Want a creative, beautiful gift card holder?

Make one out of a toilet paper tube. ;) I saw these little "pouches" in one of the Somersets & knew they'd be great gift card holders. And they are! The cards fit just perfect in them. Just flatten the cardboard tubes, glue the bottom shut, paint & decorate. I gave them a light coat of beeswax before decorating & it realllllllly took them to a higher level. Made them look much more professional! (Don't be afraid of the beeeswax...it's super-easy!) I slipped the gift cards inside & then tucked a piece of tulle in also. One daughter loves pink so this one is her's.....

And my other daughter (Clifton's wife) loves blue so this one was for her. I used a cream chalk to tint the decorative paper blue.

I was very blessed in having the one daughter & then God blessed me again with Stacie. I couldn't love her more if I had given birth to her myself. And I'm pretty sure she feels the same about me as she calls me Mother. She & I are spending some girl time together this weekend & I'm really looking forward to it.

I've been spiffing up the Enchanted Tea Cottage & it occured to me that I never shared the make-over w/ y'all. So I'll be sure & get pictures tomorrow morning when the light is good.

Update...I didn't feel right not giving credit to the artist responsible for the toilet tube pouches idea so I went through my Somersets to find out who the artist is...it's Becky Shander. She does some amazing stuff!

Gotta love junkin'!

And you gotta love a man who loves junkin'!!!! I'm very fortunate that my hubby likes to junk, nearly as much as I do. It's one of our favorite quality time activities. And a couple of weeks ago, we spent a whole day hitting the cattle barns flea, a thrift store, an estate sale & some garage sales....look @ all I came home with!

The cattle barns is a great place to find cheap bling!



The old rulers were a thrift store find, the old photos from the estate sale; as were the sterling S & P shakers....$3!!!!! And check out the old notepad paper...another thrift store find & only 39 cents.

Beautiful sugar bowl...garage sale...$1!

This perfume bottle was at the same garage sale as the sugar bowl & was also only a $1. It's beautiful now that it's clean & sparkly.

The lace pillow is already employed as a display/storage piece for my vintage, rhinestone brooches. LOVE the vintage bird print & I cannot seem to resist cheap china. I gotta get into mosaics.

All kinds of dolls & doll parts! And a lovely pink tatting trimmed hankie...only a quarter!

The little crystal bowl is already filled w/ mica flakes & the "pearl" hearts are actually button covers but I'll use them in art projects.

I have plans for the thimbles for my girls for Mother's day...shhhhh! Mum's the word!

I snagged the watches @ a garage sale for 25 cents a piece....they'll be used as mini-shadow boxes in jewelry designs.

I asked one of my favorite dealers if she had any super cheap bling for me to use in my art projects. She gave me 2 boxes of junk to dig out of. I spent over half an hour going through them but it was worth it...alll the bling on this sheet music was only $3....TOTAL! And as you can see...there was some good stuff mixed in w/ the junk!

Speaking of sheet music, one of the dealers @ the flea had a box w/ a 3" stack of sheet music in it. One dollar for the whole box!

Found this wonderful old doll dress, slip & bonnet @ a garage sale for $4.

And this old, fabulous christening gown was another cattle barns find but I had to pay $10 for it. I'm planning on using my collection of vintage baby garments (didn't pay more than $3 for any of them) as a valance in the guest/baby room & this nice piece will be the highlight of it.

Found this vintage cake topper @ the thrift store for only $2.99.

And I somehow neglected to get a pic of the other one I scored....for the same price & @ the same thrift store...but you can see it here behind the little leather bound books.

Quite a haul, huh? I am almost done w/ my Easter decor...then it's on to the Easter crafting....can't wait! I have big plans for Easter crafting this year.

The Super Moon was awesome!

I hope you were able to see it! I set up the tripod & was able to snap a couple of decent pics....need a better camera though. Love this first one of it, behind the neighbors' tree.

Once it got high in the sky, it glowed so bright that it created a glare....this was as good as I could get.

It was just glorious and what a beautiful night for it!

Thanks for all the prayers & condolences....we're holding up. We have many wonderful memories to temper the sense of loss and that is always a blessing. Been staying really busy...making use of Spring Break last week to get some one on one time w/ each of the grands. Whew! It takes a lot of energy to make every day special! ;) No rest for the weary though as now I'm into spring cleaning & Easter decor....be back later!

It was a sad week for us....

we suffered 2 devastating losses. On Wednesday, my cousin Bruce (he's on the right w/ my sisters & cousin Trey in this photo from the 80's) suffered an aortic aneurysm & passed away. My cousin Brucie was a very proper man but he also had a prankster, fun-loving side....scaring us with ghost stories about our grandparents' ranch when we were kids & years later, dressing up as Bigfoot at a girls' camp-out for one of his daughters. His funeral service was a reflection of that & was filled w/ laughter. I so admired the grace & humor displayed by his wife & adult children. Yes, humor...for Brucie left them w/ so many memories full of laughter, that it carried over into his service. We wept, sure....but we laughed far more than we wept. I wanna go out like that!

