Olde Fashioned Christmas Swap, Part Deux!!

Ok all y’all (sorry, that’s for my Southern readers.. lol :D) .. so here are the rest of my pics of the prim pretties that I received from Sandy!! Woohoooo.. uh-oh, that might mean that Jazy will speak to me now! LOL.. well that is the chance I have to take (sorry Jazy, you know I love ya, but I just couldn’t let that one slide.. hahaha).. sooooo… Let’s get started shall we? I left you last post with an open box and a peek at the treasures inside. Now, before you scroll down, I’d like to suggest you get something to drink, maybe a snack and go to the bathroom! There’s a LOT to see (please ignore my kitchen in the background :)

Oh.. I just have to say that everything was packaged up so adorably! Love this cute brown paper bag done up with a great prim tag and tied with jute.. it had an awesome pantry cake inside.. my first!!! Love it.. and that sweet mustard paddle (wooden item) beside it is now holding my new pantry cake.. perfect size for it! Don’t you love that Christmas card??

Ok.. so I had to give up taking pics layer by layer.. LOL.. Sandy was soooooooo generous!!! So I pulled everything out and set the box aside. You can now see my pantry cake on the left (pic below), and behind it is a sweet painting (wooden item #2) of a saltbox house and a sheep and some trees.. done by a lady that Sandy knows.. she told me that she’s bought a lot of things from this artist.. love it! I also have several packages of wax tarts (smell good item).. they smell yummy!! There’s a package of prim nutmeg icicles, some handmade tags, a bottle of room spray (also smell good item :).. smells great, like pound cake! The next pic shows the items on the right a bit better.

So now you can see those lovely tin sconces (wild card item!).. I just love these, have wanted something like them for a long time, just couldn’t figure out what I wanted.. so thank you so much Sandy for these!! I also got some electric candles (lighted item), all primmed up so nicely.. these are great tucked on a shelf and they come complete with silicone bulbs.. oh my! Resting on one of the sconces are wax bowl filler balls.. these are so cute!! I would never have thought to make these, I’m not sure I’ve seen them around here.. in front of those are 6 candy cane ornies (ornie item).. cute in cinnamon-covered muslin.. they will go so nicely on my real tree! In front you can see my mini battery-operated tealights (more lighted items :).. all primmed with spices!! I have everything resting on my new, HUGE tree skirt (textile item)!! I love the stars sewn on and the mini rusted bells.. this is awesome!

Here are some close-ups: pantry cake, tealights, icicles and room spray.. mmmmmmmmmmm!

Close-up of one of the sconces! Oh I just love these.. I’m not sure where I’ll be putting these, but I will have fun trying different spots! I have battery-operated candles that I primmed that fit perfectly so they’ll be going in these once I find a home for them.

Close-up of the pantry cake paddle.. cute!!

Have you seen this many wax tarts outside a store???? lol.. Love the scents and the chunky ones in the front are chocolate and they look good enough to eat :) .. and the wax balls are on the left.. they look like rum balls don’t they? Okay, rum balls might be a tad smaller but I like the look! Here are my electric candles!!

Close-up of the painting… I just love that saltbox, it’s one of my new favourite things! This is a beautiful classic scene.. so peaceful :)

Handmade tags.. these are great, I can use them on the tree or a package.. love them!! They feature vintage Christmas scenes and are covered in glimmery flakes.. pretty!

Here are my cinnamon-covered candy cane ornies!! I just LOVE candy canes, it’s my newest ornie “thing”! These are going to go so well with all of my ornaments, I’ve got a nice collection of country/prim now! I love the jingle bells, they add a little something extra. One more thing.. I figured out how to rotate the pic on Live Writer!! Woohoo.. it’s like a Christmas miracle! lol.. :P

Ok, last pic but not least! This tree skirt is quite large, I think it’s about 3’ in diameter (my island is 4’ long).. I’ve been wanting a new skirt for my real tree and I think this will fit. I haven’t bought the tree yet so this has been carefully folded up, awaiting the tree.. this weekend most likely! Will post it when it’s up and decorated. I love these little jingle bells and the stars are white.. so it’s really a Canadian tree skirt now isn’t it?? lol..

I really want to thank Sandy, she went above and beyond, everything is wonderful and smells great, not only did you cover the rules, you threw in so many bonus items, I don't even know what to say except a humble thank-you!!! Her daughters also helped with some items and helped her pack up the box.. thanks to Tabitha and Abby.. you girls are awesome!!

