A Bit of Vintage Stitching...

Good afternoon, everyone!

How's the weekend going so far?  We've been having fun here...very crazy, and there's been very little sleep involved....zzzzzzzzz...{{I wish!}}

Just a couple of things to share with you today...I've been having some fun with Crafty Secrets' new "Sew Nice" Creative Scraps...so many beautiful images!

Here's my first card...

Isn't this a sweet image?  I love the illustration, of course, and the fun colors, which I tried to echo in the cardstock, ribbon, etc. of the card...

This image was all about hand embroidery, so I tried a blanket stitch on a cardstock "flower"...definitely something I haven't tried before!   

These new Creative Scraps had me thinking about a collection of reproduction vintage books that I love...The Mary Frances collection...ever heard of them?

Written by Jane Eayre Fryer around 1913, these adorable books are filled with the sweetest hand-drawn illustrations and simple instructions for young stitchers to begin learning sewing skills.  There's also a book on Cooking, Knitting & Crochet, Gardening, etc...each is charming!  My mother purchased them for us about 10 years ago, and we really love them.

I realized as I found the book on our little shelf, that it's cover and the image I'd just used for my card were one and the same!  Coincidence, yes...but I'm sure it triggered my memory of the books in the first place!

Next, something with a bit of machine stitching...definitely a novice here!

Another sweet image from the same collection...I used the feather stitch on this...one of my favorites. 

The spools of thread and the saying are from Crafty Secrets' "Sew Special" stamp set...

I added some random polkadots of Dazzling Diamonds over the image for just a bit of sparkle...ribbon, gingham, Platinum Stickles and vintage buttons finish the job.

Before I go, I want to share with you the most lovely package I received yesterday from Elizabeth of Creative Breathing...this was for no reason at all, mind you...just the kindness of her heart, and her knowing how much I love her vintage creations!

(I'm using the photos from her post because it's very gloomy here today, and I couldn't get a decent photo of them all!)

She knows how much I love vintage-inspired items with personality--fun faces, feet & hands--I LOVE this sweet pink birthday cake...complete with vintage candles!

This adorable chenille '50's girl fresh from the Sock Hop, complete with her '45 and poodle skirt--and just look at those saddle shoes!

An adorable tag inspired by Twyla and Lindsey...

And this adorable little button holder, made from pieces from a vintage music box...

All this in one package along with some beautiful vintage greeting cards....Oh, Elizabeth...what joy!  Thank-you from the bottom of my heart, dear friend!

Also a thank-you to my friends at Splitcoast for giving me the opportunity to be included in the Dirty Dozen for the next six months--so exciting!  Looking forward to working with all those amazing women!

That's all for me today...I hope your weekend is wonderful in every way!

***I just found the loveliest blog with a very vintage giveaway...please go and say hello to Stephanie at Angelic Accents!

Calendar Girls...and My Very Own Badge!

Good afternoon, my friends!

What a wonderful day it's been for this girl, and it's going full-blown, non-stop till I hit my head on the pillow...who knows when tonight!  Hope your day has been great, as well!

Just a couple of things to share with you today really quick, then off to pick up my girls...

First off, this week's challenge over at Splitcoast is to use a calendar in our cards...I was having a tough time with this, so here's what I came up with...

...I used this GORGEOUS image from Crafty Secrets' "Seasonal" Images & Journal Notes booklet, and then stamped the April 2010 with stamps from their "Calendar" stamp set---just what I wanted for this!  So, not a calendar exactly, but....a slight variation thereof!

Aren't they beautiful?!  Just enjoying a beautiful spring day...one has her camera in hand, like so many of us bloggers do...just waiting for a special moment to capture...

Lots of pretty papers, glitter, lace and ribbon on this one...that's about it!

Now, THIS was fun to do!

A month or so ago, Elizabeth of Creative Breathing was inspired by a beautiful name tag--or blog tag--that Laurie of Magpie Ethel created for her blog. 

Elizabeth made one for herself, and challenged any of us who wanted, to play along!  Well, I finally got my chance!

I showed my daughters some images I loved, and asked them to choose one that they thought represented me...and they chose this one.  I love everything about this one, so I was happy to proceed!  The images are from Crafty Secrets' "Altered Fairies" Creative Scraps--one of my very favorites!

I got a bit gaudy with the glitter...I do realize this...but there's really nothing I can do about it!  I've just got an addiction--there--I said it!...and I'm running with it!

I guess this little vintage pocket watch says it all for me..."Follow after your Bliss..." 

