Two Talented Friends

My friend Ana from http://apetitecottage.blogspot.com/A Petite Cottage made a special white Lady Pamela pumpkin just for me. She has an Etsy shop you might like to visit. Please tell her Lady Pamela sent you.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/APetiteCottage.com

I also have two talented sisters who like to make me things. This was a great thrift store find foot stool, my Dad painted the legs white and my younger sister made a slipcover for it that looks much nicer in my cottage. I positively squeeled when I saw it!

Unfortunately, she doesn't have a blog or an Etsy shop, but she is t-h-i-n-k-i-n-g about signing up for Etsy in the new year.

I absolutely love it! and her, too of course.

The free graphic was from the Graphics Fairy.

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Advent Tags #4, 6 and 7

First of all, I apologize that the photos came out in the wrong order. Once in awhile I have a problem with that. But I don't have the time to fix them this morning.

this is the close-up of Tag 7. I am not as happy with my angel wings, but they do not look too bad close up.
Advent Tag #7

Advent Tag #6

Advent Tag # 4

Look closely at the tiny fork photo hanger holding the child's picture. Something from my old stash of cardmaking supplies.

Advent Tag #4

Happy White Wednesday everyone. I enjoy reading all your posts and love all your encouraging comments. Thank you Kathleen for taking the time every week to host. If you would like to see the other White Wednesday posts, the link is on my sidebar.

Blessings.

White Wednesday #85 - Bath Salts Bottles

I could not show you these before Christmas as they were meant to be gifts for my 3 lovely daughters. The instructions and ideas were from a wonderful friend and artist, Janis at Rust and Ruffles. Here and here are the links where she shows off her designs.
I put them in some gorgeous fabric bottle bags and let them choose their own, sight unseen. It was fun seeing which young lady ended up with which bottle. The bottles were all made with thrift store junk and scrapbooking rub-ons.

I was going to make home made bath salts, but I found a bargain at London Drugs. A mega ton bag of epson salts infused with lavender, already to scoop - no fuss, no muss.

This was actually made from a decoration which was on a gift that was given to me at Christmas. I bought a plain frame from HomeSense, put vintage cream wallpaper in behind the glass and used that sticky stuff that you put up posters with to temporarily adhere the reindeer to the front of the glass. This great idea came from a blogger on the internet, but I am sad to say that I have misplaced her link. PLEASE - If you know who I can give credit to, let me know ASAP so I can get the word out. I hate to be a copy cat without at least a thank you.

Happy White Wednesday. You can go to my sidebar to link up to Faded Charm and see all the other lovely WW posts.

~ Caring is the essence of nursing. ~

Our sweet Daughter-In-Love graduated from nursing school last week. We are so very proud of her accomplishments.
Nurses don't seem to wear caps anymore, but I was fortunate enough to find a vintage one in our own little thrift shop here in town. It needs a good cleaning and starching, but I thought she might like to have it, as a reminder of those who have gone on before her. Anyway, she will get a 'kick' out of it.

Here she is at the celebration dinner with a dozen roses from my dad and the silver and amythest bracelet from DH and me. Son, you picked the best.

Congratulations, Nurse Natasha!

I am linking to White Wednesday #71. Can't wait to see all the other posts!

Fall Creativity

I have pretty much finished my fall decorating, all white of course. These letters are something new I made for this year inspired from an idea found at A Diamond in the Stuff. Thank you so much Courtney for sharing such a great project. The only thing different that I did was I used Thrift store frames painted Heirloom White and one I had lying around from Homesense.


The great thing is the letters can be changed out for N O E L @ Christmas or L O V E @ Valentines. I printed the letters on scrapbook paper leftovers and vintage music.

I loved the rose detail on this frame (75 cents). It was pewter so I had a difficult time deciding to paint it. But, not that difficult. lol

Two of the Thrift frames had never been used, they had copies of vintage photos in them. I will save those for a project some other time.

Linking up to the White Wednesday #66 at Faded Charm.

I just linked up to Funky Junk's Saturday Night Special. I'm not too sure I did things right as this is my first time, but I am sure you will enjoy your visit there.

I found another party to link to http://www.thenester.com/2010/09/fall-mantel-party.html.

Wishing you all unexpected blessings this week.

A Birthday Party!

This year I was fortunate to be able to host the birthday bash for two of my young grandsons, aged 11 and 8 yrs old. Of course I asked if I could do the decorations in white. They think Grandma is a little funny anyway. The "P A R T Y" banner idea came from Scrapbooks Etc. I used bits from my scrapbooking stash and bits from thrift store finds, leftovers from the Dollar store - cost 0$.
Oh, I even used a bit from out of the local newspaper for the border trim.

