ROSES IN WINTER

2012-01-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

These are some very old postcards from around 1913. My daughter had them and brought them by so I could look at them. I think they are very pretty and would be great used in some of the mixed media art work everyone is doing. Feel free to copy and use them. TTFN

Put a bird on it

2012-01-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have heard a saying in the last couple of years, " put a bird on it", and it seems like that is the thing to do. Why do we love birds and their beautiful nests so much that we imitate them in our art. This is a nest I made from twigs from my birch tree with grass and found feathers, I made the flowers from ribbon and felted the little blue eggs, the bird was a free image that I added glitter to. I made several and gave some as gifts.

These birdies are appliqued on a pillow, I love applique, and hand sewing. I also like the purple and yellow color combo, they are the complimentary colors on the color wheel.

I got this paper at Michale's it was note paper and was all black and white, I colored the birdie with colored pencils and used it in one of my fabric journals as a ephemera page.

What a pretty nest, it was from the http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com she is so generous with her graphic art. It made a beautiful page in another fabric journal

What is in the box well I think you can guess from the birds nest on the lid. This one was stamped and embossed and inside is another of the nests I made form the twigs from the birch tree. Well there you have it birds and their nests, they are beautiful in nature and in our art.

French style mini journal

2011-12-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Crafted from a collage of vintage lace and linens, With a Marie style shoe stamped on pink satin for the focal point on the cover. The beautiful cream bow is silk ribbon.

The tiny flowers and leaves are made by me from silk ribbon, the larger pink flowers is from the rayon seam binding.

An inside look at the many ephemera pages, you can journal on these add photos, add your art and keepsakes.

A close up of the inside cover, a french style stamp on pink satin, and the first page is a vintage embroidery transfer. It measure 6 inches by 5 inches.

Flowers for our MAMA flower swap

2011-12-20T12:53:00.001-08:00

I made these flowers from velvet and netting and organdy, with rhinestone buttons for centers.

We were to use winter colors, I chose red, rose and gold, we only had to make 5 for the swap but I made several in other colors for my art work.

French style mini pouch swap

2011-11-30T12:37:00.001-08:00

This mini pouch is one of the 2 I made with the kit my generous partner Bobbi Ann sent me. I made the flowers with some of the material she sent. The back ground material was so pretty in pink gold and blue and it set the color pallet.
Here is a close up of the flowers I made with the gold organdy and satin material in the kit. I made them in the singed fabric style. I added the vintage butterfly pin to compliment the flowers
Pouch number 2, the lavender and purple flowers were included in the kit and went perfectly with the fabric for the pouch.
The gold material is a pocket and I added the Paris label. It was fun putting together the pouches from the material Bobbi sent.

Half doll swap

2011-11-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

We were to make a kit for dressing a half doll and send it to our partner. It was to include fabric, trim, bling and put it all together in a handcrafted bag. You can see the fabulous rhinestone button, and the cute pink button with rhinestones around it, and the rhinestone bar this was for the bling..
Here is what I included in the one I sent to my Partner, 3 different fabrics, for the dress approximately 13 different trims, almost 2 dozen hand crafted silk flowers. A decorated bead tube with crystals and beads, a package of fresh water pearls in pink, the colors of choice for my partner were Pink And Cream
In the upper left corner you can see the bag I made it is a collage of vintage lace, doilies, silk ribbon embroidery, and regular embroidery. I love the tags, they are from a stamp set I got on ETSY I used copic markers to color the tags, they are great but expensive, I am just getting familiar with them.
I got everything in the bag I wasn't sure it would all fit but it did.
I love this bag, I worked really hard on it to make it beautiful for my partner, I made the silk ribbon flowers, did the silk ribbon embroidery and the embroidered feather stitch that hold the layers of lace and vintage linens together. I also made some fringe at the bottom form beads and crystals. I hope she likes it, I do. TTFN

Felted wool butterfly pincushion

2011-11-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Felted wool is so much fun to work with, I like to hunt down wool garments at the thrift stores and garage sales and use them for my projects. This pincushion is my own design and handcrafted by me. The tiny hand dyed velvet strawberry is full of emery so it will sharpen needles. I handcrafted the ribbon flowers, the pansy is made from wired ribbon and the leaves and the yellow flowers are from the ever famous seam binding everyone is using, and the tiny lavender roses are from satin ribbon.
You get a better view of the butterfly from here, it is a double layer of felted wool with a running stitch to outline the butterfly and hold the 2 pieces together.
This will be featured on my ETSY shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/85111326/up-cycled-felted-butterfly-pincushion

Altered journal blue and yellow

2011-10-25T08:02:00.001-07:00

Here it is my latest art journal. This one features yellow and blue as the accent colors, on a tea stained back ground of a collage of vintage linens. I made the flowers, the large ones are in the singed fabric style, and the small ones are made from organdy ribbon. I used lots of lace and did some embroidery on the cover.
Sheet music was used for some pages, also pages from vintage magazines, clip art from the Graphic Fairy, ledger paper, tags, lace and stamping were used to decorate and make the pages.

The inside cover and the first page, I used wall paper to make the half page and stamped a saying and butterfly's for a tag. For the medallion I layered circles and finished them off with a button. On the inside page the Carte Postale was stamped on dupoini silk, and the ribbon and trim are also silk.

Some of the inside pages, with tags made from decoupaged napkins,The pocket the tags are in is from some material I found with wonderful writing on it. You can see more of this in my ETSY shop.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Rosesinwinter

Altered bottle from swap kit

2011-10-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

My flicker art group had a altered bottle kit swap, we made kits to decorated a bottle and then swapped with out partners there was no bottle included in the kit. Marie was my partner and this is the bottle I made from some of what she sent, she was so generous I could have altered a dozen bottles.
The cameo was a button, I cut the shank off and used it for the focal point. I had several kinds of lace to choose from and used 2 of them for the back ground. The little roses were on ribbon, I cut them off, and used a different piece of the lace to make the tiny rosettes and glued a rose to it.
Here is a full view of the bottle, you can see the beautiful gimp used at the middle and bottom of the bottle, as well as the feathers. About the feathers, they are from Marie's peacocks and these are rare as the bird doesn't shed them, so we are left to guess as to how Marie got them :) The Green Berry crowning the bottle was made from some of the French wired ribbon she sent. The ruffle it is sitting on was made from the selvage of one of the laces.
A close up of the focal area of the bottle, you can see the lace rosettes, I did add the crystal to the center of 2 of the rosettes from my own stash but that is all. She also sent some bead trim and I glued that around the cameo. The bottle is PINK it was a sake bottle the sake was horrible tasting but the bottle is a pretty PINK. If you would like to check out our flicker art group here is the link. TTFN
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1698630@N20/

ROSES IN WINTER: ALTERED TEA BOX

2011-10-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

ROSES IN WINTER: ALTERED TEA BOX

ALTERED TEA BOX

2011-10-11T16:44:00.001-07:00

My pictures never come out in the order I want them. This is the end view of the tea box. I used an image from the graphic fairy, she has many and shares freely.
This is the finished box. I covered the box with paper first, I cut some flowers out of fabric glued them on ,then added vintage lace, ribbon and the images from Graphic Fairy. I stamped the Eiffle tower and glued it on, added vintage buttons, made singed flowers to finish it, I glued the singed flowers over the fabric flowers I cut out and glued on, this was for dimension,, and it looked much better than the flat fabric flowers.
The original box ( this is really good tea BTW). The reason I came up with this is that everyone is doing match boxes and I thought a box is a box, so why not do a tea box and alter it and make it pretty and fill it with goodies and send it to a friend, or swap with a friend.
Another end view I used dupioni silk on this end and stamped French words, you can see the singed flowers better in this pic. TTFN

Gift journal

2011-10-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

Pages, One thing I really like about this style of journal are the pages, you can make them any way you want, out of anything you like. Here I used wallpaper ( the green plaid pocket), sheet music, on the left side is the back of a page that I colored using chalk and stamps. The figures on the right are from a new set of stamps I got on ETST, I really like them.
This is the introductory page, you can see the tag with the Happy Anniversary greeting, it is my daughter and son-in-laws anniversary this is my gift to them. The pictures on the right are mine and I made a collage of them and added it to the back of another page.
This is the cover. I do so love pink with white, it is such a lovely combination, the flowers are those made from singed fabric they turn out so pretty, I don't know who started this craze but they deserve a medal or some recognition. I used an iron on transfer for the image of the Victorian girl. The battenburg lace is from a place mat, I love to re purpose things and re use and up cycle as the new term goes. i used an old piece of broken jewelery and the pink bow is from dupioni silk, and the pink tie is also silk.
You can see all the journal from this picture, I had a wonderful time making it and I am pretty sure my daughter will like it.
Bird nest are one of my favorite things, and have been for many years, I got this one from the Graphic Fairy, she is so generous with her art images. On the left I used a page from the farmers almanac, and a page from a business ledger, I put lace on many of the pages, I have boxes of it and seem to always aaccrue more than I can ever use.

New trade at our Marie style trade group

2011-09-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

Pitty my pictures are a bit out of order, any hoo this is our trade tussie mussies in the Marie Style. I made this one for our lovely Marie. I used vintage lace, hand crafted flowers, and made the bead and crystal fringe .
Every tussie must have some goodies, and here are the ones I added, some vintage lace on a painted vintage clothes pin, some vintage flowers, a velvet pansy, the ever famous rayon seam binding everyone is using. A darling mushroom birdie and that was about all I could get to stay in the cone.
This is a better peek at what is in this little tussie. I am anxious to hear is Marie likes it, I hope so because I want to make people happy with what I make, because that makes me happy.
If you would like to join our happy little group join here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1698630@N20/

Fall color flowers

2011-08-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

Flowers flowers every where. My on line art group had a flower exchange, and I got a bit carried away with the flower making. I only need to make 5 flowers but I ended up with dozens. This was a new color way for me, I am usually into the pinks and lavenders and blues, so these yellows and oranges and Autumn reds, were a bit out of my comfort zone, once I got started tho they just kept coming.
Pansies made from wired ribbon of various lengths. Pansies are such fun to make and they turn out just like the real thing only in ribbon. I used the oranges and yellows and added a bit of brown to a couple of them.
These were also a great deal of fun to do, they are the singed material flowers, you cut your shapes from the material, it has to be material that will curl when exposed to heat so you have to experiment and not burn down the house. You hold the petal shapes over a flame, I use a candle and let the petals curl a bit and then you stack the petals together and sew in beads for the center.
The ones in the upper right were crafted from lace, it was an experiment that turned out well. I will make many more of theses for filler flowers.
Roses, my favorite flower, the big one in the lower left is brown, hard to tell from the pictures, I used grosgrain ribbon it was a nice change form the silk and the satin I usually use. I think it gave them more body, I crafted these on buckram and had to do a bit of sewing to anchor them down, but they are nice and flat on the back so they would be great add on's.
Now I have to decide which I am going to send for the Swap with my fellow MAMA members.

