On the Seventh Day of Christmas...

An image truly lovely and peaceful.


May your 2010 arrive swimmingly.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

Over the years I have been chased and pecked by at least six mean geese. I'd like to think these nice plump birds are walking into a good, hot oven. :)

Be merry, well fed and bright.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

Because women never joke about jewelry....

All antique rings from Fay Cullen.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

Is there anyone out there not smiling at the Four Calling Birds?


Be Merry and Bright!

On The Third Day of Christmas....

For your enjoyment....Three French Hens.

Be Merry and Bright!

On the Second Day of Christmas...

Two Turtle Doves...


Happy Boxing Day to all our English friends and relatives.

On The First Day of Christmas...

A very Merry Christmas to all those who know who this is.

A Merry Christmas to All!

May you delight in the sights, scents and joys on this, the first day of Christmas.


My true love and I have decided to give each other and our family the gift of time. So, I shall enjoy the remaining 12 days of Christmas away from blogland.

Be blessed,

Why A Stable?

Have you ever stopped to consider why Jesus was born in a stable? Or why his birth was first revealed to the shepherds? (scroll down)

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." Isiah 7:14


"And Joseph also went up, from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem." Luke 2:3


"And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered." Luke 2: 6


And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night." Luke 2:8

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." Matthew 2:10

"And when they came into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh." Matthew 3:11

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2: 14

I grew up in a farming community. I know my way around a barn~ a stable. It is an aromatic experience to be sure.

I often think about why God chose a stable as the setting in which Mary would give birth to the worlds most precious baby. He certainly should have been born in the most loveliest of palaces.

But our Savior was born in a stable~ one of the most humble of places on earth.

The angel first revealed His birth to shepherds, which at the time was considered to be one of the lowliest of professions.

But Jesus was also worshipped by the most revered of men. Why was this God's plan?

I believe it was so that no one would ever feel that he or she wasn't worthy enough, or too worthy, to have Jesus live in their heart. He is and forever shall be accessible to everyone.

He is here for you. He loves you. It doesn't matter where you were born. It doesn't matter what you do for a living. Or what you did yesterday. It only matters that you take Him into your heart today.

May the peace of the season be yours eternally.

Pick me, pick me! Craft 7

I recently made some festive picks using vintage sheet music.



The larger leaf and blossom style ended up on my tree.

A few now grace a couple of gift bags.

It's funny how ideas come to you. As many of you know I create corsages using new and vintage elements. One of things I do is snip off bits and pieces of new picks to add onto the corsages.

(The black and silver corsage was a custom design for dear Jaimee Rose, but there are similar corsages in my Etsy shop and for sale at Hollywood Regency.)

After one such craft making session as I was cleaning up I scooped up the pick "skeletons" to place them in the trash and hesitated for a moment to admire the now bare stems.

It came to me that new life could be given to such a stem if leaves were added. In another clean up pile were scraps of sheet music leftover from another project. Hmmmmm... so I grabbed a pencil and sketched the outline of a leaf and grabbed my decorative scissors.

I kept sketching and cutting until I had a leaf for each stem.

Everything is better with a touch of glitter right? So out came the Stickles.

I made enough picks to place on my tree and to nestle on top of a few gift bags.

Have you ever recreated something from scraps destined for the landfill?

Go make a beautiful mess and be blessed.

Santa's Got A Brand New Bag~ Craft 6

Need a simple and sweet way to present your gifts? How about a fabric bag? The bottom of my tree is surrounded by bags.


There are even small bags filled with treats tucked within the midst of the tree branches.



Next to the tree is an old German sled topped with larger bags. No two are exactly the same.

Here is a close up that shows bags embellished with doilies, rick rack, old lace and jingle bells.
Although I don't have a problem with peekers in my family, the bells do act as a deterrent should the desire arise.

The beauty of the bags is that they can be made to fit any size gift. The bags belonging to Mr. Decor and Sweet Boy have masculine trimmings such as wooden ice skates and twine. The Fashionista's bags are a bit softer with velvet, lace and antique rhinestone buttons and broaches.

A close up of one of my favorite bags features a duffel with a ruffled top. The ribbon is old blanket edging that I embellished on my sewing machine.

In the kitchen nook are additional bags to be opened after breakfast.

Now onto the behind the scenes, or is it "seams"? I had a few flour sack scraps leftover from when I slip covered the chair for Sweet Boy's room. As it is old material I couldn't bring myself to just throw it away.

I also had a linen panel that did not make it through the wash when I was repurposing curtains for the Fashionista's apartment.

When I began planning an old fashioned Christmas for my children this year a light bulb popped into my head reminding me that in the old days, packages were either wrapped in brown paper or material.

I began by making a list of what gifts were going to be given and then approximated how big I needed each bag to be and made sure to include a 1 inch inside seam.

I cut out basic squares and rectangles. Each bag received various embroidered stitching across the top of the bag. The fun part was digging through my stash of ribbons, bells and broaches to embellish each bag.

For the neighbors gifts I had found a large stack of vintage cloth Christmas napkins at the thrift shop. A couple of side seams and I had lovely wrapping for a bottle of cider. I embellished each with a handmade corsage. ( A few corsages are still left in the Etsy shop.)

The lasting beauty of fabric bags is that they can be used for several years. I won't spend money on paper or add to the landfills. They are also washable and the color is neutral enough for use on birthdays and other happy occasions. You can customize your bags to fit any color palette. Now that's a wrap!

Go make a beautiful mess and be blessed,