Yes…there’s a baby in the crib, but it isn’t Peyton. It’s a furry baby!! My daughter went into the nursery the other day to find her Siamese cat, Diesel,  in the crib.

The nursery is all done and ready for Peyton when he is born. Kim has a doctor’s appointment later today…can’t wait to hear if anything has changed since last week. I do know that if he isn’t born by next Tuesday…the doctor is going to induce labor sometime after that. I’ll keep you posted!!

We had such mild weather last week that I couldn’t decide if it was….

~Spring~

or still…

~Winter~

Definitely Winter!! After being 50 degrees on Sunday…the tempertures dropped like a rock and we got an inch of snow yesterday and it is lightly snowing again today. I still have a few snowmen out, but I’m so ready for Spring to come that I’m going to put the snowmen away. Hmmm….maybe that will make Spring come a little faster! Wishful thinking on my part…but it can’t hurt, can it? My luck…we’ll get a snowstorm! LOL…

Yesterday and today were good days to stay inside. I finished up all my tax stuff for the business and then did a little tweaking. I picked these signs up from the GW months ago and had never hung them up as I just wasn’t sure where to put them.

Well, I finally hung them up in my dining room…one on each wall that is on either side of opening between the kitchen and dining room.

For those of you that might not have followed my blog for very long…the goose peg-rack in the above picture is the first craft item that Mr. D and I made when I started doing craft shows back in the 80’s. We made and sold many of them…to the point that I thought I would never want see another goose item in my life. LOL.. But I have kept mine all these years as it is a very special piece to me. Afterall, it is the piece that started me on the path of my crafting  journey over 26 years ago.

If you look closely at the picture above…you can see one of my candles, that is on the opposite wall, reflecting in the glass. You can faintly see my quilt that hangs in the dining room too. I didn’t notice this until I had posted the photo.

I’ve been also working on a surprise, but I can’t share that just yet as the receiver of this gift reads my blog. I’ll be back in a few days…hopefully with baby news and some prim goodies to share. I’m also working on some items for a giveaway…so be sure to stop back by for a visit. Hope you all have a great week. Until next time….    prim blessings, Cindy

As you can tell by the title of my post…I’ve been busy making plain candles into primitive candles and I wanted to shared this project with all of you. I love how they turned out and it was so easy to do.  

I found this product from DecoArt called Texture Fierro at my local craft store. It is a textured paste  and comes in different colors. I purchased the Iron Brown as I wanted that old primitive look for my candles.

Then I gathered up some candles…

either battery operated ones~

or wax candles will work…I did up some of both.

And this is how I did it…

I used an old small paint brush…dabbed it into the texture paste and then dabbed it on the candles.  I let them dry completely and then added more texture paste in spots that needed it. You can put this on as thin or thick as you want. I did my first coat thick  and did the second coat thinner to touch up some places. It was as easy as that!!

(I do want to say that the wax candles I did are not ones that I plan on burning. I would not recommend doing this to a candle that you want to burn!!)

 Here are what my finish candles look like…

the battery tea light~

 the waxed pillar candle~

 and the battery taper candle~

This was really a fun and easy project to do with great results. I also found that the texture paste comes in a crackle finish and I have some projects that I want to try it on. I’ll let you know how they turn out. Until next time…     prim blessings, Cindy

There was a primitive show in town this past weekend…sure wish you all could have been there. If you love primitive decorating…you would of loved this show!!

My sister and I decided that we just had to go on Saturday, but we had to wait until around 1 pm to let all the fog that we had lift. I felt bad for the vendors as the crowd was not as they had hoped with our weather not being very good.

We both found some prim goodies. My sister purchased a prim doll and a picture of a log cabin home nestled in the woods…she thought it looked like how her home would have looked when it was first built back in 1861.  And we both got the same country decorating book…

~The Settlement by Jill Peterson~

Oh my….I can’t tell you how many times since Saturday that I have looked through this book. Over and over and over and over!!! Guess you figured out that I can’t put it down. LOL…  Here is a peek at a few of the pages…..

It is a keeper and a great book to add to my ever-growing collection of country decorating books.

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My new grandson, Peyton, has not arrived into the world yet. My daughter has a doctor’s appointment this afternoon…so we might know more then. I’ll keep you all posted. As I wait on pins & needles…I did a little on-line shopping and purchased some new primitive embroidery designs. I will be working on some new pillow tucks, ornies, and dish towels this week. Also will be working on some painted pieces. I’m so ready to get back to working on my creations after taking a month and a half off…and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.

Until next time…..       prim blessings, Cindy 

The weather as been a little warmer here, about 40 degrees…so a friend and I decided to go thrift shop hunting. I found a couple of things…

~A Rusty Star Candle Holder~

I found this at the GW for $1.50 and I have it sitting on one of my old ironing boards. I’m going to grubby up the tea light candle or maybe put a  grubby battery candle in it. I just recently found some texture paste that you can put on your candles to make them have that primitive feel that we all love. This product can be applied to many different surfaces…I will be sharing more about it as soon as I finish up my candles.

I think my favorite find of the day was this…

~ A Small Primitive Red Cubby Shelf~

I got this at a little shop that has antiques, old small wares and some new pieces that are made to look old and primitive. My little shelf is one of the newer primitive pieces. The owner has found a local wood-worker to make these for his shop. I found several pieces that I liked and would love to have one day. My friend got one of his wood kitchen cubbys…it is red also and has three holes drilled in the upper edge for wooden spoons to go into. Wish I would have thought to take a picture of it to share with all of you.

I put my little shelf on the top of the chest-of-drawers that is in my dining room. Of course, that got me into the tweaking mood. I took the little crock off of my tavern shelf that is in the living room and placed it in the bottom cubby area. Then I rearranged everything else that was sitting on top of the chest-of-drawers and also some things on the tavern shelf. Not sure if I have it the way that I want it yet…but I’m sure that there will be tweaking pictures to share soon.

