AlphaStamps is having Giveaways!

ALPHA STAMPS : Don't even get me started on how much I love this shop!! It's a paper crafter, mixed media artists dream shop! Leslie is right on the ball with the best and newest things that the artists are doing right now. She has a vibrant artists community with some really talented artists who do up samples for her, to give you some ideas on what to do with some of the new items on the market. She is having a Giveaway a Day promotion right now--from today until Jan. 4th, daily giveaways, and all you have to do is check out her blog and leave a comment. Don't forget to click on over to her shop, you will not be disappointed!!

Let it snow and snow and snow and snow and snow

Holey Carps! It's snowing again. And again, and again! Just like so many other parts of the country, we have really been having the weather so far this winter. We get blessed with what they call "lake effect" snow--part of the joy of living on the shores of Lake Superior!

A friend of mine--I met her through a little shop I used to consign my crafts at and through doing craft fairs--has just opened a little consignment shop. We got to talking and she asked me if I'd be interested in working here now and then...fill in and for when she needs a day off. Sounds good to me! Gets me out of the house once in a while and out amongst the peeeples. I'm here right now, it's my first day. Sadly,we are experiencing some of that "lake effect" snow I was talking about before, and there aren't too many people out and about today. I've only had one customer so far.
Happy to say, we did get our tree up. Kind of a funny story....every year we buy a tree from this funny old character-- hubby actually used to work for him when he had a logging company back in the early 80's. He now is retired (I would guess he's about 86 or 87) and sells trees from his front yard every year. This year we ended up coming so late that he only had 6 trees left--and 5 of them were pretty sad looking! (picture Charlie Brown). He refused to take any money for the tree...but insisted that the only way we could have one tree was to take 2 of them home with us! LOL He said he just doesn't have the heart to burn them...never has in all the years he's been selling them and isn't about to start now. So now we have 2 trees, one in the living room and the other propped up out in the snowbank. I think I'll ask the kids for help in stringing some popcorn and making some bird friendly ornaments for our little chickadee and grosbeak friends.
Well, I guess I'd better get back to work! lol Have a wonderful Christmas, all my dear bloggy friends!!

Is it Christmas yet?

Holly Bird ornament

Hello. How's everyone coming along with their Christmas preparations? I am so sad to say that we haven't even started! Can you believe it? I'm ashamed. We are going to brave the cold (predicting -40 windchills tonight and sub zero temps tomorrow!) and go get a tree tomorrow. It was our plan to get one this past weekend, but the blizzard put the kibosh on that idea. AND we have to get our Christmas cards finished and mailed out. Sheeesh. I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm not myself this year. Monkeying Around gadget pouch

I do have some exciting news---I just passed my 1000th sale in my Etsy shop!!! Yeah! I had intended on doing a drawing to celebrate the occassion, but haven't got it figured out yet what I want to do! So, someday soon I'll be doing something....stay tuned!

Sweetly Pink Love Dove ornament

Pink Grapefruit Day Planner
Well, I wish you all luck and joy in your Christmas preparations....and hope to have more to talk about the next time I write! lol

Hugs! Karen

Wearing your Art on your Sleeve

You know what surprises me?? That no matter how old you get, there are still things that surprise ya! lol It's an amazing thing.

Just the other day I got a convo on Etsy from a gal, Mandy, who had been looking for a nice retro floral pattern for a project she was working on and she happened to find this Maywood studio fabric that I've used a lot in my work. I just love the retro feel of the pattern and the fact that it came in 3 different colors:
Yellow
Sunshine and Roses Tissue keeper
and PINK
Retro Roses Day Planner
and an Aqua Blue (you've might remember seeing it in a few of my past projects) Well, here is what she did with that pattern!! Yes, that is her arm!! lol Isn't it beautiful? I don't have any tattoo's, and have no plans to get any....but if I were, this one would be for me! Thanks so much, Mandy, for sharing that with us--this is my favorite project of the year!

