Happy Birthday Rebecca!

Today is the birthday of the very sweet Rebecca of A Re-Purposed Life.  She is having a birthday party and the deal is that we are to share something we have made for someone special as a gift and why we made it.  I am sharing something that I've shared before (a couple of times), or at least the box.  This time, I'll show you what was in the box.  On Our Cottage Garden, I have had fun dressing up and selling little antique bisque dolls.  My friend Denise owns that website (where I sell in addition to Etsy) and she has been such a good friend and mentor to me over the years.  We met through eBay when I discovered her wonderful treasures and began buying things here and there from her.  In 2006, we met in person when my husband and I took a trip to Florida.  We spent most of a day together and really hit it off.  Since then, she has been a dear friend to me.  She asked me to sell on her gorgeous website which I have been doing since 2007, if memory serves.  She makes me laugh,  is incredibly supportive of what I do, and has been amazingly generous and kind to me.  And she loves my little boys, so I think she has managed to cement herself into my heart as my "twin sister separated at birth".  Last year, I wanted to do a little something for her because she works so hard all through the year.  She always seemed to love my little dolls, so I picked out a very sweet faced little girl and dressed her in a very pretty blue dress with pink rose trim since Denise loves blue and pink. This is the result.

Denise's doll

I love to make up pretty packages for my friends, so I dressed up the box with an old French book page, vintage wallpaper, a bit of tulle, vintage millinery, and a little dove that I coffee-dyed and glittered.  Then I did up a tag with more wallpaper and vintage ledger paper.  It turned out really nice I think and Denise was very happy when she opened her package which I mailed.  However, she never mentioned the doll, only the beautiful box.  A week or so later, I did ask her if she had opened the pretty box.  SHE HADN'T.  So, she got two surprises that year.  I loved that she appreciated not only the gift inside, but the pretty wrapping.  It made me very happy to give her a little something from my heart because I wanted her to know that she was (and still is) very cherished in my life.  I'll bet you guys have some special friends like this as well.  There is nothing more wonderful than making someone feel cared for.  I forget that sometimes and need to remind myself that it really doesn't take that much effort to really brighten someone's day and I need to do it more often.  I think it usually brightens my day even more than the recipient.  The little girl and the box occasionally make an appearance as props in Denise's eBay listings.  I think they really "doll" up this little cabinet! 

Anyway, Miss D, if you are stalking me  reading this, I love ya girl!  Are your ears burning?  That's what my mom used to say happened when someone was talking about you.  And if you don't know Denise, I'm just kidding about the stalking part, she's not that way! 

Well, I'm going to go work at my "real job" now, but when I get a chance, I am going to stop over at Rebecca's birthday party and check out some of the other links as well as wish Rebecca a happy birthday.  Give some love to someone special today.  You'll be so glad you did!

Until next time,

A Glittery White Wednesday to All

How can it be time for White Wednesday already?  Wow!  When I was a kid, these days before Christmas just dragged on and on but now they zoom by.  I am just tossing out some random photos from around my home, the first 3 from last year, the next 3 from this year (and the subject of my special Christmas header).  I was going to just include the header photo and details for this week's WW post, but when I started cropping the picture of the vignette on the dresser in my living room, it just seemed to want to be a header.  Sometimes we just need to go with the flow I guess. As you can tell, I like a little sparkle with my Christmas.  Glitter is GOOOOOOD.  I love the crystal Martha Stewart glitter and old silver glitter that tarnishes with age.  My house has lots of glitter amidst the flotsum.

So anyway, pardon my lack of witty text, I'll just let you enjoy the photos because I have some little boys who need to watch a program on TV with their mom and dad.  Hope you all are decking your halls and enjoying the beauty of the season.  After I put my kiddos to bed, I'm going to hop over to Kathleen's Faded Charm and oooh and aaah over some of the beautiful posts for this week's White Wednesday.  I love it to the moon and back and you will too!

Until next time,

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and/or friends. I am getting ready to watch my favorite movie of all time, "It's a Wonderful Life". And maybe make a second pie run...YUM! Anyway, I will leave you with a few random Christmas pictures I wanted to share.  Click on the photos if you want to enlarge them.

One of my little antique bisque dolls that I dressed up for Christmas...

A glimpse into my talented friend Melanie's shop, called appropriately "Handcrafted Santas and More".  She makes the most divine large Santa vignettes, using beautifully put together antique and vintage items that she gathers up from estate sales, flea markets, garage sales, and antique shows.  I'd have one in every room if I had the space.  This little guy was so wonderful.  Look at the colors on his coat and accessories. 

This fellow is a "sewing" Santa done up in shades of pink.  How could you not love it?  All of Melanie's Santas have some sort of theme whether it is sewing, music, cooking, reading, etc.

This creamy white seashell Santa is glorious...

More randomness...

I didn't do much decorating this year, but this was one of the "use what you have" things I did up and just fell in love with.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.  Just wrapped up some empty boxes with old papers, added some pretty ribbons and laces, and topped them off with old jewelry.  And added a little glittered dove for an extra punch.  Voila!

Still loving the dove theme, I used another one perched on some old maple sugar molds and antique tinsel I've had forever and added the wonderful 1920's rhinestone and feather millinery piece I just got at an estate sale.  All were nestled on an old Italian pottery compote.

Finally, a present I wrapped up for my friend Denise. I made her a darling doll which was inside, but she loved the wrapped box so much, I'm not sure she has opened it yet! I admit it, I was proud of myself at how cute it turned out.  I think glitter and tulle make everything better, don't you?

Well, that's about it for now.  My last Christmas movie calleth.  Go make the rounds through the leftovers once more before bed.  Diet is just DIE with a T at the end, ya know!

Until next time,