Handmade Boutique - St Patricks Day Tussy Mussys and Easter Village Houses

I've added a few new things to our Cottage Boutique!  First, my mom's beautiful little mini St. Patrick's Day Tussy Mussy's:

These Tussy Mussies are little ones! They're so cute!

Next, I made a few little Easter Village Glitterhouses:

Each house comes with a little Spring bottlebrush tree!  Pastel and glittered, like old fashioned Putz Houses.

Happy Christmas!

Just want to take a few moments to wish everyone a very Happy & safe Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. 

Scott is taking me out for breakfast tomorrow and then to the antique mall.  Hoping to find some new little goodies for my stitching projects! 

Glitter Houses Are Here!

Just a quick little update for this evening everyone.  I managed to list all of our Glitter Houses in the shop today:

And here's my latest video:

New Additions To The Shop & Quick Newsbrief

As much as I love blogging and love to blog everyday, there are days when I just can't squeeze one more thing in!  I'm in the process of getting caught up on adding our newest Christmas items to the shop.  I expect to have everything we have at the moment in there by the end of the weekend.  It's an extremely time consuming and tedious process.  Anyway, I'll start by sharing our latest additions.

These are mom's Gift Card Or Money Pockets:

Are these beautiful or what!  I can't believe how awesome my mom is at Mixed Media art.  She's always been so traditional but she really has a knack for this!

And here are Mom's Mixed Media Art Gift Tags:

Again, I'm so taken with how great Mom is at Mixed Media art.  These are so beautiful in person and seeing them, makes me want to make some!

This is my newest addition to the shop:

I have 2 of these little Gingerbread Man brooches in the shop.

I doubt I have to give anyone the link to our shop as I'm always shoving it down everyone's throat but just in case, here it is again:  Kitty & Me Designs.

I certainly hope I don't bore anyone with my "shop talk" but it's a huge part of what I do and I really, really enjoy it so much.  It's given my mom a sense of purpose and over all, I can see where it's helped keep her Bi Polar Disorder at a tolerable level.  For the most part, I can see that the ups & downs are not as extreme as they were.

For Kathi, it gives her an outlet for her creativity.  She has a stressful job as an insurance agent and making things for the shop helps to relieve her stress.

For me, it keeps my ADD mind occupied.  I always say, when the hands are occupied, the mind is occupied.  It helps to take my mind off the depression which I know is still there although I have noticed another twinge of improvement but the Seasonal Affective Disorder is loud and clear at the moment and may I say that hormone changes do not help!!!  I can really live without the night sweats!

Ok, so enough of all that.  I plug my shop constantly and I don't care.  I love making things and I love being able to give my mom and my sister an outlet for their creativity.

And speaking of my sister Kathi, I have a treat coming for you all!  She shared an original recipe with me and she wrote up a nice blog post to go with it.  I'll be making her recipe either later today or tomorrow, taking photos and sharing Kathi's post with you here.

In other news, I've been stitching on block #2 of my Marie Antoinette quilt.  I made some changes to the lace that I chose.  Just decided to go with something else.  I'll share an update on that in the next day or so.

For now, I'll leave you with a sneak peek of what's coming to the shop next:

Yes, Mom and I made some Putz style Glitter Houses!  These are not the actual houses that I'll be listing.  These photos are of the ones that Mom and I made last year.  I'll be adding 6 traditional glitter houses and 4 gingerbread glitter houses to the shop this weekend.  I'd like to get them all in the shop today but that's quite a bit of work so I may have to break it down and do some today and some tomorrow.

I don't think mom and I will be able to do anymore this season if any one wants them, keep your eye on the shop.  I've been asked several times if we'll be doing some this year so get them while you can.

On a final note, I am still planning on writing more Crazy Quilt tutorials and my article on Creatively Coping with the Holidays.  Lots of new things coming to the blog so please stop by often!

Busy Day!

Whew!  Never thought I'd get to just sit and blog today.  I went grocery shopping, stopped at the Dollar Tree, went to the Post Office, came home, put everything away.  Cooked up some Italian Sausage for low carb mini pizza's (I'll show you how soon), shredded a Zucchini, made a double batch of Zucchini muffins, a double batch of Banana Chocolate Chip muffins, decorated them, did laundry, did dishes, added a bunch of new stuff to the shop.....are you worn out yet?  LOL!!!  There are days when my ADD just keeps my butt moving right along.  Much better than when the depression has me dragging myself from project to project!

Anyway, thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my little Kitty & Me commercial.  It's not Spielberg by any means but it was fun.  I think I'll do an Autumn themed commercial over the weekend. 