This next picture I just had to share…

This morning I found my little Yorkie sitting on our bed, enjoying the warm sun that was shining in through the window….and when I turned around I saw Chloe’s shadow on the closet door. Got the camera and snapped a picture before she moved and I just love how it turned out.  Hope you are all keeping warm where ever you live.

Until next time….     prim blessings, Cindy

Yes….I got some new sugar buckets!!  I mentioned a few posts back that I’ve wanted to have a stack of them for some time now…after seeing sugar buckets in some of my country decorating books and magazines. I still can’t believe that I found a couple more and when I wasn’t even looking for them.

On Saturday, I went with Mr. D to keep him company while he moved some things he needed back to his work place. We stopped by a mall near there and went into a prim shop that I hadn’t been to in about 2 years. About halfway up the first isle…I spotted the red sugar bucket and then around the corner sat the mustard one.  I looked at Mr. D…he smiled and said “I think that you should get them.”  It’s a miracle that I didn’t do the happy dance right there in the store! LOL… They are newer sugar buckets that have been made to look old, but I’m ok with that since I can’t afford the antique ones right now. Plus…I do have the one antique one that was my Christmas gift from my MIL.

So, here is a peek at my new taller stack of sugar buckets…

Not sure why the mustard one is showing up peach in the photos…it really is a mustard color. Just by adding the two new ones sure made a difference in how they look all stacked together. Not sure when or if I will come across some more, but I am really thrilled with how they look now.

I also have a new piece of furniture in my dining room since my last post that I just have to share with you.

We picked up a wood high chair for Peyton. Yes…I know it will be a while before he will need one, but we got this on clearance along with a pack-n-play. This gramma needed some baby things at our house…since I will be watching him when his mommy has to go back to work. We thought that we had better go ahead and get both items since they were on clearance for half price.

Speaking of the baby…On my DD’s visit last Monday to the doctor, she found out that she is farther along than they first thought…at 37 weeks instead of 35 weeks. The doctor said that the baby has dropped into position and is getting ready and that she can have him when ever she goes into labor. He also said that he thought she wouldn’t have him before her next appointment…which is on Wednesday. Hopefully, I will have more news to share then, but it is all up to Peyton now. I’ll keep you all posted.

Thought that I would leave you with this picture of what we woke up to this morning.

This is the view out our french doors from the dining room. We got some fog last night that froze on the trees…it sure was a beautiful scene to wake up to. Until next time…..     prim blessings, Cindy

While out running errands a few days ago, I took some time to stop by the GW and look at what I found.

~a 3 tier primitive wood tray~

It is black with sanded places of mustard paint showing through. I got it for $6.00…which I thought was a great price for as large as this piece is. My only problem is that I’m not sure what to display in it. Any ideas?…I could sure use your help. I have it sitting on my dining-room table.

Speaking of my table….Mr. D made this for me back in the 80’s. The wood top is cherry and I painted the table legs blue…and the chairs are the same way with some areas painted, while other areas are just the stained wood. I’ve been thinking about painting the blue areas black. Kind of thought that after 25 years…it might need a redo. My sister says that she loves the blue that I painted it and that I should leave it the way it is. There also are two end chairs painted antique white and stained for a distressed look. They are more distressed than the photo is showing. Here are some pics of my dining-room…so please let me know what you think. Paint it black or leave it blue?

~dining-room looking towards the living-room~

~dining-room looking towards the french doors to the back yard~

Ooops…I see that I left my ironing board and a couple of framed pictures tucked back in the corner by the chest-of-drawers. Speaking of that corner…here are a couple of closeup photos of that area. Think it might still need some tweaking.

The chest-of-drawers is an old piece that my MIL got at an auction 23 years ago. She gave it to me as a gift by my youngest DD’s nursery. It has been in the dining-room for many years now and I keep all my table linens and candles in there.

The shelf  in this corner of the dining-room is painted black and we have a wall unit with bookshelves in the living-room that is also painted black and distressed. My thinking was that by painting the blue areas black…it would tie it together with the other black pieces as the dining-room and living-room are open to each other. I’d love to heard what all my prim friends think…so I hope you all will leave me a comment.

Until next time….     prim blessings, Cindy

Brrrrrrrrrr……. It’s cold outside here!!  With the wind chills, it feels more like zero out there and they are calling for a few inches of snow. And where there is snow…there is prim snowmen of course!! 

~snowman grouping in my old sewing drawer~

~snowman towel on old ironing board~

I always leave a few of my snowmen out through part of January, but in a couple of weeks that will change to some hearts for the month of February. Now that all the holiday decor is put away…I’m in the mood to do some tweaking and rearranging. Do any of you get like that also? It seems that at the first of every year, I’m ready for some changes…but this year there are also some changes coming that don’t have to do with decorating.

One of those changes is that I’ve decided it’s time to slow down on the craft shows after 26 years of doing them…but I’m still going to do my largest show, which is the Sauerkraut Festival in October. Not sure if I’m going to keep one Christmas show yet, but I’ve got some time to think about it.

Why am I slowing down?… A lot of it is due to the feet/knee and leg problems that I’ve had since I was little. The long hours of being on my feet during the shows and the setting up/tearing down really got to me this past year. It’s a long story,  but I’ve known since I was a teenager that the older I got…the more problems I would have. Can’t tell you how many doctors that I saw from the age of 5  to 15 years old…surgery couldn’t and can’t be done without  a too high of risk of maybe crippling me.  The doctors have told me for years that I need a more leisure lifestyle to help me not be in so much pain. Most people don’t even know that I have a problem, because I don’t say much about it and I keep going even if I’m in pain. However, this past year has made me realized that the time has come to make sure that I take care of myself a little more as I’m getting older and listen to what the doctors are saying…which means, I need to make some changes in my business and my lifestyle. 

