A conversation with a gnome......

I didnt realize until tonight that there was a gnome challenge, so I ran upstairs and made one...What I didnt realize is that sometimes, enchanted things have a life of their own....I was humming a mindless little tune, trying to figure out how to sew a softie, (never tried it before)and all was well...I made a little green polka dot body and started on a head...I sewed on eyes and a nose and a nice beard...Had a little neck trouble but it came together....body? check....cute little pants? check...All of a sudden I hear a little froggy little voice...."give me some feet woman...I need me some feet"....Too surprised to do anything but answer, I said,"but gnomes dont have feet, they have statue thingies on the bottom...you know, cause they are statues."
"I don't care, I want me some feet so I can walk about." he practically screamed this in my face since I was holding him up close to my eyes so I could see where the voice was coming from... AHA, I knew I didnt make a mouth!....hmmmmmmmmm.
" I dont know how to make gnome feet so tough luck buster...I mean gnome.."
I swear I heard a snort, I really do...."well, you dont know how to make a decent pair of pants either, but that didnt stop your from subjecting me to them!" he replied with another snort..yep, this time I heard it for sure.
Now I would love to show you his pants, and his face without a mouth, but he is in a snit with his back to me....I really thought Gaylord was a nice name for a gnome....He'll get over it.

July's theme!

July's ornament: snail ( let's make it a particularly lovely snail, shall we!)

I love the old vintage postcards of fairies riding snails. (tortoises too!) In these, the lowly snail is elevated to the height of grandeur...imagine being the steed of a fairy!

July's challenge: linen &/or vintage fabric scraps

July's activity: take your Gnome doll to a July 4th bash and take pictures of him/her behaving badly. (If you don't go to a party, take your gnome shopping or on vacation instead.)
Post the photos on the blog!

Now, make sure you keep your gnome this month because you'll use him/her one more time in August!

"The further off from England, the nearer is to France-
Then turn not pale beloved snail, but come and join the dance..."
Lewis Carroll

July's partners!

Val & Melinda
Robin & Jenny
Nikki & Kerry
Michelle & Sherry
Sandy & Kim
Gin & Natalie
Missy B. & Courtney
Ramie & Missy H.

And The Winner Is.............

I had the pleasure of hosting the June Door Prize and am pretty excited! As you already know, I posted a pic of the bag, but promised other goodies! Here's what our winner won: pin cushion, spool of green sequins & a christmas charm pack from Moda! ..........................Ohh!! Guess you wanna know who won, huh? Ok, ok....The winner is.....drum roll please........Robin L!! Woo hoo! Congratulations, girlfriend!

June Package!

My little goodie box full of enchanted wonderment arrived about a week ago! I got some adorable things! Thanks so much, Melissa! I adore it all, but my gnome ornie and the cute little pin cushion were just too sweet. Oh, and the paper dolls...It's been forever since I've had some of those. I better go hide them from my girls, hee hee!  Thank you, thank you! The swap is so cool in so many ways, I just love the random goodies that arrive when you least expect them!

They don't get cuter than these...

My swap ackage arrived today from Sandy - oh what cutness it held:-)


I love them - there is something about things that are small, cute and just all round perfect, that makes me sooo happy!!!!

The bigger gnomes beard really makes me chuckle!!!

The package also contained some gummy candy (you guessed right - it didn't last long enough to make the picture), and 2 recipes, the one of which I'll be getting the ingredients for as soon as my 2 chicks have returned to the coop after their activities today - it sounds DEVINE!!!!

Sandy, thank you so much for my gorgeous package - you sure made me smile today:-)

Gary the Gnome

This is Gary the Gnome. He is my gnome doll buddy for this month. He is a happy lil fellow that enjoys spending time outside in the trees. Unfortunately for him we do not have many trees in our yard. He is sitting on the one stump that hasn't been removed. I won't let Hubby take it out because I like the charm it gives the yard. We have a grapefruit tree and a mystery fruit tree in the back yard. We have lived here for 8 years and the tree has produced one fruit 3 times so far. The first time the lone fruit was picked by our youngest who was 4 at the time. The next time Hurricane Charley came through and blew the fruit off the tree. This year there is another fruit way up high. Hopefully it will be able to ripen before something happens to it.