Best of all, most everything was handmade and you can’t beat that! I have learned over the past couple of years to appreciate and love what goes into making something by hand and then to have someone enjoy that hard work. It’s a great feeling for all involved.. so thanks again to Sandy, the time you put into all of this means a lot to me.

Well I’m sure by now everyone needs a bathroom break (but lucky me for being able to write a nice long post and have lots of pics to share!!!)… so I think I’ll send this to post and let you all drool over my box of treasures.. oh yeah, be jealous! lol.. thanks for hanging in with me. Oh.. and Jazy.. you will leave a comment, I just know you won’t be able to resist.. hahaha!

Have a fabulous day all and see.. you didn’t have to wait all that long!!!

:D

I got my Christmas swap package!!! But…

Well, Tuesday evening really got away from me.  I spent A LOT of time unwrapping my Christmas swap package from Sandy of For the LOVE of Prims..  LOL…   I was so excited when I got home and saw the box!!!  After unwrapping everything (Sandy was SO generous.. omg!!) and taking many, many pictures, I sent Sandy a thank-you email then started working on some things for a last-minute craft show I’m going into with a very talented co-worker.  Sandy gave me some awesome things that got me thinking and I pulled some supplies out and started making some new things.  I was also trying to sort and organize my items for sale.   So.. I’m sorry to say that before I knew it, the clock struck 11 and it’s now after midnight.. have to get to bed but here are a couple of pics.. teasers really.. LOL!!!  I will do a new post tomorrow to show you everything else, so be sure to come back Wednesday evening.

Here’s the package (with our addresses covered of course!)

Opened up!  Oooh.. chips ;)

Okay.. here’s a quick peak inside the box!!

Ok, ok.. one more, but this is it!!!

Alright.. so you can probably figure a couple of things out from this pic.. but there are tons more to come.. stay tuned for the next post.. Wed. evening!!

Till then, my prim friends :D

A favourite place…

I’m sure everyone has a favourite place that they love to visit.. maybe the lake, a park, a store, etc. One of my favourite places is a charming little shop nestled amongst a stand of very tall pine trees and beautiful, interesting gardens. Winter Wheat is located just outside the tiny village of Sparta, Ontario (Canada) and features artwork by Lucy Ogletree, who owns the store along with her partner Mike. They live in a restored home on the property, which you will pass by as you make your way to the store in the back. On the property are several little buildings… my favourite one is along the driveway just past the house. I love to sit in it and relax on a cold winter day when the stove is turned on.. it’s very relaxing; in the summer the back doors are left open on nice days and there is a lovely breeze floating through. There are other buildings as well, check the pics or their website.. :D

Each time I go to Winter Wheat I see something new that interests me. It seems that Lucy and Mike make changes to the grounds and stores on a regular basis.. which is one reason I keep coming back. I don’t always make a purchase, but customers are always welcome to come in, sit in one of the little buildings and relax a bit (there’s also an area inside the store where you can sit a spell!).. be sure to read the rules before you enter the property. There are cookies, coffee and tea offered for free but a donation box is set up at each station (for charity), so be sure to throw in some change, it could make a difference.

I’m attaching some pics that I took in the summer and last Sat.; Lucy and Mike don’t mind if you take pictures but I only take them outside, out of respect for their business. They have pictures of the inside of the store on their website, so link up and check it out.

Over the years that I have been visiting and shopping at Winter Wheat, I have brought friends out to see the property and everyone who has been there loves it. My daughter and I brought our exchange student from Italy out there and she absolutely loved it.. they don’t have anything like it at home. I even brought her back for a second visit just before she returned to Italy so she could buy a few things to take home. Then last year my daughter’s friend from Italy came to visit Canada and we took her out to Winter Wheat, and she also loved it. Lucy and Mike provide journals in the little buildings where people can sign their names and you can find people from all over the world in those books! Amazing!!

Enjoy the pics, first set was taken in the summer!

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I thought I had several pics from our visit in January but could only find one. My favourite little building was jammed full of visitors on Saturday so I didn’t get any pics inside; it's the one with the blue door. The larger building with the Winter Wheat sign is the store.. love that porch!!

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If you’re in the area, stop in.. you’ll want to go back time after time! Have a great weekend all!

More trees…

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends (and those who just live there :D ).

