Projects new and old...

 Thank you Mr. Sunshine!  Today was a great day for pictures, so I worked on a couple of orders and snapped pictures of some glitter goodness and other Christmas projects.  Up first is a silver platter with a wonderful Santa from Graphics Fairy...

 I'll keep going with the upcycled plate theme, this next one is on a vintage ironstone plate with more graphics from Karen, actually she is represented quite well in this post because she is my GO-TO GIRL for graphics!  Thanks Karen!

this one has vintage wedding dress trim around the plate and Santa is poking through a little 'pocket'. I actually made these two last year and found them all tucked away in a tub when I was getting ready for the show a couple of weeks ago.  yay!  The next ones I made today, seriously do you all work like this, you start with one project and then the brain kicks into overdrive, you see something out of the corner of your eye and before you know it, you are starting on a whole new piece?  crazy, cookoo, all I know is that is how mine works so I'm usually doing no less than 5 things at once.  I know there is a pill for this but honestly at 49 years young, I figure it's too late!

and honestly, I love how these turned out so I'm glad I have no attention span to speak of!  I took a chandi crystal and glued an image with wonderful writing on it and then added a sweet Christmas bird, oh so sweet, if I do say so myself!

this one is just for me... I actually may add it to a ribbon or existing necklace and wear it!  More gorgeous script and then I stamped the number 7 on it, I have a few more of these crystals so will be coming up with more of these, I'm sure.  These crystals are unusual in that they are completely flat on the back and so make it easy to add the images.  I have some of the cut ones too so I'll see what I can do with those!

 Here is another piece from last year, I was doing wax collage around Christmas time and taught it at Lambs Gate, the antique store that sells my artwork and soap, it's very fun to do and really relaxing. New question... have you ever taken a class from someone who works on 5 projects at once? hmm... just kidding, I don't usually work on a project when I'm teaching, that way I remember that there are other people in the room! LOL!!  (plus I'll let you in on a little secret about me... when I like how something is turning out then I just might dance a little and I definitely WILL start clapping my hands and singing) it's true.  anyway,  The angel actually came from Graphics Fairy too, see she's just the best sharer ever!
I have much more to share with you but this old computer gets kinda warm when I am on it too long and well it already shut down on me once so I better call it quits for now.
I'm going to go over and link this up to the Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday party and while I'm at it I'm going to link up to White Wednesday just in case the days get away from me like they usually do!  I'm also linking  this to Boardwalk Bragfest... I love this party everyone has great ideas to share!
Hopefully I will be back before then, but if not Toodoodles!
Thanks for stopping by!  Theresa xoxo

the glitter is flying...

and here is where some of it ended up...

I'm hoping that we might get a smidgen of sunshine today so that I can take more pics of where the rest of it is!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Theresa xoxo

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your day is filled with love, laughter, delicious food, and surrounded by those you love!  Theresa  xoxo

Sending it out pretty...

 So I was looking at my large amount of wool scraps and a lot of them are pretty good size,  some still full sweaters, and not wanting to keep a metal trash can full of wool just getting dusty I decided to start wrapping my etsy sales in wool!  pretty lightweight, economical, wraps easy, and truth be told I will do anything to not fight with tape!  I even hot glue my presents shut if I need to!  yup, I said hot glue!  I have been sending out my sales in pattern paper, and I will still continue to do that, but maybe for the fragile, smaller items, this will work even better.

 Plus my sewing machine is always out so this was really easier than wrapping in paper!

 The photo above is the little ceramic bear I sold, all wrapped snuggly in bubble wrap, and sealed with ,gulp, one piece of tape... I could not let you think I DON'T use it at all, I just prefer to use what I'm more compatible with!

Here is said sweater sleeve...

I turned it inside out and sewed the bottom shut, then I pinched the corners and sewed them so that the bag would be able to stand up.

Here is what the corners look like pinched and sewn.

Turn the bag right side out... here are the corners now, pretty, right?

