Blog Giveaway Winners!

First Place ~ Lynn from NC

2nd Place ~ Melissa from OH

Congratulations!

I want to thank all here who are new followers, and those who entered this giveaway! You have all made this so much fun. I enjoyed reading all your posts about what you love most during the Holidays. I appreciate having a connection with such wonderful and creative people through this thing called blogging! This contest exposed me to so many wonderful blogs I did not even know were out there! I will definitely be doing more giveaways in the future so stay tuned.... Have a blessed Thanksgiving

Adorable Tiny pups

Take a peek at these "wee" little pups, they might be small but are huge on the cuteness scale!! They almost don't look real do they?



Windows to the soul...



We've all heard the phrase "The Eyes Are The Windows To The Soul" This wonderful barn near where I live, has haunting, tired eyes that have seen better days, stories to tell if only he could, he has an old soul! This is a picture I took last winter, this barn is one of my favorites in the area, it may sound silly, but it speaks to me. I love this barn, I just can't explain my affection for it, he has a face, can you see it? He sags from having to stand at attention for so many years, he has seen so many things, I imagine and wonder what they might be. I can almost see a faint smile under his eyes. I drive by him regularly and "feel" him looking at me. I am very sad because you can see he does not have many more days left, they are coming to an end. I am grateful I have some pictures of this piece of history. This picture came to mind today since in the past couple days we must have gotten over a foot of snow, and it keeps on falling. It is a winter wonderland out there! This is an early arrival for all this snow.

My crafty news is really pretty boring, I have no new things to show and tell simply because I am trying to get my special orders done. I am almost there! This is my favorite time of year for crafting since snowmen and winter things are my favorite to create. I also get frustrated this time of year, so many ideas and plans, but not enough time ultimately to do them.

 Only a few days left until I draw the winner for the giveaway! I think I will give the first place draw the choice between prize one or two and do it that way. I wish you all a wonderful Saturday!

Coffee Time!

Good morning ~ I am now looking out the window at a frosty ground, COLD and overcast, that can only mean one thing....SNOW! I know many wish for it not to arrive, but not me, I enjoy it immensely. It helps that I live in an area that is always ready for it, so there are no "snow days" here. So I say... let it snow!  

I have already stuffed 5 heads and one body for some orders this morning and I am ready for that Coffee! I do hope it makes me do things faster,  and of course with more energy, BUT I am hoping to leave out the stupid! :-) I think I am like most and look  forward to my nice cup of coffee in the morning more than anything.  I do work in a coffee shop three mornings a week, so I am of the strong belief that Coffee DOES makes the world go round, and no I don't mean Folgers! I guess I would have to add Glitter to that, awww, now the world is spinning perfectly! I do not recommend coffee and glitter together however, I draw the line at sparkly coffee.

I would love suggestions if anyone has any on what type of tutorials you might like to see from me on this blog? Also, I hope that in some small way my artwork inspires you to be creative, try new things, or sparks a desire to jump in and see if perhaps there is a creative talent within you just waiting to be discovered! I have no secrets here, so if I can help, email me. Never assume you can't, try new things, practice, see what works, the worst that can happen is you get a good laugh and have to toss it in the garbage.

We have a winner!! OFG team trim your tree giveaway is closed

Carol Stuck of Buttermilk Creek Farm is the winner of one of the trim your tree OFG team ornament giveaways! She wins my old world one-of-a-kind Santa AND several others from the team members. I have just finished packing him up and tomorrow he will be on his way to Carol's house! Congrats Carol on winning this fun giveaway. When I enclosed my thank you note, it had not dawned on me who you were, I invited you to enter  my giveaway here lol , funny since you are already entered and we are both advertising each others giveaways. It's a small "blog world isn't it"

A sweet snowgirl ornie I whipped up over the weekend!

This little girl just makes my heart melt! I made her as a gift, but after seeing how she turned out, I do think I need to make more of these to sell, what do you think? No, she isn't a pattern, just made it up as I went. She has a hand painted face, grunged up sock for her hat and I grungied "is that a word?" up some feathers that were otherwise white to take that new look away, we could not have that now could we??? She is bigger than my hand, so a pretty large ornament.

 A little secret of mine I will tell you, I really want to design patterns to sell, after all I have been making up my own for years, BUT I just have not figured all this PDF stuff out,! That nagging little voice in my head sometimes makes me doubt my abilities, I know, we should NOT listen to those voices, NO SIREEE. I may be getting closer than ever to finally being brave enough to venture there, I do have ideas to offer, it is funny how it took this long for it to dawn on me, a light went on one day and I said to myself, "I could do this!" so we'll see what this coming year brings! I guess it's not a secret now huh?

