MORE CROWNS?????

Yes, more crowns! I needed one for my long-time best friend in Washington state because she IS the Queen of Christmas! And while I was dealing in three tons of messy glitter and glue and so forth, I figured I may as well make a back-up crown. The blue one below is the back-up! The front says MERRY and BRIGHT.

A tiny cardinal and some pinecones plus a blue pressie are on one side and ...

  on this side you can see some packages, a deer, and a blue bell.

 More packages and an antlered deer.

This is the crown I'm giving Mar. Even more than I do, she LOVES Christmas! Frontside, I have (besides the VERY obvious blue snowflake) a vintage cherub, red feathers, tiny gold bells, and packages. You probably can't see it, but on the bottom front leaves I used blingy gold letters to spell out CHRISTMAS QUEEN! She IS, too!

You can see the letters better here, plus more doodads at the bottom.


On THIS side I have a lacy-red butterfly and at the base, a vintage boot into which I glued 'lights'.


Last but not least, the inside of the crown!
These 2 crowns were something of a PAIN. Don't know if it was because I wanted at least ONE of them (the one for Mar) to be perfect so of course it wouldn't cooperate. NEITHER would. The glue behaved badly (wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!) Things were falling off as fast as my nether regions are heading south. And while all my OTHER crowns have been 100% wearable, NEITHER of these will fit a NORMAL head, much less a round pumpkin-head like MINE! But that's okay. Mar will understand. She's like my OTHER bestest friend, Jan - they know I try. I'm a glue-wielding crazy person but I really DO try! Jingle bells, jingle bells, hmmm, hmm, hmmm, hmmmm, HMMMM! 

FOR A CHANGE - HAHAHAHAHAHA!

WHAT????? Kai has actually been doing something other than complaining about the weather? YES!!!! LOL! She HAS! Actually, I've been doing lots of stuff, but thought I'd show you the 8 change purses I finished. I got on a change purse making kick some years ago and, this year, the urge hit me to do some more. However, THIS time I decided they looked too darned plain so I had to add a little embellishment! Ergo - the flowers! What do you think? They are for the four senior sweeties I have adopted from 2 different nursing facilities very near here, one for my adorable little landlady, one for MaryBear who saw me adding the flowers and threatened my very life - uhhhh - suggested I make HER one, and two for ladies - one from Target and one from Barnes and Noble - who do not have family here in the U.S.! I hope they like them. I've also been making flap hats (you know - the kind with ear flaps) for the spoiled brats boys at Barnes and Noble who had Thanksgiving here and saw the one I had in progress in my craft room. Now I have 12 requests for flap hats in THEIR color choices. LOL! I was right when I said spoiled brats. Anyway, I'll show the hats later as well as some other odds and ends. Hope you are all having a great after Thanksgiving weekend. I AM! I declared a holiday for myself from ANY work because Friday, after the last of my company left (Did I tell you I ended up with, not 46, but 54 people here? I surely did!) I spent hours decorating the house - all of it - for Christmas, THEN decided to clean the house top to bottom and wash clothes. EEEEEKS! Talk about an exhausted old Comanche! But it paid off because I had a laid back day yesterday and plan to again today! I even watched two - count 'em - TWO movies yesterday - the original Miracle on 34th Street (you DO know Edmond Gwenn really IS Santa, right?) and later - don't you dare laugh ... well okay, you can laugh if you want to - Beauty and the Beast. Now I'm heading for the kitchen because I think another pot of coffee is in order! BIG HUGS TO ONE AND ALL! 

WITH EXTREME GRATITUDE FOR MY ONLINE FRIENDS

Here is to each one of you - the beautiful, special friends I've been lucky enough to meet online & get to know these past 6 years:

Have a wonderful day & remember how much you have to be grateful for! BIG OL' HUGS TO ONE & ALL! And meet you back in Blogland Friday or Saturday when we are able to waddle our stuffed tummies to the computer! (Yum ... do I smell pumpkin pie?)

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL MOTHER NATURE IT'S AUTUMN?

Today is November 21st. I did a LOT of prep work for Thanksgiving today. The leaves on the 2 year old Japanese Maples outside my craft room are vibrant reds! The Christmas stuff will come out of its closet FRIDAY after all the Thanksgiving stuff has been put away. And yet - sigh - and yet today we reached 83 degrees. WHERE IS MY COLD WEATHER???? How am I ever s'posed to get any use from my cute fuzzy house slippers? When am I going to get to wear my new emerald green pullover sweater? I want to throttle Mother Nature! BAH, HUMBUG! We here in Houston have been ROBBED! Call the Cold Weather Police! Alert the media! Or if THAT doesn't work ... please, could I just borrow a cup of snow?

