Happy New Years

I am ending the New Year doing what I love most in life...we entertained friends for a nice dinner, got my comfy jammies on, sitting in my favorite chair with my cat in my lap, my favorite guy playing his mandolin and blogging from my new iPad. To many this may sound like a boring way to ring in the new year. But, at this point in my life...These are the things that are important to me. I am thankful for my health, my wonderful husband, the blessings of my family & friends, the opportunities to travel this past year and a wonderful place to come home every night. I wish to each of you good wishes for 2011...and I have great plans for the upcoming year for the Fox Hollow Tales blog! Happy New Year!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Another Christmas has come and gone. I have decided to enjoy the Christmas decor till the 1st of the year. So much preparation for just one month of enjoyment. I love the tree decorated so pretty and the sparkling lights when I come home from a long day at work.

Holiday Home Tour

I am really really behind on my holiday blogging...here are some pics of the house all decorated in the holiday spirit.

I like to add touches of holly and glitter into my arrangements

A feel of the holidays 

I love these new timer flickering candles...they turn themself off after 5 hours

I had a hard time getting a good pic of the Snow Village, but this is the first year that I have set this up in my home. It belonged to my Mom and she dearly collected these up till her death some ten years ago. I can't wait for my Dad to see them all lit up. It brings back good memories.

Check out the free giveaway over at Heather Ale's Blog with a soundtract from artist, Mindy Gledhill.  I had never heard of her and went over to Pandora to check her out. She rocks! I know exactly what Heather was talking about. Btw....Heather is a wonderful soldering teacher that I took her class this past weekend in Oklahoma City. If you ever get an opportunity to take her class, she is one of the most patient and made soldering seem so simple. It takes practice to get good like most things in life. But, she will give you a great start in learning. Go over to her blog and leave a comment to win this wonderful soundtrack.

Thrifty Decor Chick

For more wonderful decorating ideas on a budget....check out Thrifty Decor Chick.

Holiday Crafting

Totally enjoying making some of my holiday decor this year… been taking some vintage music paper, old jewelry, and vintage ribbons to decorate my flameless candles.

Technorati Tags: Christmas candles,holiday decor,vintage paper,vintage music

Advent Calendar

Finished my youngest granddaughter's Advent Calendar. I had made her older sister one and it was only right she had one of her own. Here is the finished project that has been mailed and hopefully being enjoyed!

Happy Thanksgiving

Loved this...Brave Girls had this on their blog and I loved just what it had to say and wanted to share it. Hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.

Vintage Christmas Ephemera Swap!

I have this growing love for vintage paper. I must admit...I have had this paper addiction for quite some time. But, only recently did it progress into the vintage papers.  My dear husband is also an enabler for this habit. He goes to estate sales and garage sales and brings me home more!
With the holiday season fast approaching...I have joined in on a Vintage Christmas Ephemera Swap.

Silver Bella 2010

Just returned from Silver Bella...my first time to attend and my first trip to Omaha, Nebraska. It snowed while we were there. It was beautiful huge flakes. Three packed days of classes in painting, jewelry making, and a crafty tree project. Met many new friends and got to enjoy the company of some old friend

When Sheryl & I discovered Lisa Kaus, our favorite artist and teacher was going to be there....no doubt, we were going!

Here she is showing a technique in class...such a great teacher!

Sheryl and I made bookmarks to give to everyone there...I think we made 150 of them.

I participated in the canvas swap...we were paired up and made a canvas for the other person.

Below is the canvas that I made for the swap. Mine was done on the reverse side of the canvas. I used alot of vintage buttons and sheet music for accent.

I didn't finish either jewelry projects in the two classes that I took. The teachers were excellent, however, there was not enough time, the lighting was terrible for working with tiny beads, and it was crowded at the tables. So, hopefully, I will get those projects finished soon.  A really easy and stress free class, was making Christmas tree from old wooden spools. They turned out really cute.

More to come later!

Silver Bella 2010

Well its finally here! Time has arrived for the fabulous Silver Bella Art Event , being held this weekend in lovely, historic Omaha. What an official start of the Holiday Season to spend these few giddy, glittery days with Teresa McFayden and 150 or so of absolutely the best group of creative women ever! I will be one of the many squealing, hugging, craft-toting Bellas running around the Embassy Suites like a mad-woman on a a glitter high. Hope to return with lots of pics to share with you!

I've probably mentioned before how much I love Victoria Magazine. I recently picked up their specialty holiday publication - Victoria Classics Holiday Bliss and was elated to find this gorgeous download on their website. I printed out these tags on Enhanced Matte Paper and they printed out beautifully - they look like professionally printed tags. So gorgeous, lovelier than anything you'll find at a store and absolutely free. You can't beat that!
Here's a picture of the tags below, and go here to download them. They also have printable invitations and food name cards. Also, if you happen to like one design of these tags in particular, they've provided an option to download and print a page of that design, alone. Enjoy, and I've also included a few vintage holiday images for you.

