A Joyful Heart

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

I Peter 1: 8

I made this heart for a swap at Mosaic Magpie

Scroll back throuh some of  Deb's older posts and see many more hearts.  Each of those who participated will be surprised when their heart arrives in the mail.

It is hard to see the detail but I added beads that can be seen if you click on the picture to enlarge it.

This is the back of course but I snapped my pictures and sent the heart off before noticing that the pics were blurry.

There is a little tune running through my head this morning.

It is a little song using the words from the end of

Nehemiah 8:10

For the joy of the Lord is your strength.

I think that is a good reminder for starting a new week.

Blocks of the Month

I have started the year out trying to keep up with several blocks  of the month projects.  I have been doing pretty good so far but it is only January.  I want to share a few of the fun blocks I have completed this month.  I have a couple of days to complete a couple of others before the month is over.

Here is my project designed by Jenny of Elefantz

I love this and it was great fun to make.

Did you notice the hanger is from my after Christmas thrifty shopping?  I bought 8 of them in two sizes.

Verse blocks will hang from the button.

Jenny has posted two inspiration verse blocks so far but I have not completed one yet. 

Out of the Box block of the month

There is room for adding your own ideas to each of these blocks.

This block is designed by Vicki of the Pickledish Patch

This design came from Dawn of As Sweet as Cinnamon.

I have some more to share very soon.

We shall see how long I am able to keep up but I have had some fun with this so far.

I am linking with Air Your Laundry Friday at Freckled Laundry

Fun Friday Package

The first thing I did after work and the grocery store was check the mail.  I was surprised to find a package inside addressed to me.  I wasn't expecting this so soon but what a fun way to start the weekend.  First I had to "explain" to our dog that a walk in the pouring rain was not going to happen.  Then I usually feed the cat who follows me around until I do.  Of course the package was distracting me from my normal routine so here is what happened when I put the package on the table so that I could open it.

Our cat Lily is sniffing the package.

She says "Hey that has nothing to do with feeding me"

Now she is heading toward her dish to see if I have done my one important job.

Sorry Lily, she did end up waiting just a few more minutes.

 This lovely pillow was inside my package.  This pillow was made by Doni at Faith, Grace and Crafts.  I won this in her giveaway and I think is is just beautiful.

The roses down the sides were crocheted by Doni.

Doni has an Etsy shop here, with several of her creations.

I am happy to have one of Doni's vintage pillows here in my home.

Thank You Doni!

I also wanted to share another something special I won when Kathy at Creative Home Expressions had several 500 Blog Posts Celebration Giveaways in December.

I won the first giveaway which was from Tara at 

 Just Devine Style.

She has an online shop called Printed Memories and this is what she created for me.  She sent me this right to my email and we printed it onto card stock. 

Tara gave us two options and we chose to frame the one that was not centered.  The pictures don't show how nice it looks so take a look at her shop to see what else she does.

I have received so many wonderful things through swaps and giveaways from some very nice people I have "met" through blogging. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Reviving A Sweet Pillow

On one of my thrift store shopping trips in the past few months I found this pillow.

When I bought this there were sections of the yellow flower missing and it had rusty looking stains and was just dirty.  I took a picture of it when I first bought it but when I uploaded it on to my computer is must have been misdirected and it is not to be found.

First, I soaked the pillow to remove the stains.

I then redid the missing embroidery work.

I love the creative detail work on the corners.

The little buttonholes are hand stitched.

It is nice to take a piece of needlework, clean it and find it a new "home".  This sweet little pillow now has a place on my bed. 

Linking to Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

A Tin of Treasures

I have been meaning to share a gift my husband and I received at Christmas time from his mother, Virginia.

At first glance it looks like an old tin, not too fancy.  My mother in law knows that I like tins, there are several around our house.  I will share some pictures of just a few of the many.

So when I first saw this is was drawn to it and wanted to see what was inside

When we opened the tin we found 3 razors

The razors belonged to my husbands father, grandfather and great grandfather.  I don't know anyone who uses this kind a razor these days, do you?