Pressing cloth
Do you guys use a pressing cloth when you iron?? I have had the same pressing cloth for about 20 years....(yes, really!) and a couple of days ago, it died. She finally passed onto that little laundry room in the sky. :o(

Then came the hunt for a replacement, you would think that would be easy, huh? Nope. She was sheer and smooth and steam went right through her--all I could find were some cheeseclothy, icky things. Sooo, I went on the hunt for the perfect fabric to make one for myself. That was not easy either! It is very difficult to find a sheer fabric that can withstand ironing--and lots of it! I finally did find a fabric that works and made a couple for myself (a small one and a big one)--and I also made a couple extra to put in the shop.

I Love You Honey Bunny
Here are a couple new items I've added to my Etsy shop over the last few days. This little Honey Bunny--so sweet!!

Verdant Snowflakes Birdy tag setI really like this paper---there's not a lot of green snowflake items out there, this one reminds me of snow in the pines!


Love Dove bird ornament
I love making these little bird ornaments...there's something so relaxing about doing hand stitching in the evenings while watching my fav programs on TV. This one, I think, is the sweetest yet! I did it in honor of the Pink Christmas event that the CSST sponsored on Etsy. If you like Pink for Christmas--check out the LINK!! You will not be disappointed.

OK--I am going to try, really hard, to set up my LOLLISHOPS shop over the next couple days! It's so crazy hard to find time these days and sadly the shipping set-up over there is complicated and is going to require time and a clear head! Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!

Have a wonderful day--HUGS!

What's your name, little girl??

Hello friends!! We are doing a promotion in our street team -- Cottage Style Street Team (Cssteam) on Etsy--called PINK CHRISTMAS, and I made up a couple of new items.

I've made this sweet little girl reindeer pull toy, with her little pink friend and travelling companion--she is made from fuzzy felt and has such pretty pink accessories. I am having a hard time thinking up a name for them and decided I'd come to you creative people to help me out! What do you think???

Here's another little cutey....a pretty cream color Love Dove ornament to bring a smile to your face! She is listed in my Etsy shop. Click the pic and it will take you there.

Oh, one more thing....I got a treasury today and did up one all about pretty Pink dreams....stop by and say HI and check out some really lovely items too! Click HERE to see.

Peek a boo

Peek a boo
Originally uploaded by misseskwittys

A sneak peek of a little something I've been working on.

LOLLISHOPS IS COMING VERY SOON!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you all have a wonderful day...full of love and family and laughs and tons of good food!!! Hugs and smooches!

Found this on YouTube and thought I'd share the chuckles....do you think this child will grow up to be a collage artist? He gets such joy out of working with paper! lol

Happy Feet

My feet are so happy--wanna know why??

Back in the olden days, when I was a much younger woman (yes, when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I had a Grandma Ruth who made slippers for everyone for Christmas each year. Lots and lots of the softest, warmest handknit slippers. I got so used to having those slippers, and sadly, used to take them for granted. It's what Grandma Ruth did. Such a labor of love, making all those slippers every year. I miss Grandma Ruth, her passing left a big hole. What I didn't expect was how much I miss those toasty slippers.

Well, a couple days ago I received a gift in the mail. It was a gift given out of thoughtfulness and kindness, wanting nothing in return. Some lovely hand knit house slippers in the prettiest pink. I opened the package and slipped them on...and tears sprang to my eyes. They fit perfectly. Just like Grandma used to make. Thank you Twyla, your kindness warms my heart and my tootsies!

My Ornament Show and Tell!

Well....seeing that I was totally SHUNNED, once again, by Etsy not featuring even ONE of my Christmas ornaments in their ornament contest or gift guides...I've decided to show them off here. So take that Etsy, and dang you ...dang you to heck. *LOL!*

*****The preceeding paragraph was said with a big silly grin on my face! I'm not really that surprised or mad, just having a little fun, folks!*************

The Blessings of Christmas. I just love this image from a vintage postcard...a lovely creche scene in lovely soft colors. I've printed the image to fabric and then stitched it to a lovely natural linen and frayed out the edges.--all stitched to a lovely deep sage wool. Added a few vintage shell buttons and finished off with some vintage lace for a hanger.