I have one more tree done at home, this is my large alpine tree… just love these. The ornies were inspired by the ones that I have on my office tree…. which are for sale if anyone wants them. Pics of the home tree: note the little glass (but might actually be plastic!) pinecones.. I bought them at a yard sale in the summer.. I like the dark colour; I also have 3 little wooden tags, my candycanes, and some brown glittery stars.. can hardly see them but I like the sparkle.. I also “planted” this tree in a pail of joint compound. It weighs a ton, but I’ll probably just store this already decorated.. getting lazy in my old age.. lol. I have this tree sitting behind my love seat, between my two child’s rockers. Years ago I found paper mache deer, one sitting, one standing and I glued some dried flowers and raffia on them.. unpainted. I still like this look and someday if I don’t, I’ll have to prim them up.

Here is the office tree, as I mentioned all the ornies are for sale (if my coworkers like them:) .. but I only made the candy canes.. oh and the tree skirt, did that last year.

The last one is the “topper” that I made up freehand.. lol. It works I think.

Have a great day all!!

Swap finish & Christmas trees!!

Hi all…

I want to thank Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick and Barb of Dogmom Diva for encouraging me to try Live Writer.. so far so good!

Had a busy weekend, crafting my head off.. lol. I finished up my swap gifts for Sandy of For The Love of Prims and managed to decorate 3 of my trees! I can’t post a pic of what I made for Sandy.. fun for me and you but not for Sandy.. don’t want to spoil the surprise! I just hope she loves (or likes.. or tolerates) what I made.. and only one thing was store bought, but I know it’s something she’ll love.

Now on to my trees.. been so busy lately but yesterday I forced myself to decorate some of my trees.. I know, “forced” and “decorate” should never be in the same sentence but I’ve been procrastinating and feelin’ the pinch.. especially since my blogger buddies seem to be all decked out.. lol.. but I feel better now!

I have had a kitchen tree for years and although I keep most of the same ornies, each year I seem to add one or two or ten new ones so this year I ended up adding a 2nd tree.. haha.. all you decorators and crafters know exactly what I’m talking about! Here are some pics… (fingers crossed, trying this on LW for the first time!!)…

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OMG.. seems to work!!!!! Never mind, I spoke too soon.. can't seem to get some of the pictures to rotate and can't edit the photo album... HELP!!!

Anyway.. the tree sitting in the crock is the original kitchen tree and the one on the floor (please ignore missing baseboards :P) is the back-up. It’s been set in joint compound inside a bucket from the dollar store.. and I placed red ticking fabric (coffee-stained and baked of course) on top. The tree inside the crock was also set in joint compound into a metal bucket.. I have several trees I’ve done this to.. works out well! The great thing is, they’re not overly big so I can put the lights on (leave them on) and probably even leave the ornies on, place them in plastic bags and they’ll stand up in the storage room, ready for next Christmas, when all I have to do is bring them upstairs.. good plan! Notice the Santa, Angel and Snowman teapots? Got a great deal on them years ago, they're teapots. I also have nutmeg graters, mini whisks (they were keychains I bought at a kitchen store a very long time ago, only got 2 and couldn't find them again), a blown glass frying pan with breakfast in it, a blown glass pretzel, blown glass Christmas pickle (google Christmas pickle, it's an old German custom).. the red & white striped stockings I got in the US last week.. faux gingerbread rocking horses, gingerbread candy canes I made last year, various cookie cutter ornies, etc.. I try to put things kitchen and food related or whatever I think will look good on this tree. The backup tree :D .. hahaha... has a gingerbread and candy cane theme. I just used striped pipe cleaners and primmed them up with coffee.. and baked them of course to get that crisp feel. The ceramic gingerbread were made by me many years ago when I took ceramics classes.. wish I could take credit for the eyes but they were done by the owner of the shop, she had amazing talent for eyes.. brings them to life!

Next is a tree that I found at a rummage sale, think I paid $3.. hey, it was for the orchestra so I paid “full price”.. lol.. anyway, it’s one of those tacky tinselly gold ones but I had a vision.. a Mardi Gras tree! I already had strings of lights (yellow, green and purple bulbs...official colours of Mardi Gras :) that I bought in New Orleans and I was so shocked to go into my local Walmart a couple of weeks ago and find masks in the ornie section.. it was like karma people!! I also found some small sparkly ornaments that I added, plus a mask on a stick ornie that my daughter and I picked up on our trip to NOLA last year.. it never really fit the themes of my other trees so it was perfect here. I also tossed on a bracelet in the traditional colours. I have a silk tye-dyed scarf I won a few years back so may place that under the tree as a skirt. Again, I think some of the pics are sideways.. sigh... and there may be duplicates... oh well, it's not like I'm paying for this blog right?? LOL

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Now I just need to get my “red” tree and my other two prim (alpine) trees decorated.. oh and the one for the porch and one for my office (to feature ornies for sale :) … and my daughter still wants a live one… ugh, I’m so tired just thinking about it!