Sounds like good advice to me!

Hope your day is magical, blissful, and everything else you wish for!

I'll see you soon with something new!

***Piney Rose is offering a beautiful tussie mussie in her blog giveaway...stop by and say hello!***

Fairies in the Garden...

Good afternoon, all!

Hope the weekend has been lovely for you--it's a rather blustery Sunday here in central California--a bit exciting!

Just a few things to share with you today...it's been a busy weekend with not too much creative time, but I did manage to play with another 3D Shadowbox Frame card, courtesy of the lovely Vicki Chrisman...

These cards are just SO much fun to put together...I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record about these!  I just choose a theme I want to work with, find beautiful images (usually from Crafty Secrets!) and get going!

This little sweetie is from Crafty Secrets' "Birds and Botanicals" Images & Journal Notes booklet...the beautiful bluebird is from their "Altered Fairy" Creative Scraps...

This little one dreaming of fairies comes from Crafty Secrets' "Little Dolls" Images & Journal Notes booklet...with "Just Imagine" from the same sheet...Did you notice the gorgeous silk blossoms?  A sweet gift from Elizabeth...thank-you so much!

I love this darling fairy with the perplexed expression...wonder what she was thinking when this photo was taken, oh, so many years ago...!  She comes from the "Altered Fairy" Creative Scraps, as well....so do the beautiful eggs, which have been sparkled up with Glossy Accents & Dazzling Diamonds...the nest comes from the "Birds and Botanicals" booklet.

You never know where a tiny little fairy will pop up.....

...if you create a beautiful home in your garden for them, as my Mother did, they may become permanent residents!  Here's my beautiful daughter Chelsea, way back in 1998...peeking in the windows to see if the fairies were at home...

...and my middle daughter Sarah poses in the fairies' front yard as well.  This was Easter Sunday, and the girls were hunting for Easter eggs in their jammies...hadn't gotten their Easter dresses on yet, apparently!

Mom made this beautiful little house years ago...she's always dreaming up and creating magical things...because...you never know, do you?  If you built it, they MAY come...!

(***You need to pop on over to Cozy Little Cottage and see Brenda's beautiful fairy gardens--she has created some beauties!***)

Another woman who dreamed and believed in fairies is a great favorite of mine...Cicely Mary Barker.

Her  beautiful and fanciful paintings of fairies have been cherished by me all of my life...Mom's too.  Mary  was born in England in 1895.  She was a sickly child, but had wonderfully loving parents and a happy home.  Her father encouraged her in her drawing and paid for her to study art.  She had her first work pubilshed when she was only 16!

Her sweet fairies were painted from real life...her models were children that were attending her sister's nursery school.

...isn't that wonderful?!  Mary also wrote a little poem to accompany each fairy...

The Song of the Fucshia Fairy

Fuschia is a dancer
Dancing on her toes,
Clad in red and purple,
By a cottage wall;
Sometimes in a greenhouse,
In frilly white and rose,
Dressed in her best for the fairies' evening ball!"

You can read more about Mary and her beautiful work here...and here is her "Flower Fairy Treasury" that I love...

One last fun thing to share with you...a few days ago I received the glorious bunch of Retro Kitchen Tags from Elizabeth--our swap finally concluded!  Thanks so much Elizabeth, and all of my wonderfully creative new friends, for all your beautiful work and sharing hearts!

Isn't that a fabulously fun collection?  And to top it off, a beautiful chenille bluebird, made by Elizabeth...

...her calling card, in a way...supervising my bundle of tags as she so thoughtfully supervised our swap--thank-you, dear friend!

Have a wonderful weekend...and check your spring gardens...you never know who you might meet there!

I'll be back soon with something new...

Retro Kitchen Fun...and Spring Break!

Good afternoon, my friends!

Hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start--don't you just love Fridays?!  I'm just about to pick up my girls from school, and I love how happy they are on Friday afternoons--like they have all the time in the world...to just relax and have fun with the family....and we will be doing just that!

Early tomorrow morning, we leave for a trip to visit our oldest daughter, Chelsea, who's a sophomore in college, and my parents--we're so excited!  The girls have been so looking forward to this!  So tonight, we will finish madly packing and cleaning up the house...and TRY to get some sleep!

Just a couple of things to share with you today...first off, I FINALLY finished my swaps for The Retro Kitchen Swap, hosted by the wonderful Elizabeth of Creative Breathing--if you haven't ever been to visit, please do!  You will quickly fall in love with everything she does--her amazingly charming creations and her stories will cast a spell on you, I promise! 

