Sunday Threads

"We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Matthew 2:2

Little stitched ornaments make me happy--WOYWW 236

I hope you are having a creative season of fun and happiness! It is What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday over at Miss Julia's Stamping Ground. I'm linking up my busy worktable right here for the world to see!
 

My pearl cotton embroidery thread and little stitched ornaments

I've had the stars and circles dies going in the Big Shot for several projects. Then I saw the cutest FB post from Stephanie Ackerman with layered circle stitched ornaments, and that was it! I had to stitch some little ornaments which can also do double duty on my Valentines tree later.

Stitching makes me happy, especially when there's 8 inches of snow on the ground.

I was cozy in my craft room for a few days, but now I'm out and about in it on the snow-covered streets again. I'm laying in wait for the Urban Decay Naked Palatte 3 to appear at Sephora--and I'm online searching for the Bigz dies I need. 
 

A tag for an upcoming post, and stitched ornament.

I've also got a gingerbread house to bake and make, and finishing up touches on the big Christmas tree.
 

A snowy view of the Ozarks from my crafty corner

So wherever you are on the planet, have fun at your worktable today! Don't let life's business take you away from being creative, ever! Cheers and happy Wednesday!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Walk in the Snow

Sunday Threads

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

WOYWW 235--The Christmas Card Elves Have Arrived!

Love my scoreboard for making the cards and envelopes.

Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday lovely deskers! I just know how busy some of you are, and you are making that mad December dash to get your shopping, baking, planning, and card/craft making all done! Well don't worry, I know you can do it, and remember it's all about the joy of the journey. So take time to have fun with your loved ones and enjoy good food, a nice cuppa, and some great Christmas music.

Visit lots of busy happy desks at the lovely Miss Julia's link party right here.

I've got a little production line set up to make my cards!

You know, last week on Thanksgiving, I knew I had a full two days of cooking ahead of me and a crazy sciatic-nerve lower back on my right side mainly. But, I exercise and stretch every day and I feel pretty good! I just kept focusing on the blessings and the joy of the holiday and I was like superwoman getting all that cooking done! We had such a feast and such a great time together. My sister bought the 20-lb. turkey, and I stuffed it with onion, oranges, and rosemary, and basted it with plenty of butter and olive oil. It was juicy and delish! I made fresh citrus cranberry sauce with a homemade stuffing and lots of other side dishes...we had lots of yummy leftovers.

The view to the left of my worktable, which I don't usually photograph. I was playing with my Samsung Tablet!

Now I'm in Christmas card production mode. I love all the gorgeous scrapbook papers we can get now. I used, over the weekend, a fantastic Michaels coupon to get 25% off even the sale items and the scrap pads were all 50% off already. Needless to say, I was in scrapbook paper heaven! I'm making all my cards and envelopes--and I love it because they are all unique. The weather has warmed up BUT the snow is moving in by Thursday night. I say it's time to put on the Christmas music, make hot chocolate, and knit!

Happy Wednesday!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Be Happy

Sunday Threads

Be an example to others.
I Timothy 4:12

WOYWW 234--Turkey Time!

I love holiday vacations...family time, a little crafty time, and planning and cooking for Thanksgiving. Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday!

There's my coffee, pearl cotton embroidery thread, little tags cut out in felt, and grommet making goodies.

stitching on a tag

I've been catching up on my tag-making, while making lists for my Thanksgiving cooking. Wednesday is when I make the cranberry sauce, black forest pie, spoon cornbread, and put together the stuffing. Thursday is everything else--a 20-lb. roast turkey, mashed potatoes, bubble buns, a special green bean dish, broccoli cheese and rice casserole, and something new: crockpot pumpkin pie. You see I wanted to use fresh pumpkin from my garden, but I wanted to do something new, so we'll see how it goes! I have lots of recipe testers around to try it. Have a wonderful week!

Sunday Threads

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 107:1

Seasons Change - Be Happy Like the Butterfly ♥

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."
Author Unknown


"The fluttering of a butterfly's wings can effect climate changes on the other side of the planet."
Paul Erlich


I am such a summer girl. As we approach the colder months and it's a cold rainy day today, I thought of this photo I took in my garden, when I was surrounded by zinnias and marigolds and the gorgeous butterflies and fat bees were everywhere. We were all happy in the sunshine, my basket full of tomatoes and herbs, and the day seemed wonderfully endless. I love long days. 

