Thimbleprims Studio Old Fashioned Doll Swap

Here she is! I just finished her. She is one of my patterns I designed back in the late 80's. And her name is "Prairie Sweetheart"  She is made of muslin and calico prints trims and mini eyelet lace.  Her hair is made out of embroidery floss.  I wish I could keep her, but she is going out to Mary Mattis at Polka dot hill musings
I did make her a bit smaller than I use to. We were asked to make an old fashioned doll to swap with one other person. This was hosted by Cindy at Thimbleprims Studio.

"Lookin' old is the tag that I use with my antique looking items.

Her collar is truly vintage and hand crocheted.

Valentine tag swap-My tags

Here are the 20 tags I completed for Kandeland's Valentine tag swap. I forgot to take a picture of the back of themas there was a whole other scene on the back.   I will have to post all the tags when they come. They should be here soon. I am excited to see all the talent that will be coming my way.

I realized that 20 of the same tags are kind of daunting when there are 19 pieces on each tag and the glitter wasn't sticking on the hearts.  I pulled out the red glitter glue and had to do some adjusting.   But I was happy how they all looked lined up. Thanks to Natalia for hosting this. Check out her wonderful blog at kandeland.typepad.com

Announcing: Two fold Giveaway

This is a giveaway with a two fold purpose. First being that I am approaching 200 followers and I want to say thankyou too all my followers and the second reason is that it is Valentine's Day and February is my favorite month. It's filled with romance, love and it is my Birthday month. So in honor of all that, I am giving away some sweet Valentiney things. The item above is one of my sets that was published for the January 2011 Ultimate pack for Storytellersclub.com for which I am one of their designers.  It is called Bohemian Swirl, and it is filled with punch out page elements and matching paper.  There is even a little card for an idea for a Layout.  

The second thing in the giveaway is this sweet hanging pocket
filled with a vintage Valentine and other sweet ephemera for
making Valentines. It is deliciously ragged  and has vintage
doilies and buttons adorning it.  I had a lot of fun
making it.

                                        Little bit of a close up of the details on this heart pocket.

This double heart pendant. It can be used added to a key chain or
hung on a chain. The main large heart is Vintage!

This sweet little porcelain heart dish, and this bunch of Vintage wallpaper pieces.

All you have to do to be entered is:

1.  Comment on this post that you would LOVE to be entered.
In your comment tell me if you are a follower.

2.  Become a follower if you are not already.

3.  And for a third chance, post my button for this giveaway on your blog sidebar
to spread the word.

The drawing for this will be on February 9, 2011.
Good luck to all of you and thanks for a lovely blogging year for 2010!

Love, Life, Sonnets and Work ethics

I found two old books amongst my old old books that were
written for love. They both belonged to my husband's
Great Aunt Esther. I knew her and she was one of the
most generous and loving people. She must have been
a romantic at heart.Don't you love the
cover of this book. It even has a heart on it for Valentine's
Day coming up.

There are many pictures on the inside with love poems.
I am not sure where I got this bookmark, I just know
I have had it for a long time and it is very old.

This book has a date of 1906 inside. It is covered in a
suede that is litterally falling apart. The inside title
pages are a crackup to me. People thought a little bit
differently in those days. That is quite a 'Title' explanation.
Makes me laugh!

Couldn't put it away!

I love my mercury glass balls, pinecones and candleholders and the color red. A perfect opportunity to keep those things out after Christmas is a Valentine display. I used my tall glass vases that were bought at the dollar store and epoxied onto different bases, other romantic looking candlesticks, a silver easel, frames and the replicas of the places where my husband and I were married and the where my parents were married, to display the vintage Valentine cards that I had.

This filligree and jeweled ornament was purchased after Christmas

I loved this card, because although it is a Valentine, it had different colors, then what one would normally see for Valentine's Day.

Recently published Sets!

This is what the sets look like when I send them to be reviewed by the staff at Storytellers.
Then they let me know exactly how much they will pay me for each set. After I get paid, they are theirs' to do with as they please. And seeing them turned into something tangible is awesome.
Storytellers club is the scrapbooking company that I am priveledged to design for. I have had many sets now published into punch outs, and many sets that have been published to the digital part of storytellers club.
These are sets from the last 3 months, and that means they were made into punchouts. Then they are sent all over the planet to people who join and are sent these large packets each month. You can view all their wonderful products at www.storytellersclub.com The paper that their graphic designers design to go with each set is awesome. I enjoy seeing my designs made into physical pieces.
The above design "Noteworthy was done up in the November pack for Storyteller's Club.

                                                          In December's pack Yuletide Bliss

                                                           In January's pack Bohemian Swirl                                                            

Proud Me!

It is so difficult to get all of my 8 children together at once, but past Thanksgiving was one of those rare times when we almost pulled it off. This is a photo that I just found on one of my daughters blogs, that I had not seen before. I didn't even know they took this, even though I was there.
These wonderful young women are our four beautiful, loving and very nice daughters. Last year at Christmas time the three of them holding their babies were all pregnant, but the short daughter on the right was not. She is the oldest, believe it or not, and she is the smallest little thing. She doesn't quite reach 5 feet tall, and although she will turn 30 in Feb. she is often mistaken for an 11-14 year old, when not with her children and not wearing make-up. But she is an amazing person in her small little frame. All of them are amazing and wonderful, and I am fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with all of them! They are talented, Smart, kind, and all very good mommies. The blonde on the far left, Kendra is a twin to the dark haired one holding the 3rd baby. (Believe it or not the two in the middle are not the twins) We don't have any natural blondes in our family, but I think she looks great as a blonde, she has a fantastic little Etsy shop called adorn me girl, where she makes and sells darling accessories for women girls and babies, and has a degree in broadcast journalism. The second one is my baby girl Kylee, and she is an artist and is so creative and crafty, and loves to decorate. The third daughter Tara, is a wonderful photographer and helps her family's income with her photography business. The sweet little pregnant one Elliah (pronounced Alee) is a very gifted and talented poet and writer. She is working on getting some books published. Together they will have 7 children between all of them by March, and I as their mother am very very proud of them!

From Thimbleprims gothic ornament swap!

Here are the ornaments I received from Cindy at Thimbleprims. She hosted the 'Gothic Christmas Ornament Swap' and I must admit that when I first spotted this, all I could think about was the 'Nightmare before Christmas'  I didn't know if I could come up with anything for this, but I decided to do Gothic Victorian Christmas ornaments.  I felt like it was a real challenge for me, but it was fun.  I am adding at the bottom of this post, the ornaments that I made for this swap, which were posted earlier!

                                                                                  

I only got three ornaments done, for the thimbleprimsstudio.blogspot.com They are quite detailed, and very victorian.  I decided that I would do Christmas Victorian Gothic,  and this is my interpretation of that.  I hope the 3 participants who get my ornaments will like them.  I do, and wish I had one for myself.

                                                                                

Cindy also sent me this wonderful chandelier piece which is already hanging up in my studio, and this wonderful new journal, that I badly need.  The cards she chose went so well with the theme too.  Thankyou so much to Cindy, this swap broadened my horizons.