So what shall a crafting gal do if she doesn’t do shows ? Well….my on-line business did really good last year until I got into show season and it was just too much for me to keep up with everything. I ended up putting all my time and energy into my shows since I had already committed to them…and because of that, my on-line business suffered a setback. So another change for me this coming year…is to get it back up and running again…and to spend my time and energy on it. I’m a little nervous about this change in my business, but the excitement definitely out weighs it! I’ll keep you posted as I hope to have lots of prim goodies to share.

If you all are still with me…I wanted to share with you where I put my sugar buckets for now and to show you my new game-board sign that I ordered from Lisa at “Primitives from Above”.

She was selling these on her selling blog “Londonberry Primitives” and since we don’t live that far from one another, we met each other this past Saturday afternoon when she and her hubby came to town. It was great to see her again. (Thank you, Lisa…I just love my sign…it’s perfect!!!) It is going to go up in the hallway with all my game-boards…so now, I need to get busy and hang them all up. I’ll be sure to take some pictures to share with all of you.

Until next time….     prim blessings, Cindy

I’m back as promised to show you some peeks of the prim goodies that my sister got for her new “old” home. They are still getting settled in and have lots of work to do. The main part of their home was built in 1861 and there are 3 additions that have been added on over the years. The 1861 house is now the living room and also has the bathroom. An addition to the left side of the home is the kitchen, an addition to the right side is a bedroom, and the addition off the back of the 1861 house is a 10 x 25 foot dining room and another bedroom. Also off of the dining room is a 3 season porch.  You can’t tell from looking at the outside, but the original home was a log cabin…however the wood looks more like small planks than logs. They just recently exposed an outside wall, but it is now a wall in the kitchen. I will share more pictures as they go through the stages of turning back their home to its long ago roots.

My sister has decided to do primitive decorating in her new “old” home. She has loved country cottage decorating for as long as I can remember, but one day I showed her one of my Judy Condon books and that changed everything!! She knew then that she wanted to purchased an old house with history and she wanted to decorate it with primitives. So about a year ago, while house hunting…she also went thrift shop hunting and started to collect some prims. Well…her dear hubby, Mr. C decided to surprise her with a few primitive things for Christmas and just look at what he got her.

~An Old Jelly Cupboard~

Isn’t it just wonderful!! He didn’t stop there as he also got her some prim goodies to display on top of it. The clock sitting off to the right side…

…and an old  grease light.~

She also got a rod iron hook to hang some old baskets from, but if you look closely at this next photo…you will see that her kitties think it is something for them. LOL…

 If you take a peek…you can see that there is all wide wood around the door frame and it is also used for all the baseboards. They are going to be painting all of it through-out the house a tan color and then rubbing some gel stain over it.

In this last photo of her all decorated jelly cupboard…you can get a small peek of her kitchen.

For now she has taken off all the upper cabinet doors as they were in really bad shape. Our brother has a friend that specializes in redoing old kitchens and he is going to build them some new “old” prim cupboards that will fit the feel of the house. Well, I hope you have enjoyed some sneak peeks of my sister’s home…and I will be sharing more in the months ahead as they work on it.

Oh…I also forgot to show you the prim goodie that my sister gave me for Christmas.

~An Old Wooden Masher~

For now, I have it displayed in the old kitchen cubby that I got from the prim shop that is right around the corner from my sister’s house. How fun to have this shop right near there!! Just think of all the prim trouble that we could are going to get into!! LOL…

Best be going for now…I need to get some rest as I’m going go help paint Peyton Bradley’s nursery in the morning. Only 5 weeks until he is due!! Until next time…..     prim blessings, Cindy

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Mr. D’s family, our girls were here on Christmas Day, and Saturday evening we were at my parents home to have Christmas with my family. We’ve had a lot of fun…there has been much laughter, a lot of hugs & kisses, and many new memories made!! Our nieces on Mr. D’s side of the family are now both engaged, our niece on my side of the family recently found out that she is expecting her second child and of course, my little grandson is due in 5 weeks. Our family has had many things to celebrate this season and have two little precious ones to look forward to in 2010. (And this grandma can hardly wait for Peyton Bradley to arrive!!)

I guess from the title of my post…you all know that I got something very special as a Christmas gift and that it was something prim. Well, here is a picture of it….

Yeap…I got an old sugar bucket. I’ve  been doing the happy dance ever-since I opened it!! I’d like to share the story of how I came to be the new owner of this very old sugar bucket.

Let’s start at the beginning….

I have wanted some old sugar buckets for quite some time now…after seeing them in the homes in Country Sampler and Country Living magazines. I’ve spent the last year or so looking for some in the thrift shops, antique malls, and flea markets. I’ve never been able to come across any at the thrift shops or flea markets….and I can’t afford the ones that I see at the antiques malls. 

 So, I did the next best thing and got myself some small ones at a local prim shop this past year that were reproductions.

Well, about two months ago while visiting Mr. D’s parents…I noticed my MIL’s old sugar bucket sitting in their living room and I asked her where she had gotten it as I couldn’t remember. She told me that she gotten it from some friends that had an auction after the passing of their mother and that she really loved it…which I knew she did as she has had it for about 20 to 25 years now. I can remember going with my MIL to visit her friend’s mother a time or two on the farm that they lived on way out in the country. It was a big old white farmhouse with a wrap-around porch….and I can still see the picture in my mind of her country kitchen with lots of old primitive pieces.  Hmmm….I wonder if the old sugar bucket was in her kitchen?

OK, now to Christmas Eve…  

After helping my MIL and SIL pass out all the gifts…I sat down to open mine and don’t ask me why, but I had saved this unusual looking shaped gift for last. As I’m taking off the wrapping paper…I can start to see what it is and I looked at my MIL and said ” Oh my!! You didn’t, you didn’t!! …..just give me your old sugar bucket!!” She laughed and said “Oh yes I did!!” I jumped up off the sofa, gave her hugs & kisses…told her that I loved it and would cherish it forever!! She told me that she knew I would and that she thought is was the perfect gift to give to me.

