Happy New Year

Hoping Santa brings me....

• Another year to:
  
• Have my parents with me....
• Draw closer to God and be more intuned to His voice
• Spend more time with my sons before they are off on their own life quests
• Continue to be creative and try out some new projects
• Stay healthy and be more disciplined about exercising and losing weight
• Keep having fun with my dogs and hopefully get a gorgeous litter this spring!
• Make more dates with my husband for just us time
• Try to declutter my life a little...ha ha ha...this one I have my doubts about. I can't be creative and neat at the same time!!
• Remember to call my friends more....
• Pray more for the whole world and not just my little world
• Plant some new flower I've never planted before
• Be more appreciative of all I have
  
• And lastly to do more of whatever it is God wants me to do!

What are you hoping for???
May all your Christmas dreams come true...

Betzie

Favorite Christmas decorations

Every year I have a few decorations I have to put out. Others I only use now and then, but there are some that just have to come out, or it wouldn't be the same.

I love this one setting with the old German feather tree, my crosstitch, and my little handmade teddy sitting in the antique sewing basket...stained, but precious to me.
I have it all sitting on my old Singer in our family room.

Then, there's my grandfather's tin Santa Claus plate...I know these are highly collectible, but this one will never be sold(at least while I'm here).

I also have an old Nativity scene that has to be displayed too..my mom always put it out when I was little...just love the memories it evokes.

Baking cookies this week..I have to wait until almost Christmas or they are GONE way before it gets here. Teenage boys in the house....
Betzie

Favorite Gift I'm Giving This Year...To Robin...

I have a very dear cousin who has a form of MS. She's tall and she shakes quite a bit. She loves jewelry and she also loves her dog, a sweet girl I placed with her since she had developed a heart murmur and couldn't be in my breeding program any more. They were a perfect match! I decided to make Robin a necklace she could just put over her head, no clasp, and one that is sturdy and long. I added charms to personalize it, and made the focal point her dog's photo at the bottom. Don't you just love it when you feel like you've made JUST THE RIGHT thing for someone else??? It is so true that giving is a gift in itself...

Betzie

December Walk

I had the nicest walk yesterday with my tri colored boy Romeo. He is such a sweet dog. We went to grab a few photos of him at the river and of an old farm that is soon to be turned into housing. I hate to see it go. I spotted a turkey buzzard on top a chimney looking over the farm as well. Then, we walked the neighborhood and saw a really pretty sign that I shot, plus a pic of my favorite house. Here are a few things we saw. Betzie

A Fabulous Find

One of my favorite things to do is to go antiquing. I am very picky and only buy things now if I absolutely love them, but it's always a natural high when I find that special something! I found this in my favorite local antique shop about three weekends ago. It was just kind of stuck in a jar all folded up. I'd been there the day before and hadn't noticed it. I'd come back to buy another old fruit plate I'd found and decided I had to have another one. Well, this was just waiting for me! I love old old postcards, but this fan postcard is rare, especially to find in this condition. The vendor was even having a 20% off sale, so I paid all of $15 for it! It's so sweet and is marked 1901! Can you imagine, over 100 years old and still in good condition. This is a keeper and I've laid it out on my sideboard in my LR. Had to share!
Betzie

Merry Old Soul!

I love Santa Claus, but I especially love the old tymers....the ones in the old postcards. I collect those, among lots of other old postcards, and also old Santa scraps. This was one that was wearing a hint of a blue suit. I found this little phrase in my 1890's Mother Goose Book(yes, it was Humpty Dumpty)...and added that with some fine glitter. Plus pretty blue beads and an angel on back...reversible. I have this one up on ebay this week, but not sure I really want it to sell.
I get to attached to things sometimes....

Funky Angel Pin

I love when I have time to just play with all my stuff. My craft table is so cluttered, I don't know how I can find anything. If I clean it, I can't find anything either, so better to just let it be.
I made this little funky angel out of a little of this and that. I have a shot here of it with the optometrist lens empty, then with a flapper face, and another with my sweet little angelic neice, Kenzie. I thought I'd make one with her face to give to her mom for Christmas.