Was just reading through some of my fav blogs this morn and came across this great giveaway at Tatertots and Jello's Blog (Isn't that the cutest name for a blog?).  Check out the wonderful flameless candles. Since I am notorious for leaving a candle lit in the house...I decided some time ago it would be smart for me to stick to flameless candles. These are some of the cutest I have ever seen. I also love the timers.  The timer can be set to automatically go on each night at a certain time and can stay on for up to 5 hours! Plus, it has a realistic flickering light. Excellent for saving those batteries for many more future uses.
It would be hard to choose a favorite. The Harlequin Pattern on the front, plus the jewels -- is really beautiful and would go anywhere in a house or office.
To see more of these...go over to IKR Designs for all of her great choices and varieties.

Here we are...my cat, Butch and I working at my craft table. Be back soon, got projects to finish!

The Union's Elton John and Leon Russell is is a rich, lyrical stew. Rating: * * * *

Gospel-flavoured ivory tinkling Sixties singer-songwriter Leon Russell was a huge influence on Elton John, who belatedly repays the debt in this career-reviving collaboration. The result is a rich, lyrical stew of southern country soul, with flourishes from choirs and horns This is the review written by...By Neil McCormick.

I downloaded the album on Itunes this past weekend and have been listening to the collaboration of these two great artist for days now. They were in their prime when I was in high school. A few months ago, I had reconnected with an old high school friend on Facebook that my greatest memories were of us discussing Elton John in biology class.  Leon Russell's music has always been a favorite of mine that I have continued to play throughout the years. I guess my favorite song was always "Song for You" or was it ""Back to the Island" , "Lady Blue", "A Hard Rains Gonna A-Gonna-Fall",
Elton mentioned in an interview that he hadn't done a live album in years. Everything for the past few years have been digitally produced. Elton said he will never go back to digital. I loved that. Its pure.

A Womans Life

I guess it really doesn't matter what age we are...I think we have our heart somewhere other than work. It's Sunday evening, and I must start organizing for work for the coming week. It has been a wonderful weekend of being home and being creative. I remember being younger, wishing to be home with my children, wishing that I didn't need to work in order for us to survive. These thoughts remind me of what an old friend told once. I was wishing for a home on the lake and he said, " You move to the lake and it isn't a special place to go anymore", it becomes everyday life." So...I go back to work tomorrow and will return to that special creating space soon. Thank you God for the talent that you give me to earn a living in order to live my passion.

ps...and I love you my sweet daughter-n-law and I pray that you can be home with your children one day soon.

Canvas Complete

Canvas Exchange for Silver Bella is Done!! Woohoo!

AWOL

I have been awol lately due to my preparation for the upcoming Silver Bella event. It is only a couple weeks away and I still have a canvas to finish, trade items to complete, and finalizing my supplies to take along. I found myself really stressing over all this and then I decided why do this if I don't enjoy the journey. I am missing the entire reason for doing this when it becomes a stress ful event to prepare for. I am the queen of procrastination and I seriously doubt that I am going to change at my age. Here is some of my items that I have been preparing...

These are old albums covered and decorated to hold my vintage paper for my Junque Journal Trade.

Touches of Fall

I purchased a pumpkin for our front planter, much like this one in the photo. My pumpkin looks really sad sitting there all alone. I am going to try and see if I can get this look. I found this idea on Room Remix.

Pass It On

Found this on Homegrown Hospitality's Blog and I hope you will pass this on....

Fall is in the Air

“ Autumn is a second Spring

When every leaf is a flower”

- Albert Camus

We've had our first glimpse of cool weather here in southern Oklahoma, and I couldn't pass up the chance to pull out my fall decorations. I love fall.  I get so excited when I can finally pull out my pumpkins and candles, and pick up some new $2 mums.

Garage Renovation Continues

Now it was time to build work benches for my husband and myself. An area for him and an area for me...
Found the idea once again in a monthly edition of Handyman Magazine.

Here is the first bench nearly assembled.

I will show you more soon.

Garage Completion

Dave finished up the wall with his new organizer system. Here is how it looks finished.

Best of all...our cat thinks the top shelf was built for him.

I quess you could say...he will take the high road.

the Vintage Dragonfly

Be sure and go over to Danielle Muller's Blog for her wonderful give-a-way of vintage items. Another talented gal that will be at Silver Bella in November.

Handyman Garage Project

The September 2009 issue of Handyman Magazine had a great article on cleaning up your garage with a wonderful wall organizer.

My husband showed me the article and got my approval....and next thing I know...he is going to buy supplies and cutting out pieces.

assembling...

The great part about this system, is that it allows you to customize for your needs. Since I work in real estate, I have lots of signs. And when I needed a sign, it always seemed to be behind or under something else. Look at how great this is!

 Loved how he made the brackets, so the signs would not slide off into the floor. Brackets for the brochure boxes, the arrow signs, and then the large ones.

 Next he added customization for lawn equipment, kites, & tools.
Btw...did I ever tell you how many kites he owns?  That's another story. 

We are going to buy plastic totes for the top shelves to keep things in that you don't use often.

 It got dark. He couldn't see his cutting lines and wanted to finish more...

How do you like this? He attached his flashlight, to the saw!

Tomorrow....I will give you a finished look at our project.