French ephemera journal MAMA swap

2011-08-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Our on line art swap group had this French journal swap. My partner was Holly More. This is what I made for her. Above are the center pages, I made the oval frames from card stock and covered them with rayon seam binding and I made the little yellow flowers and the leaves from silk ribbon. I used jeweled brads for the cream colored frame.
I made the pocket on the left from some pretty material and trimmed it with vintage lace and ribbon. The flap on the right folds out and there are some surprises inside.
These are the first pages, a double pocket on the left with a cloth tag and a framed picture of Marie on the right.
Here is the cover, I did some embroidery and added seed beads but they didn't show up in the photo. The flowers are the singed ones that are so popular. I so enjoyed making this for Holly and I know she liked it as she told me she did, that always makes it worth while when your partner likes what you created for them. TTFN

Marie style french journal

2011-07-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

The cover made from vintage linens and lace and embroidery. This is a swap with an on line friend Kelly Deal at dreaming of vintage.
Streets of Paris pages, I thought this might be something you would see at the Paris fair. The pocket on the right has a mini album in it for more tags, ephemera, photos, and such it is a double pocket so small tags can be added in the front pocket behind the bike.
Here you see the inside page that set the theme for the journal, a picture of Marie, and the pocket on the left holds a tag with the Eiffel tower on it.
Notice the lovely cut work on the right hand side, it was part of a napkin that was stained and worn, I used the good part to make the page. On the left is another pocket decorated with handcrafted flowers, the pocket holds another mini journal, that makes 2 extra journals in the album.
I wanted it to be pretty for Kelly when she opened the box so I tied a 3" ribbon around the journal and added a pretty rose. And yes she did like it.

Marie style match box

2011-07-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

My first match box. When I was invited to join a match box swap on my online art group I had never heard of decorating match boxes. So I thought I best try it out before I joined and had a partner to please with what I sent.

I made a baby one to go inside the mama.I thought for a first effort it turned out well. You can see the one I sent my partner in an earlier post. It is the yellow and blue one. I know it is a bit out of order, but I thought it pretty enough to share.

a close up of the baby match box. I really like it.

My elegent french pouch swap, with Bobbi Ann

2011-06-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw when I opened the box, how very special. And look at the pretty ribbon flowers, love the purples.
Another layer, more beautiful ribbon flowers and some fabulous beaded flowers, love them, I have never seen any like them.
These are some of my favorite things. the reflection of the flash didn't cooperate, and some you cant see. Those in the back are the pouch fabrics, so pretty and shiny. I am going to have so much fun putting it all together.
This is everything, 16 fun filled packages of yummie goodies. Way more than need to do our assigned project.
And this is the box they came in I am feeling very special. I so enjoyed this part of the swap, the exchange of the materials to make our own, elegant french pouch, to hold what ever treasures we want to put in it. Thank you Bobbi Ann this is a keeper as they say. :)

Match box swap with MAMA group.

2011-05-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

My online art group had a match box swap. I haven't heard of this before, you take a large match box and make it beautiful with ribbon, lace, and all kinds of ephemera and pretty things. Then you fill it with goodies and swap with your partner. This is what I made for my partner Caroline, her favorite color is yellow so I did my best to yellow it up, with blue as the accent color.
I also made the baby box to go with it and filled it with vintage buttons. I should have taken more pictures but for some reason I didn't This is her blog and I think you will like what you see if you go there as she is quite an accomplished artist, and she has much better pictures than I have of what I sent her. http://www.cmoh.blogspot.com/ You can also see what she sent me as she has posted it on her blog It was very imaginative, and I love the coaches.

Glamping at McIver park

2011-05-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the bedroom area in the trailer I made that spread from old linens that were called cutters, they had bad spots and I used the good areas to make the coverlet.
This is our hospitality table. Our guest book, sweets for the guests and some of my cards with my blog and email addy.
There it is our Argosy all lit up with our twinkle lights. This was our second Glamp in the big trailer, it is so nice as it has a bathroom, an electric fridge, and other amenities that the Aristocrat doesn't have.
Fabulous,right, I found this a darling shop she has the cutest things I really love this piece and it just fits in the bedroom area of the trailer, I paid a bit more than I would normally pay but it looks soooooo good. Well that is our trip I added more pics on another post as blogger will only allow a few.

Glamping at McIver park part 2

2011-05-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Champagne and strawberries, yum.
I am so happy with the cushions and the curtains, the gal who did them is such a sweetie and she does a good job and is inexpensive as well.
close up of the day bed in the outdoor room. I got the pillows at a garage sale, down the street was another and I got the pink and blue green patch quilt, plus much more a good garage sale day.
Everyone just loved the outdoor room, it was a big hit. I actually read my magazines out there in the afternoon. Very comfy.
My vanity area, that darling lamp was at a junk store we went to and it is just perfect for the vanity area. These are just a few of the pictures of our trailer and the outdoor room.

Marie style bottle

2011-05-10T22:10:00.001-07:00

These bottles seem to be the latest in the mixed media art world, so I had to give it a try. I gave mine the Marie treatment and added lace and flowers.
Love the ribbon berry on top of the bottle, more lace and ribbon for the ruffles. The lace is from my vintage stash.
You can see I threw in a bit of the French theme with the words Paris. I made the fuchsia's from hand dyed silk ribbon, the pink flowers are satin ribbon and the lace covering the bottle is also from my vintage stash. You can see this on my estsy shop if you are interested.

Camping time again

2011-05-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is camping time again. We had a dry run with the Argosy but in 2 weeks we are taking out the glamper. Above is a picture of our hospitality table at our last camp last year. We had 30 people sign our guest book. It was great fun.
The Glamper is a 1967 Aristocrat little and cute. This year we are camping close by and that is a good thing considering the price of gas. Also I was approached by a member of our group and asked if they could photograph the glamper. Well you know I said yes, as long as I didn't have to be in any of the pictures. I think it will be great fun to see what they do. Summer is upon us and we here in Oregon know you have to "make hay while the sun shines" TTFN

Flowers for Memorial 2011

2011-04-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

This year I had the privilege of being asked to do the flowers for memorial, it was a request I happily accepted. these are the ones I made from the beautiful bounty of Jehovah's creation.
I used plants for the most part, as you can see from the above picture, this pansy was so beautiful and the bocopa on the left is just coming into bloom
I used miniature roses for the back ground in this container and added cut roses and babies breath in flower vials. I think it gave it a romantic look.
Miniature daffodils form the back ground for this one in the charming Italian looking pot. Again miniature roses, pansies, and cut flowers in vials.
This was the one put on the stage, The green flower in the center is a clematis, with ranuclus and parrot tulips on either side. I had help with the preparation's as we had to put all the plants in plastic bags as there is no way the pots would have fit. My little bit for Jehovah and His Son.

Strawberries in the Marie style

2011-04-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

I tried a new look for my velvet strawberries I made them a bit fancier, I tried to do them in a style I thought Marie Antoinette would like. They turned out rather well I thought. Above it shows the top views of some of them, I used ruffled ribbon and lace, and topped

them with flowers and ribbon berries. The above picture shows the variety of sizes from the tiny ones on the right to the rather large one right above them. The large one has crystals instead of seed bead for the seeds on the berry.

A close up of the other pic.

These are some of the different colors, some are hand dyed velvet like the pink one in the center. and some are out of the new Marie blue velvet I found. It is getting hard to find velvet in the pretty pastel colors.

Here we see them all. I thought they turned out quite well, I think Marie would be delighted to have a small silver urn full of them. I know I smile when I look at them. TTFN

French ribbon roses

2011-04-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

These are french ribbon roses I made for a swap with my Marie Antoinette art group.
I packaged in them in these wonderful cellophane bags, they are attached to cards with a corsage pin so they can be used as such.
I made 5 you send 5 and you receive 5 in return. I made each one a different color and slighty different. I tried to get them all in the picture.
The color is pretty true for the bottom 2 but now so for the top 2 on the left they are much prettier. It is only my second swap with this group but they do beautiful things. TTFN

Tuzzie Muzzie

2011-03-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

My first tussie swap, I put a lot of time and effort into this. I hand dyed all the velvet and the silk for the strawberries and the fuchsias and used semi precious stones and fresh water pearls for the fringe around the top. The paper roll is from a french book, with a cut out of the Eiffel tower, and I loved the bird.

Guest book for the Glamper

2011-01-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

I have a vintage 1967 Aristocrat trailer cute, cute ,cute, I love it. When we go on rallies with our group we have trailer tours. Members decorate their trailers, and on one afternoon of the camp they are open for tours. So I decided I need a guest book to reflect the way the trailer was decorated, and this is what I came up with.

Don't you love that big poppy style flower?? It is from my collection of vintage flowers , and the velvet leaves are almost vintage. I made the dangling fuchsias and the little pocket is made from piece of vintage lace.

Added the rhinestone button for a bit of sparkle and some silk dupioni ribbon.

Everyone says they love the "Glamper" and the guest book was a success. Last glamp we had 30 people sign some weren't even part of the rally but asked to see it any way, many pictures were taken and I was so happy people liked both the trailer and the book.

Marie Antionette style pillow

2010-12-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

This was such a fun pillow to make, I tried to think what colors would be in Marie,s boudoir, I thought gold, in her portraits she was often in blue, and every girlie girl loves pink, lace, feathers and flowers. So that's how it began. I had no finished vision or actual object to go by so I tried to make a woman with a beautiful multi layered gown with lost of lace, ribbon and details.

The big hat with the feathers was a must, I had to dye white feathers with stamping ink to get the blue and lavender colors. The ribbon flowers are silk hand made by me, and the pink trim is dupioni silk. I didn't give her a face and it adds a bit of mystery as to who she really is.

The bouffant gown has two layers of lace from my vintage stash, with a white petticoat underneath. The gown had to be silk, and it is silk dupioni the ruffle around the opening of the gown is cream ruffled ribbon, with tiny hand dyed lace flowers added along each side.I thought the rhinestone button at the waist would add a bit of sparkle. The pink gathering on either side of the top of the gown is pink bias dupioni silk ribbon, it was a find at a antique stall.