Starting a little indoor herb garden

But I have some tricks up my sleeve to help me stay happy through winter. I stitch and craft a lot. My embroidery and cross-stitch goes off the charts! I have several plants on my greenhouse sunporch including a fat pot I've started which I call my little herb garden, planted with parsley, dill and basil. I like pretty coats and scarves to make it more fun to be out in the weather. We always take a lot selfies when the first snow hits! And I love good movies, and it's the perfect time of year to get cozy, wear fun slippers, get out my knitting, and watch Meet Me In St. Louis.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch Cozy

WOYWW 233--Where'd My New Baby Go?

 

Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday! The new baby I got for my birthday--the teal Big Shot--stayed right on top of my workdesk where I played with it for days! Now I'm ordering more dies since the selection at my Michaels and Hobby Lobby is shockingly terrible! And I've had to find a home for baby Big Shot since I need surface space on my worktable when not using it. I've had to reorganize almost everything.

Crazy right? One new thing causes such a reshuffle in the crafty corner.

So...here's my baby now on its own shelf, safe and sound. The extended multi-purpose platform stays stored right there with it.

Peeking  behind it is my other little baby--the Texture Boutique. I realize the Big Shot does both, and yet I still like using the Texture Boutique too.

Many things got rearranged and stashed into my crafty boxes. I don't really have a lot of space, that's why I call it my "crafty corner." So I'm constantly making messes and putting it all away.

I feel blessed just to have a crafty corner though. It's funny because when my daughter goes to a friend's house, sometimes she'll say she didn't see where the mom does her crafting.

Then she started realizing not all moms have a crafty corner or studio for that matter! And that seems strange to her.

The dollhouse renovation is moving along and here is another little door mat I embroidered for the living room. Have a wonderful week crafters!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Be Happy

A dressy stitched-up tag ♥

This is one for the tag book I'll make eventually, and it's All Stitched Up--the past week's theme over on Tag Tuesday.

I have a few dress patterns so that I can easily snip out a fun dress, or even a wedding dress for a tag.

Here's a wedding tag I made for a gift a couple of week's ago.

Now that I have a Big Shot, I need to find some dress dies! In the meantime, I started this week's fabric tag with scraps of fabric from a chair cover I made. I remember the day my husband and I went fabric shopping for this chair at a huge fabric store, and how it was so nice to have his opinion and his muscles to carry the bolts for me! I use upholstery grade fabric for so many things--curtains, pillows, tote bags and more. And it's time to go shopping again!

I sewed this tag on the machine and did a little hand embroidery with DMC variegated cotton floss.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch Happy

Sunday Threads

Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

John 21:17

Dollhouse Crafty Room and Kitchen--WOYWW 232

Best birthday present ever! ...

Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk Wednesday! I tend to celebrate my November 10th birthday pretty much up until Thanksgiving sometimes! This year Amazon delivered my new Big Shot, and I love it!! On my actual birthday I was brought breakfast in bed, more presents, and a beautiful bouquet. I feel thankful, happy, and blessed, and these are good feelings!

I hope you are having a lovely time at your desk. I'm back to working on the Dollhouse Scrapbook Project! I found the cutest dress form for the crafty room--here's a peek at what's going on in the kitchen and living room too.

Added a second little sewing machine and that cute dress form.

The little red table and chairs are from my childhood dollhouse. Still in great condition.

I'll be adding some Christmas goodies to the living room soon--this has really put me in touch with my inner girl! Just in time for my 53rd birthday. Woo hoo!

Can't wait to shop for more diecutting goodies and get started on Christmas cards and a little art quilt. Thank you for the super sweet birthday wishes last week!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Celebrate

Sunday Threads

Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Proverbs 19:20

WOYWW 231--A desk full of good intentions

Yes, today is What's-On-Your-Workdesk Wednesday. Yes, I have a workdesk. No, I'm not working. Why? Well, it started off all well and full of good intentions last Saturday when I lined up my projects for the week: a tag for Tuesday, sewing a skirt for a wedding I'm going to, a button project, an embroidery project, and my ongoing Scrapbook Dollhouse project.

