Coffee Time

Hello, Sweet Friends. I've been doing a lot of stitching these past couple of weeks and thought I'd show you what I've been up to. This is a dishtowel that I stitched up for my friend's 88Th birthday! (Yes-- 88 years old and amazing!) Jeanette's favorite color is blue and she loves her coffee, so this is what I came up with. I used a whimsical vintage pattern and added the words "coffee time".

My friend Jeanette is very dear to me. We were next door neighbors when I lived in my little apartment, and we became really great friends. Now that I think of it, I bet she was quite entertained by my shenanigans. I always had something crazy going on out on the front patio... outrageous multi-dimentional pumpkin carving for contests at work, silly outdoor decorations for every holiday, growing sunflowers and building gnome gardens with the neighbor kids. Oh, and the baby possums that use to come up on the porch to eat the cat food! Yeah, never a dull moment.

Anyway, when her birthday rolled around I wanted to stitch something up for her that she could use, so I stitched this up for her. Don't you love the rick rack trim? I love rick rack. I lovelovelove it. It makes me happy. So does dingle-berry trim. (That's what I've always called pom pom trim.) I now wish that I had stitched "Rosie The Riveter" on the towel. Jeanette was a "Rosie" back in the day. She worked on airplanes, and she looked just like "Rosie The Riveter"-- absolutely adorable!

This is just a quick snapshot of how I wrapped her dishtowel. It was a quickie-- as always-- right before I ran out the door. I even managed to make a little gift tag to coordinate with the polka dot tissue. I love making tags. They're usually quick, easy, and not as overwhelming to create vs a card.

I've been busy all weekend cleaning, purging, and organizing my studio. I've never completely moved into this house. I still have boxes full of stuff. Boxes in the studio, boxes in the guest room, boxes in the garage-- so many boxes! Well, I've had it with boxes. I'm so ready to be done with boxes.
Well, in the midst of working in my studio-- which is also a sun room-- I locked myself out of my house. In my pajamas. In my socks. In the dark. In the rain.

Good times. Thank goodness I was wearing a bra.

Oh, and thank goodness I was able to get my gate open, as opposed to climbing the fence. That would not have been pretty. Seriously. It would not have been pretty. I walked through the muddy yard over to the house next door. My sweet neighbors helped me find a locksmith and saved the day.

Long story short, the locksmith and I were greeted by a happy, shaggy, Hagrid about one hour later, when the door was opened. He was oblivious to the adventure that I had been on, but seemed happy to see me. Haggie can sit, shake, high-five, and stay-- but somehow I forgot to teach him how to unlock a door.

Hugs,

A Fresh New Year

Happy New Year, Sweet Friends. I know, I'm a bit belated with my greetings. I think for once, instead of thinking, talking or writing about what I want to do in the new year, I've just been doing it. Imagine that! Me, actually doing something!
This adorable, giant-poof-of-a-pincushion was a fabulous Christmas gift from my fabulous friend Lisa-- and it's kind of become a springboard into the new year for me.

I love this giant pincushion more than words can say. It's in my favorite colors, and I love it so much I want an ottoman that looks just like it, for my living room. Wouldn't that be adorable?! Lisa so generously cut into one of her favorite fabric stashes to create it, like only a true friend would. I know this was not the easiest thing for her, so I love it all the more. (Thank you so much, sweet friend!)

Like I mentioned above, this giant-poof-of-a-pincushion has been a bit of a springboard into the new year for me. When you bring something new into your home, do you ever clean and tidy the house before finding a home for that item? Am I the only one that feels that way? I also feel that way about crafting. I want the house tidy, and then I feel like I can "treat" myself to some creativity. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of crafting going on around here last year.

Without going into it, I'm really happy that last year is over. I'm really ready to move forward into this new year.