I will list this on my Etsy site.

Marie style mirror

2010-12-02T12:38:00.001-08:00

I am so in love with this mirror, I can't even believe I actually made it. It is constructed on a vintage mirror and would be so lovely on a fancy vanity. The colors just came together so well, and the free hand silk ribbon embroidery turned out way better than I thought it was going to. I used things from my stash to make this charmer, using vintage where I could. One thing I learned was how to use the rufflier on my sewing machine, my sewing machine scares me because it can do so much and I am not good with computers. But I figured out the rufflier and have been ruffling every thing from cloth, ribbon, to crepe paper, it works great.

This is a closer view, I am disappointed in the picture of the vintage rhinestone button I used, it is so shinny but the flash from the camera took all the shine away. It was so much fun making this mirror, and I am always inspired by the Marie Antoinette era, such opulence and over abundance but such beauty as well.

Faded roses

2010-11-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

Some times we think that new is the best, the most attractive, not always, I love the vintage look, faded, a bit worn, but still lovely to look at and use.These are some of the last roses of the summer, they are a bit past their prime but they are beautiful. I think they would make a pretty painting, or use them on a greeting card, how lovely that would be Below you can see how the edges are beginning to brown but even that has it beauty. This is such a gorgeous rose, I am not sure of the name, I think it is wife of bath, all my name tags faded or got lost so I am at a loss for some of the names.

Pretty, pink and now gone until spring, at lest we can admire the photos. Enjoy, even things past their prime have beauty, and that goes for us as well, that is if you are of a certain age.....

TTFN

Glamping at the beach

2010-11-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

We have had such a good time with our little vintage Aristocrat trailer, it is a 1967, a very good year. It is the perfect size for one but works quite well for two. Our new awning adds so much pizazz it is a pretty pink with scallops. the out door rug is pink and green going with the theme of the trailer colors of pink, green and white. I like the profile of this trailer it looks good standing still and gets lots of looks as we pull it on the road.

This is how it looked in the early evening, it was great weather at the beach, not much wind and sun everyday.

Rose Water

2010-08-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

A friend found a recipe for rose water, rose water is hard to find and expensive so I thought I would give it a go. I picked an assortment of my roses as you can see I lean heavily to the pinks. It was hard to tear the petals off of these beautiful things, but in the interest of science (smile) I did. Oh one thing I have learned since then was to cut the base off of the petals as they make the water bitter, it was a bit bitter so if I do it again I will pull off the petals and trim the base of them before using them. The instructions called for a bowl raised out of the water that the petals were in, so I put the small bowl on another one that I turned upside down. I added about 3 cups of water and all the petals, it was a close fit and I had to smoosh some of the petals into the water so they didn't cover the empty bowl.

Next you put the lid to the pot on UPSIDE down so that it forms a concave lid, this is to allow the water that has evaporated ( or distilled) to run into the bowl, that is your rose water.

Below is how it looks as it is working, you can see the big water bubbles they will drip into the bowl and when you are finished you have a small amount of rose water.

I just simmered the petals until they looked like mush, and then let it cool and extracted the bowl, the yield was small and not to fragrent, but after all it was just a home made still and an experiment. After it all cooled down I squeezed the petals and got a lot more liquid. It was a brown color but there was probably 3or 4 cups of it.

I used it for a splash on my face it had a tighting effect. I also tried it for a exfoliate for my feet and it was quite effective.

It was a fun thing to do on a lazy afternoon. I hope you try it. TTFN

Dry run for the Glamper

2010-07-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here we are it is our first time out in the Glamper. We couldn't get into the camp ground we wanted and so we had to drive 30 more miles and we were glad to find this spot as all the camp grounds were full. You can see the cute candelabra it came in the mail minutes before we left, so we threw the box in and took off and unpacked it when we got set up. Our awning didn't make it in the mail so we have no awning, but when we got home it was by the front door so next time out we will get to use it.
Above is a picture of the dinning room, ready for tea, I didn't bring any fancy linens this time as I wasn't sure what I would want. Now that I am an experienced Glamper I know more of what I need and what to leave at home. The flowers are from my back yard, and they stayed pretty for the whole week-end.

This is the boudoir, it was such fun sleeping on this bed, comfortable too. I have 12 pillows on the bed it was so cute, I had to borrow a cork screw from a neighboring camp and the guy came over and took a look inside and then went and told his wife he wanted one. Well who wouldn't......

More of the boudoir. I found the fancy pink pillow at Monticello, I love that place. I don't know how much detail you can see on the 2 pillows to the right of the fancy pink one but I embroidered them from vintage embroidery transfers.

You can see here the shelf above the bed, I have cute boxes full of goodies. The pink one with the roses is from my swap with Celeste, it is full of tea things, and a couple small champagne splits. The one on the far right is full of my unmentionables. I also have books up there and a box full of crafting supplies.

Well that is a quick look at our first Glamp. It isn't finished yet more to do inside and out, but it was fun and we are looking forward to the next one. Care to join us?

Summer Rose Swap 2010

2010-07-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

You all saw what Celeste sent me it was and is beautiful, Now you can see what I sent her. Her studio is so pretty and it is black and pink and shiny, so I tried my best to make my swap so it would complement her studio. The black and glitter album on the left is for photos or notes she can add pages to it if she wants. The box by it is Oregon Chi my favorite drink hot or cold, She sent me tea bags, I sent her tea. Below is a closer look, you can see the velvet strawberry, it was placed in the pink satin box right behind it the tiny box has ribbon roses on it. To the right of the tea box is a sweet little pillow, she said she was going to add it to the ones in her guest room.

In this pic below is a close up of the powder puff, it is quite large and meant for decoration more than actual use. It is covered with black and pink ribbon roses and other ribbon flowers. In the mini box by the powder puff is a candle wrapped in pink ribbon and has a rose tag on it.

Above you can see a close up of Marie Antoinette's shoe, I think this is such a fun piece and you can put it anywhere, all paper, glitter, lace,and of course pink.

Above the earrings I made with Swarovski crystals, they are a sweet dainty blue, on silver.

This gives you a good look at the velvet strawberry. It is hand dyed velvet with ribbon ruffles, and the seeds are Swarovski crystal in a soft green.

Well that is it, there were a few more things but this is the best. It was my best swap ever and Celeste said the same about hers. It was so lovely to meet such a beautiful and talented woman and exchange our areas of art and crafting with each other. TTFN

Summer Rose Swap 2010

2010-07-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous, Right?? This beautiful box covered in hand painted roses is the beginning of the swap I entered with a lovely lady from Texas, we both belong to the same ning and that is how we became swap partners. The box is so beautiful but as you will see it was full of wonderful things. Where do you start, all the pink and roses and tea cups, and tiny treasures like the lavender sachet in the left tea cup. My initial with the lovely hand painted roses and trimmed with lace and the darling bird at the bottom.

Below is a close up of the W and the birdie, and the cutest basket ever, it is full of wonderful tea bags. I love a touch of blue and the tiny tray with the roses is just the right touch. If you look close you can see a painted spoon in front of the basket, it is adorable.

The book is just too much, it is full of tea lore, and the 2 tea cups, one for me and one for a friend, I wish Celeste could share it with me.

Just couldn't resist a close up of the tiny basket. I know it is just tooooo cute.

I must say this is the best swap of all and I have been in a few, Celeste is a talented painter and very generous, I am going to enjoy these lovely items for a long time. Thank you Celeste, it was a lovely experience and getting acquainted was such a pleasure. TTFN

My new toy

2010-06-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the cutest thing ever??? We bought it over the week-end. What fun we are going to have with this tiny trailer. We were so happy to get one in such good shape. It is only about 12' but it is packed full of vintage goodies, look at that stove and ice box, yes I said ice box, very vintage, the avocado green certainly marks the 60's. It is in wonderful shape for it's age.

We are so excited to fix it up and make it our own. I am thinking pink and white with the green, add a bit of the romantic shabby look that will bring it up to date but still have that vintage look.

Below is the dinning area, the cushions will need a redo, maybe just slip covers as that is the original fabric and for resale it is a big draw, if we ever decided to sell.

Below is the sleeping area, it is larger than it looks in the photo, I picture duvets and tons of fabulous pillows. We are even contemplating wall paper in this area to make it look like a tiny separate room.

The floor is in such great shape it needs a good scrub and some wax and it will sparkle, yes it will sparkle as it has mica chips in it.

Well that is the tour, it is going to be fun fixing it up and fun using it, we already have plans for a trip to one of our beautiful lakes with some friends.

Stay tuned for all the updates in the decorating department

We have found out that vintage trailers are very popular and that there are groups such as "Sisters on the Fly" with over a 1500 members, and other groups that have trailer rallies and take over parks, and have open houses. So I think we are in for some adventures.

flowers at my door.

2010-05-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I heard a knock on my door, when I answered a man was standing there with this beautiful bouquet. I thanked him and took them inside, all the while wondering who could they be from. I read the card and burst into tears. My beautiful daughter had sent them she said" to make you smile, and know that I love with with my whole heart". More tears. In fact they are flowing as I type.

I love this child more thank any thing on this earth, she knows that.......

Beautiful flowers from a beautiful person I love her, I wish she could move home. Flowers fade love lasts.

door hanger do not disturb

2010-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter has one of these on her door knob at her office, and people steal it to hang on theirs. I originally designed this to give as part of a wedding gift. As you can see I put a lot of detail on them I use a patch work of satins, taffeta and such materials for the back ground and embellish with embroidery, vintage lace, beads, vintage buttons, and ribbon. Gotta have that ribbon, it is one of my favorite textiles.

I think this would make a darling gift, or hang it on your own door knob. I have one that says Room service on my door knob.

You can see the vintage buttons at the top by the ribbon hanger, the vintage lace is at the bottom of the do not disturb writing, notice the tiny rose buds that are going across the center, they are done with ribbon embroidery. A lot of work goes into making these little bundles but they are so pretty when finished.

I enjoy the process of assembling these and I have other styles with other sayings. You can find them for sale on my ETSY and my Bonanzel, and my other blog Vintage Romance.

Whats new

2010-04-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

I have always been a fan of vintage satin boxes, I think this one was for Hankies, I added the embellishments on top. Many years ago I found a small publication about ribbon work and fell in love with ribbon flowers. I have made many and these are a few of my latest. Below is a close up of the central rose, this was a new idea I had and it worked out beautifully I think. I added the organdy ribbon and it makes it sparkle. I am not a huge fan of grosgrain ribbon but it does give a lot of variety and texture to leaves and such.

