Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I enjoy this Holiday and giving thanks for all the goodness in my life.  I love sharing these times with my family and loved ones.  As we get older and are children are into more things our lives become hectic and busy.  Unfortunately we don't get together as much anymore.  It is when the holidays come around that we can slow down to relax and visit.  Ok, maybe relaxing isn't quite the truth LOL!  We are usually running around like chickens with our heads cut off, getting everything ready for the big feast.  But when the table is set and we gather to pray, we relax and we enjoy the good food and company, and count our blessings.

My daughter Alison is six years old.  She is a "mini me".  She is a girly girl and loves to draw and decorate.  Today I was shopping for some last minute turkey day stuff when I saw the cutest little pink Christmas tree.  Of course it was on sale and I knew I had to buy it for my little girl.  I had only $16 on my debit card and I had a dilema.  I needed to pick up some neccesities and so I had to be a frugal shopper.  I found everything I needed for my meal and had just enough money left to buy the tree.  I felt so elated I couldn't wait to see her reaction when she saw it.

When I did show it to her she jumped and clapped and squealed.  Then she said she needed to go out and scream outside because she was so excited (I don't let my kids scream in the house lol!).  As we were decorating it my daughter said " Oh thank you Lord!", in the most sincere way.  I say that daily as I always give thanks to God for every good thing in my life.  Hearing her say that filled me with so much joy, to know that she has God in her heart and that she expresses her gratefulness so genuinely.  Later today she said this was the best day ever... what more can you ask for?  I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am happy.

I have been painting up a storm this week to get some new things listed for holiday shopping this weekend!  Here are some of the new items that have just been added.... : )

It has been nice to paint again.  Working on sales in my studio is fun, but having time to paint again feels good.  I hope to keep doing so and building my inventory.  I will be busy creating some pieces for Christmas gifts and custome orders, so I hope to keep in touch with all of you during the holidays. 

I wish you all a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving.  I am thankful to have all of you to share with and I am thankful to you all for sharing with me too ; )

Many blessing and hugs to you all!  Love ~ Nichole

Fourth Annual Enchanted Christmas Sale Event

Hello my dear friends!  For many weeks now I have been preparing for tonight and tomorrow and I cannot believe it is finally here!  I am having my Fourth Annual Christmas Sale this weekend and it is by far my most favorite of sales.  I love the magic and enchantment of twinkling lights and glittery ornaments.  I wish all of you could come in person to visit my cottage, but as you cannot I am happy to share photos of my sale.  This is what you see when you walk inside the door....

To your left you see this.  I have golds, greens and some shabby pinks, and beside that is my beloved primitive hutch.

Ornaments adorn this hutch by hanging on the greenery and from the lighted shelves.  I like this display for the ornaments because it is easier for people to see each individual ornament.

When I began getting ready for my sale and dreaming of how I wanted it to look, I began in this corner.  I had this primitive cornice up before creating a room within a room but I had it moved back so that I could open the room up more.  I wanted to have a grand table in the center of the room and the cornice made a beautiful back drop for it.  It is also my blue and silver area.  I think it is my favorite of the whole studio.

On this side of the studio I have the traditional red, blue and gold Christmas ornaments and wreaths.  Beside this it moves into the softer colors, with a lot of vintage shabby decor.

I painted this old tressel table pink.  I can't help it I love pink!  Now not everyone will like a pink table but I think it is perfect in my studio.  It will be hard to sell it, so I secretly hope it doesn't.  It is the perfect table for me to have workshops in my studio.  On top I have candle holders made from banister posts.  I have had the white ones forever, but the chippy blue green ones I got at the flea market I sold at this summer.  They are very hard to part with also, but I saved a few for myself to have.  The tops of the candle holders are mixed pieces of metals and tin cups and parts of old light fixtures.  Before my sale tonight I will be adding more pretty adorned pointsettia with bows to soften the display.

Below is the backside of the studio.  It is where all of the creating happens.  Right now all of the creative mess is cleaned up and put away for the sale.  This room holds all of my little boutique goodies.  I have purses, crocheted hats and scarves, prints, signs, cards, journals, jewelry, pendants, ornaments, embellished jars and gift tags.

The hats and scarves are made by my mom, Susann.  She is very talented and everyone who owns one of her hats is thrilled.  My daughter has many and she gets compliments daily on her cute hats. 

Below are ornaments that I soldered.  Soldering pendants and charms is my new endeavor.  It is fun and challenging and I have a lot of practice ahead of me to get good at it.  They are not perfect by all means, but I kind of like the imperfection of it.  Hopefully others will agree for the sale!

These are the pendants I made from vintage paper. 

Thank you for visiting my little shop.  I hope it is a success and that everyone enjoys it.  When the sale is done I will be listing items on my site so visit soon! 

Take Care, Blessing to you all ~ Nichole

Halloween Fun

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and it is so true!  I find that when I have little means that is when I come up with something really neat.  This year our Halloween budget was non-existent.  After buying groceries at Wally World, there was no money left to buy the kids costumes.  Instead I bought $2 worth of face paint and decided I would paint their faces.  With Alison it was easy because she wanted to be a princess and she had a lot of dresses to choose from.  The boys however were a challenge.  Jacob wanted to be a zombie and Isaac wanted to be a vampire.  That was easy enough for me to paint their faces but I had to come up with costumes.  For Isaac I recreated last years costume to make a cape.  I cut the fabric and used spray adhesive to put a piece of card board in between the fabric to make a collar.  He was so excited to be in costume!  Once the fake blood was on he was stoked!  For Jacob I took an old curtain and ripped it into strips.  I then dipped it in coffee with some grounds in it to give the fabric an aged look.  After throwing it in the dryer I preceeded to hot glue it on my son!!  I was giggling the whole time.  I kept thinking, I am actually hot gluing on my child LOL!  Here they are sitting in the back of our old jacked up Jimmy.....

This picture below the kids are about to trick or treat at the first house.

I love taking photos like the one below.  Alison is so excited that she skipped the whole time from house to house.  As you can see we had just gotten snow.  Most of it had melted and it was nice enough for the kids to go out without coats.

In the end the kiddies got a lot of candy and had fun trick or treating our family and friends.  It is moments like these that the kids will remember, and it was even more special because their costumes were handmade!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween too!

Hugs ~ Nichole