Christmas in the China Cabinet

I was not going to do it...I was going to do no more to the China Cabinet than add Granny's vintage glass ball and the ceramic pieces from my childhood...

But then today I was in the storage closet in my studio getting out something else, before I knew it 5 dolls had escaped and invaded the china cabinet for Christmas.

Actually it all started with these 3 trouble makers from the Barbie and the Nutcracker Collectors Editions.

Left to Right.
Barbie as The Sugar Plum Fairy
Barbie as Flower Ballerina (my favorite)
Barbie as Marzipan

Middle shelf was left Barbie free, but has Family Treasures such as my Grandmothers Cats, More of Granny's antique glass balls, a ceramic train my mother made me when I was a child.

and an English/Dutch copy of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens printed in 1931 that belonged to my father when he was a wee little lad at school.

And lastly we have the only 2 Holiday Barbies I own...Why?...Because I am a design snob and hate most of the Holiday Barbies gowns...But these 2 I love and were both gifts from Farmer Brown...Hope I get this yrs doll also since it is stunning and Designed by none other than the Fabulous Robert Best (Subtle Hint or what)

Good thing I can close the door on these treasures because I an not sure Lil Sara could be trusted around mummy's Barbies.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing For

WOW Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Toy Box Make-Over

As most of you know I have been working on creating Lil Sara's "big girl" room...The look...Country Chic

(to see the previous Sara Room posts CLICK HERE)

I want to create her a space that she can entertain her dollies and care for her babies, take naps and generally just get her toys out of my living room...(yer I'll be honest, this project is really all about me *wink*)

So my challenge was to blend in a white melamine toy box with all the lovely country looking painted furniture...Well obviously painting it was not the answer since a box is a box is a box...and I really did not want to make it bulkier by adding trim detail...And since she needed some seating...

I created her a pillow top using one of her old crib comforters and some pink check cotton fabric from Walmart...Added giant buttons and VOILA...now she has a cute little bench.

I made it like a giant pillow case so I can remove the inch foam padding and wash the cover...Notice the ribbons...they are holding the buttons in place...again so the cover can be removed easily....I also used Velcro strips (the kind you sew one side to the fabric and the other glues to the hard surface)...this will keep it from slipping when she opens and closes the toy box.

You may remember these flowers I got on clearance for 28cents each...
Well I butchered 3 for the giant buttons...Actually I butchered 4 but one did not survive the carnage.

Now not only does she have a place to store her toys that blends in nicely with the rest of the room, but a great place to host a tea party with some of her favorite friends...

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing For:
Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com
Pink Saturday @ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Sara's Room - Book Case Complete...

One more step closer to Sara's Big Girl room....

These shelves started life as a cheap ($20) melamine kit in a light pine color we brought 10yrs ago from either Lowes or Kmart, I forget which...

Added little trim ($21) and a little paint ($0 because we used left over paint) and you would never know of their humble mass-production beginning.

How good did the trim turned out once painted and destressed a little??

I love how cute and antiquey (word?) they look now...I also love the green of the shelves with the soft blue of the headboard, I wanted complementary pieces not matchy-matchy.

Actually I tried to give these shelves away last yr and they never got picked up...Turned out to be a blessing and just want I needed to give Sara's new big girl room some display space for her favorite toys.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today for
Metamorphosis Monday @ http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Antique German Doll Redressed

On the weekend I shared a before photo with yall of an antique German doll that I had been asked to re-dress for a dear sweet neighbor...Today I am sharing the end result...

On the back of her head I found the stamp "Germany - 136 5"
This would indicate she was made in Germany, using head model number 136 and is a mold size 5...My research tells me that this doll head was in production during the 1890's and early 1900's...making her close to 120yrs old...This doll has had 3 companions over the years and is been well loved for many decades by her current companion who named her Suzy.

Aunt Audry and her beloved Suzy...Suzy is now wearing a dress resembling one that would have been typical of this kind of doll originally..

This is how she arrived at my studio...Somewhere along the line someone had added a "poof" to her and made her a bed doll...

