Gifts I Made for Swap with Margaret

In late October Margaret of The French Bear & I did a private Fall Swap. I showed all of you the goodies that she had sent to me HERE but, I forgot to do a post to show you what I made for her. So, here are a few photos of the items I made/got for her. I made her three pairs of earrings all in Fall colors. I put them on a card I made with an image I got from Dawn of The Feathered Nest (THANK YOU Dawn). Also, I made her a necklace with a charm that could be hung from either side. The first side is again an image from Dawn. I love the image of the girls playing in the leaves. When I soldered this charm (which is fairly large) & used a thick & textured look for the solder.

And the beveled side of the charm was a Fall image (again from Dawn) that I thought was very pretty. I used natural stones & strung them in a long necklace so that the soldered charm would hang low on a pretty sweater. I loved the colors in the stones that hung on the bottom of the charm.

Next I did an apron for her. I used a poem that she had written called The Needlewoman & did an image transfer & stitched this onto an apron. I then used part of a cute hankie that I had been saving (that had sewing machine, needles, thread & all sorts of sewing items on it) which I put at the top of the apron. I did a pink breast cancer ribbon & put Margaret's sisters name on it (in memory of Karen).

For pockets I used two vintage doilies I had bought from my friend Pat of My Tattered Elegance (she has some of the most wonderful lace) & I then used some wonderful charms of sewing items & stitched them to the poem & pockets.

Here's a close up of the bottom of the poem with the sewing machine & scissors charm.

A thimble charm tied onto one pocket with black & white ribbon.

Next, a set of photo albums & a journal in beautiful Fall colors & tied with a pretty ribbon. Again, that same photo used for her charm with some cute glittered clothes pins (with magnets for the fridge to hold photos or reminders)

And being a seamstress & having read her blog I knew that Margaret loved buttons. So, I made her a button jar with this wonderful vintage image of a woman dressed in a bat costume (after all Halloween was during the time frame of the swap). I then ruffled crepe paper around the image & glittered the lid with BLACK glitter.

The finishing touch on the jar was a little sign which read "BATTY FOR BUTTONS" which was tied on with black netting.

Here's a few of her goodies all tied up in black netting & ready for the box for mailing. I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my hand made goodies & Margaret did say that she loved all her things. Postal Love is a marvelous thing. Right now I have a few more things sitting on my work table waiting to be finished & mailed. Have a wonderful week my dear friends.

New Doll

Today is Thanksgiving evening & Cindy at My Romantic Home is getting us all ready to play Show & Tell. I told you the other day that after visiting Amy at Bloom & Be Swanky we went on down to Belton, Texas to visit a shop Amy told us about. The name of the shop is Marta's Room. While there I fell in LOVE with this sweet vintage doll. When I saw her she was part of a Christmas display & she will be again soon but, in the mean time she had to be ready for Thanksgiving. I set her in the entry hall by the piano. She is perfect sitting in the rocker my sweet Granddad built for me when I was a little girl. Do you love her white wool coat & hat as much as I do? I simply added a sprig of fall colored hydrangea petals to bring in the season.

Below, you will see her sitting on the bed in the guest room prior to getting her fall flowers & finding the rocking chair.

In this photo you can see that Marta had dressed her in a vintage dress with wonderful lace on the hem.

A close up of the dress detail.

And here she is up close. Her eyes are the most beautiful green. Sorry the flash was a little bright but, you can see the sweet details of her face.

I want to thank Marta for letting me adopt this sweet girl. She had been in Marta's personal collection for a long time & I think she was surprised when I agreed to pay the price she asked. In fact, I think she almost changed her mind. When I got home she sent me the sweetest email saying "Take care of my baby". Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh I will. One of the first things I need to do is come up with a name. Since she was bought as the highlight of my Christmas display I am leaning towards something with that in mind. But, I would love for you all to send me ideas. Please leave me comments with your input.

Be sure & go & visit the others participating in Show & Tell this week. Also, I want to thank Tiffany Marshall for the banner I am using right now. I have not had a chance to get a Christmas one done & she had this one for free on her site. THANKS Tiffany! Don't SHOP too hard on Black Friday!

Art Exchange Goodies

Gotta LOVE the mailbox LOVE that has been going around! I know there are a lot of you that have been involved with the Art Exchange. I got my invitation from Diana Frey while my mother was visiting from California for 2 weeks & I did not get my gift for my Exchange Partner completed in the week time allotment. Since my Exchange Partner was Diane Cook & she is my friend she understood. In the meantime I started getting packages in the mail but, just didn't feel like I could open them until I mailed mine. Well, I mailed Dianes goody yesterday so today was the day to open my goodies... A DRUM ROLL PLEASE! The package on the top is from Lisa Hessabi & the bottom one is from Tiffany Marshall.

