Happy New Year--A Year In Review And A Peek Into the Future

Come and join me for a look back at 2009 and a peek into 2010........

A look back at a few of my blog postings for the year.....a year that was spent like a lot of Americans--no job, thankfully however that has been fixed-a year of thrifting, creating, a few road trips, a new donkey, pretty sunsets and rainbows, and so much more.....

I learned something new! How to make a photo mosaic! I always wanted to know how to do that and it was easy as pie!

And now here we are on this last day of 2009 and I am ready to tell it goodbye and to open the door to a brand new wonderful year! A year that has......

"... three hundred sixty-five bright mornings and starlit evenings; fifty-two promising weeks; twelve transformative months full of beautiful possibilities; and four splendid seasons. A simply abundant year to be savored." (Sarah Ban Breathnach)

This is my wish for you also!

I am looking forward to working more on my sewing and needlework, creating some new patterns, learning new things, getting healthier (losing weight!), journaling, going to new and interesting places, finding new junking treasures, meeting new friends, blogging more and enjoying each and every day!

I have so enjoyed all of your wonderful comments throughout the year and I do hope you will please continue. I may not always answer them back (something I hope to do better at this next year!), but I do always read them, enjoy them and appreciate them.

Thank you!

Happy New Year Everyone! May it be a blessed one!

And don't forget to join Cindy at My Romantic Home for a trip with our fellow bloggers through their past year too.

The Last Treasures of 2009

I hit a few thrift stores yesterday and today and found the last of the treasures for 2009 and I think I I did pretty good........

3 Santa mugs--.25 to .50 each, 1 resin santa head to craft with 1.00 and Whooo Hooo! Another Santa pitcher! And he was only 3.00! Yeah! Oh Yeah!.....

....a rose covered heart tin for .75. I have always had a love for anything hearts and roses--I say it's because I was born the day before Valentine's day. And in case you're wondering what to get me for my birthday this year--anything roses or hearts (besides a long list of other collections! LOL!)..........I have another tin just like this only in black with roses......

...does anyone remember these---tin can pincushion chairs. I found both of them for .50 each! I plan to refurbish and update them a bit--new paint, pretty pincushion seats, maybe some beading or embroidery added. You can see the tin can lid in the seat of the gold chair and when I looked at the bottom of the white chair it appeared to be made from a soda can. I even found a link on how to make these. Click HERE. .........

...and last but not least are my gorgeous new curtains that will be going in my sewing room. I just fell in love with these! There are 2 fairly long valences, so they should be quite useable and I only have one window in my sewing room, so I'm thinking of creating a faux window somewhere in the room just so I can use them both. My shabby rose sewing room is starting to come together!


I put together a little slide show of some of my 2009 thrifting treasures and I think I had a great year!

I wonder what wonderful treasures 2010 holds? I can't wait to find out!

Merry Christmas One & All!

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas

Filled With Much

Love And Joy!

The stockings are soon to be hung, fudge and peanut butter candies still to be made. The Christmas ham to be baked, presents to be wrapped, the shopping is done and a very few cards have been sent. Now it’s time to slow down to enjoy family and friends and to partake of the true spirit of Christmas.

To continue my Christmas wishes for you please click Here for my version of Joy To The World

and Here for a heartwarming video.

Christmas Joy! A Wonderful Giveaway I Won!

I am so excited! I won these gorgeous cross stitched bowl fillers made by Jenny Hoffman of Country Rustic Primitives in a giveaway she had recently.

The stitching Jenny has done is so fine and perfect! I so envy her being able to stitch on linen. My eyes just can't seem to see well enough to stitch such beautiful fine stitches, so I will enjoy and treasure these all the more! I absolutely LOVE these Jenny! Thank you so much!

Jenny does such beautiful work and she has patterns as well as finished goodes. You can see more of what she creates at her ETSY shoppe and on Lemon Poppy Seeds too and of course don't forget to check out her BLOG.

Creating A Centerpiece To Go From Season to Season

A couple of weeks ago I ran across a tutorial for a beautiful centerpiece by Applestone Cottage. I knew I wanted to recreate one for myself only with a bit different style, so I rummaged around and gathered up what I had and someone else had mentioned using canning jars and so it went from there.

