A Happy Little New Year to You!

Hope you ring in the New Year in the fashion that you love.

I love our little family celebrations. We will be playing Rock Band, Taboo, wearing disco ball headbands and making lots of noise with vintage noisemakers and poppers at midnight (although the family just asked if we can get the New York time celebration, we might be making lots of noise at 9pm!)

My cute hubby made a ham the other day so that we could just go and cut some when we were hungry and mom and I wouldn't have to worry about cooking. How thoughtful is that? It was very handy.

Well, we made 2 easy peasey sandwiches tonite...just out of our heads that turned out well so I thought I would share them with you.

Baked Pocket Ham Sandwich

1 c. cooked ham diced

1/3 of a package of cream cheese

1 loaf Bridgeford bread dough defrosted

1c cheddar cheese

2 diced green onions

Preheat oven to 400

Stretch the dough on a cookie sheet till it is approx. 6in. wide by 12 in. long

spread cream cheese in the center lengthwise

mix cheddar, onions and ham together and spread down center of the dough.

Gather the 2 sides and pinch together till the dough is completely closed up

Bake for 20 minutes------ Enjoy!

Artichoke and Cheese Baked Pocket

1 Loaf Bridgeford bread dough -defrosted

2/3 package cream cheese-softened

1c. cheddar cheese

1-2 cloves garlic chopped

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1 tomatoe diced -seeds and juice removed

1 can artichokes in water- chopped course

Preheat oven to 400

Spread out dough to approx. 6in. wide by 12 in. long

mix cheeses and garlic together, spread on dough

add artichokes and tomatoes evenly down center top to bottom

Bake 20 minutes ---- Yummy!

Mom and I made these up to use up some of the ham and were really happy about how they turned out so I thought I would share them. We made it a fun appetizer type meal for the special night and had 2 kinds of chicken wings, a pesto tomato flatbread from Trader Joes, Veggies and dip...Simple and Fun!

Hope you have a wonderful Night!

I am almost to my 100th post so I need to think up a special giveaway soon!

Hugs and Merry Wishes! karen....

Peelin' Myself off the couch.....

Well, this holiday has been a doozy! Really good in that it was not too stressful in regards to shopping and too much celebrating...just calm quiet celebrating. Really not good because my mom ended up in the Cardiac Care Unit for 4 days spanning christmas eve and christmas day. I am glad that she got such good care and that she is on the mend though. Then 2 days ago I got a stupid, dumb, annoying cold! I am feeling a little better today but hubby had to take over with mom and the kids and I have kinda quarantined myself so mom doesn't catch the gak! Harummph! I wanted to be organizing my craft goodies and making new things and shopping till I dropped!
So, I will be back soon girls with hopefully something fun to talk about, not the plague!
Have a fun New Year's! I am planning on a quiet but nice one!
Hugs! karen.....

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate. May it be filled with family and friends and good food....Lots of Love, karen.....

The Christmas Hobo Dog

This is a story about our little beagle Oreo and her love of her Christmas collar.

Marissa and I spotted a cute red felt collar at Target in the dollar section ($2.50) for our pup Oreo and thought she would look cute in it for the holidays.
We couldn't wait to put it on her so on it went right when we got home. We really didn't know how much she loved it until it started to fall apart and Grandma took it off to see if she could repair it. Oreo whined and nudged her collar with her nose to get Grandma to put it back on. While it was being repaired, Oreo sadly went over to her pillow and sulked. The minute she got it back she ran around happily wagging her tail.... It was hard to believe she was really that affected by her collar until it really started to shred......
Here is the photo:

We took it off to throw in the trash and she cried an whined and nudged that raggedy thing..... My mom finally decided to make a new one and we put it back on her until it was finished. She was dubbed the christmas hobo dog from skid row. Well, we found the fabric among her huge collection of fabric, but she couldn't find the elastic. Finally, I dug out a piece of elastic and my mom made a pretty collar, removing the bells from the old one to add to the new one.

Oreo was distant and sulky until she was decorated once again with her new collar!

Well........ 2 days later we all started to notice that the collar seemed to be growing...Hmmmmm....... "What is this???"

It now was around the top of her chest....Hmmm.... "Maybe the elastic was old"

Last night my mom started giggling. She could barely get out "come look at the dog!"......

This is how I found her:

And here is the side view
Well, we are off to Christmas shop when hubby gets home at noon today. I think one stop will be at the fabric store for some new elastic...

Or.....maybe we will just have a dog with a christmas tutu!

Have a happy friday! karen.....

A Pretty Little Christmas

This is a very long post so hang onto your santa hats and grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy!


In our house we have a very traditional christmas decor. I would love to have a shabby christmas room but since we don't have a den, we will stick to all our many loved christmas treasures because they are very special. I am fortunate to know many creative people and have many handmade items that I cherish.


This quilt was given to me by my great aunt. Her sister made it-all handstitched.



We just got the tree up tonight and I will just show you a couple of our treasured handmade ornaments. Of course we have all the wonderful child made ornies from the kids...Only a couple of our photos turned out and I need to go to bed so I will show you some special one's that did turn out.


