I wanted to share with you just a couple . . . → Read More: A Heart of Pressed Flowers]]> Happy Saturday, dear friends!  I do hope the weekend is good to us all.  Today is a work day for me, but I am so grateful to be working from home and to have a job that allows me to support myself and my children.  All is well.

I wanted to share with you just a couple of things.  First, a little, most humble gift I made for a sweet friend in a nursing home.

It is a bunch of pressed flowers, from last year from The Wild Little Garden.   I put them in the shape of a heart (never discount even individual petals that seem to be uselessly falling apart, for they allowed the heart to take shape!

I placed them in a laminating sleeve and then ran it through the laminator.

While not fancy at all, it can be handled without hurting anyone (no glass) and it is pretty hanging in a window.  It will keep its color for about a year, maybe more, depending on how much sun it gets.

In fashion news, I wanted to show you one of the bright dresses I found a couple of months back at G.W. Boutique — a 4 dollar treasure!  If ever I feel down, I just slip this particular dress on and I feel like a flower in a garden!  You will see once again the favorite black shoes and my trademark white stockings, but look for some new shoes to be posted about soon!  I found two really cute pairs today!  Even now, my feet are covered in vitamin E lotion and dressed in thick socks, trying to make these 40-something-year-old feet as pretty as possible!

Thanks, mom, for taking pictures!  Excuse the grainier ones.  All were taken with a phone! 

Do enjoy the day!  I heard a little commentary on the radio last week.  The bottom line was this: 

Winners are not those who never fail, but those who refuse to give up! 

May we all keep trying!

Enjoying the Alice in Wonderland tree.

Over the weekend, I went into . . . → Read More: Gluten Free Pizza and Fur Lined Boots.]]> Good Monday morn, dear readers! Today is a rainy day here. Gray. Cold. But the little Rose Cottage apartment is warm and cozy inside. I am counting all the things this morning that I feel happy about — lots to be thankful about here in America.

Enjoying the Alice in Wonderland tree.

Over the weekend, I went into Target to see about boots that might be on clearance. You know, friends, the department stores are already putting out swimsuits? Yeah. Swimsuits. So, looking for a winter-something, I totally, completely lucked out!

You see, there is a pair of fur-lined boots here at the apartment that I found (looking just about brand new) at G.W. Boutique a year ago, and Michaela and I have literally worn them out. The back part of the sole is coming away from the boot, which exposes the heel of the foot, and what is the point of wearing them? They are similar to the Ugg boots, only an off brand. I just wanted something to replace them with. I do not have to have official anything, especially not fur lined boots.

So I went to Target.  I had just about given up on finding any, when I knelt down to look into the back of a clearance shelf down low, and there they were — just one pair left!! — a pair of size 8, brown, fur lined boots for 10 dollars. I also got a similar pair of fur-lined slipper boots which are perfect for me around the apartment complex during the day, for only 5 dollars. That was a big score!  Something to be happy about.  But let’s talk food, shall we?

I am also happy about a gluten free pizza I made over the weekend. Folks, unless you have gone gluten-free and been without pizza for a long time (a year plus), you just don’t know how much you miss the occasional slice of chewy bread covered in veggies, pepperoni and cheese… Hmmmm. So, I have been looking for websites and have found one that I have tried a couple of things from: Gluten Free Goddess. Everything I have read on her site makes sense. The things I have tried from there have been great. Including the pizza. Mind you, my children could tell the difference in this crust compared to traditional white-flour pizza crust, but I think it was great!

First of all, here is the recipe.

Here is the dough in process.

Hmm.  I am terrible for leaving cabinet doors open when I am cooking.  See all the vitamins?  And mortar and pestle for grinding them up for smoothies?  I digress.

This dough was really easy to work with, and I followed the recipe instructions for wetting my hands and smoothing the dough out on the baking pan.

One thing that was a little tricky to me was that the crust seemed to split around the edges.  But I took a spatula and pushed the dough in around the edges, over and over, smoothing it and making sort of a rim around the edge.  It seemed to work fine.

