Christmas Ideas

I thought I would share with you this little idea. I get a little rock and tie it up with a round of fabric and tied it with a ribbon. I gave these out at our wedding in little bags as it will be appropriate for any time. I decided to share this with my guests at the Holiday open house. {As I stated before I am using this blog for a sort of diary for myself.} If you would right click on the picture it will blow it up to be able to read the poem.

Halloween Greetings

I am not at all into Halloween and I think never have been. Only in America can one beg at every door and receive for their reward only candy. But the little kids are so precious. So we open our door and let the little buggers into our home and into our hearts. Our church is having a "Harvest Festival" tonight and we are expecting over 400 children to come for free hot dogs and all the candy they can carry. I have a horrible cold so will not be going to sneeze over everyone.
Have a blessed and safe Halloween.

This done in a cuff form with antique pearlized buttons and a belt clasp in the center. I made a band of flat cream colored beads. I then surrounded the center two buttons and buckel with fresh water pearls.

(SOLD 11-15-2008)

So far this is my favorite piece. It looks so elegant and has a simple beauty. The stone in the center was a little expensive but the peyote beading makes it the focal point. I twisted the side beads to add texture.

This is a little different than anything I have done so far but I really liked the way it looks like a stained glass church window. I did a peyote stitch to incircle the pendant in an antique gold. The crystals give it a little "bling".

Santa's poop!

I have made 24 ornaments that also double as gift card boxes. They are so nice to have for last minute gifts to give to loved ones or neighbors. The Christmas ornaments look a lot like them but one is strictly an ornament and the other is a box. I did not add ornamental extras to that I could put the elastic bow tie.

This pearled ornament was from the dollar store but with a little ribbon they turned out to look quite expensive.

I saw this Santa poop idea on line and just had to make some of them. It says: "You've been naughty, so here's the scoop You're getting nothing but the snowman's poop". I thought it would be a cute gag gift. I have been covering note books and legal pads to fill in some teachers gifts. Oh, yes I also have made several pin cushions and some hanging baskets. My art room is a total mess, with stuff everywhere and I think it will take me a week to get it straightened up. Melissa wants be to have the open house on Nov 1 and Nov 8 BUT that is so soon and I have got to have all the house decorated before then. I am not sure I am up to having Christmas decorations up for two months but I have so many lovely decorations that it would be nice to enjoy them a little early but two months is alot. Time will tell.

Beautiful Fall Day & New Creations

I have sure been busy this weekend! I had made the base of this Czech Bead bracelet and my lovely daughter came over yesterday and gave me this gorgeous metalic bead to match the base. I just love the way it turned out. I made the bead into a cab. which is peyoted in light lavender then topped it with a size 15 metalic purple bead. It is enclosed with a hook and eye.

I don't know what is wrong with my camera but all of a sudden it does not focus sharp. The second bracelet I made is a peyote base with a buildup of size 11 beads and four triangular irredescent beads in the center with a copper base. It turned out to be fairly dressy because of the bling factor. I did one in a transparent cream and one with a antiqued silver with a blue peacock base. The copper centers really stands out on both of them .

This is another example of the Wooly worm I did in the greens. This one is all copper and purple with alot of depth because the base is of a size 8 peacock colors. What a fun look on your arm. It is closed with an irredescent carved bead.

Christmas is coming to my house

I wanted to show you some ornaments first because I just wanted to give you some more details. The red lights are sold a the dollar store for 2 for $1.oo and I just spruced them up to make them more sellable. But I mainly wanted to share the idea of the small package. When I lived in Florida a friend of mine gave me this gift and I really needed some love at that time and have cherished the gift even today. Every time I see it it seems like I need that little little love box. All you have to do is wrap a piece of Styrofoam in a pretty package and put a bow on top. I however went to all the trouble of making small boxes when my daughter said "Why don't you have Don cut little blocks of wood?". Dahhh now she could have told me that before I spent all day long cutting out my patterns and making the boxes. This is the poem attached

My Gift to you

This is a very special gift

That you can never see

The reason it is so special

Is that it is from Me.

When you are feeling lonely

Or even feeling blue,

You only have to hold this gift

And know I am thinking of you.

You never can unwrap it,

Please leave the ribbon tied.

Just hold the box within you hands

It is filled with my love inside.

Author Unknown
I have always tried to wrap my presents with a special wrap so that the package is nicer than the gift and one gets two presents in one. This year I am using cigar boxes that my daughter gave me from her collections. The one that has a red sheer bows actually a box that I get my bead containers in. It turned out so beautiful and I won't be too disappointed if some of them do not sell. My only problem is that they still have a cigar smell and I am not sure if that will offend anyone with a sensitive nose. But it is a good use for those beautiful boxes that are just laying around.


These lovely pin cushions were tea cups from my Mom and were not being used any where else. I left the message from my Mother in the bottom of the cup for someone to find in the years to come. It says that the cup was given to her by her friend in 1944 and it belonged to her great grandma during the turn of the century. Both of the cups are made of very fine china. The second cup is much smaller but makes a lovely, dainty statement on a desk. I just love their look. I used a stamp on the top to age them and soften the look. Dawn even made pin cushions out of old silver sugar bowls but I do not have any of those lying around....

