Embellished Perfume Bottle Finished

Just finished this embellished perfume bottle.  It has plenty of pastel blue and pink flowers and rhinestones. 

Button Floozies Spring Needlebook Swap

Laurie at Button Floozies (one of my new favorite blogs) was the hostess of a swap--the Spring Needlebook Swap.  We were to send a partner a needlebook with a spring theme including, of course, buttons.  This again was a swap that took me out of my comfort zone since I'm not that good at sewing.  I had my idea in mind but found it hard to turn it into something tangible.  The person I was to send mine to is Laura--such a nice person!  She has received hers (she doesn't have a blog), so I'll post here what I sent her. 

It is made of felt.  I did a little bit of embroidery on it and sewed these sweet rose buttons on it. The birdhouse "opening" is a pretty vintage button.  I tried to find a bird button in my stash--a pretty duck could be found...but no springtime bird.  So...I decided to make a bird (hopefully it looks like one) out of two buttons and some embroidery.

Of course, I had to "sign" it with more embroidery and a little heart button.  Enjoy!

Happy Weekend!

This little friend visited me earlier today....so I thought I'd share the sweetness and beauty with you.  Enjoy...and have a great weekend!

Easter? Passover? Resurrection!

This is a big weekend for many people.  There are those who celebrate Easter, and there are those who celebrate Passover...and there are those who celebrate neither. 
~~~~~The original Passover from the Old Testament was the last plague of God on Egypt (Exodus 12 KJV).  Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel leave until this final blow hit.  The children of Israel had to take a male lamb, dispatch it in the evening, then take its b loo d and strike the top and two side posts of their homes.  That night at midnight the Lord slew the first born male of every household that did not have the b loo d applied to the door posts.  The Jews were to celebrate this amazing event every year.  The b loo d strikes on the top and two side posts of the door made a cross (if they actually carried the dipped hyssop down and across on the door).  As today, if the spiritual application of the b loo d of Christ on our hearts is not seen by God, we will die spiritually.  Jesus is the perfect, sinless Lamb of God.  The Passover was a picture of what was to come--and it has been fulfilled by what Jesus did on the cross.  The Passover is a tradition and does not need to be celebrated today!  Jesus is THE Passover Lamb. 
~~~~~Easter actually stems from the pagan celebration of the goddess Ishtar--a fertility goddess.   This is where springtime, bunnies, eggs, etc. come from.  In order to encourage pagan peoples to come to church, the Catholic church adopted this celebration and unfortunately combined it with some (i.e. Good Friday and Maundy Thursday are not Biblical, Jesus actually died on a Wednesday, etc.) Biblical truths about Jesus' resurrection.  Yes, the word Easter is in the Bible once in the book of Acts (12:4) and is in relation to what a pagan leader, Herod, was going to do to Peter after the Easter celebration was over.  To celebrate Easter would be to celebrate a mixture of pagan worship and partial Biblical truths. 
This post is certainly not to argue theology or history.  All of this information can be found looking in a King James Bible and a simple Internet search.  The purpose of this post is to encourage you to consider what is important.  Getting caught up in tradition and "how we've always done it" is not important.  What IS important is what the Bible says...and obeying what it says.  Unfortunately people will think on what God did in Exodus or what Jesus did on the cross this weekend....then not do anything about it nor think about it again for another whole year!  Jesus came, died on the cross (the perfect, sinless, Passover Lamb), was buried, and rose again--believing this, repenting of our sin, and accepting Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for our sin is what is important.  Not just this Saturday or Sunday but every day praise the Lord for the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Springtime Blooms

Just two pictures of what is blooming around our house.  I've enjoyed them and hope you will too.

Vintage Petite Jar Spring Swap--From Me

In the Something Special Vintage Petite Jar Spring Swap here is what I sent to my partner, Karen, of Karen's Monday Musings.  I took the glass jar and decoupaged music paper on it then some vintage bird papers. 

I had some tiles so spelled out "Bird" and "Song" on the sides as well.  On the bottom I put a label from an old crochet yarn ball. 

I made a "nest" on the top with coordinating silk flowers, buds,  and colored yarn to the vintage bird papers and included a little bird sitting in the nest.  She wasn't quite "pink" enough, so I added a little blush to her belly to pink her up.

I tied lace and color coodinating yarn to around the jar and, of course, had to add a little pin for bling.

Inside I just put in as many vintage bits that could fit and hope that the glass things didn't break in transit. 

This was fun to create and assemble.  I hope you like it!

Vintage Petite Jar Spring Swap Pictures from Partner

I joined the Something Special Vintage Petite Jar Spring Swap.  We were to take a small glass canning jar, embellish it, and fill it with fun bits.  My partner was Karen of Karen's Monday Musings.  She was a fabulous swap partner.  How nice it is to have someone who communicates well and who you know will follow through!  This swap was sort of a challenge for me.  I had to think outside of my comfort zone and work with paper and glue...which is what I usually don't do.  Here is what Karen sent to me:

Well, the jar Karen embellished is adorable. 

I love the little birdhouse and the "M" scrabble piece on the back.  

Inside were all sorts of adorable vintage and inspiration pieces for future creative projects. 

I love the rooster, little birds, vintage papers, little book, that pretty hand-painted button...well, everything!

Everything was wrapped so sweetly.  Thank you so much, Karen, and thank you Michele for hostessing this.

My First Auction

I had really enjoyed reading Vintage & Victorian's  article on auctions.  The article was very informative and encouraged anyone who had never been to an auction before to at least give it a try.  I had never been to an auction and mentioned to my husband that "someday" we should try one just to see what it was like.  Well, I saw a "tag sale" listed on Craigslist at an auction house.  I thought it was, well, like a garage sale...and should have known that any sale at any auction house is going to be an auction.  We arrived and figured this out very quickly.  Of course, while we were there I just had to look around and noticed three boxes of lots that looked like something I wanted.   I was pretty nervous actually worrying that I'd scratch my nose at the wrong time or wouldn't be able to understand what the guy up front was saying.  A very kind lady knew it was my first auction and gave me the advice not to bid on the first price but wait until the auctioneer went down in price before I started to bid on anything.  There were tons of little things to auction off--a set of plates, knick knacks, you name it.  Because dear patient husband and kids were waiting...and waiting, I nervously went up and asked one of the helpers if they could ask for bidding on two of the boxes I really wanted since that was all I was really interested in.  He kindly said yes.  Of course, I waited to bid once the first price was called out (since that was what the kind lady said to do!) but quickly learned that if I request something I need to bid on the first price.  Note to self!  I was pretty nervous but did bid on the two lots (ran out of money for the third lot which is okay--didn't bring as much as I should have with me thinking it was like a yard sale)....and won them!  How exciting!

One had very old things in it like an antique purse, glass jet buttons, a black mourning jacket/blouse, etc., and the other had fun vintage jewelry.  I'm not sure if I'll go to too many auctions in the future, but I finally went to one, had a great time, and found some fun treasures.