I can’t even begin to tell you all what this means to me…it has touched my heart that she has given this old sugar bucket that she loves to me. I will think of my MIL every time I look at it…and remember this special Christmas that she passed the old sugar bucket on to me.

My sister also gave me something old and prim for Christmas, but I’ll share that on my next post. Plus, I’ll share some photos of an old primitive piece that my sister’s hubby give to her as a Christmas present. When she showed me the pictures…I told her that I had just gone to primitive heaven!! Can’t wait to share her prim goodies with you and the first peeks of her new “old” home.  The main part of her house was built in the mid-to-late 1800’s. I can’t remember the exact date…so I have to check on that before my next post. So, be sure to stop back by in a few days.

 Until then….     prim blessings, Cindy

Hope everyone is enjoying all the sights and sounds of Christmas. I sure am!! I love to sit in our living room with all the lights off except for the Christmas trees, the lighted garlands, and the candles…with the Christmas music on, softly singing along and enjoying the moment…and remembering what Christmas is really all about.

I don’t free as stress out this year as I have in years past…finished wrapping the gifts yesterday and am starting my baking this afternoon after I pick Josie up from school. Looking forward to spending this time with Josie as it brings back memories of all the Christmases spend with my grandma when I was a little girl. Every Christmas I would go to her house to make cut-out sugar cookies. We really got into icing them and decorate them with sugar & sprinkles. Sometimes they were so pretty that I didn’t want to eat them.  The recipe that we used was one that my grandma made up herself and it is the recipe that I use still today….and the icing has to be white Jiffy icing. Thank goodness that I can still find this brand because the cookies just wouldn’t taste like grandma’s if I used another kind.

I made Christmas cookies with my grandma  and my mom up until I had my first child. After that, my mom & I started making them with my girls and my sister’s girls…and grandma came if she could. Now I make them with Josie…and up until my grandma passed away a few years ago, I took some of these sugar cookies to her every year at Christmas. When she was in the nursing home…she would hide them in a bottom drawer, so that the nurses wouldn’t eat any. And she would tell them that I made these for her…from her recipe and that they were special and no one else could eat them but her. It was such a magical time to spend time with my grandma around the holidays. After all the baking got done…we would go downtown that night and look at all the pretty Christmas window displays at the big department stores.

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Last week, I went out to lunch with a friend and we exchanged gifts…and then did some thrifting. I can’t believe it, but I actually found some things. For several months…there has not really been much at our local GW or thrift shops, but this time we both found some prim goodies. First I’ll show you my Christmas gifts that my friend gave me….

~the old heart shape mold~

~the old wood scoop~

~the small iron-stone white pitcher on the right~   The other two pitchers, I purchased that day while thrift shop hunting…the little green one from the GW for .59 cents and the white one with the word DRINK from Marshall’s for $4.00.

And my favorite find of the day was this prim goose pull-toy that I got for $4.00 at a local thrift shop. I have a small sheep pull-toy and plan to display them together after the holidays. We had a fun day of going to lunch, exchanging gifts, and thrift shop hunting.

And now for the goodies that I won. Deb from “Crows On The Cupola” had a giveaway and I won her hand-painted snowman fireplace match stick box…and 2 of her hand-painted snowmen spoon ornies. I have the box sitting on top of a book shelf with some old band-boxes and the spoon ornies are on my snowman tree. (Thank you so much Deb…your work is awesome!! And I will treasure them forever.) 

Well my prim friends, I’m off to go get Josie from school so that we can start making our yummy sugar cookies… going to turn up the Christmas music, sing along and enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas with my granddaughter!! And after the baking is done…we will turn off all the lights but the Christmas ones and enjoy watching a Christmas movie together as we’ve done for some years now.

Until next time….     Prim Blessings and Merry Christmas, Cindy

It sure has been a busy week for me and it has gone by just a little too quickly. I still have some shopping to finish up, then all the wrapping to do…and at the beginning of next week, I will start all my baking so that it will be fresher for our three days of celebrating Christmas with our families. My little helper, Josie, will be in the kitchen with me. It will be time to turn up the Christmas music, and sing-a-long as we bake away. It’s going to be busy, crazy…but wonderful!!

As promised from my last post, here are some more peeks at my prim country Christmas…

 ~A prim snow angel holding a little bird…this sits on a small entry table right inside of our front door. I got this snowman a few years ago at a local prim shop.  The tin candle holder came from a thrift shop and the water pitcher from Target. It’s lighter in this photo than it actually is…the pitcher is a light tan color with brown specks.

~An old sewing drawer with a prim teddy bear in a Santa suit…holding a tinsel candy cane, an old Christmas bag with stenciled candles on it (I made this back in the early 80’s), a pillow tuck, and the prim snowman ornie that I got this year at one of my holiday shows. This is sitting on a shelf in one of the bookcases in our living room.

~A prim Santa with a stocking made from an old quilt…with greenery and a prim candy cane. I got this from a very talented doll maker that I used to do shows with. I just loved her work and miss her as she retired from doing shows about 5 years ago.

~A couple of prim snowmen that I placed among the goodies with some greenery on my tavern shelf. This is in our living room above the sofa. The snowmen, the blackbird make-do, the plate, and the fabric pears all came from our local primitive shop. Got the stoneware water pitcher from the GW.

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my Christmas decor.  Also hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays…and may all your wishes come true! My Christmas wish is that we all are surrounded by those we love, that we give glory to God in the highest, and that it is a day of peace on earth and goodwill towards all!!

Until next time…..     prim blessings, Cindy

 Twas 11 days before Christmas and all through my house, not a creature was stirring…not even this mouse.

The tweaking is now done, I hope…as Christmas will soon be here.

But I have visions of  sugar cookies dancing in my head…as I’ll be in my kitchen making so much clatter that I’m sure Mr. D will soon be in to see what is the matter. Well, he’ll be in to sneak a cookie or two!! (LOL…)

I still have lots of shopping to do…as all the stockings need filled and gifts to be put under the tree too.

