Tuesday Treasures

I am posting the Tuesday Treasures early this week because I will be gone until the New Year. The theme of this week is "Christmas Clearance." I will be putting my Christmas items on sale this week. Please note that shipping will not be until the 2nd of Jan. You can find my sale items here. Simple click on the Tuesday Treasure link to see what is available, and happy hunting. Be sure to check out all the other beautiful shops on Shabbylaneshops for their sale items as well. I would like to wish each and every one a very Happy New Year.

Do I Have Snow Falling

I tried to load the widget on my blog to bring some of the white stuff to you and to me, but I can't see anything. Do you see snow falling? If you do, could you please let me know......I would grately appreciate it. Someone told me that maybe something on my blog is turned off....WHAT! I have no idea what they are talking about.....

Pink Saturday

Beverly from How Sweet The Sound asked us this week to share a Christmas Tradition and altho we have many, I think the one that means the most to us is this....
On Christmas Eve, the family joins together for dinner which always consists of some food from Sweden and some food from Norway. My husbands family is from Norway and mine are from Sweden. We try and represent our families as best we can, having never lived there at all. At the end of the meal, we read the Christmas Story from a Bible that was given to us by my husbands father. It is the same Bible that my father in law read from to his family. We have always let the children open a gift before bed and now do this with the grand children as well. It makes for a very exciting evening of family, love, hope and heart.

I started collecting Spoke china many years ago and always seem to find more pieces to add each year. I love this pattern and the piece above is a new one. I have no idea why blogger seemed to think it important to rotate my picture, but I have no idea how to turn it back....oh well, you can see it is the shape of a tree, I love that.

If you were wondering where I was last week, this picture below will certainly give you a hint.

Yep, we spent a week at Disneyworld with our son, his wife, and the grand children as well as my mother. We had the best time too.

Wouldn't you just love this in your yard??!! The decorations were more beautiful than words could describe.

Hey Pluto, want to play??

If you like topiary's you would love this one.

Now here is the prettiest and fairest princess of all!!!

Thankyou to all my pinkie friends for all your comments. I love each and every one. Please be sure to check the list on Beverly's blog for all the beautiful pink posts this week. I want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!! See you all in 2010!

Pink Saturday~~EARLY!!

Does this look at all familiar?? Tiny Tim being carried by his dad. Yes, it's from A Christmas Story. Beautiful Simpich dolls. Beverly asked us to write about a favorite ornaments, but I did that last week. Anything the children make for me is an instant favorite, a keepsake from the heart, for all time. SO....this week I am writing about my second favorite....Simpich Dolls.
When I married my husband of (can you believe, it's already been 37 years!!) his family had this wonderful tradition of collecting Simpich dolls and adding to their collection everytime a new member entered into the family. My sweet husbands step mother knew Jan very well before she and her husband began making dolls. They would create and design a doll for their children, modeling the facial expressions after their families likeness. They created "cloud babies" for the new babies of the family. These are sweet babies laying on fluffy white cotton clouds that hang from the Christmas tree. I have them for both my husband and our children, but they are not yet unpacked, so I can not share a picture with you.

Next, come the Angels. This one was for me. When my in laws passed away, my husband and I received our Angels for our own tree. This Angel is blond, blue eyed and reminded my in laws of me, so she was mine.

Here is a close up of all the perfect craftsmanship that went into each and every piece created my this wonderful company. The store was located in Old Colorado Springs and when you visited, you could walk around and watch the artists making the dolls as well as painting the features. It was something we did each and everytime we visited our family.

Altho my husband does not have red hair and freckles, this Angel was his.....he did however blow the horn, so this is a little piece of his personality for sure.

I was gifted with the Kratchet family one year!!! I do have Scrooge but unlike the cloud babies, he is not unpacked as of yet. The workmanship is perfect on these dolls down to every last detail.

If you are interested in learning more about Simpich dolls please click here. Sadly, the store is no more. I think they just needed a break, but pieces can still be found on there website. Altho they closed the store, there now is a museum to showcase their work. They also do puppet shows, just beautiful, so if you are ever in Colorado Springs, you should look them up.

Mother with her holiday pudding.

Brother with his bowl of apples.

Sister with a candle.

They proudly sit atop my buffet during this time of year. I love them not only for their beauty, but for what they represent. These dolls are highly collectable and I have heard that Nancy Reagan was a huge collector also.

No pink here, but if we are talking about familes, I thought you might like to see my twin grandsons and my mother. She just celebrated her 82 birthday last month. The boys, Jack and Kyler are 2 1/2 yrs.

