Happy Easter!

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Day! Life has kept me very busy lately but now it is settling down and I am happy! I participated in Cerri's (Little Pink Studio) wonderful Easter Basket Swap and had the most wonderful partner- Karoline. She is so sweet and has 2 darling daughters and you will see by my basket how talented she is!
Here is my basket before I opened it:

And here it is with the cellphane off: (oooo la la!)

Isn't it the most darling thing? She made the basket from a vintage hat (be still my heart) and look at those cute critters peeking out at us! The bunny has a delicate layer of glitter on it and the chick is fuzzy!

This is a paper mache nest filled with chocolate and a darling bird.... loveeeeee it!

And here are some of the contents: A chocolate bunny and jelly beans, 2 cute vintage cardboard chicks ( memories of my childhood), seam binding in pretty pastels, beautiful vintage buttons, a darling egg cup, velvet lace wrapped so cute and a spool of lace and 3 vintage postcards....

She also made me 2...count them2! of her cashmere flower pins, some vintage millinery and these darling vintage Japan bisque dolls (be still my heart)

I am sooo lucky! Thank you Karoline, it is all sooooo wonderful.....

We are having a quiet Easter, just the way we all wanted and I will just enjoy all my sweet goodies and my wonderful family and good friend and yummy food!

Have a Lovely day my friends! Easter Hugs! karen.....

Ps....I also participated in Kari (Artsymama's) May Day basket swap...I had another wonderful partner and will be sharing her basket on May 1st! Hi Lorrraine!

Lucky Me!

Beware! This post is filled with photos! Hubby and I took a little one night getaway in Ventura, Calif. It is a fun place if you love to thrift because there are about 20-30 thrift and consignment shops to visit. The last two times we were there we saw them restoring this Victorian Church to make into a Bed and Breakfast and so we took a flyer and called and were lucky enough to get a room! It is called the Victorian Rose and the Inn Keepers, Nona and Richard and their cute Yorkie pup Teddy were wonderful! I took a bunch of pictures but they didn't all turn out too great but everywhere you looked, there were treasures. They were able to save some of the tin ceilings and added them to a bathroom ceiling and a cabinet. There were also chandeliers everywhere (pitter-patter)

This was the main part of the church and if you look at the top, those gold swans are the entrance to one of the rooms. You have to climb the spiral stairs to get there, I opted to stay on the ground. This room is now the sitting room and dining room and Nona is a wonderful baker!

Here are some beautiful french lace curtains in our room and one of the cherubs flanking our door to the patio....

We had a wonderful time and would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the area!

Now.... I won a giveaway and today I got it in the mail..... (yipppeeee!)

I was the lucky winner of Judy of the French Laundry Blog's giveaway!

I have wanted this book by the fabulous Fifi O'Neil since she talked about writing it, I have followed her blog for a couple of years now and if that wasn't enough, she also added in one of her beautiful sachets! (which she also sells in her etsy shoppe!)

This is how it came wrapped! See.... Lucky me! I feel so happy!

Tuesday I am participating in the Blogger's Bodega on Capers of the Vintage Vixens

Here are 2 new goodies I have added to my etsy....

A darling new shadowbox:

And a pretty dresser set...

I hope your week has started off great! Mine sure has! karen....

Fun Weekend Finds....

I just found Blogger's Bodega, a fun Tuesday shopping linky click on over to visit!

Tomorrow is Market Monday...a really fun way to see some wonderful etsy sellers! I will be participating again as I am finally starting to fill my shoppe. Yesterday we happened upon an estate sale with tons of stuff! The items in the house were Antique store prices mostly but the things in the garage that they haven't had time to clean and sort were fair so I got some pretties for my shoppe. I found this darling bonnet buried in a chest full of dolls (not the kind I like...the scary kind!) The woman who owned all these things lived in California her whole life and so did her mom. She was 99 when she passed away 2 years ago and this sweet bonnet was her mom's. I love Mary and Infant of Prague items...when I saw this I was so excited! Unfortunately I need to start making my etsy work so in the shop it goes!

These hand crocheted gloves are so precious!

And these...... well they are too cute for words! I thought they were part of a child's play-dishes set but my friends tell me they are liquor glasses. I think they would make wonderful vases in front of everyone's place at the table!

Well, I will be back soon to share more. I am still working on some handmade items, I am in 2 swaps and am having fun with those too! Happy Monday my friends! karen...