gnome love. . .

this definitely falls in the creepy-cute christmas category.

these gnomes i bought off ebay in a bag of assorted weird christmas stuff. an odd weird santa, a particularly demented looking elf, lots of plastic reindeer, some adorable snowman package ties, and an angel corsage just to list a few of the things.
well these two gnome guys are really growing on me.
marina was testing out water color papers last night and i gave her one of the gnomes to paint.

how i adore this little painting she did!!
and here is the gnome guys brother (part pinecone i guess)

silver bella

look at frosty go! i had such a wonderful time at silver bella.
the weekend just flew by with classes, shopping, and vendors night. i met so many very talented gals.
i made this little frosty man in carolyn peelers class. such a vintage look dusted over with mica and posing next to the tiny bottle brush tree.

my first class was 'white christmas' with jenny and aaron. everything sparkling and dusted with glitter. it was such a fun piece to make!




vendors night was over the top fabulous! kari and i met finally in person and had such a fun time shopping together. my bags were clear full of holiday treasures.


this beautiful fabric collage was made by rebecca sower. i was so taken with the pale colors and the way she sewed the buttons and beads on the tree.



the box was gorgeous enough, but the letter cards inside were simply charming.


when i saw this collage in carolyn peelers booth i melted. i want to put it on the cover of an old book



my class with charlotte lyons was perfect. i brought my stash of wool felt scraps to use for the little house. it was fun to have kari in the class with me. she gave me the vintage bell earing i used on the ribbon. the perfect touch since i needed a bit of red. i would still like to add the text and something to the snowflakes.


charlotte's kit looked so charming with her card on top and doesn't she have the most beautiful eyes! her jewelry was stunning.




i still have two more classes to post about and photos of my cool vintage finds. . .

at the corner of happiness and frolic

you might not have believed that there was such a place if i had not taken a picture. it is just down the road from f & w publishing. this past week i was in cincinnati taking the step by step photographs for my book.
jessica and christine took such great care of me this week, it was really wonderful. i just loved working with both of them. here we are outside this wonderful old barn i found out running one morning. the three of us came back after lunch at the brown dog to take my author photo.


we took some fun shots durning the week at the photo studio. here is my editor jessica learning how to felt a bead



christine photographed all the step-by-step shots but she let me take this picture of her with the yummy spinach and bacon souffles from panera we had one morning.

each night after shooting at the studio i returned to this view. the fall leaves were gorgeous and this lovely white bed so very inviting.


i tried so hard to keep my nails polished and looking nice for the close-up shots. then one night as i was dying some felt swatches for a layout a package of blue dye burst all over my thumb and turned it bright blue! what do i do with a blue thumb? luckily christine fixed it for me.


i brought a big stack of books back to the hotel each night to look through. i spent hours pouring over corey moortgat's new book and i adored looking through the gorgeous images in the new amy butler midwest designs book with this gorgeous image her husband took of her fabulous necklace!



so now i am home again. still have stuff in suitcases and shopping bags, but i had so much fun today sitting down in my studio surfing my favorite blogs and checking out all the flickr photos i have missed. i think i have finally answered all my emails and have done enough laundry to get me through the weekend so time to relax. i have a whole week off for thanksgiving, i can't wait. . .