Ready for Flowers

Added a few things to my shop today--a vintage jewelry embellished ornament and a perfume bottle.  They both are full of flowers and birds.  Enjoy!

Color in the Winter

I just love that my two cactus plants bloom in mid-January when winter has come to stay and the colors are at their bleakest.  The pops of color from these two plants are beautiful and refreshing especially when I look at them with a window just beyond revealing the white, wintry landscape.  One cactus has salmon colored blooms and the other one (below) bright, fuchsia ones. 

While doing the dishes the other day, the wide-open blooms on this reminded me of birds in flight, and I had to click a picture.  I'm so thankful for these bright spots of color during the winter months. 

Spoolie Swap--Part 2--From Me

The spoolie I gave to Amy in Joanne's (from Vintage Dragonfly) Valentine spoolie swap was great fun to make. 

I took a vintage wooden spool and covered the center with pretty pink and white patterned paper, painted other areas of the spool white, and added lots of glitter.

I found the darling wee vintage porcelain girl at an antique mall.  I thought she was just perfect for the top of this spool.  Since she had a purple flower and not a pink one, I added lavender elements as well as pink to the whole thing. 

The flourish behind her is a cupcake liner that I folded, fanned out, and tipped in glitter.  I had some pretty lavender lace from which I hung little purple-pink shiny hearts.  I poked a hole in the tops of the hearts and tied them onto the lavender lace with green embroidery floss.  The green matches the green on the little porcelain girl. 

This has been a very fun swap.  What a unique idea to make these!  Thank you again to Amy for being my swap partner, to Lynn for the inspiration behind the swap, and to Joanne for hostessing the swap.

Spoolie Swap--Part 1--From Amy

I participated in Vintage Dragonfly's Valentine Spoolie Swap.  I had no idea what a spoolie was going into this, but Joanne directed us to an Etsy shop, Trash to Treasure, and Lynn's spoolie creations.  They are embellished thread spools with a mixed media flourish at the top. These were the inspiration behind the swap.  My partner was Amy of Ruby Moon Art.  She sent me a wonderful spoolie!

 

It is beautiful no matter how you look at it.  She also included a little pad of paper and some heart rubber stamps. 

I love the festive yet vintage look of it. 

The vintage trim with "Dream" on the end was a great touch.  Thank you so much, Amy!

The Marketplace

Just a reminder to visit The Marketplace hostessed by Debra of Common Ground.  She sponsors it every Monday.  There are always wonderful things that are listed to buy by many different vendors.  Many thanks to Debra for hostessing this.  While you're at it, be sure to check out Debra's Etsy shop--Common Ground Petite Boutique. 

Organizing

This has been a busy month.  I've been working on my taxes which is always a fun time. However, when I've needed a break from doing those, I've been creating a little and organizing a lot.  There were things to be made...and, alas, it was taking me awhile to create because I couldn't find anything!  Imagine that!  So, I decided to organize my box of tiny old jewelry bits...into smaller boxes of organized bits.  I just love little tiny bits of things--always have.  AND, I love to move them about and work with them with a long-handled, pointy-ended tweezers.  Perhaps I'm a frustrated brain surgeon!  We can all be thankful, though, that I'm only working with tiny flowers and glass bunnies.
Now I keep my tiny flower pieces--things I've collected to create with for years and am still collecting--in an old Sucrets tin. 

I have my little creatures--little birds, bugs, and bunnies--in a pretty white container.

My bigger flowers and creatures for perfume bottles are in a different section of my vintage jewelry organizers.  I made a few collage pieces last night, and it's amazing how well I can find things now that I'm more organized.  Now to organize the rest of my craft room!
Thank you to those who wrote with tips on helping me around Blogger!  Thankfully my blog list has reappeared, and pictures can now be downloaded.  Whew!  Happy day to you all.

Disappearing Blog List and New Tin

Well, I'm not sure what has happened to my list of blogs that I frequent...but my list is missing! Not that this hasn't happened before...and not that the list doesn't return eventually...BUT I've been nervously checking each day to see if my list has reappeared just in case this time it happens to be the time when my list disappears forever. Also, I miss reading about what is going on with my fellow bloggers. Guess I'll have to wait this one out (again!).  Also, I can only download pictures when I'm in Google Chrome---perhaps we are being strongly encouraged to only use Chrome.  Who knows?

Whenever I go thrift shop or antique hunting I rarely ever buy anything to keep...though that doesn't mean that most things I buy I'd LOVE to keep. However, a person can only have so much "stuff" pretty or not. However, I saw this tin at our local antique mall (my favorite mall), and immediately I knew this was a keeper. I really like the pattern on this tin--fancy roses. It was made in Belgium and probably came originally filled candy.  I've seen many over the years and have passed several up. The price was right on this one...$4.95...and I knew it was destined for our laundry room. Our laundry room is a bright, cheery yellow with plenty of pink rose/green/garden themed items. I think it looks quite at home with the green spritzer on the window sill.

An Old Beauty

I know she is chipped and worn...but isn't she just lovely?  I couldn't resist buying her at a flea market back a month or so ago.  Can you image what she looked like when she was brand new--grand, beautiful, lovely in every way?  I wonder what she adorned...where she went.  I never tire of looking at these old button beauties, do you?

Sweet, Simple Swap

I just joined a Valentine swap...it is sweet and simple. All we have to do is making something for our swap partner with a heart on it. Easy peasy. Click HERE for all the details. Thursday the 10th is the last day to sign up if you are interested.

New Teacup and Saucer

I really wasn't looking for a new teacup and saucer.  I was actually looking for a teapot--the perfect teapot with fruit on it to be exact.  However while at a flea market a few weeks back and while looking for that teapot (which I never did find, by the way), my eye immediately noticed this beautiful teacup and saucer.  Isn't it pretty?  The price was right, and I bought it. 

It is "Tapestry Rose" by Paragon.  While I was checking it over for cracks and chips, the man thunked the edge of the teacup with his finger and it "rang".  He said that that is the way one checks for hidden cracks.  If it does not "ring" and instead "thuds" it has a crack or chip somewhere.  I didn't know that!  So not only did I have a pretty teacup and saucer, but I learned something new too.

A Blizzard is Coming

We really can't complain.  It IS the middle of December, and winter has to arrive sometime...and today and tonight and tomorrow is the time!  We're supposed to get up to 16".  Yikes!  It snowed a little yesterday, and it WAS pretty with big "snow globe" flakes falling coating the trees with a heavy coating of frosting snow. 

I did an Etsy treasury (thanks, Craft Cult for the widget below) to celebrate the snow coming.  Remember snow days?  Those were glorious days when school was cancelled.  There would be a dull sound outside...a muffling of all sound.  My brother and I would peak out behind the curtains to a heavy layer of snow...with perhaps more falling.  We'd listen to the radio and hear that school was cancelled.  Hooray! We got to sleep in...maybe have a hot breakfast...play outside.  No quizzes or tests that day.  What a great thing a snow day was for a kid!

Musical Themed Things

Guess I've had a song on my mind lately!  Finished these finally and have posted them to my shop. 

This one is a jewelry embellished ornament...complete with a shrink paper music score. 

Then, I just finished this music stand today.  It is made of felt and embroidered to look ornate.  This also has a shrink paper music score of "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" on it.  I made the paper into a bead for stitching onto the music stand.  Hope you like these!