IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS........

These lovely little bells are ringing

in Christmas in our home.

The sound is delightful and makes me want 

to take a ride in a sleigh.

(In reality I dread the snow)

But it does look pretty!

Another sign that it is the season, is this sweet

little Advent calendar.

My niece and nephew sent it to us from Germany

with many other goodies.

What is so special to me, is that it is of my

hometown... well city ...Berlin.

Every day I have fun opening the little windows,

wondering what is behind each door,

and just as I did as a child, I delight in every

discovery.

I will show it to you again with all the windows open.

This year, like many of you, I am wearing

many hats......decorating...cleaning up the mess

after all the fun,

sewing , trying to finish dolls for my blog shop,

baking, shopping, packing packages,

entertaining, etc. etc.

To change things out a little and to give a little boost,

I decided to change my red accents to neutral light colors.

I got inspired by the Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine.

In some parts of the house red still rules.

Somehow a lot more glitter snuck in,

which I love.

My girl friend Debbie and I saw these

cute birdie mugs at Home Goods and

had to have them.

They are great for any hot drink,

but I love to drink hot chocolate

out of mine. The lids keep the drinks warm.

There are four different bird designs.

How cute!

They even had tea pots, creamers and sugar pots.

I reminded myself to be a good girl

and not over indulge.

And of course there had to be more birds.

My friends Paula and Laura also have

"bird-fever"

It must have been catching.

It's chronic and has been with all

of us for years.

We heard, there is no cure!

When I was growing up in Germany,

we put our shoes out in the evening of

December 5 TH,

and if we had been good, we would find

sweets in them the following morning.

If you had not behaved, Saint Nicholas

would put coal in the shoes.

I must say in all honesty that I once got coal.

I bit my brother in the fanny....

well, he was crawling in front of me...

These little treats went to my hubby

who is a sweetie and would never get coal.

Now, these cookies came all the way from Germany.

My niece backed them and carefully mailed

them to us.

My friend Debbie also got a package.

We compared notes the next day and

could not get over how wonderfully delicious they were.

We all had to put the brakes on,

 so we would treasure every bite

and not just devourer them.

Stephanie, thank you soooooo much.

We absolutely need the recipes, PLEASE!

Another wonderful treat was this little book

by James Kramer.

It is called  "Tis The Season"

It is charming.

 I know Jimmy from a  long time ago,

when we all did shows together.

Any of you, who know about him,

know how very talented he is.

Jimmy, I am copying the doves in the window!

Besides being a very talented decorator,

my friend Paula also knows how to knit.

This is one of her stockings.

Paula, I adore it.

(I am NOT a knitter.)

I think some of you have discovered

my passion for antique stockings.

Some even came home with me from

our last trip to Germany and Austria.

Every Christmas I find places for them.

This mirror once belonged to my friend Debbie.

And although I enjoy it all year,

I find the little angel on top is

especially appropriate for

the holidays.

At the end of the season I found

this wire urn for a mere $25.00 at Home Goods.

There was no way I was going to leave it there.

I immediately thought of a Christmas tree in there.

And I love it just as I thought I would.

I got to use my mercury silver ornaments

at the base of the tree.

Being that the tree is by the window,

all the glitter catches the light.

Lovely!

And now to my stocking...hmm...fetish.

When I was at Pottery Barn, I saw a pillow with stockings.

The wheels were turning in my head.....should I buy, or not.

I went home instead and made my own.

The pillow is linen with jute trim...

a mere $ 20.00,  of course from Home Goods.

It even has a feather pillow insert.

I swear, I should have stock in that company.

Then came the hunt for the stockings,

and the fun began.

Voila!

A little work, but alot less money.

While I was getting the pillow above, I also found these

pretty textured pillows made from off-white wool.

I was smitten....and lucky for me, I found two.

Don't know what it is with me,

I am always doing this Noah thing, always two by two.

I discovered that I like symmetry.

Well, I needed more pillows to go with these.

 I had some pillow covers that my friend Liz

made for me when she made my slip covers

many years ago.

They had not been used for years.

Sooo, I embroidered and stitched pine trees out of

old blanket remnants,

and embellished them with a variety of left-over

pompoms.

Ta da, and here is the result.

I am happy!

Soon I will show you more of our

Christmas home.

I hope you enjoyed the tour so far.

Have a heavenly Christmas season.

