T’was the weekend before Christmas…

So it was a busy weekend before Christmas at the Queen’s palace.

It was Day 7 of the Canadian Chickie Christmas Swap and our Mother Hen, Hostess Extraordinaire, Dawn was the gift maker.

Brown paper packages recycling sewing patterns ! Ingenious !

Gorgeous attention to detail…

Sweet swap key…

and this beautiful, beautiful Hang Up, made just for me !!!

I love the quote – it so reflects how I feel about Winter too !

Thank you, Dawn. I have hung my Hang Up right in front of my computer so I can enjoy gazing at it every day !

Now, it wasn’t only about opening gifts. It was about making them too.

The Rock Fairy was almost as busy as Santa…

She doesn’t do the whole sleigh/reindeer delivery thing but has to rely on getting things to the post office and allowing the wonderful USPS Elves to get the gifts to the rock lovers on time !

Keeping up with orders and having enough rocks to decorate for the whole winter meant one last trip here :

to North Beach in Hampton Beach, NH before the snow comes and covers her supplier !

It was cold but not too bad. Only about 34 degrees F and not too windy ! A perfect December Rock Picking day for the Rock Fairy and her hunky Man.

These nutters seemed to think it was also a perfect day for surfing ! Me, not so much !

We also did a little hall decking…

Here is the tree. I went with colored lights this year. I usually always do white lights and most of my ornaments are traditional green, white and red or natural fiber tones.

I think I like the white lights better but I remember that our trees when I was a kid were always lit up on color so I thought I would try it.

It ended up looking very old fashioned to me, but pretty…

These fun little bubbling ornaments that shine blue look right at home!

The gorgeous stained glass star on the top that David and I made looks beautiful on any tree !

as does the gorgeous white doggie sitting the the twinkle light glow…

Today, Monday, is Day 8 of the swap and Heather’s beautifully wrapped gift was up.

The wonderful collaged book mark on the front gives a hint to the beauty inside…

This beautiful collaged writing journal ready to fill with doodles and words in the New Year !

Thanks so much for this lovely gifty, Heather ! You did such a beautiful job !

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So it is Monday, 5 days before Christmas Eve.

The week will be filled with baking, wrapping, last minute errands and a 7 hour trip way up North to share Christmas morning with my side of the family.

I am feeling like I have it under control, like I have set expectations low enough that I can get to everything, and that it will be filled with sweet moments of joy and gratitude along the way.

One thing though !

I miss my ART !!!

I am so looking forward to January and February where all I have scheduled is creative time for myself !!! Arty hibernation, here I come…

My beautiful Muse and my abundance of toys await me…

In the mean time, I have visions of silliness dancing in my head…

I just signed up for this fabulously silly class with Carla Sonheim that starts January 5th.

A gift for myself ! Merry Christmas to me !

Maybe I will see you there, Beautiful Silly Ones !

Happy Holiday Making !

I am HERE.

6 Days until Christmas Eve.

Wowza!

Feeling a little bit like I need a break from the computer to really get into the spirit of it in our home.

I will pop in now and again and share bits of what is going on (like maybe a photo of my tree when I finally decorate it today !) and do want to share the lovely Canadian Chickies gifts with you all.

But I think I need to focus more on the right here in front of me for a bit.

I hope that all of you preparing for the holidays are enjoying the process and

send you big, big Christmas Love !

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Canadian Chickies Christmas Swap Day 5 – The extremely talented Martha Brown !

The brown paper package tied up with love !

And inside…

Lovely handmade JOY !!!!

Thanks so much, Martha, for the JOY pennant. I will be putting it in the tree today ! I really love it !

And Day 6 of our Swap comes from the lovely Sabina in Edmonton!

I will definitely be recycling this gorgeous blue sparkly wrapping !

And inside this this precious, precious jarred fairy, captured to bring wintery beauty my way !

We had a talk when I opened her and she has said she would like to hang out through the New Year and then I have promised to set her free…

I love her so much. I hope I can keep my promise !

Thank you so much, Sabina, for sharing her beauty with me !

Have a great weekend, Beautiful Ones !

Fit for a Queen Wednesday…

Hi There !

It is Wednesday, December 15th.

This pic was taken yesterday, on my way out to do some shopping. I was having fun with the funky winter shadows around noon.

Also with the fact that somehow, there is NO snow on the ground in Manchester, New Hampshire in spite of the very snowy conditions in many areas around us.

Though it is very, very cold today, with a high of 18 (-7 C) and windy, I have to say that the lack of snow makes this shopping Queen very happy !

Before I get to the wonderful Canadian Chickies swap, I just have to share my beautiful kitty pictures of the week.

Look at my sweet Azzy, hugging his little Mousie.

Couldn’t he be a super cat model ?

He is beautiful, no ?

Okay, enough gushing…

So, yesterday was Day 2 of the Canadian Chickie Christmas Swap and Miss Brittni was up.

Even the inside of the envelop was special !

Brittni created this sweet little folded journal of sorts with music paper.

Tucked inside was this sweet dove ornament made of paper and lace ribbon.

Mar, another Chickie in the group, suggested that this little journal would make a great addition to a journal page and make a little pocket for hidden treasures. Great Idea, Mar ! I think that is what I will do with mine too !

Thanks for the sweet giftie made with love and care, Miss Brittni !

Now, Mar just happens to be the maker of the gift for Day 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is her lovely package before. Love the tag !

And here is part one of the gift. This pretty little tree magnet with our initials on it!

The second part of the gift was this tiny painting mounted on a tiny easel, painted especially for me by Mar. We has a database with our likes for our group members to check with and obviously Mar went with my love of mermaids!

So sweet ! I love the frothy waves done with mulberry paper !

  

Thanks so much, Mar, for making such a beautiful gift custom made just for me !

Happy Wednesday to my Canadian Chickie Friends and to all of you, Beautiful Ones !

(off to the post office to mail some Rock My World orders…wish me luck…)

Today is Day 1 !

One of the things I did while in Montreal last week was pick up all my gifties for the Canadian Chickie Gift Swap.

Even though I am a Canadian living in the US, my Canadian Chickie friends have let me play along with them in a multitude of great swaps, hosted by the incredibly generous, Dawn Supina.

I give the girls my Mom’s address in Quebec and my packages get sent there.

This year we are 12 participants and each one of us has made 11 gifts for the others in the group.

Here are all of my lovely packages tied up with ribbons, string and creativity and placed around my little table top tree.

Little Boo had to check it out of course !

Today is Day 1 of the 12 Day Christmas Swap and our gift comes from Arlene in Edmonton, Alberta.

Arlene was one of my first blog friends when I started blogging way back three years ago or so, and although she doesn’t hang in Blogland often now, I am always thrilled when we get in touch ! She is a beautiful, beautiful Heart.

Arlene’s gift was wrapped in a pretty cream colored napkin, and tied with red string and a home made tag.

And inside was this gorgeous leather cuff bracelet with a hammered metal swirly bit and a funky Majong tile intertwined !

How cool is that !

I love it, Arlene !

Thanks for much for all the care and arty attention to detail in your beautiful gift!

Yay for Day 1 Of the Canadian Chickie Fun !

Happy Monday, Beautiful Ones!