Altered Christmas Bottle and Freebies!

Hello Friends!

Well, I guess I didn't quite make it to two posts in one week.
Oh, well.
I wanted to share with you a couple of projects
that I made for the MAMA group.
Now I have long wanted to try my hand at making an altered bottle.
So I jumped at the chance
and joined the "Bouteille de Noel" swap. 
A Christmas bottle!!
My partner was Terri, who makes beautiful things.
It actually took me a long time to get started.
I had a porcelain rose that I really wanted to use for the top.
I kept fussing and fussing; it took me a bit before I finally admitted
it just wasn't right for this project, this particular bottle.
Then everything started to fall into place.

I started with a vintage bottle and filled it with some vintage pearls, mica flakes and snowflakes:



I layered (mostly) vintage lace pieces on the front and added
the silver snowflake, brass piece and this cameo which I love:
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And here is the back:



Together Marti and I made this lovely bag to send the bottle in:



And of course I received a beautiful bottle from Terri:



She used a mercury glass technique on the bottle that I'm going to have to try!
I just love it!

I was also in a Secret Santa Swap,
those are just so much fun! 
We were supposed to create a pretty muslin bag
and fill with a handmade ornament, giftie, and Christmas treats!!
This is my bag for my partner, Lisa:

 

I made her a pretty little fairy slipper ornament but forgot to take a picture :(

 

And here are some Christmas tags for you to use when wrapping your gifties:

Click to enlarge, right click and save!

 

Lots of links to lovely pinks at Pink Saturday.

 

For links to lovely, shabby, chippy whites, stop by Blissful Whites Wednesday!

Lovely, feminine things at Pearls and Lace Thursday!

Lovely, cottagey links at Feathered Next Friday!

Party on at a very pinteresting party at Tutus and Tea Parties! And for all things lovely and vintage, visit Knick of Time!

♥♥♥Thank you so much for visiting and for all your lovely comments!! ♥♥♥
Have a great week, and a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

Under the Sea and Mermaids!!

Hello Friends!

I think that for my last post of August,
an "Under the Sea" theme is in order.
And, I have just the thing to share with you!

My adorable goddaughter recently had a baby girl, Zoe.
No pink or prissy nursery for Zoe,
Tricia wanted ocean blues and an "Under the Sea" theme.
Love it!

Similar to my "oui" banners,
I made a "Zoe" one:


And, digging around in Michaels' end-of-summer clearance bins,
I nabbed this wooden "Z" for 25 cents!  It's about 6" high.



It was painted black to begin with,
but I covered the whole thing with book papers,
then decoupaged ocean-y paper on top and embellished with a tiny starfish.

And my favorite is this blossoming box:

 
I have made several of these boxes and blogged about them here.

It's like a scrapbook in a box; when you lift the top,
the box falls open to reveal 20 "pages" where you can put photos, etc.



There is room in the center of the box for mementos.

I can't wait to see this box filled with pictures of Zoe!!

Friday freebie time...let's stay in the under the sea mood:

  

Click to enlarge, right click and save!
 

Lots of links to lovely pinks at Pink Saturday.

 

Thanks so much for visiting, and have a great weekend!

Happy Pink Birthday!!

Hello Friends!
And a big Happy Birthday to Beverly of Pink Saturday fame!

And best wishes for many more!

Speaking of birthdays, I participated in Heather's Happy Birthday Matchbox Swap

last month and had lots of fun making paper birthday cake boxes.

I covered the matchbox in pink music paper

and made a band with eyelet paper from Martha Stewart.

I glued a cake box that I made from a template on top,

embellished with lace, pearls, festooning and a couple of coffee filter roses I made.

I love making these little cake boxes,

they're so much fun to decorate and tuck a little giftie inside!

Here is one I made for my friend Brenda:

And finally some pics of my son-in-law's 30th birthday

when I made crowns for everybody.  I started out making one for him,

then one for everyone who had a summer birthday,

and from there the project ballooned out to include everyone!

