A vintage junkie

I have a confession. I am a vintage junkie! I was so excited to find these ornaments. There was a whole table full of all shapes and sizes. When I arrived at the table no one was looking at them so, I was taking my time looking over each one and then all of a sudden ladies were pushing and shoving trying to get the ones they wanted, so I scooped up as many as I could hold. If you could have seen all these ladies( It was war!). Vintage junkies everywhere!

Winter White Pixie

I have worked on her all week and she is finally finished. She is a Winter White Pixie and they only appear hear in Florida when the weather is very cold (it has been a little on the chilly side). She is only here for a short stay. Another photo shoot and she will make her way to my store.

Painting roses and crafting pretty little shoes

I decided this year to add a little pink to the tree. Last year it was all about stars and this year it seems to be shoes. I have decided they look like something Cinderella might wear. I am still in the process of making more. I love painting roses!

I Won A Giveaway!

I was so excited to win this christmas bell and it is just a perfect ornament for my tree! I know you are wondering who gave this beautiful gift and the blogger is Just Lilla. I just love her blog and her work! What I love about her is that you never know what the next post will be about. She is a very talented in many mediums and she also shares her creative journey with the readers and followers of her blog. Thank you Lilla!

What to do when your stuck inside and feeling a little blue? Let's go visit a lace museum! Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles Look at those beautiful gloves!
Irish Lace is one of my favorites.
White yo yo quilt with rick rack lace. I just love the combination of the two.

I can just imagine wearing these beautiful dresses!





My head is spinning with ideas of leather and lace!

My driftwood angel found her way to the top of the tree. I tied her to a cross and she made the perfect tree topper.I want to make some more to put in the shop, but all I seem to be able to find are little pieces and they need to be a pretty good size(driftwood).
I am not ready for this Christmas season to be over. I had so many ideas, so I have decided to dedicate most of my studio time this coming year to Christmas.
My angel Praise watched over all the Christmas festivities and was a reminder to me of how awesome it is to have a God who watches and cares for me. What would the world be like had he not come to this earth. A scary thought!
I had to dig in my picture files to come up with a post for this week. I thought I would share my dressing table. I have the smallest bedrooms in this house, but a girls got to have a place to put on her makeup and this is mine. My daughter in law gave me the little vanity. I think she purchased it at Target.I remember having something like it as a teen, small but it works. The piece in the back was a junking find. The mirror in the middle was broken, so I covered the wood backing with batting and material. It gives me a place to hang things and pictures that are special to me.

One of my sons inherited my love of old things and this is one of his finds.
Many years back, I worked in the framing department of Old America store. Every week a lady would come in with five or six of her pen and inks to have them framed. All Victorian ladies, but most very large pieces that I could just not afford, and then one day she walked in with this size and I just had to have one. This one is called Secondhand Sarah by La Forge.
This is a picture of my beautiful mother. She left this world to be with the Lord in 2005. She was also my best friend and I miss her something terrible. She started collecting frog pins( they are below her pic). I asked her why, and this is what she said:
F- fully
R- rely
O- on
G- God
Why the deer horns you ask. I was tired of them laying around, so I thought they could hold hanging things. They belong to the Dh and are a must keep.
The textile collage is in my store.

I thought my Seaside Santa would be the perfect pic to share. I made him a couple of years ago. What I love about him, is his coat. It really took more time than I usually spend on a piece. Lots of beading and ribbon embroidery and then right before sending him off to Art Doll Quarterly to be published, I added the shells. The little bears were made a few years ago and I hope to make some more in the coming year. I just love bears, but I am not crazy about how much space they can take up, so I designed this size(twelve inches being the tallest). If this is your first time to my blog, this Christmas season has been all about stars here at Sea Gypsy Cottage. I did not get as many made as I would have liked, so I will be working on them into the new year.There is just never enough time! If you would like to see how they are made just click here.







Mrs. Harvey's White Fruit Cake

Yesterday I spent the day gathering up the ingredients and making this fruit cake. It was in my Grandmothers recipe collection and it has been a while since I have made one. I am not crazy about dark fruit cake, but I love the white. I have a couple of recipe's for the white fruit cakes, but this is the one made this year.
Mrs. Harvey's White Fruit Cake
5 lg.eggs
1/2 lb. butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 lb.candied cherries
1 lb. candied pineapple
4 cups shelled pecans
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. lemon extract

Chop nuts and fruit into medium sized pieces; dredge with 1/4 c. flour. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add well beaten eggs and blend well. Sift remaining flour and baking powder together; fold into egg and butter mixture. Add vanilla and lemon extract and mix;then add fruit and nut mixture. Blend. Grease a 10 inch tube pan, line with paper and grease again. Pour batter into prepared pan and place in a cold oven and bake at 250 degrees for 3 hrs. cool in pan on cake rack. makes 5 lbs (cook small gift cakes at 250 for 2 to 2 1/2 hrs.
Fill pans to within 1 1/2 to 2 inches from top.
just a note: I did not use the paper. I just greased and floured each pan.

I wonder?
You might find this hard to believe, but each year the hair is whiter than the year before. I am married to Santa.LOL