Thursday, January 31, 2013

Straight from the Heart

 
I received my package of hearts from the heart swap from Debby at Cozy Blanket.  I was amazed at the beautiful work and amazing touches on every heart. This one is from Elizabeth at Creative Breathing.
The beautiful embroidery makes me swoon. 

 
Can you imagine?  Such beautiful work and a heart I will treasure.  Thanks Elizabeth!


 
This is my mystery heart...no name.  French knots galore, buttons, trim...

 
Just lovely.  I hope to find out who the creative and talented maker of this heart is, so I can thank her.


 
This is from Holly at Cotton Pickin Fun.  Holy smokes, Holly went all out.  The little bird with the addressed letter and the tiny bunny that you can take out, just awesome.  I am going to have to attach that bunny to the heart or he might just wander off,  if you know what I mean. ;-)  Thank you Holly, your work is beautiful and I so appreciate all that went into this special heart

 
Too sweet! My sweet p. loves this bunny as he visited with her during our face time this morning.

Oh my, can you believe the work that went into this heart.  Beading and trim, flowers and a bit of sparkle.  This heart is from Linda at Lutka and Co.  Thank you Linda, what a gift.

 So special.


This little bag is so much fun.  It's from Carol, from  Art and Sand.  Carol is living the dream of a little cottage by the sea!  I just love this stamp Carol used on this muslin bag.  I told her it reminds me of Wilson, from the movie, Castaway, one of my favorites.  The bag was filled with these small hearts...

 Thank you Carol.  Just a quick peek at her beautiful blog and I am hooked. 


This pretty and sparkling garland is from Debby at Cozy Blanket our hostess with the mostess for this swap.  Thanks Debby for all the work involved, but mostly for your friendship.  This is a lady filled with love and joy and shares it with so many.  Debby used so many pretty papers, buttons and that special ingredient, LOVE!



Bringing hearts together from all across the country.

 Another mystery gift.  This paper book page garland is right up my alley.  Decorated with the word Love and glitter hearts.  I am overwhelmed by the generosity of these sweet girls.  Thank you, Thank you and Thank you once again. 



Snow and Cold here in Chicagoland.  Cozy and warm inside.
Have a great day my friends and thanks for stopping by.


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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Love is the answer...

 
The question, what is February all about?  (With a nod to my old friend Gerry Sasso who wrote a song called Love is the Answer and it was also the name of an album we made...we meaning our Young People's Choir)(Yes I was a recording artist..as if...;-) Boy, it's kinda early in a post to digress!
Anyway, I started to do a little decorating for Valentine's day.
I love this print, have had it for so many years.  It hangs somewhere year round.  An excellent reminder about what love really is...patient, kind...


 
A couple of books, with heart...

 
A vintagy heart I made and use to hold some of my pins.  This is also out all year. 

 
A mirror I painted and used the napkin method to put the ivy and the roses on.
Thank goodness there is no 20 year rule on craft projects.  Is there?

 
and my faux stack of love letters...

 it's really a trinket box.  Forgive me, I've shown this before.  I think it is so cool.  An old Carol Duvall project!

 Some real old letters, not mine. Wish I had a stack of my own... well really, I'm old enough now that all the letters from my youth are old! Gotta fish those out.  I have some very sweet letters from friends I should display.

 Just took down the Christmas art that was where the large clipboard now hangs.  Found some botanicals I bought from a dear lady, Joan of Anything Goes Here.  If you are looking for anything vintage, she is the girl for you.  I miss her, we used to meet up here and there at shows.  I lost the botanicals for a while, they were put away in a safe but undisclosed place. (In a large book, and sadly forgotten till recently)  I have been finding some clipboards, so maybe I'll hang some downstairs too.


Classy, right? 

It is dark and rainy here today.  So much to do.  Remember, all you need is love.  Enjoy this beautiful day.


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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

need a hug?

Taking care of my girls yesterday, after 2 weeks without them. How quickly they change. Our little bug turned one this month. She has no words...yet. She grunts like a mini cave person and points, but she understands everything. She is a tiny dynamo, carrying things far too large for her with ease. Can you find the jingle bells? She does. Let's throw away that diaper...she walks it over to the trash. The best surprise, can I have a hug?




A sweet, warm hug! Life doesn't get much better than that. Look at all that hair. She's beautiful, inside and out, as I always say. I'm a lucky Auntie Penny.
The little bird, now Four has a, great sense of humor. She loves cutting paper with my paper trimmer, something that has challenged some of my less crafty friends. She's always got a great idea. Lately, let's have a fire and hot chocolate! I am so lucky to have these girls in my life. And what about my grand daughter Penny you might ask... we have face time with all the girls. Penny thinks everything that our little bird does is the funniest. Big belly laughs and giggles. When children really laugh, it comes from somewhere near the toes and bubbles up. The most beautiful sound in the world.




Remember the lacy candle holder from yesterday...here it is lit up. So pretty.




Wanted to show you a book I found last week. Any Kitty B. fans out there? I looked to see if she had a blog, but all I found was a Pinterest page. Just always loved her style, and she was junking and shopping flea markets for treasures long before it became cool and the THING to do.
Ok, enough random chatter from me today. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy this beautiful day.
Love, Penny
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Monday, January 28, 2013

Weekend Update

 
A trip to Ikea for some pillow forms as recommended by my pal Kathy at Charm Bracelet Diva at Home, is always a dangerous thing for me to do and especially alone.  Dearest Hubby was on the west coast and I was home alone for the most part, and left to my own devices...a trip to Ikea could cost some big bucks.
I was good and only purchased this pretty candle holder.  It is perforated and lovely in the daylight but dazzles at night when you light a candle inside of it.


