START OF DECORATING

I have done a little holiday decorating today.

This plaque I found in a free pile at a yard sale quite some time ago.

It had two holes, one in the top and one in the bottom where it must of been nailed to a wall.

I just love the wee little child.

I added some brown tulle, some rusty little bells around the top and a piece of ribbon for hanging. An organiza bag filled with surprises, acorns, little pinecones, ornaments and more rusty little bells. Finished off with a bow made from vintage sheet music.

(don't be afraid of the bear, she won't bite)This image I found looking around at some of my favorite blogs, it was a free image to use.

My Figgy loves sheep so I figured I would embellish this image for her to use in her new wooden item she will be using as an advent display for the holiday.

I think she will really like this one!!

I have used some of the items I purchased awhile ago, see this blog post

I shredded some of the red and green tissue paper, antique dictionary pages and vintage sheet music for the nest. I used the candycanes I embellished with my own vintage lace and trims. The nest has some of the following; a vintage green nightcrawler metal holder, vintage wooden

blocks, two antique wooden spools with grey wool.Pine cones and pipberries.

Aunt Ida's croquet game balls.

Lastly a pheasant.

I hope you have enjoyed my nest and my other little decorations.

The tree has made it on to the porch.

I will put that up in next few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

VINTAGE INSPIRATION FRIDAY

WELCOME to "Vintage Inspiration Friday"

I would like to thank Debra at Common Ground for hosting the party. For the month of December all that wants to participate, will share what inspires them for the holiday. Be sure to go on over for a visit, you just may find something that inpires you.

I have also linked up with WhisperWood Cottage Decorating and Project Ideas.

I am having a bad back last few days, if not for that I would be starting my decorating. Here are some inexpensive items I purchased last week to use in some decorating ideas I have. Stay tuned!!!

The feathers I will be using to dress my dress form for the holiday. You can see more of that in this post.

The little bags I purchased at The Christmas Tree Shop for $1.00 each. I will be stuffing the bags with dried items, (see items below) and other fun picks. I will be doing one last craft show next Saturday, may bring a couple along. I will also be using the tissue paper (shredded) in the fabric bags and in a large nest I have on my coffee table.I will be making a small holiday nest with the vine wreaths. I found the music notes cloth ribbon at JoAnn's last week. I purchased the only two rolls left.

The cloth candycanes I also purchased, they were actually on a garland. I didn't care for it so I took them off of that and embellished with my own vintage lace and trims. I will use these in the large nest, typically like ornies.

I also plan on using fresh greenery tucked in here and there.

The wine tubes here were 40% off, about $2.00 each. I plan on collaging them with antique sheet music and filling them with dried items, a pick or two and finishing off with the music note ribbon.

These are some of the dried items I will be using. I got these over at my friend (Barb) house. The other day I was visiting some blogs that offer free vintage images. When I saw this one I fell in love.

This image is on my desktop.

This inspires me!!

Thanks for stopping by. Michele

HARVEST DRESS

"The Harvest Dress"

Back a week or so ago I purchased this dress form, you can see it here in this post.

The fabric I purchased is Christmas fabric. I just couldn't wait until the Christmas holiday to make a dress.

Thanksgiving is next week, so I decided to make a harvest dress.Using some simple muslin I made the skirt. The next layer of the skirt is a vintage table cloth all torn and tattered, just the way I like things. Using a piece left over from my bathroom curtains I made the blouse. Over the blouse is a vintage doily.

For accessories it has a hanky (purchased on my trip to New York City with Figgy) and a brown pin.

The dress has two belts; one made from wool trim, stamped with pocketwatches and stars and a green one using another piece of curtain.

Finishing off the dress is cattails, dried flowers, gold curly twigs and some apples.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

MY FRIEND AND BUTTONS

I wanted to share with you what my good friend gave to me yesterday. Look at all these buttons.. I love, love, love buttons. I can't get enough buttons.

The buttons came in this LifeSaver tin. I am going to put the buttons in the canning jar for now for I have plans for the tin. Isn't this tin great???

I couldn't resist picking out a few favorites from the lot...

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

CRAFT SHOW SUCCESS AND A PURCHASE

The craft show we attended on Saturday was a success. We were pleased to see customers were in the shopping/spending mood, more so than the last couple of years. Everyone loves Beany's Dog Bandanas. Quite a few dogs will be styling for the Holiday season. Some dogs would be having homemade treats once their owners arrived home. I brought along my vintage sheet music snowflakes, these were a hit as well. Most were amazed by the beauty of them.

After the show we did a little shopping, we can't help ourselves. We did need to find some special holiday paper to make some more snowflakes, we have some new ideas in mind for the snowflakes for our next show on Saturday. I will show these new ones in another post, so stay tuned for that. This was a purchase I made, don't you love it??

I have great plans for this item, do you know what I will be up to??? Here is a sneak peak at some items I purchased for my new purchase.....what do you think???

I can't wait............

As soon as I have something done with my new purchase I will do a post.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

DECK THE HALLS FRIDAY

Welcome to "Deck the Halls Friday"

I would like to thank Tammy over at Tinsel & Company for hosting this party.

Each Friday we will share what inspires us, what we are creating or what we would like to do for the holidays. Be sure to go on over to see what inspires everyone else for some holiday inspiration of your own.

I made these snowflakes last year. I made them for family and friends. I would like to thank Karoline over at Cherished Vintage for the tutorial on making these. These are so lovely!!Iused vintage sheet music for these. I have tried using vintage dictionary pages, the paper is too thin for this project.

I will be bringing these to a craft show tomorrow, we will see what everyone thinks.

I made these holiday greeting cards and will be bringing to the craft show as well.

Vintage bingo card, vintage trim, buttons and other fun things make up these gift tags.

I have also linked up to "Vintage Inspiration Friday" over at Common Ground.

Say hello to Debra while visiting over there.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele

PEARLS AND LACE THURSDAY

Welcome to Pearls and Lace Thursday. I would like to thank Doni at Faith, Grace, Crafts for hosting another Pearls and Lace event. Go on over to see what other pearls and lace items you can find there.

As I mentioned last week; I LOVE lace, vintage lace, antique lace, any sort of lace and trims. I purchase alot of my trims at our local auction house.

Today I thought I would share some of my stash with you and some of my items I like to create with my stash.

This is a bird nest made with little vine wreaths with lace and trims tucked in everywhere. I would admagine birds would use lace if they had the opportunity to.When I hit the mother load of lace in two boxes one Saturday at the auction, this off white lace was in there. This lace has been one of my favorites. This lace is so soft. Most of the lace still came wrapped around those plastic things as if it came right from a department store, (this sort of trims you purcahsed by the yard) some even had plastic wrap around the lace and holder. This blue trim was not blue, I dyed it blue.

This lace I did not purchase at the auction house but at a yard sale. I have so many yards of this I don't even know how much is there, tons I say..

I love to make glitter clothes pins. We go to craft shows with some of our crafts and we like to close up the customers bag with clothes pins, they LOVE this!!!

Here is some more lace.

I stain alot of my lace and trims, having them ready to use in my projects. The stains I like to use are coffee, tea and stains purchased from the stores. I use regular dyes as well. I so love the old and tattered look, don't you?? I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my vintage lace and trims.

Did I mention I LOVE lace??

Don't forget to stop over at Faith, Grace, Crafts to see all the other Pearls and Lace Thursday entries.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michele