Look what I made today

I got this idea from a craft book by Charlotte Lyons. I cut out two hearts from a shirt box, paper mache'd them together and then glued on the decorative paper and added the ribbon. I'm amazed how easy to was.

Sweet as the Flower freebie

Now that Christmas is over, I thought I'd post a freebie that would be great to give someone for Valentine's Day. I charted it for Gentle Arts threads. The red is Antique Rose, the green is Dried Thyme and the brown is Apple Cider. I charted it for Sand linen 32 count which makes it 3 x 3 1/2 inches. Enjoy!

Japanese Dolls

For Christmas we spent part of the day with my sister-in-law and her family and my mother-in-law in Mesa. My mother-in-law gave my daughter a very special present this year, some Japanese dolls she brought back from Japan after spending a year there in 1953. My daughter seems to be the grandchild carrying on her love of Japan and will be spending a month there in July.

May Peace and Joy be with you this Christmas season.
I thought I'd post a few vintage nativity postcard images for your enjoyment. Merry Christmas.

And a bowl full o' elves...

Each year I change around my Christmas decor and this year I put many of my vintage Christmas pieces on the mantle. Above are some Christmas girls from the late '50's. One is a bell and the other a candle holder.

My entry way always remains the same with stuffed snowmen and a garland on the bannister full of snowman ornaments.
These are some vintage snowmen salt and pepper shakers. The santa and sleigh behind them are one of the few pieces left from my childhood as is the gold pixie/elf. I received that from a friend back in 2nd grade and it started my collection of Christmas pixies/elves as seen below in what I call my "bowl full o' elves". The big guy in the center is named Leonard and is quite a bully with the smaller elves.
I've had the white elves for a while and was thrilled to find the big pixie with the polka dotted suit a few months ago. He fit right in.
Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

Lizzie Kate's Blessings of Christmas

I've been neglecting my poor blog lately but thought this was a good time to post the Lizzie Kate Blessings of Christmas designs that my friend Lorraine and I stitched and finished for The Attic Needlework's breast cancer charity auction. She stitched six and I stitched six. The auction was a few weeks ago and the ornaments brought a total of $435.

The tree is up...

Seems to have taken forever this year to get our tree up, we still have ornaments to add but I snapped a quick photo this morning of the kids. Merry Christmas!

Sweet Bird

My latest release is called "Sweet Bird". I used an old sampler verse "Sweet Bird thy bower is ever green, thy sky is ever clear, thou hast no sorrow in thy song, no winter in thy year".

It is stitched on 32 ct Sand Dune linen with Crescent Colours floss: Wavy Navy, Desert Mesquite, Tartan Plaid, Whatley Woodlands, Old Oak Tree, Zach Black and Apple Fritters. It is done totally in cross stitch. Hope you like it!