 
This is one of the pillows I needed to fill.  I bought this shabby chic brand pillow sham and tea stained it.  I am on a tea staining kick.  I'm really attracted to that cozy worn look you get with just a few tea bags and a stockpot filled with boiling water. 

 
I like it so much I stained some flour sack towels.  I printed some transfers and some labels for another project in the works.

I found this Pyrex canister.  I store craft things in this type of canister, though this is the first one I found with a yellow lid. They almost always have the harvest vegetable pattern.
They are cool because they stack, and that's one of my obsessions...stacking things...jars, suitcases, books, small cedar boxes...  Yes that is a Christmas tree...it's only January 28!

Wonky photo...I made some of these for Christmas...They are just English Lavender soap wrapped in vintage sheet music.  These will have a Valentine twist.  The scent of lavender is so strong you can just leave it out to freshen the powder room or as a drawer sachet and never need to unwrap.  Of course it is wonderful to use in the traditional way...with water. 


More tea stained goodies...


Remember the Christmas snowflake wreath?  This is the start of my Valentine version.
Pardon the mess. 

 
A few jars I thrifted.  The rusty lids sold me on these.

 
This crate/basket is perfect to hold a project or two.

Now that my sweetie is back home, I can relax.  Can I tell you a secret?  This last Friday was the first time I have ever spent the night alone...  EVER! I mean I am almost 58 years old!  Mike, who is rarely home but usually at least sleeps here... went and stayed with friends, and I was ALONE.  I went from my parent's house to living with my husband, to having children and managing never to spend the night by myself.
So now you might expect me to say how liberating it was, to do anything I wanted to do, to care for only myself...Well, NO!  I hated it.  I am no good alone.   I didn't smear jello on the stairs or anything, but I love the comfort of my husband, even a sleeping husband.  Or the sound of laughter from downstairs, or the low strum of Mike's bass, or better yet, to know that all the kids are home, filling all the rooms, the coat tree overflowing with coats... I told hubby, this may be his last trip alone...and he feels the same.  Sigh...

Downton Abbey was sooooo sad last might. Then we watched 2 hours about a giant squid...  Who say's we don't know how to have fun...;-)

The ice is melting and the sun was trying to come out.  Back to our regularly scheduled lives.  Have a great day my friends.


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Friday, January 25, 2013

Love and other things...

 
After seeing the success of my friends Barb and Lynne had with air dry clay, I thought I'd give it a whirl. 
I have been collecting cookie molds for 25 years and have yet to make a cookie with them.  I used to make paper casts, wax sachets, cinnamon dough sachets...and now paper clay.

 
I used a rolling pin to roll out the clay on parchment paper, then lifted the clay onto the mold and pressed all around with my fingers to release any air trapped under the clay.
I am not a patient woman when it comes to crafting, so I put them in my oven at the warm setting...
about 140 degrees


Some I just cut with a cookie cutter and stamped with a rubber stamp.
They are cute to look at but fragile. I am giving them several coats of clear glaze...but since it's been so cold, I have to wait for warmer temps since I don't spray in the house.


 
Here is one of my actually completed hearts.  The bookmarks are hand sew. 
Like molasses on a cold cold day...I am poky and hope to have a few completed before February sneaks in next week.

 
Some busy work...

 I wanted to try to make some impressions into the clay, as I did back in my ceramics period.  Look at this score.  All these doilies for .49!

 It makes me want to cry to see some one's handiwork go for .02 a piece.  I throw a Thank You out into the universe to the loving hand that made these.  They are admired and appreciated.

This little pitcher, or planter I thought was a steal at .99.  Then I literally spent hours chipping away at the foam that these flowers were set in.  They used the spray foam, the insulation kind, and it was a solid block I was bound and determined to remove. I'd work on it a little and think, heck this is too hard for the buck I spent...but then would go back to it.  The last few inches were the worst, then I stuck a fork in the foam and it popped out clean as a whistle.  I wonder about my sanity, but I felt such satisfaction.  Maybe some time on the "couch" is in order....Jean...my dear friend, (She helps me sort out the universe) time for a long talk! :-)

I almost forgot to mention...SNOW SNOW SNOW.  We finally got some.  Not enough to shovel, but the ground is covered. 

Last but not least...Penny can say HI!  It started with just a sound that sounds like hi, to an avalanche of  Hi's.  I got it on video!  Kristen, her Mom said hi at 6 months.  I just walked by her little chair she was sitting in and she said HI!  I could not believe it. I think Kris is in trouble...when Kris starting talking, it was like a dam had burst.  The questions, the stories and if I wasn't paying attention, she would turn my face in her direction.  Oh the pleasure of watching my daughter and grand daughter interact.  Have I mentioned Kris is a great Mom?  Well she is.  Penny is 8 months old, oh how I love that baby girl.  Where does the time go?...

Have a wonderful weekend my friends.  Thank you for stopping by, and for your kind comments.  It makes my day.


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