Our Thanksgiving Holiday

We stayed at the most gorgeous winter
wonderland over Thanksgiving. Here
is our little cottage at the Homestead resort
in Midway, Utah. It was 2 degrees when
we got there , and for desert people, we
had a hard time handling the walk from
the car to registration.
It took us a while to get warmed back up.

My husband is from Minnesota, and I
am from Utah. But we have lived in
the desert for to long now.
This picture was from the Inn
across the road from our resort.
Most of the buildings and homes
have murals painted on the sides
and have a very Switzerland look
to them. This little town even cele
brates swiss days in the summer.
It is a very wonderful place to stay.

This is another view from the main
building at the Homestead. We actually
spent some time here on our honeymoon
32 years ago, so we like to come back
occasionally.
I just had to post these most Christmasy
photos. At night there were many lights
all around the entrance and resort, but they
did not photograph well. Merry Christmas
Season to All my blogging Friends!

More for the Retro stocking giveaway

I have been away for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I
did not post anything else for the Retro Stocking
giveaway, until today. Hurry and enter, I will be
drawing for this next Saturday. This plastic ornament
filled to the max with retro fun.

The things that are in the ball. An old Christmas light reflector.

Another ornament, vintage napkin ring, with vintage stocking
package tie-ons. And a pretty little crochet doily.

Add one full sheet of this vintage look wrapping paper.
This will be lots of fun!

Announcing the Retro Chockful Christmas Stocking giveaway!

I found this retro linen
table runner at an estate
sale a couple of weeks ago,
for 50 cents. I didn't know
what I would do with it, un-
til a couple of days ago.
I made it into a lovely Retro/ Vintage Stocking
circa 1960's. Thus my newest giveaway has
been born. "The Chockful Christmas Stocking
Giveaway"


As the next few days of November pass by, I will be
posting more things that will be added to this Retro
themed stocking and the Drawing will be held on Sat.
December 4th.











Here is the first item to be added into the
stocking. This set of 4 blown glass ornaments.
Very retro and very pretty. These little babies are approx. 4 inches long.

















All you have to do is
comment on this post, be a follower and for another chance to win post it on your
sidebar to advertise it for me. Just save as. . . the picture which is on my sidebar.
If you like Retro, then you will love what is coming! I love CHRISTMAS!

A giveaway win! Yes!

I recently won a giveaway from Vintage Dragonfly (Joanne Balaz) in her Celebrate Sisterhood Giveaway. I think it is one of the greatest happenings for me to win a giveaway from a blogging sister's giveaway. It is not like a sweepstakes, where your chance is beyond "0" But in these little drawings one has hope, because the odds are so greatly reduced. It is fun to imagine maybe if you won, what you might do with the items. This one was her choice based on the person's taste and blog likes and dislikes. She did superbly and I will use it all. I have not been really lucky in my life, but winning this one was such a nice surprize. I did win one other bloggers giveaway. I darling little book she was published in.
When we got the mail today, I was so excited to open it, I just can't tell you. Above is all the loot. There was so much in that flat padded pack, I was just drooling at the first site of it as I peeled back the old tissue patterns. Wow, was my reaction. My husband even thought some of it was cool. But he did say he likes the fact that I like this kind of stuff!

Here is Joanne's own personal little bits of artwork. She sure did seem to know what I like.

AH, this bit of vintage goodness. I love the old buttons and little candle holders. But the bingo cards
were to die for. Old spools wrapped with trim, and the neatest old photographs of two people. The
language on the back suggests a scandinavian country I think.

And also this very fun butterfly/dragonfly stampset, cute worn snowman ornament, an ornament to decorate myself. Wonderful beads, stickers, felt teddy bears, candle etc. Thankyou thankyou to Joanne, you are a jewel!

2010 Christmas season first.

This is the first Christmas decoration grouping I have done this year.
Since I am not hosting Thanksgiving at my home this year, I thought
I would get a jump on all the decorating I do. When I got home from
work tonight I put this together.

These little card holders were given to me by my dear friend
Camille Leavitt, a couple of years ago. I like them so much I
keep them up all year and just change the cards I have them
hold. They usually are Vintage cards.

These two Reindeer were purchased here locally, a couple of years ago,
and I bought one and wanted the other one at the shop. My daughter
ask me what I wanted for Christmas, and I suggested she get me the other one.



This buffet in my dining room is a family heirloom. It was in my husbands
family for many generations. Some of the lead is missing on the sides, but
I love it anyway. I painted the details a long time ago on the bottom drawer.

Brown is her color!

I sewed this little dress back in August
for my Granddaughter Ella's 1st birthday, but never
posted it.

I used some millinery forget-me-nots and made a ribbon rose for the
center. the whole flower pin is removable for washing.

