Repeat..........

Hey there Girls...

I'm must say I am sorry once again for the infrequent posts lately. Just like before, I haven't had much to blog about lately.

Sooooooo.. Just like in television, when I seem to run out of new things to show, it's time for some repeats.

The repeat you'll see today is just a slight alteration to a previous post from a few months ago when I shared with you a creative take on re-purposing an object for something other than it was intended.

I had found this cute jewelry holder at either TJ Maxx or Marshall's.....

But instead of using it to hold jewelery, I decided to use it in a more imaginative way by using it to hold and display a portion of my collection of vintage crocheted potholders .....

My cute display piece now sits on my kitchen counter next to the sink where I can enjoy seeing my favorite potholders everyday.

Can you believe it's almost New Years????? Time is flying by so fast. I had a wonderful Christmas with my family. Having two nieces and a nephew all under the age of ten makes for fun times at Christmas.

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Years!!!

I'll be back soon, hopefully with something new to share next time.

Merry Christmas .....

The big day is almost here....

I hope you all have a wonderful time as you celebrate this very special and joyous time of year with your family and loved ones.

Merry Christmas from my home to yours !!!

Gotta Love The Dollar Bins ........

Or at least that's what one should do when you can find some fabulous items like the ones I'm sharing with you today.

In my never ending quest to find inexpensive items to use for crafting, I was thrilled to bits last weekend to spot these in the dollar bins at Michael's craft store.

What thrilled me even more was that they cost even less than that. They were marked as clearance items for just 50 cents each. Yep, that's right. Only 50 cents each for these awesome five page chipboard books.

Ooooohh... The possibilities are endless as to how I will be able to transform these from just plain old chipboard pieces into something pretty..

Of course, I couldn't limit myself to just one or two at these drop dead prices, so I bought ten of them, spending just $5.00 for the whole lot..

You'd best hurry quick to your local Michael's craft store if you want to try and find some yourself.

Drive safely and Good Luck!!

My Fun New Crafting Toy.....

Hi Girls....

Long time no see huh? Life is kind of slow for me at the moment and I haven't had too much to blog about, hence, my blog posts have been few and far between over the past few months.

Today though, I thought I would pop in to say hello and share with you a new little crafting toy that I just purchased yesterday at Archiver's Scrapbook Store, using a discount coupon I had received in the mail and a little bit of what I've done with it so far.

My new toy is a two inch scalloped circle punch ....

The possibilities are endless as to what I will be able to create using my new toy.

I put it to good use last night as I was watching television, punching several scalloped circles using three different paper products. This first batch began it's life as the covers of three 12x12 heavy duty scrapbook paper pads which I already had on hand and didn't want to throw away thinking I might be able to use them in some way (I had torn out all of the papers from each pad to make it easier to store the papers in some plastic scrapbook paper cases).

The next batch I cut started their life as a roll of floral wallpaper that I had found at the Goodwill store a few months ago for just a few dollars. I first cut strips of the wallpaper just a little over 2 inches wide to make it easier to handle and then punched the scalloped circles until I had quite a pile of them.

These are just a few I removed from the small tin canister that I will store them in until they are ready to be used in my crafting projects.. As you can see, they are a bit curled on account of the paper having been rolled, but a little glue will solve that problem once they are added to my paper crafts.

I also used the scalloped punch to cut up several pages of an old church hymnal from which I have already taken pages out and cut up to use for layering in my tags.

A pretty china dish is currently holding the scalloped circles that I cut out from the card stock paper pad.

And last but not least, thanks to the wonders of Blogland and YouTube, I found some really awesome videos out on YouTube that feature crafters doing mini tutorials on all sorts of fun crafting projects.

The YouTube video tutorial which I have posted below is one I am definitely going to have to try. It looks very simple and I already have all of the supplies I need on hand to create some crepe paper flowers, so watch my future blog posts to see what I come up with..

Here's the YouTube video.... Hopefully it will actually be viewable once I publish my post. If you have any problems viewing it, leave me a comment and I will try and fix it here on my end.

Happy Crafting !!!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful ...

Yep, it sure it....

Minnesota is currently in the midst of a nasty snowstorm and the weather outside is awful frightful with snow, bitterly cold winds and falling temps.

Here's what it looks like outside....

On a nasty winters day like this, there is nothing better than staying indoors where it's nice and cozy and enjoying a nice pot of delicious hot tea and nibbling on some yummy fresh baked scones still warm from the oven....

Once I nourished myself with these tasty treats, it was time for some more paper crafting. I continue to add to my pile of embellished tags with these new creations....

For this tag, I cut up a vintage birthday card from my stash that had a pretty rose design on it that looked very much like vintage wallpaper and mixed it with some sheet music. I also used some some folded pale pink crepe paper to add some more dimension to the tag. The color of the crepe paper matched the color of the rose almost exactly...

I've said it before, but I love color coordinating all of the embellishments I use in my tags. From the papers to the buttons, to the ribbons and other bits and pieces.

Well, that's what I've been up to on this nasty winter's day. What have you been doing this weekend? Hopefully, the weather where you live isn't quite as frightful as it is here.

In Between Christmas Shopping ............

In between work, doing my Christmas shopping, cleaning and whatever else I may have on my "To Do" list, I've been creating some more embellished tags.

I have found some wonderful free images and other ephemera on the Internet that are great for using for my tags. Just copy the images onto your computer and print them out on white card stock paper and you're ready to go..

