little jaunty hats

The Echinacea seed heads are wearing little jaunty hats!

 

for more about Echinacea purpurea:

Lady bird Johnson Wildflower Center This is an excellent resource for this native North American plant, as well as for other wildflowers.

photos by me © 2010 

The art of being cute

...as taught by Oliver

watch carefully now...

 

use your eyes to advantage

this move gets them every time

turn on the charm

look with longing and show your love

This post is for Cats on Tuesdays.  Go to Gattina's BLOG My Cats and Funny Stories to see more.  You, too, can participate by linking up!





photos by me © 2009

a simple tip

Keep your current favorite toy safe by sleeping with it.

 




Ugh!  There goes that flashy thing again! 

Oliver's current favorite "toy" is a piece of cotton jersey fabric dyed orange.  I made this for a sample of the color, and it was on a counter in the kitchen--up high--safe from all cats, right?  Being the kind loving person I am, I decided to let him have it.  He loves it so! 
Tip post inspired by Isabella the beautiful at Beaded Tail.  HERE is one of her must valuable tips. 

This is for Cats on Tuesdays where you can see even more wonderful kitties. 

One World One Heart giveaway

how would you like to fly away,

fly away on a magic carpet!

to a land where your most favored dreams become reality!

One World One Heart was created by Lisa in 2007 to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet.  The object is to discover new and wonderful people along the way, and in the process possibly win one or many prizes.  It's all about sharing and finding kindred spirits.

So come on in!  Let's get started!    Please stay awhile,  Make yourself comfortable and look around.  After your visit here, grab your magic carpet and fly on over to the next home.  As Lisa says, "Think of this as taking a giant tour of homes; you get to stop in, look around, meet the people who live there, admire and be inspired and before you go on to the next one you leave your name in hopes to win a door prize at each home."
And now for my giveaway!

"Oh, what is it?" you say.  "It's earrings, " I say.   "I can SEE that!"  you say.

These are beautiful earrings made from Grade A freshwater rice pearls, Grade A freshwater potato pearls, and sterling silver.  The lovely pearls are so lustrous!  They will come in a silk bag that I hand dyed with the happy colors of Spring.  Read on to see how I dyed it.

After the silk is washed and dried, I tied it up.  In this case, I used orthodontic rubber bands.


 

 Now the tied silk is soaked in white vinegar for 30 minutes.








ready to dye!

Place in closeable baggie and microwave on high for two minutes.  You can pause the microwave every 45 seconds or so to keep the bag from bursting.  Now open up (VERY carefully) and wash  with a dab of mild soap.  Soak in a solution of water and a little fabric softener if you like.  Iron on low heat.

Now it's ironed and ready for you to win!






And now for the skinny on how to win!
FIRST, this giveaway is open to those with blogs only.  
SECOND,  leave a comment on THIS post and do tell me a dream you have--it can be tiny or very big.  You may leave as many as 5 comments, but they must be made on DIFFERENT days.
THIRD, in your comment, please leave a way for me to reach you should you win.
You have till 11:59 PM on February 14th to enter.  I will choose a winner on February 15 using a random number generator.


Go visit One World One Heart on Lisa's blog, A Whimsical Bohemian to see how to play along and for a list of all participants.
Have fun!
♥ Margaret
photos by me  © 2010 except for OWOH badge which is © 2010 by Lisa

little fabric gems

Look at this beautiful shop of fabric wonders!  Nico Designs is the featured etsy blogger for the month of January.

I love these sweet little shoes.

This Fiesta tote is so fun!

And here's a sweet upcycled pear pincushion.

NICO's latest obsession is her wonderful art dolls like Gertie .  You simply must go to her shop and read the stories these dolls have to tell.






"Live each day as if it were a gift."  This is the quote at the top of Erika's blog.  (Yes, Erika is the name of the delightful person who owns NICO's shop and blog.)  I love this cute hat upcycled from a sweater.  She tells how to make it HERE

She has a tutorial on making baby leg warmers, too, but you'll have to go to her blog to find it.

a little bit about Erika and NICO Designs--Erika is a SAHM with two very young children.   She is inspired by her family.  (In fact, there is a special connection between her father and the name of her shop--it's her father's nickname for her.)  Creating and sewing is her fun and sanity.  She designs all her products with style and functionality in mind.  Using 100% cotton fabrics,  Erika combines new, repurposed, recycled, or upcycled materials.

Please visit:

NICO Designs

blog

Facebook

photos by Erika © 2009-2010

special gifts

because they were all hand~made!

a beautiful little pouch contains all the other hand~made items!

