Snow Happy To Be Back

On Saturday, this is the view to which we awoke here at Brambleberry Cottage.

See the little speck in the snow on the picnic table. Let's take a closer look. . .

This was our measurement at about 9:00 a.m. We had a couple more inches before it stopped snowing in late morning.

This pic might not look like anything spectacular, but when you know the history to this picture, you understand why we are praising the Lord for such a simple thing as snowblowing . My guy has come a long way in the past year and a half, although his man-child sure liked playing with Dad's toy last year.

Y Blessings,

Nanci

Fancy Holiday Dress American Girl Doll

Sometimes, but not always, when I see one of my finished doll dresses, I get so excited because it is exactly what I envisioned from its inception in my mind. This is one of those times!!! I truly love this dress. The colors are cool, like a snowy winter's midnight.

Midnight and Sparkles

From now to Christmas, my thoughts will have to turn to baking and cooking. . . so this is the last thing to go on my Etsy shop before Christmas. I do have one more sewing project to finish. . .an outfit for a special little friend.

Hope this Christmastide is especially blessed for each and everyone of you.

Y Blessings,

Nanci

Busy Days!

Like, everyone else, my posts have been few and far between of late. What's keeping me busy these days?

Schooling

Sewing

Crocheting

Baking Cookies

Caring for our Nursing Student, who has 4 impacted wisdom teeth extracted during Winter Break

Training a New Puppy who thinks she needs to TRAIN US on taking her out to piddle every hour on the hour.

Christmas Get-togethers

And just life in general. . .

But mostly I have been trying to get things on my Etsy Shop. Here's the latest -- my third Bitty Baby/Twin outfit. I decided to go trendy with this one, rather than do my usual traditional or historical outfits. I love seeing young girls in this style and thought it would be fun to dress a doll in it. It was sort of nice to step out of my mold for a while and shake things up a little.

I decided to add an extra piece so that some little girl can have two outfits and get some extra play from it. Not like anybody has minutes to spare this month, but if you do and you'd like to take a peek . . . here's a link to my shop.

I know I'm partial, but I love the hat. I guess it does what a hat ought to do . . .

top things off!

Do what's keeping you BUSY these days?

Here Comes Suzie Snowflake

Since the Christmas Season is here, I thought I'd show you a festive, little dress I made to sale on my Etsy Shop. This is one of the few Bitty Baby dresses I have made; I usually sew for the AG 18" dolls. My oldest daughter likes it so much, she said if she ever has a little girl, she wants me to make one just like this for her little girl to wear. Nothing like planning ahead. ;D

I had gone to a good deal of trouble setting up the background for this picture of for my shop and was pleased that it gave that Holiday ambiance that I was striving for. When I was done taking the photo, I checked the photo and was pleased with it. Then I took down everything that I had set up for the photo shoot and put it away. It wasn't until the next day when I looked at the photo again that I thought that the dress was missing something. It just didn't look quite finished. It was then that I realized that it needed something at the neck and sleeves to break it up a little. So I couldn't use this photo in my shop, and I just didn't have the energy or the time to set everything back up to get a pic with the same effect.

So I ended up using pics with the bows on the bodice that lacked the Christmas "look", but definitely improved the look of the dress.


I love the fabric for the skirt overlay. It's sheer organza with sparkly snowflakes.

Now, I need to go get started on one for an AG 18" Doll.

Foto Friday Challenge - Feet??????

I originally thought this week's challenge was LITTLE feet, and while I love kissably-sweet, pudgey, little baby feet, and love cute, pitter-pattering, little toddler feet -- they have been scarce around Brambleberry Cottage for such an ever loonnnnng time.

I will admit a little quirk of mine. As feet grow older, they are less and less appealing to me. So, you can see why this challenge could really be a CHALLENGE for me.

Now, I've said that there have not been any LITTLE feet around here for a long, long time, but that is not ENTIRELY true. As a matter of fact, there are these. . .

LITTLE eight-week old feet. . .

sleepy LITTLE feet that came to live with us at Brambleberry Cottage

about a week and a half ago. . .



Prancing, pitter-pattering, follow your nose LITTLE feet. . .



that just have to take a rest every now and again.



Now, if you would like to see some REALLY CREATIVE pictures of feet, head over to join Rebecca for the Foto Friday Challenge. See what next week's challenge is and join in the fun!

Pattern Sale at JoAnn Fabrics - First Half of December 2009

We've all been scurrying around trying to complete all the Christmas gifts we are making. Well, maybe not ALL of us, perhaps some of us haven't started yet. If you still need a pattern to make that special gift or holiday outfit, then here are the dates for the pattern sale at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store.

THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY

DECEMBER 3, 4, & 5

McCall's Patterns $1.99 each

(MSRP $5.25 - $16.95 each)

Limit of 10

No special orders -- Excludes "Easy Stitch 'N Save"

Vogue Patterns $3.99 each

(MSRP $8.95 - $30.00 each)

Limit of 10

No Special Orders

Foto Friday - Macros

It's Foto Friday at Renaissance today. Each Friday the participant's in the challenge link their photographs to Rebecca's blog to show how they have faired in the challenge posted the week before. This week's challenge was "Macros (close-ups).

It is said that a collection of a photographer's work reveals as much about the photographer as it does about the subject. If that is so I fear that what this collection shows about me is that I don't know how to choose. I was not near as pleased with this weeks collection of photo's as I was with my collection last week. These for the most part seem very "lack lustre" to me; nothing seems to really "POP". So Rebecca, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give your input.

The second thing this collection reveals about me as I look at it is that I love textures -- I'm very tactile. If I am interested in something, I have to feel it. Is it soft? Is it rough? Is it prickly or downy soft. Does it feel icy-cold or is it warm and soothing?

For those of you managed to get this far, I will reward by sharing a little tip I figured out while photographing the seed pods below. You will notice that the seed pods below are VERY blurry. This is only one of um'teen shots of these that turned out blurry. It was just too small to get the camera to focus on it.

I kept trying because I'm bulldog-stubborn, but it just wasn't working. I was getting plenty frustrated until I finally struck upon an idea. I asked my daughter to rest a index card directly over it (as shown). so that I could focus on the card (which was larger, yet thin). She then took the card away, and I snapped the picture without moving the camera.

Voila, a fairly decent close-up (at least better focused than it had been).

Okay, now it's time for you to head over to Rebecca's to take a look at what others have done. The challenge for next week will be posted there as well. Why not join us for the fun? It's a great way to improve your photography!!