Blue birds with Snowflakes and Sparkly Rhinestones...I just finished these today and don't have them listed yet. If you feel like you need to have them, just let me know and I'll be happy to accommodate you!

A cutey St. Nick...all handstitched with love!

A vintage image of St. Nick printed onto fabric and then handstitched to some felt hearts, with a little beading around the edges for good measure!

There, that's just a sampling of some of my Christmas ornaments so far....there are more in my Etsy shop--you can find them HERE.

Thanks for looking!

Lazy T Crochet

Thought I'd try something a little different ( for me) today--and show off one of my OWS team-mates! Her name is Tricia from Lazy T Crochet. She has a nice BLOG and a lovely ETSY Shop--and is a talented needleworker and a lovely gal!


Wrapped in Roses Handspun Capelet


I admire those who crochet and knit well. I have a brief working knowledge of both crochet and knitting and often joke that I can crochet in a circle and knit in a semi-straight line! LOL It's funny AND true :o)

Mint Mobius Scarf or Cowl

Tricia can crochet both in a circle and a straight line and many other directions too! lol She has a good eye for color and design and the quality of her work is apparent in the broad range of crochet items she offers in her shop.

Soft Cream Button Scarflette Cowl

Her items would make very wonderful and appreciated gifts-- (I personally would love to have any of these items shown here today, so if you were trying to figure out what to get me for Christmas...here you go! *wink, wink* ) head on over and enjoy perusing her lovely items! Click the pics and it will take you there.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Hey, Remember me?

I am so sorry about the lack of posting here, Peeps! I hope you haven't all given up on me :o)

It has been a dang nightmare around here for the last few weeks and I have a hard time when I am under stress--I can't seem to focus on any one thing for any length of time. SO, basically, I just either wandering around aimlessly or running around like a chicken with my head cut off! LOL

WARNING: total lack of cheerfulness coming up

I'll just give you abit of a rundown of the fun we've been having around here.

1) Step-daughter almost kills my new grandbaby, brings her into the bathtub with her in the middle of the night and accidently dropped her (at least this is the story she is telling?? she lies so much we don't know what to believe). Baby stopped breathing--Luckily SD's grandmother was staying there with her and got the baby breathing again. Baby was in NICU for 5 days. The day they were going to move the baby out of ICU, SD was supposed to call me because she had her meeting with Social Services, but didn't because she was afraid I would tattle about her leechy boyfriend living in her apartment (he's not supposed to be there) and get her in trouble with housing and Social Security. Social Services took the baby and won't tell where she is. They also threw SD into the psych ward and have had her in lock-up for the past week. She was also supposed to call this morning as she had a court hearing about all this--but she never called. Now I have no idea who has the baby, if they are going to give her back the baby, and what is going to happen to either them. Argghh!

2) Chemo didn't work for my brother. They did another PET scan and determined that it didn't work so they weren't going to put him through any more. Yale Univ. has some new experimental treatment, and the docs submitted him for the trials---we just heard that they decided to accept him. We have our fingers crossed and the prayers keep on flowing up! Sadly, he has to keep going down to the Univ. Hospital in MPLS for all his treatments and tests and doc visits, which means a bunch of driving for him and his wife (it's about a 2.5 hour drive from here).

Yup. Sigh.

The bright spot is I get to spend some time with this little fella when they head down there.

I said 'Honey, your hat is a little big, would you like me to sew it a little so it fits better?" and he replied "I can just fix my ears and it will work!" Then he flopped down his little ears and snuggled the hat in there--Wah lah! Cracked me up!



Oh, and I got 2 weeks of Jury duty tossed in there too! LOL It was actually kind of interesting, I'd never done jury duty before. I was put on the jury for a rather juicy case involving drugs and thugs from Detroit and a loaded pistol.

On a brighter note, I started on Twitter--which has been a rather fun distraction. If you are on and would like to follow me, here's my TWITTER.