This beautiful angel was made by a family member who moved up to Northern Calif. and since we don't see her much, we still have wonderful memories of our get-togethers over the years...Love you Sharon




And this little bootie was hand appliqued, hand embroidered and beaded by a wonderful lady that I adopted as my grandma when I was a child. Each year I put a branch of our christmas tree in it to smell the next year.


Now, on to my mom's Santa collection. Here are just a few:


And a few more:

She loves her Santas!
Here is a quilt she made for Ben when he was a baby and pillows she made for each of the kids a couple years later:

And here is Marissa's quilt:

This is just a little vignette, I love this doll with the seed pod hair:


Here are the kids stockings hanging on the front door. My mom made them big enough to put them in when they were babies..oh the memories!

We stopped buying gifts for the adults in our extended family, instead everyone brings a $1 stocking stuffer for each person at our family dinner. It can be really fun and silly but I also like it because it makes it affordable to do a little something special for someone if you like and you don't break the bank! My mom made everyone a stocking...here are mine, Micheal's and Moms:

Here are some sweet angels. They will be nestled among angel hair with twinkling white lights...just haven't finished yet!

And here is my favorite angel, she was given to my mom from my dad one christmas:And my last picture has a special story with it:

In November 2 years ago, my dad was living in a nursing home. He had too many health problems for my mom to be able to care for him anymore. He was a brilliant man but at this time he had suffered from so many strokes that he could not longer remember the proper words for things.

I used to push him over to the little drug store next door and we would explore. Well, they had just put out the christmas decorations and my dad spotted this santa. He reads the Night Before Christmas. My dad couldn't even say Santa, but he knew that he needed to get this for my mom. He insisited that I buy it right then and hide it to give it to her for christmas. Of course I bought it and then he insisted it be wrapped right away and I keep it until he was ready to give it to her....

At this time, he couldn't remember what he had eaten for breakfast, or what his own name was but each day that I visited him for the next week he found a way to communicate to me that he wanted to make sure that santa was in a safe place. Finally at the end of that week, he couldn't stand it any longer and asked me to bring it and my mom...he had to give it to her.

She was thrilled....I think it made her feel so good that he showed such thoughtfulness . He passed away on January 20th, a month after that christmas but we still have that special memory of his tenacity and love toward my mom even in his fragile state.

Treasure your loved one's, they won't always be around!

Thanks for stopping by, Please go visit the other participating bloggers

here and thank you Heather for hosting this pretty little christmas party!

Getting in the spirit!

Here is my little button tree that I have just finished. I have wanted to make this little treasure since I saw them last year and this year I am not doing any shows so I am getting to create just for us. I am having a really nice time! Go figure!

I also joined a cracker swap with a new friend in the U.K. and had fun putting that together...I forgot to take pictures so I will see if she will take some and I can post them later.

I still have oodles of shopping and wrapping to do but for some reason am just not stressing about it (no...I haven't talked my doctor into that xanex yet!) The fact that my family is fairly healthy and we are not in debt up to our eyeballs helps. I am just excited to get the tree and see the family and eat...(very important!) Now, on Sunday the 21st I might not be so calm...everyone is coming here again and we are doing almost all the cooking...that is stress for me! too much pressure! What do you do to avoid the stress of the holidays?

Any hoo! I will leave you a picture of one of my christmas gifts from hubby. I saw it on etsy and asked him to order it for me NOW! ( I was afraid I would miss it!) Being the good husband he is, and clueless as to what to buy me, he quickly ordered it...I love it!!! I don't get it till christmas morning but I don't care, I just love it! It is made by Elizabeth Parsons and she has a couple that are similar listed on her etsy if you are interested!

Hope your next few days are fun and you have the warm and fuzzy's of the season like I do! xoxo karen.....

Just a Quick Hi!

I have been busy preparing for the holidays in between my sweet girl and I having a cold, hubby having a birthday, and all the other pre-christmas fun stuff that we all need to do. Oh, and I got some of my shopping done!

Anyway....I promise to write a proper blog soon, I just finished a little button tree tonite and want to take pics in daylight so you can see it. I am pretty happy with it.

I have a cute christmas beagle story to tell you! I need a photo of my funny pup too, to illustrate it...

So I will be back soon! Hopefully tomorrow or wednesday night!

I also committed to doing the Pretty Petals blog party so I need to decorate...Just a little thing! Happy Monday night! Hope you are feeling as inspired about the holidays as I am! xoxo karen....

A Busy Elf

I have been busy making these ornaments for my etsy shoppe and as gifts. I would love if you went and took a look!
Here is one closed:

And Open:

They are alot of work but fun also!

Have a great week! karen.....

A Nice Weekend.....

This was the first Thanksgiving that I had the majority of the responsibility...shopping, cooking, decorating....Now, I am a nervous nellie. There is no other name for what I am, I don't do well in these circumstances.
Well, I think it came out really nice this year...and I didn't even feel like I needed that Xanex that I keep meaning to ask my doctor for! The one hitch was I forgot to buy flowers.....OOooops! We only had two roses that were nice so I went shopping in my friends yard.... Some limes, a crown of a succulent, some pretty flowers off of her porch and some cute white berry thingies added to a couple of mini pumpkins from halloween and a millinery rose and I think it came out pretty cute! Take that 1-800-flowers!!! I did it all on my own at the last minute. The kids got a Ceramic Rooster and a little pumpkin wreath surrounding it which I found at the 99 cent store! Frugal to boot!