June is done.

Literally, June is almost over with just 5 days left, and my June gnome challenge and ornie is done.
Meet my gnome doll that was made for the June challenge.

Don't have a name for him yet  And don't know what Val has planned for all the gnome dolls.
But I do know this, my June gnome ornie package is ready and I'll go to the P.O. Monday.

Mermaid package from Sandy.......

Holy cow! look what I got from Sandy....She has had an incredible amount of things going on but she still made me this cute liitle pink baby...I just love her...I hid the cocoa and I am going to share the goldfish...I have two little guys who adore them...I know Miss Olivia will be all over the glitter sticker so there is something for all!!! Thanks so much Sandy, and I am glad you like your package too!!!!!

Gary the Gnome

This is Gary the Gnome. Poor Gary doesn't have any arms or legs lol.  I used this pattern (on the sidebar) but added the eyelash yarn for the beard instead of the felt that the pattern called for.

challenges.....

I finally got around to making a more permanent fairy house....It is in our front garden and it looks so cute...It is pretty much weather proof....The kids and I altered an old birdhouse....







We put it by the cherry tomatoes so the "fairy tales" (Andrews words, he is four) would have something red to eat if they were hungry....
I also made a clay pot toad abode and half sunk it in the new garden bed we just cleaned out....I did a lot of reading on the net about toads....It will be interesting to see if one finds it inviting and if we have any at all...Apparently you need to be somewhere close to water so they can lay their eggs and tadpoles can hatch....There is a pond next door but it is pretty gross, so we will see....When I saw Kerry's toad house with a little toad in it, I got all excited.....














Last of all, my husband and I made a bird bath out of a giant shell and a tree stump...The little birds love it... I haven't seen them in it, because I am not an early morning person. Don has though quite a bit....We went camping for two days and came home and it was dry....I guess he fills it every morning with clean water.....

June Door Prize

Wow, it's my turn, already!

I've got June's door prize as this cute handbag I made! But, that's not all! I have a mystery goodie bag, too! (I'll post that the day of the drawing)

I'll announce the winner June 30th!

Better Late Than Never...

I know the activity to create a fairy garden was from months back ...... this one was a little daunting to me, because I have black fingers!!! I wish I didn't because I LOVE a pretty garden, but I guess that's just the way it is!!!


However, it is a very good friend of mines birthday bash tonight, and she loves her garden as well as all things handmade and enchanted, so I decided to give making her a fairy garden a try .......... I'm very excited and happy with the way it turned out.


I found a lot of instructions, pictures and ideas on the internet, which made the whole process a lot easier that I thought it would be.


So here it is - my fairy garden - I like it so much, I think I may just make one for myself:-)

A day out.

This month, I had the pleasure of swapping in PERSON!

My partner was Courtney. She lives far away but was going to be close for Father's Day weekend. We got together for lunch and to swap and visit.

I had more fun and I loved meeting a fellow blogger in person!

I was seriously spoiled with the goodies she made me

sweet embroidery patterns, a lovely necklace and handmade tote bag, a darling embroidered hankie and a hootie! The dammit doll is in LSU colors...of course!

Here is a close up of the cutest gnome ever!

and a sweet pincushion with handmade pins...

She even made a sweet bag for Curly Girl...


Now for what I created....

Here is the gnome I made using this tutorial

and I made these 2 for her also...

and some cupcake toppers..in case of a party...you know how gnomes love a good party!


and an acorn gnome with some cotton tape with my mini mushroom stamped on it


other goodies were some bias tape, clover seeds, a crocheted pattern for some gnome dolls and other stash goodies...all ready to be packed into the red paper covered box.


I had such a great time, I wish I could meet ALL of you!

OHMYGOSH!

I love it when mail makes me squeal!

Just look at the goodies I won from Kerry's door prize in May! I love EVERYTHING!

Time for our close ups:

First we have these sweet dolls with various trims attached....even the boxes are awesome. How did Kerry know I adore paisley and LOVE pink and green...especially lime green?

