Blessed Greetings to all of you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you wonderful friends who follow my blog. I hope you are spending time with family and friends and are blessed with love surrounding you. If you are alone this year, then I hope the spirit of God's love will surround  you with peace and calmness and cloak you with His Love.  

I was so BEHIND this year. I did manage to get a few decorations put out and the tree is up and lit but only a few ornaments that I handmade yesterday! I didn't even get out my big huge box of ornaments. My hubby is gone over Christmas and New Year's house sitting for my sister, who goes to Florida each Christmas to be with her son and grandson. 

I really don't mind being alone. I can take it all in.. the feeling of peace and joy and His Love and what the season is really about. My house is cozy and warm...... (and now has some festive cheer), and I'm enjoying watching many of the old Christmas movies! I'll put a turkey in the oven tomorrow so the smells will waft through the house. My Christmas "dinner" will be a yummy turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce on it. My most favorite!

Blessings to all of you!

~Marilyn~

Ornament exchange fun!

Happy "busy" December everyone! The time is passing way too fast. I think we all agree right?

I had the experience recently of participating in an ornament exchange hosted by Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose.  What a fun time I had making a Christmas ornament and some other goodies for a name I was given. I didn't know her. Her email to Stephanie did state a few things that she liked, which was just to my taste, so I kind of went overboard making her some goodies, plus the ornament!  

I can't describe how neat it was making for someone I didn't know. It just kind of opened up my creative juices. She liked "vintage, handmade, shabby chic, lace, old fashioned, and blue & white". How cool is that? 

Here are the things I made, and sent off to my secret pal last week.

First, the ornament. It's a fabric fold Scandanavian ornament I found on YouTube. Love it!  You use 8 strips of fabric, that are folded and tucked into each other.  It measures about 3"x3" in size.

Of course I couldn't just make an ornament. So I proceeded to make a little Christmas photo flipbook.  It measured about 5" x 5".

I had fun adding the red glitter papers, and used my Sizzix and cutting dyes to cut out the borders, doilies and corner pieces. The book opens up to pages that have gate folds and that flip open. Lots of fun to make.  I also found this pattern on YouTube.

Next, I wanted to make a little "pocket envelope" (also found on YouTube at Septeria18 on YouTube) to hold the ornament. I made the little pocket an ornament also, by tieing a pretty red ribbon on top so it could be hung on the tree and hold a special treat for someone.

These pocket envelopes are so fun and easy to make, that I made another one to hold eight Christmas gift tags. These are Christmas tags I purchased from  Seneca Pond Crafts on Etsy, and they are digital, so you can print them out any time you want! Aren't they darling?

And since she liked blue and white, I just HAD to make another pocket envelope with some pretty vintage gift tags to which I added a little bit of lace on the bottom. These printed tags are also from Seneca Pond Crafts. This "pocket" was larger, about 8" square.

I just couldn't seem to stop myself.............I also made a little tiny booklet out of the blue and white papers, but I forgot to take a picture of it! I was so anxious to get everything in the mail. It was oh so darling. Maybe I'll make another one of these days.

So..........my package was sent off and I felt good that I actually got some projects done! I will also receive an ornament (and goodies?) in the mail from someone who drew my name for the exchange. Can hardly wait!

Merry December everyone!

~Marilyn~

Pssst..... don't forget!

Don't forget.......everything in my Etsy shop HERE  is 20% off until midnight November 30, 2018 (tonight if you get this on Friday).

I've added a few new vintage wallpaper gift bag sets.

Stunning blacks and golds for Christmas (set of 4).

 Christmas red glittery brights and buttons (set of 3)

Soft yummy shabby pastels (set of 3). 

A little bit of lace and purple (set of 3).

Just about every bag is adorned with glitter paper tags or doilies, or pretty cream colored paper doilies and shabby look paper bows..... to add to the cottage, shabby, vintage look.

I'll also be adding a sweet little shabby/cottage mini book (with gift box) in a few days.

I've opened a twitter account also for my Etsy shop. Follow me at @mypinkpapercot1

Happy weekend all!

~Marilyn~

Beets and cats..........