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on my latest Give Away Drawing.  All names are in a basket and waiting for the winner to be picked by Bubba.  If you didn't see my post on the Drawing, click here.

Ok, so on to some pictures!  These are the latest additions to Kitty & Me Designs.  First, I've been making Glittered Bottlebrush trees like crazy!  I just love them!!

I have a few more at mom's that I'm working on.  I hope to finish them up tomorrow.

These are mom's latest creastions:

And here are Kathi's newest additions to our Autumn collection:

Like I said, very busy here!

I'm finishing up on a crazy quilt project and I'll have photos of that to share with you soon.  I pulled out the first block on my Marie Antoinette quilt so I'll be starting on that in the not too distant future as well.

For my newbie crazy quilters, I'm going to show you how to do your piecing on a muslin foundation.  I just need a little time to get that written up and be sure that I have photos to include. 

Finally for today, be sure to stop by tomorrow to meet my next Guest Blogger.  She's a lovely lady who makes that most gorgeous things! 

Altered Purse, Baking & More

I think I mentioned a week or so ago, that I was playing with a vintage purse that I purchased at a Flea Market back in November.  Well, I finally finished that up today.  Here is the before photo:



And here is the after photo:



It's really not THAT altered.  I sewed some fringy beaded trim at the top then added the trim with the roses to that.  Once I had that on, I sewed the ribbon on, gathering it and sewing it down as I went along.  Yes, the alterations are done completely by hand!  Quite a challenge to keep the thread from getting tangled in the sequins!

Anyway, I then made the bows for the sides and sewed them on.  My dilemma was with the handle.  It was in good shape but quite dirty.  I wanted to do something that was removable in case I ever wanted to change it or in case it got dirty from my use.  Mom suggested that I take some wide grosgrain ribbon and blanket stitch it over the handle.  Voila!  Perfect.  It's pretty, it's changeable and it's pink!

So that's my altered purse.  I really just plan on using it for my Flea Market trips.  My Crazy Quilt purses aren't big enough to put my purchases in and when I saw this, I thought it would be perfect as there are pockets for my wallet, my keys, my cellphone and then lots of empty space for my junkin' finds!  It just needed some pink girl-y stuff on it!

In Friday's post, I mentioned that I had made some Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding.  Yum!  I took a photo of it:



I used my own homemade bread that I had made a week ago and wanted to use up.  Here is my recipe:

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

4 Eggs
2 cups Milk
1/3 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 1/2 cups Dried Bread Cubes
1 cup Chocolate Chips

Beat together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.  Spread bread cubes out in a rectangle casserole dish (mine is about 2 inches high).  Sprinkle Chocolate Chips over the bread cubes.  Pour egg mixture over the bread & chips.  Bake at 325 for 40 - 45 minutes.

I was never that big on bread pudding but with chocolate, oh yum!  If you try this, please let me know how you like it!

I guess the baking bee was still in me today.  I made Chocolate Chip cookies:



And a Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Chocolate Chips:



Ok, so I like Chocolate!  I had one slice of bread and one cookie and they were so good!  I like to bake things for my dad.  He loves Chocolate too and has been complaining that I haven't made him any cookies lately.  Spoiled?!!!!  I mean really, mom bakes all the time!

Anyway, I also made a big pot of Chicken Soup today and some Taco Meat for salad during the week.  Now I can play all week and know that I have lunch and dinner taken care of.

While I was doing all that (along with 4 loads of laundry), I added some new things to my shop.  First are my sweet little Glittered Birdhouses:



Do they look like ice cream cones or what?!!!  Sprinkles and all!  I wanted them to look Summery.

These little cuties were made by Mom:



I don't know where she found those tiny clay pots!  These are so sweet and I believe the last of our Easter items for this year.

Last but not least, mom made 3 Gift Bags:







These are so pretty!  Mom did some hand-beading on each of these.  Remember, my mom is legally blind and only has a small amount of vision.  You would never know it by the quality of her work.  She's always had a great amount of determination in her.  She has said many times that it wasn't going to keep her from doing the things she loves. 

Well, that's my post for today.  I had wanted to put my Marie Antoinette quilt on the quilt rod today but I ran out of steam.  Yes, yes, I know.  I did plenty and I shouldn't push myself so much.  Not to worry, I've already taken a shower, had some soup for dinner and will be heading off to bed in a moment.  I'll worry about finishing up my Marie quilt tomorrow!

Glitter Houses for the Birds!

Yes, I do believe I've mentioned my love for glitter once or twice!  I finished these up this morning:



I love birds but these aren't for outside!  My husband would call these, "Look At Birdhouses"!  He learned a long time ago that anything stitched on or handmade is off limits to him.  Don't touch!!!  That's for looking at!

