Eleven in 2011

Hi!

There are only a couple more days left in 2011 and then a whole new year begins!  I always find it fascinating to look back over the year through the memories and accomplishments we made. Equally amazing is to look forward to the new year and anticipate the possibilities it holds.

Today I thought it would be fun to share with you eleven favorite projects I created this year. Sound fun?

Thank you for being a part of my blog this year! I hope that I have made spending time here worthwhile and inspiring!

Well, I hope you enjoy whatever it is you have planned for these last couple days of the year!

Kathy :)

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Hi!

I hope you all have been having a wonderful holiday! I sure have! It's been lovely spending time with my boys and it's been lazy and relaxing! I barely came up to my office for two days! It felt so good to have a little break!

Today I'm going to try and ease back into things....slowly. Thought I'd start by leaving you a couple vintage downloads to play with when you get a chance.

Here's an image you can use for a New Year's card.

And since Valentine's Day is on its way, here's a cute image for your sweetheart!

So, will you be working this week? My husband and I are. Christopher has the week off to play with his new toys. I know some of our neighbors are on vacation for the week. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Enjoy these last days of 2011!

Kathy :)

Happy New Year!

Hi blog hoppers! Hope you had a fantastic New Year's Eve and have enjoyed the first couple days of 2011! I disappeared for a few days while I finished my decorating project, put away the Christmas decorations and enjoyed some family time!

Today it's back to creating a normal routine for ourselves and I must say it feels a little strange! I could get used to lazy holidays! :) After Christopher reluctantly went back to school this morning, Dan and I went to drop off one of our cars for its routine service and found that our second car wouldn't start. We jumped it and off we went. I think our car didn't enjoy the coldest December on record or sitting idle for so long! After going to the shop, we went to the post office. Ugh! It's going to take a few days to get back to 'normal!'

So let's not talk about dreaded errands and normal routines...instead how about we take a look at the last installment of my redecorating project? If you missed the last couple of posts, I've been re-arranging the built in book cases on both sides of the fireplace in a cream, white, glass and metal theme and I have pictures to show you!

I really had to work at finding things around the house to finish this side of the shelves! If you click on the photo you can enlarge it. I have some pine cones up there, a vintage ball jar with our son's stick collection, a glass apple jar with some rocks and a couple containers filled with shells! Oh, I even added our glass jar of change! It all works though!

This Southern Living basket was in the master bathroom. It's now holding a set of pressed aluminum coasters, a pair of bird salt and pepper shakers and a cream lidded vase.

The shelf photographed above has a Belleek vase we've had for years along with some iron finales I purchased several years ago on eBay.

What do you think of this little cutie? Nope, that's not Christopher, it's his dad when he was a wee lad!

Here's a lovely little vintage pair of salt and pepper shakers. They were a Raleigh flea market find. I added more rolled sheet music on this side of the shelves. I love the glass and silver plated bowl the sheet music is in. It was from one of my favorite home stores in Hollister, California called Timber & Textiles. I wonder if they are still around? The black and white photo is my husband and his brother's and sisters. There's another sister to the right that's not shown in this picture. Dan is the little one being held. His youngest brother wasn't born yet when this was taken.

Isn't this little figurine adorable? It's a Lori Mitchell piece that I just started collecting a few months back. His name is Tiddly Winks and he reminds me of our Christopher! I love his striped P.J.s and the little stuffed elephant he's carrying!

Speaking of elephants...this pair is a favorite! Mama and her baby.

Last photo...a vintage ball jar of old mother-of-pearl buttons. There's those pine cones I mentioned.

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of our shelves! I learned that it is possible to create a whole new look with things you already have. I wouldn't have thought I could find enough stuff around the house to fill two large book cases and the mantel! If you would like to see the mantel and the other set of book shelves, just scroll down through the last two posts.

I hope to be back tomorrow with a Valentine project and a free download of a vintage Valentine image. I'm really looking forward to getting crafty again! It's been too many days! It's been over a week, I think! Wow! I  sure hope I haven't lost my mojo! Well, you will see tomorrow! ;) Kathy

First Post of 2010

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve! And I hope the first couple days of the New Year have been enjoyable! We started taking down the tree and holiday decorations yesterday and I'm happy to say we're almost done. It's a lot of work and amazing how plain the house looks without all the glitter and lights. Over the next few years I'd like to collect more snowmen and winter decor so I have some things to leave out after the holidays. And I want to decorate more for Valentine's Day. What fun to add some hearts and sweetness to these cold winter days!

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I've been making some cards and craft projects so I'll share one of my cards with you.

I used a couple patterned papers from Pink Paislee's new Cupid collection. The buttons are Jesse James and can be found in my Etsy shop under the Valentine/Love section. The pink/white gingham ribbon is from Offray, from Michael's. I hand stitched the zigzag part because I can make a straighter line than I can with my machine! LOL! The sentiment is made with stickers from Basic Grey. That's it...fun project!

Come back and 'see' me Monday for a new 2 Sketches 4 You challenge! :) Kathy

Back to the Daily Grind

As fun as the holidays were, and I really enjoyed our family time, it's nice to get Christopher back into his school routine and clean the house! I spent the entire day yesterday scrubbing porcelain, vacuuming carpets, moping wood, and clearing out dust bunnies. Ah, this house sparkles! Let's hope it lasts at least a day or two! Now it's time to get some work done...for me that means making cards and Valentine gifts for my business and scrapbooking our holiday memories. Here's a page with a photo from Christmas morning. Santa left the train Christopher asked for.

Happy New Year!

Here's a fun little project I discovered on the Ki Memories blog, a CD calendar. If click on http://www.kimemories.typepad.com/ and scroll down a little ways, you can download the calender pages and then decorate them with your favorite scrapbook papers or photos. Cheers to a happy, healthy and successful new year!