You see I have a dress form scrolled into the typewriter there, which will be part of a tag, but didn't make it for Tuesday. I'm also doing a dress form to hang in the dollhouse. But, it's still exactly like that five days later.

My crafty life got put on hold this week as I've been taking care of family, busy at the office, closing down the garden, working on birthday and wedding presents, and doing a lot of housework. My birthday is this Sunday, Nov. 10. And, for my birthday, I have a Sizzix new Big Shot on the way from Amazon. Woo hoo! So I'm desperately trying to get to Michaels (they sent me special birthday coupons) and buy some diecut packages at great prices!

I've been waiting to get that Big Shot for months. And that's not all. You see I also got a new Tablet device, and turning the ripe old age of 53--I think I'm doing pretty good figuring out all its wonderful features. It will soon be propped on my desk just like Ms. Julia does with hers! Happy Wednesday lovelies!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Embrace Your Age!

Sunday Threads

Listen for God's voice in everything you do and everywhere you go, He's the one that will keep you on track.
Proverbs 3:6

WOYWW 230--Playing on my desk and in my dollhouse

 Happy What's-On-Your-Workdesk-Wednesday lovelies!

Visit Ms. Julia Dunnit's desk-revealing blog party here.

I was creating some tags and consequently got out one of my massive hoards of brand tags--you know, the kind you usually yank off of new clothes and various products and throw them away. Well, everyone in my family is trained to give them to me, and I upcycle them into art tags, journal pages, scrapbooking and all kinds of things. This basket is the first of my hoard when I started doing this, and I found lots that I had forgotten all about!

Working on my autumn theme tag

More dollhouse-in-the works on my desk today. I stitched a little bolster pillow for the sofa!

Also, I found one of my favorite little things--the thread spool holder--for the craft room. This next picture will show you why I must hunt for the littlest dollhouse things.

The current dollhouse mess heap

This is a lot of the dollhouse goodies, and now that I've created my scrapbook dollhouse concept, many things are not going to make it back into the dollhouse. But that's okay. It's good to edit.

Let's have a sit and some punch!

Here's a little glittery corner I was working on in the living room. The birdcage and the sparkly golden chairs were all Christmas ornaments. The gold punch bowl and cups on the table were moved here from originally being in the kitchen, and it's hard to see here, but there's a glass bowl sitting there, and it's filled with sunflower seeds from my garden! You can barely see the little Tweety Bird there on the right--it's another nod to my childhood...one of those cartoons on every Saturday morning.

I need good sunlight to do proper dollhouse photos, but it feels like some days I just get my creativity going, and then it's too late for a photo shoot! But I'll have more to share next week. Toodaloo!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Play All Day

Tag Tuesday - An Autumn Owl

 

Happy Tag Tuesday! Visit the Tag Tuesday official blog today to see all the Halloween tags! They also gave us the option of creating more Autumn tags if we're not into Halloween.

So...I confess...I'm not that into Halloween!

Maybe it's the colors? I'm not overly thrilled with orange and black.

Maybe it's the zombie apocalypse direction things have taken in the last few years? Again, not a fan.

BUT...owls are cute and kind of Halloween-like, so my tag is an autumn owl.

I've certainly had my years of childhood trick-or-treating, Halloween parties, making a big deal of it every year when my daughter was growing up--oh the Disney princess outfits we loved!--but, now I'm a bit lazy. I think after being in a lot of plays and musicals, and often playing magical characters like Morgan LaFey in Camelot, the White Witch in Narnia, and a very wild version of the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella...getting dressed up is a lot of effort to me unless I'm going on stage for a four-week run! Maybe I should be a diva for Halloween?

And yet, I'll spend hours embroidering something. I did, however, embroider this owl in about thirty minutes. Very relaxing and fun. I love, love, love to stitch on tags. And one of our upcoming themes is stitching!

