Tree Scent Ornaments - A few more

Colonial Candle Co. Angel Candle Hugger Vintage Made in Taiwan in the 1950s. Made of porcelain and measures 2.5" tall.

It holds an ivory felt candle which I fashion myself with a yellow flame at the top. It hangs from a warm toned ribbon gathered around her wings.

She is an oil diffuser where pure essential oil is placed on the felt and the scent is dispersed into the space.

Can be used with tree scented oils to provide a Christmas Tree scent to your artificial tree. She also stands so can be used in other spaces.

Use in any personal space to disperse a calming scent as you drink your favorite beverage and relax.

A wonderful clear glass heart ornament that features a frosted cupid playing its flute.

The felt diffuser is a small pink heart whose edge has been blanket stitched all the way around.  

A small E bead has been added to the front where it has been stitched to the pink satin ribbon hanger.

I can be given to a loved one as a token of affection and is practical.  It allows one to diffuse scent in a personal space and on the Christmas tree during the holiday season.

It measures 3.5 inches tall

The diffuser features a wooden kitty cat.  It has eyes and black whiskers.

Its tummy holds a black felt ball which is the diffuser.

Place a few drops of  pure essential oil of your choice onto the felt ball and the scent will fill your personal space.

It makes your morning tea or your afternoon snack break a time to relax.

It can be hung but it also stands on it own making it move with you as needed.

Another small frame turned into a tree scent ornament.

I chose a seasonal theme for this diffuser by stitching a bright green Christmas tree on green felt. I added a yellow star at the top and brown trunk at the bottom.

I used French Knots for the red ornaments along the branches.

I crocheted a hanger from cotton floss in the same red as the ornaments.  It was stitched directly to the felt oval to ensure it is secure.

The gold frame features enameled green decoration around the edge.

Fairy Light Memento

After Mom's Funeral in April and the internment of both Mom and Dad I felt a need to have a memento to remind me of their love, commitment and my gratitude for having them in my life for over 60 years.

I love glass and have enjoyed looking at vintage, crystal and depression glass on several You Tube channels. 

I decided that I wanted a Fairy Light as my memento.  I could light it when I wanted comfort and a tangible reminder of them.  The vintage ones are hard to find and very expensive. Contemporary examples are more reasonably price.  One of them is by Fifth Avenue Crystal and those still were running about $100 on line which I was not prepared to do the online thing. I could not find anything in my area on Kijiji so I put out the word what I was looking for as most folks did not know.

About mid May I got a call from one of my sisters that she had found a Fifth Avenue one for $30.00 on Facebook. I said YES!  She was kind enough to pick it for me.  Towards the end of May I was able to collect it from her house but with the craziness going at my house it stayed in the box for a while longer.

I did start my plans for how I wanted to decorate it and light it.

This some pictures from on line because I did not take pics of mine before I started.

As you can see the base where the tealight would sit is not flat so I needed something to fill in that space and allow my tealight to sit nicely and safely.  I looked at several ideas for something small and clear like vase filler or seed beads.  Vase filler was going to be way more than I needed and clear sead beads with out silver lining were not available.  Durign the few days I spent with my sister in late June we visited a Dollarama and I found these.

These clear plastic diamonds were small enough to fill in the space, they were clear and the price was right.

Once I was home, I poured the bag of the smallest diamonds in the base and then set the clear plastic tealight holder on top.

It was perfect. They filled the cavity below the tealight exactly the way I needed.

The bottom right hand photo is seeing the candle wax completely melted in the clear plastic tealight holder and you can see the diamonds below.

There is the risk of spilling the diamonds out of the base as they are just sitting there but that is okay.

I knew I wanted green and blue glass beads so the light would go through them.  Dad's favorite shirts which Mom made for him were forest green and Mom's favorite color was blue.  Not cobalt but a true blue.

The Fairy Light offered 2 places to put some sort of decoration.  The indent on the shade and the one just above the base.

Here's my first attempt with EBeads on the base.  It's hard to tell in this photo but we received a small locket at the funeral.  We cleared Mom's stuff at Easter and we had slated her clothes to be donated. When the time came my sister could not send Mom's favorite dress to the thrift store and she decided to make it into mememtos for the kids and grandkids.  She put a small piece in the lockets for the boys and the girls received a scarf from the fabric.

The locket is still a memento from both Mom and Dad.

During this time my mind was working on what to buy for beads.  I did enjoy the Fairy Light a few times lit late at night.  