On a sad note, my laptop seems to have been fried (hope not, hope not, hope not.. say it with me folks!) .. so no computer at home right now. Comments will be approved tomorrow.. if I get any.. :DDD .. have a great evening.

Another recipe!!! Easy Apple Crisp

My niece wanted a recipe for apple crisp. Having two small and freakin' adorable children, I knew she'd need something easy so I emailed her the following recipe. I've made this so many times, it always turns out amazingly well and tastes great! When our exchange student from Italy lived with us, we made this and she loved it. She asked for the recipe to take back home with her but they use only metric so I ended up buying her measuring cups and spoons... which she forgot! LOL... my daughter brought them with her for her half of the exchange and the people in Italy were finally able to enjoy this fabulous dessert!

So, without further ado, here it is! Please enjoy!! (sorry no pic)

Apple Crisp

5 or 6 medium apples
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour

Peel and slice apples, layer in a buttered casserole dish; pour water over, then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg. In separate bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and flour. Tip: use a fork to mix it into a crumbly texture, then pour mixture over top of apples.

Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes, uncovered.

Yummmmmmmo!

Cross-border shopping.. oh yeah!!!

Hi!

Ok.. so it's been a week already since I crossed the border to shop and pick up some orders from my cousin's in Michigan.. time is flying!!! I was headed to Windsor but I can cross into Sarnia (Port Huron) and drive to Detroit, then cross back into Canada. Much more interesting way of getting to Windsor!

I thought I'd show you a few pics of things I picked up while I was there. I found these oval bowls at a place called Christmas Tree Shops. Cool store! It's in the same plaza as the Target in Shelby Township and is across from Lakeside Mall, on Hall Rd at Schoenherr. I've been in this area many times over the years as my cousin lives nearby, but I have never seen this store. This area is really built up and depending on which road I take, I get turned around easily.. lol. These bowls would be great with Christmas greenery and votive candles (battery operated of course, I would not light real candles in this!) or a string of battery-operated mini-lights. They have both sayings that you see, one on each side, and were only $1.99 each!

I found this plate at Christmas Tree Shops as well, only $2.99! Not sure where I'm putting it, but I'll find a spot!

These felt pieces came from Hobby Lobby.. the only one in the area is in Port Huron. I love this line, Make it Christmas! Very interesting selection of things you can buy.. a lot of the line are craft items that you can make into something else. These were $2.99 each but I think they were on for 50% off.. gotta love that!!! No idea what I'll do with them, but I couldn't leave them for this price could I???

Of course I had to hit the Dollar Tree, and found this jute wrapped wire hanger and jingle bells. The ribbon will be replaced with homespun and I might add this to my door wreath.

Christmas Tree Shops again.. these adorable buckets were only $1 each!

This was a real deal at Hobby Lobby! Paper mache saltbox house, $3.99 and 40% off of that! I can see a hole cut in the back and a light attached to the inside, and the outside all painted, sanded and primmed up! Oh, and the roof is detachable .. I'm sure there are so many other ideas that my prim friends can come up with.. suggestions please?? :)

These cute stockings were also at Christmas Tree Shops. I've already coffee-stained and rubbed some ground cloves on them, but they are cute even if you don't prim them up. They were also $1 each. The spatula and whisk I found at Cracker Barrel.. aren't they adorable?? They look like something our grandmothers would have had.. full-size of course!. These are shown on my kitchen Christmas tree, which hasn't been decorated yet (time is seriously flying by.. oh my!!). Once it's done I'll post pics. These ornies were a bit pricey but oh-so-cute.. $3.99 each.

I bought tons more, but that's it for pics for now!! This is why Canadians cross the border to shop. You have so much that we just don't have over here, and if we do it's often a lot more money. Even if prices are comparable, we just love the variety.. it can really get overwhelming! But.. it's so much fun!!