Sorry for all the pics, I know this isn't Facebook, lol,

but I didn't get a chance to take a pic of just the crowns

before the guests arrived!

The birthday boy:

As he put it, that's my life on a hat!

His 30th birthday and pics of the things he loves: my daughter, San Diego Chargers,

Sacramento Kings, New York City, Macy's (where he works),

dinosaurs and flip flops (for fun).

A pretty bird for Chelsea and a cupcake for Aynsley:

 A travel crown for Bob, leopard skin and feathers for my wild child,
 and Wizard of Oz theme for Wende.

San Francisco Giants for Sean and Paris for Jackie.

Kevin's crown has birds and a nest,

that's me with butterflies. 

A road warrior crown for Mike and a retro crown for Jim who just turned 60.

Sooo much fun!

Everyone was a good sport in sporting their crowns.

Happy Birthday,  

Beverly, I hope you celebrate in grand style!

Here's a little birthday giftie for everyone:

Click to enlarge, right click and save!

Lots of links to lovely pinks at Pink Saturday.

For links to lovely, shabby, chippy whites, stop by White Wednesday!

Have a great weekend!

Thrifty Finds and Tulips and Bees!

Hello Friends!  I so want to get this post out to you all.But I also want to play with my baby girl who's visiting from NYC!So here's a little post of what I've been up to: I had one of those "stars in alignment" weekswhere I found some wonderful things at the thrift stores/estates sale,some of which I actually needed!OK, really wanted, anyway!

Do you even see that 25 cent price tag on those lovely linens and handkerchiefs?!

 OK, if there's silver, even silverplate, and I have some dollars in my pocket, I'm buying it!

And, oh, I do love those little mirrored trays:

Is this not the sweetest little...um...OK, it's a little pocket with a flap, in perfect condition

with some sweet little embroidery on it...I'm thinking maybe a rosary pocket?  Anyone?

Love this little Marie Antoinette style demi-tasse:

I always need serveware, and these are silverplate and especially pretty, I think:

I also got a bag of lace, some of which is handmade,

no picture, but it is lovely.  I really do treasure women's handiwork.Also found some lovely china, which is to be a gift,so no pic on that yet.  ;) OK.  So, that brings me to....I needed a little thank you gift,and found a lovely Spring-y tin of tulips at Trader Joe's.I wanted to make it a little more special,so I added a little whimsical scallop around the top,  

and embellished with a burlap handmade flower with rhinestone,

and added a little "merci" pennant.

I think it bumps it up a little from"I just stopped at Trader Joe's on the way here and got you this plant!"  :)  I hope.And so easy-peasy! Since there are bees swarming in my neighborhood this week--and I'm not complaining...because I respect bees and the work they do :)--here's a couple of  beehive freebies for you: 

Click to enlarge, right click and save!  You may like to stop by Pink Saturday for links to some pink lovelies!
Have a great weekend! 

Easter Tags, Freebies, and Altered Egg Cartons!

Hello Friends!

I'm late!  I'm late!  For a very important date! :)

I do have some Easter projects to share with you.
First up are the altered egg cartons I made for my partners in Cassandra's Easter Egg Carton Swap.
We had the choice of neutral, natural tones or pastels;
My partner Heather chose naturals, and this is the carton I made for her:

And inside the carton she will find... 

Paula, my other partner, chose pastel colors, so I made this for her:

 

And inside... 

This was such a fun swap, I've never altered an egg carton before!
But I loved the creamy look of paint on the carton,
even though it did suck up the paint and require two coats!

But that's what gave it the creamy look. I also made some Easter tags at a mini-crafting session with friends Marti and Rosa: 

I just love those little chickies!

Also embellished with tissue paper garland and german scrap.

 Here are some freebie images,

perhaps you'd like to make your own Easter tags:

Click to enlarge, right click and save! You may like to stop by White Wednesday for more chippy white pretties!
Thanks for stopping by...Have a great weekend!