Thankful to be...

I have been away for too long from this place I love to be.

The problem being...

 I have too many places I love to be.

this blog

the garden

my home

my studio 

etc.

I have been in the studio for two weeks making gifts for family and friends

and getting ready for a little craft bazaar at my daughter's workplace.

I also made some things to sell at a store in Boise that I have written about

here on my blog called 

Warehouse Beautiful

Most of what I have been making are sachets that I fill with the lavender 

grown here in the garden.

The photos show a few of the ones I have left after the bazaar and 

sending some to Warehouse Beautiful in Boise.

These will be gifts for family and friends.

Isn't it funny how it's hard to stop once you start?

It is always a joy to sit at the sewing machine or stand at the table

and create things that weren't here before.

The graphics I used on most of the sachets I got from the Graphics Fairy 

and Dawn at The Feathered Nest.

I have got to get busy doing some serious Christmas decorating here in the house.

Now that the turkey is nothing but a skeleton (poor little bird) and the pies 

have gone to my hips...it is time to get the halls decked!

I haven't even been to any of your beautiful blogs to see how your 

decorating is coming along.

After I get back from doing some shopping today,

I plan on remedying that.

I'm going to sit my 'pie' hips down and catch up with all of you. 

I know many of you are more on the ball than I am, 

so I can't wait to see and be inspired.

 

The last of the children and the grands left for home about noon yesterday, 

and Dale and I were left to clean up the last of the left-overs.

How thankful I am for a full table this time of year.

Thankful for the blessing of family.

I remember looking around the table Thursday and thinking to myself,

''how did I get so lucky to have these people be a part of my life?''

There's always a lot of laughter and a lot of chatter, 

and NO one remembers to get the camera out to take pictures of it all!

Thankfully there's always Christmas!

I received a special delivery from Italy!

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway offered by Monica of The White Bench.

I feel so lucky to have have won two 8x12 prints of Monica's amazing photography.

I was able to choose my favorites, and then she generously tucked in special gifts for me.

I imagine many of you know of Monica and her beautiful artwork that is published in 

many of the Stampington publications. 

I love it when I pick up a Somerset Life or Home, etc

and see many of her creations within their pages.

She has an incredible talent for painting and you can see many of her 

paintings on her blog. I know you will recognize them as soon as you see them.

She has a generous heart and shares many tutorials on her blog.

I have learned how to do many things from following her instructions.  

Monica has been a great blogging friend from almost the time I started my blog 

and was always so encouraging.

 I thank her for that.

At this time of Thanksgiving I would love to let all who read this blog know 

how grateful I am for each and every one of you. 

This blog is a joy to me and I am thankful to be---here!

Their old is my new

Don't you love giving a piece of trash a new home?

I love it and would prefer to do that than buy new any day.

Every thing in this post had years of wear and had already lived a lifetime before 

I acquired them.

Many people would never give them a chance to grace their

homes.

Maybe many reading this post would even wonder what I could possibly see in them. 

Like this old scratched up mirror propped up here inside this old frame. 

 This Summer while shopping a flea market with my daughters, I saw this 

dilapidated old pink dresser.

I fell hard...not for the dresser itself, but for the awesome aging mirror it had.

You can't tell in these photos, but the mirror has beautiful veining and crackling. 

I didn't bring it home because I needed another chest of drawers, 

because I DON"T.

I brought it home strictly for the mirror.

Then there's this light fixture in my bath.

I finally got it hung after years of tripping over it no matter where I stored it.

I love that someone painted it pink

 I love that it is scrolly

 I love that it is hopelessly old-fashioned

and I love that it came with a friend!

 This one escaped the pink paint and has it's original finish.

 It is smaller in scale and hangs over the bathroom sink.

I fell in love with this style of light when I first saw some hanging in Robin's (Magnolia Pearl)

kitchen years ago in a magazine. 

About a year after seeing the magazine feature of her beautiful home, I found these in a 

cardboard box at a yard sale and there they sat until recently when I finally 

had them re-wired and hung.

So,

 for all those who have ever looked into this scratched up, chippy little mirror...  

  thank you for passing it on so I could add it to my own collection of 'new to me's'.