What do beets and cats have in common????  Well............. nothing! Except maybe that I love them both and they are both good for you!

Here's my new favorite snack........ yup... salted beet chips....... good for you right? And they are SO GOOD.

Especially with Mediterranean Cream Cheese Spread (2 for 99 cents at the Dollar Tree). What a deal! I need to go back for more.... I'm a sucker for crackers and cream cheese.

Non-GMO and not too many carbs or sodium... and anyway...... they're beets right? They must be good for you.

That's what I'm doing today....... snacking and blogging... and hopefully doing some crafting pretty soon.... if I don't get too distracted with snacking and reading others' blogs. I get distracted way too easily.

Oh........... and I'm growing new "flowers".... cat flowers!  My rescue kitty, Rudy's, new favorite place is the flower box. And the other two calicos (one is ours, Maddie, and one is the mom who is really not "ours" but she thinks she is)...... love the two redwood chairs, so we're leaving the old cushions on them through the winter..... gives them a place to sleep in the sun. If the chairs weren't there, I know they'd be sleeping in the other big green flower tubs! They love that warm dirt.

Rudy.... what are you going to grow?

Scruffy on the left - she's the mom of Maddie (on the right). They don't really get along, as Scruffy abandoned Maddie as a tiny kitten, and Maddie must still remember... but they seem to be OK with sleeping side by side a few feet apart.

Scruffy on the fence.

We named the mom "Scruffy" because she was always such a matted mess.... that is before we trapped her for the spay and neuter clinic and they took her and "fixed" her, brought her back to us since she was too old to adopt out.. and now she is one of the FIVE "community cats" that we feed!  She is still wild as I can't even touch her, but I can almost touch her head when she's busy eating. Now that she is spade, she is a much happier kitty and takes better care of herself, and has gained alot of weight. She was the "baby making machine" of our entire neighborhood.

Maddie..... our rescue kitty, now 3 years old! She's lovin' sleeping on top of our blanket hutch.

The community cats are not really ours, as they live under sheds in other peoples' yards, and a shelter we set up, but Scruffy and one other little boy (Smokey) think they are ours, and like hanging out in our back yard and in our garage! At least we know they are somewhat warm and not going hungry. Smokey would LOVE to be ours and an indoor kitty.

Smokey.

Kitty flowers.

Have a nice weekend all!

~Marilyn~

New cuties............

I'm having fun making some new little goodies for my Etsy shop. I'm creating things that are small and cheap less expensive so people can afford them for gifts. 

Here's a set of two shabby chic (paper I've been hoarding for about 5 years!) tea themed notepad holders. The pads are pretty pink with lines... two holders and 5 pads total. Love these! And I have a bunch more made.... just have to photograph them and add to my shop. Find them HERE in my shop.

Here are two more post-it-note holders that I'll be putting in my shop soon. They hold 3x5" post it notes in many different colors. Love them........

Thanks to Roxy at her roxyfur YouTube channel for the inspiration for these darling post-it-note holders!

Great little "matchbook" album for TWELVE 4x4 photos.. with pockets in the back that hold little sweet tags for writing on. The papers look like old vintage wallpapers! Find it HERE in my shop.

I'll definitely be making more of these! They are SO FUN TO MAKE and I can use my older hoarded vintage papers.

Love this bright and shiny 6x6 photo album.... lots of gold and brown and it just sparkles on every page! I think it will hold 15 photos 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" in size or less. I made this little album using envelopes of all things! Love it... and there are 4 pockets that each hold a pretty photo mat for two more photos. Find it HERE in my shop.

Just wanted to stop by and say "hi" and thank you everyone for the wonderful and heartfelt comments concerning the quilt I made for my son!  

Hugs to all............

~Marilyn~

The Quilt - finished!

I really DID get my quilt finished - the one for my son's 40th birthday. It's amazing that I actually completed a project! I'm just a little late getting the pictures posted. My son's birthday was Sept. 13th.... we finally made it up to Astoria where he lives, on October 12th - better late than never right? Due to my husband's illness and me not feeling well with my bouts of vertigo, we delayed our trip, but finally did make the 5 hour drive. It was a BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT weekend for the drive.