Finally, my gluten free pizza, all ready to eat.   Yum!!!

One thing I will say is that I might have done well to use a bit more water and work the edge more.  Also, I felt like the dough was too thick in some areas, so I need to spread it more evenly — it’s drier and more dense than what I am used to for pizza crust, you know, back in the good ol’ days when I could eat gluten.  Michaela called it “crumbly” but it was not.  I think she was just not used to the texture.  For moisture’s sake, I added more tomato sauce and toppings to the second one I made.   But overall, this recipe gets a huge thumbs up from me!  I won’t tell you how many slices of pizza I had yesterday.  Oh, okay.  Five!

And while we are talking about eating, and overeating, and loving every bite of it, I may as well show you what I have been hooked on lately.  You may not even be able to tell what this is…

That, friends, is a sweet potato fry, dipped in a mixture of local honey and Newman’s Own Ranch dressing.  There is something about that mix that I LOVE.  I often eat a plate of these fries for lunch.  (Someone roll me to the treadmill.)

Finally, let’s talk crafts.  One of my new millinery pins got lots of compliments over the weekend, as I wore it on my dress all day yesterday!  It prompted the transaction of handing out two business cards.  Some day, my dream is to work only with my crafts — my dolls and accessories — and whatever else I feel like making or growing.  (If I can dream it, I can do it.)

This is not the best picture — fuzzy, flash fades everything, I know, but anyway, in addition to the flower this picture also shows you the latest G.W. find.  A beautiful sweater in excellent shape.  Another 4 dollar score as my other faithfully-goes-with-everything, winter white sweater is just about worn completely out.

Friends, can I squeeze in one more thing?  Just look how sweet Michaela’s game board looks framed?  It is so cheery and bright, I love it!  I think it needs not just a poster frame, but a REAL frame.    Okay.  Well.  That’s all.  Being quiet now. Sort of.  In just a minute more.

I want to close with a comment someone left for me that ended up in spam, and well it should have.  I get hundreds of comments that do go straight to spam.  Read this and you’ll know why:

We are a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your site offered us with valuable info to paintings on. You have done a formidable task and our entire neighborhood will likely be grateful to you.

So, folks, somewhere there is a gaggle of volunteers and an entire neighborhood grateful to me.  Wow.

Enjoy this day!

Thank you so much for stopping in today!  I meet you at the door this morning, hot tea in hand, posing a question.  My oh my, did you know that a Quadrille was a square dance for four couples that had five parts or movements?  I did not.  I guess I never really read . . . → Read More: Square Dance, Four Couples, Five Parts]]> My dear friends,

Thank you so much for stopping in today!  I meet you at the door this morning, hot tea in hand, posing a question.  My oh my, did you know that a Quadrille was a square dance for four couples that had five parts or movements?  I did not.  I guess I never really read Alice in Wonderland ’til now.  Why, I have seen multiple versions in movie form through the years, but did I ever really read the book?

When I saw the title LOBSTER QUADRILLE, I immediately thought creature, which would be my custom, as you know, but who knew that there was a dance going on with lobsters!?  I will never view lobsters the same.  No. You?

And speaking of whiting shoes in the ocean, I am quite sure that Charles Dickens spoke of blacking — think 19th century London — in at least one of his books.  Hard Times comes to mind.  Ahh, do we not love these stories that hail from the mind of England and speak of its children and countryside and, as hard as it was, the industrial revolution?

While reading some on line, I came across an interesting-looking web page.  Famous Victorians.  Will have to explore it a bit further before I recommend it wholeheartedly, but it does appear useful on first glance.

NOW!  On to THE ALICE TREE!!

Only one ornament to speak of today (and likely will be adding more info to its back later today) but it’s an important one nonetheless:  THE REAL ALICE.  Did you know there was a real Alice?  A young girl for whom the story was originally written?  Yeah.

She’s quite a pretty little girl.  Looks like a little sprite to me, ready to run off and dive into a rabbit hole herself!