As you can see in the above photo only the shade is lit with the tealight at the top of the base.  I made the decision a few years ago to limit my use of real candles and switched to wax for scent.  I do have a few real tealight candles because sometimes in photography nothing but a real flame will do.

The thought crossed my mind that if I could find a light which the Fairy Light could be placed on then it would not be fire and the base would be lit as well.  

The brainstorming began.  I have an etched crystal block which has a LED light in the base which lights it up. Okay, that one has several colors of lights that rotate through - red, green, yellow and blue I think.  Well I knew I did not want colored lights. Now, I want a white LED light round base.  I put that into Google and stuff came up. They do sell LED light bases for crystal and glass figurines, etched glass items, and gemstones etc.  Again, none easily available in retail stores in my area. But I persisted!  Eventually, I found round puck light which can be placed under your upper cabinets.  They are battery operated and light when you press the center of the puck. I brought a tracing of the Fairy Light base with me to make sure that it would stand safely on this puck. I was a the big orange store which on line indicated there was 16 in stock.  After asking several customer service reps for assistance I received what I needed. A couple of guys checked the inventory and sure enough there was supposed to be some in stock.  A sharped eyed young man said there the right number on that box way up there! Up they went and brought down the box, I check the diameter against my tracing and walked out of there with 3 for less that $20 and the AAA batteries were included.

This is starting to fall into place.  Beads are next.

I decided that Michaels would by my starting place for beads.  The day I was there the shelves were mostly empty.  Supply chain issues? I don't know. I found some green faceted beads in the size that would work but no blue ones.  Another girl in the aisle said she was going to visit a Michaels in a city south of ours as there were fewer customers there and hoped the selection would be better.  After giving that some thought I decided to follow here lead.  Into the car and headed south on the big highway.

Sure enough, there was the same green ones in the the 4 different sizes and cobalt blue ones in the 8mm size which were on sale! One of the green strings was 8mm. Perfect.  They were faceted.

I used strong beading cord left over from my Christmas tree project. 

I placed the green and blue glass faceted beads alternating the colors until I had enough to go around the shoulder of the shade.  I tied my knot then added a few more for dangles.  I added an EBead and a silver crimp bead at the end to keep the beads in place.

 

I chose to use silver lined EBeads for the string of beads on the base of the Fairy Light. Again, I chose deep green and cobalt blue for color. I tied the cord tight with 3 knots.

I added the hinged locket on the string and let it sit over the knots.  That worked out really nice.

One of my sisters had the lockets in her stash of craft stuff and brought them with her.  It was great to be able to have something from that day.

As you can see it is hinged so I may put a bit of Mom's dress in it.

I

I am so happy with how this project turned out. It took almost 3 months for all the pieces to come together but it is so gorgeous.  I will enjoy it for years to come.

I love you Mom and Dad!

Small Gift - Oil Diffusers - Felt Stacks

These are my felt stack oil diffusers.  I up cycled tealight holders to hold a stack of felt circles.  The circles were cut 1.5 inches in diameter and stacked until they filled the cavity of the holder.

 I believe this one has 10 layers of royal purple felt. I added a silver flower accent topped with a 12mm crystal glass faceted bead.  The purple thread runs from the bottom through the accents then back down to the bottom of the felt stack where it was securely tied.  The heavy glass holder ensures that oil drops don't damage the surface the diffuser sits on.  

I worked with a winter theme for this diffuser.  I chose a blown glass tealight holder.  I cut 1.5 inches felt circles in turquoise, aqua and light blue felt and layered these into the stack.  I topped the stack with a white diecut snowflake and a 12mm clear crystal glass bead.  The accents are held in place with a turquoise thread.  Starts at the bottom through the accents and back down the other side of the bead then back down to the bottom.  The thread is knotted securely fastening the layers together.

This diffuser features pink and grey felt stack.  The holder is a clear glass heavy with smooth sides.  The felt stack was topped with a white diecut daisy and a 12mm clear crystal glass faceted bead. This accent is held in place with grey thread which starts on the bottom, thread through the accents and the goes back down the stack and is tied securely on the bottom.  The glass holder protects the surface from oil drop damage.

My Recent Photos

Last week I took a trip to Drumheller for a photography job.  I spent the day before doing some sight seeing and visiting some of my favorite places there.

A visit to the Royal Tyrrell Museum was a must. It is a world renown museum for dinosaurs.  It is situated in a provincial park which has yield fossils.

This is an ammonite on display in the museum.  Gorgeous color and a wonderful shape.

This is a beautiful stone I purchased in the gift shop.  I think it might be quartz but I will have do more research. 