The words "grungy and prim" brings to mind how many years ago as I crafted, the world was saying.... all seams must be perfect, hems turned under, material pressed, everything neat and pristine. You remember the days don't you, before we said that Prim was okay? I went along, pressing, turning and all the rest, but was never completely happy with my projects, I mean they were okay, but I just had not found PRIM YET... In my heart I knew I loved antiques, old houses, time-worn and well loved items, but the crafting community wanted perfect, I however wanted imperfect. I did not want to worry about making it all "perfect", so you can imagine how happy I was to finally find where I belong!!

 Primitive artwork is embraced now completely. Primitive, whimsical with a vintage flair is truly my hearts desire, I am finally at home with my creating. I am most satisfied with my creations after they have been aged and made to have that imperfect charm. I must say however, I am not an extreme prim artist, my things are lightly primed and yes hopefully you will agree too... pretty. I think when we stop worrying about all the so called rules, and do what's in our hearts, then we can clearly see who we are as artists.

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! Let me leave you with a verse...

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible.

Amazing Grace

I have always loved amazing grace, it is a powerful and moving song, if you love it like I do, you will be mesmorized by this version by ll Divo, WOW is all I have to say... hear for yourself!
http://www.clarrissegill.com/videoclips/amazing_grace.php

Tomorrow starts the online Old Fashioned Christmas craft show, I am working to get my items ready to post tomorrow, be sure to check out all the blogs who are participating.

So far the response to the giveaway has been great! Thank you to all my new followers... I know that many of you also have giveaways going on right now, just as soon as things calm down in the next couple of days or so "I am so busy", I will go on, visit your blogs, and enter YOUR giveaways AND post them here!!

Ginger and Snowgirl dolls

These dolls will be for sale November 10th on Pfatt Marketplace!
See my link here on the side-bar.
You can also see more photos of these girls on my Pfatt-November link on the top of this blog! Be sure to visit pfatt marketplace to see ALL the mind-blowing talent there and the artwork they offer.
http://www.pfattmarketplace.com/



Gingerbread Friends...

Here is a peek at my gingerbread dolls! They will be posted in full view soon, sometimes no matter how hard I try, the pictures just don't turn out to my liking. This one wasn't too bad, but tomorrow it will be another photo shoot session for sure.

The doll on the left will be for sale, and the girl on the right will be my blog give away!! I am just finishing up a snow-girls as well. Stay tuned, the give away starts on the 8th!

Check out my first blog tutorial, click on the tutorial link at the top of the page. My tutorial is on making cinnamon cut outs for craft projects.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Now I am just positive that this is what we'll all be looking like right before Thanksgiving! refrigerator looking well, pretty much like that right??? Ha, I don't think so.... what a picture, she smiles in pride at her fully stocked fridge, neat dress and of course high heels for cooking all that food, I mean what else would one wear to cook in all day? I got a kick out of this picture and thought you might too, get us all in the mood for Thanksgiving day feast.

I am excited, soon I will be posting my blog give away, it is just the cutest gingerbread doll, you can almost smell the cinnamon and sugar coming off her! I will have one for the blog and hopefully a couple more to sell. Stay tuned, she'll be here very very soon...

I can just smell the snow in the air here, it is coming soon. I am a fan of snow, love the beauty of fresh clean fallen snow, a winter wonderland. I love snowmen too, so that really gets me in the mood to pull all my snowmen out from there long summer's  hibernation. I keep my snowmen out almost all winter long, and am sad when they go back into storage. Well, it is off to paint, stuff and create!!

A thought for today...

These are the thought provoking words I came upon today:
IT'S EASY TO FORGET WHAT'S IMPORTANT..... SO DON'T!

It really IS easy to get caught up in the petty everyday things of life, worry about worrying, can't we all do it? When circumstances are at thier worst, look close, there will be some flicker of light  even in the darkest of places. It's a tragedy when it has to take cancer, or a death to finally get this. With our attitudes we can navigate our destiny down a road that is happy, grateful and positive in spite of all, we all CHOOSE what road we go down... Choose wisely my friends.

Prim Snowman just finished. Too many Christmas Cookies?

Here is my newly finished tubby snowman! he is a cutie patootie! Does the words Weight Watchers come to mind here? LOL he is so fat!! I do think he has over indulged in a few snacks too many. 

His body was constucted from a Country Friends pattern, I then sculpted my own ooak head, so technically I cannot say this is a ooak piece, only the head is my original. The rest of course is handcrafted by me and my interpretation of Country Friends wonderful snowman pattern. I am at odds with this one, I am torn because I need to get my item for PFATT in Nov. done, so am not sure if I will save it for then, or list on ETsy now??? If I list now, I had better get myself in gear and get another one done by the 7th, am wondering if that is possible at this point, sigh.....

Here is the full view of my sad snowman! he is done on an antique spool, and he holds a large snowball. He will be for sale soon....

Fun Cake Idea!