I've been cleanin' and stitchin'--- and it's been pure bliss for me. Creativity makes me happy. Simple, but true. I haven't been doing anything fancy, just sweet and simple stitching. Everything that I've been stitching has been gifts for friends and family. Creating for people I love adds a whole different level of joy for me. How 'bout you?

Well, my Sweet Friends-- stay tuned, and please come back soon to see what I've been up to!

Hugs,

Merry! Merry!

Happy Christmas, Sweet Friends!

Hugs,

Cozy Movie Time

One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is snuggle in and watch Christmas movies. I change into my jammies, put the kettle on, choose a film to watch, and cozy in! I like a wide variety of Christmas films, everything from "White Christmas" to "Elf".

This sweet little angel sits near the DVDs. I received her in a Christmas craft swap many, many years ago. She's probably the only item from that swap (including the item I made) that have. I still love her.

If this isn't a "reality shot", I don't know what one is. I pile the blankets on my sofa when I cozy in. The pillows get moved around. In fact, that "love" pillow needs to move so Haggie can snuggle in on his side of the sofa. Yes, that spoiled boy has his own side of the sofa. Life is good!

Hugs,

Sweet & Sparklie Christmas Kitchen

Well, here it is... the end of my Christmas Home Tour! I saved the kitchen for last and I hope you have fun visiting. My kitchen has a "Christmas Sweets" theme going on here. It all started with the chandy a couple of years ago. I didn't have a tree to display my cake/cupcake ornaments near the kitchen, so I hung them on the little chandy above the sink! I love them up there. As my collection grew, I ran out of space on the chandy, so I "borrowed" the idea hanging them in the window from the fabulous Elyse. I wrapped a tension rod with ribbon and hung my ornies on pink polka dot ribbon with clips. It was the perfect solution, and I love the added sparkle in my kitchen!

The aqua and pink pastry/ice cream decorations fit naturally into the color scheme of my kitchen. I even found some candy canes in pastel colors. The gingerbread man sink sponge came from HomeGoods. I think he adds to the whimsy going on in here.

I have this spice rack of sprinkles and the straw canister out all year. I just change the colors and sprinkles out to match the current season. I served milk with paper straws last weekend when I baked a chocolate cake and my family loved them. It was nostalgic for the adults, and fun and new for the younger family members!

I love sprinkles... and have a pretty extensive, obsessive collection. I don't display them all at once. I would really love to have the space to do that like Saucy. Her sprinkle shelves are something that legends are made of. Seriously.

If you turn around from the sink in my tiny kitchen, this is what you see. I don't decorate for Christmas much over here except for the towels and vintage apron hanging on the oven door.

I love this new addition to my Christmas towels. It was one of the amazing gifts I received for my birthday from my dear friend Lisa. (I'm saving the rest of the gift for another post and I can't wait to share it with you!) I love the stitching on this adorable towel. It had me at the rickrack and pom pom trim! I grew up calling pom pom trim "dingle berries"... do any of you call them that? Just curious.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my little Christmas kitchen. My kitchen is small, but it's perfect for me... especially when decorated with sparklie sweets!

Hugs,

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas... WHERE?

Okay, you know that when it comes to decorating my home for Christmas I do try to keep it tasteful-- but there is just one room that I allow myself to let loose... The Bathroom. Okay, that was a really bad play on words. Really bad. What I'm really trying to say is that I let loose and decorate the guest bathroom for Christmas with things that are, well, a little more on the silly side. I'm talking about licensed products. You know, those funky fun little plastic decorations reminiscent of the Christmas specials on TV that we grew up loving. Yeah, I love them.
The decorations in the photo above are reminiscent of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and The Muppets. I've always loved that sad little tree in the Charlie Brown special. That may have been the very first movie ever that I teared up watching. I especially loved how Linus' blanket was placed around the tree as a tree skirt. So sweet.
The little guy below the tree is Beaker, from The Muppets. I really have no idea what is "Christmas" about him, but I couldn't resist how his little mouth moves when he sings "Ode to Joy". When I have company visiting and they are in the bathroom, I can usually hear Beaker singing behind the door. It's hilarious!