So that there will be a Merry Christmas for all…the young ones and the young at heart too!!

Remember on my last post, I mentioned that I was going to a prim shop’s 12 days of Christmas sale. The shop is called “Country Blessings” and is about 20 minutes away. It’s the shop where I got my border for my craft/sewing room. I had not be there since before craft show season started…so I missed seeing it all decked out for fall, but I’m so glad that I got to see it decorated for the holidays. It was a “Prim Country Christmas” lovers’ delight!! Lots of goodies to purchase and great decorating ideas too!! And yes, I did get myself a couple of things… a prim Snow Angel and a fabric bird. I’ll show you the bird on another post. I got it to put in the bedroom and am still working on that grouping…but here is my Snow Angel.

She is in a little grouping that is behind the picket fence that goes around the trees. (Ooops…I need to hide those electrical cords.) Here is a close-up look at her…

She was made to hang on the wall. I had walked past some that were laying down and they were very flat. Didn’t really catch my eye, but then I saw one that was standing up and she was so adorable!! Hmmm….I wondered how the shop owner got her to stand up?

With a 2 liter pop bottle. Very clever indeed and as you see, the snow angel came home with me.  I have a few more pictures of my Christmas decorating, but I’m going to wait and share them on another post in a few days. 

Until then…..   Wishing you the blessing of memories and that the joy of this season be one that stays with you always, Cindy

Wow…has it been cold here the last few days! And I mean really cold!!…And windy!! I can’t believe it, but I went out in it both days. I made a couple of pillows for orders and needed to deliver them.

~Candy Cane Pillow~

A friend of mine order this to sit in a wooden box with a bunch of candy canes that are all different sizes. I’ll have to see if she will let me take a picture of it to share with you. The candy cane is machine embroidered and has a green checked homespun fabric on the back.

~Crow Pillow~

I made this for a customer that had purchased a crow pillow from me last year at one of my holiday shows and she was wanting another one.  The one she got last year had a  hand-stitched crow sitting on top of a pear, but on this one she just wanted an appliqued crow. The back fabric is red checked homespun.

I finally got all my Christmas decorating done, but I’m sure that I will be tweaking it between now and Christmas. I’m going to go to a prim shop this coming week and she is having a 12 days of Christmas sale…and you never know, I might come home with something. Which means…I’ll have to tweak my decor, but that’s ok cuz tweaking is fun!!

Remember this old cubby that I picked up at the prim shop near my sister’s home…

Well, I finally put it in the kitchen on my counter-top and have started to decorated it. I still need to put a few things in it, but I’m liking how it is looking.

I finished up decorating all the trees yesterday. One in the dining room…

and two in the living room.

This one is of my snowman tree…I will take the candy canes off of it after the holidays and leave it up until the end of January. 

I best be going for now…need to address my Christmas cards and get them sent out. I’ll be back in a few days to show you some more of my Christmas decorating. Did some grouping of items to sit near the tree…behind the picket fence the goes around the trees. Why the picket fence you ask? To keep this cute little angel, named Chloe, from playing with the ornaments.

 Until next time….    Wishing you the blessing of warmth and may it feel your hearts this Christmas Season, Cindy

I hope everyone is having a great day wherever you are…we had our first snowfall this morning. Not a lot of snow, but enough to make the view out my windows very pretty. I’ve been trying to finish up my holiday decorating and thought that I would share some more photos with you of my country Christmas.

~game boards with Christmas pillow tuck and greenery~

~prim snow ladies~

~flying snowman with little plaid stockings~

~faux Christmas cookies and a little snowman~

~ prim snow girl with her winter friends~

~prim Santa with berry wreath~

I still have more decorating to do…the trees are in place, but I need to put the ornaments on them. It is so fun going through the ornaments and other decorations… and thinking about all the memories of Christmas’ past. I love decorating the tree and all the nooks & crannies in our home with these goodies as it brings back special times of when my girls were little. One of my favorite traditions is baking Christmas cookies, which we will be doing within the next week or so.

Well, I had better go work on a few orders that I need to fill. Be back in a couple of days with more photos of my Country Christmas. Until then….     prim blessings, Cindy

At my house…it is finally beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I still have to put the trees up and more decorations, but I wanted to give you a peek at what I’ve got done so far. (Not gotten very far with it as I’ve been busy getting things ready for my oldest DD’s baby shower that is tomorrow.)

This is the side-board/server that sits against the wall between my living room and kitchen. It’s hard to really see everything…so here are some close-ups of the goodies that I have there.

The candy cane candle was given to be by a friend of mine when I was in high school…I just love it and put it out every year. The old teddy bear was my youngest DD’s when she was little. (My baby just turned 23 this past Wednesday, Dec. 2nd)

It’s not showing up very well, but the item with the white fuzzy trim is a stocking cone with greenery, berries and a crow in it with a candy cane handle the I made  a couple of years ago.

My two glass candle holders came from a local prim shop. My mom gave them to me for Christmas a few years ago. They have a rusty candle holder in them with red berries on the bottom. I made the little bucket with the snowman faces in it last year.

Speaking of my youngest DD’s birthday…we took her out to eat last night and went over to the Cheesecake Factory at “The Greene” and it was so pretty on decorated for the Holidays.

Well, I’ll be back in a few days to share some more decorating pictures and some pictures of the baby shower, but before I go…I just have to show you the cupcakes that Josie and I made for her mommy’s shower.   I put on the icing and then  Josie put on the blue sugar and the candy. I thought that they turned out really cute! Who knew that you could buy candy pacifers…they taste like sweet-tarts.

Until next time…..       prim blessings, Cindy

Isn’t this the cutest little snowman clothes pin ornie!! I purchased this from a fellow crafter at the show on Saturday. I can’t wait to hang him from a branch on my snowman tree. The show was good, but the crowd was all gone by noon around the time that the Ohio State vs Michigan game started…which made for a very long afternoon. Here’s a few pics from my booth…the set up was about the same as the other Christmas show, but with a lot more fuzzy snowmen in the booth.

