Happy New Year

Hello Everyone,

Just a short note from all of us; to wish all of you a Safe, Healthy and Happy New Year.

I especially wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes with you.


We will open the book. Its pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity
and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
-Edith Lovejoy Pierce


A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
~Edgar Guest


Hugs and Best Wishes,
Penny and Sir Knight

Purrs,
Genghis

Thrilling Thursday! on Wednesday?

Hey evfurryone,

Look at me. I am inside the big scary mouth of a really big monster.

You bet ,I was nervous - but I never let on to anybody.

Ha! Ha! Fooled you - It's just the new toy Santa brought me for Christmas. It is so cool.

Pardon my backside - but at this point I wasn't too sure I wanted to go into that tunnel.

Here I was checking it out.

I just love my new gift - and as I've traveled around blog land - I saw Santa was pretty good to lots of my friends, too. Yea! Santa.

Purrs,
Genghis

Merry Christmas From Our house to Your House

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Purrs,
Genghis

Hugs,
Sir Knight & Penny

Blissful Angels

Hello everyone,

Sir Knight strongly suggested to me that this should be a short post - don't know if I can follow his suggestion - but it will be packed with artistic beauty.

Decembers theme for the Blissful ATC Swap was angels and I was lucky enough to have two wonderful angels to swap with Angela from Sew Loquacious and Michele who doesn’t have a blog yet, herself - but loves to read others.

Here are the cards I received. Aren’t they beautiful. I love both of them.

This card was from Angela

This card came from Michele

My first decision was not to make both girls the same ATC, so I set to work finding two angels to work with.

For Angela - I had a picture of a cupid in a Heart that I had gotten at an auction and wanted to use that -
A couple of false starts on a background had me a bit frustrated but I finally got something I liked. Then I tore some Mulberry paper the size of my ATC and placed my angel picture on it- I then used some plastic glitter buttons and an angel and it was looking good. I then used a rub on to put my title on “An Angels Heart Is Filled with Love”. Now the real frustrating part came - the Mulberry paper wouldn’t hold the rub on and letters were just falling off. So I tried to correct things with a very fine point marker, which I only smeared on the mulberry paper. Now I was besides myself and wanted to make another one for Angela but Dear Sir Knight was getting besides himself with me - of course being a supportive husband he told me it looked fine - being too sick to argue at the time - I let him take both of them off to the post office - so they wouldn’t be late. But Angela if you are reading this - I do plan on making you a new card that doesn’t look like a third grader made it .



Here is the Card I made for Michele. - Since Michele told me her favorite color was blue I used these two angels in the clouds above a small town Church. And titled it Angels Sing. I used some paper clay cut to match the cut out of the angels and placed then on a background of stars and star shine. I applied extreme Glitter by Ceramcoat to the star shine to really brighten it up . Glued my cutout to the paper clay and glued that whole thing on top of my background. It was simple but I thought it came out pretty nice.

I also made a little angel ornament for both the girls.

I then made a card to accompany my cards on there journey.

And so that should have been the end of it - just wait for their cards, right? Wrong. Though both cards were mailed out on Dec 10th ; and Angela had received hers within 5 days, Michele’s card was nowhere to be seen. (Now if there was justice in this world it should have been Angela’s card lost in the mail - and I wouldn’t of felt one bit of remorse -because I knew I wanted to make her a new one when I felt better).

So what was a girl to do but whip up a replacement card for Michele and send that one out on Dec. 20th.

I used a plaid scrapbook paper background - I added my angel picture - then used some small yo-yo's to give the appearance of clouds and added a couple hanging note as well as a gold ribbon.

Of course in true US Post Office Style - she received the first one the day I sent the second one out.

Hope you are all having a better month than I am.

Hugs,
Penny

I'm Back with a Very Sad Cristmas Story.

Hey Evfurry one,

MY goodness gracious it feels good to be able to get on the computer again and post to my blog.

Time has just flown by since I last posted. Pellie has been real sick and has hardly gotten out of bed - so of course I have been very busy providing warmth and entertainment for her. She also read books, watched the Hallmark channel, slept and cried a lot.

