A Charming Noel

Today is our annual holiday charm swap...just a small group of great friends sharing a potluck lunch, laughs and charms...Heaven!

I created these charms from some pieces of metal probably from the front of a file cabinet. The bits of red paint were already on the metal. Bonus! I Mod Podged Midori paper on the back and printed out the NOEL on sticky-back clear paper (I use it in landscape design to label drafted plans on vellum) that I also Mod Podged over to protect the writing. Then I attached some bits of bling and a charm is born.

My fruit salad is made; hostess gift is wrapped; my charms are ready; now off to my charming day!

PS...I will post photos this afternoon/evening of the charms I received in return!

Holiday Goodness!

December Burger Day with the girls is always terrific....Burgers AND holiday gift exchange! This year I did my shopping at 2nd Saturdayz and I found the exactly right gifts. The Tree (for Beth) was from Lori of Cinnabarblue, the Mannequin (for Colleen) was made by Linda of Luluz and the Wreath (for Judy) was assembled by Deb of Garden Party.


Here is a close-up of the pretty wreath details.

Bunny always loves to help and is looking good in the Midori silk ribbon box.

I made some initial ornaments from wire and Midori silk ribbon as nametags. And I will post a super-simple tutorial on these next week!

Wrapped the gifts up in creamy dreamy pieces of silk sari, added some ribbon and the ornaments and the gifts were good to go. Fabric is a great wrap: recyclable again as wrap or can later be used in crafts and is very good for odd shaped items. And who doesn't need a piece of silk sari?

Happy girls with full tummys and full hearts!

Colleen, Beth, Me, Judy



2nd Saturdayz was #1

Loved being a vendor at last weekend's 2nd Saturdayz Holiday Show!

The lovely organizers, Linda and Deb, made us feel so special...even shared a beautiful and delicious dinner by candlelight with us...Ham and scalloped potatos from Geff and treats from some of the rest of the vendors. And the table was decked out, of course.

A few shots of my booth.

And some of my tiny treasures.

 I made the necklace from a drilled out serving spoon and attached the porcelain rose and added green rayon ribbon to suggest the stem.

The stockings were made from wire and then wrapped with silk Midori ribbon.

My friend Sara makes the best handmade soap...

This display by Dawn of Great Findz was breathtaking. She is so very talented.

Mom and Ophelia helped me set-up on Friday...Love them! And Doug was on duty for tear-down...Love him!

And a big thank you to all my friends that came by to say hello! Hope you had as much fun as I did!

Happy Holidays!

Hooray for Craft Days!

Tuesday was going to be an 'outdoor' project day, but Mom and I just didn't want to be out in the rainy rain. So we gathered up the shrunken, felted wool and a couple of cats and crafted all afternoon.

Spicy watching the thread go in and out...hard to resist.

Bunny just chillin'...

Mom has been working on these pretty 3-dimensional Christmas trees.

She hopes to have enough for a little forest on her coffee table this holiday.

I worked on pillows for the upcoming 2nd Saturdayz sale. I have always loved this wool blanket with its creamy dreamy background and soft rose flowers and holly leaves.

Now it has become some comfy cozy pillows.

Hooray for indoor craft days!

Dressing vs Stuffing

What do you call it? There are lots of websites that discuss this, for instance, Serious Eats. Entertaining to say the least.

Our family calls it dressing. Mom's Sausage Dressing to be exact. Ambrosia. I have made the dressing for my family for the last several years without Mom to taste it. She will be here for Thanksgiving this year (yay!) but I am still going to make the dressing. Why? Because I can finally have her fine-tune my attempt. I want to KNOW how to make this dish.

The basics are easy peasy with a simple ratio of 1:1:1:1

Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage
large chopped onion
chopped celery bunch, including top
loaf of cheap bread, cubed
Cook sausage, add onion and celery, season with sage (lots!) and pepper and cook till done. Add to bread cubes in big bowl. Mix. Add chicken broth until all is moistened and combined really well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven at 350 for 45 minutes or surround turkey with dressing and bake. We then love to crisp it up in a pan, folding the crispy bits into the dressing over and over. And we add turkey juice and chunks of turkey or the giblets (not the liver!) to the crispy dressing. And the next day...forget about it!...even better. That is why I make a triple batch!

Enjoy your family this week...and your food!

Drumroll please...

Thanks to everyone for entering my Domino Clock giveaway! I put the names in a bucket and Mom pulled out the winner. It was very exciting!

The winner is Susan Gillmor! Congratulations.

And because we couldn't stop ourselves, we drew another name for another Domino Clock...Jeannie, come on down!

So, if you both could email me your contact information I will get your Domino Clocks in the mail.

Thank you to everyone who entered.

Colleen's Cupie

One of my favorite birthday traditions is Burger Day with Colleen, Judy and Beth. We gather at the Ranch Drive-In in Bothell; grab a Ranch burger; and ooh and aah over giftwrapping and gifts. It is so delightful to give to (and received from) these fabulous women. They 'get' the good stuff and the glittery stuff and the French stuff and the repurposed stuff and the rusty stuff.

Birthday Girl, Colleen with gifts to unwrap.
Wrap is as important as the gift with these girls!

This fall it took us months to finally celebrate Colleen's September birthday. Colds, surgeries, vacations all coincided (or collided!) to keep us apart. But yesterday we made it happen. It wasn't burgers, but pizza delivery to Colleen's because we just couldn't wait any longer! She called me bright and early Wednesday morning and said "Pizza at my house and bring my birthday present!" Yes, ma'am!

I had picked up a slightly imperfect Cupie doll awhile back and altered her ala Colleen. She turned out so ding dang cute (as Colleen likes to say!) From her tulle-covered jello-mold tuffet to her typewriter key crown this gal just exudes cuteness. And so does Colleen!

Thanks for your help, Delilah!

I had put together a little Halloween favor for everyone. Vintage crepe paper rolls complete with stickers that I had found in a Frederick & Nelson box at the Everett Goodwill Outlet. Score!

easy peasy wrapping and instant festivity

And then, Beth had treasures for us from France...oooh la la. I received a Lady of Lourdes picture in my home's warm colors, a fabulous champagne glass, gorgeous knife and a mystery wood item that is so sculptural. If anyone knows what it might be, please let me know.

I am blessed with great friends who love what I love, love to laugh

and it really can't get much better than that!