Have a great day all :D

Hayley

Good evening :)

Hi All,

Just a quick note. Had a nice few days in Windsor, the city I was born in and lived in until I was 11. Got to visit some family and friends (some I've known since the early 70's when I was really young) and just relax. I brought one of my swap items to work on.. lol.. and finished it up! Since I got home last night, I've been busy working on crafts and my swap... and loving it!! Things are coming together, will be very pleased when I can send my things off to Sandy.

Today my daughter and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's amazing show "Alegria".... it was just fabulous!!! I saw "Ka" in Vegas a year ago with my sister so I knew what I was in for... but my daugther had no idea how amazing this experience would be. I was so happy to be able to share this with her.

As I said, this is a quick note. I have more crafting to do tomorrow after work, so I may not be posting much at all this week.

Enjoy :D
Hayley

Lamp makeover :~)

Happy Saturday!

Hi all!!! I've been away for a couple of days visiting family and friends in the city where I was born, and haven't posted in about a week! Before I left home I did a little project that you might like. My daughter had an Ikea hanging lamp that I bought her a few years back and she no longer wanted. Rather than throw it out, and since we need a lot more light in the living room, I decided to cover the shade. I chose tissue paper because it was a cheap fix and I figured I could re-cover with fabric if that didn't work.

Here are my main supplies: the lamp, spray adhesive and prim tissue paper in the crow pattern.


I started by dividing the lampshade into 4 sections and drawing pencil lines on the shade. The tissue paper would not wrap around the shade properly so I had to do it in sections. I sprayed the adhesive on one of the 4 sections and laid the tissue paper on top and smoothed it out. I then trimmed the sides, following the pencil line. Yeah, I know, wasn't really straight and the edges get a bit raggedy when you cut them since the tissue paper isn't on a flat surface. I didn't really care, so it was all good! If you want it to be exact you will need to cut it before attaching and spend a LOT more time on it than I did. I really wanted a very quick, easy fix.

Continue on completing the other 3 sections. One you're done, spray the inside rim at the top and bottom (do one at a time) and tuck the tissue paper into the groove if your shade has one. Trim the excess. Warning, this adhesive is very, very sticky and I spent a lot of time scrubbing it and pieces of tissue paper off my fingers. Might want to try gloves. Oh, another tip of course is to spray outside or in your section of the basement or garage where you use spray paint.. this stuff is stinky!!

This picture is showing me using a yard stick to copy the pencil line onto the tissue paper, in hopes of cutting it straight. Yeah, right (snorts)!!! lol

Ok, final product! Notice how the pattern doesn't line up and you can see the seam?? Don't care! This project was practically free and I think it's cute and will work for now. My dream of course is punched tin (so jealous of Lisa over at Primitives from Above!.. lol, just kidding, am very happy for her :) ... but in the meantime, this serves it's intended purpose.

Here it is hanging in front of my LR window, above the love seat. How lame am I? I left the white aluminum mini-blinds and white sheers (after bleaching them of course!) up; these were left behind by the previous owner! I can't seem to figure out window treatments!!! I do have something up my sleeve for the kitchen but what do I do here????

Hope you enjoyed!

Hayley

Bartering & a new "window"..

Happy weekend!

My window is finished!!! I'm so happyyyyyyy!

When I bought my house I wanted to open up the wall between the kitchen and living room.. I decided on a "faux" 4-paned window. My plan was to finish each section until someone pointed out how small the openings would be then.. which of course would close in the rooms.

Yeah, kind of ugly, isn't it??? I've lived with this for 2 years now!!

So a few weeks ago I did an organizing job for a contractor. Instead of paying me, I asked if he'd do the finish work on my "window".. he agreed and was able to confirm that the stud in the middle could be cut (one of the reasons it wasn't done before is because nobody could tell me this for sure!).. I was very excited to hear this!! So here is the window right after he removed the stud and cross-pieces; it looks so much bigger already!

Here it is with the inside trim installed and shims to make it level.. oh yeah!!!

Let's skip now to the reveal.. TA-DAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Ain't it cool??? I love it!! I just have to finish it off with a coat of my trim paint and it's completely done :D .. woot woot!!!

Daisy likes it too! Well.. actually it confused her because she was used to clinging to the edge of drywall.. lol.

So here is what I got when I bartered my time!!! How awesome is that? Has anyone else bartered for stuff they want? Leave a comment and let me know :)

I'll be here.. starin' at my "window" :D

Hayley