The back ground doily is vintage, I collect them as often as I find them at garage sales and estate sales, flea markets and other venues.

I covered the box with these Delicious ribbon flowers and leaves, I think it is quite stunning, I have a vintage satin glove box on my vanity that I did in a similar way. This hankie box will be offered for sale on my Vintage Romance blog and my Etsy, and my bonanzel sites, you can accesses them from my side bars on this blog.

I hope you enjoy the beauty of the flowers as much as I enjoyed making them. TTFN

velvet strawberry and felted wool heart

2010-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

My latest creations, a ruffled felted heart with ribbon embroidery and regular embroidery, trimmed in vintage lace. These are hanging from a shelf with a hook in my new master bath ( pictures on previous posts) It was so much fun doing the embroidery, and it always looks so beautiful the silk ribbon makes it so. I did pink silk ribbon roses and used french knots for the forget-me-not flowers. And the vine and rose buds were also done in silk ribbon.

I love the vintage lace it came from and old nightie that was in tatters but the lace was still good.
The heart was felted from a recycled wool sweater, I am a big fan of the recycle movement.

The velvet strawberry is hand dyed and hand beaded. I make the ruffle calyx from the ever popular seam binding. I call it the tutu on top of the berry. I so enjoy making home decorating items, they are original and fun to make and use.

I also sell them on my ETSY, and my other blog,Vintage romance, you can get to them from the side bars on my blog if you are interested. TTFN

Anniversary # 36

2010-01-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

For our 36th anniversary our daughter did everything at her little apartment. It was perfect! We had dinner for 3 by the fireplace a wonderful dinner all prepared by her. It was our favorite turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I really liked the black and white with the pinks and greens thrown in for color splashes.

These were our gifts to each other, we don't celebrate the holidays but we by no means miss out on having party's, and loads of gifts. We spend a great deal of time and thought on our gifts.

This is such and amazing picture it looks a bit mysterious, yet quite lovely. And it was lovely, our celebration of 36 years together with 27 of them spent with our beautiful daughter.

And by the way I was the one who got the number of years wrong, hubby was right on, I thought it wa # 37 wrong he was right with 36.
TTFN

Two new things

2009-12-11T07:57:00.001-08:00

I haven't been very productive of late, been a bit distracted with the remodel that has drug on for 6 months when it should only been 3 at the most. But here are 2 things I have completed. Above is a lingerie bag, it is in the style of a vintage one and is done in rose bud materials in pinks and reds. The eyelet is such a wonderful over skirt and is from my ever growing collection of fabrics in my rescued pile. I made the little ribbon rose also. It would be a lovely addition to any closet and would hold quite a bit, it could even be used as a laundry bag for the unmentionables.

I love this padded hanger it is just so cute, the kitten motif is also from the rescue pile it is vintage and was on an item that was beyond repair. The design is my own as I had no pattern and had to fit it as I went. The cluny lace is also from my stash , it is white, it looks a bit pink because of the back ground fabric.

A close up of those darling kittens, I did the feather stitch embroidery around the kittens and made the leafs and the yo yo's. I think this would so cute in a child's room, it would do well with the cottage look and of course the whimsy look would be perfect for it.

I love to re purpose things, and try to rescue as much of those vintage linens and laces as I can.
Have a great day TTFN.

You can find these on my Bonanzel site, and my Etsy site

both are on my side bar.

Bath Salts Apothecary Jar.

2009-11-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

I wanted to show a close up of the bath salts container in my new bathroom, It is very simple to put together, a cute apothecary jar, bath salts, ribbon and luscious velvet strawberries. I made the bath salts myself with Epsom salts, food color and rose essential oil, just mix it up and put in jar, add ribbon bow and the berries. Below is a close up of the velvet berries, I make them from hand dyed velvet, add the seed beads for seeds, and several layers of ruffled seam binding for the calyx. I do so love the strawberries they add just the right touch to anything.

Below in this picture is the scoop, I have used a small tea cup and it works perfectly, could it be any cuter?

Well that was what I wanted to share, try doing it yourself I know you will come up with wonderful different ways to make it fun and beautiful. I would love to see what you do. Any questions just ask. Have a special day. TTFN

My new bathroom

2009-10-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

I love my tub, it is just the right size, set here in this cozy little alcove it is a thing of beauty in my eyes. It still has a ways to go as far as decoration goes but this is my start. I don't have any before pictures but I think the end results is the most important, don't you? In the right corner is a darling corner shelf I got from one of my favorite places," Shabby Cottage" she has the most darling things and they are all recycled, and put to reuse. This corner shelf holds my soaps, bubble bath, bath crystals, and just some cute things.

This cute little wicker number was a garage sale purchase, and is perfect for towels in the bottom and bath powder and candles, and such on top.

A bit of a closer view of the corner shelf. It is so perfect, and I had looked so hard to find it, and I am really happy with it.

The picture that is leaning on the wainscoating is one of mine and it will just lean there untill I find something I really like to hang on the wall. I hate to make holes in a new wall. Speaking of the wainscoating, it is super, I have never had a room with it before and it is just perfect for this little tub room.

I have always, and forever wanted a bathroom big enough for furniture, now I have it. My slipper chair is in need of recovering but I draped it with some old linens and it will do for now. Won't you look at the silver feet on the tub, just too lovely.
If you look behind the chair you can see some of the detail of the door molding and the floor trim. You can't see the floor real good but it is tile and it has pink glass embeded into where some of the tiles meet but not visable in this pic. I could only post 5 pictures so I tried to get the best ones.

I must say this is the crowing touch, who doesn't like chandeliers, this little beauty is hanging right above my tub.

This part of the remodeled master bath was the brainchild of an old friend and he did a good job, on it. His idea was the best of all of the 4 or 5 other contractors. This is just one part of the master bath I will post more at another time.

Last of the Roses

2009-10-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am so sad to say good bye to my roses. I may get a few more blooms but not the abundance of summer. This is Graham Thomas, it is a beautiful yellow rose that blooms thru out the summer into fall. I have 2 of the above Graham Thomas rose bushes.

Pink and delicate, I don't know what the name of this one is, it was in the orphan bin at the nursery. You buy it at a discount and take your chances as to what it will be. This one was a winner.

Rigours and constant, this rose blooms and blooms and blooms. It has hundreds at a time. I lost the name of it as all my name tags faded in the sun I think it is Reine something. I have several others but these are still going and I hope they will for a couple of weeks yet.

To all who love their roses, and I know few who don't I give you a quote " I would rather have roses in my garden than diamonds on my neck"Emma Godman, I am not sure about the last name, but that is exactly how I feel. TTFN

Where did my kitchen go????

2009-09-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

My poor kitchen, it is all tore up. This is all that is left of the sink area, that too will be gone soon. Below is where the fridge was, it is to be moved to another wall, and sunk into said wall about 6".

These are the brawny men doing the rip and tear, notice the tattoo on Eric, it is not indicative of his kind and helpful persona.

We had soffits ( pic below) they are also gone with the wind, actually there wasn't much left after the demo. The extensive remodle was hubbie's idea, I would have been happy with just a new bathtub and leave the kitchen alone, but here we are, well here I am with no kitchen and dear hubbie and precious daughter are in Disney World for 9 days. Oh yes I could have gone, but I don't fly so I get to stay home and listen to the hammering. Life is good. :)

It will be all spankin' new in a few weeks,( I hope it is only that the master bath took 3 months). But it is a thing of beauty, and looks nothing like it did before.

The Tea House

2009-08-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

This is my tea house in my back yard, I have had it for over a year and it is finally ready to use. It took most of that time for my hubby to wire it, insulate it, sheet rock it and we paid to have the sheet rock finished and textured. So it is just like any room in a house, but no water, I am working on that....... you know my hubby isn't going to like that. I put in the flower beds this year and have plans for more as time goes by.

This isn't a very good picture as it was getting dark when I took it. You can see the wrought iron fencing in the background, I got 5 sections of it at a garage sale, the gal said she paid $125.00 for all the pieces, she sold it to me for $20.00. What a bargain ...right.?!

I have been furnishing it with garage sale finds I want it to have that shabby look. We got the day bed for $20.00, they wanted $45. 00 but came down. We bought an almost new twin size mattress, no spots, she said she only used it a couple of times, I made the 2 embroidered pillows, and plan on adding more of different styles, as I get them made.

The chandelier, is also a garage sale find. I stripped it down and painted it white and all the dangles are made by me from semiprecious stones. The lone drapie ones are a necklace of semiprecious stone chips that I reconfigured, there were 4 strands I paid $1.00 for it. We had to hang it so high because the door would have hit it if it was any lower.

I got the mirror at a garage sale for $1.00 and I added the flowers and ribbon to cover up some boo boo's. The little table is also from a GS I have used it my daughter used it for a while then gave it back, so it is in use again. I like pieces like that, you can put them in any room and they look fine.

Well that is the update on the tea house, I posted last year a little about it, I think we were calling it the play house then. Stay tuned for more..

Marie Antionette style swap, with Marie Antionette

2009-08-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

I am sure many of you are familiar with Marie Antoinette's blog, she and I decided to do a swap, and this is my end of the swap. I hand painted the lace at the top of the crown with water colors, it makes it so vintage looking.

I made the crown from old wallpaper and trimmed it with everything I could think of. I used vintage gimp around the bottom and top, vintage sheet music, ribbon, lace, I cut out things with my Cricut, and glued and embellished. I used semi precious stones, feathers and glitter, I think it turned out quite well. I included this little shoe, I had such a fun time making theses shoes, I have blogged about them before. This one I made especially for Marie, note the M. on the shoe and the crown.

This is a wand of sorts, I just wanted to try some things with crape paper ribbon and glitter. Marie said she loved it all and that made me happy. I am so pleased with the cyber friends I have made. Who knew blogging could result in having friends across the U.S.A.
Thanks to all who check out my blog, I know I don't do as much as I did before, but I am busy with a remodel of half my home and it is very time consuming.

P.S I will post the crown Marie sent me, at another time.

Patio dinner party Jan's

2009-07-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Jan had this fabulous dinner party last Friday, there were around 30 people, we worked all week to get it set up, it was so pretty. Everyone had such a great time. And the food wasn't bad either. The picture above is the view as you are coming down the stairs.

This is a closer view of the food table with no food yet. We had fun making the tissue paper flowers.

We covered the chair cushions with pillow cases. It worked out just fine and adds to the overall white look she was going for.

I love how the branches from the plum tree frame the picture. (with plums).

