Hibernating in Winter

The temperature has been jumping up and down from 30s to single digits.  Time to hibernate at home after work.  My idea of cozy is a comfortable space, not too formal where the decorating is eclectic to say the least.  The tatted doily was saved from life in the Great Big Thrift store and cost a whopping 75c, the disheartening thing is knowing someone spent about 200 hours making it! 

After visiting the Bachmans Idea House where flea market style decorating ideas bloom I convinced Mr. Wonderful to get out the drill and make me some finials from the pine cones sent to me by  Jane at Aralia Janes  They are HUGE!

This petite valentine gift: I love more than 'a partridge in a pear tree'; it's a pink bird in a seed cup!  Made for me by Miss Shirley Zetta's Aprons.  It's so much fun when you connect in more than blogs visits and that's what Shirley and I have done, emails fly back and forth from our respective parts of the country.

This adorable shadow box came from Stephanie at Creative Indulgences and the little Miss looks like she can face any winter weather!  Stephanie has written me several times a week since we were matched in a swap last spring!  What fun to learn about life in the Northeast!  

Red is my favorite color and my valentine tree held this tag that came with several gifts from Kim the Musing Mama.  Kim too, writes regularly, we share the job description of mother to Asian born children, her doll came from China, my boy and girl were born for me in Korea. 

Hibernating I look around and enjoy the gifts of friendships, the gifts in the mail are lots of fun but knowing such wonderful women is the real treat! 

Darling Companion Crafting

There are many red things in my house, it's my favorite color.  Sometimes though, a little pastel find comes home with me.  Exhibit A:  Lefton Miss Priss salt shaker a thrift store save for $1.40.  You know I walked those isles for 30 minutes looking for her 'other half' but she was destined to remain a single gal.  I thought her a perfect spot to display this old cupcake topper.  The topper reminded me of bakery treats at Sterling Pastries where my beloved Little Grama worked during my childhood days! Thank you to Elizabeth for triggering another memory with your gift bag of goodies!  

 

The Home Companion magazine is dated 2005 but I save them and puruse them each month of the year.  The paper dolls remained intact until this year when I decided to use them to create a little valentine project.  You see, Anne Estell reminds me of another little blond who grew up in  our house; our homemade baby girl.

The base is a heart shaped open sided red cookie cutter; I used scrapbook paper and then a layer of flecked opaque fabric over the paper.  The back has a doily that allows a peek-a-boo view of the inside where I glued the other pieces of the paper doll clothes. 

The Home Companion wasn't the only M.E. treasure I saved, calendar pages also provide great graphics for valentine paper crafts.  My pal of 29 years will get this card next week. We are both Norwegian  mothers of Korean born children.  I love the Scandinavian Christmas papers for a great group of red mixes that complement the trim in Mary Englebreit's drawing! 

 

'Hope you haven't stopped Valentine crafting yet, I love this time of red, glitter and doilies.  One more week till the Big Day of Love!

A Love Story

On February 4th, 1978 Mr. Wondeful, formerly  known as my boyfriend, took me out for dinner and then to a popular sledding hill in my hometown.  We had borrowed  sleds from the children we sometimes babysat.  College students will do anything to get out of the dorms!  It was a very cold night and because we were young, we didn't mind.  Today I wouldn't entertain the idea of going sledding if the temp was below zero!

I knew I was in love shortly after I met my beloved when we were both students at a Christian college; he was a junior and I was a freshman.  He was a tease, he sang to me on one of our first dates, a really dorky kid song...he almost didn't get another date, he can't sing!  We have a silly streak in common, both of us love to have fun.

After sledding we sat talking in his little red Chevette parked in front of my parent's house.  "We had fun tonight, didn't we?  Wouldn't it be great if we could be together and have nights like this whenever we wanted to?"  And then the ring came out of his pocket and for as long as we both shall live became our motto.



Every February 4th I remember that special night, there are probably more romantic proposal stories that could be told but

 Of all the love stories, ours is my favorite.

Minne-SNOW-ta

There are times when I wonder why my Scandinavian relatives thought this was a good place to stop and make their new home...  In the last week we have had wind chills of 25-40 below zero.  When the weather hits single digits we bundle up, there's truth to that layers thing, we also wear hats!  I go to the craft room and celebrate winter in my own way; I make snowmen.  I make my guys with paper, now the real thing.

Perusing the isles of Michaels, the chipboard books are such a fun way to theme a set of graphics.   Gathering supplies comes first, flipping through the papers and garnishes



choosing the goodies that fit with my idea to make things easier when I start assembling the pages.



My flea market finds (greeting card scrapbooks) have been stripped apart; the cards separated from the musty smelling paper that held them captive for 60 years.  I organize my binders by types of illustrations:  here are the snowfolks

Cutting graphics, I'll be pondering before looking for additional embellishments to complement the fabulous pictures.  I love buttons and rick rack when using the vintage designs.  After making 50 or so Christmas tags to mail as holiday greeting cards, my choices are getting more manageable. 

It's not always below zero, in fact two days after the subzero temps it was 34 degrees in my neck of the woods.  Yes, we call that WARM.  You Southern gals, well, let me say that big bugs, snakes and alligators found in swimming pools is my version of uninhabitable.  It's a good thing we all get used to our own weather issues isn't it?

I'm moving on to the seasonal crafting; I may finally be in the swing of working full time and still finding time for fun in my playroom cutting paper and entertaining myself waiting for spring.