December 1st!!

I cannot believe it is December 1st already!! Where did the month of November go! I swear the months are just flying by so quickly. Before you know it my 1st grandbaby will be here (baby is due in July). I have been knitting gifts for Christmas this year and I thought I was almost done but then I remembered I wanted to make John a lovely scarf this year for Christmas. Last night was my knitting group at Cottage Yarn in Mint Hill, NC and I was looking around the shop for some yarn and for a pattern. I found this lovely yarn called Eco Duo and it was in a lovely shade of grays. Here is a picture of the color so you can visualize it:



I will be doing a very simple pattern of Knit 1, Purl 1 for this scarf but it makes a really nice pattern and I'm sure he'll love it!

I also have another gift to complete but I'm not saying what it is in case this person is reading my post!

I hope everyone finds the time to enjoy themselves during the holiday! I plan on baking cookies with my 2 daughters, making some holiday jewelry for myself, going to see the beautiful Christmas lights at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden and just plain enjoy the holiday season!

I've been busy creating!

Over the holiday weekend I really got in the holiday spirit and creative mode! I decorated the house, as you all saw by my previous post and another post to come, but I also went to my jewelry table and created some holiday sparklies for my etsy site. Here is a sampling of what I created:


I love the color of this African turquoise bead and the green foil glass bead with the handmade hammered copper disk!


This turquoise necklace is so versatile-can be worn with jeans and a t-shirt or something a little more dressed up!


There is something about snowflakes that I just love-maybe because no two are alike. I placed an ice blue Swarovski crystal with these lovely snowflake charms.


I just love this dainty little earring! I think I'll have to make a pair for myself!! The rich red bead gives color to the sparkly silver holly leaves.


Everyone has to have a snowman or snowgirl in their holiday! So I created these beautiful Swarovski pearl and crystal snowgirls! I have named them Snowman earrings on my etsy site but they are definitely snowgirls!


I have decided to create a ribbon bookmark line and this is the first one I've created. I have about 6 more on my design table and will be putting them on my site on Wednesday night. I just love ribbons and thought ribbons and jewels/charms would be a wonderful and inexpensive gift idea!


This Swarovski crystal Christmas tree pair of earrings add whimsy and sparkle! Isn't that what Christmas is all about!

I hope you all love my creations and stop by the etsy site to do a little retail therapy! You can go to the right side of my blog and click on my etsy site. It will take you right there! Happy Shopping!!

2010 Christmas Decorations Part I

I spent alot of Friday decorating the house for Christmas. I changed the mantel this year. I bought some mercury glass candle holders and wanted to incorporate them into the decorations this year. Here are some things I got done:


This is a little dark (my flash is still acting up!). I will try and take a better picture another day. All my new mercury glass looks so good up there on the mantel!! I am really pleased with it.


This is the right side of the mantel decorations.


This is the left side of the mantel decorations.


Closeup of mercury glass votive candle holders.


Center of mantel decorations.


These are all my Byer's Carolers I've collected over the years. They are on top of my antique NY state stepback cupboard in the Dining Room.


I have a small whitewashed cabinet in the kitchen eating area. I had to decorate that too!


I keep this little Garden holder up year round and just change out the decoration during the year.


This is a antique sled I painted in the late 80's. I love the way Santa's beard came out! I really love this piece!


John and I drink only tea and this tea set is perfect for the two of us. We usually sip tea with some Christmas cookies by the fireplace.


This is my sideboard in the kitchen eating area, which was just perfect for my "sugar" houses and churches!


We have a granite breakfast ledge and I just had to add a touch of country Christmas to it! I've collected this items over the years and I bring them out every year to spend Christmas with us!

Well I hope you have enjoyed your little tour! I will be posting some more pictures of the decorations tomorrow or the next day!

Thanksgiving Table Setting and Wedding Jewelry

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday with friends and family! Now the Christmas holiday season begins! I spent most of yesterday decorating the house for Christmas. I was so excited my silver mercury glass mantel came out just as I envisioned! Photos to follow. I only need to add 2 white candles to the anchor candle holders and it will be complete. I need some greenery for my Dining Room table centerpiece and then that will all be done too! I set my nativity up on the console table in the front hall and this year I have decided not to put the Dept. 56 Dickens Village up. I used vintage Santas and "sugar" houses on the sideboard instead. We have decided to have a live tree this year and we'll be buy and setting that up next weekend. Overall yesterday was a really productive day and alot of fun! Hubby helped me get all the boxes out of the attic. We had a great day together :)!

