DECK THE HALLS

This has been a busy week! We "decked our halls", shopped, spent time with family and made things. My family is all a bit sad that this long weekend has come to an end. Back to the old grind. Tara will be heading back to University of Missouri this week and not be back till Christmas. Boo Hoo We miss each other so much when she is away. Yesterday I helped her make her purse out of the wool she purchased. Well...it was mostly me saying, "oh give it here, I'll do it!" My sewing machine is old and very temperamental and it seems to only work right for me. ugh! Laura was sewing something for her boyfriend's Christmas gift too. (poor Zack! ha ha) I didn't get to work much on my own projects. Anyway, we had fun together.

Here are some pictures of my house all decked for the holidays. Just the sun room, dining room and parlor. That's where the trees are. I just noticed that I forgot to put my tree skirt on the sun room tree--ooops! As you can see I am fond of antiques. Have a wonderful week everyone!

In our family, the day after Thanksgiving is just as much fun as Thanksgiving! My Mom, sisters, daughters and older nieces all go to the same quaint little town to visit antique and craft shops. We have coffee and goodies to eat in the shops and we all have lunch together. In the first picture is one of my nieces, Kelsey, and one of my daughters, Tara, holding up some of the wool they purchased with plans of making purses and scarves. In the other picture is my sister, Jennifer (Hot Tamale Art Studio) and I dividing up a bag of really cool little felted wool balls we bought. They were so colorful, we couldn't resist! We thought of a couple ideas for them. That new shop had all kinds of wool fabrics, felted wool items, and rug hooking stuff. Jennifer and I kept saying, "oh, this store is so "Jenny Carter"! lol~We all had a fun time!

I have two pictures to share! First of all, I was so excited to receive my package from Jennifer of Crooked Needle Primitives today. I won her blog give-away drawing and got this beautiful primitive kitty doll. She is so pretty with her festive polka dot dress and hat. I was decorating for Christmas when she arrived and I promptly displayed her on a little chair. Doesn't she look sweet there? Thank you so much, Jennifer! I love it!

The other picture is my newest painting. Of course this is what my gray tabby, Snickers, was doing today! He loves the sniffing around all the boxes from the shed and playing with the ornaments. Don't all kitties? I will be listing this on Ebay soon. Well, back to my decorating. My daughters' boyfriends are here tonight helping as well. The house is full of laughter right now, gotta go!

ANGEL OF 4

Can you tell that I like painting kitties? Here is an 8"X10" stretched canvas I worked on today. The little angel is trying hard to give attention to each of the little kitties, but they are getting a bit impatient! The calico is playing with the angel's long hair and the gray tiger and doing that rub and purr thing they do! This one could be used for a Christmas decoration or left out all year if you like angels! There is some sparkle on the angel's gown and pearl and metallic on her wings and halo.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. Ours was busy, but nice. I only have 2 days of school this week, so I am looking forward to the break! Lots of family time, eating, sleeping and decorating. Jordan will be marching and playing his drum in the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day Parade so we may glimpse him on TV.

COZY COUCH

I thought of this painting as I was vegging on the couch after work one day. Is there anything cozier than a kitty lounging on you on a cold winter evening? This little girl in her footie pajamas is kind of stuck here, but she doesn't seem to mind.

This has been a busy weekend. I went to my niece's 17th birthday party last night and tonight I am going to my nephew's 16th birthday party. Tara is home too, so I haven't been painting much. We are getting ready to decorate the downstairs family room for Christmas. We do the main floor next weekend. It takes a couple of weekends to get it all done. We decorate 4 trees here. Perhaps I will share some pictures in a couple of weeks! Have a great weekend, friends!

BLOG AWARD

Blog Award

I received a nice award from my dear friend, Jenny of Wonders of Whimsy. Marie Antionette was quite a lady and so are these!


I am passing this to the following ladies:

Jennifer of Crooked Needle Primitives
Tracy of The Vintage Sister Studio
Amy of Heart of a Seed
Azul Valentina
Gina of Cat Nap Inn Primitives
Leticia Regalo
Traci Marvel

Rules to Play:

1. Please put the Marie Antoinette picture on your blog.2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award.3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs.4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog.5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

I dreamed about this idea the other night, so as soon as I got up I had to paint it. There is something kind of peaceful about it, if that makes sense. I'm sure we all pray for the safe return of our military personnel and think of them often, especially during the holiday season.

I hope everyone is having a good week so far. I guess we are all ready for the holiday "crunch" with our calendars overflowing with school and church concerts, banquets, and fund raisers, and family and work functions as well! The hustle and bustle is upon us, so brace yourself--and try to take time to appreciate the simple things, like family, friends and simple togetherness.