Then came the buttons and  buckles

and

more buttons and buckles

I wish I had taken a picture of my grandson Landon helping me go through them and oohing and aahing at all of the colors and shapes.  It reminded me of the hours I spent playing with my grandmothers button tin.

Then we found this!

                           

 It is one of our wedding favors. 

 We actually wrapped some kind of cake in foil and put it inside the bell, whatever is left of it is still inside.  I don't think I have seen a wedding favor quite like ours for many years.  I guess it held up pretty well for 38 plus years.  I am not planning to check the cake out though.

We had fun with the tin and I will enjoy using the buttons or just taking them out to look through with our grandchildren.

 



Sunday Morning

It is early Sunday morning, as I place today's dinner in the crock pot and prepare to leave for church I think about how blessed I feel at this very minute.  We had a few inches of snow last night and the cat and dog both prefer to stay inside this morning.  This is what I see as I look out my back door.  Everything looks clean and new and it was just last night that the gardens out back looked messy.

It is amazing that a little snow can totally change the view.

The view out the front door.

These verses keep coming to my mind this morning.

Psalm 19: 1,2

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmaments sheweth his handiwork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.

verse 14

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Many Thanks and a Sweet Gift

First I want to say Thank you to Cindy at I Owe It All To Him for featuring me on her blog here.  It has been fun "meeting" new people in the world of blogging and I have been inspired by many of them.  I am thankful that my blog may have inspired someone else.   Cindy has another blog called Whimsical Musings that has also an inspiration to me for some time. 

In December Henry Glass Designers held a Holiday Project Parade.  They each had giveaways and patterns for those who participated  and they shared some things about themselves.

I was able to make a booklet with all of the patterns offered by the designers and also enter their giveaways.

I won a giveaway from LizzieBCre8tive! 

Visit Liz and Beth Hawkins to see what they are up to. 

I won a kit with the materials to make the reversible apron pictured above.  It looks like a fun project and the fabrics are fantastic.

I was also the winner of a box of goodies from Rhonda of Blue Creek Home.  You will enjoy a leisurely visit to Rhonda's blog.

Click on the picture to get a better view of everything.

Next, I want to share with you one of my Christmas gifts.  The coasters pictured below were made by my daughter Amy.  She is a preschool teacher and this is the project the children did for their parent's Christmas gift.  This set of coasters was made for us with pictures of our grandchildren on them.  They are made with tiles,  the pictures are modge podged on the tile with felt glued on the bottom of each tile.  These will be treasured.

Many Thanks for each of these blessing.

I am off to walk the dog so that I can get to some creative fun.  I don't want you to think that walking the dog isn't fun too,  I know that it makes Emmy happy to get out and get some fresh air and exercise.  The walking hasn't done me any harm yet either.

After Christmas Thrifty Finds

This year I did not do much "After Christmas Shopping".  Last week while out on a route for work I did stop by one of my favorite places to look at holiday decorations, it is called Wight's.  The young woman at the counter told me that the day after Christmas was crazy and people pushed each other to get what they wanted.  That kind of shopping is not for me.  This is what I found on my stroll through Wight's on my lunch break last week.

First I will show you my trees

I always try to but one or two of these each year.  I bought this little one before Christmas.

 
These two I bought at 50% off last week. 

 They are a little different, but I was drawn to them when we were shopping for ornaments for our family before Christmas.

I also bought these at 50% off.

I am not sure what they were displayed to be used for but I have several ideas about ways to use my $2.50 hangers.  Here is an example of how they might be used.

I was thinking about some of the needlework I am working on or have finished hanging on these little hangers.  They could be spray painted to match if necessary.  Any ideas for other ways to use them?  I may stop by tomorrow on my break to see if they have all been sold.

O.K., now it is time to put a few Christmas decorations away, at the rate I am going it will take me days.

I will be linking this post to "Nifty Thrifty Tuesday" at Coastal Charm