 
The dinosaur below is a Dimetrodon. It is an extinct genus of synapsids that lived during the Cisuralian, around 295–272 million years ago. It is a member of the family Sphenacodontidae.

Flowers are always objects for my camera.  The top one is Ninebark - Summer Wine.  The middle one is Echinacea Tiki Torch, a hybrid orange coneflower with large showy pumpkin-orange colored flowers.  The bottom is a beautiful sample of clover.





This is a pottery button about 2.5 inches across.  I bought it at the Pottery Guild's gift shop.  My aunt and I visited the shop before my reception on June 30th. It's nice to support other artists.


Blackberry tea with a few dried cranberries and a beautiful rose.  I took advantage of a Goodwill special recently of 3 vases for $1.00.  This square cube vase has a hole in one corner and a slant on the opposite corner.  I chose my Tea Lover's Teacup by Steeped Tea which is the same light clear glass to repeat the blown glass theme.  I served the cranberries in a small crystal glass.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday #91 hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Recent Photos

It is the second week of Advent.

My Christmas cards are ready finally.  I guess it is like the cobbler whose children have no shoes.  I get my Christmas card orders done then I can get to my own.

Before craft sales came into my life I would have all my cards, my shopping done and parcels mailed off by December 1st.

Those were the days!

Take time this week, even just an hour to relax, have a cup of tea, put your feet up by the tree and enjoy Christmas.  My tree goes up today!

I was able to whip up a last minute gift this week because I had a Ready2Fill calendar left over from craft sales and 12 photos of various subjects in my photo organizer.

With a bit of double sided tape and some pressing this calendar will be headed off to its recipient.

My photo organizer is designed for cards but I use it to store my stock of photos.

It keeps them dry, dust free and out of the light.


I store the following.  Now they are all in one place and easy to find and labeled so I know if I have store of any particular size

• 3.5 x 4.75 for photo cards sorted by wide and tall
• 3.5 x 5.00 for half sheet calendars must be wide
• 4x6 photo calendars usually 4 different styles in any given year
• 4x6 photo for half sheet photo cards sorted by wide and tall
• 5x7 & 4x6 photos for framing sorted by wide and tall

Finished The Lilac Bus this week.  I generally love her books. This one was okay.  Story about how some residents from a small town in Ireland travel home from Dublin each weekend on the Lilac Bus.   Some are helping family with a local pub, some are keeping secret relationships and do not want questions asked,  and others miss their home town and friends so visit to catch up.

My Christmas Tree is up!!  It took a lot of plugging to the task to get it done.  It was not as easy as other years to keep motivated.  Not sure what is up with that.











I always put clear lights on the tree.  This year I chose to include mostly clear ornaments with a few precious ones from years past.  The one on the left is one I received from Mom when she downsized her collection which were on the tree when I was a kid.  Clear lights with a diffuser helps to spread the light. The one on the right is clear glass with wire wrapped around it. 

I set up Christmas tea this morning.   A Lancaster County Christmas adds to the background in the top left.  I realize I don't have a Christmas Teacup so I will on the search. I used my red mug with the white tea pot.  I brewed a spiced black tea in the Marsala tea.  Some yogurt and banana, 3 cheese tea biscuits and a couple sweets rounded out goodies today.

This Christmas candle centerpiece was a gift from my sister many years ago.  I added a safe battery operated pillar candle in the glass rose bowl and it was perfect. Set on a Battenburg lace doily and was the focal point on the table.

Sharing with

Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen
Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Afternoon Tea

I gathered a few lilacs this morning in a couple of shades.  They are the small variety which bloomed a little later.  I put them into a hand painted glass vase with purple flowers.  I placed it onto a white Battenburg lace doily.

 

 

I made some Scottish Oat Scones yesterday.  I bought the dried currants especially to make this recipe.  I did not realize that dried currants are quite hard.  I baked the large scone on a stone which worked really well.  This recipe is from the Company's Company recipe book.    I placed a few triangles on a clear glass plate.

 

I made a cup of Blackberry Currant tea.  I served in a clear glass tea cup with matching saucer.  I added butter to my scone.  

 

The table is dressed with a white table cloth, topped with a lace and then a white linen table runner.

 

Sharing with 

Bernideen's Tea Time

Tea with Lemon and Sewing

I had tea with lemon.  This cup was set up for a photo challenge I had on my Flickr account which was lemon. 
I made a pot of Jade Citrus Mint in my fluted clear glass teapot with an infuser.  I filled the crystal bowl with lemons. These are artificial but I would like one day to have glass ones.  The glass honey jar was added then I poured a cup into my Steeped Tea clear glass tea cup.  I created a twist of lemon with a slice cut to the center and one end flipped.  All set up on a green napkin.