God bless,

Evi

P.S. For all the bloggers in foreign countries..

Home Goods is a great store, that sells

everything for the home at fabulous prices.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

And though our lives are not perfect,

we can find many things to be thankful for.

I am thankful, that we are reasonably healthy,

that we are blessed with family we love,

and good friends to share our lives with.

I am hoping and wishing that everyone

in blog land, finds something to be grateful

 and thankful for.

God bless,

Evi

TRICK.......

It was supposed to be

"The spooky Season".

It was supposed to be

Halloween....

Instead we got WINTER!

We had 18 inches of snow in a day.

or about 46 centimeters.

Everyone is disgusted, dismayed, upset, etc, etc,

and simply just plain sick off it !!!!

It looks weird with most of the leaves still

on the trees and bushes.

It created havoc with trees coming down everywhere.

Everyone we know, lost power.

All in all about two million people had no

electricity because of this storm.

We were nearly 4 days without power

and no land line phone service either.

Thank God we have a big generator

and had all the necessary essentials.

Our son and grand kids did not however.

So we made up beds and huddled together.......

and had fun.

For him it will be one more night.

Hopefully life will get back to normal

for everyone.

I caught this very confused deer looking for food.

The day before it was fall and still plenty to eat.

And when there is nothing much to do...

you text......

or just cuddle.

And even though it looked like winter,

we celebrated Halloween.

So after all, we had our treats

 to munch on, and the best treat was just

 all of us being safe together.

I hope, you all are doing fine

out there in blog land.

God bless,

Evi

TRICK OR TREAT

Click on pictures to enlarge.

It's the time of the year where I pay homage

to the Halloween season.

Not too spooky though.......

just enough to get the feeling of things

that go bump in the night.

I pay homage to crows that amuse me......

to handmade things that delight me.....

and of course to the farmers harvest of

gourds and pumpkins.

So come right in and share the fun.....

I left my hat, broom and witchie shoes at the door.

This little kitty  appeared.....

not orange, but it has some orange spots....

how cute!

The witch is in.......

well, sometimes.

Have a happy, spooky and safe

Halloween Season.

God bless,

Evi

FALL?......LOOKS MORE LIKE SUMMER !

Click on the pictures to enlarge!

Not even a week ago hubby and I took a long walk

along the beautiful Hudson.

It was warm, and there were no signs of fall.

Our little town has it's own small marina.

Just look how green and lush it looks!

The leaves are not turning yet.

I cannot remember this ever happening.

It is probably because of all the rain we had

and the warm temperatures.

Where we live,  the Hudson is wide.

In the distance you can see one of the many bridges.

In the summer you see many pleasure boats among

the many barges hauling things up and down the river.

This one is heading down to New York.

This day the boat traffic was light, since it was a Sunday, and

most people had taken their small crafts out of the water

for the fall.

I love the tug boat pushing this large barge......

and you can really see how large they are in

comparison with the smaller boat coming the other way.

Some gals took to the Hudson, going up-stream in kayak's.

There was even a sailing boat still in the water.

Maybe he had an inkling, that it was not time yet

to dock his boat.

This is such a pretty walk.

We headed for the gazebo.

It looks lovely.......

.......and has a beautiful view.

Benches would have made it even nicer.

In the summer there are concerts here in the evening.

You bring your blankets and enjoy a night under the stars.

At home flowers are still in bloom.

My hubby started to take plants to his

office, but I cannot part with them all yet.

Have to do it soon though, because this

will not last forever....sigh.

Last year the poor man over-wintered 40 plants.

He watered them once a week faithfully.

Yes, he is a sweetie!

I guess I am looking for something in orange.

Because we had so much rain, mushrooms are

sprouting up all over.

The colors on this one are amazing.

Now we are getting a little more spooky.

A spider had made it's nest underneath,

a very clever way to stay dry.

And then I found this very interesting bug....

a Walking Stick

by the door to my studio.

Things are getting , well........scary.....

.......and the crows are adding a touch......

but look how green the trees still are......

Maybe we will just skip fall and winter,

and that would not make me unhappy,

after the winter we had last year !!!!!

I wish you beautiful days, wherever you are

and whatever weather you have.

God bless,

Evi

NEW WITCHES ON MY SELLING BLOG

Witches have arrived in my

 blog shop.

Just click on my rabbit on top right,

or under my header where it

leads you to my shop.

Have fun!

Blessings, Evi