Here a Chick

Chickens can be so much fun. Just before the holidays set in, I made some wool chicken refrigerator magnets. They were quite fun and oh so easy.

Go ahead, take a peep - oops, I mean peek!

Happy Holidays!

My heartfelt wishes to you and your families for a wonderful holiday season.

Don't let anyone steal your Christmas cheer!

The Owl Pillow That Isn't

I guess I'm pretty lucky, most often when I get an idea or see an idea from someone else's work, I can dig in and make it. Sure - it's not always just what I had in mind - but it works.

Well I saw this pattern somewhere on the world wide web some time ago and thought it was a great idea. It appeared that an owl face and outline was either painted or drawn on a beautiful wool fabric. (I apologize for not giving full credit to the original artist - I'm sometimes so bad about noting where I get ideas from so I can't point back to it when the proper time comes.)

I remembered a wonderful gray wool that I had stashed away for years - waiting for the right project to come along. I dug it out and proceeded to drawn the owl faces on the fabric - intending to sew each individual one into a small pillow-like piece.

I started the process by using a permanent black marker thinking that it would certainly work well - easy to draw with - and it's permanent, right?

After utilizing all of the fabric I had, I started to cut out shapes to sew the pieces together for the pillow - and realized that the marker was rubbing horribly off on my fingers. Sure - it was still permanently on the fabric - but it was also on my fingers.

I decided to try washing the already marked fabric to see if I could wash away the residue that was coming off on my fingers. I was able to do that - and able to get the marker to stop bleeding from the fabric - but by that time, the design was so light that it wasn't strong enough to look ok on the pillow.

So....I now have about 10 cute little faded owl faces with no place to go and no place to call home. All-in-all, kind of a failure project, but I guess I learned from it. I've also debated whether I want to try hand stitching the design with black wool yarn/thread, but gosh, that seems like a lot of hard work. In the meantime, this project will sit in the undone world of my fabrics and projects.

Meet Clara A.

Last Friday, I arrived home from work to find a cat hollering to me from the crawl space under my house. It was cold, snowy, and nearing the evening dark.

As I knelt down to talk to her, she immediately came to me and started purring. I knew I had to take her inside where it was warm. After she was safe inside, I started knocking on neighborhood doors to see if anyone had lost their little love. No one knew of any lost cats.

I've always been a "dog person" and anticipated getting another after losing my sweet baby, Charlotte, this summer - but this cat was so loving and cozy. I warmed up to her immediately. I knew if no one claimed her, she'd have to stay with me. I decided to keep her safe over the weekend, and if no one came for her in that time, I would take her to the vet for a check-up on Monday. Also, Sunday evening we (the cat and I) had a discussion about her name. We determined that it would be Clara A. ("A" as in Angel). And, IF she were not a Clara, it would be Clarence.

Well, I'm happy to report that Clara IS Clara and is doing well. She had her vet visit yesterday afternoon. She's healthy, spayed (previously), vaccinated, and estimated to be about 2 1/2 years old.

Of course, if her "original" family still ends up finding her, I'll have to let her go - but in the meantime, we're a happy new pair - just in time for Christmas.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

I just finished putting together gift jars of homemade hot chocolate mix. I found the recipe here. I LOVE it - it's such a yummy mix - and mixes up so smoothly.

After making the mix, I packaged it in clean (new) canning jars, wrapped with string, added a little bag of mini marshmallows, and wrote on a small tag so the recipients would know how much mix to use for  that perfect cup of chocolaty warmth!

In addition to the gift jars, I had to make sure I had some still left for myself. If you taste it yourself - I think you'll know why I turned seasonally selfish on this one!

Snow Bird

Last weekend we were given a December snow day. I'm still not sure what our total snowfall was for the day. I've heard many different amounts - anywhere from 14 inches to 24 inches! At any rate, let's just say it was "a lot".

The next day, I looked out my back door at this sweet little bird - sitting cozily in the snow covered bird feeder. At first I thought he might be injured because he sat there for well over an hour. But, thankfully, he was just fine. He must have just needed a rest (like all of us) after the big snow fall.

 

A Holiday Chandelier

Many moons ago, I purchased this wooden chandelier at a thrift store. In typical me-fashion, I promptly grabbed the can of spray paint and provided it with a lovely fresh antique white coating.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, I simply propped some lovely fall gourds on it's different petals and placed it in the center of our table. I also sprinkled some hand-cut felted recycled wool leaves. (Note: To my surprise, when left on the center of the table while eating, the wool leaves provided extra hot-pad protection for our casserole dishes!)

