I think it's wonderful you're asking us on this forum to help you make the decorations for your brother's and SIL's anniversary party. There's great talent here and hopefully you'll be able to use some of it. Here's my idea - using "your" idea of the photos: (pls know that I'm no expert at giving instructions for things as patterns, but bear with me, I think you'll get the gist of what I'm talking about, LOL -- YUP, I took the time and made a pic for you using my Word Program - that curly stuff on top of the flower pot is Spanish Moss, ha, ha - it was fun to do it)! Using a 6" or larger flower pot, either plain terra cotta or already enamel painted (check Walmart Garden Center area, they come in very pretty colors)... Cut to shape and glue floral foam inside the pot - the foam should come to within a couple inches of the top of the pot. Mod Podge Glue is great for projects - not as thin and watery as Elmer's glue. Note that if you just cut a square piece of the floral form and push it inside the pot so the edges get against the pot, it should hold pretty well, glue in place at the corners if need be. Buy pre-cut Alphabet sticker letters (in the scrapbooking/sticker section at craft stores such as Michael's or Joann's craft stores) and peel them off and spell their names out on the pots. Underneath their names, put the date using the alphabet/number stickers. You should be able to find some wedding/anniversery picture stickers also to go under the date. Glue "Spanish Moss" (looks like grass and comes in either a beige/tan color or dark green color) onto the floral foam to cover it up. Either use coat hangers and cut the wire with wire snips, or, purchase thick gauge wire (at Michael's in the bead/jewelry craft section) to different size lengths - bend the end to look like a little "shepard's hook." The premade wire comes in different colors, also bronze, silver, gold, etc. The premade wire is also very easy to bend (Can't make a bend - place it over a can and use that as a guide, pressing it down.) at the curved end of the wire - bend it up a little bit to make a hook - put aside for now. Your pics - you can take them to a place like Staples Office Supplies and get them copied so as not to destroy the originals. I'd say to make them about wallet size or just a tish bit larger. Get different colored cardstock and cut out a rectangular shape larger than your pics - cut the edges using "decortive edge scissors" - or - hot glue "cording" (at Joann's Fabric Store or Walmart) or something similar (tiny lace, etc.) around the edge of the cardstock - punch a hole near the top of the card stock (to insert a ribbon to hang) and then positiion and glue your pic onto the cardstock (below the hole). You could decorative cut the edges of the pics also if they're too big or you just like the look of the cut. You can also glue the pic onto the cardstock and then outline it using rick-rack or other edging. Note this also before punching the hole - when you put ribbon or whatever you use through the hole, the pic is going to swirl around. If you don't want that to happen, instead of punching a hole in the cardstock, using a crafter's knife, cut two slits into the cardstock - about 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide - about 1/2 inch apart to slip the ribbon through the back of each slit and then tie it into a bow in front - leave a little bit of a ribbon looped in the back so you can slip it onto the bent up hooked end part of the wire. I would use thin "curling ribbon" for the bows - it'll be easier to tie and you can curl the ties. Put some hot glue or Mod Podge onto the end of the shepards hooks you made and stick them in the pot, into the floral foam - the glue will hold them in place. Tie the ribbon onto the hooked part of the wire or just slip the looped part of the ribbon over the hook to hang the pics. You can also find some very nice precut small fabric/faux flowers at Michael's - look for the Martha Stewart craft section and glue them onto the Spanish Moss. Does all this make sense - I hope so. Have fun with whatever you make. Hope you'll share pics of your centerpieces. I'd love to see them. Sal

Dear Pam, Please don't take offense, we, "I" did not intend for it to seem like we were disapproving of your book, or style. This was just our personal choice of how to do this craft, and I don't want you to think we want you or anyone else to change your style to make it fit into our "guidelines" of how we chose to do this craft. If you are a skillful photographer that is a major plus for you, and being so, your pages would need less man made glamour: you know stickers, dies, etc. I am not saying I do not enjoy looking at the photos of my children, or that I am not proud of them, I personally am just not a good photographer. :( As for your 19 pages, hey, I could be jealous of that too. Sometimes I wish my books were futher along so that I had more completed pages to look at. :) If we all did it the same, how boring, the pages would all look alike, and we would be back to those drab magnetic albums of yesteryear. Scrap that way that makes YOU happy and give me some good tips for better shots, God knows I need them! :) Penny

I have a hunch that some lettering has been applied to an ordinary pump. AO Smith was the company that converted Mustangs into Shelby GTs and KRs for Ford, and yes, they also made these pumps at one time (a quick look around the web suggests that this one is from the late 1950s) and today are big in the water-heater business. The cars that Smith converted were street models, not race cars. Even if Shelby used a regular gas station-pump at some racing facility (which I doubt, especially since racing is a sport that moves from place to place), I have a feeling that it wouldn't be marked in such a way that screams such obviousness like this. I suspect that some Shelby enthusiast added these markings to doll-up the pump for his memorabilia collection.

Here's a picture of our old layout, minus the rocking chair that we had by the wall unit and the fireplace. And a picture of best layout incorporating all needs/stipulations I had to work with. The new layout has templates with existing tables that I will change as I am able. You can see how much the entry was blocked, I had 1 little picture to the right of the fireplace (sunset was in dining room) and that big honking wall unit with an analog TV and a small hand me down digital TV with a firestick on the coffee table and extension cords running from there to the fireplace wall. I think I've thought of every possible configuration of things and have gone back to the drawing board several times when I've run them by my husband. 100's of media consoles, sofas, fireplaces, floors, layouts. We use the turntable. The Ikea bottom cabinet doors slide.