The snowmen were a hit again, but I still have some left to take to show this coming weekend. I almost sold out of the Christmas/Winter jewelry that I had and sold all the snowmen pillows but one. I’m also low on dish towels and was busy today embroidery more of them. I’ve been doing some prim Christmas/Winter designs and I love how they are turning out. Hopefully, I’ll have some pictures to share in a few days.

Oh….just look at what was delivered to my house this past week.

I had ordered this little rooster lamp to sit in the corner on the kitchen counter by the old cubby that I picked up from the prim shop by my sister’s house.  Hmmm…might need  penny rug for that rooster to sit on.

The cubby is a mustard color that has been sanded to show the red paint underneath…so the lamp should look really good sitting beside it. I can’t wait to get it in place on the counter and decorated, but it will have to wait until after this weekend when my show season is finally over.

Well, it late here…so I’m off to get some rest as I have another busy day of embroidery tomorrow. Until next time….    prim blessings, Cindy

Sorry that I’ve not been around this week as I been very busy getting things ready for “The Country Christmas Boutique” show that is this Saturday. I feel like I have so much catching up to do and I promise that I will be back to visiting all of you soon. I’ve only managed to get around to a few of your blogs this week and have missed reading what you all have been up to.

Remember on my last post, I mentioned that I had gone to a prim shop that was right around the corner from my sister’s new home…well, here are the goodies that I picked up.

I have wanted an old cubby for my kitchen for a long time and couldn’t find one…so, I was thrilled to find it. Now, I just have to find the time to get set up on the counter and put some prim goodies in it.

I also got this wire star that has rose-hips in it and does it ever smell good. I hung it from the knob of an old chest-of-drawers that is in my dining room. I love this old piece of furniture…my MIL purchased it at an auction and refinished it for me as a gift to go in my youngest DD’s nursery 23 year ago. It is one of my favorite pieces of old furniture that we have in our home. It is a great little piece to have in the dining room…I have it filled with tablecloths, placemats, napkins, and candles.

Well, I had better go as hear these little guys calling me to finish them up. 

I made 18 snowmen this week and all I have left to do is put on their eyes, noses, and  the snowflakes that go on the scarf. (Couldn’t find more rusty stars, so this bunch is getting rusty snowflakes instead.)

Oh, before I go…I have to show you a picture I took of my geranium that is still in bloom on my front porch. I’m so shocked that is still in bloom this late in November. I think that is likes where it is sitting and has been somewhat protected from the frost and cold nights that we have had.

This is what it looked like a week ago and now it has 11 flower blooms on it. I’m going to leave it out there as long as it is still in bloom….curious to see if it will still be in bloom on Thanksgiving.

Take care everyone and I’ll be back to post photos of the Christmas show either on Saturday evening or Sunday. Until then….       prim blessings, Cindy

My how time has gone by quickly…my first Holiday/Christmas show is in 5 days!! I’ve been busy working on getting some sewing items finished up, so that starting tomorrow…I can do some painted pieces. I finished up all my Winter/Christmas pillow tucks and realized that I had packed them all away without showing you any pictures of them. Remember theses  two pictures from a few post back…

Luckily, I had kept one Christmas pillow tuck for myself. I took a picture of it to show you, but I will have more to share after my show this weekend as I always take lots of photos of the items in my booth after in it all set up.

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Also on my last post, I showed you this picture of some fuzzy fabric and ask if anyone had any idea what I making with it.

And I’m thinking that by reading the title to my post…you all now know that it was Snowmen! Fuzzy Snowmen!! And I mean really Fuzzy Snowmen!!! This fabric was a pain to work with…my clothing got covered in fuzz when I cut the snowmen out and it got covered again when I sewed them together. But in the end, it was worth it as they turned out really cute. I made 8 of them…6 really large ones and 2 small ones. These next two pictures are of the small ones…the big ones are waiting for me to put their eyes and noses on. So, I’ll show you the big fuzzy snowmen in my next post in a few days. They all have little black buttons for their eyes, a polymer clay nose, 3 rusty jingle bells down the front of their body, a small rusty star on the body, and a large rusty star on the scarf…with a rusty snowflake hanging down from it.

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I took a break yesterday from all my crafting and went to a Christmas Open House at a prim shop that was in the next town over, which is about 20 to 25 minutes away. My friend and I sure had a fun time…and so did the other 50 to 100 ladies that were in there shopping. (This prim shop is the largest one we have around here and it is located in a large mall.) We stood in the checkout line for 45 minutes!! My friend asked if it was worth standing in that long line. We looked at each other, then laughed and said…Oh, Yea!!…at the same time!

I purchased some ornies for my Christmas trees…

…and a large red tin heart that I hung in my dining room with this big ladle.

We also got a free Gooseberry Patch Holiday cookbook…

Which after looking through it, made me want to make some Christmas cookies. And of course, it is too early to be making any of them just yet…so I did the next best thing and made some embroidered Christmas cookies. Only giving you a peek of the candy cane cookie for now and will share a plate full of these embroidered cookies with you soon.

Well, it is back to crafting in the work studio for me. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We are having the nicest temperatures here…65 degrees yesterday and 70 degrees today. Seems strange to be making snowmen when it is so warm outside, but I hear them calling for me to put their eyes and noses on. Until next time…. prim blessings, Cindy

I’m happy to report that my hiding in my work studio has worked…I did not catch the flu and I got a lot of crafting done.  Plus, Mr. D is feeling much better and has gone back to work. You know that when one doesn’t feel well, sometimes a cup of  hot tea can make them feel better. Well…..while in hiding, I made myself a cup or two, three…actually four cups of snowmen!! And I sure felt better when I got them all done. 

