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!

2 Birthdays and an Anniversary!

This is a busy week for our family! Ben is now 17, his birthday is the 7th and he was born on our 4th anniversary which made it our 21st! Then...there was my birthday on the 9th...Busy, busy!

Even Oreo had a birthday message for me!

Since hubby and I rarely do anything big for our anniversary, I asked him to take me shopping on my birthday and out to lunch so we could spend time together. We visited the new Home Goods store. It was really nice!

On Saturday, hubby piled the kids and I in the van for a drive...We went to San Pedro and Palos Verdes. Both are on a large hill (PV is referred to "the hill")

San Pedro is our harbor, it is large and very busy where most of our ships come in for the Southern part of Ca. Palos Verdes is beautiful, wealthy and has an ocean view or a view of LA from all sides.

We visited the Korean Friendship Bell, Point Fermin Light House, and went to the Marine Mammal rescue center...these are our favorite places to go when we feel like being tourists in our own community!

This is the lighthouse, they were decorating it for the holidays:

And the park attached, overlooking the ocean:

Then we drove over to the Korean Friendship Bell. It was given to the United States during our Bicentennial as a measure of friendship. It also is surrounded by ocean:

And we found these sunglass-wearing totems there...they were new!

All in all, it was a really nice weekend spent with loved ones. What more could a girl want?

Just Being Silly!

I whole-heartily believe we all need a little silly in our lives! Today, when I got home for work, I opened the Ebay package of 4 hats that I told you I would show you soon. I bought it for the millinery...since we can't find them as easily out here on the west coast. Well, I handed them to my mom to see and she started trying them on, giggling and silliness ensued!!!!

Here, you have Hedda Hopper:

Next.... Minnie Pearl (missing the tag).....

Then....Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies....

And pretty Pearl Bailey:

Hope you had a little silliness in your day!

karen.....