Ghosts of Christmas past

Memories are funny things you remember silly little things and yet apparently forget big important things,i remember feelings mainly and CHRISTMAS was my favourite time of all.i remember the agony of waiting till the tree went up.magnificent as only an aluminum tree can be with plastic and flocked ornaments,it was to me a thing of magic of wonder,i remember the agony of Christmas eve and waiting to go to sleep but thinking of all that Santa may leave me,I was a good girl of this i was sure,Certain smells of soap or perfume can bring it all back and there i am again like in this Santa pic of my brother joey and I he was 7 i was 5 and life was an adventure,

Photo fun

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Its beginning to look a lot like christmas PHOTO TOUR

Well its here December the first,Like every Christmas it comes with its memories and its hopes and dreams,It comes with a year of life as always and loss , A year in which i lost a favourite uncle ,a  grandmother,and my favourite Author,A year where my mother for the first time in her life had no fixed address but thankfully now she does, But also a year in which i gained a grand daughter who fills me to the brim with love and light,Like all years there has been news from friends of hardships and loss and i feel it all.Still Christmas is here and i will welcome it with all the joy i reserve for Christmas. Part of me is still very much a child at this time of year,Searching op shops for4 those treasured ornaments of xmas past,I look forward to making a gingerbread house and cards with my god children,And annoying my son who doesn't realize how much Christmas means to him but it does.My eldest and his partner are at this moment in the Amazon and will be someplace strange and exotic for this Christmas,Fir the first time i am going to be visited by an elf on a shelf.So there is much afoot in my apartment that pretends to be my cottage.Welcome to the Christmas tour,

I love to decorate my dresser here which sits in an alcove on the loungeroom,

My space is smaller than it looks see how close the dresser ,hatbox tree and my two bookcases are,

My favourite tree inside a hatbox found some 15 years ago at the dump.

I love collecting vintage candy dispensers although you wouldnt fit much candy in these !

My new feather tree sits in a top hat above the TV unit amidst feathers and lights

My tiny bedroom come craft room has a tin pram that sprouted a tree

I like lights in unexpected places like this drawer that says believe

 I like trees in unexpected spots too like out of tea cups and in this case a candle holder,

Vintage jars displaying vintage baubles and mercury glass beads,

Iike to use the doors of my linen and bookcase like tiny windows

love the new swag i bought this year atop my cabinets

I made the santa fan and my friend cheryl made the believe tussie (Poppy get out of the lace shelf)

 The kitchen is tiny so just the window sill and top of my plate rack are decorated love my primitive santa hanging here,

 NO cats here nothing to see
Never one to miss an opportunity my Poppy is a most excellent Christmas cat she never touches any of my ornaments although she can climb to any of them,Here she is above my dream drawer on the lace shelf.

My tiny feather tree the old pamphlet holder will house xmas cards as they arrive,

love this little wooden stand with drawers got it at the op shop the other day for $3

Bedroom tree again note santa skipping rope

My 100 year old bed i used a table runner as a bed runner

My latest idea a baby tutu $3-99 ebay becomes a lampshade

Christmas crafting (or Why I am covered in glitter )

.I was up with the birdies this morning and made 20 Christmas cards before breakfast.I was on a roll so i kept rolling,now even after a shower and breakfast i am still covered in glitter.Pralines and Cream Fairy Dust Glitter to be precise it comes in a little glass shaker and I highly recommend it,I had already  done the printing and cutting out of my images and last night i glossy accented them,So this morning was just all fun.Just have one to make my grand daughter and a Dora card for my god daughter and one with a car on it for her brother.So its Christmas central here in my apartment that i pretend is a cottage.

i love using small doilies

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I glossy accented the windows in the houses

 

This is the Christmas hatbox i made for myself  usually i make them for others,

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The road to Tackyville (its shiny there)

Have you ever noticed the fine line between Glitz (which can be elegant) and Tacky (which will never be elegant) Glitz can whisper it can shimmer and subtly woo you but Tacky yells and sometimes giggles. I should know about that line particularly at Christmas because my friends i have been known to fall off it .And yes i have played on the tacky side and it was shiny there but alas i can never stay after a while it makes me ill.I know you know what i mean for i have seen you there cavorting too.You know you are on the line when you stand in a shop saying to yourself do i like that ? Is that nice or is it tacky?There is definitely a place for Tackiness but its not at my house,i enjoy it at someone elses for a while.I do however like magical at Christmas even whimsical and give me a theme every time,My theme is always nostalgic as i am a lover of vintage and memories,So although i yearn to have an all white on green theme i cannot do it as i have so many decorations that mean more to me than my love of white.,My table theme for this year will be silver and white,I have bought organza chair bows and silver sleigh bells I am working on napkins havent found the perfect ones yet and i have silver bon bons.I also have not decided upon favor boxes (and i have to have favor boxes at each place) So many decisions,So next time i fall of that line and end up on the road to Tackyville if you should see me wave and help me back home,

