Little Darlings Available in My Etsy Shop

I'm just feeling inspired lately, what can I say? I'm on a roll of angel making! 

I had this idea after seeing some old fashioned clothespins.  I knew I had plenty of vintage and retro hankies I had bought for another project that didn't end up inspiring me!

I've seen so many cute cottage

 style laundry rooms done up in pink and aqua lately.  

Wouldn't these be cute hanging on a laundry room tree?  

Why Not?  

Sweet little angel ornaments in pink, lavender and aqua.  

Available now in my etsy shop, "Marshmallow Creations".

Thanks for Looking!

Joining in with Beverly and the others at How Sweet the Sound 

because

It's PINK SATURDAY!!!

What have I been doing lately?

The answer to that is ALOT!  Everything!

The "Christmas in July" event with my friend,  Jennifer Hayslip, went so well and I wanted to share a little bit of it with you.  

I was touched and humbled that these ladies traveled from as far as North Georgia and even Florida to be here for the day!  We had 14 participants.

We had a ball, in spite of a little July heat.  The ladies all enjoyed seeing Jennifer's beautiful studio and home.  

The food was out of this world and Jenn's home is just as beautiful in person as in her photos.

Here are a few snaps I caught.  I was busy instructing and didn't get many photos but Jennifer did and you can see them at her website.

Everyone is concentrating intensely on those stitches and the decorations! Heehee!

I really enjoyed getting to know these ladies and seeing how creative they were with designing their own adorable trees.

This kind of event is like heaven for crafters.  It is such a joy to be creative together.  I feel very grateful to be able to be asked to be part of such an event!

Moving on to August....

My upstairs bathroom was remodeled by a contractor/neighbor last month.

It is no longer the decorating disaster that my sister named it!  I wish I could find the before photos I took of the peeling lead paint and dated gold fixtures!  

I can't wait to share it when it's finished!

Basement Remodel

Last month, I started working on my disaster basement as well.  

Clearly, this basement has never received any attention since I moved in the house 14 years ago! 

My cats used to get into the ceiling and they knocked out some of the tiles when they were kittens.  Thankfully, they've outgrown it now!

The ugly 70's kitchen counter and sink come in handy for painting and cleaning projects but I hope to replace it with something better looking.

Check out the hideous green walls and the black and green asbestos tile that laid underneath the 80's tan carpet!

Speaking of the carpet, it's awesome to have that dust and dirt trap out of my house!  I pulled it all up myself!

I also ripped out all of the old tile by myself!   

My next dilemma is getting the black adhesive or mastic up from the floor.  I bought one "all natural" chemical that didn't work.  I'm trying a soybean oil product next.

I have been painting woodwork, pulling up carpeting and flooring and washing walls in preparation to prime and paint them.

This month, I hope to get the adhesive removed from the floor and to paint the walls, then I will move my craft supplies downstairs and set up a much needed workspace.

Working in the adorable eyecandy studio has inspired me and I realized I would enjoy crafting much more in a cheerful and organized, dedicated craft space.  

Art Projects and Etsy Store Update

 I also start stocking my etsy store with cute kitschy angels.  

Miss Pink and Aqua cutie sold within an hour of my listing her so,
NEVER underestimate the power of pinterest!  

She is on her way to Australia to a sweet new customer right now!

This beautiful girl is still available in my shop.

I love the cream, gold and dark pink combination.  

I have more retro, up cycled, angels in the works that will be listed!

Spun Cotton Angel Craft

I have taught myself to make retro mini spun cotton angels that I can use in my corsages and on my nylon net trees.  


The vintage ones are just so hard to come by and so pricey.  I love to use them in my crafts so now I know how to make them.  

These little nylon and wire angels are time consuming and tedious to make so I don't foresee selling them, but who knows?

That's just SOME of what I  have been doing in the past couple of months!  

It's no wonder I can't seem to find time to blog any more!

I hope you are having a productive and happy September!

xo,

Jennifer

Linking to those lovely collectors of elegant nostalgia, Ivy & Elephants for "What's it Wednesday".

Check out "Blog Shop" at How Sweet the Sound.  Beverly, who also hosts Pink Saturday invites bloggers to advertise their etsy, ebay shops or to sell through their blogs every Tuesday.


Also joining the fun at Cindy's "Show and Tell Friday".

and "Pink Saturday" with Beverly of How Sweet the Sound.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!

UPDATE!!!!!  SOLD OUT!!!!!

Please 

Come and Join Me

For...

Christmas in JULY!!

UPDATE!!!!  SOLD OUT!!!!

How much FUN does this sound like??

The event is being held at the gorgeous home and studio of my adorable friend,

Jennifer Hayslip

of 

"Sweet Eye Creations"

If you aren't already familiar with Jenn's whimsical creations
 and lovely style, you can check out her beautiful website at:

www.jenniferhayslip.com

Jennifer is also known as the

 "Whimsical Belle".

Jenn is KNOWN for her

Gorgeous,  

Over the Top Events

such as 

"Petticoats and Parasols" 

and 

"Once Upon a Dream".