This little retro silver tree is covered with ornaments depicting scenes from the movies "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and "The Christmas Story". All the ornaments have a button you can push for dialog or music from the movies. Although my siblings and I grew up watching "Charlie Brown","The Grinch", and all the claymation films at Christmas, we added these two movies to our family tradition as soon as they came along. It's just not Christmas in our family until Cousin Eddy drives up in his Aarrr...Veee. As always, my brothers will continue to quote the movies throughout the duration of the holiday. Yay.

Okay, so this is not a licensed decoration, but when you have a beachy bathroom, there must be a Santa mermaid... so here she is. This little vignette is just above the toilet and isn't it lovely? The aqua glass ornaments are from Anthropology. Hey- I needed just a wee bit of style in here, right?

What? What did you ask? Ohhhh... that bottle on the right is this. (And yes, it really works!)
Hugs,

Welcome To My Little Christmas Nest...

Okay, so it's no secret now that I love to decorate for Christmas. Did you know that I like to decorate outside as well?

No, I do not do outdoor lights like The Griswold's, but I do have a flamingo. It's pretty special. It has a hat. It's head moves. It's cord is carefully covered with strategically placed leaves. It's strongly secured to the ground with a cinder block. Yeah, I'm classy that way. Haggie seems quite smitten by her, doesn't he?

Every Christmas I hang my outdoor lighted garlands. They're battery timed, so I put them up there and they do the rest, like clockwork. Easy peasy. The wreath on the courtyard gate is the same. For the window and door, I purchase a fresh cut wreath from Costco. They're such a good deal, it's a no brainer. Although I have an artificial tree, I love the smell of fresh cut pine-- so this is how I get my fix!

Okay, this is my favorite Christmas decorating tip: visit your local Christmas tree lot and ask them if they have any branches they want to get rid of. Some people like to trim the bottom branches off their tree before they leave the lot. The guy at the tree lot I went to keeps a "free, help yourself" pile. I get free greens, and he doesn't have to cart them to the dump. It's a win-win. I like to snuggle the pine greens into my existing planters.

Even the fairy garden gets a little fluffed up with pine.

The front door to my little nest. Welcome! Please come in...

This is just inside the entry of my house, hence the picnic basket full of shoes. I love this old vintage dresser. It has lots of storage, and what little nest doesn't need more of that? I use to store my shoes in there when I came in the door, so they wouldn't be piled all over. However, I eventually found that I wanted to use the prime real estate in those drawers for other things.

A few of my favorite little things... I've always loved pine greens with red roses. Can you imagine how great this would smell if they were real?!

I love The Polar Express, and so I went nuts when I saw this Polar Express bell. It's an ornament, but I like to place it near the book. I love the story, and the graphics of the book and animation. One year I went to the 3-D version of the film at the Imax Theater downtown with friends. I loved the snowflakes...

I have this little Christmas pennant hanging on my lamp. My fabulous friend Debra made it, and I love it!

Okay, I know that you've seen this room(s) before, but I just need you to note the size of this room. Okay, now picture it with twelve people, a baby, and a large dog. That is what this room was like the other night when I had my family over. My family is much larger than twelve people, but not everyone lives near. Last night was the first time I've ever had my family over for a holiday celebration. I've always lived in tiny apartments, so it was impossible. It was really fun and special to have them over to my place during a holiday season... finally. I baked a bundt. (Isn't that just so retro/vintage? Hee hee! It was chocolate and I served it with toppings!)

Haggie loved that everyone came over just to see him. He was able to show off his new Christmas light bulb squeaky toy, and let my niece's adorable six month old baby boy sit on his back like a baby monkey on a pig's back. (We changed the words to the song... "baby Brennan, baby Brennan, riding on Haggie's back... Baby Brennan!) Ah, good times had by all at The Little Nest!

Hugs,