I still need to punch holes in these and add some ribbon, but other than that, they are completed.

I even managed to step outside my pretty pastel comfort zone and create a tag using a black and white image and some heavy textured card stock paper in black and beige that suited the image very well.

And of course, we must not forget to add some lace and roses too......

Once completed and left to sit overnight, this last tag chose to do something I wasn't quite expecting and that was it ended up curling just a bit so it no longer lays flat. Now it has a very noticeable curve to it (not quite sure if you can really see that in the photo below). I'm sure this happened due the weight of the card stock I used on one side of the tag and when glue was added and then dried, the weight if it caused it to curl.

If I try to make a similar tag in the future, I will have to add some weights to it until the glue completely dries and see if that will prevent the curling up of the tag.

Well, I must get ready to leave soon. I am off to watch my niece play basketball this afternoon. Thank goodness the snow we got here yesterday has ended so the roads are once again in drivable condition.

Enjoy your weekend and let your creativity flow just like I have been...

Withdrawal......

I love the holidays and buying gifts for others, but right now, like in years past, I am going through a bit of withdrawal as I've been staying away from my favorite antique shops until I get all my Christmas shopping done...

Seems like it's been forever since I've allowed myself the pleasure of wondering through the antique shops looking for some new pretties to bring home with me. Christmas shopping is almost done though thank goodness, so in a week or two, once the bank account as had a chance to recover a wee bit, I'll be rushing to my favorite shops to see what can be found.

Until then, I'll just sit back, relax and enjoy some of the beautiful treasures I already have.

Hope you are all having a great post Thanksgiving weekend and that you're getting some things checked off your Christmas lists too.

See you soon !!

My Early Christmas Gift..........

Well, I wasn't expecting it to happen so soon or as quickly as it did, but sometimes, life circumstances force a person into making a pretty serious decision rather quickly or risk being left stranded, with no means of transportation.

This happened to me just two short weeks ago when my old car began acting up again and needed to be taken to the auto shop for service and where I unfortunately found out that the cost of the mechanical work needed plus the new tires I also needed to get before winter set in were going to end up costing me more than my vehicle was even worth in dollar value so after nine years, it was time to say goodbye to the old and hello to the new..

So.......... six days ago I became the very happy and giddy new owner of a brand spankin' new Ford Escape mid-size SUV in a lovely "Sangria Red" color. Ain't she pretty ????

It actually stayed clean for 3 whole days before Minnesota was hit with some ice and snow storms which of course turned the roads into a sloppy salty mess leaving my new car coated with a thin layer of gritty white salt residue. Oh the joys of living in Minnesota !!! A trip to the car wash will be in order once the temps warm up a bit..

I can already tell in just the few short days I've been driving it that it's going to handle the snow and ice much better than my old vehicle did which will be a HUGE relief as I was always terrified of having to drive on the dangerous roads in my old vehicle which never really felt very safe to me and never seemed to have very good traction, even when the tires were first brand new.

I have much to be grateful for during this holiday season, this being just one of them.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have much to be grateful for too during this holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving.......

Several of the things I am thankful for during this holiday season ...

My good health

My job

Having a home to call my own

My wonderful family

My wonderful friends

The wonderful friends I have made here in Blogland who inspire me with their kindness, creativity and talent and for the encouragement they have given me along the way.

That with a sigh of relief I can start the cold, snowy and icy Minnesota winter off with a brand new reliable vehicle that won't end up in the auto shop every few months costing me lots of money for repairs.

I could go on forever, but I'll stop there and wish all of you a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving.

Have a great day celebrating with all your family and friends.

Just A Bit Of Tweaking .........

I've done a bit of tweaking on my little work space vignette that sits atop the small bookcase under the window next to me here in my home office.

I brought in a cute little pink shelf that has three drawers and rearranged the vignette from this ...................

To this.........................

When my eyes get tired from staring at the computer for hours on end, all I need to do is glance to the right to see this soothing and pretty view instead.

The predominant colors being my favorites of pink and pale blue ....

With just a bit of pale sage green too ....

Sure makes it hard having to glance back at the computer to continue working after having caught a glimpse of some of my favorite things..

What do you surround yourself with in your home office/work space ???

Snow Day Tags ..................

Happy Monday ladies...

And how are you on this lovely day?

Well, if you saw my post on Saturday, you know I had a bit of snow fall at my house overnight overnight Friday night and when I awoke in the morning, the view out my door and windows showed that of a white, almost winter wonderland with the snow continuing to fall.

As the day went on, the white stuff kept falling and falling and falling and by the time the day was over, a total of around eight inches of wet, heavy snow had fallen in my neighborhood while other cities surrounding Minneapolis had even more, some close to a foot of the white stuff.

Needless to say, the roads on Saturday were a very dangerous place to be with the State Patrol reporting over 500 accidents in the state of Minnesota over a 24 hour period, so I did the smart thing and just stayed at home where I knew I'd be safe.

A day inside, snug and warm and safe from the dangers of the road gave me a bit of time for creating a few more of my embellished tags that I've had so much fun making.

I created these tags using different images I've found on the Internet along will my stash of beautiful cardstock papers and embellishments.

I love being able to color coordinate my tags using papers and embellishments that match the colors in the images I've chosen to use..

I have a feeling that by winters end, I'm going to have quite a large pile of pretty embellished tags. I'm sure a few of these will end up tucked in gift packages at Christmas time..

How did you pass the time over the weekend?