Here is a bit of tutorial on how to get one started using things that you have around the house that suits your style. I've also decided that I'm going to keep this centerpiece out year round and tweak it up differently for each season, so keep an eye out as we progress through the year.

Supplies:

3 canning jars--varying sizes if possible. I used blue, but clear would look great or look for other interesting glass containers that you might have floating around.

Tray--A tray or base to hold everything. I had an old enamel tray that I found at a thrift store years ago. Other things might be an old frame with glass in it or add a piece of thin, but sturdy board to it. You could even use a cardboard flat and drape it with fabric.

Epsom Salt
(Kosher, Rock or Sea salts will work too)

Candles
Candle Cups
Cinnamon Sticks
Greens
Strips of Homespun Fabric
Rusty Jingle Bells
Wire
Cranberries (fresh)

This is the tray that I used for my base it measures 11 x 16

Fill the jars with Epsom salt--add about 3 inches or so.
Kosher, Rock or Sea salts will work too. Epsom salt just happened to be what I thought of.

The jars are filled and I tilted them a bit so the salt would look uneven. It's supposed to be snow ya know.

Then using a pair of kitchen tongs I lowered the glass candle cups into the salt and pushed them around until they sat stable.

NOTE: I highly advise using the glass candle cups, because otherwise your votives will melt right into a big puddle and mix with the salt and make a mess. Ask me how I know. What was I thinking!

Add the candles to the cups

Scatter the cinnamon sticks around the tray.

I plan at this point to keep this as my very basic centerpiece that I will build on for each season through the year--but of course that may change too.

I had also considered adding salt around the tray before adding the cinnamon sticks, but I wasn't sure if it would react with the tray and pit it or not, so I skipped over that thought.

Add a few sprigs of greenery over the top of the cinnamon sticks.

I cut mine from the ugly juniper bushes right outside the front door.

This step I probably should have done earlier and you may want to, but it works either way. Cut some thin wire long enough to dangle the jingle bells on---I slipped the bells onto the wire and with my finger just curled and squished (it's very technical I tell you) and made a little curly cue, so the bells wouldn't all fall together.

The I placed the wire around the neck of each jar and twisted the tails in back and then squished the wire around until it hung nicely. We're not going for perfection here--otherwise I would have said to manipulate the wire instead of squished. It's more fun that way.

After the bells are added take 3 strips of homespun--ripped about 2 inches or so wide and however long--at least 10 inches I'd say. Wrap the homespun around the neck of each jar and either knot it on the front or just do a criss cross of the piece and depending on if you have enough either go around the back side and knot or just tuck the ends up underneath itself. Told you it was very technical.

Now sprinkle on some cranberries for a spark of Christmas color. These can be changed out if they start to shrivel and dry up.

And voila!
Light the candles and enjoy!

I liked this so much that I'm thinking on ways to change it up for each season and holiday and I'll post each seasonal change as the year progresses.

Simple and cheap! I spent 6.48 on this:
Candles and candle cups at the dollar store 3.00
Epsom salts 1.00
Cranberries 2.48

If you make a centerpiece I'd love to see it and if you post a photo on your blog I'll add your link here, so everyone else can enjoy it too.

Giveaway Winners And New Review Blog

And the winners are........

The winner of both the angel ornie and the Martha Stewart CD's is Esther of Shabby Cottage Collectibles! Congratualtions Esther!

And for the Rowenta Rebate I will be sending one each to Connie Of Living Beautifully and Westside of Straight.

I have also opened a new blog for product reviews called Review Chat, which is where I moved my Rowenta review to, (had to keep in compliance with my blogher ads) so you may see it there. Right now that blog is pretty simple and I'll be working on it a bit more after Christmas, so hope to see you there on occasion too.

Thank you everyone!

Vintage Christmas Monday

It's Vintage Christmas Monday, so don't forget to visit Anything Goes Here and see the rest of Vintage Christmas out there in Blogland.

This week I decided to share some very vintage photos of Christmas when I was growing up. They aren't the best photos, but they are the only one's I have, so here goes.....

I am the oldest of the 3 of us--the redhead. The blonde is my younger sister Rhonda and the baby is my brother Greg. This would be 1966. I was 5 years old, we lived in Capistrano Beach, Calif and these would be our Christmas outfits for 1966, purchased with Green Stamps. Does anyone remember Green Stamps and also Blue Chip stamps? I remember my mom used to collect them--I think they "earned" them at the grocery store by how much they spent each trip and the little stamps would go into books that you then turned in at their stores to purchase things.

