COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS ...

Happy December 1st ♥

November was different than most November's ~ temperature wise, with us seeing warm, sunny, snow-free days. The first snow-free November since 1937! But I am not giving up hope for snow ... we have over 3 weeks until Christmas and I am dreaming of a White Christmas just like I always do :-)
I was looking through photos of Christmas's past and decided to turn a few favourites into a family banner to hang along our family room mantle. Our family room is one of the rooms in our home that sees the most use, and the spot (next to the kitchen) we all gravitate too. It's also one of the coziest and where, at Christmas, the really sentimental ornaments find their place... so it seemed fitting to create a personalized banner to hang above our stockings.
Hearts created from snow covered car windows is one of our families way of leaving "love notes" to each other ... I added our initials with rub on letters...

Sweet Jax whose feathers look beautiful even in black and white ...

My daughter Kate's sweet cats Angelo ...

and Douggie who will celebrate their first Christmas with us this year...

and always loved and remembered {all year long} our sweet Ben in one of our favourite photos of him enjoying a huge snow storm. I've also added really special family photos of the 4 of us ~ some while on vacation, special occasions etc ... Each photo has a family story behind it. It turned out to be something I will enjoy bringing out for years to come.

SUNDAY SERENITY ...

Happy 1st Advent ...
An Advent Blessing
May the Spirit of Christmas which is Peace
The Gladness of Christmas which is Hope
The Adoration of Christmas which is Joy
&
The Heart of Christmas which is Love
Be yours now and forever ♥

PINK SATURDAY...

All I have to do is look around my little Studio to find inspiration for Pink Saturday :-)

It was once my daughter's bedroom, and she chose the Pink salmony colour for her walls which is the reason I didn't want to change them ♥

My little Sparrow Studio has become a special spot just for me & I love spending time here.
It's where I sit at the computer and "post from home" and where I can make a big creative mess whenever I feel like it ♥

I've filled just about every nook & cranny with items that are precious to me like this pink collage my daughter made me for my birthday and the vintage girl and boy holding hands...
And where I can have things around me that I wouldn't have in other rooms of my home (like my coffee filter rosettes) :-)

And if you look really carefully... you will find Sugared Sparrows hiding everywhere :-)
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Hope you are having a Wonderful Saturday!

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Beverly hosts Pink Saturday on her blog how sweet the sound where today there are 132 participants.

CHRISTMAS CAMOUFLAGE ...

Now if Jax had teeth he might just be able to pull this off :-)
He likes to look at himself in the large mirror over the family room mantle which is hidden by hubby's nutcracker collection :-)
***
At Christmas play and make good cheer
for Christmas comes
but once a year
~Thomas Tusser~

MOSAIC MONDAY...

Normally, by the third week in November, we have snow...but not this year.

Today, while out shopping, we spotted people out and about in shorts and t-shirts!

But I am in a Christmasy mood. Our home is decorated now, inside and out, for the Holidays, the Christmas cards are all written and sitting on my desk just waiting for the stamps to be attached and mailed. The "Christmas cupboard" has bags of gifts and stocking stuffers on the shelves. Yesterday's grocery shopping list included items for baking traditional Christmas time treats ~ chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, coconut, walnuts & graham cracker crumbs. AND this weekend, it's the Hallmark Christmas movie "A Dog Named Christmas" Inspired by the concept Foster A Dog for Christmas Program giving homeless pets love and affection over the Holiday Season. Get the hankies ready now !!

So the pictures for today's Mosaic Monday are wintery scenes from last year :-)
Christmas is forever

not just for one day

for loving

sharing

giving

are not to put away

like bells and lights and tinsel

in some box upon a shelf

the good you do for others

is good you do yourself

~Norman Wesley Brooks~

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Mary hosts Mosaic Monday each week on her blog dear little red house.

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Update on our "newest" family member ... he won't be arriving until the first week in December now. Since he is approximately 800 km away ( which is about a 9 hour drive) , and considering his age, we feel he is worth the wait & just want him to arrive happy and healthy ♥ I will post photos as soon as he gets here. We have his Christmas stocking hanging up in anticipation! xo

PINK SATURDAY...

Still waiting for a "special someone" to arrive ... :-)

While I was hunting around in my craft cupboard I came across this wire shade that I picked up at a garage sale. Originally, I had hoped to find a vintage china doll body to place on the top and use the base to resemble a Santos, but vintage china doll bodies are hard to find , so it has sat in the cupboard for a while now :-)

Since I had the tulle out (see yesterday's lamp shade post), I started thinking what I could do to dress up this shade ...

And started by making one of my favourite embellishments ... paper rosettes...
I gathered circles of dressmakers pattern paper, pink tissue paper, pages from old books and circles of tulle...

and attached them to the top of the shade...

and then began to embellish...

with snips of lace bows ...

butterflies...

glittery leaves ...

and around the base, vintage candle holder clips (a blog win from Andrea @ faded plains.
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Beverly hosts Pink Saturday on her blog where today there are 150 participants!

A BRIGHT IDEA ...

Isn't it amazing how visiting a blog can spark a "bright idea". I've had a little Marjolein Bastin lamp (which I love) for years now. My children gave it to me one Mother's Day . It has a sweet Sparrow sitting on the base of the lamp and a little nest with 3 eggs sitting nestled on an outreaching branch. Love it! It's lampshade was plain brown paper and I always thought it looked like it was meant to be transformed. Earlier this week I was "blog surfing" ... you know how you are visiting one blog and then end up following links and comments leading you to new blogs :-) Well that's how I came to find dragonfly's and stars and the Rosette idea. Brenda posted the most fabulous drop cloth ideas including a chaise she recovered (gorgeous) and instructions to make little rosettes. Light bulb went off ... I could recover my little plain brown paper lamp shade in rosettes :-) Which is exactly what I did. I've been on a big "start using it up" binge lately trying to clean up lots of the scraps left over from this year's crafting projects. I picked up two 10 yard spools of Wired Tulle at Michael's a while ago. I stood there looking at them on the reduced table wondering what I could use them for :-) but since they were 48 cents each reduced from $8.49 I took them both! They've been sitting in my craft armour ever since, although I did use a little tulle here and there in other projects nothing to make a real dent in the spool. Now was the time to bring them out and put them to good use. I started by covering the entire lamp shade top to bottom with strips of tulle keeping the sparkly wired edges together on the outside of the shade. Then I covered the bottom with a strip of rope trim (another scrap leftover). I made 15 rosettes following Brenda's instructions, glued them all around the top of the lampshade to cover, and then scattered the remaining around the shade. In the middle of each rosette I added a small blue pearl. Just the little pick me up my lamp needed ♥