Happy Holidays!

Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!  I am excited that we should have a white Christmas this year – the foot of snow that fell here last weekend hasn’t done too much melting yet.

On to my exciting news that I have to share – I am honored to have one of my chenille angel ornaments featured on the cover of the Winter 2009 issue of Celebrate 365 magazine.   I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my copy of the magazine to get a peek at what is inside as well.  A picture of the cover is below.

I also have two new sets of two Valentine’s Day ornaments to share.  Both sets are available now in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop. These little Victorian ladies are made of chenille with crepe paper skirts.

New Kitties and Works in Progress

I added a new set of kitty themed chenille ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy shop this past week – a set of 3 calico cats with paper Victorian scrap faces.  I have some hanging from the feather tree on my mantel and looking quite festive.

This holiday season has been keeping me quite busy with wholesale orders, but I am determined to complete some new dolls that I have been working on by the end of the coming week.  Below is a peek at them as works in progress, sitting behind and beneath a small sea of Christmas ornaments that I will be packing up tonight.

I hope to be showing these dolls completed very soon.

Snowman Ornaments and Quilting

I added a new set of chenille Christmas ornaments to my Old World Primitives Etsy Shop today – a set of 3 snowmen wearing red scarves.

They are all ready for the winter weather to begin! I’m not quite ready yet though… there are still plenty of veggies hanging in there in my gardens that I am hoping will ripen before the first frost.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekends!  I spent my Halloween with family and friends in beautiful Lancaster County, PA.   We made our annual trip to Cherry Crest Farm, did some shopping (I added the most wonderful new handmade folk art piece to my collection), and enjoyed our favorite local edible treats.  Lancaster County also happens to be the quilt capital of the USA, and during our visit we stopped into The People’s Place Quilt Museum. It was here that my husband Max finally came to appreciate the beauty and artistic merit of quilts… and decided that he just had to try making his own!  He bought a quilt kit in a local shop with the materials and instructions necessary to make a 22″ square wall hanging quilt.  I showed him how to use a sewing machine (for the very first time, believe it or not) and then he was off – and look at what he completed in his first day of both sewing and quilting.  I have to say, I am pretty impressed!

I can’t wait until he makes us a nice Queen sized quilt for our bed after finishing this one! Does anyone have any recommendations for designing your own quilt?

Chenille Christmas Cat and Dog Ornaments

I added two new sets of chenille ornaments to the Old World Primitives Etsy Shop today, especially for cat and dog lovers (like myself!).

They can be used as feather tree ornaments for Christmas or everyday, and would also make nice handmade wedding favors.

While starting to create for Christmas, I am still enjoying counting down to Halloween!  Last weekend I went to a spooktacular Halloween costume party that featured some truly out of this world decorations and interactive displays.  Below are some of the photos that I took during the evening, including pictures of the *least* scary decorations. In one room, the walls reached out and grabbed me… twice!

Witch and Angel Ornaments

This week finds me once again busily preparing items for both The Witches Ball on October 10th in Mount Holly, NJ (can’t wait – it looks like it will be such a fun evening!) and the next Early Work Mercantile update on October 1st.  The fun weekend excursions of fall have also begun – if the weather cooperates this weekend, I will be taking a trip out to beautiful Lancaster County, PA to do some shopping, get lost in a corn maze, and soak in the beautiful sights in the countryside.  I am also looking forward to going to The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze again this year.

I have also managed to squeeze in two new additions to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop.  First is a set of 2 vintage style Halloween ornaments made of chenille, crepe paper, and vintage witch faces printed on card stock.  The set includes 2 of the wee witch pictured below.

Second is a set of 3 Victorian angel Christmas ornaments made of chenille and Victorian angel faces printed on card stock.  They can be used as feather tree ornaments for Christmas or everyday, and would also make nice handmade wedding favors.

Vintage Style Chenille Christmas Ornaments

Today I am taking a short break from furiously preparing Halloween orders and show inventory to share the newest addition to  the Old World Primitives Etsy shop – a new set of 3 vintage style chenille Christmas ornaments.

Each Christmas ornament is made of chenille, Victorian Santa and vintage Christmas images printed on card stock, and a mini frosted Christmas tree.  They are the perfect size to use as either feather tree or Christmas tree ornaments.  They also make great gifts, and come packaged in a clear cellophane bag tied with a bow.

Christmas Home Tour – Primitive and Victorian Decor

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is getting to see how beautiful my parents’ house looks all decorated for Christmas. My Mom spends 5 days putting all of her decorations out, plus a 6th day for decorating the tree. This year when I was at their house helping decorate the tree, I took a bunch of photos of their primitive and Victorian Christmas decor to share here. One day, I hope that my home will also look this nice.

Their Christmas tree is filled with so many wonderful antique and vintage ornaments. I have been adding more decorations to my primitive twig tree at my home too – I will have to post some updated pictures soon. It also now has 5 strands of antique glass bead garlands on it that my Mom pulled out of a box of antique Christmas decorations from my grandparents.

Primitive Christmas Winter Wonderland

I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and enjoyed their holiday weekend. I spent quite a bit of time packing up all of the Halloween goodies in my home (well… most of them! some I love so much that they just have to stay out) and converting my decor over to Christmas and winter. Below are a few peeks at the fruits of my labor, featuring some of my favorite primitive Christmas ornaments and collectibles. I absolutely love burning holiday scented candles and lighting the fireplace during this time of year too.

Exciting Day on Etsy!

Today has been quite an exciting day for me on Etsy! This morning my Vintage Style Chenille Santa Ornaments were featured in an article on Etsy’s “The Storque” blog called Holiday 2008: Our Favorite Ornaments. A big Thank You to those who voted for me!

Then this afternoon I logged onto Etsy and discovered my new Primitive Mrs. Snowman Doll on the Etsy front page – what a thrill!

Christmas Ornament Contest on Etsy

One of the lovely ladies from the OFG Team on Etsy just pointed out to me that my set of 6 vintage style chenille Santa ornaments – which are also my WSOAPP Door Prize this month – have been included in an Etsy Holiday Ornament contest! The Storque article about the contest says, “You have until noon on Friday, November 21st, 2008 to cast your vote. You must be logged into Etsy to be able to vote. Your vote remains anonymous. 60 items were chosen by admin for your consideration.” My Santa ornaments that are featured in the contest are pictured below, if you would like to go take a peek and vote for me.

I would like to stay a visit a bit longer, but the holiday rush of orders and the sewing machine are calling me. I will have another new doll to share very soon. I am also delighted to have been accepted as a vendor on a new juried handmade marketplace site called 1000 Markets. My shop is here: Old World Primitives. And now I am off to get back to work on creating more goodies to fill it with!