Red Redo and ME Giveaway

I love Mary Englebreit and I know some of you do too. I'm in the mood for an ME Giveaway!I made this Christmas cutie-she looks kind of MEish.
This is a little coaster set and crocheted doily in Christmas colors.
An ME tin set.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I'll put you in the drawing. I'll draw a winner on Saturday at 6:00 P.M. So get the word out all you ME lovers! Now on to other things. I told you I'd show you my before and after for my continuing mini redos. These chairs were in my dining room-they are really old and I was getting tired of them. I'd looked around for new kitchen chairs, and couldn't find anything I liked. SO I decided to switch my kitchen and dining chairs.
Here's the tired old kitchen table. I needed something with a little personality...so with a little paint magic...
Here's the "new" set. I painted the table white and aged it a little and painted the chairs red.
I think it will do the trick. Also goes pretty well for Christmas decor, that I'll be sharing soon, and goes great for Rednesday. Go check out It's A Very Cherry World to enjoy some more reds.
Happy Rednesday!

Leslie

Chair Redo

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We had a quiet one, but Son is coming home next week for Christmas break and I'm really excited to see him! I've been busy doing mini redo's on the cheap-as in repainting stuff. Below is my before in my living room.
Here you can see the wicker chairs painted black. I think it really makes the room come alive. I have small touches of black in the room-black curtain rods, black frames etc. I've been wanting to do this for awhile. It only took 4 cans of spray paint and voila!
I switch out the pillows for fall and Christmas, but I think they'll look good either way.
I've also been painting some other things-I'll share those on Rednesday. Does that give you a clue? We were at Sams Club over the weekend and the greckles(I think that's what they are called) are everywhere. It's like a scene from The Birds. Look behind the tree and at the top of the building-they are lined up. They come every fall and it's kind of a weird thing.
Wanted to let you know, if you get a chance to see the movie Flipped-we rented it over the weekend, watch it! It's directed by Rob Reiner and is a sweet, nostalgic little movie that makes you feel good. At least I did! Have a Happy Monday!

Leslie

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Leslie

It's a Small World

I am excited to announce the opening of my Website! This has been my little secret and what I've been working on.Please go check it out here http://www.smalludolls.com/_ I'll be having a drawing soon, so keep on checking. There are still some kinks to be worked out, but I wanted to get it up before Christmas. I've been making these personalized ornies and dolls and selling them locally for about a year, but I made the first one about 4 years ago. I couldn't find a marching band ornament for Son, so after looking everywhere with no luck, I decided to make my own. I copied his uniform in miniature. When friends saw it, of coarse they wanted one too, and my idea was launched. The cast of characters grew and I'll be adding to the designs. Thank you BJ for your inspiration and Thank you Tommy for all your hard work on creating the web site. Thanks Hubby for putting up with all this going on!
This is what MAx has been up to-trying to keep warm. He's on my lap right now. This is how he sleeps at night.
What's Up Max? If any of you are going away for Thanksgiving have a safe trip. And if you're staying here check in. Talk to you soon!

Leslie

Busyness as Usual

Hi All-I've been a busy little elf!

I have been working on a project for a really long time...
And am starting to get things together and organized. I'll let you in on my little secret soon!
I forgot to show you my fall leaf garland. I used felted wool sweaters for the leaves,
and little felt balls and real acorn hats for the tops. Stitched and held together with rick rack. I ironed on fabric with fusible interfacing on the back.Easy and fun.
Also I keep forgetting to post this picture. Remember a few posts back about the ginormous honey crisp apple? Well I had to caramel coat it, and of course I'm not satisfied until it has some chocolate and crushed walnuts on it.
It took us 3 days to eat that thing, but it was worth all the calories. Yum! I hope you had a great weekend-we were busy, cleaning the garage, going to Ikea, watching football and eating(too much). Just wanted to thank you all for wonderful and helpful comments. They really make my day!

Leslie

It's a Small World

Yesterday, I was out shopping and went into a doll house store in Dallas. You could spend hours in there looking at the tiny stuff. I asked the owner of Through The Keyhole if I could take some pic's and she agreed. Here are some amazing dollhouse rooms. This is ladies dress shop, complete with all the dreamy dress forms and pretty mirrors. Check out the detail.
I love this red retro kitchen set-I'd love to have one like this someday.
A sweet nursery for baby.
I love this- an unfinished house on wheels-Cindy! This would be so cute done up retro style.
The last is a gingerbread small house with Santa and his elves working away. I love the creativity that it takes to put one of these tiny houses together. I know some of you out there are working on your own dollhouse, Check out my dollhouse sweet shop if you haven't seen it. That was one of the most fun projects I ever worked on. If you can't have the real thing-you can always dream in miniature!
Leslie

Turkey Time!

Here are the last of my fall decorations. I feel like I'm really behind-I'm seeing so much Christmas decorations already. I know-I have an obsession with vintage turkey salt and peppers. I found the first giant turkey at Salvation Army years ago and started collecting them. I finally found the mate to the first one. I do love the Made in Japan ones with the flaky red paint on their gobbles.

I put the gaggle of turkeys on my fall penny rug. I like to make these from felted wool and wool felt.I traced a leaf and went from there.
Fun and easy to make. See the acorns around the edge?
Here's my mantle-even though I have alot of stuff, I try to keep it pretty simple and not too cluttered.
Here's some of my thrifted finds from last week. The boot is metal-I've seen these, but don't really know what they are from. Can anyone help? They are sitting on a lace cut out(new) round table cloth that I found for $1.97. It seems to be in perfect condition. I have a round dining table, so I'm always excited to find a round cloth. Yeah!
It's going to be a busy week ahead. Don't you just feel the energy in the air? I know I'll probably poop out in about a month, so I better take advantage of it now!

Leslie

November is Here

November is here and I thought some of you might want to use the Nov-Dec. calendar girl in your projects. I'm joining Sue at It's a Very Cherry World for Rednesday. Go and check out tons of reds to get you in the spirit! Back to more fall decorating. I always try to use vintage sheet music or books in some way. I thought Turkey in the Straw was kind of appropriate for the season.
Sorry about the dark pic below, but this is in acorner and hard to photograph. I found the little brown teapot and crocheted doily at a garage sale. The little fall embroidery was from the thrift store.
I can't remember where I got the little girl, but I think she goes well with the theme. I've been inspired by Sweet Cottage Dreams and all her cute vintage figurines.
It turned from about 75 over the weekend, to cold and rainy here in Texas. It really does feel like fall. I'm loving this weather!

Leslie

Fall is in the Air

I put away my Halloween stuff and brought out the fall stuff. I know alot of you girls already have your Autumn decorations out, but I do mine in 2 stages-Halloween and then fall/Thanksgiving. Above is a little vignette that I put on the shelf above my piano. My most favorite fall decoration is the little chipmunk salt and pepper. The grin on the little guy with all his teeth just cracks me up.
Here's the other side. I found the giant flashcard with the turkey last year and decided to use a vintage turkey candle. I love the old picture next to it. That turkey is going to have the last word!
Here it is all put together. The middle picture is an old puzzle of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. You can see I even have an old piano. This is the one I've had since I was a kid. It's pretty unique and it took me a long time to appreciate. it. I have grown to love it. I'll share more as the week goes on. Hope you all had a good Halloween. I even got Hubby to help me carve the pumpkin this year-I think he was waiting for all the kids to be gone. He did a really good job!

Leslie