Mt. Hood from the car.

Heading down from Mt. Hood to Hood River. Great places to camp here!

Mt. Hood on the way home...... this is part of the glacier that tends to flood in the winter and cause huge landslides over the road. This entire gravel area is usually full of rushing white waters.   We need some snow on the mountain!

The colors of trees over the mountain were stunning... but I never did stop to take any photos! What was I thinking???

We had a great time visiting with my son and his fiance (Miss T.), and her son. They are "officially" engaged and hoping for a wedding next summer! I'm so excited! It will be my son's first marriage and he has found a wonderful, loving lady.

We celebrated his birthday with pumpkin cheese cake. Yummy! Opening of his gift (finally)........

He got teary-eyed when I told him all the strips were from 43 years worth of my sewing. I also made him a little photo book with pictures of various things I'd made, clothing for him, his dad, me, house decor, etc. Each picture had a piece of the actual fabric by it. He loved it!

We went outside for the best pictures.

Can you see that striped binding? Took me about 10 hours to hand sew it on.

Close-up of the binding. I love the "racing stripe" look. He was a motorcycle racer in his younger years, and I thought the black and white stripes would remind him of the race flags.

My sister did a BEAUTIFUL job of the quilting on her long arm machine.

Look at that beautiful border my sister quilted!

Reverse side of quilt. I used fabric I've had for at least 10 years, meant for a king quilt that I've never made! Glad I finally found a use for it.

Here is the quilt on our bed - before the trip to Astoria. It shows the block quilting really well. I chose the designs of the quilting from looking at Pinterest for ideas.

My son has already told me they are going to use this for their main quilt, on a new King bed they will be getting soon. It is supposed to a "queen" sized, but it fit really well on our own king bed also.

PUMPKIN CARVING:

While at my son's house, we did some pumpkin carving. I haven't carved a pumpkin for at least 20 years! Needless......... it was very fun and I enjoyed it. Only the girls and her son carved.. the two guys watched..... party poopers!

I used a pattern, which I've never done before, and carved a castle. I've never done fancy carving..... it's quite an art now, with people painting them, inscribing them just below the surface, etc. I always just did the triangle eyes, nose, and mouth with teeth. It was fun to try something different.

Notice the nail in the head on the left-hand side pumpkin? Of course, that was her son trying to make his pumpkin look gorey... he also added some blood oozing out! What a kick.

NEW KITTY:

There's a new kitty in my son's family. He brought to the mix a big orange tom that he already had...... and now they've added a sweet little gray kitten. Her name is Willow and she's a doll. My son's fiance and her son are both allergic to cats..... but somehow they are managing to enjoy this sweet little kitten (taking their allergy meds every day!). Miss T. said she's never felt such love for a little kitten before as she never could even get close to them. I'm happy that she can enjoy this very special bond with Willow.

While in Astoria, we also made a trip to Miss T.'s store in town, called Terra Stones. She moved her store from across the street in a big old, ancient building... to this smaller, newer building. What a difference she said the move has made. She has much more business as she's now on a corner, and her store is on the "sunny" side of the street. It's very modern and classy looking.

Very popular bear - many photos taken here as all of the customers love it!

My son built many of the glass cases (stands) for the store. This carved wood was around a skylight in his bedroom at his dad's house growing up (the beautiful house that was just sold recently). I was so surprised and glad that he salvaged those hand carved pieces (by his dad) for the store.

So many gorgeous and unique items in the store.

Gourds carved by a local craftsman.

My vertigo is somewhat better as I've been having some "Epley Maneuvers" by a local physical therapist. It's a maneuver where they have you turn your head, and then they lay you down really fast - you lay there for 30 seconds, and then they sit you up really fast. There are several different ways they perform this maneuver. He says I still have a little residual "floating" of particles in my ear, which are still causing me some lightheadedness, but not the horrible dizziness and nausea I was having. I'm so thankful. I can live with this and hopefully it will go away on it own.

Now that the big project is done (the quilt), I'm ready to head back to my paper crafting!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. It is still GORGEOUS here with temps in the 70's, and blue sky and golden days. I'm not ready for snow or winter yet.

~Marilyn~