Maria's Christmas Gifts

Hello dear readers

From the moment we met online there was a click between Maria and me. Maria is one of the kindest,
considerate and gentle persons I know. Maria is also one of my best friends now.  Twice a year, on birthdays and Christmas we exchange gifts.  This time, Maria absolutely spoiled me.  I was scarcely able
to shoot and catch everything she sent in one photo.

A gorgeous dressing table.

A beautiful tiny angel with two candles on a tray. A cute little Christmas tree.

A pretty angel made by Maria, a wooden giraffe toy and, of course, the Irish symbol.

A tiny doll's doll which came dressed in the green knitted dress.  I put the dress on a bigger
doll and shall later on make a dress for the tiny one.  I really love the tiny doll.

A garland of lights for a miniature tree. It was too late to use it this year.  My
Christmas market and tree were already on display at my grand daughter's home.

Another very delicate knitted dress and matching blanket. A lovely butterfly, tiny bells and
cute sock.

Here are all except the chocolates.

Wow! I've never, ever dreamed I'll one day get to eat a chocolate Santa Claus.

THANK YOU MY DEAR, GENEROUS FRIEND!
This is also a goodbye 2013 post. It's hard to believe how fast it's gone.

Hugs and blessings

Birgit's surprise Christmas gifts

Once more,Birgit,  generous, naughty lady that she is, managed to surprise and pamper me with the most
beautiful Christmas gifts, enough to fill an additional stall for my Christmas market.

I have to point out that the marzipans had the shortest life spun of all our sweet treats ever.  They now rest in peace on our hips.  But the beautiful card, one of Birgit's personal crafts,  will be treasured forever in
my collection.

These laser cut woodsies are real beauties.

 More ornaments.  Poor, beheaded Santa, smiling bravely while the little monkey is
enjoying a ride on the rocking horse.

A gorgeous Christmas wreath. I love it!

Sweet little bells.

I love, really love, this tiny Nativity, it's so perfect.

Dear Birgit, you made me very happy with your gorgeous gifts.  THANK YOU MY DEAR FRIEND!

Another beloved blog friend who spoiled me rotten is Maria.  Next post will show the gorgeous
gifts she sent me.

Hugs and blessings to all my readers.

Christmas Swaps

Hello my dears,

I hope you spent a lovely Christmas day and shared a good time with family and friends.

My two swap partners from Fabiola's chain swaps are Ruth and Franca. As usual, my luck continued.
I received beautiful hand crafted miniatures the photos of which I am happy to share with you my dear
friends.

From Franca:

The other side of the little cushion has my name initial.

Incredible made vegetables.

THANK YOU FRANCA.

From Ruth:

A basket full of beauty cream and lotions.

Beautifull packed soabs in lovely boxes.

THANK YOU RUTH.



Also, Thank you Fabiola.

In Fabiola's blog you can see what I sent these two wonderful swap partners.

In my next post I'll show you more wonderful gifts from great blog friends.

Hugs and blessings

Auction Hall or Second-Hand shop

Hello dear readers,

Jennifer asked me if I had any idea as to what to do with Barbara's giveaway prize.  There is a special little show case which can be an Auction Hall, Pawn or Second-Hand shop where I keep in display, various items.  When I need piece for a new project I can easily find and "purchase" it.  Almost all the items are gifts from friends and family.  The rugs are made by me. Barbara's beautiful dresser is going to be filled with beautiful ornaments and displayed here.

Some pieces of furniture are cheap factory manufactured and are to be upgraded.  Others are very expensive, beautifully finished like this desk, e.g. There are many more pieces of furniture that I keep in labeled boxes ready for a project like the nursery, kitchen,  Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Hanukkah, etc.

 Here are a few pieces made by a friend,  who simply sat down playing with a piece of balsa wood
 and aluminum tape and metal wires. I am pleased I got them. Thank you Dalit.

This is part of my solution for the extras that accumulate. In the future I'll probably give away or exchange some of the items displayed. I'll show you where I keep small miniatures and ornaments in another post.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

Blessings and hugs

Christmas gifts from Tatiana

Hello dear readers,

Did I mention it before that I'm a lucky person? Of course I did, and more than once.   Every time I receive
mini gifts or win a giveaway I'm  excited and delighted like a young child.

On the other hand, whenever I  make a giveaway I'm tense and excited waiting  to know if people liked what I made, enough to want to participate in my draw.  It's reactions and comments that inspire me.

Yesterday, I received gifts from one of the most generous, gifted artists Tatiana.  Tatiana's blog is full
of amazing miniatures, dollhouses and boxrooms, all crafted by her talented hands, as well as
great tutorials. She has a special way of turning trash into treasure.  Her giveaways are precious treasures.

 Note the grapes on the wine tray!

Tiny money purses and a super hair brush.  There is a tutorial for brushes in Tatania's blog.

The blue and white beads will be perfect for my kitchen.

A very lovely picture and frame.  It can stand alone or serve as a  fridge magnet.

THANK YOU TATIANA FOR THESE LOVELY TREASURES! I VALUE YOUR FRIENDSHIP
ABOVE ALL.

