Sweet little half apron

I decided to finish up a little apron for my 
Etsy Shop.  I am so glad that aprons are
making a comeback.  I wear them a lot more 
in my kitchen.  But I think many are wearing
them now when they craft too. 

Alice tag book

The movie is out. I have not seen it, preparing for the tag book swap made me really reflect on Alice in Wonderland. I was so tickled to get this in the mail. It came way before I thought it would. I can just about imagine the amount of work that went
into these lovely little gems that Karla did up for everyone who participated.

Not only did I get the book, but this lovely pen came with it. It truly goes with the Mad Hatter Tea that took place in the Story.

Karla made about 80 covers with little doors that opened, and she did up these little bottles too. It all came wrapped in a page from the book. So neat! I am so lucky. I feel like I have been to Wonderland myself. I will cherish this for years to come.

Don't you love it?

Easter time

This is my new Spring and Easter centerpiece. I used my ceramic basket, that I made many years ago. It has six sides with a lovely
floral motif on each panel. The eggs are really special. They are actually real live chicken eggs, collected just a couple of mornings before. I love the different colored ones. I got a carton of 18 from a friend who has chickens. They probably gather about 6 dozen per day. I learned some interesting facts about different colored chicken eggs the other day. Different chickens lay different eggs. The speckled ones are my favorites. There were some that were plain dk. brown and look just like they were dyed. I found out that the chickens secreet a kind of dye as they are laying them. Hence the speckles and the dark brown on some of them. These other greenish ones are from a different kind of chicken.

My French Country Style

These crazy old spoons needed a place to hang out.
So I designed this little spoon holder and had a friend cut it out and put it together.

This hangs in my kitchen. It's a paper collage that says French Kitchen and I think you will agree it looks and feels like something you might see in a little 'French Bistro.' It is made from many different patterned papers, French ephemera and then I hand wrote out the words and cut it out. I also stamped paper paint in the two corners. Then the double mat was painted, then crackled to get that worn look. I never get tired of looking at this.

I did this for our guest room. Just thought it might help anyone who sleeps in there to truly have 'Sweet Dreams.'
and the one below hangs in my pantry. It is a board I had that I just thought would be fun to decoupage up with french ephemera, and more patterned paper. In the other corner it has the word pantry on it.

My own Etsy Shop! This is cool!

I just created my own Etsy shop, and I am really excited about it. I have 1 item listed and will list more, but I am just happy that I figured out how to get my pictures uploaded and I will be posting a lot more things. This should be fun!

New Vintage for my birthday.

I had this posted before, and then deleted it, because it was mixed up with some other posts. I recieved this box full of goodies from my good friend Camille

Don't you just love this stuff. I sure do. From the Vintage buttons on original card, to the old bottle with the piece of antique lace wrapped around the spool. She sure knows what I like and I am sure it is the things she likes too. Thanks so much Camille.

Recycled Apron

Thought I would like to post this vintage recycled apron I made yesterday.
While looking in my fabric stash. I found this old jumper I use to wear in the 90's.
I took off the back basically, and cut sashes from the back piece. Then I cut off the bottom, moved it up and added this lovely old vintage
doile to the bib. Since there were already button holes, I just decided to do a faux buttoned neck band. Added a cute pocket and I think it turned out pretty cool. What do you think. I will be making many more aprons, each one of a kind with old vintage doilies attached for my new Etsy shop that I will be getting up soon. What do you all think of the doile apron? I believe in the three R's. . .Recycle-Redo-Reuse!

Valentine swap

I was lucky enough to do a Valentine swap with Kristen over at Signs and Salvage. She makes the most darling little Vintage Signs. This one is so perfect for me. I have a lot of black at my house plus red is my favorite color and I couldn't love glitter more. I am sure I will display this one all year round. Her signs are all handmade in California, and they use reclaimed wood and recycled paper. Each sign is Unique and one of a kind. She also sent me this really neat old vintage card. I love it, and everything lately in my life has been all about older vintage things. I will surely enjoy this little swap. Thanks so much Kristen, and guess what? I found out we share the same birthday. How cool is that. A link to her blog is in my link list so click on Signs and Salvage, and check it out.

For Sailor Anne

I have been busy sewing for my upcoming grand babies. There was a baby shower, so I got busy and made a banner for my daughter's
baby's room. It is made of a double layer of cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, and letters I cut from the cricut and painted gold. Then I stamped a scroll on each flag, then sewed around it for stability. Tied them all together with gold edged ribbon.

