Chicks and Chocolate Bunnies

Just like Andrea said....Easter has snuck up on me this year, too. I didn't really do the spring crafts I had intended this year since Easter is so early, doing Crimson Clover shows, and traveling has taken up most of my time. But I wanted to share a few of my spring/Easter touches around the house with you.

Here are some "chocolate" bunnies that my mom and I started collecting years ago. They always have a home on my dining room table.

This glavanized tiered stand is one of my all time favorite purchases from Pottery Barn!!

Of course you know I have to have flashcards in a vintage floral frog. And how cute is this fluffy chick?

Here are the chicks' babies.....tweet tweet! I bought these when I just had 2 kids. Looks like I need 3 more!

Cute little vintage inspired chick cupcake

This is an egg wreath I made years ago before crafting was cool and blogging didn't exist. I love the muted color combination and the addition of a burlap bow.

I was so excited to find this vintage bunny stencil at the antique market last year. I think I paid 25 cents for it! I knew it would be perfect in flower frog!

My mom and I started a chocolate bunny collection years ago when I lived in Texas. (Hopefully we'll move back one day). Here are my 2 largest bunnies. They are a husband and wife and they stand about 26" tall!

Mabel adorned with her bunny ears

Happy Spring!

xoxo

tia & andrea

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way!!!

Easter snuck up on me this year. I didn't really have much crafty time to work on anything handmade for Easter. Spent last week with Tia and her family and we are in Baseball mode in my house. If you have a child that plays Baseball you know the routine....work/school, ball field, sleep and do it all again the next day. LOL!!!

I did manage to get some Easter happiness in my home before Easter got here. One of my favorite things that I have is this old tin ceiling tile that is on my mantle. I tied a little Easter wreath on it with the ribbon that it came with. I picked up the wreath at Joann's and it was super cheap. I really liked the natural look of it with the muted colors and the moss. I switched out the shamrock's that was in the Apothecary jar for St Patrick's Day for some grass and an Easter Egg.
I love the bunny. I bought it 2 months ago when Michael's got their Easter Decor in. I ♥ it and had to have him in my home.

These candle holders are always on my dining room table. They are from Signature Home. I love the bottoms filled with grass and a few eggs in each.

Quick Arrangement that I did for my front door. I love the mix of spring wildflowers, forsythia and grasses. I got the bucket from Tia back in the day when she sold Southern Living. I added some eggs to skewers for Easter.

Happy Easter!!!!

♥

Andrea & Tia

Shrimp & Corn Chowder with Fennel

Hi y'all. Lately I've been in a food rut. As a mother of 5 children who never seem to eat the same things, meal time is my least favorite time of day. It seems I'm so busy making the kids what they want {or will eat} that I'm just too tired to try anything else different. And the sad thing is that I L♥VE to cook. And I mean L♥VE! One of my favorite channels is the Food Network, but while being a domestic engineer and running Crimson Clover, I haven't had too many dates with Mr. TV lately. But I got inspired today (must be the weather) to try a new recipe with some different ingredients that I normally wouldn't use. And I love any recipe that allows me to use my fabulous and huge robins egg blue cast iron pot!

So here is a Shrimp & Corn Chowder with Fennel. It literally took me 30 minutes to make! Bonus!! Scroll down for the recipe...

Saute leeks and fennel in butter.....yum! Loving my vintage Texasware bowl to use as my "garbage" bowl! Thank you Miss Rachael Ray! You rock!!

Add clam juice, whole milk, and potatoes

Jumbo shrimp

Voila!!

Decided to make some beer bread to go along with it!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 leeks (white & light green parts) chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 8 ounce bottle clam juice

3 cups whole milk

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces

3/4 pound cooked peeled and deveined shrimp

1 10-ounce package frozen corn

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Heat the butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and fennel, season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 minutes; stir in the flour

Add the clam juice, milk, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes. Stir in shrimp and corn and cook until the potatoes are tender and the shrimp and corn are heated through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Serve with bread, if using.


bon appetit!!

tia & andrea

Crimson Clover

West Virginia ♥ Crimson Clover!!!!

Hi everyone!!! Tia and I are still enjoying spending time together. We wanted to share a few pictures from Tia's Crimson Clover Show. The show was amazing and it was a lot of fun doing it together!!!

Tia and I

Tia busy showing her jewlery to some of customers. Notice in the picture how cutely her jewelry is displayed. I love all the vintage containers and dishes that she uses. Even check out the mirror...way cute!!!

♥
Andrea & Tia

Two Junk Chix

Two junk chix are back in the same state again!!!!

For those of you that don't know...Tia is on the Left and Andrea is on the right.

Tia and I are having a great time together visiting and spending time with our families together.
We will have more pictures to share tomorrow after Tia's Crimson Clover show in WV!!!

Till then.....

♥

Andrea and Tia

Is it spring yet?

Not exactly here in Chicago but I'm lovin' the few spring like days we've been having, so I had to get a jump start on getting out my spring decorations. My dear friend, Donna who owns one of the local boutiques called Occasions here in Naperville which carries my Crimson Clover line just got these adorable metal yard stakes in. I gave her jewelry and she gave me these! We do trades all the time. It's a win-win! I just L♥VE them!
I'm headed out of town to meet up with the other "Two Junk Chix".....my sister-in-law, Andrea in West Virginia who is sharing this blog with me. We came up with a clever way to share the posts. At the bottom of each post, if you see "tia" appear first, you know that it is my post. When you see "andrea" first, you know it is one of her posts. Clever, huh? Just wondering if anyone caught on to that, yet?

