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...

In the Kitchen...

Good morning, my friends!

I've always loved Gooseberry Patch...I just always have!  For years, I've collected their cookbooks, loved their calendars and catalogs, their fabulously vintage-inspired kitchen wares...all of it!  So when they asked me to be their featured blogger this week, I was obviously thrilled!  You can see the article here...

You'll have to go there and check out my Grandmother Velda's amazing cheesecake recipe...you'll love it!

Of course, this got me thinking about our kitchens...we spend so much of our life in them, don't we?  So many memories of meals, laughter, family gatherings...most of it happens in our kitchens.

Here's a kitchen from my long-ago memories...in my Grandma & Grandpa Smith's house...that's them on the left, along with their dog, Vinegar.  I don't know who the other ladies are...I remember those wonderful refrigerator units above the counters--what a cool thing!  (No pun intended!)  I remember they were a creamy yellow...and I want them!  Such a '50's kitchen, don't you think?!

Yesterday, I made two cards just for me...just for fun!  I think my favorite images are the kitschy kitchen images...and Crafty Secrets has provided so much of that wonderful fun for us to play with!  Here they are...

Can't get more kitschy than this, can you?!  Love this very excited baking mom--"You take the cake!"  The image inspired the wonderfully vintage colors of aqua and peachy-pink--love them together!  The images comes from Crafty Secrets' "Homemade" Images & Journal Notes booklet...

Of course, I couldn't do this one without an overabundant amount of silver glitter and rick-rack! 

And this one...

I love this image--brings to mind all the wonderful mother-daughter baking days I've shared with my grandmother, my mother, and my own sweet girls...This image is also from the "Homemade" booklet...

Once again, plenty of silver glitter, ribbon, lace, a wonderful button that reminded me of cross-hatch marks made with a fork on a homemade peanut butter cookie...For both cards, I typed up the wording in my favorite "Apricot" font--so vintage!

Here's another vintage kitchen memory...this one hails back to my infancy...I was born in Boston, Massachusetts while my Dad was attending Harvard Business School.  We lived in a very old house in Cambridge that was divided into 3 apartments.  My Mom said it was built by the "Mahogany King" of Boston, and there were beautiful mahogany touches all through the house...here you can see it on the doorframes...

...another very '50's kitchen!  Here's my beautiful young mother (Karen) fixing her mother's (Velda's)  hair...I love all the little knick-knacks and appliances you can see in the kitchen...

My daughter Annie had a class party today, and needed to bring some cookies.  Whenever I want to try something new, I always turn to my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks (I have lots!)  They are always delicious, and usually turn into new family favorites.  This time was no exception!  This is what we found in their "Church Suppers" cookbook:

Granny's Chocolate Fudge Cookies

2 6-oz. packages semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts  (I omitted the nuts--my family is nutty, but they don't like them in their cookies!)

Heat chocolate chips, butter and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl on high setting until melted, stirring every 30 seconds.  Add vanilla, flour and nuts.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.  Makes 5 to 6 dozen.

Easy peasy, and very fudgily delicious!

Oh, yes!  I added white chocolate chips to them, too--yum!

One last vintage kitchen image to leave you with...

Here's my Mom, Karen, in her college apartment kitchen in the late '50's...love the hair, Mom!  Isn't she cute?

Thanks for stopping by today--and thank-you, Gooseberry Patch, for the kind words and for continuing to make me smile--you always bring lots of yummy joy to the Campbell Kitchen!

Make some delicious memories today...

Home Again...a Blustery Day...and Easter Re-visited

Good afternoon, my friends!  I feel like I have been gone forever...hope you still remember me!  What a great vacation we've had!  We went to Utah to see my parents & our college girl and also two of my brothers and their families--so much wonderful visiting!

The funny thing about the trip, though...it felt like WINTER!  It snowed so many of the days we were there...and yesterday coming home...all day!  It got a bit tricky up in the Sierras on our way back to California, but here we are...safe and sound once again...

Vacations are wonderful things, aren't they...but there's nothing quite like being home again.  I couldn't wait to get back to my blog again and visiting you all...I'm so far behind!  Had to get my juices flowing again today, so I made this little card...

Oh, it felt SO good to get inky/gluey/glittery again!  My hands are a mess & I'm covered with glitter and I couldn't be happier! 

This sweet little spring image is from Crafty Secrets' "Seasonal" Images & Journal Notes booklet.  I love blustery feel of the image--how the kite, the little girls' dresses, and the big, fat hollyhocks are all blowing about so wonderfully--such a beautiful scene!  This is how spring feels here today--very cool, just a bit sunny, and a nice, fresh wind blowing...better than all that snow yesterday!

The blue & white gingham print is from Crafty Secrets' "Earthy" paper pack, and that luscious floral print behind it is a new one I picked up by My Mind's Eye, called "Quite Contrary"--isn't it gorgeous?!  The flowers on it felt like the hollyhocks in the image...

I printed up my own saying using my favorite vintage-style font..."Apricot".  Some pretty crocheted lace, ribbon, buttons and lots of glitter, of course--that's about it!

Before I go, I thought I'd share a few scenes of Easter with you from my parents' house.  My Mother is a wonderful and fanciful decorator--such a child at heart.  I love it when I can go for a visit during different holidays and see that season celebrated through her eyes...

Mom has a wonderful little alcove in her entry--we call it "the shrine"--it's always the focal point of her holiday decorating...

...she's got quite a knack for it, don't you think?!

 I love this bunny swinging in the Easter tree...

A pretty, folksy piece I love...

An adorable bunch of chickies...

...fun, colored glass bunnies surrounding one of my favorites...

...a gorgeous bouquet of beaded flowers that she made when I was a girl.  There's really nothing this Mom of mine can't do!

Well, that's it for today--hope you enjoyed my look back at Easter--what a beautiful and peaceful time of the year.  It was such a blessing to be surrounded by so much of our family.  Thanks, Mom, for always making it so wonderful to come HOME.

Thanks so much for all of your kind visits while I was away!  Looking forward to visiting all of you and catching up! 

Hope your day is wonderful!  I'll be back very soon with something new...