And we had our own entertainment. This beautiful man is 80 years old.

PaperShoes Marie Antionette style

2009-07-13T15:25:00.001-07:00

Don't you want shoes like this, only real. I know I do. This is my interpretation of the darling paper shoes in the new Marie magazine by Somerset Studio. You can find them on pages 10 to 13, there is also instructions for making your own as I did here. This is the biggest shoe it is about 9" from heel to toe, and aren't those square toes just too cute?
I made the paper bow from vintage sheet music, and cut the fancy M with my Cricut machine, added the crepe paper ruffle and a bit of lace.
I wanted to try different sizes so this one is smaller 8" from heel to toe. I used organdy ribbon for the bows, and a seam binding flower with a bead center and some sheet music for trims. On the heel I cut out the mini rose from some older wall paper and covered it with transparent glitter for some extra sparkle.

This little guy is the baby, 7" long. I used crepe paper that I pleated and gathered, some battenburg lace, and other vintage laces. The crown effect is again cut on my Circut machine. These were such fun to make and quite easy too once you got the hang of it. I think they would be so pretty added to a package, You could fix them so you could hang them, and on and on. Get the Magazine and give them a try. BTW the whole magazine is beautiful. TTFN

Victorian style needle case

2009-07-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

This precious needle case is just too sweet. I made it from recycled velvet, silk, and flannel. I love to use bits and pieces that have been rescued from the land fills, because that is where so much ends up after it has passed thru garage sales, goodwill and other donation thrift stores. So I rescue what I can and use it in my crafts and home. This little case is just about a 3" square, I did a photo transfer on dupioni silk, I printed the picture from my computer, it is free clip art.

The ribbon embroidery is one of my favorite things to do it is so beautiful, and looks so vintage.
The lace is a bit that I had from a sale, I have boxes of it, I just can't pass it up, and it adds so much to any craft project.

This is the inside, it has 2 flannel pages and the ribbon down the center is just to bring some detail to the inside. I have been sewing ever since I can remember. I will tell you a little sewing tale.

When I was in High School ( Oh so many years ago) I wanted a new dress for something I cant remember now. I had no sewing machine, no real scissors I did have a couple yard of material, and a pattern. So I laid out the pattern on the material cut it out with manicure scissors and sewed it with needle and thread, it wasn't half bad, that included putting in a long zipper, as it was a sheath dress. Now you can guess how long ago that was. I encourage all to enjoy some kind of crafting, needle work

( my computer won't let me stay on that line) scrap booking, we all have that creative urge, who knows what lovely thing you can come up with. TTFN

My first Swap

2009-07-02T10:18:00.001-07:00

Again my computer is not allowing me to comment with my pictures. This was my gift from my swap partener Char who resides in Arizona. The swap was a 3 part deal it had to include a flower, birds nest, something beach, and it had to include something handcrafted, it could relate to any of the themes or be something in addition to the 3 items.
So I got beach tags, and a shell soap, and beach swizzle sticks. I forgot to get the pincushion in the picture it is one the of her handmade things and just darling, she also made the seashell tags. Don't you love the eggs in the nest so cute with the glitter and the roses. the big star is just a close-up of one of my swizzle sticks.And the napkins are part of the flower theme, along with the print on the pincushion. The cookies were just a bonus, and good I might add.
Well I tried to put a picture with this post I hope it works. TTFN

My first Swap

2009-07-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what is up with my computer. This is my swap, she did so good. I explained it on the other post as I can't see my pictures and comment on them in my posting window. All I have is all the computer jargon and no pictures, they come up when I post but I am totally in the dark as to why I can't see them here.

Tea at the garden

2009-06-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am sorry there is no comentary with the Tablescape post, but my computer is not letting me write with the pictures. It was a wonderful tea in a beautiful garden.

Garden Tea Party

2009-06-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

My first on line trade

2009-06-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have just made a trade with another on line crafter. We became acquainted via Etsy Cottage Style. I joined her group a week ago and already I am in a swap with a lady from Arizona, and have many on line friends. This is my end of the swap, several yards of vintage lace and some new as well. I in turn receive a darling tea cup pincushion, the tea cup has such pretty roses on it, if it has roses on it I like it for the most part, especially if they are pink, and these are.

You can join Esty Cottage Style also just go to the button on my side bar, it is a fun place.

TTFN

Vintage millinery roses

2009-06-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

I went garage saling this weekend and it was good. My husband drives and I buy, well actually this time he bought as well but that is another story, and a good one by the way. This is one of my great buys. These are vintage millinery roses, when I saw them I just grabbed them (I couldn't control myself) they were attached to a black felt hat. All I wanted were the roses. They are so fabulous

they are quite large and just the colors you see. Very modern colors, altho I do think chartreuse was quite popular in the 40s. They are about 8" across and have velvet petals mixed in with the others. I just love them... I am not sure what I will do with them but, I am happy I have them. And here is the best part I paid only $5.00 for hat and all. That makes me sooooooooo happy. :) TTFN

2009-06-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

I have this little table scape in the guest bedroom. It is a gathering of found objects and the teapot lamp is a gift from a friend. She move to Hawaii and said I needed it, she was right it is so sweet. I found the lampshade at a garage sale and added the ribbon pansy and leaves, it is a much prettier shade of pink than in the picture. This is a better picture of the lampshade, the colors are more true. The hand painted rose plate is an other garaged sale find. The little castle ( hard to see) on the right, I made from clay and fired in my kiln.

The fabric covered box is topped with ribbon flowers That I have made, it is a gift for a friend, it is full of sewing things.

In this closeup you can see the teapot and the shade a bit better, but again the colors are off. I don't know how to make it better. The little square tin mirrors were garage sale finds. I always say just go to enough garage sales and you can find everything you want and need, (or don't need) LOL.

TTFN

Summers roses

2009-06-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Isn't this the most gorgeous thing ever. It is one of my roses in my garden, but alas I cannot tell you it's name I lost the tag that came with it, but a rose by any other name would be as gorgeous. I love the shades of pink, such a beauty. The sad thing is we had a bad thunder storm and the bushes were so full of blooms that the heavy rain knocked them to the ground.

I do know the name of this beauty. It is Eden rose. It is the rose featured in my header. It is my favorite rose, it is so beautiful. It has lovely shades of pink with just a touch of green at the base of the bud. So very lovely.

This is Lordly Oberon, it is so tall it tops our fence by about 2' it is a lovely thing and it opens up to a full big bloom. It is a little more on the creamie side of pink, I have several others but these are 3 of my favorites.

Native Iris

2009-05-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

I bought these Iris plants at a home and garden show. They are of the native variety that grew wild in the area where I grew up. They would grow along side the road and bloom so pretty, also you would find them in some of the fields. The white ones with the purple veining were rare, most were of a purple blue color. I love to pick them and take them home and put them in a jar and add them to the kitchen table. I don't see them growing like that anymore, so I was so happy to find them at the market.

Isn't the purple veining pretty. They are a very small plant probably not 8" high, but very lovely.

I am going to plant them and hope they like it and multiply, and even change color as they do. I love the native flowers here in the P.N.W. we have some beauties, foxglove, lupin, a form of bachelor button, just to name a few. I do have the foxglove naturalised in my garden and they just pop up everywhere, what a treat.

Tea at the garden

2009-05-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have posted this picture before but it is getting close to time for tea in the garden again. We try to do it every year, at Ferguson's Fragrant Gardens, they are beautiful, and this year I will try to remember to take some pictures of the beauty. This is usual a day trip, we have a lovely drive into the country, sometimes we follow a river and sometimes it's just fields and country houses. First we visit the Heirloom Rose garden and ooh and ahh over the most beautiful rose in the world, the garden is world famous. After we have our fill of the beauty of roses and shop in the little cottage, we head to Ferguson's.
I set up the tea table while everyone tours the garden, I like it to be all done and a surprise. Every year I try to make it different and special. The year shown here I put their tea lunch in the fabric covered box you see at the bottom of the picture. Well this year I have yet to be inspired and time is running out.
I will post the pictures from this years event next month. TTFN

things I have made

2009-05-10T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have been in a creative mood for a while now, and have tried to get somethings I have had in mind into being. Here are a few of the things I have finished. I made this pincushion from a cream pitcher, the poof is made from recycled velvet and the lace is a garage sale find, very nice. I made the ribbon flowers and leaves. And the velvet strawberry is one of my favorite things to make, they all turn out so cute.

This is a brooch, you can wear it on your lapel, add it to a hat or handbag, really you could put it on anything a pin would go through. It is a handcrafted ribbon pansy, backed by organdy ribbon, I made the fuchsias from satin ribbon and stamens, I pick up the stamens at garage sales they are now quite expensive to buy new.

Another brooch, this one had been in my sewing box for probably 10 years, and I Finlay finished it. The center flower is a cabochon rose, a bit of a challenge to get stated but it finishes easy. Again the fuchsias make an attractive addition.

I have been thinking about a heart like this off and on for years, this is just one version I came up with. It seems like things take on a life of their own when I start them, I might have an idea of the completed item but it rarely comes out as planned. As you add things it just seems it has to go the way it wants, I know that is crazy but it seem that way. :)

All of these items are for sale on my new Bonanzel site.

Vintage pictures collage

2009-05-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

This is a collage of vintage pictures I have found on the web.

I did it in Picasa. I am not sure how I did it but this is what came out.

Marie Antionette

2009-04-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

Marie Antionette!

I found these painting of Marie Antionette on a museum web page. She is a fascinating woman in literature, I have read a few books of fiction about her and often wonder if they are even close to the real thing.

It has been said that the famous phrase " let them eat cake" was not said by her. And it is reported that the last words she uttered as she was to be guillotined, were " please excuse me" as she was to have stepped on the executioners foot. If so how very sad.
I wonder how she would feel if she knew she still was a subject of admiration and much art work by the famous as well as the humble home crafter.

Spring flowers

2009-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

I am sorry this is out of focus, but the colors are so pretty, and it is a survivor from last year, so I tried to get a good picture of it. Maybe next time. :)

My Asian Pear is so beautiful in blossom, I hope it does as well this year as it did last year. But I am worried because I saw ZERO bees, that is a big concern you don't get pollination without bees or some kind of bug.

Blueberries blossoms I have 5 plants, last year only 2 produced any fair amount, I have great hopes for this year, but again the bee thing.

As you can see my picket fence isn't the typical white, but I like the look of the faded paint on the weathered wood, a nice contrast for the tulips.