Now, here is the little bag to put the bear into, I even ran the sewing machine over the twine a few times to hold it in place.  I promise it took way longer to write this post than it did to make this bag!

I placed the bear in the bag, wrapped the twine a couple of times, tied a bow, poked twine through the gift tag and tied a knot, then on the other side, I did the same with one of my cards.  Place the whole thing in a shipping box, TAPED that shut (the post office frowns on me bringing the machine in there!)  One down and two to go!
With the holidays fast approaching, I am listing lots of goodies on etsy, see my stores links on the sidebar, and well, I know that I like getting a special package in the mail so I'm sure my customers do too!  How do you package your goods?  Inquiring minds want to know...
So I've been sitting here trying to play with blogger this morning, giving 612 a face lift.  Right now I'm at moderate frustration level, but earlier... oh my gosh, off the charts!  It's a good thing I was doing this stuff while little people were still sleeping!  I'm just saying...
(with the new changes, I realized that I REALLY need to work on my camera skills!) geesh.

Thanks so much everyone for all of you love and support from the last post, it was truly overwhelming and I am so incredibly grateful for each and every one of you!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Theresa xoxo

THIS JUST IN... DID YOU KNOW THAT TODAY IS WEDNESDAY?  somehow it slipped my mind that it is WW... I'm heading on over to link up with Kathleen over @ Faded Charm, come join the party!

THANK~FULL

Thank~FULL. Yup, that's what I am. FULL OF THANKS. Why you may ask? well let's see...
I married a wonderful man who believes in me and knows that everyday even though I am far from perfect, I am a good human being. period.
I have 5 incredible kids. truly. I love them more than life itself and the best part is... they love me in return. truly. and you know what? they believe in me too.
I have been blessed with the gift of creativity. It's by far my favorite gift from above. (besides family) I have been given many, mind you, like the ability to snort when I laugh, the gift of
being able to create something from almost nothing, the gift of my mothers looks, along with the ability to recognize a mood swing (she had them too) and put myself in a time-out when I do, knowing that time-outs are a GOOD thing, the gift of compassion, the gift of tolerance, the gift of a quick wit... which supports the snort, the gift of good health and the ability to take care of myself and those people I mentioned above, a roof over our heads, and a fire in the fireplace.
This year has brought me even more blessings, the courage to overcome my fear of the computer, and because of overcoming this fear I have met some really wonderful friends on here. I have been encouraged, and supported by some of the most amazing women, I have never had the honor of ever really 'meeting' in person and yet they reach out to me when I find that I need them most. You have given me the creative outlet that I needed to really showcase the art that I love to do. You have listened when I rambled and oooh and aaaahed when I showed a new creation and that has been a huge blessing to me. It filled me with more and more inspiration. So I am sending the biggest bear hugs out to all of you right now to say THANK YOU for your friendship and love!

Now not to take away from this mushy thank you but I have had some yuck thrown my way this week here on the blog and I need to clear the air so I can move on...
If I have ever confused you into thinking that I came up with the pumpkin construction of all the the pumpkins that I made and showed you then well I'm sorry... the first time I posted them I put a link to the tutorial here. and then a couple posts after that I sent you back to that post. I have been informed by the person who wrote the tutorial that she was not pleased that I did not include a link every time I showed a pumpkin. I did not know that it was expected. Quite honestly I assume the same people come here time after time so they already saw the link, I am sorry for the oversite. There is now a link in the comments section of those posts and you can find it there. I did not 'create' the original idea of the pumpkin made this way, however, over the years of doing shows with my sister we used to make wool pumpkins and they were pretty similar but not as easy to create. I mean who doesn't like the no-sew tutorials on here? Anyway... ours were almost identical to the ones I made this year, only this year I added the rosettes, thanks to the many tutorials out there for them, and the bling, because when we did shows we were making lots of primitives. So the idea for the construction and the original tutorial were not mine, it is here. Now that being said, I was offended by the fact that I was called a copycat and not creative enough to come up with ideas on my own. I was offended that I was considered beneath a person who 'made a living doing this' while apparently me making and selling things to help with our bills was less important because my income doing it was not as large and so was referred to as a hobby. Just to set the record straight, this is not a hobby to me, I am doing everything I know how to and have the time for to create a business for myself. All in all here's what I want to say, if you visit here on a regular basis than I hope you KNOW who I am. I hope that I have been able to convey to you that I am an honest, hardworking and upstanding individual, I am kindhearted ( I swear) and live by the golden rule, something else my mom blessed me with, I get my feelings hurt pretty easily (more of a curse than a blessing) but when I have made a mistake I apologize. I have done that and I guess the one last offense is not being forgiven after apologizing. I am a person of faith and in that faith I know where my heart is and so does HE, so I'm going to take comfort in that.
In the big scheme of things, this is trivial. Max's best friend has leukemia. that is not trivial. people are hungry. that is not trivial. people are lonely. that is not trivial. soldiers are dying. that is not trivial. people cannot afford health care. that is not trivial. I get what this is... but I really needed to get this off my chest so that I can move on. Today was my first day to get creating again and it was good to be covered in glitter.

