A Busy Month!

October has been a very busy month for me! I'm needing a break and looking forward to December when I take one. I'll be back at the 'saws' again today. I have a couple of Halloween Costumes to put together this week for the family and am finishing up some dolls for the upcoming Holidays and our Team Celebration. Lots of Snowfolks both wood and softies, some Reindeer, and a couple of new dolls.

I went to our McIntosh 1890's Festival on Saturday. It's an annual event that I've attended since High School when we (our band) marched in the parade. A couple of Artists friends that I keep up with on Facebook were there. Samantha from Southern Belle Scentz and The Olde Country Cupboard and Terry Swezey of Gourds and Gifts. Here are some of the purchases I made from their stores.

 Got my first 'Andy' from Samantha! For those of you who knew Sandy Schmidt of The Olde Country Cupboard, that was her Mom. Sandy passed away a few years ago.

 Terry paints beautifully!

 This little girl is for my MIL for a Christmas gift. 

I LOVE Samantha's Tarts. Her shop is Southern Belle Scentz on Etsy.

Terrible photo but I couldn't resist this little guy from Terry's booth! His antlers are wrapped in colored lights. Can't wait to have him set up by my tree!

The Antique store I buy my supplies from was there again as they usually are. Best place to pick up spools and bobbins as most are just a buck or two. He was low on Beehive Bobbins and I had to search hard for the one that I did get.

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I'm working on Christmas now and most crafters are. I know many don't want to see pictures of it now as it's not even past Halloween yet but in the retail business, "the early bird catches the worm"! I had a custom order for a few of these. Pretty and simple and, of course, the photo doesn't do it justice! I'll be ' lettin' her rip' in a few more weeks when our OFG Team starts it's Wintery Celebration so beware!

And with that scary thought, I hope your Hallow's Eve is safe and your Treats are more than your Tricks!

Stay tuned!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

New items!

Our Esty Team is having another wonderful Celebration! I made 4 new items to go along with it.

Santa! Pattern adapted from Chestnut Junction

Chris Mouse and his Candy Cane! Pattern adapted from The Olde Country Cupboard.

"A Snowman will melt your Heart". I don't remember where this pattern came from. I've had it a really long time but I'm pretty sure it's not one of my originals. Let me know if you recognize it.

Elvin the Elf. Adapted from a pattern by The Olde Country Cupboard.

If you'd like to see more items from the Team, just go to ETSY and type in the search bar the letters BICOFG!

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I finished my Pumpkins. Saved some for the kid's Teachers. I don't have them listed.

I also finished these last 2 items.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/208510777/fall-seasonal-mini-word-blocks

https://www.etsy.com/listing/208511949/halloween-fall-pumpkin-and-black-cat

I designed the Cat and Pumpkin for my 8-11 year old girls that I teach twice a month on Wednesdays. They are like Girl Scouts but our group is called Activity Day Girls. They are so cute and LOVE to paint with me! They are quite talented, too, so that makes it even more fun to see their pieces turn out so well! I love to teach kids!

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It's been beautiful here on the lake! The water has come up some but we're back in a dry spell again. We need consistent rain and Mother Nature is not so giving in the cooler months. Our local Yacht Club held their annual Sailboat Regatta on Saturday and they came in front of our place.

 

The weather has been gorgeous with a nice breeze coming in. The water is getting cooler now so our swimming will come to an end soon.

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Woke up this a.m. to a dead battery in my Van. Typical Monday.

Hope you're having a better start!

Stay Tuned!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

 



A Giveaway for the Decorative Artist!

I finally finished up my Fall goodies! I pulled out my Christmas fabric and wrote down my list of necessities to complete the ones I want. Even though I take care of our handicapped daughter (she'll soon be 28), I'm fortunate enough to have the time and ease to play with my crafts. I've always said it's my 'therapy' as some of you may know how draining it is to be a 24/7 Caregiver. So here are my latest creations.

 Mr. Snoozles! This guy is approx. 36" tall! Pattern is adapted from THE OLDE COUNTRY CUPBOARD.

 Bo Bo the kitty! Made from a pattern by THE GOODE WIFE.

 This is Ulysees the Raven. He's from a pattern by SOFT IN THE HEAD.

And a little Fall Table Décor. The tag is from EWE N ME PRINTABLES on Etsy.

I LOVE all of the wonderful 'cyber' friends I've made! One of them is a SUPER talented lady by the name of Karen Strubel. Karen is a wonderful decorative artist. She was selling some of her 'overstock' in an Etsy shop that she had. I got a lot of great things from her. She now has a shop called Karen's Painted Pieces. Anyway, over the last year or 2 she's asked me to cut her some wood. We did a swap this last time and she sent me some of her painting packets. She sent me enough that I can share 3 SETS of 7 packets. SO, here are the photos of the packets!