I made this dress, bonnet and bloomers. English smocking is something I have not done much of, so it is not perfect. I had forgotten how tedious making newborn clothes can be, but very much fun, when it for a sweet granddaughter.

This very very soft blanket made of soft flannel and a velvety fleece. Then some burp clothes. You can never have enough of those. I will be posting the things I made for my other daughter who is having a boy in a later post.

Some of my favorite things

I decided that I would show a few things at
random every so often amongst the scrapbook
pages and other creative things. Actually this
large wreath is one I did several years ago. I
used to make these and sell them. It has such a
cottage garden feeling. This must be timeless, because
I have had it hanging on my wall now since 1995 and I still get so many compliments on it.


I love mercury glass, and would like to
collect this stuff.


I actually really do like to collect these
type of dishes, with scenes on them.
I am not sure what this
is called, but it might be called toile.
If anyone knows please let me know. I
have many of these plates with scenes
on them. And the clock is a toile design that says
Paris on it. My favorite is french country decor.

*Hey here is an update. The dishes that I love to collect
are called transferware. Thanks to Diane Knotts. She didn't even know she helped me out on that one.

Hey here is an idea. Place a cast iron door mat in the middle
of your table for a great centerpiece mat. These also make the best trivets for hot casseroles.

Creatively Green challenge

Don't know if this would qualify for green, but everything used on the card was either from my paper scrap bin, or taken from something else. I even used leftover doilies from my daughters wedding. I only had a few left. The middle embellishment was cut out of paper also. This was the challenge from Nicole for something with glitter.

Who will swap with me?

Here is a sweet little handmade valentine box that will be filled with dark chocolate bliss! And this handmade Vintage Valentine with envelope. Just a simple little scrumptuous swap!

I would love to find a person from my followers who loves to make handmade vintage cards to swap this week with me. I realize I will not get it by Valentine's Day, but that doesn't matter. I just would love something that someone else crafted, and I have visited so many other wonderful blogs lately That I just have gotten so excited about giveways and swaps.
Update: I will be swapping Valentines with Signs and Salvage. Can't wait to get my valentine sign.

I have been visiting so many great and creative blogs out there in blog land that I wanted to post about some which have really impressed me. Check my link list and click on to visit, Bella Vista, Happy at Home, They call me Jammi, nicnacnook, Cherry's Jubilee and many more.

SWEET SWEET Vintage Giveaway happening here!

I am so excited for the first Vintage giveaway ever from 'Something Special.' These items aren't actually old, just the look of old and Vintage. Hope you will all love it and hope you will try to win it! All you have to do is 1) Become a follower to this blog, and 2) Comment at the end of the next post, and make sure I can get through to your blog if your number is picked. If your number is picked, I will get your mailing address quickly and send it out right away to you. I promise it will be judged very unbiased and fairly, and not by me. This giveaway starts now and will be ending on Monday morning February 8th. Good luck! And be sure to check out my Creative blog and especially the next few posts, as there will be the details on what I am giving away.

Details of the giveaway!

For the Decorating portion of 'Something Special' here is a Country French set of molds for the kitchen, these are faux molds to hang on your wall. They are not antique, and are for decorative use only. (porcelain)

for the scrapbooking portion of 'Something Special' here is a set from Storytellers club, designed by me titled "Believe" with 4 sheets matching paper. Also some sweet vintage valentine stickers and a beautiful Victorian twin frame for your wall.

I put this scrapbooking combination together to usher in the Spring, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. 6 12 x 12 patterned papers
from DCWV, cutouts from Cricut, borders from Martha Stewart, 2 yards of great taffeta leaf ribbon, and other embellishment elements.

A beautiful Spring Scene in this lovely bone china teacup and saucer from England. Can't you just feel the Spring coming with these daffodils.
And check out the handmade Valentines from 2 posts back. They are part of the giveaway too.

Winter Centerpiece!

Here is a look at my winter centerpiece, this is quite a change from the Christmas one on the dining room table. I am sure it will change again in a couple of months to look so spring like. These flowers are from Jacob and Kelli's wedding last February. I thought I might as well get some more use out of them. And the cloth medallion underneath it all is very old. It was given to me by my Mother-in-law many years ago, and it adorned her dining room table as my husband was growing up. There are things from Robert's, Mikasa, Pfalzgraf and even Argentina. I love the calla lilies in the arrangement. They look so real, but they are plastic ones.

A vintage feel