A heart, hair clips, bracelet, necklace, wrist/hair tie~all Christmas gifts for my two beautiful twin goddaughters!

The lovely pouches were made by Lynn of Woodly Creations. 

I must attest that they are beautifully constructed!  Do go check out her wonderful little bags!
The sweet little hand needle felted woolen hearts were custom made for me by Nikki of Moon Dog Farm.
(who by the way is moving her felted items to Moon Dog Felts.  She sells felting kits in the first shop.  (I didn’t show it in these photos, but there is a different design on the reverse side of the hearts—a spiral.)

 

The cute cupcake and bee hair clips were made by Simply Smiss, who, by the way, gives 10% of her sales to benefit the monthly charity of Etsy for Animals.  Do go check out her shop right now because she is having a sale!

Ruthie, of Rose Works Jewelry,custom made the hemp bracelets in yellow which is the twins’ favorite color.  She added beads of green and pink.  They’re perfect because they tie on and so will accommodate their growing wrists.  (Right now they are 4 ½ !)  Ruthie makes the most lovely woven bead jewelry, but you must go to her shop to see!

Athena, of Miss Millificent's World, makes the most delicious cakes and pies!  She says, “I was trained as a cake decorator at age eighteen.  After years of making cakes for friends and family, I got a job as a store cake decorator.”  But these bakery sweets aren’t edible!  They’re for wearing!  Yes, that’s true!  They are intricately and wonderfully made of polymer clay.  Since they came with a ring attached and ready to be pendants, I then wove necklaces of ribbon and added a clasp.  They turned out great and the girls were enthralled.  (PS:  Athena is very creative and makes so many wonderful things besides sweets, that you really must go see for yourself.)

Lastly, I made ties for either wrist or hair—very versatile!  My friend Virginia crocheted the flowers.  I added beads and vintage buttons.  Then I sewed them to ribbon, tying the ends in a knot so they wouldn’t fray.  There are more in my shop Sparkly Park.

I loved giving all this hand~made goodness!  So much love and care went into the making of them.  They are unique and personal.   Truly a joyful experience to give.

PS:  My purchase was Woodly Creations’ 1000th sale!  So she included this cute little pouch as a gift!  Thanks, Lynn!  

photos by me and individual shop owners © 2009 & 2010

CalKat!

Meet Kathy and Carrie, the artists behind 4 etsy shops and 2 blogs!  When asked a few questions, they replied, "Thank you, we'd love to be featured on your blog." 

How did you two meet?

"We met back in 2001 at our sons' first day of Kindergarten. We became friends instantly and found out that we both love to be creative and decided to put our creative minds together."

choker from Calkat

Do you make some things separately, some together?

"We really enjoy collaborating on projects and 99% of the time we give each other input on separate projects. We each have our own styles and techniques."

MoNsTeR bOx from Ametista

Who manages the shops and blogs?

"We get together every week day and collectively check the shops, fill orders, brainstorm, blog, twitter, Facebook, add ourselves to search engines and most importantly hunt for MoNsTeR bOxEs."

snowflake mold from The Clay Shoppe

yoga fairies from Yoga Fairies 

 
When chosen as the etsyblogger of the month, this was said of CalKat:  "CalKat is Kathy and Carrie.  They're wonderful members of our team -- and have been for the past couple of years. You've probably seen them around -- they've been supporting our team, teammates, and team events and volunteering, too, whenever they can!"

BLOGS:
CalKat the Jewelry Junkie
Ametista
They just love to have giveaways!  As a matter of fact, I won one of their giveaways back in June!  See it HERE and HERE.  It's a beautiful signed sunflower print by Laura Zollar.  Here's Laura's website.

 

PS: Happy Birthday this month to Kathy!


photos by me and CalKat © 2009

wishing you...

a very merry, happy, wonderful, blessed, joyous Christmas!
photo by me © 2005

a favorite Christmas

Apart from all the hoopla, commercialism, gifting, partying, there IS a deeper meaning to this season.  The esty bloggers' carnival this month asks the question:  Holidays - Christmas, Hanukkah & Others, what was your favorite gift received? Was it handmade?  This recalled to mind a Christmas long ago when my husband and I had little money and a small child.  Although we gave gifts to him, we gifted each other with mostly "coupons."  This remains my favorite Christmas gift experience.

a cookbook and coupon for cooking sessions together

Another special Christmas was two years ago when my mother went into the hospital just days before.  On Christmas Day, my husband's family was here and we were just sitting down to eat when I got the news my mother was being released.  I hurried to the hospital and brought her to my house in time for a meal and family fun.  Everyone was so happy to see her and spend time with her! 

 my son and I long ago

HERE is where the carnival will be posted sometime on Monday, December 21 by LindaB.  Check out Linda's  etsy shop, too!

photos by me © 2009 

a frosty treasury!

a treasure trove from talented artists along with one vintage item!