A WONDERFUL GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oooooooh, are you all EVER going to love THIS!!!! My friend Cindy Owens is doing a MARVELOUS giveaway! I don't yet have a photo of it, but she promises one soon, and I will definitely add it to this post asap! AND you can link to her blog in the meantime by clicking onto the doll swap link at the right of my blog or the one I'll provide below in this post! At any rate, she has assembled a Christmas basket packed with all SORTS of wonderfulness to GIVE to someone. Now, I have been VERY lucky to be the recipient of a number of goody packages from Cindy! SHE KNOWS HOW TO PACK A GOODY BOX, let me tell you! So, be GOOD, for goodness sake, and jingle your way right on over to her blog at http://thimbleprimsstudio.blogspot.com/ to find out how YOU can win this treasure! (But don't you DARE actually WIN it. I want it, want it, want it all for ME! LOL!) Uh-oh. I hope Santy doesn't read this. That last comment really wasn't very nice, was it? I may have just earned myself a place on his NAUGHTY list this year. SIGH ... (I STILL want it, tho'!) FA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!!!
NOTE: The photo is now at the top of my blog to the right! Isn't that just THE most fabulous array of goodies?

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE CHRISTMAS! Does that REALLY surprise anyone? I didn't think so! I love how, for the most part, people are just NICER during the holidays. I love how the lights and decorations make even the dullest places come to life! I love - OH, how I love - the Christmas music that seems to drive so many others nutso. LOL! Stores can play carols 24/7 from November 1 through December 24 and I will STILL sing along! I love the food! I mean, who DOESN'T, right? And Christmas trees ... my favorite scent in the entire world! I love making or buying gifts for people. Everything ABOUT the holidays makes me smile! ALMOST everything. The only thing I don't love is knowing there are people who live outside and don't have even the basics. And people who are stuck away in nursing homes and just forgotten. That tears my heart out. Now I can't bring home every homeless person I encounter. I don't have funds to set them up in a place of their own. But I can do SOMETHING. And I plan to. So far, I haven't figured out WHAT, but I just don't want to close my eyes to them. And this year, I'm not going to. As far as the people in nursing homes - NOT the ones with families who visit often, but the ones with no visitors - I am going to make it my personal goal to 'adopt' some of them. There are a number of nursing homes near here. I plan to call them or stop by and find out if I would be allowed to give the forgotten residents Christmas. But not JUST Christmas. Christmas year round. Instead of making token gifts for friends who KNOW I love them and who HAVE wonderful families, THIS year, I would like to  give whatever I can to people who DON'T have anyone. I'm telling you all this because, instead of little gifties, this holiday season I have decided to send each of YOU something I send you EVERY day even when you don't KNOW I'm sending it - my love! I wanted to tell you so nobody would think they are being ignored. AND I'm sending you ALL a challenge! For this holiday, I challenge YOU to remember someone who may be totally alone! You don't have to give up gifting your families or bring home somebody you don't know. Just do some small kindness for a person who could really USE it! I KNOW all of you, even tho' I know you only through blogging and emailing. You are WONDERFUL, CARING PEOPLE! This year, I say we start a kindness revolution that will continue all year long and hopefully well into forever! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT! 

PLAYING DOLLIES!

It's been a VERY long time since I joined a swap having to do with making a doll! In fact, it was a YEAR ago when I participated in the FROG DOLL SWAP hosted by sweet Cindy Owens of Thimble Prims Studio. And you know what I got out of THAT swap? Not only the FUN of doing it, but a truly darling froggy & extras! Best of ALL tho', I got a partner who has become one of my most cherished lil' friends - Angie Hildenbrand of Angie's Raggedy Patch! I love that girl to PIECES! So how could I resist a swap called, A QUAINT OLD-FASHIONED DOLL SWAP? See the button link to the right of my blog & click on for details! Let me say right here that you won't find a better, more generous, more fun-spirited, or SWEETER swap hostess than Cindy! Seriously! SHE ROCKS! And with all THAT said, I'm going to stop and see how many of YOU sweeties end up on the swap list! C'mon! You KNOW you wanna!

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

I am soooooooo happy today! First of all, after a night of storms and no rest, the weather became VERY nice and chilly! It feels wonderful, refreshing, and November-y! But THAT is only a tiny part of why I'm so happy. The MAIN reason is because I already received CHRISTMAS! No need for beautifully wrapped gifts or visions of sugarplums or even "It's a Wonderful Life"! I don't NEED a tree with a million gifts waiting beneath it. Today I received MY gift! FIVE gifts, actually! Nope! Not the ones below!

My family is coming from Wisconsin!!!! My daughter, grandson, 2 granddaughters - none of whom I've seen for nearly 7 YEARS - and my lil' great grandson I've NEVER seen (except in photos!) This old girl is planning a week's worth of things to smile about! Lots of talking and hugging and coffee drinking and outings and cuddling Lil' Man and presents for all of them and a BIG Christmas dinner with everything they like to eat! My family is coming to visit! This is turning into a SPECTACULAR HOLIDAY SEASON!  

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!

 Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"