Beginning to look a lot like christmas -- NOT HERE

Wow, soon be Dec . not much Christmas decorating going on here . There are Christmas thingys -all over the place tho -- I am creating for my first swaps ever. and that can be pretty messy -- a snowman ornament swap and a stocking swap . I dug up this picture to show everyone what snow looks like in the deep south . This was several years ago -- it stops travel , closes the schools - and makes us ready to make snowmen . We live in a Victorian home circa 1900 in a town (small when we moved here ) near Atlanta -- i am city girl and from there originally , and a G.R.I.T.S. GIRL ( girl raised in the south) . We live on acreage ( 8 1/2 ) which is considered very small in this area . I am charmed by the countryside but do make my trips to all the fun, in and around Atl. When we moved here there were encounters with deer -( large , by my standards )- quail , the big Black

bull that used to get out ( jumped the fence - an awesome sight ) and ate my flowers -- a possum eating the cat food on the back porch -- and a large black snake -Hub says they are good for the environment -- but that is another issue altogether -- a snake wrangler I am not .

Our daughter a middleschooler at the time spent most of the first summer here visiting the grandparents . She said we had moved her to the ---"Sticks "--- too funny . Of course she loves it and makes her home here now , and we are a city of about 90,ooo -- Whew ! grew too fast --

The great thing is we can be at the High Museum of Art in an hour -- or to a beautiful campsite , with a lake in 20 minutes . OK ! creating must take place -- need to get my goodies

in the mail soon .

Chintz -teapots

This is another reproduction of the original chintz tea designs . This is "Rosalynde "by Royal

Winton made in England . It is a toast set - a teapot . sugar bowl creamer . toast holder and the tiny bowl to the left of the teapot is for your discarded tea bags -- and the yellow background

it is one of my favorite pieces , Yes I do have a yellow secretary -- will try to post pictures of that later -- Need I say I love -- antiquing -- but especially a bargain -- so I

brake for estate sales and any junk shop or flea market -- who knows what treasures may await

The other side -- Chintz -

I love this cup -- it is not an original Chintz pattern -- but it is still a favorite - all the right

elements =-- roses , a gold rim and beautiful background color .

Frosty and Santa Tags !!!

I am sorry the bling from the stickles does not show up -- but you can see some of it on the star and snowman -- These are ready to place on a package or hang on a tree as an ornament . Thus the country side of my name -- In my home I love to decorate -traditional or country french . But I am planning a spot in my house
to display all my country collections that have been boxed up -- such cute things too .
For many years I did the Atlanta, Ga , craft circuit --( some may have heard of Yellow Daisy Festival at St . Mtn . Park -- (attracts thousands each year ) It also is the largest Granite mtn in the states) -- also Apple Annie and a lot of the
juried shows here - I was a decorative painter of cute craft items -- my favorite things to create were Christmas themed -. Later will show you my Chintz side --love chintz design teapots( now you have to mortgage your house to buy them) and roses . tole trays -- black background only please ! -- So I am a little mixed up -- you know that right brain , left brain thing -- well for years I was a head teller at a bank -- very organized - and precise -- the artsy side 0f me finds me with paint in my hair , ink on my nails from rubber stamping - and saving bits of everything (did I say packrat ) for my altered art -- Some say it is an illness - I hope I am never cured --- What fun !!! Back to my childhood cutting and gluing paper -- My friends
(avid scrappers if ya know what i mean ) laugh about me never producing a page or album --
always making cards. tags --wall art -- and have to have the newest and latest gizmo to punch ,
color or someway alter paper - My hub was alarmed when he saw me saving the corrugated cardboard from lightbulb packs -- as well as blown bulbs -- they make cute snowmen ornaments, ya know -- so on to being CREATIVE -- i just may surprise them with a page one day LOL !!
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These are very cute hand drawn -e-tags -

you can purchase and download from - Palette Primitives -

it is a line drawing sheet, designed by Sue Allemand and you print on cardstock -cut and color - they have others for Fall and Easter

also . I used watercolors on mine and then added a little stickles -for bling --and a cute bow also i used a contrasting solid cardstock -for that little extra touch . will show them in the next post

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving --Ours was wonderful , shared with family and friends

I love to add images from old postcards to my Christmas items .

I have collected so many --but this one especially with the bunny

is so sweet . You may use this one for your cards or craft

ideas Really need to get to bed - Many Christmas Crafting

projects ahead --plus shopping . shopping . shopping --

Newbie

OK , it is obvious i am a newbie -- Don't know how i ended up with two of the same -- and for some reason i cannot remove one of them -- Crazy !!_ them or me LOL! Some of the tags were manila shipping tags - sprayed with ink -- love the cranberry red -- then elements from my graphics - plus torn scrapbook paper and stickles --plus embellishments -- i never have enough of those -- the cute Reindeer was from a graphicssheet i bought , it downloads as an 8 1/2 x 11 ,i cut the tag then the reindeer and popped it up . but this doesn't show in the picture

-- OK one more picture -----

Love old world Santas --

A few Christmas tags

I wanted to share a few Christmas tags that i made -- i luv -- tags -- from cute to victorian ---

Several years ago in Victoria magazine -there was an article with beautiful tags -- they were just the lowly shipping tag as the base but became something different with the touch of an artist hand--there were embroidered tags - some with embroidered initals - hearts made of rose petals -- so lovely -- now she is a designer for Somerset studio and others

--- So i saved the issue and loved tags way before they became a scrapbook craze ---

I love all things Christmas

- as you can see Angels are one of my favorite

things to use in my art --- i love to use the big sizzix tag for

an ornament == you can add - jingle bells - charms etc to the bottom ---then

layer it up with paper, lace -words and your angels -- one of my fav products is (Diamomd Glaze ) gives a three dimensional look -- also adding ,Stickles -a very finer glitter glue -- gives all the sparkle . I love the shabby chic look as well as - things -rubbed off and layered with

inks etc. Need to look in my stash -for past Christmas ideas to post .

Banner woes ????

Well i am adding pictures easily -- need to figure out how to fix my banner -- when i reead the help section it is double -speak lol ! -- Ok well this will do for now -- I am all about the bling and lots of elements -- so . will work on it later -- Dog to the vet Ugh !!!

Easy as Pie -uh Cake ,well you do know Chocolate is now on the food pyramid !

Wow !!! if i had known blogging setup was this easy , I would have done it a long time ago .
How fun to get to share my pics etc .with the blog world that has given me such fun and ideas ,
not to mention a larger waistline -- all those scrumptious dessert recipes - not to mention the
hours logged in my cushy chair looking at the blogs and no exercise . Ok my blog needs a lot of work . Still trying to get my banner figured out . and need to add my faves ---

Beautiful angels

These are so sweet . I love to add these to ornaments

or cards -- Hope this works

Learning how to blog

Well this seems so simple -- Will try a picture next