I wanted to make more of these giant tissue paper roses, I just ran out of time and energy. There is a wonderful tutorial at My Shabby Streamside Studio

and they are lots of fun to make. Just like the Kleenex carnations we used to make when we were kids (only way bigger!). Thank you Sandy for taking the time to do that for us all.

The tissue was a handout at a store promotion last Christmas, so cost for this project - 0$.

Dollar Store balloons and thrift store streamers - $1.25

This banner is in French because my grandsons attend a French Immersion school. The two eldest are very fluent in both reading and writing both languages, the youngest started kindergarten this year, but knows a few words already. I am very proud of them.

Cost of this banner - printer paper and ink (you do the math)

A great birthday party celebration - PRICELESS!



Join another White Wednesday party over at Faded Charm - thank you once again Kathleen.

I Think Summer is Past

I wanted to title this entry "Bad Blogger" but I did not like what I saw when I put that into Google. The world has taken the ordinary English language and perverted some of the words and their meanings. But what I wanted to say, is that I am sorry I have been gone from the computer for so long. I have had a surge of creativity (mostly scrapbooking) and did not want to loose the momentum. In other words, I have been having fun.
This is a piece that I made from scraps and thrift store stuff, the basic idea came from Crafts 'n Things Magazine August 2010 Issue.

I do promise to try harder to blog (at least more that once a month!) Thank you to all my kind and patient followers and friends who keep coming back with their encouraging comments. That is why I blog, basically.

Thank you to Stacey for the cute vintage photo.

And now, a quote (borrowing the idea from my friend Janis )

The beauty of the house is order,
The blessing of the house is contentment,
The glory of the house is hospitality,
The crown of the house is godliness.
Unknown

White Wednesday - Something Different

This is one of my recent 'treasure' hunting finds. It had an exact duplicate that was twice the size as well that I didn't pick up. Of course I regret it now. I already have a pink gum ball machine and have been looking for white gumballs - can't seem to find them.
I filled this little one with large pearl beads, also a 'treasure hunting' find. I think it is funny, my grandsons get a kick out of Grandma's decorating ideas.

This little shelf I have had for many years. It used to hold my CD's.

Don't forget to go to Kathleen's blog to link up with all the other great White Wednesday ideas. A great way to spend a few hours on a summer Wednesday.

White Wednesday - Spring Nesting

My daughter and her friend took me out 'treasure hunting' for Mother's Day on Saturday. It was a wonderful day, full of sunshine and great finds.
The detail on this white rose cake plate is amazing.

Since it was only $2.00, I have money left to go to the bakery and buy the cake. (I am not into baking much any more)

I also did a vignette on top of my corner fireplace. I have found it difficult to work with, but I think this is my favorite arrangement. I picked up the pretty bird pencil sketch for a few cents.

The angel print is part of a set that I bought at The Passionate Home.

Happy White Wednesday everyone.

Thanks to Kathleen for hostessing.

A Return to White Wednesday

Guess who went 'treasure hunting' recently? Nope, wasn't me. It was my youngest daughter.

It seems that she has a new hobby. (May I say she's a chip off the ol' block)
While she was out, she spied this amazing find. Creamy white, lacy and ready for some tea-time treats. She brought it home to me. The best part of it is -She 'gets me'! She totally 'gets me'!
It is in the middle of my kitchen table so it is the first thing I see every morning.
Thank you so much, sweetie. I love you.

PS - Can you see my really cool black and white lace rubber boots in the bottom corner of the photo? My plan was to take over lawn mowing from my DH list of chores. But they look cute just sitting in my kitchen anyway.

Little Things

I believe we were made to be creative beings. I feel that creativity helps to heal. I have been looking for simple projects that I can work on while I am getting better. With the inspiration and encouragement from dear Ana at A Petite Cottage I was able to make this little button heart from some thrift store bits I already had. It was just the kind of medicine that I need right now. Thank you so much, Ana.

I am so encouraged by all your comments from my many friends in blogland. You are all so wonderful, you touch my heart.

White Wednesday/Thrift Store Thursday

Don't you just love the excitement and anticipation of a 'mystery bag' from the Thrift Store?

What treasures will you find inside? What creative projects will you be able to make? Where did this piece of lace come from, and who wore it? I'm sure it was a special occasion.
Lace AND pearls! Fabulous.

I hope you are enjoying White Wednesday. Thank you once again to our hostess, Kathleen at Faded Charm.