Pink Pine Cones

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.
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Upon running into a friend at Costco the other day, she listened to me lament about pine cones not being available much in our area at the moment. She then told me she picked up a bag of good sized cones at Goodwill for me the previous day! Bless that chick's heart. She blessed me with this bag of them and I spent the afternoon outside in 20° weather painting them pink. This is after a spritzing of one heavy coat. Another coat or two and a "bit more froufrou" on them and they'll be ready for the pink and white Christmas tree.

And here they are after the final 2 coats. I put the paint on heavily since there could be no mistake. I mean, how can you mess up painting a pine cone, huh? Turned out gorgeous I think. Next, the froufrou ribbon and roses.

Ya know, it just might happen this year! ;-)

Fini, mes amis! Que pensez-vous? (Finished, my friends. What think you?)

And here they are all glittered up. I even sprayed the little roses. They really do glitter and sparkle!



The glue I used is a spray glue for glitter.

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Random Thought:

While traveling recently I thought of something I've wanted to mention to you for some time now. I've traveled extensively in my car with a mug to refill at any gas station available. BUT several years ago I realized how we are at the mercy of the taste buds of the man who regulates the Coke machines. Sometimes it is very sweet (That's my favorite!) and sometimes it's very soda-y. So my taste is determined by that guy who probably drinks beer more than Coke??? Hmmmmph. Oooooooh, this applies to the restaurants also, chicks. I can feel a Revolution coming on!!!
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Pink and White Christmas Tree

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.
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Just a quick note also. I try to keep my posting at about every 2 days, but I truly could post every day. There is just so much I can talk about but I do not want to bore or overwhelm everyone. So for a little while there will be a post every day. It is the Christmas season, and I'm busily making things for my pink tree, which may be this year instead of next. I'm trying to share my ideas with you so you can make things also. Merry Christmas!
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I plan on having a pink and white/silver tree by next Christmas at the latest. My eBay group has accepted a challenge posed by one member of the group to try and have it done by next year so that we will have all that time to make things for our trees. Now, nothing was said about all of them having to be made so I bought these to put on the tree. I want you to know that I took this picture out in a very cold and very windy backyard. Brrrrr... I think my favorite is the pink polka dot ones. Are they not adorable?!

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Refurbishing Some Red Shoes I Love for Pink Saturday 12/5/09

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.

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Visit with Beverly at howsweetthesound for more participants for Pink Saturday. You'll not be sorry. Hope your holiday was wonderful!
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Beverly has asked us to share a Christmas memory and mine just happens to be about a pair of red shoes!

In the late 1950s we lived in Yorktown, VA. and did our shopping in Williamsburg. One day while shoe shopping my mother wanted these red shoes for me and I wasn't particularly fond of the style. I would only agree to them if she bought me a pair I liked. I was a teenager and a bit obstinate. So we bought 2 pairs of shoes that day: the red pair and another pair that the color escapes me after 50 years, but I rarely, if ever, wore those red shoes and never did hear the end of it from my mother. Oh, I loved the color, just not the style.
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I've had these shoes for over 25 years. They were my favorite pair of shoes but as you can see they've just about had it. Who am I kidding; they've definitely had it. They just went with anything: skirts, dresses or pants. I love them. So instead of throwing them away I've redone them to keep in a spot in my home. If I could find a shoemaker to duplicate them I'd have another couple of pairs made. But, alas, around here no one would take on the challenge. That surprised me because they definitely look easier to make than a pair of cowboy boots!

First step was painting them. I didn't necessarily want them to match so I painted one pink and one white. It took several coats of paint for them to even start to look better.

First I added german glass glitter to the outside. Then I started with the embellishing.

I painted the heel alizarin crimson red. That's about as red as you can get. I've given it many coats and may have to do many more through the days just as high end house painters and decorators do to those fabulous homes in magazines. Do you realize that in some cases those homes get 25 coats of paint? Yep, they do. The more paint the more luminous the wall. I've never done less than 3 coats of paint to any wall I've ever had.

Then I added some gorgeous vintage lace and some ribbon roses.

Since I call just about everyone "chick" I decided to add a little chickadee and a frivolous bright pink feather. A paper rose tops it off.

I wrapped some beautiful fabric around some poly filling and stuck it inside the shoe. After all, who wants to look at the yucky inside. On the sole I glued some pretty paper on but didn't take a picture of that.

And voilà the end result.
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I'm grateful to have lived in many places in the U.S. and having visited other countries because I then can truly judge about how wonderful this country is.
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Crafting the Flowers with Ink

A friend of mine is doing a series of photos of Victorian Christmas' through this whole month. It is "eye candy" for sure. So won't you please go visit her at Aunt May's Cottage.
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I found the most incredible ink the other day at Joanns Fabrics and decided to try it on a white cardboard rose. This project is just super simple if you want to make them for attaching to gift packages. Just dust the ink over the leaf and voilà it's colored. Go back here to learn how it begins. Even if the card stock tears it will still turn out just fine.

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My granddaughter's kitty, Hugs. Hugs needs a diet for sure. He is one BIG kitty, I tell ya. He followed Love Bunny around just waiting for him to drop a piece of meat or a pancake with syrup or a piece of bread. Hugs will eat anything!

Please, please, don't believe what they tell ya; I'm one hungry kitty, gramps!! They're trying to starve me.

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On Just Being "Restless"

Since getting back from my granddaughter's home for Thanksgiving I've been a bit restless. I'm guessing that some of you know that feeling: lethargic, apathetic, sluggish, don't want to do anything like cleaning or laundry, but maybe just a tad restless also. Yeah, I thought so.

But today I definitely had to do the floors at least. The dust can wait until I'm good and ready to attack it. Maybe not the toilets though.

But I volunteered to do a Christmas swap with my eBay group friends. We're not many, just 14, but very close for the last several years. I don't regularly hop onto swaps as I just cannot seem to motivate myself to do many and my time is precious. But I love them and thought it would be fun.

So today I've spent a bit of time fixing up one of the items to be sent to my swap partner. I don't believe she reads blogs so this isn't a "reveal" to her. Plus she has been in on my quest to be a rose painter. This tiny project will be a little something extra in the box for her and it didn't involve much time for me. She's getting other things also, but an "original" by me will delight her, I'm sure. You can view how pathetic I truly am! But I do try and that's what is important.

My practice sheet from today is below. I'm either masochistic, have no shame or very brave to show you this. Not sure which! :-)
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Here we have one box of pink decorations I plan on putting on our tree next year. Trust me, there will be a couple of boxes with items I'm crafting or buying throughout 2010 to use. This is just a start. If I spot something on my walls or see something that I have that will go on the tree, it goes in these boxes till next Christmas. I also have some stuff in my craft closet in bags that I plan on using, too. Throughout the year I'll be culling things as I go along. Some things in the box may not be used I suppose. I hope the reality is as good as the fantasy. Dream on...

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