Now for Christmas-time, I've decided to move the chandelier to my kitchen table and sprinkle the petals with miniature vintage tree ornaments. I'm enjoying their shinny simplicity. And who doesn't love vintage?

I can't wait until Valentine's Day to see what awaits this fun thirft store find!

Stay Strong

I like this. Words we can often forget - but words to remember for anyone going through a difficult time.

Baby on the Way

A couple weeks ago, I received an email from a friend/co-worker of her young son wearing a T-shirt saying "BEST BIG BRO". I responded promptly telling her that the picture was really cute - and the shirt was fun.

She quickly appeared at my desk asking "Don't you get it?". I said "What?". She replied, "The picture."

I told her I thought it was a great photo - and I thought it was cute that he was being called a big brother....assumably to her family cat and dog.

She said "But don't you get it?......He doesn't have a sibling." I said, "Yup - that's so cute about him being a "brother" to the animals.

She stared at me with a quizzical smile/question on her face that basically said "you nut" - and at that moment I GOT IT. I broke out laughing - realizing that it was her cute way of telling me that she was pregnant and her son would soon have a new sibling!

We spent the next several minutes laughing at my response/non-response and then I was able to properly congratulate her.

To help remember our giggles about her big announcement - I decided to make her a coffee cup coaster of her son's photo. I printed the photograph, decoupaged it to the top of a tile, coated it poly spray, and added felt pads on the back.

She loved it.

Tree Yarn Bombing

I know it's crazy. I know it's nuts. But it just makes me smile when I see some of the fun yarn bombing that folks do.

Check out this article about a little bombing in a town in Iowa. And...they even give instructions on how to do your own tree bombing (I have to say I've always wondered how a person just "starts" knitting for a tree!).

Holiday Sale

If you are in the area, Cafe Wren, in Luck, Wisconsin is having their annual holiday sale this weekend and next. It's always a fesitve gathering of very talented artists selling some wonderful products just in time for the holidays (or for yourself!).

Stop on by - yummmm.....I can smell the hot cidar aroma already......

Rhapsody. Oh ya.

Be still my crazy heart. I just saw this on Yahoo Homes and my heart skipped a lavendar beat. It's so pretty - and I love what it says about it.

Imagine walking through a field of lavender, can you smell the fragrant blossom? Isn’t the field breathtakingly beautiful? Rhapsody is a light purple, almost lavender tint that will promote creativity, be uplifting and calming. It’s a relaxing color that is best used to create a restful and relaxing space.

Cyber Monday

It's Cyber Monday. If I would have had my game face on, I would have had loads of new product in my Etsy shop and giving you a code for that special discount everyone is looking for. Well I didn't. Maybe next year. But go ahead and take a look at all the other creative folks on Etsy today. You just never know what you'll find there!

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is a day for everyone — from the business owners who create jobs to the customers who buy locally — to support small businesses that invigorate the economy and keep communities thriving.

Help support local, small businesses in your community. Check out their website for more information.

Annie Sloan Paints

If you haven't already heard of (or used) these paints - you'll want to peek at this.

These paints are so chalk-like, vintage, antique, and wonderful. To me, they take me to a comfy, cozy, and warm place. I hate to have to admit that I haven't tried them yet - but I've yet to see a project painted with them that doesn't look fantastic. They are on the top of my "must try" list and some of her books are on my Christmas Santa list!

Take a look at Annie's blog for some grand inspiration. Below are some other photos I've seen of some fantastic furniture makeover projects.

Wool Dryer Balls

My oh my - I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted anything for The Lavendar Tree. Sometimes the weeks just fly by and I can't figure out where the time has gone.

I've been working on product for a couple local shows coming up in the next few weeks. (Note: HOW can it be creeping this close to the holiday's already??)

Here are a few 100% wool dryer balls in progress. They have yet to get the final outside layer of roving before the final felting process.

It cracks me up that even the not-to-be-ever-seen-again inside ends up being purple. I guess I really DO breathe purple.

Autumn Joy

A sweet friend of mine brought by these home-grown gourds and baby pumpkins the other day.

I love how they look all together on my kitchen table. They scream (in a good way!) autumn joy to me every time I pass by!

My Marketing Models

Three of my cute day-time co-workers did a 5-minute model shoot for me the other day wearing my scarves.

How cute are they? (And the scarves don't look too darn bad either!)