Just had to share this adorable thing I found!! who wouldn't love to go to a party and have a cake like this to eat? I thought this was such fun, now to actually do one and have it look half as good may be a challenge, we can dream huh? My guess is they used orange suckers that were dipped in frosting just on one side, then a choc chip in each middle. The mouth is black licorice and the teeth ???? hmmmm well it could be mashmallos cut to look like teeth. Boy, not sure how you get frosting to look like that!

Shortly I will have the full view of my sad snowman AND I have another one almost done I will be sharing here. Shhhhhh, we won't speak too loudly, but my latest snowman really needs a trip or to to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.... :-)

We're all sad sometime...

Well here is my very un-happy primitive snowman, this is a sneak peek, I will post the rest of him later when he is completely finished. I could wait, but I get way too excited to share! He is a OOAK. There is major boo-boo face going on here, I know you Mother's have seen this look before!

 You probably are wondering what posessed me to sculpt such a sad snowman, it is funny when you sculpt, sometimes you sculpt your mood! On this day, I had my clay and I started in, and I thought to myself, why does everyone of these snowman and holiday charactors have to be cute and smiley???, out of rebellion and probably a sad mood myself, this little guy was born.

I will let you decide why you think he is so sad, there could be a host of reasons, my hubby looked at him and sad, well of course he's sad, look at his nose!! LOL I wish the picture showed it but he has a tear running down his right eye. I used two applications of Crystal Laquer and it worked great!

In other news, I just photographed my first tutorial, I will post it here when I get the pictures edited. I made a new batch of my cinnamon buttons and documented the process for my  blog. I have no idea how these things work so I am winging it so to speak. The weather here feels cold, kind of dreary today, makes you feel a bit like the snowman here. I may need to soak in a hot tub tonight, now that sounds wonderful...

OFG Trim Your Tree Give-Away ornament.

Here is my newly finished OOAK Old World Santa! He will be my donation to the OFG Trim Your Tree Treasury Give-Away! He is clay sculpted on a gourd, painted, stained and finished off with mica flakes and a rusty snowflake. There will be many nice ornaments in this give-away, so don't miss it!

Prim Snowman and Candy Cane idea!

My Sunday has been a full one, I am working hard to at least get as much done as I can for the Holidays, yes, I should have been at this way before now! Well, here is my sweet Snowman Make Do! I think I am in love with this one, which is why I guess when I sell those things I am especially attatched to, it feels like I am selling my first born child! Well, that may be a "slight" exaggeration! :-) He will be for Sale on Etsy.

He was made on an old antique spool I purchased in Montana, sheesh I wish I would have bought more than 3 of these since I see now how great they are! His rusty snowflake I found in my stash, and yes I only have one, and NO I have idea where I got it to buy more, isn't that the way it goes? His head is a clay sculpted gourd, scarf is stained cheese cloth, he also has a cute prim hang tag. Of course like all my snowmen, he has been dusted with mica flakes and glass glitter.

Candy Cane Idea!

These chenille candy canes are great for an added accessory in a snowman's arms etc... but I wanted to come up with another use for them, so here is what I came up with today. Make the candy canes , the recipe for making them is here on my blog. Hot glue two together in the middle area, glue three sprigs of berries around the candy canes, keep the glue in the middle area as well so the ribbon can cover it. Take two pieces of complimentary ribbons and tie in the center. I then sprayed the berries and ribbon with spray adhesive and added a sprinkle of Glamour Dust. I made a tag with my cricket and added a picture of an old world santa, glittered that  and it's all done! I think I may sell a few of these on Etsy too, we'll see, they are kind of fun don't you think? I can see them on a tree, a coffee table, a wall, a special package tie or whatever you can come up with. Who knew Chenille could be so cute! Really, once you coat them in mod podge and put all that glass glitter on , you can't even hardly tell it started out as a chenille stem.

Gourds And Clay

Here are some projects in the making! I am starting to pull out my gourds again, when I say again, I mean that a couple years have gone by since I have done much with my gourds. I have a love for gourds, love the shapes, feel, look and simply everything about them! I have a wonderful collection of gorgeous gourds, just waiting to be painted on, sculpted on or whatever comes to mind. I have done santas and snowmen on them mostly.

The two I have started here are two of my smaller gourds, what you see here is the raw sculpt drying, I love LaDoll clay, so that is what I use most for these type of sculptures. The larger one will be a snowman, he is on an antique spool, I will make him a felt hat, and  can see in my mind's eye how cute he can, and will be. I know he looks funny now with his face being so differently colored than the natural gourd, but when painted, you will never be able to tell. The gourd on the right is a woodland santa, am not sure how I will paint him yet, but it will come to me. He "might" be my Trim The Tree OFG give-away  donation, this will be soon and I promise to let you know all the info. here! This type of creating is my favorite, no patterns, just clay and watching something come to life from it, how wonderful is that? Stay tuned for the unveiling of these projects finished.

