sustainable wreath

every year 

I think it would be so cool 

to have one of those 

giant beautiful evergreen wreaths 

on my front door

*

one year I did .... 

it was a secret gift in the middle of the night and I still don't know who it came from

.... it just appeared on my front door ....

big, beautiful, extravagant and, oh so, fragrant

but

... and this is a big but ...

but

many of the branches that go into the making of those wreaths are harvested illegally

poached from local forests

leaving young trees struggling to survive after being denuded of their branches

(you can read an article about it HERE)

this wreath is made entirely from found objects on the forest floor

pine cones, lichen, moss

and one little token piece of imported plastic

I thought he was uber cute

:)

even though he is plastic

just orange

today I have sunshine streaming in and the oranges are showing off

I slice and dehydrate them for autumn and winter projects

an occasional slice slips into my tea

I mostly use them in garlands

but they're pretty just sitting in a dish too

... captured sunshine ...

***

what is showing off for you today?

is it orange?

or something else?

another pinecone project

a couple of weeks ago I showed you some deconstructed pinecone ideas

(click HERE)

what I love about these is the complete lack of anything manufactured in a factory somewhere

(except the hot glue sticks I guess)

I used some of the wooden sewing spools from my collection

sticks, moss and pinecones from the forest

and glued the "deconstructed" pinecone parts to rolled up cone shapes I made from sturdy paper

miniature magic .... fit for any elf

thankful

we have a beautiful sunrise here

wishing you and yours a blessed and happy day

xoxo

tea and stitching

my tea this morning is irish breakfast

hot, strong, and tempered with a little milk

it's a rainy and dark day

a good day for stitching

... I was gifted with this sweet little needle case ...

a give away from The Red Tin

thank you so much!

all of my favorite things have been gifts

the pincushion is from Patina Moon

the old recipe box is from my sister

and the quilt will be a gift from me to my daughter

it's slow going, but today will be a good day to make some progress!

*

what are some of the simple gifts in your life that give you joy?

it's been frosty

we've had some beautiful frost in the mornings

it covers everything like sugar on a cake

this picture below is a cabbage leaf with dew droplets frozen in place:

foxglove:

boxwood:

fennel:

rose:

I'm hoping for a hoar frost .... those are truly magical

p.s. I will link today's post with Rebecca's postcards from paradise ... link link link

snow scape

I'm in the process of attaching this piece to watercolor paper

I may add words also

... are there words in a snow landscape?

perhaps.

unspoken.

and if spoken - muffled

sweet tea

my daughter's tea:

well, it's actually hot cocoa

(and Trix cereal)

I know .... lots of sugar

*

but here is more sweetness:

(above) an unexpected gift from Pat at Ooglebloops ... tea bag papers from around the world, a beautiful photo card of her own creation, and her really cool bricolage calling card ... thank you Pat!

*

(below) and a soap swap with Yvonne at Inkspiller's Attic ... she convinced me that making soap was not hard if you follow the directions, so when I told her I tried it, we swapped a couple of bars. Hers is made with Texas Rainwater and essential oils  .... I wish you could smell it! It's  amazing! And the packaging is of her own beautiful paintings ... thank you Yvonne!

*

what is sweet in your day today?

I hope it's more than just tea

:)

xoxo

playing with nature

yesterday I was talking about how I live in the evergreen state

this is just some of the bounty from a saturday walk in the woods last weekend:

I tend to get into the minutiae of things

... so I deconstructed them and LOVED what I found!

beautiful pine cone "petals" and "leaves"

ornaments (above)

and a tree topper (below)

nothing beats nature for the coolest of materials to work with

(on etsy)

tea (and) leaves

I live in "the evergreen state"

but we have much more than evergreens

there are lots of maples and chestnuts

this is a street in "the historic district" of my town

(not my street)

and a historic home on that street

(not mine either)

*

my tea today?

celestial seasonings "bengal spice"

perfect for that nip in the air

a brilliant day

blue blue sky

a rare occurrence in November

don't forget to put your clocks back tonight

:)

what I'm working on

some of the linens I washed and hung out to dry on tuesday

are quite damaged

there are holes and stains and tears

so I am inspired to do the slow sew

I am mending and patching this fragile fabric

with something comparable:

fragile and stained tea bag papers

they are surprisingly strong

and don't detract from the aged beauty of these lovelies

geeky gift

if you've been reading my blog for a while

you know that I have a special love for matchboxes

and a while back I found an entire flickr pool devoted to "matchbox stuffing"

what a great gift for that geek you know

:)

my etsy listings:

flowers - matchbox treasure

winter dreams - matchbox treasure

***

and because I know you're a do-it-yourselfer

take this idea and run with it

I know you can

:)