Here is another "Fairy Jar" that I think is wonderful. ( I get so emotionally attached to the things I create) I made her wings from flowers from My wedding bouquet. They are so soft and feminine. I found some silver trays and have loved decorating them and they so lend to the Holiday scene. I left them tarnished to make them "feel" used and loved. I love all the trays but this NOEL tray really speaks to the holiday spirit.
I found this cute teddy bear and wanted to dress her for the upcoming holiday! Miss Priss is not as cute as Dawn's from The Feathered Nest.blogspot.com but my grand daughters both want her. Again another beautiful idea from Dawn. I have loved these fairy jars and think they will be so cute for a mantel at Christmas plus can be used all year long. There is a cute poem attached I have made and sold numerous Christmas ornaments for the tree. I even keep a few for myself or for quick gifts when friends drop in. I particularly like the "Santa's Magic Key" I got the idea from the Internet and I think it is such a good idea for those children that can not figure out how Santa gets into the house to leave their gifts. You may use any of these ideas, as we go along in developing my inventory to sell at my open house then these jewels will go to the Carriage House in Winder, GA.










I have been busy busy busy with Christmas gifts. I have soooo many ideas from the Feathered Nest Blog site. Please check her out!!! You must must check it out. This little shoe has been with me since 1984 and I have saved it to find something to do with it. Dawn Edmonson gave me this delicious idea that I absolutely Love. What a precious gift to give a new baby or just for someone who loves Victorian, as I do.

The Second entry today

I thought I would let you see what my husband has been doing for two weeks. I now have a lovely waterfall and a fountain! We set on our back porch all of the time and we wanted a water feature and I got just what I wanted! We had the fountain given to us. Then the fairy came from the next door neighbor. The rocks were free at a building site which was a tremendous amount of work on both our parts but look at the effect. We have over thirty hungry goldfish that are such a pleasure to watch. How could I have ever anticipated that it would bring us such pleasure? Even the flowers were free. The pumps were the most expensive part of the whole process. It is turning fall here so alot of the flowers have gone to sleep for the winter but oh, how nice in the spring. I can hardly wait!

What do you think? I love this bracelet but my nephew says it is too much. I made it with
hundreds of twisted green matte bugles and shorter straight black bugles and it is so soft and comfortable too. My daughter gave me the beautiful irredescent button to close it with. What a fun look! I think it looks like a wooly worm so that is what I have been calling it.
I think I told you I will be having a bazaar/open house sometime in November and I have been forcing myself to lay down the beads and get busy on numerous ideas that are rolling around in my head. I ran onto a gal named Dawn Edmundson who has a blog called "The Feathered Nest" and she has such good ideas that I love so she says to use them and I sure have been busy. I went to Value Village in Buford and got these trays to try out a new technique she uses. I absolutely love love love anything Victorian and this is what I came up with. It takes hours for me to decide what to use. What do you think? Too much? Someone will like them, I am sure. I really like the way the lady came out. There is a clock face hanging from the bow but I am not sure you can see it very well.



There is a scripture (1 Thessalonians 4: 11&12) that means alot to me. I borrowed this idea from Dawn too but it seemed to fit.
"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."






This one is my very favorite tray and I do not care if it sells. It matches my bedroom so well.
Isn't she a sweet little girl? I have, since taking this picture added a row of seed pearls between the small ribbon row and the large one. I think it added just a touch more elegance.
I am now covering cigar boxes for Christmas packages. Plus I made about two dozen cards this week. I will have to show them to you later because I have got to get to work again. Have a wonderful creative day!

I am back! We have been busy working on the garage and we have company so I do not get to my computer work as easily! At least we are making some headway on getting rid of some of the junk and making Don a spot to work in.
I have attached some more of my jewelry creations for you to see what else I have been up to. The teal one is the back side of the twisted groups that I have been creating. The rope is a lot of work and very time consuming. I just guess I get bored with repetitious work and like to be challenged.

I loved making the pink and teal bracelets! They are so very Victorian and I closed them both with antique buttons of my Moms. The pink earrings are made with four crystals wrapped in rose colored beads. It is always great when I wear them and people comment about them. I have sold several of my things and it is always so very hard for me to part with them. My daughter, Melissa sold three pieces and I about cried. I needed the money BUT I don't know if it is worth the pain I go through when a piece is sold.

This "Pearl Twist" matches the bridal necklace that is displayed. It is so very pretty in the daylight because the swarvoski crystals shine bright next to the beautiful creamy pearls.








The Green twist is a fun fall creation. It is a herringbone weave and I twisted it with the flower as the catch. It closes with a hook and eye combination.
When I made this cuff I did not realize it would be this wide. It is around 2 & 1/2inches wide but it is so very comfortable to wear. I love the lacy look and I made it so that it would fit a larger or smaller wrist. In the center are fresh water pearls which I always love.

My favorite necklace, so far, is this copper choker. It was a lot of fun to create and it looks GREAT on the neck. I have closed it with an old antique button from my stash. I made this also in the pearls that are on the right hand side of the blog. Just a change of beads makes all the difference. On the copper one I used a combination of a ladder stitch and then a herringbone. The drops are small leaves and a coppery purple drop. I know this will be one that I will be doing again and again.