Merry Christmas

and

A Happy

New Year

Still getting ready

I am so far behind on getting ready for Christmas, both trees are at last up and I am still doing the last of the decorating. So much has been going on here, my daughter totaled her car, she is OK , thank god. But we are down a car and have been spending a lot of time looking for another one. She commutes to college and works about an hour away so a car is a must have for her.

And we are getting a lot of snow, so it's really slowing me down as far as shopping goes...I will get done, I will get done, I will , I really will.........

But on the bright side I am getting my Christmas gift from my husband today, he told me what it is and I am very excited , I will take picture after it comes for a show and tell....

I took some pictures for one of my doll groups and decided I would share one here, this is JOY a doll by Wendy Lawton...what a wonderful happy face she has and it always makes me smile.............

I am also hoping to take some special pictures of a place that was in "Victoria Magazine"

many years ago, .... with any luck I will have that done by this weekend so check back later....

Christmas past

I love Christmas and as soon as it gets cold my head fills with dancing sugar plums. These are pictures of my dining room tree from last year. This is the second tree in the house, the first is a large 9 to 10 foot tree that is in our family room, that one always holds the ornaments that have been collected for years. Special ornaments that the kids received year after year.

But the dinning room tree is the tree of change, one year it held color lights and all hand made ornaments, strung popcorn and cranberries, paper and felt ornaments done by the kids. One year it was the world of

Santa Claus.

And last year the theme was pink, gold , and white, that was inspired by hand painted ornaments that I won on ebay done by Miss Rhea's and some vintage pink ornaments that I found at an estate sale. I plan on doing this pink tree again this year, I enjoyed it so much and my husband always put the lights on each morning so that my lighted tree would be the first thing I saw as I came down the stairs. And then my kids and I would sit and eat our breakfast before they went off to school ,the wood stove would be glowing keeping us warm and safe. I love thinking about Christmas past and so look forward to Christmas present.

Kate Hallow

I never put up my Halloween decorations until mid Oct.

I have a love hate thing with Halloween, I don't like scary things never did, all the horror movies on TV sends chills up my spine. I don't watch them , the commercials are even more then I can take.

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But I love the color orange, always have, in fact my husband had an orange car when I started to date him, I also wore orange a lot as a teen. So I enjoy the orange of this time of year. Orange makes me smile.......

This year I added a wonderful Halloween candy container to my collection she is KATE HALLOW made by Mica at Garb-oodles Soup. I just love her face....

OCT. BOOK

I have been working on my Oct. book, adding bits here and there...



The book plate is one that my husband had as a kid,










vintage velvet leaves page 3,

I love page 8 with the
old game tokens.

From my swap partner

Here are the items that I received from my swap partner

CampSusie, I love them all.... I am so lucky to have been the one to get the Oct. book, it's wonderful. I am adding a small item each day to personalize this great little book. This is something that I will display each year ....Thank you Susie for making this a great swap.

more black and white

Here are a few more items for my Sweet and Sinister partner Susie, the jar is now full, I had more fun looking for black and white buttons, the jar sat here on this black table for the last month while I kept feeding it buttons. I already miss this jar, I think I'll start another one. I just love the black and white candles, hand crafted beeswax, I found them at

MacKenzie-Childs. The pictures on the round box came from an old magazine form 1921 and I added a few vintage buttons to top it off. I had a hard time with the sinister part of this swap, so I just added a few little craft items and a black book, nothing is more sinister then a black book...

ArtsyMama: Sweet and Sinister Swap

Sweet and Sinister swap

I just put the last touches on the items for the sweet and sinister swap , all wrapped and ready to go, I just have to find a box big enough to hold it all....

Here is a picture I took a few weeks ago, when the the jar was half full, it took me a while to find enough buttons to fill it, I couldn't think of anything sweeter for a crafter than to have a candy jar full of black and white vintage buttons....I hope my partner likes it.......

Chill in the air

Fall is on the way.....

FREE

This sewing machine was free, just like it said it is, it was in a neighbor’s garage and on the way to the scrapheap. It does need a bit of work, it looks like someone closed it up 60 years ago and never took it out again. I found ivory handle scissors, an old pin cushion, and rust stained lace inside the cabinet door. This must have been in the cards for me to find today because I was a
lucky winner of some wonderful sewing items made by Mica at Garb-oodles Soup, I love these wonderful hand make items and I am so delighted to have won......

a new find

A few items that I got today....

Isn't she grand....

Summer end

I love the fall and all the colors but I will miss the pinks of summer.....

The warmth of the sun, I don't like hot but I do love warm. I am not a winter person. As I get older the Autumn only means winter to me, I hate that I feel this way because it is a wonderful time of the year. And living in New England I get to see a delightful display put on by the Autumn fairies who are all so hard at work.

This year summer end is a wee bit harder because my youngest is going off to college.
In the past my falls and winters were filled with his sport games, soccer, basketball and the cold just flew by game after game. I will miss that, I will miss him................

The Writing Box

A few years ago my husband's aunt gave me this wonderful writing box that once belonged to her mother. I just got the box and it was fascinating to explore, it gave me a tiny peek into my husband's family.
Inside was a note about the box ( pictured above) and a few other paper items. The items in the box were from before Minnie was married, dried rose petal from a favorite cousin, receipts for music lessons that took place in 1894 and 1895. It appears the box was set aside once she was married in 1899 for the last thing added was an announcement for her graduation in 1898.

I want to redo the writing box because it's in such bad condition, first thought was to keep it as close to the original as possible...but then ideas began to fill my head....because it is in sure bad shape it could be redone into ??????????? almost anything.

Wow!
I am one lucky girl!!!!!

A treasure- trove of delightful items.

My wonderful Tussie Mussie came today and it is fantastic, filled to the brim with a delightful treasure trove of things. My swap partner

Scrappy Jessi out did herself .. It is decorated with miniature Victoria magazine covers. I wish I could get a better picture of this Tussie...my pictures don't do this wonderful TM justice. I finally hung it in my bathroom on an antique baby dress and was able to get some pictures....but still not great.... Jessi you are the greatest and I love my Tussie mussie, it's so lovely... Thank you so much!

It's Tussie Time

a little Tussie Mussie that I make a few years ago, this one is about one and a half inches, made with silk ribbon and wild rosebuds.

I am in a tussie swap and I can't wait to get started......

Creamer of Buttons

I love the colors of these buttons, I often glance up at them as I pass through my kitchen. Butterscotch bakelite, butter yellow and creamy gold buttons all put into an old glass creamer. It's funny how something so small can give so much in
daily pleasure. I guess that is why we surround ourselves with things we love.

one more doll.....

as you can tell I collect dolls, I have loved and enjoyed my dolls since I was a little girl...I guess one would say that I never put my childhood toys away....This little one I named Epsie. She is a doll by Heidi Plusczok.

A Start

A little spot that I like......
the summer home of Hitty Isabelle a little wooden doll
made by Jean Lotz.