North Pole PIllow

I needed a gift for our Bunco gift exchange and I have been thinking about making this pillow for a while:

I saw this somewhere in Blogland, I printed it in Word, and then printed it out on fabric:

I adhered it to the front of a piece of polka dot fabric and then pleated and pinned blanket binding around the edge:

I stitched over the pleats and backed it with green and white striped fabric:

Hope my Bunco friend likes it:

Sharing with Met Monday,

Make It For Monday @ Cottage Instincts and

Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple

John's Sports Tree

John's special tree is the "Sports Tree":

It's hanging on the wall in our bedroom and has special sports ornaments, such as SU,:

quite a few Yankees ornaments:

and even a few cheerleaders to represent our daughters!

Christmas Carolers

My all time favorite Christmas decorations are my Possible Dreams Carolers:

Some are from 1987 and others from 2001:

Sitting beside the carolers is a tree in a clay pot painted by one of my favorite artists....

...Angie Strauss from Niagara-On-The-Lake

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

An Anthropologie Tree

I just saw this clever tree in the Rochester Anthropologie store:

Old books stacked high to create a tree shape, with large lights.

I want this - in my Library - that I don't have - too bad I get rid of my books after I read them - this sounds like a new project for me, which of course would require an addition on the house, gorgeous built-in shelves, red leather chairs with ottomans, a fireplace, braided rugs, and maybe even a small dog - maybe next year??

The dining room tree

My dining room tree is one of my favorites. It is a collection of chandelier crystals, gold, white and glass ornaments and gold twigs:

Santa stands by the tree:

There are fairies....

...angels, sand dollars and stars...

... white poinsettias and lots of glistening crystals....

...and white and gold bows!

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Tales from Bloggeritaville

MacKenzie-Childs Knock-off Christmas Tree

On Sunday we went to Aurora, NY , to MacKenzie-Childs, to buy me a birthday present (or a few!) and I saw this gorgeous tree that I knew you would love to see (BJ, Terry and Debbie especially!) If there was a way, I would have picked it up and snuck it out the door! I just love how they put the teapot on top!

My husband showed the manager of the store, Pam, a photo of the stocking I made and she showed it to other employees (they loved it!) and then we talked a while about their textile department....I would love to work there when I retire from teaching but the daily drive would be too long...hhhmmm, wonder if they would let me move into the farmhouse??

She did encourage me to apply for a job working the Barn Sale next summer, so maybe I will!!

Here's their gorgeous tree:

Last year I created this tree by hand painting many of the ornaments:

It was a fun project that took many hours:

A few are actually MacKenzie-Childs pieces:

Some are wood, others are glass:

Last year when my husband and I met Victoria and Richard MacKenzie-Childs, he told Richard that he must be part of our family because many things in our home had his name on it - and then invited him over for the holidays!! Men....

Sharing my tree with:

Tuesday Treasures @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Time to Shine Tuesday @ A Diamond in the Stuff

My Christmas Fudge Wreaths

This fudge, in the shape of a wreath, is so easy to make - and it's "never fail", too. Here are the supplies:

The first thing I do is cover some "prescription" bottles with plastic wrap. These are to create the holes in the center of the fudge, to create a wreath shape.

I place these in the center of small aluminum pie tins:

I lightly brush butter on the tins and the plastic wrapped bottles:

I cut "leaves" out of gumdrops or spearmint leaves:

I chop up lots of walnuts:

And here is the recipe:

12 oz bag of milk or semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter OR butterscotch chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 t vanilla extract

Melt all 4 ingredients until creamy and add 8 oz chopped walnuts

Pour into 3-4 prepared small pie tins and add a few "leaves" and little cinnamon balls:

Refrigerate until set. Then I "twist" the prescription bottle out of center:

Peel away the pie tin and it is ready to be wrapped up for gifts or ready to slice and enjoy yourself!

This takes little time but makes a lovely gift. I usually wrap it in cello wrap with a pretty bow!

Sharing this with:

Met Monday

Amaze Me Monday

Tutorial Tuesday

Snow Crystals

I just bought a new tree at Pier 1 Imports for my Swarovski crystal snowflakes:

This is my favorite snowflake on the tree:

No, I think this one is my favorite:

Now to decorate the rest of the mantle...

Oh, wait, this one is really my favorite:

Happy Decorating!!

Sharing with Show and Tell Friday

and Check Me Out Saturday

Lucky me!

My dear friend, Andrea, just surprised me with a lovely gift:

She makes the prettiest cards and jewelry.

These pendants will certainly be worn a lot this month!

And she sent them to me "just because"!

Go visit Andrea at Needle Notes and let her know that you saw her beautiful jewelry here!

Thanks, Andrea - I just adore them!