Midnight madness (or Lovely Laptop)

Something happens to me sometimes around midnight,I get ideas about things i can do and then instead of thinking about them a while i just up pout of bed and do them,Like the time i pasted old letters etc onto the wooden floor of my bedroom which i still love and hated to leave behind,Well the other night i prettified up my laptop .Whatever its my laptop and i happen to like all the images i put on there now i just have to seal it,I would never do it to a new one but mine is a well loved one that has led a hard life here on my tiny craft space come computer desk.If nothing else it is most definitely ME !

So fast

Too fast,
You are growing
too fast...
your babyhood
 is passing.
I want to hold it
in pictures and memories,
in kisses and cuddles
and smiles !.
Loving you
is easy,
You hold my heart
in your little baby hands.
What a lovely thing to be
your Nan and you will
 always be My Sophia Rose.

Glittering up a storm.

A glittered snowman peeks from a tin cone!

A broken tassel end becomes a tree stand,

Yes there was a glitter blizzard in my craft corner (situation normal ! ) I have been crafting up a veritable snow storm of glittery Christmas Projects, I love Christmas i guess i never lost that childlike wonder.How i never lost it is beyond me Christmas for mothers is a lot of work,When my children were small i was often still wrapping their gifts rather badly on Christmas eve . Santa had a lot to answer for and i felt like his slave manys the year,I wouldn't change it for the world 1 loved to create Christmas for my boys and i wpu;d do it again in a hearbeat,Anyway i have many many projects on the boil and here are a few things i just wanted to make for no reason except Christmas and glitter are two things i love,

Random Happiness

OK i have been much happier of late.could be just I'm finally moving on after my divorce and i have lost a bunch of weight and can now breath  better without asthma meds.I can clean like a whirling dervish and shop like only a woman can shop in real shops not always online,I have been in a few great craft swaps and made some friends along the way,I have a grand daughter and a god daughter who make me happy always and forever, So this is just a happy post of random things i wanted to share,If i take close ups its only because you may be like me and want a good look.I have been known to get a magnifying glass out to see how someone did something or look at how they decorated a shelf etc,I know obsessive much!But with craft and decorating that is definitely me,

How sweet is this swap-altered bottle of mother of pearl vintage buttons

My Hatpins on my dressing table

Yes it is  rather full here but they are all my favourites,

I love old keys

Storage beneath my dressing table- love hatboxes!

How sweet are these hand decorated Alice pegs from a swap.

Glittered spider  for a vintage halloween tussie

Do Ants have towels ?

That's what he asked me when he was 4 as well as other gems like how does god put the toes on when he makes babies,you can see how toes may be difficult,Lucky he had me to tell him that God is just good at that sort of stuff, He was (well he still is in fact) my eldest son Matthew.Matt had genius level IQ a fact apparent then and now. The ringleader in many of my four sons childhood adventures and misadventures,The one least caught but you always knew he had made the evil plot and his brothers (his minions) had merely carried it out.I would go down to their play area on the 3 acres we owned at Springwood commonly known as my boys BAD BASE and there would be ropes strung between trees up over branches weighted down with rocks etc, Look Matt would say if you trip this then it will move that and lift this and pull that and etc etc and in the end capture something (usually me !) Upon lifting said rock yes that is exactly what would happen.He is using his powers for good not evil these days.I'm terribly proud of him even if i don't understand half of what he does but then again I'm sure he knows nothing of some of my craft techniques,I should have realized when he read Lord of the Rings aged 8 when the other children were reading golden books.The past few months he has been making his own computer, when i say making i mean he didn't go buy a case and all the parts he made the lot soldiered and cabled etc even the pipes for the water cooling system he had to research and find.If there are holes on the case he made the holes.Sooo clever i cannot tell you and all meticulously planned and executed while he has been working full time and he and his lovely partner Suzie have both been completing Uni. Oh and i forgot he has also been learning Spanish as he is on his way soon to south America,Here is a link for those who unlike me may know what they are looking at
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=1022378

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming you better believe it,I have started the annual Christmas card and tag making and decoratiion planning,You see i must have a theme some years its a colour or like one christmas it was stars this christmas is pink and silver and snowflakes i cant wait,
Here is some recent crafting exploits Christmas and otherwise,

Matchbox scene swap

Birthday card for a 3 year old/

My sisters three sons Josh ,Corey and Jye

Halloween banner for a swapbot swap.