Twelve Days of Christmas

Day 10

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, let it...sigh, unfortunately the only snowflakes we will be seeing are the ones on my card.   Our Friends and family north of us have a bit, but there is nothing in the forecast for us.  It's a balmy 53 degrees on the thermometer on the back porch.  I ran errands today in just a long sleeved shirt and vest.

I made a quick card to add to the top of a treat package.  Thinking of snow and sleigh rides with jingle bells.

The big button in the middle of the rosette is from my stash of vintage buttons from Grandad's traveling salesman days.  It was the perfect fit for the rosette and the two little jingle bells tied to it just right.  Once upon a time it was a bright white but now it has aged to a lovely creamy color sitting prettily on some vintage music paper.

I have to think grandad would never have imagined I'd use these old buttons in projects like this, but I'm sure he would like it.  I miss him this time of year, it was his favorite, he couldn't wait to hug us all in that big bear hug of his, with the pocket protector filled with pens, squished up against our cheeks, hugging us until we were breathless.  The memory makes me smile and tear up and the same time.

I hope you are taking time out of the hustle and bustle of the season to make sweet memories with your loved ones.  Have a wonderful evening and for a little more snowy jingle bell magic head over to the Shabby Tea Room for some inspiration.

I'll talk to you again soon.

Smile

Today it's a quick little post about a thinking of you card. I hope it will bring a smile to the recipient's face.  I had a bit of sunny plaid in my scrap bin that caught my eye the rest of the card coordinated from that.  I didn't want to add more twine for the buttons so I did a little cheater move, I used a fine tip sharpie and drew in the stitch lines for the buttons.  You have to look really closely to tell and of course, there are polka dots which always make me smile.

Happy Wednesday!  I'll talk to you again soon.

My Friend retired

My friend Jo retired, a year ago... That's when I started this project.  It was supposed to be a banner that I was going to hang over her cake at her reception.  But, as some projects do, this one began to evolve into something more than a simple banner and the more I worked on it, the less it got finished.  Have you ever had that happen to you?  You see the problem was, Jo is very special to me and I wanted this project to reflect all the fun and thoughtful times we have spent together.  By now, a banner is kind of unnecessary, but I had all this work done so I decided to turn it into a mini album (not so mini after all).  One side of the banner/book spells out the word retirement, the opposite side of each ban-nett? I don't know, what you'd call the individual flags of a banner!? Anyway, the opposite side has a short poem that goes along with the corresponding letter.  I added lots of charms and glitter, buttons and beads.  So this is the result.  Now I need to get it into the mail before another year goes by.

Here is hoping you get to finish a project that has been a while in the making.  Have a wonderful weekend, it's nice and cool and rainy here today.  I'll talk to you again soon.