I carefully removed the poof to discover that Suzy still has the cloth part of her legs...But we are still not seeing the original dolls body...The lace top and satin pants are most definitely machine stitched and my guess was done in the 80's from what I was told of her history.

I removed that layer to find the original suede body...I did not remove the satin on the arms and legs as the integrity of the suede under them did not feel like it was still fully intact...
Which brings up the point...why are her arms and legs so stumpy?...She would have originally had porcelain hands and feet but over the last 100+ yrs are no longer with her...

Here she is today...

Click Image to enlarge to view the details of the garment...

We chose a lovely soft antique inspired patterned cotton that brings out the blue of her eyes...I accented it with white lace and a small amount of blue ribbon...The style as I mentioned is in keeping with the time period of the dolls production...I also made Suzy a set of fabric hands, which I did attach to the doll...The dress and petticoats however are fully removable.

It was such a delight and honor to work on such a loved antique doll...

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Show and Tell Friday @ http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Spent today at the sewing machine....

With lil Sara at Day Care and the Musical over, I finally had a day to get back into the studio to get some work done...

Was so happy inspiration finally hit for a new fashion for the 16inch Fashion Dolls...70's Icon now on eBay in the next 5 days...Hope it sells well...
Auction Link Here

Then a little something for Alex, lil Sara's 18inch girl doll...I still need to make a T-shirt to go under the dress but I only promised "a new dress for Alex" when you get home from Day Care...Plus I ran out of time for the T-shirt today...Maybe Wednesday I can squeeze it in...

Talking of Wednesday, I am so excited, I will be working on a new gown for an antique doll that belongs to my 80+ yr old neighbor, it had belonged to her mother before her...I feel very flattered she would trust me with her...Promise to share photos along the way...

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today for:

Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Wildlife in the Garden

One of the delights of gardening, at least for me, is to see the wildlife move in and enjoy my garden with me...We of course have the usual birds, rabbits, squirrels and butterflies...and while these are lovely and I will stop what I am doing to quietly watch them, the one animal we have on our property that thrills me no end is someone a little different and special...We only get to see her during the warmer months of the year, but just knowing she is here reminds me how truly blessed we are to share our property with her...

You might recognize this stand of trees from my post a few weeks ago where hubby was clearing up the branches and chipping them with into mulch...The reason we keep the grass area clear is because our little friend struggles in under growth and we want to make sure "her" part of the property is just how she needs it to be...Later today we will be planting her 2 more berry bushes as these are amongst her favorite food...

This photo was taken from standing on my front porch, which is why it is a little blurry...We are so lucky to be able to watch her come and go from her burrow without leaving the house...It is roughly 120 feet from our front door to hers...

Because she is listed on the Endangered Species List as a Threatened Species, we keep this area not just free of debris but also of foot traffic and when we do bring in livestock they will not have access to this area either...We try to do what we can to keep her on our property and protected so she will not venture out onto the road and get killed...

Here she is a Gopher Tortoise....She is about 12inches long making her fully grown...No idea how old she is but my guess would be no less than 20yrs old because of her size....They are surprisingly fast moving and it took me over a year to get a good up close photograph of her to share...

If you would like to know more about why the Gopher Tortoise is so important to the ecosystem and other interesting facts you can visit this website http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/facts.htm

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Outdoor Wednesday @ http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/

Flowers for my Bday...

The garden fairies sent me some beautiful blooms for my birthday and I wanted to share them with yall...

The first bloom on the Climbing Pinata

A closer look...I love the vibrant colors...I hope we get more blooms from it this yr..

Butterfly Bushes are working up to quite a display...this is just the first stem of flowers to open...

Look at all those lovely tiny flowers...

Most of the stems however look like this for now...

The Mum's are starting come to life for the spring...

I scattered a mixed box of seed back in Feb, here is one of the darling little flowers that have started to open...

