Following My Own Words...

As I read my very own recent post I realize it is so easy to say, "relax and enjoy the season". Fortunately I am following my own words and I truly am relaxing and enjoying this wonderful magical holiday season. I took some overview photos yesterday at my very favorite place to go.

This is the conservatory at High Hand Nursery in Loomis California. It is a wonderful place to visit and have breakfast, lunch or dinner. Shop for plants, accessories or fine gallery art pieces.

I was enjoying a very nice long relaxing lunch with my dear girlfriends. We were also exchanging our holiday gifts with one another. No rush, no pressure, no stress...just geniune friendship and laughter and sharing.

This is a large pointsettia blossom that sat on our table in this tiny little pot. I was entranced by the beauty of this simple blossom. The decorated trees in the previous photos are redwoods and are so beautiful with the simple red ornaments and small white twinkle lights adorning them. The hanging pointsettias are huge and so amazing.

So, do I naturally not have stress in this hectic time of the year? No.

I am truly working at being able to enjoy.

Am I behind on everything including personal and holiday? Yes.

However, I am finding it isn't the end of the earth if something is not getting done and must wait until another day, week or month.

I am enjoying my family, friends, and everything involving Christmas.

I do hope you are enjoying your favorites things too.

B R E A T H E and enjoy...

Part of a Treasury...

Dear sweet faerymoongoddess has included my fabric wrist cuff in her beautiful new treasury which you can view by clicking here. I wanted to post her beautiful treasury in it's complete glory however my blogging skills are still not enough. I keep learning as much as I can. :o)

Please give her a visit and see all the lovely items she makes and shares.

On another note...

Are you completely busy at this time of year? Running errands for the usual groceries, gasoline, dry cleaning, laundry and such along with wrapping gifts, delivering gifts, mailing gifts, writing Holiday cards and mailing them. Getting together with friends and family as often as possible? This is definitely a very busy time for so many of us. This year I am choosing to do a lot less of the errands and chores and more of the quality time with family and friends. Yes, the gifts are much less but the sentiment is much deeper and more meaningful. Oh I am certainly helping the economy and doing more than my fair share of spending but much smarter this year. I am really enjoying my time as I stop and smell the "pointsettias", watch the lights twinkle, see the glitter sparkle and simply enjoy this amazing time of our year.

Take a deep breath, sip your favorite tea or cocoa or beverage and truly be in the moment.

Now I am happy to get back to my creating...

Easy Scrap Tags...

Here is my wonderful worktable once again. This time I am making some fun and super easy tags out of scraps.
See if you recognize some of the scraps I have used:
Green Hardanger cloth from the local thrift store costing $1 for all 15 tags.
Ecru ribbon from local thrift store 50 cents and most of the roll still left for more projects.
Buttons, thread, paper shapes cut from recycled holiday cards, used holiday postage stamps, fabric scraps, Bounce dryer sheets that tear or cut wonderfully, painted Lysol cleaning cloths, crocheted snowflakes, scrapbook paper scraps and tape transfers.

No two alike. So fun to just put each one together. I sewed most of them on the machine and some just with needle and thread.

Each one unique with a personality of their own.

As you can see...really anything goes to make these fun and easy scrap tags.

Cost involved is virtually next to nothing.

Time involved is truly fun and rewarding.

These tags are also easy to mail to those far away whom you wish to remember at this holiday season.

I do hope you have been inspired to make some fun and easy scrap tags. I hope you share photos of the tags you make. The possibilites are endless.

Happy creating...

One Simple Decoration...

One simple decoration.

Brings joy and peace to this holiday season.

The angel is a metal yard stake that I simply did not want to set outside to rust.

Her metal post is way too boring so I merely took some graduated sizes of ornaments and stacked them on the metal post.

Now it is sitting in a lovely large vase in the dining room.

I not only love the simplicity of this decoration I love the jewel toned colors and the shimmery silvery color of the angel as she watches over us.

I like to think this angel is reminding us to stay calm and enjoy this holiday season for all the reasons it truly represents and not the commercial overdone frenzy and stress we sometimes get caught up in.

May each of you take time to relax and enjoy the simple things.

Happy Holidays...

Winter Wool Flowers...

While out shopping one day I bought these yummy wool fabric scraps. I fell in love with the colors and the feel of the fabrics. Some of the pieces were rather small but I knew what I wanted to do with them so the size was workable.

I wanted to make some lapel flower pins for winter wardrobes. Clothing is the most common way to wear a flower pin however I also love to pin them to pillows, or draperies, or even a chair as an unexpected accent.

I have made these types of flowers for many years in all sorts of styles and sizes and designs. However I want to give credit to two wonderful bloggers who took the time to do tutorials so that all of us could see how easy and fun it is to make flowers such as these.

My all time favorite tutorial is by Roben-Marie and can be found here.
Next and also a favorite is by Thespoena and can be found here.

I never grow tired of seeing a new way to do something or a better way or a different twist on an old tried and true. In fact, all you need to do is Google to find more ways to make fabric flowers than you probably have time to watch. Most of all just cut some fabric and put the pieces together and embellish until you have a flower you like.

This one is shades and textures of blues and finished with a button and decorative thread.

Here is one I am showing on a blazer which has some lace layers to it.

Oh this is probably my favorite as it combines blue wools with some grey wools and some very fun plaid wool and a very vintage scalloped button double stacked with another button and decorative thread.

P.S. Pin one on your purse or tote bag or hat for a bit of fun and fancy.

As you can see these would make great gifts.

These are merely a few of the flower pins I have been making. I did list a couple in my shop just in case you would prefer to purchase your gifts ready made to save you time.

Now I must get back to the studio and create with all my favorite things.

Thank you for stopping by and I really do love reading your comments and reading what you are doing via your blogging.

Happy December Days to each and every one...