Thanks for listening... I'm getting off of the couch now. do you charge by the hour?

I want to give credit to Jessica over at Craftily Ever After for the thanksgiving definition on my chalkboard. She has a wonderful download of the definition printed on burlap to share with you. It is actually longer than what you see, but I couldn't fit it all. Thanks for sharing Jessica!

I'm linking this up to the Give Thanks party over at the Vintage Nest, what a great idea for a party! Thank you Lynn xoxo

Thanks everyone! Theresa xoxo

THANK YOU...

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED OR ARE SERVING NOW. XOXO

Thanks everyone for your input...

I love this place called blogland... I ask for advice and I get it! Everyone had such great ideas, I really appreciate them all! So today I thought I would clean off the porch and let you see the rest of it and what I decided to do with the bag. I took down the chalkboard and moved it to the back entrance where we can all see the msg. Give Thanks everyday when we come in the house. When I went in search of our Thanksgiving decorations this week I found a framed vintage postcard (enlarged) so I hotglued some brown velvet ribbon on the back and hung it from the nail, then covered said nail with a little vintage bling! waa laa. Then I moved the rosette over to the side of the bag and swept the porch so I could show you the whole thing! another waa laa (that one is for the fact that I swept the porch!)
Here is a better shot of the door with the white tables on each side...
You can't see this bench in the first pic. because the scarecrow covers it up, it's hard to get a good shot of it without taking a pic into my neighbors window but I wanted to show you the blanket I found this summer for 3.00... can you believe it? I love it!
This is the other side of the door, I need to put a candle on that candle stick... to quick to snap a pic I guess! I made the cone out of an old screen last year and it is hanging from an old sconce, the hydrangeas must have blown out of it... why do I not notice these things before I take the picture? ugh.
I worked inside the house too, I brought this table in from the patio area and I love it in the dining room but more importantly I wanted to show you the deer doily, my Bushie (grandmother) made it! My mom gave it to me years ago and just today I finally put it on a background so we could really see all of the detail in the deer. Even more amazing... my mom told me that Bushie never bought or followed the patterns, she eyeballed the whole thing! It is really lovely and I love it on the grey wool background. I stretched a sweater onto foam board and hot glued it in place then pinned the doily on. I'm sorry, I'm gushing a little but I think it's beautiful, made even more so because she made it!
This is what I started my day working on. I made this burlap cone last year too, right about this time but I left it plain. So this morning I added a rosette that I made out of wide velvet ribbon and then added some vintage millinery leaves and vintage cotton crocheted trim. Here it is with a few greens that I picked out of the apple bag for the pics...
Here it is with a few more greens and a sewn and stuffed paper santa that I made years ago, I couldn't believe it when I looked on the back and saw the date 2005... where does the time go?
A close up of the rosette and lace, I really am on a rosette kick these days but now I gotta buy some more velvet ribbon cuz they make beautiful rosettes!
That's not all folks, I have been making tags, small paper cones, a wool and paper santa and more, just didn't get pics of everything so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your weekend is wonderful! Theresa xoxo
p.s. thanks again for your help! xoxo

rosette or no rosette?

