Hey there paper crafters, there has been new scrapbooking layouts added to my other blog
"Special Paper Projects"  Come say hi and check them out. This blog is very sad and lonely!   See you there!

My sort of attempt

I am in such a Christmasy crafting mood lately.
So I came up with this in my studio/craft room.
I decided that this would be my submission for the
the DECK THE HALLS Friday over at Tinsel and company.
I have admired so much the work of Jen
at j nichelle holiday that I really wanted
to try and somewhat attempt making a
Christmasy shaker box, covered in Mica
Flakes and Glitter to resemble hers.


The big difference in hers and mine, is that she uses
pure vintage. My figurine is a thrift shop find, and
is not vintage, just a look alike, and I might have
paid .75 for it. Jen's are all authentic vintage figurines.
Now the larger ornaments on the
bottle brush tree, are in fact blown glass, but I
don't think they are vintage, However I did use
some real mercury glass beads, along with the
old holly leaves sent to me by Jen herself. The
shaker box is from a craft store. The trim was
saved from a Christmas package back a few years
ago, and the "merry Christmas" and other musical
plastic instruments were purchased off of Etsy.
The mini silver glitter bells were from Walmart,
and I glued a mercury bead inside each one.
There also is some other vintage tinsel also
from Jen mixed in the tree.  Not to worry my 
friend Jen,  I will be making these for
my pleasure only.  I got a how glue burn from 
this little baby and the mica flakes make me itch!  ha

Owls in my life in time for Halloween!

The sign at the top was sent to me by my
good friend Kristin at Signs and Salvage
for hosting the Fall Intrigues Basket
swap. Check out her fun vintage blog, and all
the great little signs she makes.  There is a sign
for everyone there and every occasion.
Thanks so much Kristin.  The next owl is one
that I made for the YOE (year of enchantment)
swapper spots partner for the month of October.
Owls were the theme, so I came up with this Sleepy owl.

I also framed this little gem for my partner.

Then I made this little owl which actually hides a key inside. It was fun coming up with some owls for the swap, and then they were sent off to Australia, where they don't celebrate Halloween, so none of my owls were scary ones.

First attempt at cake balls

They are very easy, but I
need to practice more on getting
them to look perfect. I can see
really getting into this. There
are just so many possibilities with
these very tasty, sinful morsels.
Inside these were orange flavored
fall cake centers. I learned a lot
about melting candy coating, and
just when to put the sprinkles on.

I have seen cake balls so many different
places, that I just had to try them. I
think I will be making these at Christ-
mas time to share with friends and
neighbors. I would love your ideas on
flavors and centers. Here are some of mine.

1. Red velvet centers with chocolate coating
2. Spice cake with white chocolate coating
3. Rich dark chocolate centers/dark chocolate coating
4. peanut butter centers surrounded by chocolate cake and chocolate coating
5. peppermint cake centers with white chocolate and ground candy cane sprinkles

The list could go on and on.

Been making pillows

 There just are times that you have to keep something instead of giving it away or selling it.  This is one of those times!  I have been crafting pillows
from Moda and the basic grey charm pack 'Fruitcake' 
and have added vintage laces and trimmings, and also vintage jewelry and buttons. I wanted to particularly show the details of the "Merry Christmas"  on this pillow.  The other pillow pictured here was part of my latest giveaway sent off to the winner, and is shown in an earlier post.  I used a vintage 'M' pin and a 'C' from K and Company for the "Merry Christmas" and then Stamped with STAZ ON onto distressed cotton.  I love how it turned out and wanted to share it on the blog.  I will post more pillows as I complete them.

For Valarie in Fall Swap!

We were suppose to send a basket. I couldn't fit the house and the pillow in the basket, so just sent them in the same box.

Inside were many items, all with tags. Some treats, earrings, vintage earbobs, salt and pepper turkeys for Thanksgiving. Doily, picture frame, fall journal, buttons etc.

I made two of these pillows. One for Valarie, and one for another gal pal exchange on my get-away crafting retreat for 4 days. I did up a gift bag full of stuff for Halloween, for that.

Today I received my 150th follower

There is a winner in my short lived giveaway.
I made it to the 15oth follower today, and so I had a
drawing and the winner is. . . . . Susan from Art of Mine
www.sjmcdowell.blogspot.com Congratulations to
you my blogging friend Susan!