There is no wood cut with these, however, CABIN CRAFTERS sells her pattern packets and some cut outs. And I know some of you cut wood as I do.

To enter this Giveaway, just leave me a comment with a way to get in touch with you. That's it! I'll announce a winner next Wednesday, SEPT. 17th....well, now that's one of my daughter's birthdays!
This Giveaway is open to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

I'm A Doing!!!

Putting up Christmas and packing my crafts away.....that's what I'm doing! I'll close my Etsy for vacation at the end of this week to give me some time to finish some personal crafts. I've been filling Teacher orders and just put 8 out today! 

I've (sort of) hired a little helper. 

She loves to 'grundge' up my dolls and I've even got her base coating my wood. Here she is coating a snowman with cinnamon!

Here is a picture of my FB Mystery Prize. 

Not many signed up -- due to the onslaught of the holiday chaos, I'm sure -- but someone was a winner and it was Barb of Barb's Heartstrokes! I call them my 'Snowpal Pails'! You can find the little pails everywhere! Target even has some wrapped in Burlap with a Christmas tree stenciled on it. I just added a Prim Snowman with some pipberry arms. He's got a dowel stuck in an uncomfortable place and he's glued into some floral foam. I've added floral pieces and fiber fill all around the inside of the pail. Cute for quick gifts!

Here is a picture of my Elf dolls. I'll have these available in a show I'm doing next year.

My Sister-in-Law talked me out of one at Thanksgiving but she couldn't have if I didn't love her so much!

These guys were adapted from a pattern by The Olde Country Cupboard.

Last, but not least, I've been making these girls up for gifts. 

They still have some details like whiskers and tails but they're almost ready to gift! LOVE making these as they are super simple. The pattern is from Old Road Primitives.

I'm almost done with the Christmas shopping. My house will be FULL with all 6 kids this year! Looking forward to all of our festivities. Hope you have lots planned, too!

}}Hugs{{

Vicky

Unfinished and NEW!

Isn't it Halloween yet? I have to laugh at myself as I keep producing things from my 'box' of UFO (unfinished objects!). I decided to complete a few items that had already been in there over a year. This is one of them!

 This is Imogene! She's a wooden doll. She took a LOT of time but I finally finished her this morning! Click on her link if you want to see more of her.

I also finished up another one of these. 

This is Boo Boo Kitty! The pattern is from Old Road Primitives. Kim's patterns are SO much fun to create as she does such a great job herself!

One last batch of Candy Corns!

 They smell SOOOOO good!

My daughter sent me this guy from Illinois. She came across a little Prim shop and fell in love with some of the goodies there! She knows how much I love to make it and collect it! She's starting to get the fever herself!

Creating Fall Scarecrows and some little meeces to go on my Candy Canes and Santa Hats!They, too, smell WONDERFUL!

These are from a Pattern Bin pattern from Samantha Flanders and the late Sandy Schmidt. I'm going to miss her when I go to McIntosh Festival in a few more weeks :(

It's yet to get cool down here but at least we've moved from the 90's to the mid 80's. Hoping we get to see some cooler temps around Halloween. Nothing worse than wearing your costume and sweating to death in it!

Thanks for stopping by!

}}Hugs{{
Vicky

My Mother's Day Weekend!

Good Monday morning Friends!

I'm up and 'at 'em' this morning! I've cleaned carpets and have 3 loads of laundry already finished and half folded! A 'Tornado' blew through my house over the weekend and I've given up on those ever-so-elusive cleaning Fairies! 

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day weekend. Here's mine in a nutshell!

We, the twins and I, spent the morning organizing toys and getting rid of unwanted items.

I was able to go out on Friday and pick up some Closet Maid Storage tools from Target.

I picked up 2 of these in the Oak color and the little canvas bins that go with them. I let the kids pick out there colors which were no surprise: pink for Anna Belle and green for Tate.Organizing and cleaning took up most of our day and I spent the remaining afternoon hours letting them swim and then catching the last 2 episodes of "Lost" on NetFlix. WOW. How appropriately named was that TV show? I did receive a SWEET surprise from our eldest: TJ.

He sent me this!

I was so excited to receive it that I forgot to take a photo of my own. This is from the 'Edible Arrangements' website. We're lucky enough to have one near us! The other '2' phoned me with 'I Love You's' on Sunday. I also received a call from my beloved early Sunday morning.......sigh.......just made me miss him more.

I received a sweet Giveaway win from Cyndy over at Crafty Stitchers that I wanted to share with you. 

I sat her beside my 'Candy Cane Annie' from Sandy at The Olde Country Cupboard. 

She seems to be content and happy! Thank you AGAIN, Cyndy!!

Our wonderful Gals over at the OFG Team have put together another celebration for us! 

We'll be launching it this week so look for another announcement from me and our great Artisan team members!!!

As always......

Stay Tuned!

}}Hugs{{

Vicky