See the fabric? Oh yes, I'll be making something with THAT!

and look here....all these cute sewing implements disguised as enchanted forest inhabitants....

the log...a PINCUSHION, the mushroom....see that butterfly? Its a TAPE MEASURE....and the owl? Those aren't glasses, they are scissors!

And for the tote....I'll be using it TONIGHT!



Kerry, thank you SO very much!

June's challenge

I think she turned out pretty cute! I can't wait to 'use' her for next month's activity!

Like the new background with the GNOME? I thought he was appropriate since our theme this month is the humble little gnome! Cute! I saw others.....can't wait to use them.......

Click on shabbyblog.com to go there and check what they have out....it is ALL FREE!!!!

My toad abode was created out of a flower pot with free hand painted flowers on it.

A toad can make his/her new home in the midst of a lilly bed.

I hope a friendly toad sets up house keeping soon.

Under the sea

Here's the Mermaid I sent to Kerry.  I used beautiful scrapbook cardstock and adorned the picture with tiny shells and the tail with glitter.  even now I keep thinking of more adorning I could've done to this ornament!

And some fun extras:  shell towel, mermaid bookmark, shells, stickers, under-the-sea buttons

You've seen the pretty mermaids that Kerry sent me but here's all the extras.  She really does spoil her partners! Thanks Kerry!

Sweetly Sings the Songbird

Sorry this post is from April, I'm finally getting caught up on posting and really didn't want to go another minute without showing my appreciation to Courtney for the awesome birds she made for me. 

Here's the bird I made

to see the rest of the items we sent each other, please click HERE.  Thank you courtney!

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Gnome Garden

Not mine, but sooo cute, I had to share!

http://megardengal.blogspot.com/2010/06/gnome-garden.html

Mermaid Arrived!!!

Thanks Anna I love the Mermaid ornament that you made! She also sent me some fabulous goodies. Vintage table runner, gold shinny acorns, old buttons, vintage pin, shells and some very good lookin' bbq sauce from her home town!!! I am on my way out to light the grill right now!!

I Just Wanted to Share This Little Fairy Garden

My fifth cousin, Carol, who I met on Facebook last year, made this Fairy Garden with some help of her friends and family. I just wanted to share it with everyone because I think it is so pretty and enchanting.

You gotta love this little toadstool house.

Look at this stump with the fairy door and archway

there is even a squirrel there to over see the garden

Check out the back door with the little white mouse inside.
So cute!


there is also a toad and a lady bug in the garden.
I find more little things everytime I look at the pictures.
Thanks Carol for letting me share your photo's!
Now I need to get out there and get started on mine!

My mermaid arrived

I received my mermaid from Jenny today. She is a beautiful embellished paper mermaid with glitter, button, and cutouts and ready to hang on the YOE tree.

 She also included ocean fish chewy candy.  So cute. Almost too cute to eat!! AND some shell/beach napkins. And cute post it notes and note pad and a bunch of  little gel pens.  Oh, and a flea market style magazine.

Thank you Jenny for a great package.

This is the mermaid I made and sent to Jenny. She's a paper mermaid top and glittery pompoms for her lower body, legs and tail.

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SOLD!!!

To the little toad with the shiny eyes!!!

Look what we found hiding out in Chateau De Toad tonight ..... my son was besides himself with excitement:-)

Toad abode

I've had this sweet little toad house for YEARS.
I don't even remember where I got it.....but we use it wherever we go and find all sorts of critters living in it.


We had to move it down a bit from where we had it last year....everything we planted (the mint and purple shamrocks) have flourished!
Now it is back under a leaky faucet. Even the dollar weed looks cute!

Chateau De Toad...

Here it is, the new house on the block................. Chateau De Toad!!!

I'm hoping that it wont spend too many weeks on the market, after all it is located on a piece of prime real estate..... nice, damp, soil, near a drippy faucet:-)

I found this idea on a wildlife conservation website. When I tried to knock out the fancy door I had planned, the pot broke into about 5 pieces - it's amazing what a fantastic adhesive the grout was. I have never attempted anything like this before, but I sure had a lot of fun making it, and I'm so happy with the way it turned out.

Now I just need a warty friend to take up residence............ Wouldn't that be the cutest photo ever!!!