Here's a peek at my tag, sent off this morning...we were each to make our tags in the shape of something you'd find in a retro kitchen--I chose salt & pepper shakers--which made me later  question my sanity, as I had to make double of everything!  But, here it is...

I had this adorable vintage clock image forever, and had never done anything with it--this seemed like the perfect "time" to use it! 

I used my favorite vintage font, "Apricot",  for all the wording, including the recipe for our favorite cookies, attached to the back of the tag...something we were all to include...perfect for a Kitchen Swap, right?!

I really can't wait to see all of them together!  Thank-you, Elizabeth for organizing this swap--it's been such a lot of fun!

Next, a little card--just for fun--using a favorite Crafty Secrets' image along with some fun stuff from a new-to-me company called Raspberry Road--lots of wonderful digital vintage papers, etc.  I'm having lots of fun incorporating some of them with my Crafty Secrets' products.  Here it is:

This image is from Crafty Secrets' "Domestic Goddess" Creative Scraps--one of my favorite sheets!  Okay...look at the wonderful green vintage buttons--paper!  One of Raspberry Road's "elements" going along with this "Flour Sack" set.  And the wonderful green/blue flower print is one of the Raspberry Road paper downloads--so pretty!

The "frame" backing the image is a crocheted pot holder from the same elements set for "Flour Sack"--so cool!  Lots of silver glitter, lace, ribbon, and that's about it!

Well, that's all for me today...I won't be here until just after Easter...we'll have so much fun with our family, but I definitely get blogging withdrawals when I'm away!  I'll be on the hunt for some fabulous trims/ribbons/ buttons,ideas,  etc. to use when I get home.  Till then, have the happiest of Easter weeks and enjoy every moment!

Spring Has Sprung!

Good afternoon, everyone!

What a beautiful day it is here in my little corner of the world--spring is definitely here, I think!

Some sweet-smelling blossoms from my plum tree...

The view from my back patio...

Ahhhh, SPRING!  Such a breath of fresh air today....I felt inspired to make something springy & fresh!  Somehow fairies just came to my mind and I couldn't think of anything else, so....today we have fairies!

This sweet fairy image with her bird friend comes from Crafty Secrets' "Little Dolls" Images & Journal Notes booklet.  I've been wanting to use this one for a long time...today was the day!  The delicious background paper is another from my new DCWV "Ciao Bella" stack--yummy!  The large apple blossoms were cut from a sheet in the DCWV "Vintage Collage" stack--love these!

Yellow Stickles on the blossom centers, Dazzling Diamonds on flowers & wings, crystal rhinestones on her sweet fairy crown...surround it all with Martha Stewart's "White Gold" fine glitter, and that's just about it!

Here's another I did this morning...

Isn't she cute?  She looks a bit perplexed, though, as to how she came to be placed on cupcake wrappers in the center of a card...oh, well, little fairy--don't worry your sweet head about it!

The fairy and all her wings and butterflies is also from the "Little Dolls" Images & Journal Notes booklet from Crafty Secrets.  So much to play with in these!  The music background paper is from Crafty Secrets' "Radiant" paper pack. 

Some creamy crocheted lace, ribbon I "dyed" with Glimmer Mist (love the stuff!), and my favorite brown & cream gingham...more White Gold glitter, some fabulous ribbon flowers I bought at CHA last month...

A few weeks ago on someone's wonderfully creative blog (sorry I don't remember who's!), I saw the fabulous idea of using cupcake wrappers for rosettes.  How brilliant is that!  I decided to cut them different sizes and layer them...then of course had to distress them with "Vintage Photo" ink and then add some glitter!  Oh, yes...and I completely covered them with "Iridescent Gold" Glimmer Mist--they really shimmer!

Again, Dazzling Diamonds on everything that should sparkle, more crystal rhinestones, and we're all done!

Late last week, I received the most delightful package from one of the sweetest blog friends there could ever be...Elizabeth of Creative Breathing.  Elizabeth amazes me...there really is no end to the things she can and does do!  Her stories of her life wrap you in a spell you can't get out of until the very last word...she creates the most adorable things out of felt--garlands, penny rugs, wall hangings--I could go on! 

And paper creations--oh, my!  Her cards, tags & swaps will make you swoon!!!  Here's what I received in the mail...(she wanted to do a swap for a couple of my kitchen cards...I was the obvious winner in this deal, let me tell you!)...

Can you believe how adorable these are???  She puts so much into each and every one...