Since taking the photos…I added a little hang-tag to each one the says either “Snow Wishes” or “Snow Folk”. I think that they are much cuter than the photos are showing them…and I tried several times to get better pictures, but had no luck. Thinking it is the camera…I have a new camera on my Christmas Wish List. (Hint, Hint Mr. D) 

While in the kitchen trying to get good photos of the snowmen…I realized that I forgot to show you my newest rooster that I got right before we went to Tennessee. I only have a  couple of roosters…a large one on top of the fridge and my weathervane one…but I just had to add this one to the collection…it is a shelf sitter.

Think I will leave you with a peek at my next  project that I’m starting to work on. Any ideas on what you think it might be? Well…you’ll have to check back in a few days to see…cuz I’m only letting you have this peek for now.

Until next time….      prim blessings, Cindy

Hi everyone! Time sure is going by fast here at Cynthia lee Designs…my first Christmas show is 3 weeks from this coming Friday, so I’ve been hard at work creating lots of goodies. Thought that you might like a peek at what I’ve been working on for my Christmas shows. Some items are completely done…while others are in different crafting stages at the moment. I been working on candle mat/doilies, dish-towels, game boards, pillow tucks, dolls, and some framed pieces.

 Remember the Fall pillow tucks…I made 21 of them for my Fall shows and sold almost all of them, so I decided to do some Christmas/Winter ones. I have all 37 of them sewn and ready to be stuffed. I went to our local craft supply store today to pick up some tiny items to embellish them with. Be sure to check back as I will share more pictures of them when they are all finished.

Well, while at the craft store…I just had to go check out the home decor department and look at what I treated myself to. I just love it!! This crock is pretty large in size and I have it sitting on the floor in our living room. 

Ok, back to crafting…I did some machine embroidering today on some round tea-dyed candle mat/doilies. I think my favorite is the candy cane design. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the snowflake one was done with silver metallic thread.

Here are a couple of the dish towel designs that I got embroidered, but they still need to be appliqued onto the towels. Don’t you just love the little prim snowmen!! Hope to get some more dish towels done tomorrow as I have about a dozen of them to finish up.

 Well, it’s getting late here…so, I’m off to get some rest. See you all in a few days with some more peeks of some prim goodies that are in the works. I can’t wait to show you the tiny framed pieces that I started earlier today….if you love snowmen as much as I do, I think you will love them!! Until next time…..     prim blessings, Cindy

 It was such a pretty Fall day here on Sunday…the air was cool and the leaves were falling. We went to see Josie cheer at the last pee-wee football game of the season. It was in a park…perfect setting for a pretty Fall day.

I’ve been busy getting prim goodies made for my upcoming shows, but I did take a little time to do some tweaking of my Fall decorating. Filled my glass candle holders with Fall colored berries, tiny pumpkins, and acorns. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the candles are three shades of orange. They look great sitting in the rusty tin holders in the glass jars. 

Remember on a few posts back…I showed a photo of my little pumpkin tins that were in my kitchen and I mentioned that I might paint them to make them stand out more. Well, I did  and here is what they look like now.

I also put out a cute prim dish towel and pillow tucks of Halloween cupcakes designs. Not sure why, but I seem to have a thing about cupcakes at the moment. It all started when I purchased the book “Hello Cupcake”…thinking that cupcakes would be a great thing for Josie and I to make together. When she stayed with me the other night…we picked out the pumpkins cupcakes to make to take to Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s home.

Well… today it’s back to working on Christmas goodies for my shows. It is a little over 3 1/2 weeks to my first holiday show with lots of prim goodies still needing to be made. I’ll be back in a few days to post some pictures of what I’ve been working on. Until then….     prim blessings, Cindy

I’ve been busy this week trying to finish up some items for my next show this weekend.  Got 16 of these little Fall pin-keeps/pillow tucks done. I really like the way they turned out…even had to keep one for  myself.

 All sixteen are different, but each one has a felt leaf and a little button on it…some have a leaf button, some have a sunflower button, and some have a pumpkin button.

I also took a little time this week to finish up my Fall/Halloween decorating…and thought that I would give you a peek at some of the prim goodies that I put out.

All of these wonderful creations in these next 3 photos were made by my friend Linda.(the one that lives here in Ohio near me)  All of these are sitting in the book shelves in the living room. 

The glass pumpkin sits on the kitchen counter with faux mini pumpkins and faux candy corn. The little scarecrow sitting on top of the pumpkin is a piece that I purchased years ago at a festival…and I gave him a little update with the whimsy folk-art pumpkin angel pin that I made and put on his collar.

The tin pumpkins are also in my kitchen on top of a cupboard…thinking about painting the pumpkins orange so that they show up better. And the tiny jack-o-lanterns inside of the rusty wire pumpkin sit on top of my old jeweler’s cabinet that is between our living room and dining area.

The fabric pumpkin, the prim jack-o-lantern pillow tuck with a rusty safety pin nose, and the Fall pumpkin print pin-keep are the goodies that I made…and kept for myself. The watercolor jack-o-lantern/Happy Halloween was painted by my youngest daughter. (She is graduating in March from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a graphic arts degree. She has done her whole schooling with them on-line.) And the last photo is of some goodies that I purchased at my Fall shows last year…and they are hanging inside of a cheese basket that my cousin made. 

Hope you enjoyed peeking at some of my Fall/Halloween goodies. I most likely will not be back with another post until Monday. We have to sit up the booth on Friday evening…and will be at the show on Saturday and Sunday. If any of you are coming to the Sauerkraut Festival, my booth is #526 down near McDonald’s…and I hope that you will stop by to say hi as I would love to meet you.

Until next time…..     prim blessings, Cindy

I can hardly wait for this coming Sunday to get here…as it is the start of my show season for this year. This coming Sunday I will be at “Oktoberfest” in Urbana and the following weekend I will be at the “Sauerkraut Festival” in Waynesville. I’ve been working on 32 little pillow tucks and hope to finish getting them stuffed tomorrow. I’ll share some of those with you on my next post in a few days.

