Happy New Year 2012!

Wishing you all a Beautiful Christmas

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests" Luke 2:14


Please listen to this beautiful song by Casting Crowns, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" . . . Enjoy and have a beautiful Christmas!

Some Christmas cheer around the house . . . Santa collection

Finally got the Christmas tree . . .

 We finally got our Christmas tree yesterday . . . I was so surprised to see a girl working the Christmas tree lot . . . I say GIRL POWER!  She was so sweet too.  

Vintage ornaments make me happy!

 Hope all you guys are having a wonderful Christmas season . . . and all the goodies that come with it also.  You all know how much I love vintage Christmas ornaments, here a pic of my newest find at St. Mathews Thrift Shop in Ocean Park.  I found it over this past Summer with my Mom and sister Jeri visiting from Texas.  It cost me a whole 2.00 dollars.  Loving it :O)

 This santa in this pic is one of my oldest vintage glass ornaments and it still has a lot of color to it.  Some spots have faded, but it's still in pretty good condition.

I have a funny story to tell you about this santa . . . I had just hung him on my little tree and my oldest son, Davey came and sat down next to me and I started to tell him the history of it.  Well,  Davey moved and his foot hit the Santa and it flew off the tree.  Davey caught it in the air and we looked at each other and both started laughing.  It was so funny.  I love all my santa's but I sure do miss this one, my husband Dave aka Mr. Grumpy.

Family is everything . . . make every moment count.  Blessings :O)

Some Christmas around the house . . . some fun creations too!

I love to collect vintage postcards  . . . especially the ones that have writing on it.  I have some as old as a 100 years. Life was so much more simple back then. Sometimes it's the little things that bring us so much joy, vintage postcards are the best.  Next to the stack of postcards is one of my top hat pin cushions.  The pic below is some vintage Christmas pieces on my sofa table with some mercury glass candle holders.  Remember that oil painting on the right,  I found at the rummage sale with my Mom a little over a year ago, it only cost me a dollar.  So loving it with the Christmas decor.  I wished my Blackberry took better pics, I know I really need to invest in a good camera.

Enjoyed creating this jolly guy, named him "Santa at the Circus"

Can't get enough cute, a Christmas doll too!

A very dear friend of mine invited me to a woman's event at Calvary Church last Thursday evening and I so enjoyed it, wonderful speaker and very inspirational  . . . good way to start off this Christmas season, letting God be the center of it.  Hope you all are enjoying this beautiful season that is upon us.  Blessings :O)

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you my sweet blog friends for all your kind words and wishes . . . have a blessed Thanksgiving Day with your families:O)

Happy Birthday Davey

It always good to praise . .  My oldest son Davey turned 28 years old this week.  I'm so grateful he has a strong knowing of God in his life . . .  and turned out to be such a beautiful person inside and out.  Happy Birthday Davey! This pic is from Davey's elementary school graduation, he was only twelve years old.

I will praise you O Lord, among the nations.  I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, higher than the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens and let your glory be over all the earth.  Psalm 108:3-5

THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE . . . . OR COMING!

My sister Linda's open house is coming soon and I'm still sewing away as fast as I can.  Momma and I decided to do a craft show at Cal State Fullerton the first week of December . . it's a freebie, so we couldn't turn it down.  Please excuse some of these pics from my Blackberry, not as pretty as some of yours.  Anyways, I'm having fun.  Today actually feels cool outside, 65 degrees.   Have a beautiful weekend!  :O)

Happy Halloween

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween!  Love this pic  . . . found it on Google.

Sewing Away Over Here . . .

Last year around Thanksgiving, my sweet sister-in-law Chris, brought me a box of vintage sewing goods from her Mom, some of  these sewing pieces belonged to her Grandmother.  I instantly fell in love but didn't have much of a desire at that time to create any new dolls. All that love for creating went away for awhile after Dave passed away.  I put the box away.   Since I started sewing again a couple of months ago, I remembered the box and brought it out and opened it again . .

I found this vintage navy collar, looks like it came off a dress or a blouse  . . it's so pretty.  I ran over to the fabric store and found some fabric to match pretty close to the same color with a simple pattern on it for  a new creation.

 My newest creation  . . . I added this adorable elephant to one of my dolls.  Mom and I went to a rummage sale last Saturday and found a bunch of sequins and sewing goodies, I also found this black and pink salmon color throw in the background, all for six dollars.  Rummage sales are so much fun.  I added a few of those sequins to my elephant.  Ok . . . time to go back to the sewing machine.