Here is the close up of the ART WORK on the envelopes! Don't you LOVE it when a package looks like this? Why don't I make mine look like this?

Below is all of the goodies from Tiffany. A HUGE lot of treasures. A little of this & a little of that. And the amazing thing... Tiffany was one of the names I listed & she sent me a gift as well as the person she was supposed to send to. Such an amazingly generous soul. THANK YOU TIFFANY you are such a sweetie!

More Tiffany LOVE!

And a big bunch of Halloween Goodies from Lisa. I don't know Lisa & I checked out her blog. Also, Googled her & found her listed in a number of places. THANK YOU LISA! I would love to get to know you better. If any of you have posts on Lisa or her work let me know.

Next comes a beautiful stitched art hanging that says FRIEND & this beautiful treasure comes from Michelle May at Tales from the Raspberry Rabbits. I had just met Michelle last week when I found her blog while visiting another blog. She had the most beautiful stitched Christmas trees. When I commented to her that I loved her trees & blog she sent me a message that said "I just sent you a package" And here is my treasure (note & a little chocolate LOVE) from Michelle. LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Michelle's stitching work is amazing. I have placed this treasure on my DREAM BOARD near my computer. THANK YOU MICHELLE! You are indeed a new Friend!

Another generous SWEET FRIEND that was on my list was LuLu & like Tiffany she was to send the gift to someone else but, with her generous heart she sent me one too. AMAZING, GENEROUS, TALENTED, FRIENDS live in Blogland! Here is the box within a box waiting for opening.

I am sorry I don't have a fresh manicure to show off with my treasure from LuLu but, I do so LOVE my white rose ring that she made for me. THANK YOU SWEET LULU!

Now, I'm off to write a comment or LOVE note to each one of these sweeties. Forgive me for being late to post & thank you but, as I said I just could NOT open my goodies until I mailed off the one to Diane. Check back to see what I sent her. Have a wonderful week preparing for Thanksgiving. HUGS!

A Wonderful Movie to see before Thanksgiving

I just finished watching the movie An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving & it was WONDERFUL!!!!!

If you have not had a chance to see this made for television version of the short story written by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)check out this post & then hurry to find it. As you will remember, this well renowned author of Little Women has had much said for her popular book but, I had never heard of An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving which is a heart warming story of family, survival, & LOVE. The story is rich, the cast did a wonderful job, & the costuming was very rich & romantic. For a bit of a trailer to the movie go HERE & then go get a copy (I rented mine from Block Buster) & enjoy this before Thursday. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs~Charlene

A MUST SEE SHOP!!!!

Saturday morning Susan, JoAnn & I were off to Bloom & Bee Swanky for a look at Amy's Holiday wonders. Have you been to Bloom & Bee Swanky yet? It's in Waco, Texas right near the Baylor University campus. Lisa & I stopped by to visit the first time on our trip home from Round Top in October. The owner Amy Bradshaw has an excellent eye & a cute sense of merchandising. As you walk in the door you go under an arbor decked in rolls of sheet music but, I could not get a good photo of it because of the way the sunlight was streaming through the windows. But, I LOVED this angel just to the right of the door. Amy's Holiday Open House was Thursday night & she had ordered food for 75 people. She said she thought about 45 -60 would come but, the line was around the building when she opened the doors. She counted over 200 people in attendance. Good for you Amy!!!!!

Here is one of her mannequins that has a tree under her skirt like an old time bustle. Click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see the detail. Don't you think that is clever?

And on that bustle tree were silver baby spoons, old books, gloves, and other treats.

One of her fabulous beds done all in white. I love the way the skirt is done on this bed. On the bed & behind it are the most wonderful white linens from Europe. They are done in the Euro Sham size. Offered in both foam or down. They are a luxury that I want to put on my Santa List!

Another wonderful bed & bedroom vignette! That bed had a wonderful spread all done in white & gold. Regal for sure! And the shams on it would have been mine but, were sold to one of Amy's employee's. DARN!!!!!

A vintage trunk with lots of goodies in & around it. On the left side of the trunk was a black 1800's opera cape & the jet beads on it were divine. Yes, Lisa I here the scissors snipping the hats apart!

Another vignette for a living room area.