I love this picture, these little violets just pop up every where, and they are so pretty. I do have to pull a lot as weeds otherwise they would take over, but I love them when they are in bloom. When I have the inclination and the time I pick some and sugar them, they are such a delight at a tea party. They are totally eatable, both blossoms and leaves with a high vitamin C content.

Flowers for Memorial

2009-04-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I am sorry to be gone so long but I am not a multi-tasker and can only handle a couple of things at once. So having more than that to do I had to let the blogging slide for a while. I hope I haven't lost you all. I have here to share with you some flower arrangements I made for the Memorial that my religious group celebrate once a year. It was such an honor to be asked to do the arrangements as I have no formal training.

This one shows the different flowers I used stock, roses, babys breath, larkspur, snapdragons, gladiolas, and some I don't know how to spell.

Sorry this one got in here twice but this is a better look at that lovely metal pot.

As it turns out this was an all time favorite with the women. They loved the ceramic pot with the roses on it. The arrangement was about 3 times as high as the pot and gave it a tall overstated look for the size of the pot.

I love the Lilly's and this is a close up of one in the larger bouquet.

This close-up of the roses really shows it's true color it was just this wonderful shade of pinkie lavender. Oh yes, the stock and the Lillie's made these arrangements smell heavenly.
These flowers are getting double duty as they are now at the celebration of my dear friends 50th wedding anniversary, I tease her and tell her she must have been just 2 when she got married.

Well take care hope to see you all soon. TTFN

Winners

2009-04-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to announce we have 3 winners, I have contacted them and I will wait until Friday for a reply, if none I will redraw and go from there. I truly wish I could have given a prize to everyone. And if I could afford it I would!!!!! This is not the prize I just liked the way this box was wrapped. I want to thank everyone who entered, it was a fun process. I will probably do it again when there is a semi good reason. :)

Black and White Afternoon Tea

2009-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

This is a rather simple tablescape, I am still finding my way here, but I hope it will bring a smile. The footstool is in front of my sofa, the wooden tray was a gift from a friend, as were the tea cups and saucers. The tray is set up for an afternoon tea with a friend. Tablescape Thursday is hosted by Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ Just a note on the footstool, it was a garage sale find that another friend upholstered. The green velvet on the top was a remnant that just matched the decorator print. They go so good together. A better picture of the china and the treats. I am a fan of the lace doilies, and use them when ever I can.

The cups and saucers the tea pot and the cream and sugar all have chickens on them, it reminds me of a toile pattern. I always try to add an edible flower to my treat tray, I think it is pretty as well as a conversation piece.

I do teas like this on many occasions, my friends and I enjoy it, informal but still with the air of a proper tea.

I really had to scrape for flowers we don't have much blooming now. But I found these charming grape hyacinths and the pink hyacinths. They were rather short so I used a salt shaker for a vase. I do that quite often to display short stemmed blooms like pansies and short stemmed roses.

vintage roses

2009-03-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I have been busy the last few days. Yesterday a dear friend and I took a road trip to a crafts show in the Albany area. It was very nice, lots of hand crafts, reclaimed furniture, Quilts, vintage collectibles of all sorts. There was lots to look at. One thing I found interesting was they had a lot of potted plants, mostly Begonias, they were very pretty, I almost bought one to go in my family of 3 diff. kinds, but I didn't. My friend and I had a lovely time we caught up on what has been going on with each other. And even met some old friends in the area and had a nice catch up lunch with them and their 91 year old mother. 91 years of age, I have known this woman for 40 years and she still looks the same as when I met her. I can only think the same for all of us, that we can still look 40 years younger at 91( that is if we make it). :)

My first Giveaway

2009-03-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

http://victorianvintageromance.blogspot.com/Hi everyone, I am ready for my first giveaway, I have reached some of my personal blogging goals and have decided to celebrate with a giveaway. I have several things in mind for the prize or prizes, it will most likely be from my handcrafted gift items on my Vintage Romance blog, listed above. So if you are interested please leave a comment and if you care to you can tell others, and add to the fun.

Tablescape Thursday

2009-03-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

Presenting my first attempt at joining Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday which is hosted by Susan. So I hope I can get it right. This is my antique Ice cream table. I did this very quickly and late in the evening as you can see. I choose Cabbages and roses as my theme with a touch of green by way of another nature shape in the leaf bowl.

In this close up you can get a better view of the cabbage plate with the leaf bowl on it. I apologise for the dark shadows but the lighting is so poor in our house.

This picture shows the little cabbage bowl with the spoon it is so cute I just love it.

I was trying to get a close up of the sugar cubes but the sugar tongs are covering them up. They have frosting roses on them in pink with green leaves. If you click on the picture you can see them better in the close up. They are always a big hit at the tea partys.

You can almost see them here. Well that is my first attempt, I hope it is a success.
Enjoy.

Announcing my new shopping blog

2009-03-03T23:36:00.000-08:00

I have just started a new blog. It is Vintage Romance, it is a shopping blog featuring my handcrafted items for self and home. Please stop by and shop around and leave a comment as you look about. I would love to hear from you. These are a couple of pictures of some of my offerings. I call these "Baby Cakes" cupcakes, they are all wrapped up in cellophane ready to go.

This is one of my "Party Hat" lamp shades, all done up in ribbon flowers and lace. I will be listing new things frequently. Please visit and tell your friends. Thanks so much.

Creative havoc on my desk

2009-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

O.K. I can no longer hide it. I have to own up to the fact that I am a messy, messy, person. This is the desk in my craft studio, it is 6' long and 26" wide, and no matter how many times I clean it up and make things nice, this is how it looks after a couple of days of making thing. There are many things in progress here. The pillow ( a close up below) is slated for a shop as well as the heart which is still in the undecided pile as to how it will end up... as a hanging or an add on I haven't decided yet.

This close up of the pillow and heart was mainly to show you this fabulous shoe box I got from Nordstrom. The pink part is a drawer that pulls out. How cute is that.

I have some cellophane bags with different things in them. The ones in the front are called peddler packs and they have collectible sewing supplies, such as a vintage button card, vintage lace wrapped on a vintage clothespin, some ribbon, beads and some porcelain flowers and a battenburg lace flower. The bags in the back have fabric cupcakes in them, they are trimmed with ribbon roses and lace. All are for sale if you are interested.

The chaos goes on, ribbon, glue rubber stamps, card stock, tape measure, a vintage dresser scarf ( lower left) I just got it at a garage sale it's fate is undecided. These are all the elements of the finished product. And I might add many unfinished ones. I work from both sides of the desk depending on what I am doing.
On this side I usually do my beading work. There, I have come clean now anyone in the whole world can know what a mess I make when I am making things. But I must admit when I sit down to a clean desk, I get very little creative input. So it just maybe that my creative gene is spliced with one of chaos.

collaged vintage linen coverlet

2009-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

I started this in 1996, the year we moved back to the city. It started out to be just a table cloth but it grew and grew. This really isn't a very good picture, but it is the best I could do. It is made from vintage linen, doilies, ribbon , worn out table cloths, bits of lace, ribbon embroidery,regular embroidery, a bit of applique and anything else I could think of to add on. Below is a close up of one area. Notice the LOVE label, it is one of my favorite parts, I collect labels from clothing that are pretty and interesting and use them on my things. There are many ribbon flowers and some beads and pieces of doilies and such.

This area is done with lace edging and ribbon flowers and embroidery,the back ground is a table cloth that was very damaged so I just used the good parts. You can click on it and see it much larger.

This kinda reminds me of the Moon with clouds passing over it. Some more lace,blue silk ribbon, ribbon flowers, and silk ribbon embroidery for the baby rose vine.

You can see here how some of the miscellaneous pieces come together, I added the silk yo yos and the flowers.

Isn't this butterfly grand? It is quite large, I appliqued it down ad added some tiny lace for it's feelers.

You can see the meeting of a napkin, a doily, I just added a few flower with embroidery and in the left corner you can see some pretty fuchsias made from ribbon backed by some pretty lace.

This is an appliqued heart from a satin Morie material, that I covered with silk ribbon embroidery flowers. It is surrounded by tatting lace.

Well that is the tour, there is more to it than just these pictures but you get the idea. It took quite a while to make, and I might still add more, if the mood strikes. Also if you look closley you can see that some of the pieces are stained. I didn't get to conserned about it then, but it might be a consern now if I did another one. TTFN

Party Hat.

2009-02-13T10:28:00.001-08:00

I call this my "Party Hat." It is the shade for my antique floor lamp. I found the barrel shade at a garage sale and recovered it with the lavender material. Then added the ribbon, lace and flowers. Sorry about the double pictures but I was having trouble with my browser and tried several times to load my pictures and this is the results I got today.

Below is a close up of the center of the shade. The wide pink ribbon is actually satin blanket binding, another garage sale find. I made the pink wisteria type flowers from satin ribbon and the lavender roses from wired ribbon. The dark green leaves are satin. The Lace is vintage Chantilly lace. And if you noticed the little dragon fly, it is a lapel pin.

Below. This is a close up of the far right side, you can see the lace better. The flowers are made with satin and wired ribbon.

This is the far left side, the butterfly is lace , and you can see the purple tassels. Again all the flowers are satin and wired ribbon.

This a close up of the center part of the lamp shade, the double tassel is one of my favorite parts. I really like the way this shade turned out. It has been setting in my parlor ( so dubbed by a young man not myself). It makes me smile. I hope it did the same for you. TTFN

Needle case

2009-02-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

I made this needle case from a doily, it is a 9" circle. I just folded it in half to make the out side of the case. The crocheted lace was already on it I just wove the ribbon thru the loops and tied a bow. Then I made the material for the hearts by quilting together lots of pink fabrics, and then machine quilting them. I added vintage buttons on the hearts and at the base of the bow. On the back I did some embroidery to hold it all together. I used a chain stitch.

I made two pages of a felt type fabric for the needles and what ever else you might need,and secured the largest one with some french knots on either side.

Here is the detail of the rayon seam binding I attached down the center. I did the feather stitch in pale green embroidery thread and the french knots in pink. This added detail is the best part I think.

