Summer Rose Swap 2010

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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