I glued some vintage lace to the roof of each birdhouse and then added glitter.  They're so sparkly!

And another finish of mine:



I finished this block up this morning before I went into town.  I can't believe I did 6 blocks already.  They seem to be stitching up a little quicker than my purses.  They're only 1 inch smaller! 

Anyway, here is block #7:



Not sure if I'll start on this one right away or if I want to do something else.  I have all these great ideas of things I want to do but I only have 2 hands and 1 brain.  We won't go there!  Ha, ha, ha!

Well, I have an order to put together and then I plan to relax and look through my magazines until my husband gets home. 

Gingerbread Cookies & Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Well, I think I'm just about done making Christmas cookies. I may do a pan of Peanut Butter bars over the weekend but then I think that'll be it. I plan to spend some extra time just stitching and playing with my stash.

I thought I would share 2 more recipes with you today. Gingerbread Cookies & Chocolate Shortbread Cookies:



I drizzled melted white almond bark on both, added red & green sprinkles to the Gingerbread and pink coconut to the Chocolate Shortbread.

Gingerbread

1 cup White Sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Evaporated Milk
1 cup unsulfured Molasses
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Lemon extract
5 cups unbleached all-purpose Flour

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine sugar, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Stir in the melted butter, evaporated milk, molasses, vanilla and lemon extracts. Mix well.
Add the flour, 1 cup at a time. The dough should be stiff enough to handle without it sticking to fingers. An extra 1/2 cup flour can be added if dough is too sticky.
Roll dough 1/4 inch think and cut with cookie cutters. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

As you can see in the photo, I made bars out of these. I rolled the dough onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and baked for about 25 - 30 minutes. You'll have to watch them because baking time differs from oven to oven. The dough should spring back in the center when you touch it. That's how you'll know when they're done. You should only need a single recipe of this dough to make bar cookies.

Usually, I make Gingerbread Kitties. I use a kitty cookie cutter and then decorate them. I didn't feel up to that this year but the bar cookies came out quite well!

Chocolate Shortbread

1 cup Butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
2/3 cup Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Baking Cocoa
Dash Salt

Cream butter & powdered sugar. Add salt and Cocoa. Mix well then add flour. Oven temp: 350 degrees.

I did the bar cookies with these as well but needed a double recipe to fill the pan. Baking time again for bars is about 25 minutes.

I'm not feeling well at the moment. I think I need to move around some. I'll leave you with an update on Block #2 of my Garden Crazy Quilt:



Oh, one last thing for today. If you'd like to see some real vintage Glitter Houses, hip-hop over to Freda's blog and take a peek! She has a lovely new Glitter House in today's post but be sure to scroll down a bit to see her vintage houses.

And The Winner Is....

My husband arrived home from work last night at about 6 pm. Once he had his beer, (heaven knows if the man doesn't have a beer when he gets home, the world will stop turning!) he drew a name from the basket. So the winner is: Allie A!



Allie, your mason jar filled with my homemade Christmas Tea Cookies will be on it's way to you in next 2 or so days. Congratulations!

Thank you to all who entered! I really enjoyed having this drawing and am planning on doing more. I have all sorts of ideas rolling around in my head (what else is new?) I will be doing another fun drawing or contest in January.

I received some lovely comments on my Glitter Houses:



Many of my long time readers know that Christmas is not my most wonderful time of the year! To be honest, the commercialism gets to me. The insanity in stores, the rude drivers, the hurry-up attitude, it's all so obnoxious!

For many years, I didn't even put up a tree. Just a few small things that were pretty to look at but didn't scream at me. I conceded to a real tree last year at my husband's request. Honestly, I couldn't have cared less about having a tree.

I must say, that my glittery little village is quite peaceful to look at. I truly enjoyed making them and after the holidays, I'm planning on doing some more. Anything that gives me a little bit of peace right now is a good thing!

I spent my afternoon yesterday stitching on Block #2 of my Garden Quilt:



The hand-painted lace at the bottom seems a bit heavy but I'm sure it lighten up with beads & sequins. I have a vintage spiderweb pin that will go in the bottom left-hand corner. I haven't decided on what to do with myself today. I usually go to the grocery store on Thursday mornings but it's a whole 2 degrees outside and I'm not sure I care to venture out in that.

I may do a bit of baking and then start beading this.

I received another lovely package in my mailbox yesterday. This pretty lace came from Gina in Australia:



Gina has found some really lovely things for me at her thrift shops. And I do believe that some of this will make it's way onto my Garden Quilt. Thank you so much Gina!