Teapot Reveal!

Hi Folks!  So I've been MIA since Wednesday, well there's a good reason.  I was busy getting that teapot basket ready, making a second basket, AND I went to the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale!!!!!  But more on that in a bit.  First I want to show you the baskets! :)

 the before shot :)

First, I want to say a HUGE thanks to all of you for your ideas!  I especially want to thank Pink Sandra for her wicked awesome suggestions.  Email me hun!  I'd love to send you some crafty goodies to say thanks for giving me those great ideas. :)

So I went with the fig and apple spread...

I added some tea, a creamer pitcher, a sugar bowl, napkins, cinnamon sticks, and of course the teapot. :)

Here it is all bundled up and ready for a good home. :) I got so jazzed making this basket, I went to town and made a mini basket too!

Alas, in my excitement to finish this basket I only took this mediocre photo.  Sorry about that folks. :(  I hope these baskets were fun and inspiring for you in spite of the sketchy pics. LOL!

So back to my Martha experience!  I'm in the process of going through all the shots and I'll post them later this week. :)  I also got some (I hope) great shots of the windows at Macy*s.  Stop by later on Monday (around 9pm) when I "Deck the Halls" and don't forget we'll be hosting a new tutorial & challenge at Top Tip Tuesday.  (Challenge Hint- think about what every package needs to make it pop!)

Thanks again folks for stopping by and I promise to catch up on returning all that blog love! :)

Heeeelp!! Seriously I need YOU!

The Holiday Bazaar is a week from Friday.  At the craft-in a couple weeks ago, one of the gals brought a bunch of teapots and teacups for folks to pick and use in a basket.  I stopped by the local consignment shop and picked up a pretty creamer and sugar bowl.  I picked a fun set of 4 napkins made by one of the church mice for the bazaar.  I've got a basket.  Now comes the problem.  Which jam do I add to the basket?????

 

I am crippled with indecision!!!!!  The Jammin in the Kitchen crew made a ton of cool jams.  I managed to narrow down the choices to these 6.  I could use some blogland advice.  Seriously.  What would you want in this basket for yourself or for a hostess gift?  I will frou-frou up the basket more than it is already and I plan to add either some tea or crackers to the basket. (I'm open to any ideas about frou-frouing the basket and anyone know where I can get those big clear basket bags?)

While I'm asking, which topper would you pick? (I'm leaning towards the holly, but would like input from the crowd).  This is my first basket and I don't want my basket to be left at the end of the day. :)

Seriously, I want to make the ladies at the bazaar proud.  I'm shamelessly looking to all of you for any and all suggestions (other than me buying my own basket- that's plan B. LOL!)  I have to have this done by Dec 2nd.

The Perfect Man?

Do you have some buttons?  Paper?  A little rustic wire and twigs?  Then you too could have the makings of the perfect man. :)

 

This little fella is one of many "gingerbread" ornaments the church mice have been making for the bazaar.  Not going to be in Littleton, MA in December?  No worries.  You too could make "the perfect man".  He's made of paper, pens, a little cotton ball, and a lot of humor. :)

The tag says:

A little sugar, a little spice

a woman made him

oh, so nice.

He's formed of bread and

baked 'til tan, the closest thing

to a perfect man.

Happiness and giggles to all!  And too all a good night! :)

Tuesday Blues

 This past Saturday the Women's Alliance, and helpers, got together for one last group gathering before the Holiday Bazaar.  I thought I'd share one of the "show-and-tell" pieces.

I made a bunch of the blocks that got used in this quilt!!!  Our lead quilter, Judy, had gotten a bunch of this fabric from another parishioner.  She cut it all up and laid out the different pieces for sewing volunteers to assemble at our various gatherings.  There was enough to make 2 lap quilts!!!!  Sew pretty. LOL!  I crack me up. :)

Don't forget to swing by Top Tip Tuesday for your weekly tutorial and challenge. :)

Sunday Favorite Birdies

Edit-  This post was originally posted on March 14th, but I wanted to share these fun ideas again.  These fun bird pins would be great gifts for Christmas, or even as a hostess gift for Thanksgiving.  I'm linking this up to Sunday Favorites over at Chari's blog Happy to Design.

It's pretty stormy here, but it seems to be rain and not snow, for now.  In New England we all know nothing lasts for too long. :)

 

My Unitarian church hosts a huge (no really it's something to behold) Country Fair every September and participates in the town Holiday Bazaar in December.  I've been "blessed" ;) with being the chair for the Country Store booth at the Country Fair for the last couple of years.  It is a blast, but it's a huge amount of work.  In the past, the crafting work has fallen on a small group of crafters within the church.  This past January, I helped launch Crafting Hands to help get new crafters involved and ease some of the last minute production burden for these events.  We had our second workshop this past Friday and Saturday and these cardinals were among the many fantastic items created!  (I'll post other crafty goodies later).

These are going to be sold as pins for the Holiday Bazaar (Dec 4, 2010 in Littleton, MA) and we have 20 others that have flown to homes to be sew together and brought back for painting in May.  One of the helpers found a pattern at home to make a dove pin in the style of the cardinal (that should be a fun flock too!).  I thought these fine feathered friends would make for some fun card inspiration!

I used Bird and Nest from Memory Box, then stamped it with Cardinal Red Archival Ink and Timber Brown StazOn ink.  Technically the bird isn't a cardinal, but he's so darn cute!  The papers of from my scraps and are Basic Grey, Bo Bunny, and Pink Paislee.

I added Stickles to the berries on the bird's nest twig and to the "dots" on the sentiment.  You can barely see it in the photo, but I also freehand "stitched" around the edge of the background paper with a marker.  The layout is from Sparkles Sketch on her Christmas Challenge blog.  I send a crazy number of Christmas cards, so every motivation to get them done early helps! :)

What gets you motivated when the weather is yucko?