Today we are reading WHO STOLE THE TARTS?  And tomorrow will be our last day of reading and I think I will declare Thursday to be the day that all ornaments are finished up (for I have a few in the works, which time has not permitted me to finish) and placed lovingly on THE ALICE TREE!   Do join me on Thursday or Friday when the whole tree, complete and finished, appears on the blog.  I will be drinking tea by THE ALICE TREE for the duration of January.  Ahhh, lovely!

Glitter…

glitter makes me HAPPY.  Especially big pretty silver glitter.  (But I also like gold and red and pink and blue.)

And now, a picture to share with you of the latest brooch.  Hopefully going into the shop tomorrow with a couple more Renoir brooches.

I love the red hat!  A touch of red is very pretty to me these days.  Maybe it’s this need I have for color now.  Color sometimes equals joy.  JOY.  Remember?

Finally, I would like to share some pictures of my beautiful grandbaby (according to Michaela, this creature made me a grandma for the first time).

Lazy.  Fat.  Self-centered.  Hungry.  I love her to pieces.  She’s every grandma’s perfect grandbaby.

She lazily lifted one eyelid to peek at me, wondering if perhaps I had a doggie treat for her, but quickly slammed her eye shut again when she saw the camera.

I cannot blame her.

Well, it is on to work today!  I wish you JOY.

Enjoy this day.

Oh my, how I love beautiful art work!  I guess we all do, eh?  On one hand I am working with the  beautiful old Alice illustrations for the Alice Tree, and on the other hand I am making pins now with lots of images from paintings by John William Waterhouse.  Does crafting get . . . → Read More: Vintage and Victorian Illustrations]]> Happy Monday, Dear Friends!

Oh my, how I love beautiful art work!  I guess we all do, eh?  On one hand I am working with the  beautiful old Alice illustrations for the Alice Tree, and on the other hand I am making pins now with lots of images from paintings by John William Waterhouse.  Does crafting get any more beautiful?

This beautiful image of Knight by Waterhouse is going into the shop today.  John William Waterhouse was an English painter, born 1849, died in 1917.

This beautiful brooch with Juliet by Waterhouse will go into the shop some time today.

One of my new favorites, The Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse.  Also headed into the shop today.

Now, as far as THE ALICE TREE, I will be back either later today or some time tomorrow with more pictures of more ALICE ORNAMENTS added to the tree.  My!!  Did Alice meet a lot of characters and creatures in CHAPTER 4!!

She goes to the home of The March Hare.

I love this Victorian rabbit!  No, it is not from Alice, but a bun-bun just the same, and probably drawn about the same time that Arthur Rackham was doing his illustrating for children’s books.

Alice got ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR, which is the name of the chapter.  She met a blue caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, the Fish-Footman, the Frog-Footman, the Duchess and the Pig Baby!  Poor Alice!  She is overwhelmed with creatures and vanishing cats and sharp-tongued people who think she is constantly clueless!  I think she is beginning to feel clueless!

In case you have not figured it out (which I am sure you have), the artist showcased with this chaper is Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939), and I love his illustrations!  His frontispiece for Alice is my favorite, and you have seen it before!!

FRONTISPIECE:  frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book’s title page.

Enjoy this day!  Will return with more ALICE TREE stuff!

xoxo

Here we come to the end of the day, and I have yet about 3 hours of typing work to do, but I wanted to take a break and show you some things that I have done today.  (Well, not all was done today, but some of it was finished up today!)

Some of you . . . → Read More: All In A Saturday]]> My Dear Friends,

Here we come to the end of the day, and I have yet about 3 hours of typing work to do, but I wanted to take a break and show you some things that I have done today.  (Well, not all was done today, but some of it was finished up today!)

Some of you have mentioned through the years that you’d like to see our local thrift stores.  I said I’d try to start sharing some pictures, so here goes!  This morning I had a chance to visit a thrift store in Chapel Hill called PTA.  Just as it sounds, it is affiliated with a Parent-Teacher Association and helps to raise money for the schools in Chapel Hill.  If I am correct in my thinking, the school parents volunteer and make donations (the public can donate too) and at least part of the money raised goes back into the schools.  I have been visiting this thrift store for many, many years!  Since Daniel was a baby!