Why was she crying you ask - well it’s kind of a sad story - you see two Fridays ago , a stay kitty showed up on our porch - and every time Pellie got up to go to the bath room she would check to see if he was still on the chair and he was. She started calling him Midnight cuz he was pretty much all black as far as we could see. When Sir Knight came home from work at midnight - she had him out there trying to catch Midnight - to bring him in the house. Well that little guy/gal was not to be caught - ran like the wind every time the door opened. Pellie thought maybe he belonged to our crazy cat lady on the block - well she hoped he did - so he wouldn’t be staying out all night. First Thing Sat morning when she got up - she rushed to check on Midnight - there he was sleeping on our chair on the porch. We called the shelter but they had no one available to try and trap little Midnight - Pellie was getting real worried - It was suppose to get below zero that night. So she sent Sir Knight to Wal-Mart to buy a couple totes and something suitable for insulation.
By using directions found on the internet - Sir Knight built a shelter for the poor kitten - if he was to be out in the night again - he also set out food and water. We watched and watched but never saw Midnight even poke his nose in for a look around. Pellie was too sick to get too involved in our rescue attempts and that really upset her and sure didn’t help in her own recovery. On Sunday morning Sir Knight bundled up and went out to shovel the snow off the driveway and low and behold there was Midnight snug in the shelter -watching him. After he did his shoveling he hurried in to tell Pellie that Midnight not only found our shelter - he used it. Oh we all were so happy! If we could keep him safe the shelter would send someone out Monday. Fresh food and water were taken out for Midnight and at one point he was once again sleeping on our chair. Then all of a sudden he took off - Sir Knight looked all around the house for him - but he was not to be found. He never came back to the shelter - and we never saw him on that Monday, either - so we hoped and hoped that he had found his way home.
But Tuesday morning when Pellie got up - she wandered into the craft room to get a book and there in our back yard lay poor Midnight dead. He had found his way home - but it was to the rainbow bridge.
Pellie cried and cried and Sir Knight and I were worried she would make herself sicker than she was. The rescue shelter came and said no one had stated an interest in finding a kitten like Midnight - so Sir Knight gave him a rather shallow grave in the garden behind our shed - not much more could be done as the earth was pretty frozen. It really looked like he was trying to get back to our little shelter - but just couldn’t make it.

Rest in Peace sweet little Midnight.

After telling you this story, I’m kind of watery in the eyes again myself - so I think - I will go find Pellie and snuggle up for some love.

Purrs,
Genghis

This is a picture of Midnight that Sir Knight shot with some kind of long range lens, since Midnight would never let him get close to him. He kind of Looks like a young version of my brofur Dale, maybe they will play together at the Rainbow Bridge.

This and That Thursday

Hello everyone,

We had snow flurries yesterday - nothing to amount to much; but it was, cold. Sir Knight and I had to make a quick run to Pet Smart for cat and fish food. Heaven forbid if Genghis ran out of food; I'm quite sure he'd never let us live that down.

Upon our return home - I decided it was a very good day to stay in and work on a few of my projects.

First of all Sir Knight brought up the tree we use in the kitchen and we both got busy fluffing and fouffing it up for another year.


Once the tree was up - I got to work cleaning and rearranging things to set up a little vignette - for the paper trees we created from a tutorial that was shared on another blog (but for the life of me, I can not seem to remember who's blog it was). If it was any of yours, please forgive me and let me know so I can link back to you .



I also wanted to show you my finished rolling pin. Right now it is hanging from the handle of my china cabinet - but as we go on it will be put somewhere in the midst of Sir Knights, Santa Collection. I thought my snowflakes turned out pretty cool and made the whole thing look very wintry.


While I was vacuuming cat hair and arranging my stick trees, as Genghis called them; Sir knight was busy rounding up all his many nutcrackers and was starting to set them on display in the living room. This is the first of many and it is set up on my small curio cabinet where my toy tea sets are kept.

Feeling good that we are slowly getting things done and set up.


Hugs,
Penny

Wordless Wednesday

Teacup Tuesday

Hello everyone,

The wind has shifted and it has started raining. The weatherman tell us that the snow is not far behind.

Great weather to sit inside and celebrate Teacup Tuesday With Martha and Terri.

Today I wanted to show off this cup.

It is a Vintage Regency English Bone China cup and saucer. Made in England. Circa 1950'S from the little I have been able to learn of this company. Like most of my cups, however, I loved the bright floral design and cared very little if it came from a famous China maker.

The cup measures 3" high and the saucer is 5 1/2" in diameter. It's in excellent condition; and was a real auction score for only $1.00.

"There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." Ralph Waldo Emmerson

"If you are cold tea will warm you- -
If you are heated, it will cool you- -

If you are depressed, it will cheer you- -

If you are excited, it will calm you."
William E. Gladstone

Well I know you have to run and check out all the beautiful teacups. Thanks for stopping by.