On Saturday, I was on a mission to find a 3 tiered plate thingy for our big Christmas celebration, something I have wanted for a while. Well, after going to Macy's, Crate and Barrel and Marshall's, I swung into TJ Maxx for one last try and found this brushed silver stand! It fits any plates you like in it and cost me only 10 bucks! I was thrilled! Here are my weekend creations - some matchbox ornaments which will be going to my etsy tomorrow.....
I know this post is all over the place....Kinda like my mind, I never know where it will go... My cute girlie got her hair cut yesterday. She is not sure she likes it yet but I love it. I wanted to take a picture of her and she refused but when I wasn't looking, she took the camera and snapped this silly picture so here ya go!
She is wearing a curler cover from probably the 40's that I bought for the flowers and she swiped.
She cut off approx. 11 inches and is sending it to Locks for Love. Something she has wanted to do for a while...all her own idea! I love this girl!


Have a great start to your week, do something for someone else if you can...we all need to start somewhere!
xoxo karen....

Swap Goodness and a holiday greeting!

Last night was stamp club. It was alot of fun, a little rowdiness and a fun project. We made this holiday banner, I love it! This is mine and it is almost done just need to put the ribbons on and I will attach it to a pom-pom fringe.

We also had a christmas card swap. We had Bea's altered postcard, which is really cool, Tonie's pretty and traditional card, Arah's Christmas Skull card, Robin made a beautiful diorama ornament and I made a matchbox ornie.

Here is a close-up of Robin's project. I just love it! She will be putting some up for sale on her etsy soon!

Here is my matchbox ornament. The star is made from cardstock and stamped. I will be making some from chipboard and posting them on my etsy this weekend. (they are almost done)

Well, I am off! Gotta go start all the preparations for Thanksgiving. Mom got out and made some of our glassware sparkle so I just had to take a picture to share.

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving...enjoying family and friends! xoxo karen.....

Fun at the Flea

Robin and I made our monthly jaunt to the vintage flea and boy did we have fun! Button cards, a darling child's apron, little mice cheese picks, an old ledger, vintage book the cupie of my dreams.....

She came with this little remnant of fluff and pearls, missing her arms...just perfect in my eyes!

Then how about this wonderful box:It has a glass top with a mirror on the opposite side. I wish I could get a better picture of it, it is just so exquisite.

Next...some wonderful christmas goodies:

Miniature Santas and Mrs Claus, fur trees, plastic tree and candle picks, a cute little elf and a flock of angels.... most of these goodies will be finding their way into my etsy shop!

Look how sweet these angels are!

And a pretty tin and some larger sweet angels.....

How could I pass up that sweet face? Hope you had a great weekend.... I will be posting soon when I update my etsy shoppe!

xoxo karen.....

Ho-Ho-Yo_Yo

I am finally getting in the mood of holiday creating! I love Mary Engelbreit and saw this cute yo-yo garland in her magazine (it is behind the red and white stocking).

I showed it to my mom and she didn't say much but that night she asked me to pick out the fabric and help cut out circles..... I jumped at the opportunity! (my sewing skills are non-existent!) We decided on red and white so we can put it out at Valentines also...I'm so excited! Here it is in the making:

I think it looks yummy!

Happy Wednesday! hugs! karen.....

Yippee! It worked!

Well good ole blogger is better tonite and here are the close-ups. Aren't those bottles pretty? And that hat..... I am just nuts for millinery right now and have already pulled a couple of flowers off one of the other hats... Buttons, millinery, crowns...oh my! Is there a therapy for my kind?

pink and luscious....

Hope your weekend starts off great!

Just a Quick Hi!

I took these pictures a couple of days ago to share with you...I am making an effort to blog more consistantly. The hat is the second hat purchase I made from ebay to use in my art. I love it. Although the person I bought it from literally packed it in a paper grocery sack, taped the top and wrote the address on it...it was quite squished when I got it. Thank goodness I don't want to wear it....

The bottles were a "gift". A friend at work said, "I have some slips from my mother in law that I thought you might want the lace off and then there is this... don't be offended," she said and opened this little treasure! Offended???? They are perfume bottles with crowns for tops...I was giddy! The little square powder bottle is darling also, I think it will go into a bottle set for my etsy.
Well, I had two close-ups of the hat and bottles but blogger doesn't seem to want me to put them on tonite. I guess I will try again another time!
Have a great night! karen.....

2 Posts in One Day!

I have been busy adding some wonderful lacey, girlie confections to my etsy shop. Here is a peek:


An inspiration set with a handpainted cup and some wonderful supplies

A yummy pink crinoline:

A cream tulle crinoline:

A darling frozen charlotte doll:

And a beautiful vintage child's bonnet:

Now, on to finishing my christmas goodies for the shop!