Here we are in about 1967/1968. I was 7 or 8 years old and we lived in Escondido, Calif, where I spent the rest of my growing up years. Don't you just love the ugly tv on the even uglier tv stand. It was black and white and no one had heard of remote control. That's what kids were for! LOL! Oh and that lovely non-descript tan carpet was later replaced with just as ugly new and fashionable green shag carpet--the kind you had to use a special rake to run through it. Thank goodness it is now the future. LOL!

This would be that same Christmas on Christmas morning, still lots of presents to be opened. The lady in the white suit is my Aunt Barbara, next is my mother, me, my sister, brother, Grandma Long and my dad fixing something. Notice the lovely pole lamp in this photo. Thankfully my mothers taste of decor improved greatly later on! LOL!

The year is 1971 and I am 10 years old and my sister and I are wearing matching dresses that my mother made us of swiss polka dot, with bell sleeves. Very stylish for back then! We are at my Aunt Debbie's house and since she had twins that were crawling she put the tree in a playpen that year.

Christmas eve 1972 modeling our new Christmas jammies in the living room--the room no one was allowed in except for special occasions-which was ok, because it was ugly--again with decor for the time--red shag carpet, gold velvet furniture with a mediteranean style--a couple more years down the road yet before mom finally got some good decorating taste--she eventually went antiques and victorian and has stayed that way ever since.

Can you see the white tree on the table top--it's made out of toothpicks poked into styrofoam balls and sprayed with the fake canned snow. I remember it came out of the Family Circle or Women's Day magazine and I remember the three of us kids helping to poke the gazillion toothpicks into those styrofoam balls--ouch! Boy am I glad we are in the future! Hey some vintage is just meant to stay in it's own time! LOL!

And last but not least is a picture that finally had it's mystery solved for me this year thanks to Aunt Barbara--who I need to email and no I haven't forgotten you--just keep getting sidetracked. Anyway this is about 1967, so I would be 6 years old. I knew there was a photo of Aunt Barbara modeling a bathroom rug--why I had no clue. My mom kept telling me that couldn't be so, but here it is--Aunt Barbara modeling a bathroom rug and shower cap. How chic! LOL! She said my sister and I had gotten matching stoles that year--I'm wearing mine as you can see and so she decided to model her new bathroom rug just to be silly. I knew my memory wasn't off. LOL!

A little different for Vintage Christmas Monday, but that's how my vintage Christmases were in sunny, southern California way back when.

Oh and don't forget there's still time to sign up for my little giveaway--HERE

Home for The Holidays Tour

Please join me in Southern Hospitality's Home for the Holiday Home Tours. I'll be sharing my country primitive side of Christmas for the tour................

HO! HO! HO! Welcome Everyone!

I thought we'd start in the laundry room, since this is where we enter the house--through the back door. A small tree decked out in homespun bows on old clothespins and rusty jingle bells....

....a little old fashioned looking doll.....

...a prim santa on a candlestick.....

....a bit of Christmas cheer for the dryer. I borrowed the candy cane in the mason jar lamp idea from Aunt Amelia's Attic....and the snowman cookie jar I searched and searched for and feared had gotten lost---he was hiding in the box marked--Snowmen. Imagine that! LOL!

....My Prim tree filled with handmade ornies that I've swapped with friends over the years. This is by and far my very favorite tree! I usually put up 3 full sized trees, but this year I only put up 2, because this house just isn't configured to my way of decorating....

.....a few close ups to follow of some of the wonderful ornies made by friends on the prim tree......

....my new little vintage Dancing Santas on the fireplace....and no it's not dusty, it's just the way it looks no matter what I do to it......

...The big ol' nutcracker in front of the "regular tree"......(the family is not fond of my prim tree--I just don't get it!)...

....little miss annie and Ted E Bear (handmade by my dear friend Donna Balfanz)...enjoying the season all snuggled in their little red sled enjoying the glow of the candlelight.

Don't forget to see all of the other wonderful homes over at Southern Hospitality

Oh and don't forget there's still time to enter my Giveaway!