Hugs,
Penny

Mancat Monday

Hello evfurryone,
I devoured my share of turkey and giblets and enjoyed visiting with all the grandbeans on Thanksgiving for a little while anyway - did some heavy snoozing on Black Friday; - but after that it has been busy, busy, busy around here. Pellie and Sir Knight have been busy making all kinds of stuff - so of course I have to snoopervise the two of them. Yesterday they were making candles and some stick Christmas trees and they even made some old lady faces out of clay ( I have no idea what these face things are for - they are kind of spooky - heads on wires - so I tried batting one around and got in trouble big time). I will try to keep you informed on what an old lady has to do with Christmas as time goes on and they do more work on these disembodied heads.

They brought home this tree from an auction and set it up here in mine and Pellie's craft room.
I don't mind it too much but as you can see I wasn't too interested in the tree - I just wanted to check out that they didn't lose any of my twisty ties I store in that little basket.

Well the two of them have finished their coffee and are starting to get going on a few projects - so I guess I better cut my post sort and get busy snoopervising.

Purrs,
Genghis

The Christmas Season Has Offically Started.

Hello everyone,

Last Tuesday a girlfriend and I headed to The Quad Cities -Festival of Trees. The tree and room displays were wonderful. I thought I'd share just a few of those trees with you today.


Thanksgiving is just a fond memory for this year and today Black Friday, is the unofficial, Official start of the Christmas season, for Christmas 2010.


Did you start shopping at midnight?


Not me.


This year, after many years of standing in cold lines in the wee hours of the morning,


I decided that I was not going to join in the frenzy and insanity of Black Friday Shopping.


Late in the morning,


I did head over to my local fabric store and picked up some real bargains on fabric -


for items I want to make for Christmas.


That was the extent of my shopping, The rest of the time was spent with Sir Knight -planning projects and sitting in our library watching a movie together.

My kind of day. (stress free)

Hugs,
Penny

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello everyone,

Genghis Khat, Sir Knight and I wish each and everyone of you - a most Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.

It is such a blessing for us to count all of you among our dearest friends and for this we are very Thankful.


Hugs,
Penny & Sir Knight

Purrs,
Genghis

Wordless Wednesday

Mancat Monday

Hello evffurryone,

We had such a busy weekend here at my house. Trimming all the bushes - raking leaves and in general getting the front of the house ready for the Christmas lights. Today as soon as it drys up a bit - Sir Knight and I will get to work stringing all those pretty lights on the bushes. We try to get it done early, just in case it snows - we don't have to clean all the snow off the bushes to get them on.
Just because they are on the bushes however, does not mean we light them yet. Oh no -
Sir Knight & Pellie don't think they should be lit till two weeks before Christmas, and the two weeks after.

So have I got you wondering what I am trying to check out so stealthily? No easy matter -with all my favorite bushes cut down to the nubs.



There he is. Mr. Gray Squirrel I found up our tree. See him shaking in fear? MOL


Purrs,

Genghis

November ATC Swap

Hello everyone,

I now know that my November Swap partner from Blissful ATC Swap has received her card so I am now able to share the cards with all of you.

This month I had Polly over at Angels in My Garden and Back Porch Graphics . Both are wonderful blogs so make sure you head over and check them out.


Above you see the card I received from Polly. Isn't it beautiful. I love it. Thank you so much Polly.


The theme for this month was no theme, or anything we wanted to do. - Well sometimes what I like other people look at in disbelief and wonder where my mind was - so I was in a real tither over what I would make. Heading over to Polly's blog - I wandered around and dug into her archives - and if my memory serves me - I thought I saw she liked the color purple. (With three granddaughters that are purple fans) - I kind of figured I could do something with that.

I had already picked up my pretty Art Deco fairy picture at the auction and decided she needed to be used in the ATC - so as soon as I scanned it into the computer I I headed over to my Microsoft Digital Image Editor and got to work - altering the colors - till I was able to make it a lovely shade of purple.
Then I sat and stared at it and the card for a while and the flat image really did nothing for me. So I got out my new best friend -my paper clay and my plaque molds from the
early seventies (when I made cute wall hanging for my son's and niece's rooms) and amid the larger plaques there were a few for smaller ones. One in particular looked like it would be perfect for a cameo look. I wasn't too sure if this would work as my last foray into the paper clay I rolled out thin and hand cut out. The three days waiting for the clay to air dry in the mold had me biting my fingernails almost to the quick. Finally it was dry, and popped out of the mold with no trouble. Just a touch of very light sanding and it was good to go; and so nice and light.
Shrinking the picture down to the size of my plaque was the next step and then I decoupaged it on. To give it a pearlized look I used just a bit of Gleams paint over the tiny plaque - when it was dry I thought it really did looked just like a cameo. With that in mind, I then decided it need a filigree border around it; so I quilled one up in no time. and applied all to my randomly painted purple card. A little bit of doily added to help glam it up a bit and then I glittered the whole card for bling. And wala! My card which I Titled: Fantasy in Purple. Here is my card what do you think?