I've made several more tea cup coasters.  I just love to make these so my collection is growing so I hope they get the nod for our May women's event but nothing more on the front.

This week meant a trip to the library.  It was so cold that I did not really want to venture out but one book had a hold on it so it had to be returned.  I dressed up and hit the road. It was better getting around than I thought at frigid temperatures. 

I took this book out of the library.  It was a pretty quick read.  With card making in decline I guess I have been toying with the idea of doing sewing to sell.  This book provided a lot of food for thought about product, pricing, materials and venues for selling. 

I was not convinced yet that I could make it with this venture.  I'm enjoying sewing for now so it will be a hobby for now.

With that said I would like to try making a Open Wide Zippered Pouch.  I love that you have full access to the contents of the pouch.  I would not be patchworking the outside. 

I was encouraged that a couple of my sisters are enjoying their Scrap Sacks I made as Christmas gifts.  I think they are a way too cool idea so there will be a few more of those made.

Did I say it's been COLD!  I have been hibernating more than I should.

Sharing with Share Your Cup #235 hosted by Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson










Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen

Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Be Present for Christmas - Lesson 3 - Candle in the Darkness

The activity suggested this week was to light a candle and pray for those who are hurting. Thank God for being the Light of the world.

I chose a tea light in glass holder for the reminder to be the light in our dark world.  I chose a flameless battery powered candle to avoid any safety issues. The glass tea holder is from IKEA.

I printed a prayer list to glue into our journals.

I'm selecting my lessons from The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp.  The book provides 24 lessons for each day of Advent of which I have chosen 6 for this class.  We will have readings, questions, discussion, and an activity each week. 

This week the reading was from Isaiah saying the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

Soon it will be time for advent wreaths with candles glowing.  Is yours ready? 

Mosaic Monday #10

I bought a navy table cloth last week.  That rounds out the colors I think I need.  I have red, white, navy, pink, yellow plaid, and yellow damask.

I love the ribbed texture on this one and it washed like a dream.  No tag so I'm not sure what it is made of and so no idea how stain resistant it will be.  I will enjoy it.













This glass pepper shaker came home with me this week. It was missing it's partner so I got it half price.  It has a stick of Torre & Targus so I assume it has never been used. It is a challenge to photograph so I will have to work on it.

I found this barn board frame for a song at the thrift store.  I will be framing one of my photos in it for my craft sale season.














With the changes that took place on Blogger September 29, 2016 which we had been advised for several weeks, I lost all my blog lists. 

My Favorite Blog List, Card Challenge List, Favorite Places List, Techniques, Digital Sources and others which I don't remember because I was counting on finding here on my blog.  Shame on me for depending on the internet for securing information I would like to access regularly or only occasionally.  The Blogger Forum says they are working on it.  They may return or not.  Sad for me.  Live and learn.

Our city finally has a full ring road that allows travellers to bypass the center of the city and carry on east, west, south or north. It opened Saturday and I used it yesterday.  It is wonderful!!!!












Submitting to Mosaic Monday hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.

Share Your Cup - Cobalt Blue

I've been collecting a few pieces of cobalt blue glass ware to put together a table setting.  Here is the clear glass water pitcher with a blue handle paired with medium sized blue glasses.  They are probably juice glasses but they work great for water at the table.









I found a pretty cobalt blue vase with a clear glass fluted foot.  It's a good size proportionally for my table.  I've placed small silk daffodils in it today. 

Today the tea is Masala Chai with honey and cream.  Yum.  It is served in Johnson Brothers Regency White tea cup and saucer.  The teapot is by Stokes.  Can someone help with the type of tablecloth I have?  It is a bit heavy and has this shiny pattern woven into it. It strikes me as 1970s style.  Leave me a comment if you know something about this tablecloth. 

It's still apple & rhubarb crisp season.  The apples came from my Mom's trees and rhubarb from my sister.  The blue glass plates are Avon Royal Sapphire Cobalt Blue made in France layered with a simple white plate with a soft ruffled edge by IKEA - ARV.

I had my Mom over yesterday as she is in the city for treatment for the next few weeks.  We had a good visit and she is doing well but a bit tired.  I hope to have her over once a week.

The flatware has Splendide 18/8 Stainless Steel on the back.  Nice heavy utensils. 

Submitting to Share Your Cup #217
hosted by Carol at Art&Sand.