See What I Won in the Giveaway!!!!

Today I'm Featuring

Karen's " Todolwen old to new"  Blog.

Back in August I was notified that my name had been

drawn for her Annual "Christmas to Come Giveaway".

See Karen's post  here.

For those of you that don't know Karen, 

she is such a talented lady and creates the loveliest,

most wonderful things.

When the package arrived in the mail before Christmas

I placed it under my tree.

I must confess, I peeked just a little.

A lovely hand stamped paper with 
gorgeous seam binding ribbon

to which pretty glittered snowflakes 
and punched tag was attached

with Karen's personal message 
handwritten on the back.

Inside I found this exquisitely crafted poinsettia stocking.

I'd read about these on Karen's earlier blog posts,

and had seen the kits for sale in her Etsy shop.

Such a treasure to now own one made by Karen herself.

More beautiful flowing seam binding was attached as a

hanger loop,

large pearls decorated the center of

the hand-stitched petals

I'm so sorry my pictures don't do justice.

I've recently been fighting my camera 
and just this week it died completely.  

It seems I should have asked Santa for a new one.

Spilling out of the stocking came several 

small hand stamped tissue paper packages.

Inside these were 

a little linen tree on a snowflake hanger

Karen, did you crochet these tiny little flowers with the gold bead centers??

Next were painted metal stars and snowflakes

A length of sparkling tinsel 

tied with more seam binding, just magical.

All in all, such a lovely assortment of findings.

Additionally, Karen asked me 
to choose two tutorials from her 

Etsy shop and she emailed these to me 
as part of the Giveaway!!!  

I chose the Sheet Music Poinsettia

and the Wee Velveteen Rabbit, sweet little bunny!!

Thank you so much Karen for allowing me to participate 

in your Giveaway.  

And I think I speak for everyone 

who reads yourTodolwen blog when I say 

thank you for sharing your creations.  

You have such an eye for taking a 

beautiful old cast off 

and highlighting it in something new

to be admired.

May you be healthy and prosperous in this New Year.

To my readers,

be sure to visit and follow Karen's blog here...

Todolwen

and her Etsy Shop here...

Todolwen old to new

you will be soooo glad you did!!!!!!!!

Happy Healthy and Prosperous New Year to Everyone,

                       BettyJean

Sharing at these parties:

What's It Wednesday

Share Your Cup Thursday

Talk of the Town Link Party

What I Made for the Christmas Kitchen Ornament Swap

Well, now that the holidays are behind us

and things have settled down a bit,

allow me to do a little backtracking

and show you what I made

for the Christmas Kitchen Ornament Swap

hosted by Erica at Golden Egg Vintage.

I was partnered with 

Trisha at American Honey Home.

You can see what she made for me

in my previous post here.

The rules were that we were to make 

 two kitchen related ornaments,

one tag or card,

include a favorite recipe,

and anything extra

maybe something "sweet".

Last year I played around with making 

Christmas card Putz style glitter houses 

They were allot of fun

and they turned out so cute. 

For Trisha I decided to make something similar,

a Gingerbread House.

Made from card stock,

with a flame-less battery operated tea light inside.

I decorated the roof to resemble candy dots.

And added lots of snowy glitter 

and

a little bottle brush tree at a corner in the 

front of the house.

This ornament was small enough that it 

could hang on a tree if you should so choose.

I think it would be wonderful under 

small glass cloche.

My second ornament was a

Gingerbread Man

made from an air dry recipe of

applesauce and cinnamon.

I got this recipe from my son's second grade teacher

close to 20 years ago.  

I made some tree ornaments back then

(gingerbread men, rocking horses, reindeer, 

angels, and more).

We've hung them on the tree every year since then.

And every year they smell delicious every time I 

open the box and unwrap them.

Since I was going with the gingerbread theme,

I printed off a printable found online

and applied to a shipping tag

over some coordinating art paper.

Added a dictionary clipping of gingerbread,

and attached a 

vintage measuring spoon,

and a 

tiny bite-sized gingerbread man cookie cutter 

with a strip of

Christmas homespun fabric.

Read a previous post to see 

more about the tiny cookie cutter.

Then I antiqued the tag and

added glitter around the edges.

The recipe I sent to Trisha is one of my very favorites
and one that I've made since a young girl
found in my mom's Better Homes & Gardens
 recipe book.

"Frosty Date Balls"
found on page 41

I prefer pecans instead of walnuts.

I love how the cookie balls get all goey
when rolled in powdered sugar
straight out of the oven
while still piping hot.

I tucked a few 

Christmasy sweet treats of

chocolate, peppermint and English toffee.

(and hoped Trisha wasn't diabetic)

Merry Christmas Trisha, thanks for being

a great swap partner.

Thank you Erica for hosting a great Swap Party!

Warm Hugs,

BettyJean

Christmas Ornament Swap

Hi, thanks for stopping by on such a

busy week.  Can you believe Christmas

is next week?

This year I participated in my first bloggers swap.

The Swap was organized by Erica over at 

Golden Egg Vintage.

The rules of the Swap were that we

were to make two ornaments and a tag

in a kitchen Christmas theme.

Include a favorite Christmas cookie recipe,

and anything else we wished, 

perhaps something sweet!

I was partnered with 

Trisha at American Honey Home .

Today I'm excited to share with you

what I received from Trisha.

Take a look...

First, Trisha had written a Christmas

message inside this cute little

card with a baking theme.

Look at that adorable little apron

complete with utensils in the pocket.

and cookies on a baking sheet beside.

Trisha chose to decorate two mini kitchen utensils

a grater and a wire whisk...

I like how she wrapped the whisk handle.

The Santa at the top has a cord for hanging.

And look at that sweet little gingerbread man

on the grater.

Next she included a decorated bingo card.

I love the turquoise and red color combination.

Stamped with an Eiffel Tower, Joyeux Noel

a little wreath around the "O"

and beautiful red felt roses in the corner.

The recipe she sent is for  Sugar Butter Cookies.

Don't they sound delicious!  

Can't wait to try them.

Then she tucked in some

fun extra goodies...

like Christmas straws

and bakers twine...so popular right now.

Some yummy peppermint chocolate

and red reindeer Christmas socks!

She must know I'm a cupcake baker

or had seen one of my cupcake posts

because she sent these 

gorgeous Mary Engelbreit cupcake liners.

Thank you Trisha for

all the great gifts!!

It was fun being your Swap Partner.

And Thank you Erica for the Party.

A Very Merry Christmas

to both of you and your families!!!

Christmas Hugs,

BettyJean