For our Thanksgiving table setting this year I decided to use my green depression glass. Here is a picture of the table all set waiting for us!





Right before Thanksgiving (literally the day before) I had alot of jewelry to create for a wedding. Here are a few of the pieces (sorry some of the pictures are a little dark, my flash on my camera was acting up):


This was all of the jewelry I had to create for the Bride the day before Thanksgiving.


These are the bracelets. I needed to make 4 three-stranded bracelets. 2 were the same (she had 2 maid of honors) and then I had to make 2 other ones that were the same for the other bridesmaids.


Here is a closeup of those bracelets.


The groom's children were in the wedding, so there were 2 bracelets for those 2 little girls and then the small cream one was for the flower girl.


Here are the earrings I made. There were 4 prs. of earrings with the 4 pearls, 1 with 3 pearls and 1 with 2 pearls.

I made everything in about 4 hours and while I was stressed out trying to do Thanksgiving cooking and making this jewelry it all got done on time!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I may not be online tomorrow so I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my lovely blog friends! Our family has many things to be thankful for! I hope that all of you enjoy a meal with either family or friends and if you are travelling you are safe!

This morning on my drive into work I was thinking back to all the Thanksgiving I've been a part of and all the memories! Both sets of my grandparents are gone now but what fun we would have when they were alive! Even though there are loved ones that are no longer here with us, I'm sure they are here with us in spirit. Thanksgiving my 2 girls always reflect about the Thanksgivings we have had since they were born and they always have such wonderful things to say, so I guess that is a blessing in itself! Hopefully next year there will be another little member at the table sharing our family Thanksgiving with us and our family will just keep growing and growing!

Enjoy your day, be thankful for what you have and most of all be happy my friends!!

Take Time for Yourself during this Holiday Season!

I know some of you will be cooking (myself included) this Thanksgiving and running around cleaning your house, grocery shopping, entertaining, etc, etc. but everyone needs to take a little "me" time. During the holiday season we run around all over the place trying to take care of everything and everyone and I think we forget ourselves. Make sure you drink plenty of water, get some rest so your immune system doesn't get run down and really enjoy what this holiday season is about!

So while you are cooking this:



or baking this:



or running around all over the place during this wonderful holiday season, pour yourself a cup of hot tea or coffee, grab one of the wonderful holiday books off your bookshelf and take a few minutes to indulge yourself in the holiday spirit and enjoy some "me" time!

Everyone that is traveling over this Thanksgiving holiday, be safe and enjoy! Everyone have a wonderful, joyous and thankful Thanksgiving! One of my many things I am thankful for is for all of my blog friends I have! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Mermaid's Pendant Book Review

Inspired by the beloved classic The Little Mermaid, THE MERMAID’S PENDANT is a modern fairy tale about growing up and discovering who you are—and what you believe in. At times lyrical, this novel is a fantastic journey filled with magic, myth, romance, and adventure. Four years after John Wilkerson claims the mermaid Tamarind for his wife, they have an idyllic marriage that depends on a talisman that she crafted on their island paradise. But Tamarind learns a painful truth: it takes more than legs to live on land and more than magic to sustain a bond. When the talisman breaks, she and John are forced to rely on themselves instead of magic. Three wise women play key roles in the young lovers’ journey to mature love. Ana, Tamarind’s aging mentor, casts spells and performs seductions to keep the lovers apart. Valerie, an expat jewelry maker cum fairy godmother, works her own magic to bring them together. Lucy, their widowed neighbor, grounds the couple in the realities of marriage, parenting, and family. THE MERMAID’S PENDANT is a story for anyone who has ever believed in the transforming power of love.
You can visit her website at www.nealreilly.com.


About the author:



LeAnn Neal Reilly
http://www.goodreads.com/leannnealreilly
born
May 08, 1968 in St. Joseph, Missouri,United States
website: http://www.nealreilly.com
LeAnn Neal Reilly graduated with a master’s degree in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She lives outside Boston with her husband and three children.

My Review of this book:

I am not normally a fantasy reader but I was very interested in the book. I was reviewing this book for the author through Feed Blitz.

My daughters loved The Little Mermaid when they were little. My youngest especially love that story! That is the way I felt about this book, I really enjoyed reading it. This modern day fairytale leads you on a wonderful journey through the romance and adventures of Tamarind and John. There are spell casters, other magic, good times, bad times all wrapped up in this novel. This is a huge book at 586 pages, but it is worth the read! I will warn you I felt the beginning was a little slow but then it ramped up pretty quickly after that. I don’t want to give anything more away so read The Mermaid’s Pendant and enjoy the magic found in the power of love!