I finished up a new collage yesterday, which I'm very happy with! I originally was making it to represent pregnancy, with the bird on the nest and the flower representing the baby....but I think it can just represent Love. period.

Thanks for listening--it feels good just to get it all off my chest! Hugs to you!

Winner of the Home Tour Doorprize

I'd just like to thank all of you who stopped by the Home Tour and participated--it was a lot of fun and we got to meet great new people (which is always a GOOD thing!)

The winner of the Door Prize here is Felicia of FluffyFlowers!!! Congrats Felicia, it was really nice to meet you!

By the way......Felicia also has a few wonderful Etsy shops, One for Handmades, one for Vintage, and one for Supplies--be sure to stop by and check them out!

I'll be sending her a new planner, which may help her out keeping all those shops organized! LOL

Have a great day!

Home Show!!

You are all in for a such treat today! I am so pleased to welcome you to our Virtual Home Show!!

We are a group of gals who have gotten together to share with you some wonderful handmade gift ideas--for yourself and/or others, in this special two-day event. Stop by for a visit to each of these blogs and see what each one has to share with us--and remember to sign up at each blog for some fantastic DOORPRIZES!! Yeah!

Here are the other wonderful artists involved in our home show:

Sue Bleiweiss who will be featuring some of her beautiful notebooks!

Ginny Harvey with her delightful monkey creations!

Felicia Haywood with her wonderful and whimsical critters!

Lisa Jordan has the most adorable little felted creations!

Jenn Maruska is featuring her delightful gifts for those who sew and embroider!

Julie Thomas with her beautiful pottery


I'm Karen Wittkop-- AKA Mrs. Kwitty -- and I'll be sharing with you some of my gift tag creations during this show!

Thanks to a creative Mom, I began creating handmade items when I was a young girl....and I haven't stopped yet! lol I won't tell you exactly how many years this entails...let's just say it's been a few!

The tag making actually stemmed from my love of sewing. It's all about putting together color and pattern. I'm just as happy putting together lovely papers as I am putting together lovely fabrics.

A while back, I designed a little bird to use as an applique on some of my bags and wallets. One day, while wrapping a birthday gift for my niece, I was looking for a tag to add to top her gift, and saw the bird pattern there and decided to try making a tag with it.....


....and that was the beginning of a wonderful friendship! *lol*


I love the cottage style, which is really a mixture of different things, but all warm and comfortable. Timeworn, whimsical, homey, fun, romantic, vintage...all do their part to create items that feel like old friends-- cottage style.

I'm offering a few lovely DOOR PRIZES today-- The Main one is one of my 2009 Planners--with a cute pocketed cover made from a mix of playful colored and patterned fabrics.

Also, I've put together a couple of little goodie bags filled with a variety of tags--you will also have a chance to win those by following the easy instructions below!



************PRIZES**************

All you have to do to get your name in the hat for the 2008 Planner is go check out my Etsy Shop and find your favorite BIRD! Leave me a comment here letting me know which is your fav and you will be entered. Easy Peasy. :o)

Each purchase made in my shop during this event --November 3rd and 4th -- will add your name to the hat for the Tag Goodie Bags!! Please stop back here and let me know if you have bought anything and how many so I can get your name added properly!

I'll draw for the prizes on Thursday morning--so be sure to check back and see if you've won!

*****************************************************

NOW...I'd like to send off on the next leg of the tour, to visit Sue Bleiweiss and her lovely notebooks!

THE WINNER FOR THIS DRAWING HAS BEEN CHOSEN AND POSTED ! THANKS FOR ALL WHO ENTERED--IT WAS NICE TO 'MEET' YOU ALL!

Just call me Grandma Kwitty!

Well, it took me a while, but here are some pics of my little sweety--Her name is Sarah Marie and she was born 6 lb. 4 oz. (just a teeny little gal!) and 19" long. She's very good natured and likes to stare at you when you speak.

Here she is with her favorite Aunty Linds!!