It was a fun and easy project. It would make a great gift to a sewer, or just something cute to sit on a vanity table to hold safety pins or even jewelry. TTFN

My girl

2009-02-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is my girl. I think she is quite stunning, but then I am her Mom, even so she is a head turner and has been since she was 12 years old. I wish I was half as beautiful. This picture was taken the night we went to see Phantom Of The Opera. It was a beautiful night. We went to dinner at a wonderful restaurant, had a great bottle of wine, then the Opera. We had to sit a bit high in the balcony, and I discovered I have a bit of vertigo.
The Opera was just wonderful, the music was so beautifully done, and the singers had great voices. My favorite part was when the boat with Christine went thru the fog to the underground grotto. I couldn't believe they could do that on a stage. It was a magical evening, and it was all a gift from the beautiful girl in this picture. MY BABY. TTFN

Silk ribbon

2009-02-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

Isn't this beautiful ribbon? It is silk, so soft and such great colors. The large will go to make ribbon flowers and the smaller I will use in my ribbon embroidery. Have I mentioned I love ribbon. :)

I must admit these are my favorite colors. Hot pink, purple, baby pink, set off by green. These will make up beautifully . I buy and use vintage ribbon when I can find it, I think it is so much better than today's ribbons not quite so stiff, it makes prettier flowers and leaves. TTFN

Whats in the box.

2009-01-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

This is a new game, "Whats in the box", I love boxes, even as a kid I filled them with stuff and pretended they were for what ever was needed for my day dream of the day. Now this box is big bright and pink, it should contain fabulous shoes. Well, no, my daughter has the shoes and I have the box. Is there something wrong with that... :) So lets open the box......... TA DA! This where I keep my ribbon flowers, I love them they are so gorgeous, again my love of ribbon coming out. I made a tray to fit in the box so I could get more in and not crush the flowers.

Here I have mostly roses, but there is a big white silk pansy, silk really makes the softest and prettiest flowers, but it is a bit spendie.

Here we have the bottom section I made little areas to keep each type of flower separate, it makes them easier to find when I need them. I have pansies in one section, leaves in another, fuchsias , sweet peas, roses, and 2 kinds of fillers flowers.

Here is a close up of the top tray. You can see the little roses peeking thru, the hot pink rose is quite involved and takes almost 3 yards of ribbon, the same with the lighter pink one. The white and gold organdy roses on the left were made for a 10th anniversary cake for a dear friend, and I also used them on a wedding cake for another dear friend. Well that's what is in this box. There may be more to come. Do you have a box with fabulous lovelies in it? TTFN

Garage sale Saturday

2009-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Saturdays are garage sale day. Hubby drives and I buy. I encourage him to take a book because I never know what I might find and how long I will be. In the winter we don't have a lot of garage sales. So this Saturday was a nice start for the garage sale season. I got this lovely lace table cloth, it is real heavy lace, and it has a tea dyed look, it also has a few spots but, that really doesn't bother me because we layer a lot and they won't even bee seen.

I have my pictures a little out of sinc, but this is a close up of some of the wonderful sewing supplies I found at an estate sale. I love the blanket binding for sewing, but it so good for making outrageous big bows for gifts. And the embroidery thread was only 5 cents a skein, what a bargain that's almost free. :) I am a ribbon junkie, I LOVE it, and these two reels of it made me happy, only $3 for both and there is probably 10 plus yards between them, and the red ribbon is wired ribbon and you know how spendie that can get. It is great for making ribbon flowers.

This is a picture of all the booty, it should have been first but I have such a hard time figuring out the sequence backwards so it will list in the correct order. There are 4 finger tip towels, I am always amazed at how much detail people put into things just to wipe their hands on. The one in the upper right has appliqued morning glories on it.

More sewing supplies, seam binding, it is wonderful for making filler flowers for ribbon work. All of the doilies and finger towels and the crochet corners are from different garage sales. The cocktail forks were just black from oxidation but they cleaned up quite well, I got them and the lovely spoon and 3 of the doilies and some salt cellars ( I forgot to put them in the picture) for $5.

The crochet corners have a rose motif, I didn't notice that until I washed and ironed them. More sewing supplies, have you priced rick rac these days, it is quite spendy. The little thing on the lower left is a pin cushion I think, very cute.
This isn't the best picture but the lace on these pillow cases is knit, it is quite beautiful. You don't see a lot of knit lace, it is mostly crochet. I am going to take it off and use it on something else. The pillow cases themselves are a very rough cotton I don't think I will use them.

Lingerie! Do you remember wearing full length slips? I do, these were at a garage sale, I couldn't pass them up, they are in good shape, just a bit of perspiration stain on the under arms, I think I can get it out with oxy clean. The lace on the one on the left is awesome. The tags say average for the size, so how old does that make them, because they are more like a size 8.

This is the one with the awesome lace. this lady was small and short, I think she had to take up the length a couple of inches. But the lace on the bottom is 6" wide. Well, thats my garage sale week-end, I got a lot of fun things and as usual I really don't need half of it. But then that's what garage sales are all about. TTFN

Latest project

2009-01-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

This is my latest project. It is the front panel for a tea cozy. I have used some old linen pieces and some lace and a doily for the background. Then I made some ribbon pansies, and some ribbon filler flowers, to make the nosegay on the right. Then I did some ribbon embroidery of pansies on the right bottom. On the upper left I did some rose buds with ribbon embroidery. I added some buttons and some semiprecious rose quarts beads. This is a close up, you can see a bit more of the detail.

I have been as slow as molasses in January doing this. I just can't seem to get my inspiration going. But I hope to have it done in the next week or so. I don't have a pattern so it is figure it out as I go, and I haven't been going much. TTFN

Crazy quilt

2009-01-16T15:18:00.000-08:00

This is a 4 block crazy quilt I have been working on for quite some time. I take it out every once in a while and add something to it then put it away and wait for the next creative urge to hit and then I get it out and add some more. I think it is about 10 years old you would think I would have finished in in that length of time. But it is a work in progress and I really have no plans for it so I just work on it when the mood strikes. I think I haven't made it crazy enough. Most that I have seen are covered in stuff.

This one of the blocks I did the pansies on my embroider attachment on my sewing machine. Another thing I haven't touched in a long while.

This one is one of my favorites, I like the dragonfly, it is appliqued on, and the yellow rose is ribbon embroidery. The Block bases are of velvets , satins and such, I even use blanket binding.

This is a look at the center where they all meet, I like the little river of buttons, that spill from one block to the other. I have 4 more block in progress to add to my quilt, if I ever get it all together I will show the finished project... or maybe just show the other blocks that are in progress.

I am sorry I have been so long between posts but I have been busy and not quite up to parr.

Stenciled floral border

2009-01-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

This is part of the stenciled border in our guest room. I used about 6 different stencils, and oil based stencil paints. There were 3 different stencils used here, one for the humming birds, one for the raspberrys, and a different one for the roses. I tried to blend the colors, like on the leaves which I tipped in yellows, pinks and a touch of blue. This wisteria is over the closet door and the window of the back wall. It wasn't as beautiful as I thought it would be, but it is O.K. I like how it trailed down the wall. I used lavender, blue and pinks and greens for the wisteria, and leaves.

This is over the entrance door. The little blue bird is from a vintage stencil from the 20's or 30's. It ls the same rose stencil but I added the rose buds from another one. The blueberries around the bird are one more stencil.

This is the raspberry stencil. It is on the wall with the closet door. I tried to vary the stencils so it would have the look of a garden. It was a fun project, and not as time consuming as you would think. I undulated the green border of paint so it would have a floe not just a straight line. I know it looks rather grey but it is a nice green.

This is what is just below the above stencil. I painted the picture, it is an oil on canvas. The hydrangea's are from my Pee Gee hydrangeas. The silver plate tray and the vanity jars are a garage sale find. The wicker chivarobe I found at a craft sale near my home.

I will show the bed and the rest of the room in another post. But I wanted to share the border first. I wish the colors were better because they are much prettier, in person. TTFN

Ode to my roses

2009-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

I miss my roses! I so love to tour the garden and see all the beautiful pinks of the 20 some rose bushes I have. When they were planted, I put name tags for each one. But the sun faded the tags so I no longer know the proper name for each one. However that in no way diminishes their beauty, I have Wife of Bath, Isn't that a charming name? It could be the one below. I have some David Austin roses, Graham Thomas,double blooms in magnificent shades of yellow. Also Abraham Darby,very fragrant, in rich shades of apricot. Neither of these are pictured here.

I also have Eden rose, it is of the large flowered climbing variety. A beautiful blend of pastel pinks, creams and just the barest touch of the palest green at the base in the new buds. This is by far my favorite, it is the rose pictured in my header. Those are just a few of my roses, I think they are just about the most beautiful, and varied flower created. I must not be alone, as so many blogs I visit include the word Rose in them. Spring is just a hop away, and I can get started in the garden and get ready for the summers blooms. TTFN

China painting

2008-12-30T16:39:00.000-08:00

I need to get busy and find some new pictures for my blog, this is a section of my mantle. Pink and green, and china painted roses. I love china painting, it is one of the Victorian arts. Lady's of quality china painted to show their talent and their station in life. A lot of free time with the servants doing the work for the lady of the house. And then there was the poor single woman who painted china to support herself. Someone would drop off the plain china and tell her what to paint, pick it up and pay her a stipend, she never got rich and barely got by. China painting is still an art and many do it as a favorite pass time, and some do get paid to teach or sell their wares.
I think china painting is one of the more romantic creative pursuits. I dabble in it myself. I love the way the paint caresses the china, it moves so smoothly. When it is fired and comes out of the kiln it is like receiving a gift... That is if you did a good job before it was fired. :) The items below are on my pie safe, one of my great garage sale finds. So is the rose oil painting leaning on the wall. As well as the hand blown wine decantor to the right, it is from Belgium.

The large plate is a sample of my china painting. I took a class for this one. I call it my $300.00 dollar plate... that's right three hundred dollars, by the time I paid for the class in excess of $100.00, the china the paints and brushes she wanted us to use, it brushed $300.00 easy. Fortunately it turned out pretty good. The rose on the small oval was painted by my best friend. But that is another story.As you may be able to tell from the picture purple is one of my favorite colors. TTFN

35 years together

2008-12-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

Well it has come and gone, our 35th wedding anniversary. We had a lovely evening at our daughters cute little apartment. She worked so hard, she hung snow flakes from the ceiling and had twinkle lights every where.

We had tons of presents, this is only the top half, the table was full and some were on the floor.

This is one I wrapped for my daughter, she went to Paris a couple of years ago so I added the Eiffel tower and a bird for flight. I really liked the contrast of the chartreuse paper and the dark aqua ribbon.My daughter has a chicken theme in her kitchen. I found this fabulous box, and filled it with chicken related items. I made the tag like a tiny quilt with an embroidered chicken and some yo yos. She loved it.

You would think we only gave presents to our daughter.... : ) but I just loved the way this one turned out. I made the cone and tag from a wall paper sample, from a book of wall paper patterns, I got at Goodwill. I made the cherries and leaves from some fabric scraps from the apron I made her. The huge fabric bow was left over material from the curtains we had made for her kitchen last summer.