Isn't she a little living doll in it? Of course I am a little bit
prejudice. She is a sweetheart for sure!

TA DAH More French touches to my Space.

Okay, I have been working on this one all weekend and  finished it today. This aged
board above the window in my craft room. (Quick tutorial is the next post down).
I have been working on changing everything, so much of the color is being removed from the room.
This textured
aged board used to say 'The Memory room' in big yellow letters, so it was
time for a change!

My valance also got changed.  Same
valance, just removed some of the
colors.  I repainted the rod too. and
then I just stapled the ribbon to the wall and tied the rod to the wall.  That is a little trick I have used for years, to sometimes put up a little valance.  Then I hung a chandelier crystal on three of the V's on the valance.  Okay, I have got to quit working on the room redo and get to the Christmas crafts and gifts.  I wish there were more time in each day.







This stamp shelf was built especially for my wooden stamp collection. This redo
on the shelf was a good time to really look at my stamps and get rid of the ones I don't use.





I painted this frame  found at a yard sale, with my favorite new spray paint
color. Hammered Iron from Rust-o-leum.

Then I found a vintage photo off the internet that I liked for the frame.
She is such a striking little beauty.























I have added to the stamp shelf, some of
my favorite little things too, including a
photo of my mother's stewardess days as
a temporary blonde in a small oval frame from a
garage sale.

Tutorial for aged board

I took down my old board that said "The Memory Room"
cause I needed a change and had an idea.
















I had to soak the letters off, since they were not vinyl
and they were decoupaged on there. After that I gave it a good sanding. Found some old stencils in my stash.
Got out the texture medium by Delta and the palette
knives and went to work on creating some texture with
the stencils.  Make sure you have your stencil secured well to the object.






For a project like this one I just spread it out on the floor.

I had to let the layers dry in between going over the designs again, to give it more height.






Then  I went over all the designs with a small sanding stick.


It doesn't have to be perfect, because you want it to look old and warn.  Next brush on Crackle medium.
(Also a Delta product)  Put it on thicker in some areas for affect.  Don't let it dry completely.

When it is still tacky, brush on paint, and

                                                         let dry completely.  It will start to crackle almost immediately.  More will come as it is drying.  

When it is completely dry, do this next step.  Take a 

walnut 'Distress Ink' pad or other dark brown stamp pad

and rub over the raised stenciled design.  Some of the ink will get on the 

board off the design, but that is okay.  You can rub some along the 

edges to and if you want to get a rag and rub some of it off, now is 

the time.  You can seal this all by using a matte finish spray, but mine

is hanging up high, so I did not spray mine.  Note:  I went over the design 

a couple of times.  I love it.  How about you?

Christmas Tags Class preparations

I was asked to teach a class on Christmas tags, for my churches
women's organization, and these tags are what I came up with. It is like
a "make and take" sort of thing. Each person will travel around a
table and at each station, make one of these tags. They will come
away with 8 tags. 2 or so, they will design themselves. The
preparations for this has been lots of work and very tedius.
There will be about 35 gals in attendance. So with the help
of my old quickutz, my cricut, and handpunches I have been cutting
sorting and bagging each little element all week long.  I think it will be
lots of fun to visit with everyone, and craft away.  There is a tasters
table. Everyone brings a holiday dish or goody to share with the
recipe.  There also will be other crafts as well along with a quilt to
tie and donate.

Some of my weekend makeovers

Here is the before of two items on one of my walls in my craft room.
I stated that I was not a black and
white girl, when posting about my craft room back in 
June. Well, I still like color, but I am changing up my 
studio, and will have more neutrals, blacks, whites, 
creams and bronzes. I am enjoying the change. It all started
with the redo of the antique desk.  I just could not paint that
old desk in one of the brighter colors of the room.

And the after of those same two items.  I had so much fun 
painting this sign and distressing it
before the second coat of paint was dry with my fingers.

The before of the shelf and the framed poem.

Here is the after of the same shelf and poem. I am not
sure about the framed poem or not. I might still do
something different with the mat.

Saturday's Vintage and antique finds

I am in the habit now of getting up early Saturday morning and looking in the
paper for some yard sales. I scored way up there this past
Saturday in the vintage/antique department.
Yes, rhinestone parts of old vintage jewelry are all in pieces,
but non-the-less, can still be used for crafting.

This vintage compote will get changed up a bit.
I will probably use the crystals for other things.
I was extremely excited when I found this in perfect condition!

All five of these old frames, some are quite old,
and the sweet chair down below, which I need
to take to my wood man for fixing. After that I
will paint it in some really fun way.

The grand total for all of these items together is $17.00
which I think is a steal for sure! What do you think?