Yesterday morning a Blue Jay was frequenting the suitcase collecting dirt samples for back at the nest...I managed to snap this photo before one of our cats scared him away...I love it so much if you look, it is my new banner photo :)

Blessings Kelsie

Joining the following parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/
Cottage Flora Thursday’s @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com
Farm Friendly Friday @ http://www.verdefarm.com/
Flaunt Your Flowers / Fertilizer Friday @ http://www.tootsietime.com/

The other lady in his life....

It was a glorious spring day here in Florida and after the deluge of rain from the storm on Monday night the garden was looking extra lush and green...We spent most of the afternoon working in the garden and around the yard...I thought I snapped just a few photos, but when I sat down to choose my favorites I realized I had snapped A LOT...I thought I would start by sharing the front yard first and the back yard & field photos in the next post...So here we go...

The newest bird bath is a match of an old cherub statue that had it's flower pot broken years ago and the glass bowl from the old light fixture that I turned in to my garden chandelier.

How lovely is this Portulaca bloom...I picked up a couple to different colors to put in pots on the front porch, that way I don't have to stress if I forget to water the porch plants during the hot Florida summer...Summer is our rainy season, watering of the gardens will be less frequent the hotter it is...Go figure

The Forget-me-not is doing really well, might have to thin this pot soon...

I finished planting the front veggie garden today...Add green peppers (capsicum), peanut seed, spinach, marigolds, a single jalapeno pepper and then threw nasturtium seed randomly into the garden...

How cute does my bunny statue (now with his ear re-attached thank you lil Sara grrrr) look in the middle of the onions...and if you look closely the pink work boots also found a home in this garden..

We took a stroll after dinner and Lil Sara did her Alice impersonation and followed a bunny rabbit, we ended up over at the old Mobil Home and the Bottle Brush bush is in full bloom...This is my only Australian native on the property so far, but I hope to add a few others that you can find here in the USA, kinda like a little pocket of my gardening heritage to share with my girls.

Hubby spent most of his day with the other woman in his life...Here he is hiding away with her behind the trees...

I am very jealous...I wanted to play with Nancy the Woodchipper too, but one of us had to keep Lil Sara away...Plus the chain saw scares me to death, so I left the trimming and chipping to Farm Brown here...

Nice fresh homemade Mulch....Lovely

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today with:

Cottage Flora Thursday’s @ http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com
Wow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com

Our Garden Gate Arbor for under $30

Every English Country Garden has to have an amazing gate or arbor entry...It also needs a white picket fence, but the pickets will just have to come later since they are just not in the budget right now....

The gate and arbor however did fit in the budget, using my imagination and husbands skills they came to under $30 to create.

The second I laid eyes on this old broken scrolled metal stand, I just knew exactly how I could use it to make our garden gate more "English Garden".

Here it is again, pulled apart and hubby welded two of the pieces together to create the large piece in the top of the photo.

Once painted it was added to the top of the gate arbor to add the perfect touch of embellishment to take 3 pieces of wood to the next level to FABULOUS!!..Couple of hanging baskets are the last touch. (well until I can locate the perfect mini ships bell)

And I know you all remember this piece...It started it's life as one end of Lil Sara's crib...I got many great suggestions on what it could be or become, but the correct answer was...

A GATE...Hubby trimmed the legs at the bottom and painted it with an outdoor paint...Little secret, I knew when we purchased the crib that I would one day use the ends for gates :)

Ta-Da...Our pretty English Garden Gate Arbor..

Cost Break Down:
Lumber for frame $7 each
Hinges and Latch $8
Scroll Work $1
Re-purposed Crib end FREE...

Total Cost = $29
Various paints used to paint and prim pieces we had on hand from other projects.

I am sure you are all enjoying looking at our lovely white builders sand in all the photos too....We have one more section of wire fence to go up to keep the chickens out and then we can FINALLY seed the front yard...YAY.

And just because..

Our very first rose bud, it is supposed to be a Blue Lady...hmmmmmm I guess it will change color at some point?

Well I still have about a thousand or so seeds to get planted, so better go make the most of my afternoon...Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Blessings Kelsie

Sharing today for:
Met Monday @ http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.comWow Us Wednesday @ http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/