This is one she wrapped for me. I really liked it. the navy blue bow against the brown craft paper was a real good contrast. The peacock, and the frosted fruit picks just finished it off. I think it had my beautiful Ann Taylor sweater in it.

This is the table I didn't do it justice with this picture. She had white Italian style dishes, with multi colored wine and water glasses. Yes we had to have champagne, it just wouldn't be the same without it. She cooked Cornish game hens with an apricot glaze, yumm, asparagus wrapped in phillo, scalloped potatoes, and home made cranberry sauce. I am so proud of her she did it all herself. And I must say I couldn't have done a better job if I had tried.

This is a closer picture of the table, the brown table cloth looks so good with the dishes and glass ware she picked out. The center piece was my contribution to the festivity's, I took a styrofoam ring and covered it with feathers and dried and fresh roses, there are 3 tiny birds all a glitter, you cant have to much glitter. Added the candle in the center and it looked pretty good.

It was a lovely evening, the food was so special, we had wonderful gifts, Don't laugh but my Hubby bought me a metal detector... I know.. But the thing is I asked for it. :) So if you see this crazy lady wandering around waving a funny looking thing around on the ground that will be me looking for my fortune.

This is our feast. Doesn't it look goooood... The hens were done to a turn, and everything else was just right. In the little green bowl is monkey bread, it is the best, full of garlic and herbs baked to perfect doneness. We had cake for desert but we didn't get to eat it because by the time we finished dinner and gifts the snow was really coming down, and she sent us home before it got to bad to travel.

This was our celebration, our "dress-up-sit-d0wn-dinner" our champagne, presents, and each other. And our favorite winter thing SNOW. TTFN

More Snow

2008-12-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is today, more SNOW!! I can't believe it we never get this, well rarely. It is snowing heavily right now, I admit it is still pretty to look at... but I worry about my family who decided today was a work day. Hubby put the chains on and we have 4 wheel drive so he said it wasn't too bad, but there wasn't much traffic at 6:00 in the morning. Hopefully it will be the same when it is time to come home, as he has to go clear across town to pick up our daughter, and then back home.

I could put a couple of rocks for eyes and a carrot for a nose and it would look like somone sitting in the chairs. Smile

This is the bird house, a bit more snow and you won't be able to see it at all. Well that is the latest from the frozen P.N. W TTFN

Today and yesterday

2008-12-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

This is what it looked like this morning, ICE.. it is about 1'' thick. very slippery. Our dog Wolfie went out to do what doggies do, and fell down the stairs, and couldn't get back up, I had to put on my boots, break thru the ICE and go rescue him. We haven't had this kind of cold, ICE, and snow for many years.

This is what it looked like yesterday! Very snowie and winter wonder landish, about 5" or so of nice fluffy snow. Pretty to look at, fairly easy to walk and drive in.. if you were careful. What a difference a day makes. TTFN

Grape plate

2008-12-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

I really like this plate. It is a fine example of china painting. If you do china painting you know how many steps there are to getting a plate to this level of beauty. I do a little bit of china painting but it is not like this. If you look real close, you can see a couple of chips on the bottom. But that is no problem for me because of the quality of the painting. I got this plate at Monticello a wonderful shop in S.E. Portland in one of the antique booths. It is a great place to shop for found objects.

A little note on the weather it has quit snowing :( my family and I were looking forward to a little of the white stuff, for a while. But I understand how it can be a detriment to the economy. TTFN

Award

2008-12-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

The Muse Honered me by giving me this award, for the coolest blog ever. How sweet is that.

So, the rules are as follows in order to accept the award, I need to:
Put the logo on my blog.
Add a link to the person who awarded me. (see above)
Nominate outstanding blogs that I follow. (Oh, how does one really choose?)
Add links to those blogs. (See below.)
Leave a message to those nominees on their blog. The nominees are:

Ashley Without Ashley this blog would be in great trouble. She is my go to gal when I don't know how to get something done. Plus she is my darling daughter, and I love her.

Tina Was one of my first commenters, we have exchanged gifts, e-mails and comments. She gave me blogging confidence. She also gave me my first award. Thank you Tina.

SNOW

2008-12-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

SNOW!!!! It finally snowed here, we were so excited to have it snow most of the day!! I think we got about 3" or 4" it was so pretty. I took theses early this morning, I should have waited until there was more, but I had a lot to do today. This is the bistro table and a planter on the deck.

One of our seating arrangements on the deck.

My twisted tree, I really need to prune it this coming spring.

The play house, for those of you who saw the beginning of the play house, it is still a work in progress. Hubby has insulated it and sheet rocked, and is mostly done with the tapping. Then it will be up to me to paint, or, I have been thinking wall paper, with roses of course. Then the fun part, filling it up with all the treasures I have gathered.
Well, I am still excited about the snow. Maybe we will get some more tomorrow. You can see the snow falling in the picture.

A peek into my house

2008-12-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

This is the top of my oak secretary, I got this lemonade set by helping an antique dealer stage her shop. I took it instead of pay because it was so pretty, and I had always wanted one from the first time I saw one but could never afford it, so I was pleased with the arrangement. And you can see how well it matches my wall color, the wall has 5 colors of paint and 2 colors of glaze. I really like it and it is a good thing because it was quite a job.

My clock is one of a kind, I know because I made it. I decoupaged all the roses and other things, after I spent hours going thru magazines and cutting out what I thought might look good. You really need a lot more than you think to do the job. The clock face is a copy of a Seth Thomas clock. I got the clock at a garage sale for 50 cents it was all broken, but the face plate was in great shape, so I took it out and had it copied at a copy shop. It worked out great. I put a crackle glaze over it and glazed it with gold paint to bring out the crackles. It is a 24" circle, I have it hung over our mantel. TTFN

Now open

2008-12-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

This rather random group is now listed on my BRAND NEW ETSY SHOP!! I am so excited. My daughter the computer whizz, came over and got me set up and talked me thru it. I took notes and I added a couple of them on my own, hopefully I can remember how to do it the next time. These are semiprecious stones from my jewelry making days. I am closing out some of my stash. There is carnelian, rose quartz and Amethyst and others I am not sure of the names.

This beautiful Amethyst necklace is so pretty the picture really doesn't do it justice.

The pillow is on my blog but I thought someone might love it, and want it for there very own. :0)

And these Pansy pincushions will look so cute in any sewing basket. Please stop by and see. My ETSY is listed on my side bar. I got the patten for the pansies from "just Lilla's" blog, it is also listed on my side bar in the link list. SOLD TTFN

Anniversarys past

2008-12-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

Since it is fast approaching-our 35th wedding anniversary- I thought I would show some pictures of our past celebrations. We have a nice dinner, we call it out dress-up sit-down dinner. My daughter and I wear pretty dresses and hubby obliges by donning a suit or something close. We usually move the table in front of the fire place and have a fire, it makes it so romantic. We always have flowers and candles, and what we call table presents. A table present is a present for each of us on our plate "on the table" hence table presents.

Each year we have a different color scheme, that year was red and purple and silver. I make the flower arrangements, and my daughter and I cook. We try to make each anniversary meal special. I don't know what we had that year.

This year was peach and gold with those fabulous orange and peach roses. There is champagne in the colored martini glass, we always have champagne. What could be more romantic I love the bubbles, and is there anything more romantic than fine food, family, fire light, presents, and champagne. Oh yes, we have other presents...lots of them, and we wrap them as pretty as we can. For all who may be celebrating an anniversary this month. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

TTFN

needle cases

2008-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I have always been interested in sewing accessories, I have found a few vintage needle cases, and it inspired me to make up one of my own. As a quilter I like Sun bonnet Sue. I love to look at the blocks on a quilt and pick out the dress combo I like the best. Well here are a couple of my SBS, needle cases, I just drew out a shape I liked and went from there, to open it you just lift it up under the bonnet and the needles are inside. I also made the ribbon pansies.

craft room.

2008-11-30T10:47:00.000-08:00

I just listed all of these items on Craigs list. I bought a new computer yesterday and now I need to make room for it in my craft room. So I went thru my sewing and quilting and knitting supplies and came up with this basket.

This is what is inside the basket. http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/art/939181144.html

These are the scrapbooking supplies I parted with, there is a lot there. Lots of paper over 140 pieces, books, magazines, stamps, punches, stickers,2 Sizzix items, and glitter, embossing powder. And many other things. http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/art/939225063.html

Here, I went thru my jewelry making supplies, and came up with all of this. There are semi precious stones, findings chains and seed beads and so much more. I still have a ton of stuff, but maybe someone can get started with a new craft with one of these. time for a lunch break, I have been at this since 4:30 this morning. FYI, the cat woke me up scratching on the door to get out and I couldn't get back to sleep.:) SOLD...

Sooo, I got a lot done. TTFN

Yo yos

2008-11-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

I am smitten by yo yos this is the results of a few hour of stitching. 2 different sizes and a bevy of colors, all from my scrap box. I just bought a plastic flower yo yo maker from my craft store, I can't wait to try it. I have made some heart ones from the heart yo yo maker, it is easy and it amazes me every time I gather it up and it goes heart shape. But then I am easily amused and amazed... This is the box I store my finished product in. The round balls are used in my ribbon embroidery and with other embellishments. They are made of satin and ribbon, unlike the cotton of the yo yos. TTFN

embroidered pillow

2008-11-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

I got this charming vintage pattern from Needlecrafter.com, they have several embroidery patterns for almost any project. I chose to make this one into a pillow. I added some seed beads for flower centers (but you can't see them ) it adds a little sparkle. Instead of piping I just inserted a strip of folded purple material for a color break in the border between the blue and the embroidery. I have always been in love with the old fashioned look of thing from the 20s and 30s and even before that with the Victorian and Edwardian eras. What could be better than vintage lace and linens. TTFN

Pansy pincushion

2008-11-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

This is my rendition of a pincushion from the http://www.justlilla.blogspot.com/ of Sept. 18- 08, she made hers from velvet and I made mine from wool felt. I think mine are probably bigger than hers, mine measure 5" by 4" I added leaves to the pink one, and left the purple one with out. The little heart shaped yo yo's are made from a template I bought at a fabric store. They are fun to make and look cute on country style things, they could be made from silk or satin and be more elegant. My daughter wanted one of the pansies for a sachet. So I made it the same way just added sent to it. You could add dried lavender or such to the stuffing and that would help with the sent. TTFN