Of course I made a little card to accompany my ATC on its journey and this time to insure that the quilling did not get crushed I made a box to hold it.


I really do enjoy making these ATC's; as they give you a little chance to showcase different skills - yet are not so large you think you'll never finish it. And are also a great way to meet new friend and find new blogs that I might not have found otherwise.

Hugs,
Penny

The Postman came with gifts.

Hello everyone.

This was one of those days where you have to be flexible - because all plans changed in a blink of an eye. Not that I'm complaining mind you. Just saying - it's a good thing I'm flexible.

Sir Knight and I were suppose to go and do a little Christmas shopping today before he headed off to work. - But the jangling phone call that ripped through our still sleep addled brains - made that impossible. Someone on the day shift failed to report to work and dear Sir Knight would have to work a 12 hour shift - of course he was secretly happy to do so. - He hates shopping. But I always make him help when it comes to the Christmas presents; I mean who would carry all the shopping bags if he wasn't there? Of course I tell him it's because I need him there to keep my spending in check. - Like I need that? - Shop till you drop or run out of checks is my motto.

So I have been busy doing the washing and ironing - as well as straightening up the house a bit.
Not nearly as much fun as shopping, but it is satisfying and I shouldn't have to do too much more before Thanksgiving.

So when the postman rang my doorbell to let me know I had a package. I was thrilled - who could it be from? The label said it traveled all the way from Canada just to get to me.
Lucky me.

Yeah!!! It's my winnings from the final Practical Magic giveaway. This one is some super awesome smelling spray called Circle of Brooms. They must be cinnamon brooms because you can definitely pick out that wonderful scent. The gracious hostess who had been giving this enchanting gift away was Michele over at Seraphim Bears. Besides making these great sprays, Michele also makes the cutest teddy bears - Hang on to your heart when you head over to her blog - these guys are so adorable you might just fall in love with one or two, just like I did.


As you can see the Snooperviser had to come up and check things out as I was taking my pictures.

Well back to the old housework grind. Have a great night.

Hugs,
Penny

Wordless Wednesday

America Recycles Day and so does Pellie.

Hello everyone,
I'm sure no one needs to be told that crafters were recycling when recycling wasn't cool. We always strive to reuse, repurpose and restyle just about any thing we can get our hands on.

So I just wanted to take a few minutes and show you a bit of my current and future Christmas crafting plans - using recycled stuff, of course.

The first picture is that little self I told you about a post or so ago. All painted up - with a burgandy wallpapered back and some lovely paper doilies (courtesy of the Graphics Fairy) which I decoupaged on. I think it came out just super great and I know that my little unicorns are feeling safer already.

These small lap quilts that I picked up at the auction last Saturday, are worn and well loved - with a few stains and even a burn hole or two. But I have plans to turn them into Christmas stockings, with careful placement of the pattern to avoid all its bruised areas. The small pink and white table cloth with the ivy has a stain even I couldn't get out - and I usually can remove most everything. but no matter - I plan on turning that into a sweet landfill saving shopping bag.

I hate those plastic sacks they give out at most stores - they are ugly and a hazard to the environment. - (Why can't the government do away with them.) Anyway I will shop pretty in pink and be environmentally friendly as well.

In the goodies from the prior weekends auction - I found this rolling pin in the $1.00 junk boxes that had my white shelves in it. And while I love vintage kitchen items - this was one more rolling pin than we really needed. Yet I didn't have the heart to pass it on to the Goodwill. Wouldn't you know it, while perusing one of my favorite blogs - I found my inspiration for what you see above. Celeste of Celeste Marie Designs painted her rolling pin with the cutest snowman - that ever could touch your heart. Check it out. Sir Knight is a Santa Collector so I had wanted to make this to be a kitchen appropriate Santa Decoration. - Now understand I am no decorative artist - so the Santa is a rub on - and this is still a work in progress for me.
Sir Knight just drilled the hole into the handle to hang it from - so I have to touch that area up and I still want to paint a few snowflakes or stars around Santa - to help fill some of the void.

Well that's my plans for the near future. What about you? Do you see any recycle Christmas ideas in your future?


Hugs,
Penny

Honoring All Those Who Served