When it comes to floral arrangements, if you can call this one, I am a simple kind of girl. I had made a basket for the front door with a nest and bird and leaves and white pumpkins and multiple rosettes... oh my gosh, it was waaaaay too fussy for me! So I got the apple bag off of the barn and filled it with eucalyptus, which smells so wonderful and some fake (groan) greens for the door. but now I am questioning the whole rosette thing... gasp! I know right?!!
I really do love the whole simple look of all of the beautiful European blogs and of course Jeanne de Arc, I believe I told you already that I am smitten with that book! So I tried it without the rosette and well... to rosette or not? can you help a girl out?

Here's a wider shot of the porch, not all of it though, I left out Max's scooter and Hannah's razor and well a leaf or 100! Now looking at the chalkboard maybe that has to go too... an I going too far, getting rid of a chalkboard? ;o

This has been an AMAZING day for me... I don't want this to sound like I'm bragging or anything but all in one day I have been informed that I have won 3 giveaways!!! 3!!! I cannot even believe it! Truly I don't really even enter that many, but the ones I do are the ones that have THE GOODS... you know what I mean... THE GOODS!!! Thank you Carola, Joy and Jan, I am so thrilled! I will share pics in a post I promise. Right now I am doing the most obnoxious happy dance ever!

Thanks for stopping in... and remember I could use some help with that bag! Theresa xoxo

From one holiday to the next in the matter of a day...

I am smitten with Jeanne de Arc, the simple beauty of the muted colors, the soulfulness of the photographs, the inspiration of simple decor in the homes they feature. They have inspired me to create some JDA like Christmas decorations. I 'invested' in the latest issue and oh my goodness, it is gorgeous! So I took a small break from making pumpkins (one morning off!) and started on Christmas! Can you believe it? Christmas! I am never-ever this early on starting my Christmas wares but this year I am determined to not be behind the eight ball, o.k. the seven ball maybe, but not the eight ball!!
I did manage to dig out the turkey platters today to take pics of the last set of pumpkins for etsy. I love this platter, it has a big crack in it but I put it out every year anyway. So for this set of pumpkins I was able to scoop up a bunch of stems from the pumpkin bins when the kids and I shopped for pumpkins. I'm pretty sure by the look on the cashiers face that she thought I was crazy when I asked of I could by the stems. She felt sorry enough for the children of the crazy lady to just let me have them! I love how they turned out, just a little bit of a twist from my other ones. Thank you cashier girl!
I got this deer from Karen @ The Graphics Fairy. I think he is just so cool, I put the picture on a paper mache ornament and the ruffled some crepe paper and the leather button came from a vintage coat that I picked up on Sun. at an estate sale. The coat itself wasn't salvageable but I was able to keep the buttons and the collar so it was still worth the whole .50 I had to fork over for it!
I decorated the back with scrapbook music paper. I still need to decide what kind of a hanger I want these to have.
I actually got all of these images from Karen, this one I took over to Picnik and turned it sepia and gave it a little bit of a grainy/soft look. I love how it turned out, just what I was going for jda style. This is a vintage prayer card that Karen has for us to use, really just beautiful. Thank you Karen!
This one already looked like it was printed on canvas or fabric, really beautiful prayer card of Madonna, I am happy to say that I figured out how to ruffle crepe paper on my sewing machine for all of these - way better than doing it by hand! I wanted to add a special glistening jewel to the Madonna ornies and they just kind of finish them off.
I put music paper (scrapbook) on the back of these also and on the sides I either trimmed them in velvet ribbon or silver glitter. These will be going in my etsy as soon as I figure out what hanger I want to put on them. for more beautiful Madonna and Jeanne De Arc type treasures you really need to go over to visit Michelle over @ Petite Michelle Louise, she has some really soulfull pinkeeps, scapulars and reliquaries, I have already purchased a few for some special Christmas presents!
This is the latest addition to the pumpkin patch, I had more and some of them weren't even white, but I have sold them locally and Duane likes them so much he has given a couple away! I love it when he gets excited by this kind of stuff!
These have an array of handmade decorations some have wool rosettes, or burlap, one has a wool mum and the white one on the right has a silk/bamboo crocheted rosette with a jewel in the middle. I have more goodies to show you, my dining room table is a good indication of how many ideas are jumbled in my brain! Thank goodness Halloween is over so I can focus on this stuff again! Plus it was confusing the kids that I was singing Christmas Carols while hot gluing them into their Halloween costumes! ;0
I am linking this up to Jan's Boardwalk Bragfest and to Kathleens White Wednesday because well I'm in need of a party I tell you!
One last party... there are some great ideas shared over @ Tea Rose Home thanks Sachiko!
I'm also linking up with Karen's Brag Monday to show her what I was able to make thanks to her generosity.