Lots of treasures lived on this table. I sorted through scrabble tiles & found words like Merry Christmas, Hope, Peace, Love... you get the picture. She has a great supply of letters on hand. A little piece of trivia for scrabble lovers - there is only ONE K in a scrabble set! Thanks for that tip Amy.

Amy has a lot of vintage lingerie. Here is one of her vignettes with another piece as a focal point. These little jewels are set up all over the store & each one is highlighted & shown in it's best possible light with plenty of room for viewing & not feeling cramped or crowded. I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into this jewel box of a shop. Be sure & visit Amy either in the store or drop her a note. I'm sure she would be happy to mail you anything you see that needs to be on your Santa list. Come back soon & see what I bought at Marta's Room in Belton (another tip from Amy for a sweet shop). Have a great week.

Postal Bliss!!!!!!!!!!! Packages Keep Arriving!!!!!

Where have I been???? Mother has been here for TWO WEEKS!!!!! YIKES!!!! Love her but, my ears hurt & I am having serious Blog with drawl. Bottom line I MISS MY FRIENDS & all the POSITIVE, beautiful things they talk & think & create! Being POSITIVE & surrounding yourself with POSITIVE is sooooooooooooooooo very important! My mailman of 12 years retired this month & I don't care for his sub but, TODAY when she rang my doorbell I liked her a lot better! There was my box for the FALL SWAP I did with Margaret of The French Bear! Do you know Margaret & know of her AMAZING works of wonder? Oh JOY! I couldn't wait to see what was in the box! And above is the first peek.

All the little packages & those sweet vintage images to tease me.

The first thing I opened was this tiny SPARKLING gold crown with a little envelope that says "you rule". This was wrapped in the sweetest hand made hat box stamped all over.

And here is The French Bear himself wearing his crown of GOLD! Isn't he the sweetest thing? Margaret used the most wonderful fabric to MAKE him. It looks just like soft golden fur. Can you believe she hand makes these little treasures? His features are absolutely perfect in every way.

And, a box of HAND DIED buttons with a HANDMADE VELVET PUMPKIN PIN CUSHION! I just can't stand the excitement of telling you how OVER THE TOP CUTE THIS IS!

Remember the little RED Christmas package?

Well, how the heck did that image get flipped around????? It wasn't like that in the photo when I loaded it but, I have NO IDEA how to fix it sooooooooo, sorry but, turn your head to look because it is VERY cute! And yes, Margaret I BELIEVE!!!!!!!

This sweet ornament was also handmade.

MY STASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't it all MARVELOUS? Also, not shown close up is the sweet hand painted metal heart & cute decorated clothespins. THANK YOU DEAR SWEET MARGARET!

And what is this? The invitation to the Open House for Winnie & Tulula's bit bash! Theresa at Garden Antqs Vintage had her amazing Give Away a couple of weeks agao & my $50 gift certificate to her shop at Winnie & Tulula's came in the mail Saturday. Yippeeeee I know I will love that little shopping experience. Also, enclosed in the envelope from Theresa was a gift card to Starbucks!!!! Gotta love that A LATTE! Hee Heeeeeeee. Thank you so much my generous amazing friends!!!! Have a great week & I promise I will be a bit better about posting now. Hugs~ Charlene

Show & Tell Friday & Goodbye to Halloween

Here we all are having a little "cuppa" after the big Hooooooooray last week. Yes, that's all the girls telling the tales... now it's time to pack it up but, first I wanted to share a couple of Halloween favorites with you for Cindy's Show & Tell Friday (be sure & see the others girls playing this week by clicking the button on the sidebar).

My Witch Martini Glass makes me smile every time I see her melted into a puddle! See those legs with the yellow striped stockings?

Here she is setting on the counter above my kitchen sink. The silly little sign next to it says Spells & Potions (sorry it is not all showing in the photo).

I love the art of Susan Wheeler & these two little pieces are framed & hung in my breakfast area. The one below simply makes me smile. Don't you love the expression on their faces?

So Much Candy So Little Time!

Now I'm off to put the storage buckets away until next year & now it's time for the turkey's to trot out of their buckets. Hope you smiled at a couple of my goodies as I pack them away. Happy Friday & thank you Cindy for being a wonderful hostess.

Also, I wanted to thank Tiffany Marshall for my new Fall Banner. She did the Halloween one that I had & also this one for Fall. She is an amazing artist & friend. Go & visit her to see what other wonderful treats & banners she has in her Etsy shop. Also, I want to thank Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage for helping me size the banner to fit better on my blog. She noticed that part of it didn't show(originally sized at 880 & she downsized it to 660) & I appreciate her technical know how & kindness.