Been a little busy lately . . . making some dolls

 Here's the girls . . . little bit of a prairie thing going on . . the one in the gray dress is called "Kitty Kitty", she is wearing a brooch with the word cherish and is holding a gray kitty, the red one is called "Key to your Heart", she holding a purple velvet heart with a vintage key in her hand and the maroon one is called "Sweet Ellie", she's holding the posies.

Fall Has Arrived

 

Beautiful Fall pics . . . too pretty and inspiring too, especially the pumpkin bundt cake . . ladies as usual I will be packing on the pounds this Fall with all the baking that will be going on . . .  little humor on my side.  Been having lots of fun creating some cute stuff for my sister Linda's craft show in November.  Trying to create something new besides dolls.  I recently joined the unemployed . . . please keep me in your prayers.  Hoping to find something new and exciting.  Happy Fall!  :O)

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those that love him.  James 1:12

Time For A Change . . . :O)

I've been wanting to change my bedroom set for awhile now  . . the padded headboards I just love.  When Dave was around we would both decide on every piece of furniture we bought . . but now I can go right ahead and change things  . . and absolutely am enjoying it.   I've been looking at the padded headboard above in the pic from Pottery Barn.  I love the dark brown linen color.  First, I've got to sell my existing bedroom set . . I think I'll put on Craigslist and see if I get any takers on it.  I want to downsize my bedroom furniture a little too . . I have a highboy, a dresser and king size bed and two nightstands.  I really don't need all that anymore.  I'm thinking like a bed, night stand and small dresser.

Am I Really Sewing Again . . . I think I can!

Time to start sewing again . .  .  and I think I'm up to it.  My sister Linda is hosting a holiday show in her home this Fall.  It's always fun to get together with the women in this family of mine  . . lots of talking, if you could get a word in, laughter that's a given and of course, eating way too many goodies.  My sister Linda does stained glass creations, sister Debbie does extreme, out of this world bake goods, I mean Debbie can turn it into a business and do very well.  Her bake goods are mouth watering.  Momma sews aprons and handbags, cute stuff and my oldest sister Jeri, if she lived here and not Texas would be doing crochet and knitting creations, she misses out on some of these events because of the distance, but she's always in our hearts that's for sure.  

You know in order to create something, you have to have love in your heart, with no love there is no inspiration . . it's are love ones that keep us living everyday, literally.   I guess I have some love in this heart of mine again . . . couldn't quite find it there for awhile.  Don't forget to tell your love ones everyday how special they are . . . you'll be glad you did:O)

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God"  . . Colossians 3:16

Don't Quit Blogging "Lili"

I started blogging in December 2009.  I originally started a blog because I loved all the pretty artwork I could post, especially vintage post cards around the holidays.  Sort of, kind of a decorating thing.  Did that for about 6 months and then Dave died.  I had no idea Dave was going to suffer a fatal heart attack and I was going to become a widow at an early age (mind you I didn't say young) and I  would be in need of some dear friends to read my thoughts and comment back some of kindest thoughts and words that would lift me up and make me keep on going.  Mind you, I 've never met any of these people in person, but yet they would so touch my heart and I would want to hear back from them and see the pics they were going to post about a trip they took, or their kids getting married, or decorating a new house and sometimes about something they were going through that wasn't easy, like a death of a family member, an ill child or moving to a new state.  I would want to check on them and see if they were ok.  Sometimes my kids would say who are you talking about, you've never seen these people and I would say with confidence,  only a person who blogs knows what I'm talking about . . knows how special it is and how rewarding it can be. 

When I returned to work after Dave passed away, I didn't have very much time to blog anymore.  It would get too late and I would have to get to bed to get up in the morning and go again.  The weekend would come and I would have to run errands now that my husband wasn't around to help me.  And then I started noticing how much I started missing blogging and realized what a difference it had made in my life . . . I missed my blog friends.  Blogging is positive and it allows you to express yourself as much as you want and as honest as you want to be without being judged.  It makes you reach out to others and you become a much more positive person for doing so . . I know I have, I appreciate the little things a whole lot more and that makes me happy:O)

For those of you that are thinking of not blogging anymore . . . there's people out there that count on you to be there and look forward to hearing from you . . you make a difference . . I know in my life you do.

  

Recyclying Mom's Stuff

Mom had a garage sale . . she always has good stuff from years of collecting.  I found these miniature pieces of art, 4"x 5" and pick them up right away to take home with me.  They were in maple frames, sort of early american, not really my style.  My Dad remove them from the frames, I wiped them down a  bit and they looked great. The first two pics are from my kitchen window and the second two are from my desk.  I've had this neat little easel out of brass that fit the miniature art perfectly.  It was a happy dance moment:O)

Happy Forth of July!

Nothin fancy here  . . . just hot dogs, macaroni salad and brownies, maybe throw in a firework or two!