Thank you for stopping by! Theresa xoxo

Project Genesis

Happy Monday! I am joining in Suzan's Project Genesis movement today, she posted an awesome tutorial on how to make a reusable shopping bag for us to take to the grocery store so that we can eliminate the age old question... paper or plastic. It's worth checking out (hers is actually almost too pretty for the grocery store) and making some for the next trip to the grocery store! I missed PG last month and had thought about what I would post about and as it turns out it was shopping. As you can see from the picture above, I am from a very large family. Those beautiful parents right up front are the reason why family is so important to me. They decided when they got married to have 12 children. It's true... 12! Who does that? Well, people who love family and what it represents that's who! Now because that was the choice made, there were other choices made as well and being frugal was one of those choices. My parents instilled in me that life is about the people, love and laughter that you surround yourself with, not the stuff. Not that I don't like stuff... cuz I love me some stuff... but it is not my reason to live, I don't cringe if a plate or glass gets broken, and you know why? Because I probably paid almost nothing for it, that's why! I cringe at the cost of some of lifes necessities as it is, so if I am going to get us some of lifes extras well, I'm shopping second hand. I have found here in blogland that so many of you do exactly the same thing. We don't need a mall to define our style, we can create our own by mixing clothes from different eras that we find at the thrift store or a wonderful yard sale. My mom loved garage sales, she would find the craziest stuff - always with a plan, not that she always carried out that plan mind you, but she started out with a plan! She passed on the idea that things can be reused, recycled and passed down. With 12 kids in the family you did not want to be the last boy or girl in the family cuz you know that there is "still some life left in those jeans!" Patches were my moms best friend!
So now I have passed this love of thrift stores on to my children. My older kids shop almost exclusively at thrift stores for their clothes and housewares. I am proud of them for this choice, for one, is there a better way to recycle? They have shopped there on their own since highschool because they did not want to look like they just came from the mall and looked like everyone else at school. They still do that today and the best part, besides the fact that they always look so fabulous when they go out, they are recycling, reusing and passing down everything they buy! By purchasing vintage, and we all know how much we like our vintage, we are all doing our part to keep perfectly good items out of our landfills and giving a gorgeous piece of history another chance at life.
So to wrap this up... keep on sharing all of your vintage treasures here on blogland and you will be passing on the lessons taught to us by our parents... waste not want not! These are important lessons to share with our young children who are so brainwashed by commercials of buy, buy, buy! I am proud to be a frugal shopper and that my dad and mom thought it was more important to fill a home with 12 children that they raised with love and values than it was fill it with valuables. My mom is gone now, and I miss her terribly, but the wisdom she and my dad shared with us about what is really important in life will be with me forever and I hope that I can continue to pass it on to my children, and now with you!
Head on over to Old Grey Mare and visit with the other participants for Project Genesis, if every one of us shared one idea no matter how small, and we tried the ideas shared, just imagine how much better this little planet we call home would be!

Thanks for letting me ramble on...Theresa xoxo