Kyler, just too cute for words.

Jack has eyes that will knock you over.

Our son, daughter in law and grand baby girls. What a blessing we have been given. God is good and I am so honored to be a part of this family.

Thankyou so much Ms Beverly for making Pink Saturday possible for all of us that love pink. You can find more pinkies at How Sweet The Sound. Please drop in and visit them this week, hear their heartfelt stories and share in their holiday treasures.

If you are wondering why I had to post so early in the week, it's because I will not be here until next week. If you are wondering where I am going, I will let the cat out of the bag next week. I am very sorry, but I will be unable to post or visit this week, please forgive me, but I will try and check in with you when I return, I don't want to miss anything. I really enjoyed all your stories last week and am grateful for your comments.

Tuesday Treasures

It's time once again for Tuesday Treasures on Shabbylaneshops. The theme for this week is "Holiday Hope Chest." For whatever reason these two beautiful towels came to my mind and so I have included them this week. You can find them on my website site SOMEPLACEINTHYME along with a few other goodies. Be sure to check out all the other shops for there specials this week at Shabbylaneshops.

This beautiful towel comes with the pottery leaf dish and soaps.

This is for a pair of towels made using gorgeous fabrics and vintage crochet work.

Pink Saturday

I know that many of us say the same thing week after week, but it's true, where does the time go? It's time to get ready for another pinkie visit to all my Pink Saturday friends, WoW! the weekend is here.....again. Thanks to Beverly from how sweet the sound for making this greatness possible. We have been asked to share a favorite memory of our childhood this week. As hard as I have been thinking about this, I keep coming back to the same Christmas morning.
Before I tell my story, I want you to know that the above raindeer was made by my daughter in kindergarden, many years ago. I would take a tree with handmade ornies from my children over any store bought ornies any day of the year. They are priceless and made with so much love.

This little paper tree with birdseed glued to it is over 25 years old. My son made this when he was in kindergarden. Sadly, the paper is falling apart. I think I may need to laminate this between plastic sheets to keep it. It, along with the raindeer, is my most precious ornie yet.

I remember waking one Christmas morning to find a pink wooden doll cradle under the tree. Inside was a baby doll the size of a real baby. The doll and cradle were store bought, but the pink satin pillow, cover, sheet and mattress where handmade and hand quilted by my grandmother. It was probably the best gift I ever received from Santa. Sadly, years later while I was in high school we had a house fire and I lost everything. But....I still have my memory and will never forget the love and care that went into a very special gift that year.

This is a beautiful stocking that I made and listed on my website someplace in thyme. It has romance and and an image of a sweet child with a basket of pink roses.

I hope all of you enjoy your day and I look forward to visiting you and sharing your special memories of Christmas past. Happy Pink Saturday!!

Cookie Exchange

SPRITZ COOKIES

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Granulated or colored sugar, sprinkles, or red or green glaceed cherries (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the granulated sugar and continue beating until the mixture is no longer gritty when rubbed between your fingers. Beat in the egg yolks and vanilla and almond extract on low until blended.
Sift the flour and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended.
Fill a cookie press with dough following the manufacture's instructions. Press the cookies out directly onto the pans. If the dough becomes too warm and sticky, refrigerate it for a few minutes to firm it up.
Lightly brush each cookie with egg white, and sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles or press a candied cherry in the center of each. Bake just until the edges are golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan on wire reacks for 1 to 2 minutes to set before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Click on the picture to see all of the other wonderful receipes other cooks have to share.

A Little Bit Of Humor

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'computering',And I had to answer 'yes.
'He told me to get off my fanny,And tidy up the house.
And so I started cleaning up...The smudges off my mouse.
I wiped and shined the topside..That really did the trick.....
I was just admiring my good work.I didn't mean to 'click.
'But click, I did, and oops -
I found A real absorbing site
That I got SO way into it - I was into it all night.
Nothing's changed except my mouse.
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess.......
While I sit here on my hiney.

~Author unknown

TUESDAY TREASURES

Yeahhhh, it's that special day of the week, Tuesday! And that means Tuesday Treasures over at Shabbylaneshops. Just click here and you can visit all the beautiful shops and see there treasures. This week's theme is "looks a lot like Christmas" and I am featuring these sweet hanging, soldered charms in my shop SOMEPLACE IN THYME. They would look great on the tree, make a wonderful gift for a teacher or someone special and would also decorate a package, I hope you enjoy.