Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The "Fabulous Mystery Gifts" Revealed

Yes, it's finally time (well over time) to reveal The Fabulous Mystery Gifts that I promised to the lovely winners of my Blog Anniversary Giveaway back in (ahem) May. I mailed them out a little while back and wanted to make sure my winners recieved them before I revealed the great mystery. I love gift giving, and this was a really fun one for me because I was able to personalize these gifts to the winners. My first lovely winner was Claudia...

Claudia was so fun to create for-- we love a lot of the same things, colors, and all manner of sweet vintage goodness. We both even love coffee. Claudia had randomly mentioned that she had run out Peet's Coffee. Being that there's a Peet's practically around the corner, I couldn't resist picking up some to send to her!
Claudia is restoring/remodeling a darling dollhouse. (Oh my goodness, check out the porch floor. I love it!) These little goodies are a combination of things I created and found. I made the beach bag and the table/chair (depends on the scale you use) in some of her favorite colors. That print on the table and the tiny "McCoy" vase remind me so much of her wonderful vintage style!



I've also done some stitchin'~ a linen dishtowel with stitched blue birds, and embellished with rikrak. This pattern immediately came to mind when I was thinking of what to stitch because Claudia had chronicled the hatching of a sweet little bird family earlier this year. I appologize for the wonky angle of this photo, but I wanted you to be able to see a bit of the trim.

Okay, here's a better shot. I love this pattern so much, I may have to stitch one to hang here at The Little Nest!

Next, this is what my 2nd prize winner Kathi received. Have I ever mentioned that I love wrapping gifts? I love wrapping gifts! In fact, I made the simple little box cover that you see above. It was easy peasy, using a couple strips of paper, a scalloped circle punch, and a simple sweet polka dot Cath Kidston sticker. The stickers and outer box address labels that I used in these gifts all came from an adorable Cath Kidston sticker/label set. I was so excited to have something special to use them on! Kathi loves anything beach related and I loved having a beach theme to create around. This vintage mermaid embroidery pattern was so fun to stitch!

Thank you, Claudia and Kathi, for entering my lil' giveaway! Thanks also to all of you sweet friends that entered this year's blog anniversary giveaway. I sincerely appreciate that you've all taken a little time out of your day to visit my little corner of Bloglandia. I love this little world, and love the inspiration and creativity that you all so generously share each day.

Some of you may ask, "Where has Jill been?" or "Is Jill still blogging?!". Well, I'm still here. Life has been busy. Some good, some great, some... stressful. That's how life rolls, isn't it? Well, here's some little clues to what fun things I've been up to lately:

1. A little day of fun with friends...

2. A little magical yummy goodness, and a day in The City...

3. A little bit of fall decorating~ Oh, how I love Halloween!! In fact, I'm a bit nutty about it. Post to follow soon!!! I can't wait to share the "magical" fun!! (I've stepped it up this year. Oh yeah.)

I'll be back soon!!

Hugs,

Jill

Sunday, September 4, 2011

One Small Place of Enchantment


I've had this picture forever... as in for.ever. I love it, and it's followed me to each little place I've lived in. I love the saying, and I love that the girl in the picture kinda' reminds me of me. (Curly hair, double chin, and all...) It's one of those little decorative things that I've had forever, but don't get tired of seeing. Except, for one thing...
That old hunter green marbled frame and beige matting with green trim! I liked it back in the nineties, but now... it's just tired. Sooooo, because I love the picture itself-- I thought I'd bring it up into the 21st century.


No, I was not crafty. I did not paint the frame. It needed more than that, so I purchased a new frame and mat~ in white. Simply white. Holy Moly!! What a change! I have always loved this Mary Engelbreit picture, but wow-- I really love it now.

I really love how it looks in my current bathroom... my "one small place of enchantment to turn to." Everyone must have one-- a small place of enchantment to go to when you need to decompress, or simply escape your woes. Do you?


Hmmm... okay, where's that bubble bath?


Hugs,