Holiday Candles

This is a tutorial I did a few years ago HERE. I still love my candles and have made a few more since then.

So let’s get started. I rarely shop at the Dollar Stores but that’s a great place to buy these pillar candles. ($1 at Dollar Tree)

I used this Ivory Linen Finish paper but you can use whatever you have. The linen paper has some beige color to it and a nice texture so it added to the look I was trying to achieve.

I found so many pretty images to print. My graphics are from The Graphics Fairy and Two Crazy Crafters! Thanks to these special ladies!

This particular print I copied as a 5 by 7 but I made others full page and cut them down.

I trimmed the top and bottom to get the perfect size.

You need some overlap but not too much...so I marked and trimmed....

then I used double stick tape. You could glue but I LOVE double stick tape!

SO EASY!

Stick on one side…

Lay it down and wrap around....

And this is how it will look...

and then the FUN begins!

 

I loved deciding what ribbon or embellishment to use! Vintage lace and trims are the best!

I already had some bigger versions of this pillar candle in other colors so I covered them, too!

And the nice thing about this project, if you get carried away and cover ALL of your candles in Christmas paper....

it will be easy to take off after Christmas! heehee!

 

And visit Babs for a beautiful post HERE using flameless candles. I want to make some of these, too!

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

Ivy and Elephants HERE

Vintage Bliss Tuesdays HERE

and Tweak it Tuesday!

They make wonderful gifts?

Which one do you like best?

 

LOVE…or hate!

You’ll either ‘love’ these photos or HATE them!

I know many of you are in the throws of winter weather and I have lived places that got lots of cold and snow, too.

But I live in Florida now and this is what I did this week! (these are VERY empty SHELLS!)

Hubby even found money at the beach! An old Lincoln head penny along with a few pieces of sea glass.

 

He picked up a toy for me so I put it in my little stack of sea glass.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday

Amaze me Monday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.

I’m thankful for my good health and good life.

I’m counting my blessings this week!

Fences ahead!

We have such beautiful fences here in Florida but I’m not always quick enough to get the photos!

I took these to PhotoScape to create some prettier photos. Can you spot the Sandhill Cranes? There’s one in the lower left of the next photo.

To tell you the truth, these were taken on the fly again.

This is the first one in this series. I was trying to get the palm tree in the photo but I wasn’t quick enough.

I love seeing the reflections in the water, too.

These were taken on the way to the mall.

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party and

Wild Bird Wednesday!

Why don’t you join us?

Doll Making and Displays

Not all of my dolls look like ducks! lol

(if you missed my duck doll post, go HERE)

Meet ‘Teeny Tiny Tess’!

I was hoping she would be simple to make so that I could make lots. But I haven’t quite perfected the pattern so she doesn’t have any ‘sisters’ yet!

But doesn’t she look sweet displayed with old Nancy Drew and Hardy boy books?

Once upon a time, I showed this book written by Carolyn Keene HERE but I never came back to explain what it was. “By the Light of the Study Lamp” is a 1934 Dana Girls Mystery.

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

Ivy and Elephants HERE

Vintage Bliss Tuesdays HERE

and Tweak it Tuesday!

I love old children’s books, don’t you?

(and dolls AND BEARS!!!)

Come to our afternoon tea Miss Prudence.

Am I ‘off’ the naughty list now?

A Year of Hikes!

We celebrated ‘one year of Florida hiking’ by going to Halpata Tastanaki Preserve this weekend.

In one year we made 48 hikes averaging around an hour and a half for each hike. It’s been an adventure…times 48!!!

We were so pleased that they had gotten in there with bush hogs and mowers to take down the tall grass on the trails.

There were so many animal tracks to try to identify.

(these are wild turkey tracks)

And with the dryer Fall season, the plants, grasses and trees had some pretty colors. There were even several flowers blooming.

I had all kinds of comments on my post yesterday about our nice weather. The cold temps and bad weather did not reach this far South YET and it was 82 degrees on Sunday afternoon when we hiked.

We’re expecting freezing temps Wednesday morning though. I’ll let you know! lol

I’m joining Amaze me Monday

Ivy and Elephants HERE

and Tweak it Tuesday!

I hope you find new things to love about where you live, too. And as I’ve said before,

find the beauty that surrounds you

and enjoy it!

Living in Florida

It’s been so beautiful here this week! We’ve been in the 60s and 70s for highs which feels nice and cool to us. Of course we’re watching the weather and know that most of you are experiencing a ‘winter blast’. So come on down and walk out into my back yard today. Grab a lawn chair and sit in the sun!

I wanted to show you what the Bald Cypress trees look like right now. They are deciduous, losing there leaves in the winter months, hence the name 'bald'. They are conifers as well. This species is a popular tree, grown for its light, feathery foliage and orange-brown to dull red fall color. Wikipedia info HERE.

I had a couple of people ask me about the Live Oak tree. I went to Wikipedia for this quote. More info HERE.

“The name live oak comes from the fact that evergreen oaks remain green and "live" throughout winter, when other oaks are dormant, leafless and "dead"-looking.”

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday

Amaze me Monday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Warm hugs from Florida!

Black Ibis in Florida

We took a day trip to Canaveral National Seashore and saw a field of black birds.

Hundreds or possibly thousands of what appear to be

solid black Ibis!

Of course I couldn’t wait to look at my photos and then do a google search.

We thought it might be a rare sighting and it WAS!

Of course there was nowhere to pull over for better photos but I cropped and sharpened these photos. We knew what we had seen but just couldn’t believe it.

When I did a google search I found a question and answer forum on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website HERE. It was interesting to read that there have been a few sightings here in Florida but always just one or two birds at a time.

The field had just been cut and they were eating all day. We saw them in the morning on the way to the beach and again on the way home in the late afternoon. I’m sure they were migrating! What an amazing sight and one we won’t ever forget!

Looking for fences, I saw something incredible!

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party and

 Wild Bird Wednesday!

Quack Quack!!!

How to turn Sunbonnet Sue into a duck.

(this is not a ‘true’ tutorial so we will skip some of the steps and also some of the words used to complete this sewing project! hahaha)

I started with this. I drew the design in parts and cut them out of old timey fabric, then assembled them. (I made 2 designs)

Then I had the bright idea to use some of the old cutter quilt for the back.

I wanted it to be an old quilted pillow like a child would have taken to church in olden times.

But when I finished (well, I still haven’t sewed up the bottom where the feet were supposed to go), I ended up with a ‘horse of a different color’…otherwise known as a DUCK!

Quack Quack

It may sound funny to you but it was no laughing quacking matter.

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

Ivy and Elephants HERE

Vintage Bliss Tuesdays HERE

and Tweak it Tuesday!

Back to the drawing board!

Happy Veteran’s Day!

source

Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans.

A special thank you to our veterans today.

God bless you all!

Thanks for asking!

Some of you asked what we bought at the Arts and Crafts Fair and I couldn’t wait to share!

I mentioned seeing the lady that makes shell boxes.

I’ve shown the one on my coffee table in the lanai several times over the years.

And it’s been years since this lady came to the fair with her beautiful creations.

So this is what I got from her.

I’ve already found the perfect place for the mirror in my bathroom and I have the shell boxes on my dresser. They make me happy every time I see them. I LOVE seashells. Look at the details on this mirror!

Hubby bought this pretty little wooden bowl handmade by a friend. And he got an art print by a local artist in the colors he loves.

We love buying unique things like these, don’t you?