Clean store.

Love the old trunk.

This place gets TONS of books!  Sigh. You are only seeing one cove of books!  There are many.

And some cool furniture.

This is a quilt that hangs on the wall, I believe representing the schools that benefit from the store.

This store is not jam-packed but they do get a lot of old and unique things.  As I mentioned, they also get a ton of books.  As an added bonus, they are right up the sidewalk from Whole Foods.  What a treat!

Now, these next pictures were not taken today, but I recently took a few pictures of a G.W. Boutique (Goodwill for those just tuning in) in Mebane.

Just look!  They get tons of clothes!  Yes, the short-sleeve white shirts alone take up this much space.  All the clothes are color-organized season-organized and there are lots of them!

Handbags.  And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  They have a display like this at the end of nearly every rack.

Clothes, clothes, clothes.  You really could spend HOURS in there.  Really.

I wish you all who want to could come with me!  Wouldn’t we have fun!!

ALICE??

Now, no Alice stuff today.  The weekend is a break and we’ll catch up with Alice on Monday.  However, I did want to show you the latest additions to my shop, A Bit of Birdsong.

John William Waterhouse, The Crystal Ball.

A pretty upcycled image — dove in foliage.

John William Waterhouse, from Flora and the Zephyrs.

John William Waterhouse, La Belle Dame sans Merci (French: “The Beautiful Lady Without Pity”), a visual depiction of the theme from poem La Belle Dame sans Merci by John Keats.

And finally, John William Waterhouse, Soul of the Rose.

Ahhh, I love John William Waterhouse.  Whenever I find discarded books or images that bear his work, they take up residence at Rose Cottage.

You can expect the shop to fill up with brooches, dolls, mushrooms and other such whimsical stuff!

Enjoy this day!

You’ve heard me speak of running errands.  Well, I will no longer be “running errands,” friends.  I will be “going messages“!

“How queer it seems,” Alice said to herself, “to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah’ll be sending me on messages next!”  ~Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 3 — The . . . → Read More: Going Messages!]]> Welcome, Dear Friends!

You’ve heard me speak of running errands.  Well, I will no longer be “running errands,” friends.  I will be “going messages“!

“How queer it seems,” Alice said to herself, “to be going messages for a rabbit! I suppose Dinah’ll be sending me on messages next!”  ~Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Chapter 3 — The White Rabbit

Going messages! Does that sound a bit strange to you?  Me too, but I love it!

Okay.  I had hoped for us to learn more about the various illustrators who put Alice’s face on paper.   Illustrations can define the way a person sees a character forever!  I mean, I cannot think of Alice without thinking of John Tenniel’s version of Alice with her blond hair and serious scowl in The Shower of Cards.

The following sheds some light on how we ended up with so many delightful Alice illustrations:

In 1907 the British copyright on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland expired, and any publisher was free to create a new edition. Several did, and to differentiate themselves from the others (as well as to create copyrightable property of their own) many chose to produce new illustrated editions. Luckily, this event coincided with what Richard Dalby calls the peak of the Golden Age of children’s book illustration, “the decade from 1905 to 1914 when dozens of opulent large quarto gift books with mounted colour plates… were published every year.” Of course, American publishers were not so scrupulous, and new illustrated editions predate 1907 (e.g. Newell 1901, Kirk 1904). ~http://www.exit109.com/~dnn/alice/ (Please note that I have not explored the entire referenced website, but they do have some lovely Alice illustrations!

With that thought in mind, there is only one tag ornament going on the Alice Tree today.  It is the illustration of The White Rabbit’s House by Mabel Lucie Attwell.  (Marqueta, if you are reading this, I couldn’t help but think of your little Becky Button Nose — Mabel, who seems to already aspire to be an artist herself.)  I would like to end up with many illustrators on the The Alice Tree, but we’ll only cover one at a time.   There is a Mabel Lucie Attwell club, apparently, if you want to read more about Mrs. Attwell.