...so much attention to detail...so much of her heart put into everything she does...

...I love them all!  Thank-you so much, Elizabeth!  I'm so looking forward to seeing every new project you make!  If you haven't met Elizabeth yet, hurry over to meet her...you'll fall in love with her beautiful world just like I did!

That's it for today...I hope you sense at least a glimmer of spring around you today!  If not, go make something with a fairy on it...you'll feel better...I promise!

Snowmen on My Mind...

                                                            (Image from Girls at Heart--thanks for sharing!)

Happy Saturday, everyone!  Hope this last Saturday before Christmas finds you all happy, healthy...and not TOO crazy! 

We're having a fairly quiet day here...the girls had some friends over last night...one's still here...just some movies, games, and lots of cookies!  Also made some yummy maple/oat/white chocolate chip pancakes this morning that were pretty tasty!

I haven't posted much this week--sorry!  It's been pretty busy here...I know we're ALL busy right now, so it's okay!  Family comes first, right?!  My daughter came home from college on Wednesday, and we've just been having fun ever since!  Here's a photo I shot of her at Buco de Beppo's where we stopped for a delicious Italian lunch after the airport on Wednesday:

Isn't she beautiful?  I just love this girl of mine!

I have just a couple of things to share with you today--I'm woefully behind on my Splitcoast challenges, but got caught up somehow yesterday!  Here's my first--the challenge was simply to do a tag--don't know why it took me so long!  Darlene was the host of this challenge--thanks, Darlene!  Here's what I came up with:

The image is from Crafty Secrets' "Christmas" Images & Journal Notes booklet--I just LOVE this snowman!  Added some twinkly stars and the "Make a Wish" sentiment from their  "Lucky Wishes" stamp set.  Love those retro stars!

Some red pom-pom trim, Martha Stewart "White Gold" glitter...I used Rangers' Distressed Vintage Photo, Fired Brick and Peeled Paint ink...and that's it!

Next, the challenge this week on the Craft Secrets' Forum at Splitcoast is hosted by Pammyjo--to use mostly white on our cards.  This was a toughie for me--I like lots of color, so I fudged it a bit--sorry, Pammyjo! 

I used PTI White cardstock for my base, and Crafty Secrets printed paper from the "Classics" pack (I think!), which I punched with a Martha Stewart punch along the edge...a paper doily, some white lace, Kraft satin ribbon (SU!)...

...the adorable snowman image is from CS' "Christmas" Creative Scraps, and the chipboard frame is from their "Sweetchips Mini Frames & More" set...some thick, chunky, snowy glitter, diamond glitter and MS "White Gold" glitter, "Antique Linen" distress ink, and some old pearly white buttons, and we're all done!

Oh!  Almost forgot my new toy!  Tim Holz' fabulous clear "Crackle Paint"--what fun to use!  It has a brush built-in to the lid, which makes application SO easy!  I used this on the snowman image...I used my heat gun to speed up the drying & crackling process, so no waiting needed!  Can't wait to get some of the colored "Crackle Paint" and have some more fun!

A big thank-you to Elizabeth of Creative Breathing for the giveaway prize I just received yesterday!  Oh, my!  What a gorgeous creation!  She made this wonderful Christmas Countdown calendar--mostly of felt--embeliished so beautifully, and all done by hand--here are a couple of photos--these were from her blog--my photos didn't turn out quite as well!

Just look at the beautiful detail...!

Thank-you, Elizabeth!  I hung it up in my kitchen so fast!  My girls just love it--me, too!  Please visit Elizabeth and see all the other beautiful things she has to share on her lovely blog!

Just to close out the day, I found a couple of silly little photos from my Christmas past...

...not MY best photo, obviously!  But, I do think it's rather hard to make a busy toddler hold still on Christmas morning, don't you think?!  I love the tree, however...the sweet gifts, but especially my beautiful, young parents--what a perfect image!  I still have that sweater my mom is holding--was made for me by my great-grandmother...

Here's me a couple of years later in line to meet Santa--remember those little mesh stockings with goodies inside?  This was at a church Christmas party, and they'd done a little play with all the children being different toys in Santa's workshop, I believe.  I was a little German doll...love the smirk on the sweet little "Indian" girl next to me!

Well, off to make some new Christmas memories with my family!  We're still busily addressing Christmas cards, making cookies...have a pile of games on the table my girls want to play all together--oh, my!  It IS the most wonderful time of the year!!!

Have a beautiful Christmas weekend with your families--don't miss a moment!