The Nathaniel Russell House and Gardens (December, 2011) Charleston, SC

I volunteer as a docent at the Nathaniel Russell House in Charleston. Our halls are decked for the holidays and everything is so festive! The weather has been warm, sunny, and wonderful. You just can't resist a walk through the gardens. Follow along with me on a mini 'virtual vacation' and check out the surprises I found there today!

No matter the time of year you will always find something blooming in the Russell House gardens.

These pretty purple fellows just make me smile:-))

I found this little guy hard at work. I guess he doesn't get a Christmas vacation!

Thanks for taking a stroll through the gardens with me! Come visit us in Charleston and take a tour of this lovely home, enjoy the gardens, or relax on the joggling board. Wherever you are I hope you're having a safe and happy holiday season!

Announcing my 'Ring in the New Year' Give Away!

Hi to All,
I wanted to get the word out about my newest blog give away! Another one of my handcrafted specialty items will be up for grabs the first week of January. All you have to do is subscribe to my blog and leave a comment under the upcoming post with photos of  my crafty surprise. Thanks so much for coming by my blog and have a Happy Christmas! Hugs, Nancy

Enchanted Garden Greeting Card

Hi and happy Wednesday! It's such a busy time of the year with so much to do as we get closer to Christmas (less than two weeks away now!!)  Today I'd like to share this 'enchanted garden' greeting card I created. It's a boxed set containing a greeting card, gift card holder, and box with coordinating sleeve. The card almost turned into a mini album. That happens to me quite a bit. I don't seem to be able to stop myself-lol! It's very dimensional with lots of detail added to each page. If you'd like to see my YouTube video of this project just click on the video below for a closer look!  I hope everyone's having a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by!!  

Altered Box and 'Iced Snowflake' Christmas Ornaments

Hi! Today I'm sharing a project I designed for Ooh La La Vintage Treasures 'Twelve Days of Christmas' blog event. I crafted the snowflakes using a cereal box and leftover plastic packaging material and they're a super fun and easy to make. If you'd like to try few of your own you can check out my tutorial video on YouTube. Just click on the video below and in less than 15 minutes you'll be ready to start crafting ornaments. I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! Thank you so much for stopping by and happy crafting!! Nancy

 

My Favorite Things! (AKA Grandma's sewing machine and what we found in the drawers)

Hi and happy Friday! I don't know if I mentioned that my mom's been teaching me to sew, but I'm finally sewing a straight line and ready to move onto something more complex:-) Today we whiled away a couple of hours exploring my Grandma's sewing machine from 1916! Here are a few pictures of her lovely machine and the little treasures we found hidden away in the drawers. If you've stopped in here to take a peek at my post I hope you're having a wonderful day!!
Sincerely,
Nancy

Congratulations Patrick!

Hi to All! I've been away from my blog for a couple weeks with company visiting and we also took a trip to Atlanta to tour GA Tech with Patrick. Our spring and summer schedule is filled with college tours this year, but it's such an exciting time. The above photo is of my son Patrick with his friends at an NHS event. I just want to say congratulations to Patrick and brag on him a little (okay~a lot!) Last week Patrick was inducted as Treasurer of the NHS, elected Senior class Treasurer, and was elected president of Mu Alpha Theta for his upcoming Senior year!! You are such an awesome son Patrick! Thanks for enduring my shameless bragging~I'm such a proud mom!!:-)) I've started crafting a couple new mini albums to give as gifts. I have 3 projects I need to wrap up. I don't like to have this many things going at one time but it always happens that way. I sure am having fun with all of them!! As I get them finished I'm planning to do Youtube videos to show the details of each album, and I also  have a really fun haul video I'm going to upload to my channel at first chance. I'm crafting tags like crazy right now~my craft room is just bursting with tag happiness!! Today is Wednesday~the day I love because I give tours at the Nathaniel Russell House on this day. The garden is absolutely amazing in April and the air is sweet with the scent of the Confederate Jasmine that started blooming this week. I wish I could give the gift of fragrance because I would love to share it with you! My best wishes to you and I hope everyone who stops by had a wonderful Easter and is blessed with health and happiness!

My Lovely Journals from Virginia!

Hi and happy Saturday!! I wanted to take a moment share these lovely vintage journals and tags that I received from my dear friend Virginia!! (virginiasvignettes.etsy.com/virginiasvignettes.blogspot.com) They are sooooooo beautiful that I really can't do them justice with photos so I have posted a Youtube video to share all the wonderful details. Thank you so much Virginia!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE everything you created for me and can't thank you enough!! I've placed the link to the youtube video here with this post if you'd like to check out these amazing works of art that I was blessed to receive:-) Just click on the title of the post and it will take you right to it. I hope everyone is having a great weekend full of fun and laughter with the people you care about the most!
Warm Wishes,
Nancy

My Gift of a Recipe!

Hi to all! I wish each and every one of you could have been the winner of the 'Bag of Tags' give-away but since there could be only one I have another gift for you this week instead. For one week from today anyone who follows my blog and leaves a comment on this post along with your email address I'll email a copy of my favorite recipe for this luscious and rich Toffee Chocolate Kiss Cake! Just a little gift from me to you that I hope will make your week just a little bit sweeter:-)