History of a Collection ... or Two

I was recently contacted by the Longaberger Co. to share a story about my Made in America Santa Collection. Since I had the pictures and the story I thought I would share them with my blog buddies as well!

This group of wide eyed Nutcrackers are made by Mary Meyer. Several of her pieces are featured in the American Folk Art Museum! I first viewed her work over 20 years ago while looking at a Country Living Magazine. She was the featured artist. I was so stuck with her story that I just new I needed a Santa! With the help of my mom and my husband Joe I eventually collected some of her pieces. Featured here is the angel Gabriel blowing his horn, a Traditional Santa, a European Santa, Baby Angel and Long John Santa ... he is one of those featured in the museum! Her trade mark is the big circle eyes.

Added to the group is Lady Liberty, 4th of July Birthday girl and Uncle Sam. Mary learned to carve Nutcrackers from her grandfather when she was just a young girl. Her collection of Nutcrackers can be seen at www.mary@marymyersnutcrackers.com

These two characters were purchased about 25 years ago. I was in our local mountain resorts and stumbled onto the Lumberjack Santa in a hardware store of all places. I loved him!! He is VERY tall and a blue bird is sitting on his shoulder. He was bought before the days of the internet search engines and Ebay. The store had no idea where he came from as their buyer was not there. Years passed and I found the angel! She has a small crow on her shoulder, I have since learned this was the artist signature to her art.

She has hair of nails and a cute little bell around her neck ....

Fast forward several years and I would receive these two pieces from my Longaberger Branch leader as year end awards!! How cool was that! This artists name in Pam Dyer and she is located in Winterset, Iowa.

Here I am with some of my treasured friends!

 Thanks for stopping by  .... be back soon!

Holiday Home Tour!

After a busy weekend it felt good to have a down day. I am one of those people that thrive on routine so this morning I stepped into my week day routine and it felt right!!  A load of laundry, run the vaccuum, a trip to the bank and the grocery store and then home to wrap some of my Christmas shopping. While placing the gifts under the tree I thought it was a perfect time to take a few close up pictures. 

I love this old tattered book. The title says it all .... friends, like family are such an important part of the holidays ....

A "Betsy" tucked under a small tree ....

My treasured $5. truck from Montana full of trees ....

And a Betsy tucked IN the tree .... (I have a lot of little Betsy's!)

A pair of old skates, I like to imagine who wore them and what sidewalks they rolled up and down ....

Abigail decorating the tree ...

My Santa cupboard tuck by Bay Ray's Child ... LOVE him!!

The BIG Day ... our savior's birthday ....

 

A Beautiful Winter's Day

"What a beautiful day" one of my crafters said that every time she stepped outside. She was right, it was a truly beautiful day in Southern California. Low 80's, clear skies and a gentle breeze floating through the sliding glass doors' Just the kind of day to spend working on a beautiful Christmas wreath.

I was up early setting the table with their supplies....

 I have my prototype completed ....

 The girls are eager to get started and are digging into their bag of goodies ... and "fluffing" their wreaths!

Tanya was done first! She did a great job for a first time wreath maker, woohoo!!

 

It's lunch time, let's take a break. I served the girls a "box" lunch. They each received there very own Santa Belly box ...

I fixed Pink Cloud sandwiches ... Yummy soft buttermilk bread with cream cheese spread, red leaf lettuce, cranberry sauce and turkey! A perfect post Thanksgiving sandwich. A bag of Pirate Booty, Mint Truffle Kisses and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. Oh my goodness it was so tasty!!

 

 Back to work, next one finished was Corinne ....

And Ms. Pam had to be a bit different. She chose to use a warm brown gatehouse basket and dressed it up with our new Jingle Bell tie-on.

 A group shot! Great job ladies ... Pam was making faces ... hummmm, so she looks silly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Tanya, Pam and Corinne for participating in my holiday wreath making class. I hope you had as much fun as I did!

When the year comes that I can no longer decorate for Christmas I will be truly, truly sad. My home always gives me great joy, comfort and a place where I can just be me. Christmas, like no other season of the year I can get out my vintage toys and no one really thinks it's all that strange! After spending the afternoon wrapping  a few gifts and planting poinsettias in the front yard I had a little "me" time to settle in next to my cute little red fire place with my coffee and enjoy my tree. So quite, so peaceful.

Here is my red fire place, it fits perfect in the living room fireplace nestled between the two trees. This little German Twig tree is just the right size for my White House ornament collection.

The big tree ...I had to get a new one this year and it's a great fake!! It's filled with ornaments made by my kids and grand kids plus German blown ornaments that hung on my childhood tree. My collection of Longaberger Tree Trimming baskets and a vast assortment of treasures I've collected over the years. My new doll from Audrey is under the tree along with a vintage rocking horse and my little black cradle full of doll quilts! I love my tree, it's just chock full of memories.

This picture was taken at Santa's Village a REALLY long time ago! I'm on the left .... I was even fashionable at 5! Check out the cross body Tinker Bell purse I'm wearing!!

My downstairs Americana bathroom. A perfect place for my Americana Santa's!

 Another view ....

The family room mantle. A perfect spot for my small collection of Debbie Tibadault Santa's and my newest Santa is from Stacie Driot - Arnett Santa's. He's the largest one and I love him. He came home with me from my visit to Ohio last October.

A bit of a closer look. The details on his face are so wonderful.

My final quilts of 2012! I got the binding on yesterday and gave them a wash to make them soft and cozy. With all I have to do I think these will be the final trio of completed quilts this year. The largest of the three is a Primitive Gatherings Christmas Quilt and I love it. The two smaller ones were from my friend Paula. The Churn Dash quilt was a kit and the little fall doll quilt was a pattern just perfect to use up some left over scraps.

