them the rightful credit.

2. Link to your specific post, that way it is easier for everybody to find and read it.

3. Please grab the "Tea Rose Home" grab button, and link back from your post. If you can mention the party in your post or place the button on your side bar, that would be great! I want more people to have a chance to come and show off their creations.



<center><a href="http://tearosehome.blogspot.com"><img border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462799092490427250" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 160px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtc9CFJR6Te5CpNgHYGsz2oQcSPEa7ev57prQmm-wO7bU5-IXOUTAJV08BvA-pbdpS2QCr864re5ljtzEGNU20emgmsiG0eSXBf9nArpxdnE1SRy7EGrrnSSMYTt3mS2C3S9d6A8bRk7E/s200/GrabButtonLinkParty.jpg" /></a></center>
That's it! Go ahead to link up and show us what you have been working on!

Switching Gear~ Fall to Winter

I have been kicking back and relaxing from my projects to purely spend time with my family the last few days, since the kids are out of school for Thanksgiving weekend. We celebrated one of the kid's birthdays, Thanksgiving and we set our Christmas tree last night.

We decorated the tree as a family, watched one of our favorite Christmas movies: "Elf"(boy, it is not a typical classic Christmas movie, but you gotta love that one) as we drank hot chocolate.

Big or small, there are many Christmas traditions that Mr. TRH and I created for our family over the years, and I am so looking forward to making more fun memories with our children. I hope when they are all grown up and left the nest those memories will stay with them forever to make them smile.

Meanwhile, I will have more tutorials coming up soon. They might be the perfect small gift ideas you are looking for! :)

Tutorial~ Pom-Pom Flower Pillow & Other Projects

Hi everyone. Are you wondering why the end of the sentence is "." instead of "!" like I normally write? Well...I have been sick for the last couple days; I am feeling better today but not completely. So, I hope you are taking good care of yourselves and staying out of the flu's way. :)

I have been working on a bunch of small projects for a while, and this is one of my very favorites, but before I share the tutorial for this pillow, let me share other things as well.

I shared a tutorial for how to make flowers out of pom-pom trims previously;

Today I am going to share what I did with those pom-pom flowers. Just like any other crafted flowers, you can use them for many different projects. These are just a few examples if what I did. I will give you either a quick explanation or tutorial for each project.

* The first picture: Corsage

I happened to have all these pom-pom trims and I just went with it. Though, as you can imagine, it depends on what color combination you decide, the size of the pom-pom flowers you use or the arrangement of the flowers that will totally change the whole look of this corsage. Do you have anyone particular in mind who loves certain color combination and pom-poms? She might like this corsage.

Decide what size of corsage you are going to make, then cut out a piece of felt for slightly smaller than that size. Cut off the corners as well.

Sew the pin on the felt then glue the flowers onto the felt.

* The second picture: Bracelet

I found these amazing things while I was waiting in Joann's checkout line... boy they know how to sell their stuff. :) I stitched some pearls in the middle of the pom-pom flowers, and glued them on the wrist band. For the finishing touch, I simply cut out some felt to glue to the back to make it look prettier and give support to the flowers.

* The third picture: Hair clip

You might have already seen how to make hair clips, so I won't cover the details here. Basically, you glue the ribbon to the metal hair clip, when it's dry, glue the pom-pom flowers to the clip.

* The last picture: Pillow

I actually kept my most favorite pom-pom flower project for last...yes, a pillow. I found a cotton sweater at the thrift shop for very cheap (I think it was about $3), and used it to make the pillow. The rest is easy. Just decorate it with pom-pom flowers however you like!

1. Turn the sweater inside out. Flatten it and make sure the seam or the weave match up. I marked my sweater 11 1/2" x 18 1/2". Leaving a 4" opening on the bottom seam(for turning the pillow later) Sew on the marked line.

2. Zigzag stitch right next to the sewed line, then cut outside of the zigzag line. Doing it this way can prevent the fraying and messy-ness. If you have a Serger, you can sew and cut in no time.

3. Turn the sweater inside out. It looks a little weavy, but don't worry, when you stuff the pillow, it's not too noticeable.

4. Decorate the pillow with pom-pom flowers. I stitched my flowers (so if I ever change my mind, I can always unpick it to use the pom-poms for something else!), but if you want to make it quick and simple, you can glue them on too.

I LOVE this pillow. Don't you think it looks kind of cozy, whimsy and perfect for the season?

The small projects I shared here are very simple and quick to make, they might be perfect for a girls night out gift exchange or as Christmas presents. So, think twice before you throw the leftover pom-pom trims away. :)

Tutorial Pom-Pom Flowers

Do you have any pom-pom trim leftovers from other projects? Usually I buy them by the yard, and use them for a project, and have several inches of leftovers that are not long enough for other projects but save them for... you know just because.

If you are like me, this will be the project for you.

First, there are several different sizes and there are even bigger ones out there. Although, I think my personal favorites to make flowers with are the medium to x-small trims. The length of the thread between the trim and pom-pom makes a difference in the look of the flowers too.

It is very easy and fun to make. Let’s get started. :)

{You will need}

Pom-pom trims
DMC floss
Needles, scissors

{How to} * For the one in the picture, I used 8" of X-small trim.

1. Hold the trim pom-pom side down, and start rolling tightly (but not too tight) and make sure that the edge of the trim is nicely lined up. Put a pin through several layers to secure the roll.

2. Use 3 strands of DMC floss to sew for the x-small to medium trim. Put through the knot in the middle and start sewing radially. Make sure you put the needle through each layer so the flower won't come undone. Tie a knot when you are done, and you have a pom-pom flower.

I will give you some measurements to give you some ideas of what kind of trim and length will make what size of flower;

X-small trim: 8" will make 1" diameter flower / 16" will make 1 1/2" diameter flower

Small trim: 8" will make 1 1/4" D flower / 16" will make 1 1/2" D flower

Medium trim: 8" will make 2" D flower / 16" will make 2 1/2" D flower

Large trim: 8" will make 2" D flower / 16" will make 2 1/2" D flower

Just remember that the size of flowers will change depending on how tight you roll the trim.

I made a few in one morning...

{With medium size pom-pom trims}

{With x-small, small pom-pom trims}

Don't they look adorable? I love how they turned out!

I have started on some projects using those pom-pom flowers. I will share the pictures (possibly some tutorials with some of them) in the near future.