Brucie was a very successful man..... he was a lawyer here in Ft Worth but always swore that one day, he would write a screenplay & make a movie. I am thrilled to tell you that he lived to accomplish that goal...he wrote & was executive producer of a horror film entitled Beneath The Darkness. It stars Dennis Quaid & will be released in October of this year. I am so glad he lived to make the movie but sure wish he had lived long enough to see it's release. Even more, I wish that he were going to be here for the birth of his first grandchild...a boy. How heart-wrenching it was to see his daughter, big with child @ her father's funeral. :(

I am very, very fortunate to have known Brucie...he was a fun-loving, caring, do-right, intelligent, ambitious man who put his family first & foremost. All of his family....right down to his pesky younger cousins.

Give MamMaw & Colonel a big hug & kiss from me, Cuz! Tell them it's gonna be awhile but I do plan on making it there. ;)

And then on Friday, we suffered another devastating loss when we had to say good-bye to our chihuahua, Baby. She was 13 & had respiratory problems & started suffering horrible seizures from lack of oxygen, so we had to let her go. She was Princess I'll Do What I Want & kept her regal beauty, right up until the end though....as evidenced by this photo, taken just last summer.

I am honored to have been your queen Baby and although I'm not quite the task-master you were, I'll try to keep everybody in line. Love you Baby Girl!

I give you my heart....

a lot of them actually! ;) I know Valentine's is past (even I've taken them down & put them away!) but I wanted to share a few projects w/ y'all.

This is my first solo-collage. I've done them before in tuts & workshops but this wood heart is the first piece I've done completely on my own. I'm very thankful for tips that I have learned.... like don't glue anything down until you're sure you're happy w/ it. I thought about it & messed w/ it for 2 days. Yep...2 days! And I thought I couldn't be happier w/ it but now that it's done, I think it could still use somethin' somethin'. Some more layers of papers as a base probably. But hubby says he likes it the way it is...what do you think? Anyhow, I really struggled w/ the design...had no clue where I was going or what I was using except that I wanted to make over a thrift store wooden heart. A very dated, very country'ish wood heart. Think mauve & blue w/ "Welcome Friends" stenciled on it. ;)

It's funny how the ideas are stepping stones for the eventual design, isn't it? The first thing I thought of; was to use a small frame, then I popped a frozen charlotte inside the frame & fell in love with it.



(click on any picture & then click again to enlarge for details)

But while on a search for an appropriate Valentine's poem in one of those old Ideals publications, I came across one entitled Lifetime Valentines & knew that I needed to put a picture of hubby & I in the frame so out w/ the charlotte idea.

I chose a favored photo of hubby & I, taken year before last on my birthday, & printed it out in greyscale.

I really struggled w/ the pointy bottom of the heart & what to put there...tried a blossom, lace scrap, chandelier prism etc but then I thought of the rhinestone buckle (a recent find from the cattle barns flea)...a strip of tea-dyed velvet ribbon & wallla!


This next project was a direct copy from the Red Shed Antiques blog. *blushes* But I fell in love w/ the cupid's arrow they shared & had to have one...how sweet!

My little Love Fairy....(image of charlotte doll can be found here)

This tag was inspired by a tag in my inspiration files but it's been in there for years & I don't remember who to give credit for it....sorry!

before you go, I'd like to share a few of the hearts that were hanging around my house. This little vignette is in a candy dish under an old, brass & copper magnifying glass that I got while thrifting (for under $5!) The grands love this display & are always eager to see if it's changed & what it contains.

A tiny perfume bottle & rhinestone heart pin, under glass.

This was hubby's father's Valentine from when he was a boy. It's dated 1945.

LOVE this vintage Valentine's card! Wish the glitter, it's covered in, showed.

Vignette inside an apothecary jar.

I am constantly asked how I can keep so much stuff around all the grands. I've had at least one grandbaby or toddler around for the past 12 years, yet I haven't baby'fied any of my house. They just don't mess w/ anything they're not supposed to. None of them (even Coleson AKA Mr Grabby) ever have. I know! I can't believe it either!!!! *grins*

LOVE this hand painted milk glass heart dish!

I draped a feather boa from my dining room chandelier, then strung gold beads & hung glittered hearts (I covered them w/ clear glitter to tone down the screaming red) w/ love words on them.

But of all the hearts, my most treasured will always be the heart I needle-felted out of my beloved Gizzy's fur. The hand holds his heart, his collar & tags & sits next to my favorite picture of him. You'll always be Top Dog to me, Gizzy!

I'm in the midst of painting a bow-front china cabinet for my studio so I haven't started on Easter decor. I'm not even pulling the bins out of storage until my studio is all clean & organized. Good thing Easter comes late this year!

Hope you're all doing well. I'm still having mega-puter issues (as those of you who are on email list are aware) & only log on when I have to so I'm missing visiting w/ you all. I'll come by & see you when I can.