Pot Holders

Just a quick little post today. We’ve needed pot holders for quite a while. Actually I wanted to sew some but then decided to crochet a pair instead. When they were finished, I thought they would need a little something and I stenciled numbers on. I used fabric paint to make sure that they are washable. I’m happy how they turned out.

I’m busy preparing my mannequin for the

2nd Annual Dress Form Ball at The Polka Dot Closet

and hope to see you there.

I’ll be joining the following parties:

Be Inspired Friday at Common Ground

Knick of Time Tuesday at Knick of Time

Have a happy weekend everybody!

HUGS,

Julia

♥ ♥ ♥ Valentine Hearts and Vignettes ♥ ♥ ♥

Like every year I enjoyed creating some decorations and putting together some vignettes for Valentine’s Day.

This year I made some heart picks from fabric and lace scraps and put them into a painted peat pot.

For the large hearts below I used vintage linen, linen covered buttons and all kinds of laces.

With two teenager cats in the house, it can be quite challenging to crochet something, but I managed to make a couple of hearts while they were asleep. Instead of crochet yarn I used twine that I had bought in a hardware store.

A tiny old coin wallet, that I had found in an antique store last year, became part of a small Valentines vignette.

This sweet teddy bear sits on a heart shaped box that I had covered with fabric. The beautiful lace heart was a gift from my dear friend Marie some years ago.

Thank you for stopping by! Wishing you a most wonderful Valentine’s Day, dear friends! Hopefully you’ll get spoiled a lot.

I’ll be linking up with

Knick of Time Tuesday at Knick of Time

Blissful White Wednesday at Timewashed

Be Inspired Friday at Common Ground

Hugs,

Julia

 

Things of Joy and Things of Annoyance

I know I’m very late with it, but I still would like to wish you a very happy, healthy and creative 2013. Sadly, due to continuous power and internet outages, it’s still difficult for me to visit blogs regularly. Last week we hit a new record, when the electricity went off 11 times during one day. Today it was gone for 4 hours and just came back. I can hardly finish anything, that I need electricity for, without getting interrupted. It drives me pretty crazy and has left me grumpy and impatient for the last several weeks. In January we had repeatedly no internet at all or only for an hour here and there, but hey, what do I need internet access when there is no electricity and I can’t turn on my computer anyway? I guess, you can tell that I’m really frustrated.

Fortunately some pleasant things did happen as well, at least last year, lol. I had a most wonderful swap with my dear friend Marsha over at Tattered Chic and it’s high time to post about it. We had agreed to swap a tattered heart but then we both kept adding other creations to the package. Sweet Marsha made this gorgeous book cover for me, using lots of pretty laces, millinery flowers, a lovely cabinet card and some vintage finds.

She also sent me a beautiful necklace with a numbered tag. I love it as well as as the buttons, lace pieces and some other wonderful goodies I can use for decoration or in my creations.

Marsha also surprised me with this fabulous altered bottle

and this pretty lace bag.

Here is the fantastic lace heart which is a wonderful addition to my growing lace and fabric heart collection. The lace collar and the vintage recipe cards were great gifts too.

Thank you very much, dear Marsha! I love and enjoy everything.

Using a vintage dress form image from Angie over at Knick of Time, I made a bookmark for Marsha.

We both love rust and lace. Therefore I combined a rusty piece of metal with a piece of lace for this soldered charm.

I know that Marsha has a thing for crows/ravens. The ad with the raven, that I used for the tin, was also a free image from Knick of Time. For the back of the charm I stamped a crow onto a piece of a vintage book page.

I created this sewing themed wall hanging for Marsha and again used  an image that had been provided by Angie. The sewing machine ad is so lovely and you can find it along with the other graphics I had used and a lot more great free images HERE. Thank you very much for all the wonderful freebies, Angie!

This is the heart I sewed for Marsha. All kinds of laces, tattered fabrics and a little bit of rust.

 

*********************

For Christmas I received a wonderful package from my dear friend Dorthe at Den Lille Lade. The angel I found inside is just gorgeous and such a cutie. Dorthe’s dolls always have very sweet faces and the outfits, she creates for them, are tasteful and very detailed.

I also love the beautiful fabric collage. Dorthe created it with lots of pretty laces and fabrics and a sweet image.

 

Very adorable as well is this super cute embellished fabric fish who now watches over one of my lace baskets :-).

 

Dorthe’s Christmas card for me was very pretty too. Thank you so much for all the fantastic gifts, my dear Dorthe!

*********************

Another lovely gift came from my dear friend Martina at Stempel-Gewerkel. Martina sent me a beautiful snowflake and a beautiful card. Thank you very much, dear Martina! That was such a wonderful surprise!

I better upload this post quickly, before the power is gone again ...

Have a wonderful week and some fun creating and/or decorating for

♥ Valentine’s Day ♥.

I’ll be linking this post up with Knick of Time Tuesday.

Hugs,

Julia