Pine Cone Elves

A few months ago I found some vintage pine cone elves at a church rummage sale. They were not very cute so I sold them on ebay. Of course I had immediate sellers regret! I already had a couple but, I wished I had kept them - just because of their age. So I decided to make some reproductions...only cuter! I made 5 based on the materials I had on hand and the 2 old ones I had. They are spending the Christmas on this shelf.
The shelf may end up in the booth after Christmas. It was an ugly painted country look. I sanded it, painted it, sanded again and added burlap to the back. I am afraid I will regret selling it next Christmas when I pull out my elves!
The elf on the right is vintage- the other 3 are mine.

On this shelf the one on the left is vintage.

I used Sculpty to make the face and feet. The base is paper mache with snow paint. The arms and beard are chenille.

I pulled out little stuff from my stash for accessories- trees, wreaths, light strings...

I made this one some Sculpty mushrooms

And this one has a Sculpty lantern hanging from a tree branch. The hardest thing to make was the face. I finally made a mold of an angel face that looked kind of grumpy and just made all the faces the same. To make a mold you just push a ball of Sculpty on the face and them bake it. You dust the mold with baby powder so the clay does not stick in it each time you mold a face. This was easy after all the trial and errors !!!!!

Christmas in the Dining Room

This is the first Christmas for the new dining room! I have had plans for this for at least 3 years. I love eating in there with no dogs and no TV!!! Let's take a peek inside..........

The table (almost) set for dinner...

Bottle brush weaths on the cupboards....

Bird on the window ledge....

Vintage angel tree- some from my childhood mixed with estate sale finds....

A closer look.........

Vintage ornaments on the mantle (with a vintage Christmas card that matches!)

This little cupboard is just here for a visit. It will be redone and sent on to the booth at Angels,

Bird tree on top to keep Lulu from hunting .....

Sweet little broken angel under a cloche....

She is missing a wing but I bought her anyway for $.49.

Another view of the table

and the dishes,

and centerpiece

Santa in my green chair..........

One last look before I go work on the parlor decorations!

My New Job!

Yes, it is true...I have another job....unexpected but fun! And A. LOT. OF. WORK.


Hubby came home about a month ago with a surprise.


"How would you like a booth at Angels?"


"I have always wanted to try that, but, I need time to prepare."


"You move in November 1."





So the last month has been a blurr. We painted and moved in the first week of November. I had to dig around the house for shelves and pieces to display on. (Craft room is a shambles...picture me dumping fabric on the floor to take the shelves!) The next 2 weeks we spent every available minute tagging items and stocking the booth. We had plenty of "junk" left over from our ebay business- stuff that did not sell or stuff we never got to list. I had no idea how much time that would take! And people were buying stuff as fast as we could put it up there! So things have evened out -the booth looks full- we are over the "new booth rush" - we are still selling but we have enough up there so it does not look bare when things sell!

My New Home-
My Sign- TLC is the code for our sales-
This is the back wall. The old sink was in our basement when we moved in and I always knew I would need it someday!
We have sort of a corner booth because there is a fire exit on one side. This view is from the aisle.
I started out with Thanksgiving and Auburn here on the little table -but some is gone and I will move Christmas out there before next Saturday.
Christmas corner- (former ebay shelves on top of table from the basement) -

I was putting most of my vintage Christmas finds on etsy or ebay. But shipping some things is getting old- things break, it is expensive to buy packing materials and time consuming!!! We will still list some things but now we have a place for things that are small and less expensive to go!

Plus I now have a home for my crafty items! Like Snowmen tassels and linen pillows-

And the Hubby has a home of some of his random treasures...

He told me not to let the crafty things take over..... Here is a compromise...I made some trees and have the supplies to make your own!

The cost works out about the same by the time you buy the supplies- I hope this gets rid of some of the teacup stash I have!

I'm really excited about this new adventure!

Scary Bottles!

I really failed in my Halloween decorating this year. I only put out a few things and most of them are new- so I did not have to dig in the attic! I used some bottles that were hanging around the craft room for this display.

This one is more cute than scary -a Hobby Lobby 90% off find.

REALLY SCARY BOTTLE found in our basement- Rat Poison!!! Don't worry I washed it -

Violet Water bottle - found in our attic -down between the rafters- label looks like those rats munched on it!

Last year at the Country Living Fair I bought a bunch of labels - this is my favorite because it is from a drug store in Tuskegee, AL.

Old medicine bottle from Angel's Antiques - with new label. Some of the medicine bottles still had the drugs in them! I passed on them!

Posing in the Sun

We had a little cold snap so the Pugs had to put on T shirts. Max likes to sit in a chair by the window so he can keep a watch on the neighborhood. He had a big barking fit yesterday so I came to check on it. We were under an invasion of butterflies and he did not like it at all!

Chug hopped up in Max's chair when he wasn't looking! They both like my bathrobe - so I have just given up............