Some updates! The colonoscopy went well. I survived the IV and the procedure. Don't know specific results yet, but things seemed to be ok.WHEW.....so glad THAT'S over with! I also finally got the ornaments done for the swap, and have them mailed out. Another monkey off my back. As I sit here tonight, I am finishing up the very last 2, one for me and one for my Mom, who said she would be very disappointed if she didn't get one of them too, LOL. I'll post a pic after everyone receives theirs. I don't want to spoil any surprises for participants.

Here are another couple Christmas fairy jars!
This one is the littlest Elf Girl.

She looks so cute surrounded by all the gifts! And the top of the jar has trees and pressies too! YAY!


This next one is a Snow Princess.

Sort of a medieval princess hat, all glittered up with streamers coming from the tip. She stands in an icy wonderland.


All sparkly, snowy branches and flakes in with her. The side of the jar says Believe.

And I promised a few more pics of the Christmas line- Here is my favorite little girl ornament. The Holly girl.


And here is another tag. The Woodland Santa tag.


And here is one of the WINTER banners. I made these in Winter White and Gold, and also in stark White and Silver. They both look really cool and vintage.




And here is a blurb about a class next week. Here are the soldered collage necklaces.



Of COURSE, the glass product I used to make these with is not available at this time, pretty much anywhere! I have looked and looked. and of COURSE I had already done maybe 10 different collages in this size to be used in these pieces, and now I have to make all NEW collages in a 1x3 size to go with the only pieces of glass I could find for the project, which are microscope slides. So there will be new artwork and a different size if you come to class, but still the same general project! A really FUN one!

I think I may be getting a cold. My godson's birthday was this week, and he had a runny nose... and I think with holding him, etc I may have snagged some germies. Hopefully not! I need to get the Christmas bomb under control over here. I believe the Christmas bins have exploded all over the house! Maybe will have decoration pics soon :)

Probably a quick little entry tonight. I've been working still on Christmas things. Ornaments for a swap. They seem like they will NEVER be done. Certain aspects of them are taking FOREVER and they have turned out to be way more work than I had intended. Sewing by hand, for one thing. Another aspect that is left to nature is just not working out. Can't spill the beans either yet, sorry! LOL But I will show pics after I *FINALLY* mail them out and everyone has received them... I am just getting frustrated with them... taking so long. I'm sorry girls! I suppose if I send chocolate - all will be forgiven, right?!

Another thing on my mind is that I have to prep for a big test on Friday. A Colonoscopy... *sigh*...I've had Ulcerative Colitis for going on 15 years now. Was diagnosed in 1994, when I finally went to the Dr. but actually had it for several years previous to that. So this is screening for a heightened risk of Colon Cancer due to having the Colitis for so long. I am SO not looking forward to this. Today was a low residue diet, tomorrow is only clear liquids all day. I wonder if egg drop soup counts as a clear liquid? (wink)
I am actually a little scared. Plus, I also have a little thing about needles, and knowing I will be having an IV is weighing on my mind. Will let you all know how fun it is after! YAY!

Time for a couple more pics. I sold this little Winter fairy in the shop this week. She is so cute!





Little aqua blue fancy coat and white muff. I just love it. I had a hard time picking out my favorite of the jars I made this go round.

Here is one of the classes offered before Christmas at Michael's. I did some rusty bell ornaments, inspired by my friend Stephanie Butler of Sunshine-n-Ravioli. The bells offered in class are a smaller, faster version of the WONDERFUL bells Steph does. If you come to class and like these, perhaps you would like to make a larger, more spectacular version! PLEASE visit HER WEBSITE and also HER EBAY.... you can also keep up with her on HER BLOG
She has absolutely awesome patterns and the larger size rusty bells available, as well as auctions for her finished work, seen in Create & Decorate magazine almost every issue! You just might get lucky enough to win one of her bell auctions!

So here are the smaller quick versions we'll do in class~

First an aqua blue, silver and white WIntery version...


Close up of the tag:


Here's the Christmasy red and green one...


And the tag on this one:


I had listed all my chenille ornaments over at My Etsy but someone has purchased them all! I will have to re-list soon. Meanwhile here is one to whet your whistle!



Aaaaaaaand one more of the tags! This one is already sold as well.



Also here is one of the color combos I did for banners this season. Mailing this one out tomorrow!



Ok, enough pics for tonight, LOL. I'm getting sleepy and I have such a wonderful day of clear liquids and laxative soda to look forward to tomorrow... just so excited for it to start...

Nice ta see ya!

Greetings from the studio. It's been a busy, busy time here at Twinkle Hill. Let me say "GRRrrrr" on computer problems, sick children, and even a sick me! We're doing ok now, and the computer has made it through another batch of serious problems. WHEW!!!

I will just have to skip over all the Fall and Halloween decoration photos I had planned way back when for everyone, because who wants to see those NOW? *Laugh*
Meanwhile, as I have been away from the uncooperative computer ~ I have been working like a busy little bee on Christmas items. Many are listed on my Etsy right now, and I have a couple auctions up at this moment on eBay.
I have to update the class schedule as well with more project pics. Right now I only have pics of one class up. But stay tuned, I will get that done ASAP! Feel confident to sign up for any class though, we are making some fantastic items, suitable for gift giving or keeping for yourself as a special treat!

Speaking of which, here is one of the classes~ The Frost Fairy box.


We will make this in class again on Thursday, DEC. 6th. We had a lot of fun making them in class on Nov. 19th, so we offered it again. I also have one of these ON EBAY right now, if anyone wants to bid... :)

Here is a sneak at some of the things I've been working on for Christmas.
One of my Christmas fairies. This lil gal has her pup in on the fun, waiting for Santa~




The lil present in the jar has a tag that says "To Fido". How cute is that?
This jar is down in the Willows shop in Dubuque. But one of these this next items can be found on My ETSY.



Pretty little Victorian fancy lady tag. I made 6 styles of tags for the season. WIll show them all over the next little while :)

And here is one of the styles of chenille folks I made.

Little golden snowflake girl. She has a twin sister too, I'll show her later! ;)

Hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving. It's great to be back!

First things first, we finally got up a new page on the site here that lists the upcoming workshops, with pics of classes, etc. I really like the way it turned out. We are still working on pages, please be patient! But now the Workshop link actually works! YAY! I have listed all my October classes with dates, times and fees. PLEASE ~ Check them out!

However, I will give a nod about one of the classes... the Hoot Owl. Last year, I participated in a Halloween Ornie swap with some online friends. The talented gingham girl Mary Burke sent me the most ADORABLE lil owl, made of a houndstooth checked wool. I tried to honor the sweetness of her ornament to do a workshop. I made up a pattern, changing him from hanging to being able to easily sit, so my students could place him anywhere, if they do not have a Halloween tree.
My Hoot Owl



He could still nestle in the branches though! I also designed this hoot owl to be done entirely by hand with blanket stitching. I truly loved Mary's lil owl design. He is just the cutest thing!



Check out Mary's blog too! Thanks for the inspiration, Mary! I only hope you're flattered enough by my version! :)



Will show off the other fairy jar that is on eBay right now.



Closer face shot of our sweet little Witchy!


The top of the jar


Frou-Frou on the side


Extreme Lumina close up!


I just loved the subtle color scheme on this piece. Not your typical Halloween fare. I thought it was soft and fresh and somewhat trendy yet classic. I think this jar and the fuschia baby Wicked Witch were my two favorite jars.

Cabin is looking like a cabin!

The birthday festivities are over! :(
We had a little grill out at the cabin with my Mom and Stepdad on Saturday night. Colten and Wyatt declared that I must have a cake, so Grandma and the boys picked me one out. The boys gave me some new socks, a magazine that I wanted, a couple new music CDs (The Gourds, from Austin... I LOVE them!) and a new grey zip up hooded sweatshirt. Any camper worth her salt knows she needs a grey hooded sweatshirt for weekends!

So, of COURSE, this was my camping breakfast the next morning... leftover birthday cake!


Hardly nothin' beats fresh coffee and birthday cake outdoors in the morning. This was sort of an early present from Mark to me- A new camping insta-start stove and coffee maker that runs on propane.



He doesn't drink coffee at all, so it was truly frivolous just for me. I guess he sorta still likes me some! Which is nice.

Here is how the cabin is shaping up outside. The logs are on, and stained, sealed, etc. BOY did he work hard on that! This cabin is SO cool. If we ever win the lottery, there will be a little room added on called a BATHROOM..... Electricity and running water would be nifty someday. For now, we have little propane tanks, so I gots coffee, and a 12 volt battery hooked up so the kids can watch a movie from time to time and give us 90 minutes of semi-non-refereeing time.



And here is proud Mark, the Cabin Builder Man!



He also just put in the woodburning stove. It was a used one, and needs some fixing up, but it's ready to fire up and get us nice and toasty.



When we get the inside a bit more pulled together, I will show pics of that as well! We sure are loving it out there.

Next, I will show one more fairy jar.
This one is on eBay right this very minute... 3 days to go.



Little tag on the side, and cool button!



Can you see the little spider here? nestled in the feather is a black spider shape.

Ok, so it was my birthday yesterday!
Colten and I went out for breakfast with my sister-in-law Kayla and my niece Jillian. I just LOVE The Athenian Grill in town. My favorite guilty pleasure on a day with no kiddos is to stop there and get myself a gyros. If you are ever in the area... the Athenian Grill in Dubuque You won't be sorry!
So, here was the first stop. The Athenian Grill for Birthday Breakfast!

Jillian had a little package for me to open right away. She did up a little bag for me, with stickers all over it and put the tissue in all by herself. Inside was a pair of funky Halloween Jack-o-lantern socks with light up eyes. If you press his nose, they blink and he makes noise. She thought I really needed those. Which, of course, I do!


Hee Hee! Thanks Jillian :)
We ordered. Oh boy, I got the Gyros Supreme Omelette with double meat and feta cheese, and I also added spinach. I almost forgot to take the picture, and I had already spread the Tzaziki sauce. When the plate came out, it was a lovely dollop on the eggs. It was FABULOUS. I was a VERY happy birthday girl.

The chef came out to talk, and I stopped short of stalkerish picture taking with him. But I cannot rave about this breakfast enough, or the restaurant in general. I do give the Athenian Grill some big fat Greek love.
Here are Colten and Jillian ~ all done eating and ready for the next stop.

Then it was off to the park for an hour to let the kids play. Kayla and I watched and caught and intervened, etc while they were on the jungle gyms. I also got to open my presents from Kayla! YAY!

They were so pretty! And yes - it was windy and yes - I did have to chase down some of that tissue paper across the park once. LOL My first present was more socks. Still funky but no flashing lights or noise.

Then I got me some new earbobs! Kayla said she had a hard time deciding, she said they all "looked like me...." so I said, "What? ANTIQUE?" She just smiled knowingly....
Hardy har har. You just wait, whippersnapper! But they are very pretty, and yes- antiquey looking.

Next was a nifty noodle hostessish cheese/patisserie tray with a glass dome. Uber moderne chicness! (Those little bakery cupcakes are what I let Colten pick out to satisfy his need for me having a cake... I wasn't about to come home and bake for myself. I'll just let the boys eat all the little cupcakes!)

Lastly, I got a really cute Fossil purse. Very Autumnal and stripey.

I really like it with the dark brown straps and the colors in the stripes. And it looks awesome with my new olive green denim jacket! I'll be stylin.

Thank you Kayla dear! I love all my goodies and you too. Even if you did agree that I was an antique...

No, we didn't plan to wear almost the exact same shade. That's just how we operate. Accidentally ESPing. We do that a lot.
But then we look like idiots. Especially if I have made her jewelry for the shirt she is wearing, because I usually make hers very similar to what I make for myself, and we had nearly the exact earrings and bracelet on as well. Same beads, different pecking order. So we just look stupid.

We left the park and shopped awhile. Somehow Colten got a new toy, then we went home. Late afternoon, after Wyatt got home from school, my Aunt Bonnie stopped by when she got off work. She brought me a couple little gifts too. Bonnie grew all these gourds and pumpkins. What a lovely gift! You might not be able to tell but that orange one is HUGE. There is no way I can lift it. Maybe another day I will take a pic of something in reference to how large it is. Meanwhile, Just relate that it is sitting next to a 5 gallon milk can.



There are actually about 5 more little ones not pictured, but the boys snagged those for their rooms and for one by Hallie's bed. So, ALL those gourds & pumpkins!YAY! Also, this little butter crock, which I collect. She filled it with peppers from her garden as well. So pretty!

We had a nice little visit and cup of coffee. Then Mark got home, and we all went to Olive Garden for dinner. Here are Wyatt and Mark patiently waiting for yummies.

Next, there were about 6 pictures that looked like this of Colten and I... while we tried for a NORMAL one and provided entertainment to all the nearby tables.

Finally a nicer shot!

Here is my yummy Chicken con Broccoli, which I *always* get there.

Very nice birthday spent with very nice people. My family.
Happy birthday to ME!

And now to make Kimmy happy, I will post another witch!

Here is one of the little orange witches.

the ribbony side

Top of her jar, with lil owly.



As I said, I put this series of 7 different jars down at the shop. I MAY pull one, or make a similar one for eBaying. Have to see how much time I have. Sadly, I did not keep any witch jars for ME! There should be at LEAST one witch in my collection, I think. Don't you?

All in all, a Happy Birthday, and an orange witch. Happy Thursday night!