Babies and Birdies and Blessings

Hello, my friends! (I borrowed that from John McCain, lol) It's high time I got back to my blogging!

BLESSINGS :

It was a crazy week, but brother Paul is home now--a little worse for the wear and tear, but in good spirits and happy to be home. Thank God. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart--all of you who stopped by with a kind word, and a hug, and a prayer for him and us---you have no idea how much it means to me! I LOVE you gals!!


I so enjoyed my last giveaway!!--and the lovely MaryMarsh was so pleased with her prize that she wrote me a nice little piece in her blog. Thanks MaryMarsh--you're a sweety!!

Speaking of Giveaways.....I was the extremely lucky winner of a giveaway by StarryDeborah. She is a very talented mixed media collage artist and I won this GORGEOUS Paris collage from her! Oh, I just love it, and am a little sad that the picture doesn't do it justice! I guess that is the way it is with most art, right? There is so much more to it in person...depth and texture and emotion. Thanks so much StarryDeb--I absolutely love it and it looks so good on my blue wall!

BIRDIES:

I did a new style of birds this past week--you know, just shaking things up a bit! This style is more old-fashioned and lends itself very well to vintagey wallpaper prints --see for yourself!

I love them! Of course, I am still doing my old style too and have some new ones in the SHOP that have some nice Christmas colors--swing by and see!

BABIES:

You will never guess what? I became a Grandma yesterday!!! Remember my step-daughter Misty? Well, surprise, surprise....she was pregnant and didn't tell us. It's all a bit of a soap opera and I won't go into details but--good always comes from bad--and we have a GRANDCHILD to go meeet today!

AND--our lovely and talented friend PINKY had her baby on Sept 31st--and put up pics of the little fella on her blog --swing by for a nice AWWWWW! moment.

Brief Hiatus

Hi Friends, please excuse me for not posting this week--but the PET scans showed up a couple more cancers in my brother's lymph nodes and on Monday they sent him down to the University hospital in Minneapolis for some aggressive chemo treatments. I've been trying to help out with some of the things back home here while Paul and his wife are out of town. They have to be there all week (they have 2 girls at home yet plus their 3 year old grandson).

The good news is that Paul is under the care of a very good doctor down there, one of the best around--so at least we know that he is getting wonderful care. I just feel worried and can't seem to concentrate on anything this week.

So, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a minute and send up a prayer for him and his family. Thanks so much!! ((Hugs))

Winners!

Well, picture this.....

It's just about 10:00 on Saturday night....Mrs. Kwitty and her faithful helper, Linds, are preparing to draw a name from the Schmoozer's Blog Giveaway. We had a really fun time giggling over the comments as we wrote down all the names on tiny little pieces of paper and folded them in half and put them in the little box!!

Next, it's time to rally the troops--and by that I mean "wake up the cats".!! lol Rosey was kind enough to offer to draw the names for usDaisy, not wanting to be left out, insisted on posing with the winning names:

First drawn is Mary Marsh!! yeah, congrats Mary!

And the second name drawn is Dolly!! yeah, congrats Dolly!!

Check out this comment from Dolly--she totally deserves to win a prize for this fine and creative example of schmoozing!! lol

Dolly said...
"Schmoozing it is....
M.... marvelous
R... royalty
S... sweet as sugar
K... kreative
W... witty
I... intelligent
T... too cute
T... talented
Y... young at heart

need more??????charming, funny, sensitive, big hearted, pretty as a pea, queen of crafts, princess of blogland, nice, cute, purrfect,warm and fuzzy, extremely creative, saucy, kind, gentle, a lil ray of sunshine in my day, fun to visit, great to chat with, and oh did I say a real cutie pie too?
How am I doing so far?If that doesn't work then just look into my puppy dog eyes...Hmmm...Or how about a bribe...I will clean your house for a week, scoop the litter box for a month, cook you dinner everyday for a month, I don't do toilets or take out the trash... I have to draw the line somewhere you know!
Smiles and Hugz,Dolly"

My thanks to all who commented and played along with my silliness--I enjoyed it very much!!!