So...my wonderful hubby and I are packing up our 5 kids and my Crimson Clover jewelry and headed back home to see my family and friends. Tuesday is the big Crimson Clover trunk show and I'm so excited to have Andrea and my cousin, KiKi be a part of it. I'll be posting pictures once we return home.

And I just had to throw this picture in for a few good laughs. Coming from a mother of 5 little kids, I think it's pretty indicative of how my life is. Can you see my reflection in the glass? Towel on my head, baby on my hip, no shoes......it's chaos, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

So now I'm off to pack, but I'll be back real soon with pics from my trip and more pics with my sidekick Andrea......my other "junk chick"!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Two Junk Chix! And a special happy birthday to my wonderful mom and Andrea's mother-in-law! We love you, Moppy!!xoxo,

tia & andrea

Happy Birthday, Miss Piper!

Today I'm wishing my oldest daughter, Piper and Andrea's first neice a very happy birthday!! We l♥ve you, Miss P!! You are such a blessing!!

Mommy (tia) and Piper

Having fun at the Chicago Children's Museum

XOXO,

mommy (tia) & aunt andrea

Tatertots & Jello giveaway

Hi y'all! This week, I was asked by the lovely & talented Jennifer to participate in her giveaway for the week. Tatertots & Jello is an amazing blog, so please check it out! I'm giving away a $75 gift certificate for either pieces in my shop or a fantastic custom necklace made just for YOU!. Remember, Mother's Day is just around the corner! Check out this fab piece for all of you proud momma's out there.

So sit back, relax, grab a cup of java and enjoy reading through this fun, creative, inspiring blog as much as I do!

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Lovin my new lights

I ♥ my new lights in my scrap room!!! I ♥ how bright they make my workspace.

I started looking for the lanterns about a month ago and one evening I found these at Pier 1 while shopping with my friend Michelle. I looked down and the light kits were in a basket and lanterns were hanging above them. YAY!!! They were super affordable. Only $3.00 for the each of the lanterns and the light kits were $10 each. I used the true light energy efficiency light bulbs inside the lanterns.

I made the pompoms a few weeks ago using tissue paper and styrofoam balls in my favorite colors and my favorite print. I ♥ pink & lime together and what else goes with those colors???? ZEBRA PRINT!!! I hung the tissue balls by pink ribbons. I hung the lamps by the hooks that came in the light kits. I made the curtain that is behind all of them too. I pretend to know how to sew.

I ♥ the tissue balls and the lanterns together and hanging above my workspace. I ♥ my room too!! It is my creative escape!!! Will share more pictures of that soon!!!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Andrea & Tia

Lucky girls...

...wear Crimson Clover jewelry! Please leave a comment if you would like any of these necklaces shown or send me a message on my Etsy site.

1-1/4" glitter 4 leaf clover on vintage ledger paper

1" horseshoe beveled glass shadowbox

Vintage brass horse shoe & clover necklace

German foil 4 leaf clover on vintage ledger paper with "lucky girl" double bubble

xoxo,

tia & andrea

Lucky

I was walking through Michael's a week ago and saw a package of green flowers from Prima and I loved the color and thought wow those look like shamrocks. Short story I bought them not know what I was going to do with them. Then I looked at the Michael's ad last Sunday and artist canvas was on sale 40% off and you could use an extra coupon for another 20% off and it hit me......I will make a canvas for St Patrick's Day!!!

I ended up using 2 packages of the flowers from Prima, 8x10 canvas, Distress ink in walnut, canvas stamp from Stampin Up, parchment craft smart paint, ink garden green from CTMH, scalloped punch, grunge board chipboard from Tim Holtz, foam adhesive squares and my favorite glue ever, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

I painted the canvas in a parchment color paint. I used the ink and stamps to distress the edges of the canvas. Next I cut off one of the petals of each of the flowers and then rolled the cut off petal to make the stems of the shamrock. I saved one to keep as a four leaf clover. I layered the shamrocks to create a collage of the shamrocks. I added the "four leaf" clover to the scalloped punch and raised up using some foam squares. I inked the letters with the distress ink to spell lucky and added it to the canvas.

♥ it on my mantle!!! I put some cut off shamrocks from a pick from Michael's in the apothecary jar next to it.

♥

Andrea & Tia

Happy March!

Happy March, y'all! Gettin' the house ready for spring is one of my most favorite things. Especially if you live in Chicago, spring could not come soon enough for this Southern gal! March is one of my favorite months with 2 special birthdays. Piper's birthday is on the 16th and my mom's is on the 17th, so I'm a big fan of St. Patty's Day! Here are just a few of my St. Patty's Day touches.

Love the burlap and glitter shamrock banner! And with Vicki's cupcake banner {thanks, girl!}, I think the combo looks FAB!

What would decorations be if you couldn't add some leopard print?

Here are just a few of the wands that Denise, Vicki, Anna and I made the other night. How cute are these?!

Mr. Leprechaun sittin' under the glass cloche

Denise, Vicki, and Anna sittin' in my dining room working on St. Patty's Day crafts. The beer wasn't green but everything else was!

xoxo,

tia & andrea