So visit me over at Tag Tuesday, and see all the beautiful tags of energetic artists who took the time and trouble to help us all celebrate Halloween!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Treat Yourself

Sunday Threads

You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.
I Peter 3:4

The Scrapbook Dollhouse Project--Creating a Craft Room In a Dollhouse

I painted and stamped the chimney--the front door before and after.

Once upon a time my dear husband built a dollhouse. It wasn't for me, or our little girl...it was for a show. He was the scenic designer, and a Victorian dollhouse was built, painted green and red, and made to look like it was burning down on stage in a scene from The Secret Garden.

After the show closed, nobody else wanted to keep the dollhouse and suggested he take it home to his daughter. She seemed quite happy with her Loving Family Dollhouse--it was really cute, and we were always getting more furniture and dolls for it at birthdays and Christmas. So...guess who played with the lovely Victorian dollhouse? Me, of course. I don't think I had ever lost my love of playing with dollhouses since my dad built my first one when I was little. Several years ago I had gone to a Christmas party at the home of a woman who was a college professor, and in her sixties, and low and behold at the back of her kitchen was a dollhouse decorated for Christmas time. She loved it! And she (along with the great Tasha Tudor) inspired me, and from then on, I decorated the Victorian dollhouse for all the holidays, and kept it on display somewhere in our house. And it was always fairly traditional kind of decorating along with a few things I made for it. Probably the person who is still most fascinated with it is my little nephew! He walked in my house the other day and immediately noticed it had moved--then I showed him it was on the sunporch where I was painting it. He approved my work!

I had to completely clear it out and tear down everything on the walls!

Over the last few years my love of scrapbooking, sewing, and art journaling had left the Victorian dollhouse to grow forgotten and dusty. Sad, right? And then I was staring at some decorative scrapbook paper one day when it hit me...why not completely tear up the dollhouse, paint with abandon, sew, glue, repurpose, and turn it into a living scrapbook/art journal piece? Paint my favorite colors...write on it...make it meaningful!

The answer was--there's no reason not to do something this cool. If I don't like what happens, I'll just paint and glue over it!

Almost done with the craft room!

So my project began, and I haven't looked back. I began by repainting the whole house in happy white, periwinkle and purple...my faves. I'm embroidering welcome mats, picking out scrapbook papers for the walls, choosing photos to display, and incorporating some heart, just like you would in your art journal. For example, a vintage spool of thread from my mother-in-law's sewing stash has become a vase in the craft room. There is a set of table and chairs, and a black wrought iron sofa and chair that once belonged to my childhood dollhouse along with two little keepsakes from my daughter's wonderful days in ballet. I'm stamping on favorite words and sayings in the most unusual places you would stamp things on a house, and I may even have some hidden journaling in the dollhouse--still creating that idea.

Making a room divider from cardboard

But first up was definitely the craft room. The original dollhouse never had a craft room--what was I thinking? First I took a piece of cardboard and decoupaged it into a room divider that looks kinda crafty. Then I picked coordinating scrapbook papers for the kitchen side and the craft room side. I put up some fun sayings over the windows on the middle floor too.

 

Craft room closeups

The main craft table was originally the kitchen table, and the vintage typewriter sitting there is a very heavy little pencil sharpener! The gold glittery dress form, and the two sparkly dresses hanging now on the divider were all Christmas ornaments. (I get all my Christmas ornaments by buying them on a big discount, or AFTER Christmas). Even the pink chandelier in the window of the craft room is an ornament! The little sewing machine was in the dollhouse before, and I bought it from the dollhouse aisle. I love it. And the little magazines were made by cutting out the tiny pictures of a magazine in its promotional mailer. Really, there is no end to what you can make for a dollhouse. I knitted the little heart-shaped rug--it was back when I was teaching myself to knit hearts, so it's wonky. But I like it there!

One day I was working on it, and my cat Minnie came crawling through a window! She kinda surprised me!

Next--I'll finish decorating the craft room wall, and then onto the kitchen! I don't have this all planned out. Again, it's like art journaling...looking at a blank page and creating what you're thinking, what's inspiring you that day, and what you want to look at!

A little message at the base of the dollhouse.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Play In Your Dollhouse