Winter Garland

I have fallen in love with Scandinavian Christmas and winter décor. At present I read about five or six blogs from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The language barrier is not a problem, I let the pictures speak for themselves. If the need arises, there’s always Google Translate.

The elements of nature, the warm winter white, the use of galvanized materials; I plan to incorporate it all into my Christmas decorations this year. Perhaps I’ll add a touch of red here and there. Except for the tree, that is and always will be a very colorful collection of memories.

I am linking my winter garland up with:

Friday’s Nature Table at The Magic Onions
Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia

Leaves For Thanksgiving

I finished my very first custom order last night. A set of oak leaf place cards and a leaf garland to match. It's a hostess gift for a Thanksgiving dinner party. My friend S. asked me to make them after she saw my booth at our Fall Festival a month ago. She came over to my house and we picked out the fabric together but the design was left up to me.

The leaf place cards were cut by hand and sewn together two by two with a simple straight stitch. The little paper name tags will be taped to the leaf after the names have been written on them. Since S. is a big lover of acorns, I decided to add acorns to the tags. After three failed attempts to carve an acorn stamp myself, I broke down and ordered one on Etsy. It's perfect for this project.

She also asked me to make a garland to go with the place cards. Those leaves were cut with a die cutting machine. I hope S. likes the end result. I certainly do. So if she doesn't, no problem. I'll keep them for myself.

I am linking my leaves up with:
Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions
Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia

Owl Pillows

It was meant to be a fox. But somehow it turned into an owl. That’s okay, I like owls. So does Lola. I have been whipping out owl pillows all week. I put some in the shop, I made one for Lola to keep her company on our recent camping trip, and I am trying to figure out the best way to send one to my mom (look away, mom!) for her birthday.

They’re about 18 – 19” tall. I just freehanded the pattern. They are made of a combination of wool, felt, sheepskin fabric, gingham, flannel, and vintage doilies. They have tagua-nut buttons as noses and regular buttons for eyes. Lola insisted on adding a strawberry for a belly button to her owl.

I love my owls. When they’re sitting all huddled together in the big chair, I find it hard to part with them. And it’s a excellent stash buster, too!

Happy Friday, everyone. Hope your weekend is a wonderful one. Whoo hoo!

I am linking my owls up at:

Friday’s Nature Table at The Magic Onions
Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia