Monday, December 31, 2007

Artsy Sisters...

I'm still really enjoying spending lots of time with my sister and her family. We got down and got crafty the other night and each of us made a Family album with our holiday photos.
Here is my album and a peek inside...





Here's Laura's album with gorgeous blues. It was really fun to craft together and chat.
We hope to do some more creating tonight during our New Year's celebration.Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

A Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Laura!We're still in festive-mode here. Today my dear sister, Laura is having a birthday! It's wonderful that her birthday is near Christmas-time (although she hates that) so that we can spend her birthday together. This morning she opened gifts and then we all went out to lunch. Fun! I also wanted to show you the shirt I got from Joe for Christmas. It's from Gypsyville and I absolutely love it!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!

A very merry Christmas to you! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday full of love and laughter, peace and gratitude. Thanks again for all of you that stop by my little corner of cyber space so frequently. Your sweetness and generosity mean so much. Our 12 Days of Christmas wrapped up today with my gift (below). I hope the girls like it:) The 11th Day was from Martha. She wrapped her gift in a lovely fabric pocket. That really was a gift in itself. Then when you open it up, she made these amazing fabric wrist cuff that you can see many more of here. I absolutely love mine and it will match everything. Thanks so much! Hope your holidays continue to be filled with fun and festivities!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Thrifty Christmas...

Do you think that the fact that Christmas Eve is tomorrow is going to stop me from indulging in a bit of estate sale bliss this morning? OR the fact that it is 10 degrees outside, blustery and very, very icy? Do you think any of that would stop my insatiable hunger for a thrifty bargain?! Of course not!:) My payoff was a bag full of fun treasures (above and below) all for a couple of dollars. We are really near the end of our 12 Days of Christmas swap. The lovely and talented Jeanne gave us all a double gift. She made these wonderful soldered ornaments for each of us with our blog banner on them. How totally cool and unique!
Then she went and gave us all another fab gift of this gorgeous handmade shadowbox ornament. Absolutely lovely. Double thanks, Jeanne!
Marilyn Healey was Day 10 of our 12 Days Swap and she gifted us all with these striking earrings. What a fun gift. THANKS Marilyn!Ta da! Our Christmas cookies are done for another year. This afternoon we got together with my parents, my sister and her family for our annual family sugar cookie making festivities!!! It's always a highlight:) Here is Chloe showing off her beauty.If you're looking for some last minute gift tages these and these by Camilla Engman are absolutely adorable!! Hope your holiday plans are going well:)

Friday, December 21, 2007

Handmade Holidays....

The handmade holiday gifts just keep on comin'....LOVE IT! Above are some gifts that the kids made for us in school. Just the wrapping is gift enough. Can't wait to see what's inside:)
This pocket of Joy was given to me by the fabulous Cassondra (aka Citrus Faire). It's for holding all kinds of Christmas goodies. I'm going to fill it with the art work the kids have been bringing home. Thanks so much, dear Cassondra! Bought this on etsy from Marmee Crafts for Lowell's new room:) Amazing work she does.

These neat fabric button necklaces are from The Magpie's Nest etsy shop.The 12 Days of Christmas swap continues. I am continually amazed at the gifts that I am recieving from this fabulous group of artists. In case you are wondering, I am day 12...Christmas Day! Donna Layton had day 7. She made the joy piece above. Everything about it is absolutely stellar. She is a stickler for details. Amazing work, Donna! Day 8 was by the hostess with the mostess Heather Bluhm. She sewed all these amazing fabrics and adorable image onto an apron. Brilliant and beautiful. Thanks, Heather!
Of course Chloe had to model it:)


Christmas is really getting close now. Hope all of you that are traveling have safe journeys. My sister and her family fly in from San Diego tomorrow for two weeks. I can't wait!!!!

Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Joyful gifts...

I'd like to share with you some of the gifts I'll be giving out in the next few days. Image on notebook from Paper Relics.Thanks to Heather for the yummy peppermint bark recipe.The 12 Days of Christmas swap continues...
The perfect amount of dream dust from Tammy Gilley to send my dreams a float. Love it!
Gorgeous princess bird from Cerri of Little Pink Studio for Day 6. She loves her perch in my sugar plum fairy tree. Thank you!
Hope you're all enjoying wonderful gifts and moments full of joy and laughter with your loved ones this holiday season!

Monday, December 17, 2007

For the love of fabric...

I went to a really fun estate sale this weekend where the woman who's stuff was being sold was actually there! She had downsized, so she was selling hundreds of pieces of original art that she owned when she was a gallery owner. She also had a whole room full of fabric. I dove into her box of upholstery samples and came home with a stack. The fabrics were so thick and so many different textures and colors. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. I wanted to make something big enough that I could appreciate the fabric; the patterns are so bright and cheery! I kind of spontaneously started creating these wonderful fabric pockets. As you can see, they are very addicting. It was great fun to pick from my stash of vintage trims to add to the top of the cone and for a handle. I love the retro look!

I embellished with vintage bits of this and that and of course had to add a little birdie nestled into each one:)







Here is a part of the pile of fabrics that I got. I'm sure I'll be making many more cones. They are each so different and lovely.








In other exciting news, I opened presents for days three and four of the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. This wonderful trinket was made by Shoshanah Jennings. It's a baby spoon that has a vintage ledger paper background with a vintage German glass acorn in the center. All encased to with resin. Wow, I would not even know how to attempt to do that.

Beautiful, thank you! Today I opened this lovely piece from Holly of Holly Doodle Designs. It's absolutely gorgeous, full of vintage millinery flowers, German glass glitter and vintage wallpaper background. It will have a prominent spot in my studio. Thanks, Holly!


Saturday, December 15, 2007

On the {second} day of Christmas...

I got to open day two of the 12 Days of Christmas swap. This gorgeous little notebook all prettied up is by the wonderful Karin of Creative Chaos. I love it and can't wait to use it for something very special. Thanks, Karin!Both kids got clean rooms...and I gave them each a mini makeover!! They were both in great need of a little tender loving care in their room, so I decided to go all out and change the decor while I was at it. As you can see I looooveee chenille! This shelf in Chloe's room is full of treasures some old, some new and some handmade. Joe made the actual shelf. I made the rag bag hanging from the rod. This wonderful banner was made by Kris Hurst and the altered ribbons were done by Kimla. They are perfect for her room. I made the curtains. The reason this whole makeover started was Chloe is now in a big girl bed! The butterfly pillow is from Andrea. This is what you see when you walk into Lowell's room.
I went with a woodland at night theme for the most part. Of course my childhood snoopy is there on the shelf and a picture of Joe when he was a tiny tot.
Yes, now he has a tent in his room. Fun!
I've always loved this duvet cover from Ikea. The animal images and colors are pefect! Finally put to use my vintage magazine rack. I will change out the memo board with art work that he comes home with from school. It's nice to walk in the kids rooms and have a fresh, new look. I love children's rooms that are full of imagination and whimsy:)Speaking of which, I found this fabric at an estate sale today that had the most amazing vintage fabric samples. I gobbled them up at $1 piece. I'll post pics later. I just loved this adorable fabric. Couldn't you see an entire room inspired by this one piece?

Hope you're having a great weekend!