And the other side…

You know, the more I think of it, an Alice Tea Party would be a lovely thing to have once the tree is done!  I think Michaela and her friends would love it!  I know I would!

And now, for now, onto other things happening at Rose Cottage.

I am working to fill up my shop again, A Bit of Birdsong.  Yah.  I stayed home all day yesterday, except for going messages — only the necessary ones, and I did get a lot done!  These are in the final stage of creation and there are more on the assembly line!  Will all be in the shop soon.  I also added three bun-buns to the shop yesterday.

I cooked a healthful meal…

Healthful.  You like that?  Can food be healthy?  I don’t know, but I read that it cannot.  I, myself, have always said “healthy” foods, but far be it from me to publish something that’s incorrect!  That would  be incorrect reporting!  (Like I don’t make mistakes.  Ha ha ha.  “Earth to Lynn.”)

I browned porkchops in an iron skillet with blackening spices until they were really golden on each side and then put them in a large pot with water to cover and, of course, all the iron skillet scrapings, and let them simmer until they were nigh unto falling apart.  This made an amazing broth!  I steamed carrots and bell peppers and made a large pot of jasmine rice with some broth from the pork chops added in.  It would be safe to say there is only a bite (or two) left.

And now, friends, last but not least, the fabric from a newly found dress.

I love this one!  So feminine and sweet.  It fits well.  The fabric is soft and very flowing.  Gotta love dresses.

Well, it is off to work now.  I will use my breaks today for going messages and a bit of working on pins. Remember that today we are reading ALICE IN WONDERLAND chapter 4.

Enjoy this day!

Today is day 3, wherein we read Chapter 3 of Alice in Wonderland.  Oh, poor Alice!  Yesterday she cried herself into a pool of tears.  She nearly shrunk herself away and had to swim with a number of wonderful unexpected creatures (I love creatures) to get to shore.  She wore a pair of kid gloves . . . → Read More: Just A Touch of Wonderful Blue]]> Dear Friends,

Today is day 3, wherein we read Chapter 3 of Alice in Wonderland.  Oh, poor Alice!  Yesterday she cried herself into a pool of tears.  She nearly shrunk herself away and had to swim with a number of wonderful unexpected creatures (I love creatures) to get to shore.  She wore a pair of kid gloves belonging to a rabbit, for goodness’ sake!  My oh my!  The white rabbit still runs around!

Perhaps this is one of my favorite ornaments so far, something made to represent chapter 2.  The white rabbit on a clock face!  I found it simply by search for images on Google and then printing it.  I printed two of them, glued them together and then covered them in Mod-Podge. 

Another much-loved tag is this one with the vintage-y image of kid gloves!  I also cut the definition of kid gloves from an old dictionary I use for crafting.

Kid gloves.  Yah.  I like this one bunches!  And all three new tags are hanging on THE ALICE TREE. 

You know, this book has inspired me so!  If I had had a BLUE ALICE DRESS this morning, I would have put it on!  And oh, if I had white leather lace up boots!  But alas, I had to go with the sweetest thing I had on hand.

This is a sweet white cotton dress I found recently at G.W. Boutique (Goodwill for those of you just tuning in) for only $4.00.  Love at first sight, I tell you!

This dress is so sweet!  I love the fabric covered buttons, the ribbon around the waist, the off-white creamy color!

I decided this morning to make a millinery type flower to go on the dress since I had to have a touch of BLUE!

I think it turned out rather lovely.  Do you? 

Today will be a crafting day for me.  Not going anywhere, no.  Except karate later this evening.  I am going to work, work, work on finishing up brooches, crafting projects, my funky skirt, and getting some things in order here!  I am staying in my rabbit hole today, friends!  I must!  If I head out to The Scrap Exchange or to G.W. Boutique, the day will be done for!  No, I am staying home with my craft supplies. 

Today we read Chapter 3.  Join me, if you please.  If not, keep tuning in to see what goes on THE ALICE TREE NEXT! 

Enjoy this day!