Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

Getting Ready...

Hi Everyone, just a short pause in all the activity to write a few lines and show some photos of Ten Gables. Maybe the candy canes will show Santa the way to the front door!

I was getting ready for a little dinner party here. I put the silverware in the little stockings...sort of fun. The village in the background was poured and made in ceramics and then I painted all of them It was fun! That was years ago and I put them all out every year.

The tree is up, but it needs lots of wrapped gifts under it and today is gift wrapping day! So soon, it won't look so lonely!  Well, I am off to wrap packages and hope you are having fun preparing for Christmas. I first must put on some Christmas music! More soon. Have a great day, Egretta

Sandhill Cranes

Hi Everyone, I am so thrilled that a pair of big Sandhill Cranes have selected my yard for a place to stand around in, eating bugs, and maybe they will even nest somewhere! Do you remember the previous post I had about a pair who had nested in a drainage pond just off a busy highway? And then in rained so much that the nest was almost covered with water and some people rescued the eggs and moved them up on dry ground. The hen went back to sitting on the eggs and one of them did hatch. That was miles away from where I live, so this is probably not the same pair.

Anyway, I am thrilled and hope they like it here and stay around. They are so regal, standing about 5 or 6 feet tall and with a huge wingspan whenever they stretch them out. 

It was hard to get a photograph of them as they move around and the wind was blowing, so they turned  their backs to me most of the time to get their faces away from the wind. 

Here is a painting I did a couple of years ago of a pair with their chick. It is a huge painting and is just leaned up against the wall in my studio. I need to either sell it or hang it!
   I'm busy working on 4 paintings for a lady that will be Christmas presents. Back to the drawing board...hope you are getting all your Christmas decorating and baking done. I still have much to do!

Yummy Treats and a New Painting!

Hello Everyone on this beautiful December day! At least it is beautiful in Florida. It is in the seventies here and gorgeous with a very blue sky with a few puffy clouds and sunny. It is a good day to be outside and I hope to decorate my porches later this afternoon. I want to share a couple of quick and easy, delicious Christmas treat recipes with you first. The top one is Crock pot Fudge. It can be put in the crock pot and left for 3 hours and you have delicious candy ready to eat. 

Crock Pot Fudge Recipe

Put the following ingredients in the Crock Pot in the order given and let cook on low for 3 hours.

Then stir all together and drop by spoonfuls into tiny Christmas paper cups.

2 jars honey roasted salted peanuts

1 package German Chocolate

1 package semi sweet chocolate chips

1 package of White Almond bark.

Now, the above treats are called Reindeer Noses. You spread pretzels out on a cookie sheet. Put a white chocolate kiss in center and bake in a 275 oven til melted. Add an M and M candy after you take them out of oven. I didn't have the kisses, so I used little squares of white chocolate and turned the heat up a bit, then when soft, I sort of spread the white chocolate out with a knife. Not quite as pretty as the kiss would be, but still yummy.

Here is my latest watercolor painting of pink poinsettia flowers. Hope  you are enjoying a nice weekend wherever you are!

Christmas Decorations and Hand Painted Card

Hi Everyone, 

At the craft bazaar, I bought this little glass snowman from a lady. She had glued together two clear class bowls found, I am sure, at a dollar store and then sprayed them with spray snow and after it dried, added the features and made him scarf and hat. Very cute. Got to find a place to put him!

My grandson, Austin, helped me put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and to decorate it. This year I decided to use all the old ornaments that were handmade or those given as gifts or bought on our travels. Every ornament has a story and that really makes it special.

The three caroling dolls were made by my mother in the early 60's. I love their old fashioned faces that she embroidered on. They are very special to me. 

I think I must be in an old fashioned mood altogether! I painted a couple of cards this year and then printed them out on the computer. The colors don't look as bright as in the original, but they have that old fashioned look. They remind me of cards from the 40s or 50s. I never start early enough to get all the things done that I want to do before Christmas, do you? I wonder when one should start in order to get it all done....maybe before Thanksgiving, especially the card making. I did do a lot of ornaments early on. Today I am getting some ornaments and candy packages ready to mail. Got to run.....I hope you are busily enjoying your holiday preparations, too.

Blogging news

Hi everyone,  I hope you are preparing for a lovely Thanksgiving with family! I am taking a blogger break for a few days, just because I need some time for myself and to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a very busy time, as you know. So, if I am absent for a while, just know that I am still  being creative, still thinking about you and still looking at all my favorite blogs.
Here are a couple of things I am working on, to leave you with and I will be back soon, in a week or so. Happy Thanksgiving! Egretta

"Penny Rug" Ornaments. The story behind Penny Rugs is that long ago, ladies made round circles from woolen scraps, saving and using every available scrap, and made the circles into "pennies", then sewed them together to make rugs. Instead of making a rug, I made Christmas ornaments from the circles. They are addictive! I am still making them!

I am also making some chenille snowmen from an old chenille bedspread. The nose is made of felt and sewed on. Hats are from socks and dish towels!

More of the Penny Rug ornaments. 

BUSY...Wordless Wednesday...PALETTES