I had to pinch myself twice because
Jenn asked "moi" to teach 
everyone to make my 
fluffy, retro trees!

See the cute bio she made about me.

LOVE it!

I do have a mad love for all things 
Christmas and kitsch...

In Jennifer's adorable 
Eye Candy Studio,

we will craft and decorate our own

"Fluffy Sweet
Nylon Net"
Christmas Tree!

My trees are reproductions
 of  nylon net trees that were
handmade in the 1950's.

The old trees are adorable but rare.
I taught myself and began to make them a few years 
back because I wanted one so bad.

My inspiration??

The beautiful tree found in the famous 

"Sugar Plum Dining Room"

of 

Who else??

None other than my sweet friend, 

Jenn Hayslip.

This gorgeous place
is the "Sugar Plum" dining room where we 
will be served a lovely lunch. 

The dining room will be completely "decked" out 
for an early Christmas Celebration!

We will make our adorable trees in the "Eye Candy Studio".

for details and to register, 

click here.

We would love to see you there and 
hope you can make it!

I hope you enjoy a
 lovely holiday weekend!!

xoxo

Jennifer

Linking to the blog parties:

   Check out the give away and wish Ivy and Elephants a happy two year anniversary!               

A Cozy Cottage Christmas Story

A Cozy Cottage Christmas Story

by 

Jennifer Grenko

This stream of consciousness story is being told as randomly as the pictures uploaded themselves from my camera.  It seems each image began jumping out of the camera, as if there was some sort of a contest.  It was as if each picture could not wait to tell it's story about the magical weekend...

A short time ago, I visited a tiny town called Mount Dora in the sunny, far-away land of Florida.  

Mount Dora is not far from a bigger, Magical Kingdom full of  Princesses, but that is not what I'm going to be telling you about.  

It sounds like an unlikely place for a queen to be living, in a cozy cottage and not a Castle.  

It might sound stranger still if I tell you we celebrated Christmas in November, but this is my story....

The lovely queen cast a spell over the cozy cottage and somehow, Christmas came early for each of us.

Look how sweetly she welcomed us into her cottage in the tiny kingdom.

Each cozy cottage invitee was made a queen for this special weekend too.

We saw girls in white dresses..








This is the cozy cottage... It looks like a normal cottage, only pinker and with some crazy magic never seen before.

There was a teddy bear ballerina riding a pink bike in her tutu and tiara.

Do normal cottages have pink Christmas wreathes before Thanksgiving?  They do not!

Look at the table of goodies and a beautiful snow queen project to be made...

Little gifts appeared everywhere...

The queens brought their craft supplies from far and wide in such beautiful boxes.

Enchanted art from all over the kingdom hung about the cottage, making everything bright.

Every corner and nook held something lovely... 

 

or cozy

  or vintage

or artful 

 or angelic

 

or pink

 

I quickly took a picture of myself in that cottage so that later on, I would know that it had not been a dream and that I really had been there. 

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, is this the coziest cottage of them all?"

Only believers of Santa and fairy tales could believe such a story and that such a place existed...

Pixies came from the forest to peek at our happy party and sprinkle pink pixie dust all about.

Ballerinas peeked out of slippers and you would swear you could see them blowing kisses - so happy they were that we had decorated their slippers for them.

 

Never was there a more inviting, cozy cottage.

When Christmas comes early, of course so do Christmas trees!

I saw the biggest pink marshmallows ever to be put in a pie!

A cozy cottage is always comfy...

and filled with lovely things...fit for 20 queens!

Pretty finery of days gone by...

We met the magical Mixie Chicks, Karen and Elaine, who are real live dollmakers,  and we learned to make a Snow queen pincushion doll!  I forgot to ask them if they had worked at the North Pole with Santa.

Here is my doll, waiting patiently as I design her dress.

Some of the Snow Queen fashion parade...

 They appear so happy with their hats and new dresses, don't they?  It's as if they're saying "How do I look?" and fishing for compliments. 

This is our Cozy Cottage Queen and lovely hostess, Karen Hillman.  Karen is such a talented artist and photographer and probably the most positive ball of energy I have ever seen.

She honestly looks more like a young fairy princess than a queen...

The gifts were never ending.

Every queen was presented with a lovely, fluffy white stole at our delicious luncheon.  No one could have anticipated such a generous and beautiful surprise.  The whole weekend was magical.

The Homecoming Court of Fabulosity made an appearance and rocked the house!

At the end of our visit, we had a pink champagne toast (but what else?).   There were so many blessings of friendship and fun.  

No one wanted it to end, but when it did, we shopped  in a magical 117 acre forest (more like a dusty meadow, really) called Rennigers.  At Rennigers, we found long lost treasures of Christmases past and old things that only cottage queens could love.

Some of us, who just could not leave yet, stayed and celebrated an early birthday.  Music rang throughout the tiny kingdom of Mount Dora that night.  We danced and laughed and rocked the house!

Until next November,  goodbye little cozy cottage... 

Stay Cozy until our return!!

Linking to Cindy's Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday!