~MY TWENTY-FIVE CENT FRAMES...SWEET GIFTS FOR CHEAP~

~MY TWENTY-FIVE CENT FRAMES~

For those of you who love WHITE DECOR (or who have friends who do!) and are looking for sweet Christmas and Holiday gifts on the cheap inexpensive side, I hope you'll check out my PICTURE PERFECT POST from a couple weeks back (found HERE) just in case you missed it!!!

If your funds are tight this year there is no need for despair!  With a little paint and just a few hours of thrift-store shopping (or less if you are truly fortunate!) you can scratch many co-workers, family members and girlfriends off your Christmas Shopping list...and for only a few dollars!  Much less than the price of a single Christmas Card and postage stamp!

 ~MY MOMMA'S CHILDREN~

Sweet for a Cottage or Farmhouse Decor)

Everywhere I go I hear about the poor economy and it has certainly affected my family just like it has so many others.  Since I'm blessed to work with my hands full time I'm almost always able to come up with some little gifty thing for those special people in my life.  No matter how challenging the days are, how little the time I have left or how long my gift-list may grow, I can generally stay within budget and on schedule if I plan ahead.

I promise you, you can too!

 ~US KIDS WITH OUR DADDY 1973~

I don't know a person out there who doesn't like picture frames and they make lovely gifts.  I'm constantly scouring the shelves at Goodwill and our Bargain Thrift stores for sweet little frames that will serve me later on in the year.  Now that the Christmas Season has begun my transformation plan has kicked into high gear!

 ~MY RECENT HAUL- OLD ITALIAN FRAMES and MORE~

A couple of weeks ago I showed you a grouping of some petite photo frames I purchased at one of our local thrift stores.  I sought out and found LOTS of mini frames and made Christmas ornaments out of them.  They proudly hang upon my Christmas Tree this year!

 ~FABULOUS FINDS MADE IN ITALY~

Well...a few days ago I stumbled upon a few more super-incredible

FABULOUS OLD FRAMES

that are truly lovely!

Six are from Italy...how sweet is that?

Vintage Italian finds for a wee bit of my cashola!!!

(LOVE IT!)

 ~MORE PICS FROM MY PREVIOUS POST~

 

I'll be sharing more pictures of my FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE soon!  Promise!

~TEN FRAMES for $5.00~

Sooo...here are pics of the ones marked .99.  I found them at Bargain Thrift and snagged them for half off (or .50 each) and the other ones (one being truly vintage) were only .45 each and from another thrift store.  The three frames at the top were found at a garage sale find and were only .25.  They were hunter green (ick) and had gold accents (much like the burgundy frame you see peeking out above).   

Anyway...just had to encourage you again to not despair over gift-giving for Christmas just in case you are.  I printed old one-of-a-kind photos out of my siblings and I (and one of my paternal grandmother) and once inside a special frame I plan on giving them as gifts this year to my two sisters and brother.  We don't exchange large gifts and we haven't for years so these sweet little mementos are perfect.  Besides...we all know it's not about the money...it's about the thought and planning than goes into each special gift.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

I'm off to my studio to do more work play...

Love to you...

 

~POISON ETTA~

For years I've wondered what happened to Etta!  Now I know...someone poisoned her!

I love sharing stories with you about my Miss K and today I have a brand new one for you.  She was only six when I started blogging and now she is ten.  Once a tiny thing she's growing up to be so lovely and I adore her more than ever.  

As my Miss K has gotten older she continues to just crack me up.  I'm constantly laughing out loud over something she has said or done and yesterday she once again had me in stitches.

 I had a few errands to run Saturday afternoon and for my only grandchild that means a trip to ROSS and maybe new shoes (she LOVES new shoes)!  Right next to our destination store was a Tuesday Morning and so we decided to step inside for a look around.  The TAKE an EXTRA 25% OFF REDUCED ITEMS sign on the door called out my name.

Anyway...after looking around the only thing I found that begged for my hard-earned cash was a dozen white Christmas flowers.  Originally valued at $4.99 they had been marked down to .69 and with the ongoing sale they were only .52 a stem.  WHAT A DEAL!  My girl and I checked out and went about our way.

A few hours later while I was busy decorating the China Hutch in my breakfast room my Miss K played upstairs.  Hunger pangs must have led her back into the kitchen because after an hour or so she reappeared.  While munching on White Cheddar Cheese Its (such a nice, healthy Holiday Treat, don't you thinK?) she sat down for a chat while I continued to work.  Now...this girl can talk a lot!  I mean a lot!!!  And so she began a partially one-sided conversation with me saying
UH-HUH and WOW and AWESOME 
every now and then.

Then she said something that REALLY caught my attention...

Miss K:

"I love decorating and maybe when I grown up I'll be a decorator, too!
 Wow, Nana!  I see what you did with that
POISON ETTA!"

Me:

"Yeah..... (LONG PAUSE.......)

WHAT did you SAY?"

Miss K (very seriously this time!):

"I said I like where you put the POISON ETTA!"

??????????

Obviously she was referring to the Poinsettia Flowers I had just purchase at Tuesday Morning.  I laughed soooo hard I couldn't speak.  I told her they were called Poin-Set-Ti-Uhs  and NOT POISON ETTAS and of course she thought she was just soooo funny.  That made me laugh all the more!

Reminds me of the story I shared a few years ago about her confusing
HOSANNA with OH SANTA!

Today I'm thanking God for her beautiful little spirit and the sweetness of her soul.  I pray everyday she never loses it.

Blessings as you celebrate Advent.

Love to you...

~ONE WEEK TO GO~

Last night my Mr. AGPMan and I attended an Open House for the first semester graduating class at SNU.  A week from today (that is SATURDAY the 8th!!!) I will watch my beloved receive his LONG OVER DUE diploma.  I snapped both pictures you see while he was waiting to get his cap and gown... 

As I reflect back upon the past 18 months I'm so grateful Steven was finally able to return to school and earn his degree in Computer Science.  Even though there will always be a twinge of regret over him not finishing college when we were still young, today I'm overjoyed the path was made straight once again.

 Ever since his class ended two weeks ago I've had to work at getting use to my guy being accessible again.  It's just the weirdest thing as I've come and gone alone since about May of last year.  For so long his evenings and weekends were filled up and overflowing with studying and classwork that I rarely asked him for help unless it was really important.  I learned really fast what was critical and what was not.  For 32 years he was my go-to-guy and I really had to learn to function a lot on my own~  It took a lot of adjusting I can assure you!  Now, instead of being a student he's just my hubby again...and I'm one proud and HAPPY wifey.

Last weekend he said:

 "You wanna go junkin' or go see a movie?"

(nearly.fainted)

We both missed our old life so much.

We feel like we've come home again.

For those of you who followed the school drama/saga since the beginning and offered your words of encouragement...well again, I can't thank you enough.

God is good.

About to cross the finish line now...

~~*~~

This next week I'll be showing you pictures of our home dressed for Christmas.  Don't faint...but gone are the pink decorations (I know!  I KNOW!)...  In their place are soft, natural whites and a tree filled with family photos, keepsake ornaments, vintage tinsel and all things merry and bright.

Blessings for a lovely day.  December 1st.  Wow...the year has flashed by with lightening speed~

Love to you...