Row 1:

happyment

meiguidesigns

tapestry316

Row 2:

LazyTcrochet

roseworksjewelry

HomeMadeOriginals

Row 3:

TulipsTreasureBox

Patchfirstshop

lostmitten

Row 4:

peacoxcreations 

IndulgeYourShelf

memoriesforlifesb

see the treasury HERE for the next few days. 

PS Most items here are from the etsy bloggers' street team.

Kitties Who Came to Play

Tigra and Edward Bunk came to play at our house over Thanksgiving!

cute, adorable, bouncy, gallopy, friendly, curious, loving, purry, fresh, fun, hilarious, jumpy, entertaining, sweet, playful

Tigra munches a Casbah felted ladybug!

Bunkie loves his CasbahKitten catnip jellybean! 

My daughter's sweet kitty Cy disappeared a few months ago (Asheville Kitty).  She adopted these two kitties from a shelter about a month ago when they were about 8 weeks old.  We had so much fun with them!  Oliver and Earnest, our 8 year old cats were not thrilled by their visit, but were polite for the most part.

CasbahKitten:  wonderful kitty toys!   I learned about these toys from Beaded Tail, who blogs about her kitties and dog.

photos by me © 2009

dreaming of snowmen treasury 2!

Link to the treasury is HERE.  However it will expire in about a day.
row 1 (across): 
Little Miss Create
thegoblet
haleysscrapbooknook

row 2 (across):  




PACountryCrafts
meiguidesigns
AnnaBelleArts 


row 3 (across): 


elineof  
SparklyPark 
InspirationMemories

row 4 (across):  
LDphotography




SunshineDaydreamz   
satoo 
photos  © 2009 by individual shop owners.  all rights reserved.
NOTE:  Once again, blogger is being persnickety.  What I see when writing this is NOT what you see here on this post.  However, all content is present. 

The Fab Miss B!

This month's featured etsy blogger is The Fab Miss B!

"I've always loved to paint, draw and make things with my hands. My art is inspired by travel and adventure, fairy tales, Roald Dahl books, every color on earth, Christian Dior, street fashion, humor, old timey music and Marilyn Monroe. I have lots of fun making pipe cleaner ornaments, illustrations, greeting cards and banners every single day."

Becky's two shops are just brimming with fun!  Look at this lovely vintage brooch packaged in a hand made box from The Fab Miss B!

Becky Kazana makes vintage inspired chenille pipe cleaner ornaments one at a time, just for you, such as Corine the pipe cleaner dancing girl.  







Be sure to visit Becky's BLOG which is " is a sketchbook I fill with the inspiration I find around me everyday."

LINKS:

The Fab Miss B!

Becky Kazana

BLOG

photos by Becky © 2009

card for Jaimie

It is very painful to even write about the events that happened to Jaimie.  It hurts my heart just to think of it.  Here is a little bit of information. 

Mont Vernon is a very small town in new Hampshire.  On the night of October 4th, 2009, Jaimie Cates and her family went to bed.   Four local teenagers armed with knives, broke into their home and brutally murdered Kim (Jaimie's mother) and seriously injured 11 year old Jaimie. They chose the home for no other reason than its location, and for no other purpose than to bring harm to the occupants. It was a senseless, random crime that shook the small town and much of the state.

More information and links to a news article:

HERE
(scroll down to near the end of the entry) 

and HERE

Erin and Denise are raising cards for Jaimie!

my card (click to enlarge and see detail)

cardstock:  hot pink, black

handmade paper

Stampin' Up stamps:  Kanji, Bamboo

DP Artworks stamp:  swirl background  online shop  blog

a little note:  I have personally met Deena a number of times over several years.  In addition, our booths have been next to each other at a yearly November craft show.  I will also vouch for the high quality of her stamps!

opaque pigment gold ink

black ink

gold metallic thread

stick

cuttlebug textile on black paper, over-inked and edged with gold

The words--tranquility, harmony, love, and wisdom (inside) express my wishes for Jaimie.

Virginia's card

To read about this project and 3 other special projects, see my blog post HOPE.

PLEASE:  Click on the Spread the Love button on the right side side of my blog for more information and to send Jaimie a card. 

photos by me © 2009
PS  I am featured on a BLOG for comments on blogging.

Nigella: Today's Flowers

See more of Today's Flowers HERE. 

photo by me © 2009