I have almost all the fabric pumpkins done and thought that I would show you a few more of them.

I think I like these better than the first ones that I made…and I’m pretty sure that one or two of these are not going to make it to the show on Sunday. Why?…because I might just have to keep one or two for myself. I used to always take everything that I made to my shows with the thinking that I would just make myself another one at a later date…the only problem there was that I never did. So now if I really like something that I make for my shows…I make sure to keep one for me.

I’ve made so many pumpkins that I believe I’ve made a pumpkin patch!! (36 of them) Hope everyone likes them as much as I do.

I’m not sure if I ever mention that Mr. D works for a health department…and they are getting ready for their swine flu shot clinic. Needless to say, things have been very hectic for all of them at work. Well…while standing in the check-out lane at the store, Mr. D and I saw the perfect thing to bring a little fun to their busy work day. We just happened to see the perfect cupcakes on the cover of cooking magazine. Oh, yes we did (LOL…) and Mr. D & I made ~Piggy Cupcakes~!! I heard that they were a big hit and everyone loved them.

Hope everyone has a wonderful “Fall” week…and I’ll be back in a few days to share the pillow tucks and hopefully some other goodies that I want to get made. I’ll have to see how my week goes as I still need to get a few cloths made for the displays in my booth. Since I’m no longer making embroidered/appliqued clothing, we needed to get a new display to replace the clothing rack. I’m happy to say that we did find some…but I was even happier when we found this on sale…

… a little red Paula Deen coffee pot!! It matches the pots & pans the Mr. D got me for Christmas last year. I just love it sitting on my stove top…it makes me smile every time I go into the kitchen!!

Until next time….. prim blessings, Cindy

I had planned on posting before now, but this weekend didn’t go as planned. Mr. D and I got up early on Saturday morning to go to the “Country Living Fair” in Columbus which is about an hour away and is held on the historical grounds of “Ohio Village”. We went last year and really enjoyed the show. The weather was feeling like fall and it was a perfect day…Well,until we got there. While walking from the parking lot to the show area…my foot went sideways in a crack in the road and it all went down hill from there!! Yeap…I fell down!! I ended up with a swollen right ankle, a banged upped right knee, a sprained right hand/wrist,  and my right thumb went out of joint. After my knee hit the ground and then my right hand gave out…I ended up hitting my left shoulder and left side of my face on the road. I thought for sure that I was going to smash face first into the road and I’m not sure how I even thought to turn my face. I’m so thankful for no broken nose or any other broken bones…just very sore with a little swelling here and there. Did I turn around and go home…Nope!! I used a very cold Pepsi can as my ice-pack and decided to enjoy the show as best as I could. However, I have spent the last couple of days just resting…hoping that if I took it easy that I could get back to crafting for my Fall shows today.

I did take a few pictures at the show, but not many as I just was not up to it. Hope you enjoy the ones that I did manage to take.

 They had quilts hanging on the side of some of the old buildings. I just loved how they looked, so I thought that I would take a picture of my favorite one to share with you. This show has a very charming feel with it being set among the old buildings of the village. There were over 170 crafters, artisans, and antique dealers…plus a Harvest Market with local produce. Gooseberry Patch, Country Threads, Longaberger Baskets, Lt. Moses Willard, Inc. and Stampin’ Up were there…I’m sure they were more that we all have heard of that I’m forgetting about.

It looked like Fall had arrived throughout the whole grounds of the show…just wish I could have enjoyed it more. And look, the “Oscar Meyer Mobile” was there on display…it sure was one big car!! 

I did get a few goodies while I was there. If any of you save your issues of Country Living magazine…back in the August 2008 issue they featured a doll artist and she was exhibiting there this year. I just loved her dolls and decided to get one. A lot of them were holding little bears, rabbits, cats or dogs…you will see by this next photo why I just had to have one. Nothing like a little prim dollie with her Yorkie!!

I also pick up a couple of prim ornies that were made from old quilt tops.

And this is where I put them…

Well, my prim friends…that is all I have for now as my hand is starting to bother me. I did go back to doing a little crafting today and got 5 dish towels embroidered. So between that and the typing…I think it is time to give my hand a rest.  Oh….I almost forgot, my DD had her ultra-sound and we found out that our grandbaby that is due in February is a boy!! They are now trying to pick out his name…I’ll keep you posted. See you all in a few days to share more goodies for my upcoming shows. Until then…..     prim blessings, Cindy

There sure is a lot of pumpkins taking over things in my work studio…making 36 pumpkins at one time is a lot of pumpkins!! I have some done…some stuffed…and some waiting to be stuffed, but I’m really happy with way there are looking. What do you think?

I’ve been using all different kinds of Fall prints…there are checks, plaids, stripes, pumpkins, stars, polk-a-dots, patchwork and more. Some look more prim than others. I wanted to have a variety because not everyone that comes into my booth shares my love of prim/primitive things, but all of the pumpkins that I’m making will look great in a country decorated home.  I’ll share some more of them soon…and I promise not to bore you with all 36 of them. I will have some of the fabric pumpkins listed on my selling blog sometime this week, but I have listed the Fall Leaf pin and Sunflower pin if anyone is interested in them.

 Now I’m going to tell on myself…I just had to try these fabric pumpkins out to see how they would look sitting on my server/side board table. And I can tell you that I’m pretty sure that not all 36 of them will make it into my booth at the Fall craft shows…I just might have to keep a few for myself!!

I also have to share some pics of my little punkin with you. Chloe was being my helper…Not!! She seem to think that one of my fabric crates was a very good place to make into her bed.

In the second picture, I tried to take a picture while she was asleep, but she heard me and lifted up her head…Chloe had been sleeping with her tongue out. Too Cute!! Well, my helper and I will be spending a lot of time in my work studio as there is only 3 weeks left before my first show of the Fall season. I’ll be back soon with more prim goodies to share. Until then…..     prim blessings, Cindy