Holiday giveaway posted/150 followers

I posted earlier, that I would have items to giveaway that represented four holidays.  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day.  


Thankyou to all the sweet friends I have made through the blogging world.
I look forward to many more too! I am having this giveaway
to show my appreciation to my followers.
I love new followers, comments, but more importantly the friendships
I have made! I will be sending someone
the following after I have reached at least 150 followers. I am only 3 away
so this giveaway could be over with soon.

A vintage Christmas squares pillow, from "Lookin Old"
made from Moda squares (Basic Grey pattern "Fruitcake")
with vintage trims and doilies
and embellished with some vintage buttons, rhinestones, etc.

Here is a approx. 11 inch by 7 inch
Valentine wall hanging.

Here is a vintage Valentine with original envelope.
I am guessing it is from the 50's

This ceramic Turkey napkin holder. Plus
from the next post below. A Vintage handmade
Christmas Ornament and candy dish and plaque.
All you have to do is comment on one of the next few posts
about this giveaway and be a follower. If you put up my
giveaway badge on your blog, you will be entered in twice. 
And remember that if you have already commented in any
one of the posts about this giveaway, you are entered!  
 Thanks to you all!

It is here! A new giveaway

Announcing a new giveaway for all my followers. Because I love 'new followers' and I love the holidays which are fast approaching!  I am approaching 150 followers, but I don't have that many yet!  When that number reaches 150 it will start a new countdown to a wonderful little giveaway having to do with "Holidays."  There will be something from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day.  Could be vintage, or might be handmade, or maybe just something to decorate with.  I will post pictures as soon as I hit 150 followers.  So come on!  Join in the fun.  Become a follower if you have not already done so.  Leave a comment in one of the posts about this giveaway, and advertize this giveaway on your blog.  Just grab the picture above to do so.  Happy Holidays!

Announcement! New giveaway coming.

I have almost reached 150 followers, and when I do I will be sending one of my lucky followers a box full of Holiday fun.  There will be Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines Day represented in the giveaway.  All you have to do is be a follower, and leave a comment for one of my blogposts regarding the giveaway.  So much fun!  I will be posting pictures later.  

New and improved centerpiece/Faux mercury glass

Do you love mercury glass like I do? I would have a whole slew of it if I could afford it. I have a few pieces that I have collected, but recently I was looking on DIY blogspot, www.thediyshowoff.blogspot.com thediyshowoff.blogspot.comand came across the Faux mercury glass pumpkins. I knew I had to try this one, so went right to work on finding pumpkins. These were $1.00 each at Wal-mart. Then went to Home Depot to get the exact spray paint they were talking about. There are tw0. Rust-o-leum's Shiny Metallic Silver and Hammered Iron. I knew that I wanted to replace the candles on the tall candlesticks with the pumpkins. I love how they turned out.










Little turorial here! After spraying the pumpkins silver, don't wait for it to dry, then diffuse the hammered iron by using a large card of paper. Spray close to the object and let a little paint spray onto it. Then by pressing ever so slightly, the paint will spit out some larger speckled spray, giving the effect of mercury glass objects. I did this project for $13.00 and have been spraying other urns and objects turning them into beautiful pieces too.







The candlestick is real mercury glass, and the pieces in the pumpkin dish are also real. This is the new and improved Fall Centerpiece on my dining room table. An update on our weather here in Southern Nevada. It will drop drastically to the high of 74 degrees tomorrow! Whoo Hoo!!!!!!!! we are so excited. Fall has finally arrived in our neck of the woods. It might even rain this week! Yeah!!!!!!


Be sure to visit the Show and Tell Friday over at Romantic homes blog.  It is like looking at a wonderful magazine with projects and ideas at your fingertips.

From Victoria Magazine.

My Version of the
house from Victoria
Magazine. (Oct. Issue)
I made mine a little more
Halloweenish than the
one below. And I used
hot glue to make it look
like there were spider
webs on the house. I
added a bit more details.

here is a link for the pattern!
www.victoriamag.com
click on Favorite Things
and from there click on
HOLIDAYS.  you will
arrive at Harvest Project
Patterns.







I can already see things I should
have done to mine, and see some
things I wish I had not done. Any
how, it was fun. Someone might be
getting my version in a package.
Just maybe. (hint hint!)