Gourds need a long growing season in a fairly hot climate, need lots and lots of water. Once harvested, they need approximately a year to dry before they can be crafted on. They are all moldy and ugly once they have sat to dry. You know they are ready when you can hear the seeds inside shake about. The mold can be removed with steel wool and a bleach solution.

Okay, so this is a completely different topic, but how gorgeous are these nails for the Holidays? I just love them, however my nails need to look nicer before I get them painted.

Snowman Ornaments and Mr. Sparkles

Here are my latest OOAK Snowman Ornaments! They were hand sculpted in clay over a foam core, painted in acrylics, sealed, then mica flakes, glass glitter and a dusting of glamour dust sprinkled on top. The sticks are wood. These were made to have a vintage look to them, and if you haven't guessed, to look like lollipops! They will be for sale soon on Etsy.

Here is another newly finished snowman, he is one of Country Whims newer patterns "Mr. Sparkles", he is such a cutie too! He is made on an old antique spool, his buttons are cinnamon stars I made by hand with the recipe you can find here. I could not find proper sticks for arms, so I took wire, twisted them, then covered them in floral tape. I then painted them,  added a coat of glitter, I think they make wonderful stick looking arms, and the best part is they are positional. He has a bell handing from his right arm, a vintage looking tag hangs from his plaid scarf. And what snowman would be complete without a ton of mica flakes, and perhaps some glamour dust!  He will be for sale soon on Etsy...

In other news, I have entered into an Old Farmhouse Gathering Ornament giveaway, each participant enters an ornament, so the winner goes home with at leat 12 to trim the tree. This will be so neat because it will be a combination of different artist work, now how much fun is that. I will let you all know when you can enter, and how to do it soon. I need to figure out yet what exactly I will be entering.

I honestly wonder how I get anything done at all, editing pictures, making ads and adding them online takes so much time I hardly have time to create... I know I am my own worst enemy though, I am WAY too picky about pictures and edit them all beyond what I need to. Well, I guess I should do something domestic like cook dinner...

Buttons and more buttons!

This is not mine, but I love the idea! I have so many buttons I have collected, I must admit I have a "thing" for buttons. This was done over a foam core, you can get these in any craft store, then attatched with pins. I am thinking I would add a little glue too just to make sure they aren't going anywhere. This has got my wheels spinning as to how I can incorporate my buttons into something fun!

Sammy Scarecrow

Sammy scarecrow is done!! he will be for sale Oct. 10th on the Pfatt Marketplace!

 I love him, think I'll cry if and when I put him in a box to ship out. He looks mighty cute in my house!

His face was handpainted, the fabric was stained with a coffee and vanilla solution, his hair is raffia.

His felt hat and scarecrow were rubbed down with cinnamon for a worn, prim look I love! Really, shouldn't all your projects also smell like you could eat them??

His base is an old antique bobbin, love the color of it, almost hated to cover most of it up! His cinnamon heart was made by me, the recipe is here under the recipe link! I also made him a vintage looking hang tag! He was made from a Samantha Schmidt pattern and handcrafted by me.

I wish I had several of these done, should have started way sooner than this on fall, that is how it goes,  I end up getting a few quality pieces done over quantity anymore. I wonder how I used to go like a mad woman getting so so much done for bazaars, I could not keep up that pace anymore. I do think we need to be happy with what is and quit worrying about what would have been or could have been, I am getting there...

In the mood for FALL!

The wonderful colors and feel of Fall is right around the corner, I can see tidbits of change everywhere. I absolutely love Fall, nice temps, crisp, colorful, pumpkins, apple pie, pumpkin bread and hot cider!!!

Here is a sneak peek at a very whimsical scare crow I am almost done with, but not quite. This picture is a teaser, you'll see the rest of him soon. I am wanting to put him on my Pfatt page this month. I have to make him a crow or two yet and other finishing touches. He is a cutie, makes me think twice about putting him up for sale!

Doesn't this sweet little girl just ooze cuteness! She was the perfect picture of Fall.

Here is the yummy Kringle I made lately, it is soooooo good, especially if you love almond. This is an easy recipe, and so good for company. This was passed down from my Mother, I will share the recipe here in my recipe link, look for it in the next couple of days...

In other news, I have posted the link for an up-coming Old Fashioned Christmas Online Craft Show! Check it out, there are already so many ladies who will be in this. You will be able to shop on all the participating blogs, and actually purchase from each one. I am going to try my best to get some extra things done to post here myself and have for sale for this event. Stay tuned.....

I just have to say, I am loving the idea of using cinnamon rubbed into various fabrics to help give a nice primitive look. I have used this method several times lately and LOVE it, used it on my new scare-crow too! Try it yourself, I like to mist the area first with a mixture of coffee and vanilla, then rub in cinnamon and let dry! Your project really smells like something to eat!