 Tomorrow I will be hosting a wreath making class using the Longaberger Santa's Belly Gatehouse basket. Can't wait to see how they come out. I'll share the completed projects soon!

A Blessed Day ....

 I woke up at 5:30 this morning and laid in the darkened fog of my mind wondering what day it was. I soon realized it was Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. I have so many things to be thankful for as this year is rapidly coming to an end. A loving family, treasured friends, a spouse who truly, truly loves me unconditionally a loving Miss Betsy, my blog master and the gift of being born in the USA. I don't have the fear of rockets landing on my home like they do in Israel or Gaza ... I have the freedom to do what I want and live where I choose without oppression. We have the freedom to vote for our elected officials and we respect whom ever is chosen whether he/she was our personal choice. So, as I take a moment to reflect on my blessings I hope all of you will join me. The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is about to begin, I have my coffee, a cozy blanket and my dog. I'm ready, bring it on!

 

A Few More Pictures ....

Wow, from year to year I forget how much work goes into decorating for Christmas! I'm still tweaking things here and there, searching for things that I realized were missing, trips to the hardware store and on and on. And .... I'm still not finished! However, I will post a few more pictures as I have had a few emails asking were my pictures are!!
Well, I'm having issues with the blog uploading system ... I will have to figure this out and start again .... Grrrr!!

OK!! We're good to go. Blogging has really taught me to learn the ins and outs of computers and the internet .... that's a good thing!
 

A few shots of the back yard .... the way my California home is designed I have a lot of visual access to my back yard and absolutely none to the front. Many years ago I decided I would decorate my patio area since this is what I look at while cooking, doing dishes (several times a day) and letting the blog master Miss Betsy Ross in and out numerous times a day! I hung my  three largest jingle bells off the patio! I love looking at them out there.

My yard stick star draped with Christmas bunting I brought home from Ohio and adorned with my grandpa's ice skates. When my grandparents were moved to California in the late 70's my parents and I had the task of clearing out their home and coal basement. Oh my goodness, I found so many treasures and these were one of them.

These were my dads parents, they were poor and they were frugal and they saved EVERYTHING! After we had loaded up my mom and I drove Grace and Ed to California and I had the pleasure (and I truly mean pleasure) of riding in the back seat (when I wasn't driving) with my grandpa. He shared a story about "them rusty ole skates." He was a young lad and was out on a local pond skating when the ice gave away and he fell partially into the icy water. He was quickly pulled to safety but 70 plus years later his memory was sharp about the day he fell in. If these old skates could talk I bet they could tell many stories.

 

Top of the hoosier ...

Top of the refrigerator ....

Top of the TV ....

 

Do you see a pattern here? I like to decorate the tops of things!!

A few of my favorite things. God, Longaberger Baskets and doll quilts ....

 

 

Putz sheep and trees ...

A little closer look ....

Hope you enjoyed my little story and tour. More pictures will follow in the next few days. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I'm Pooped!

Last night I posted that today was the launch of Christmas decorating at my house. I was awake at 4:00 am then 5:30 and finally 7:00. At that point it was daylight and I decided to get up and get the ball rolling! Box by box I went through my treasures. Gathered over 30 plus years. Some broken and glued back together, some chipped and frayed fabrics with years and years of use. Some brought tears to my eyes, while other treasures made me laugh out loud. It's always so fun to unwrap each piece, anxious to see what lies inside. My house never seems to go together the same way twice making each year new. However, for the first time I was absolutely worn out by 3:00 pm and just couldn't muster together enough steam to put up the tree. So tomorrow I will put up our tree and again experience the joy of exploring boxes and boxes of tree ornaments.

Just a quick look at whats been going on here! Last year I bought this great reindeer from Gatherings in Iowa. This year he is enjoying a ride on the sled. More to come as the week unfolds!!

 

It's Snowing ... Cute Little Men!!

These adorable snowmen are available for 5 days!! Woohoo! Just the cutest men ever. Also available, a snowman cutting board, Snowman Hat set and Snowflake ornaments! If you would like to purchase any of these terrific items just email me at:

www.baskets4anita@aol.com

A Busy Weekend!

Have you noticed that as the holidays approach you get busier and busier? This weekend was definitely one of those. Friday afternoon I baked for a boutique I was participating in on Saturday and then loaded up the car for a quick departure.After an hour drive I arrived in Highland!

Quickly sat up my display ....

And put together some finger foods for the hungry shoppers ...

Then wondered around to take a few snaps. All of these dolls and animals were made by Barbara our host! The expressions on their little faces were priceless.

Scentsy was also there making everything smell yummy! I picked up a scent called "Fireside." It smells just like a cozy wood burning fire with a light touch of cinnamon!! 

 

It was a lovely day meeting some new folks and visiting with familiar ones as well. Then packed up and made the drive home in the much needed pouring rain.

Sunday I met with a friend to help her finish up some Christmas sewing projects and boy did she get a lot done!! Woohoo Pam.

Very cute snowman print! Pam cut out two table runners, one for a gift and of course one for herself!

At the machine sewing it together ....

 The fruits of her labor!! Two 36" table squares and a finished Halloween table runner! Now tomorrow I will drop off the table squares at the quilters and hopefully they will get to their recipients in time for Christmas!! Pam is a beginning quilter and is doing a great job! 

 Tomorrow ... it's "decoration" day!! I am so excited, I probably won't sleep thinking of all the fun I will have getting my home ready for Christmas. A lot of work, but worth every ache and pain!