Crazy Quilt stocking

Here's one of my stockings I did years ago. Isn't it funny how you stop making something, but years later, decide to do it again? I have such a strong urge to do crazy quilting again now.
I think it must be because that's how I feel about my life right now...I have a little of this to do and a little of that, some charms that make it shine, and some parts that are zigging and zagging all over the place. Nice when all the pieces fit together and you can see the result..hopefully good ones!
Betzie

Gotta Love Paperclips!

I found these paperclips the other day without really looking for them. I loved them the second I saw them,and decided to make earrings and a matching necklace. Nice and lightweight too, and if you need something that needs clipping, well...just take the earrings apart and there you have it!

Victorian Gemz

I've been making lots of fun things and thought I'd start to share a few. I used to hold a Victorian Craft show years ago with a friend of mine, and I so miss it! So I've been busy making some new things with lots of old things! I used the optometrist lenses for pendants but tried to make them my own. I love to sit with all my STUFF everywhere and come up with my own designs. I love when the ideas come from within!
This is the same pendant front and back. Neat how the stone picks up the red on the bag underneath of it ..kind of psychedelic! It's really green as in the first photo. I wanted to be able to wear it on either side. One side is very traditional and the other side is more "mod", so I can wear it to fit my mood and clothes!

Heirlooms

I love antiques and thinking about who owned them long ago. I never liked antique dolls that much, most scare me, but this is one that spoke to me. She's a German Kestner from the late 1800's, and the Teddy next to her is one I made at least ten years ago. He's a patchwork bear of old tapestries, velvets, and damasks. I did some embroidery on him, and hope he might last a long time so that one day,he'll turn into an heirloom for someone else to wonder about.

KINDRED SOULS

I love this saying. Isn't it neat how once in a while you can meet someone and immediately feel like you've known them for a long time? I wonder how often this happens in the average person's life? I can't say it's happened that often in mine. My roommate in college was a kindred soul of mine, and since then, I can think of maybe three others that I could say I've met that fit that description, but they are like rare gems. It's such a strong connection, that you wonder if you could have known them in another life at another time.
I think you can have a "kindred soul" in a dog or a pet as well. I have one dog that I just adore to the core....she knows me and I know her so well. That bond is so strong and she's just more special to me than other dogs I've known. Here's her photo. I treasure her...as much as I do those human souls that have touched my life, in such a way that we know we understand each other and share something special that goes beyond words.

Home Is Where The Heart Is....

I've really been feeling this sentiment lately. I just love my home, and yes, my heart is here. So when my husband mentions that it's too big for him these days and too much work, AND that he'd like to downsize, I just cringe inside. I have put so much of myself into this house to make it become a home for my family, that it's not easy to think of ever leaving it! When I was only in my early twenties, I remember my parents getting ready to sell theirs, after living in it for over thirty years. We had a huge yardsale, and my poor mom couldn't even stay around for it. She left and went shopping. I remember her seeming so sad and depressed. Of course, I was totally in another stage of life, and had no great empathy at all....funny how time changes and one day, you grow up to be your mother's age, and suddenly see things through her eyes.

Home is also where my ART is....I love my old prints up on the walls, my antique handpainted china plates, my photos of my children, and my old dog portraits. I also love my crafts, even the ones I haven't tried yet. The stockpiles of pretty fabrics waiting to be created into something for my home, the beads waiting to be wired into a gift for a family member, the broken plate pieces waiting to be turned into a new creation of colors and form.

But once again, time keeps a passing...mums take the place of geraniums....pumpkins take the place of watermelons, orange, yellow and brown, take the place of red, white, and blue, fall is in the air....
and I have a zillion things I want to do! A new season awaits me at every bend....and my home is my favorite canvas on which to paint my soul.

Moments

I have created this blog to share moments of my life. I have a favorite quote that goes, " The butterfly has only moments, but has time enough." I like to think that I will have "time enough" to do, to be, to inspire, to create, to discover, to learn, to understand, to live.

I have reached that age where you suddenly stop and wonder, where to next? How did I get this far so soon? What is my raison d'etre?

I find having too much time isn't good as is having too little either, but having time enough is just right.