Hugs and blessings to all my dear readers/

Barbara's Giveaway

Hello dears

For a whole week I was scarcely able to use this keyboard.  Silly me, I didn't figure it out that since
it's wireless, it has to work on batteries and after three years it's time to change them. It took ages to write a sentence, not to speak of posting, sending emails or making comments. It was Nilly, my
clever daughter, who came to my rescue and finally solved the problem.

So I'm able to show you my lucky win from Barbara. It came all the way from Poland whole and safe.

The dresser is hand made by Barbara herself.

It came packed together with a beautiful card, painted by mouth, by a disabled artist.

THANK YOU SO MUCH BARBARA FOR LETTING ME TAKE PART IN YOUR DRAW.
I WAS VERY LUCKY TO WIN.

My luck continues.  Today I received another parcel containing little treasures from one of
the most gifted artists and a dear friend.  Tomorrow you'll see them.

I am happy to welcome Simona M.  Please let me know if you have a blog I can follow back.

Hugs and blessing to all my friends.

Gifts from Jennifer

Hello my dears

Twice a year Jennifer and I exchange gifts.  Once on birthdays and once on Christmas.  Jennifer is one of my very special friends. With her I can consult and receive the best advice and help on blogging and other issues. Here are new  Hanukkah/Christmas gifts from her and wow am I totally spoiled!

No mini Menorahs are to be found here.  No Christmas miniatures either.
I hope this situation will be changed soon as more and more people here become interested in this hobby.

The background is one of many cute whimsical cards which I have and treasure.

Jennifer makes and sells these lovely cards.

Very beautiful blue and white plates and vase.  The beautiful candle center piece was created by Jennifer herself.

A mouth watering cherry pie!

A beautiful Reutter china blue and white pot which Jennifer bought especially for me, knowing blue is my
favorite color.

Adorable tiny animals.

DIY stuff.  I already know what I'm going to do with some of these.

I enjoyed opening and discovering each of these wonderful items. THANK YOU JENIFFER FOR
ALL THESE AND ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP.

A warm welcome to http://dollhousedecorations.blogspot.co.il/, my new reader.  The number of followers is
slowly getting very close to 600.  I already started to craft a giveaway for the time the number will reach 600 and shall soon be able to show you what it will be.

Hugs and blessings to all my dear followers

Rosanna's gift

Hello dears,

I mentioned this before, and I'll probably mention it again and again.  Blogland is a wonderful place to be in. Here is where you meet all the kind and generous online friends.  Friends who share your hobby and are always there for you when you need advice.  Friends who share tutorials.  Friends who want to please you.
Friends who are on the look out for and collect items which they know will be useful to you.
Friends who send you surprise gifts, and especially friends who giveaway gorgeous treasures which took them many hours to create. And a lot more, but of course you already know this.

What a happy surprise I received when Rosanna emailed me to let me know that I am the second
secret lucky winner of her gorgeous giveaways.  I was double lucky because I received the exquisite  tea cozy that I chose. Here the photo.

With my bead teapot and  Kikka's cookies.

Here you can see the perfect tiny stitches.

These colors are so, so perfect for the kitchen which I can now hardly wait to continue to work on.

THANK YOU ROSANNA. YOU TOUCHED MY HEART WITH THIS GESTURE.

A warm welcome to Mehtap Kaya.  Thank you for following my blog.

Yesterday my printer's keys were locked.  Can't tell you how frustrating this can be.  Sometimes I got sticky keys but never a full lock.  Somehow, today, I really don't remember what I touched, nearly every key I think and finally, by pure luck solved this problem.  I don't really know why they call it a friendly PC.

Now I'll go visit your blogs to see what's new and leave comments.

Hugs and blessings to all my readers

Christmas Gifts and Giveaways on way to their destinations

Hello all,

Time is getting short and since I wanted my gifts to reach their destination before Christmas, I had to
post them in time.  Believe me, this wasn't easy. My workroom is a mess, our dining table looked
like the tables in a craft market.  Now I feel calm again. Parcels packed and shipped, all except one
which will go out tomorrow.

This is how it looked after I cleaned up the mess.

Pipe cleaner Santa. I just added punched out black felt circles and white felt beard and hat trimmings.

Cute little fellows don't you think so? And so easy to make.

After the holidays I hope to work again on the neglected kitchen.

Blessings to all

Surprise gifts from Kikka

Unexpected good surprises, are the highlights of my days in Blogland.  This time, a parcel arrived from Kikka, containing miniature shoes for my collection.  Last year, in  a swap between us, I sent Kikka,  a miniature pair of replica precolombian frog earrings for her miniature frogs collections. 

Kikka, being such a lovely lady, remembered to look out for miniature shoes and these are the beautiful items she found and sent me.

A pair of leather traditional Lappish boots, a pair of traditional reindeer Lappish boots (miniaures of real

ones still worn in  far northern areas), a pair of bark shoes made by Mirka Salonen and  beautiful 

jewelry shoes.

Not only shoes but a beautiful little Marimekko book and gingerbread plate made by Kikka. A tiny bell

and wonderful, yummy candies which sadly vanished away too quickly.

For readers who have missed my post about the miniature shoe collection, here are two photos, a small part of the collection.
They are miniatures, but larger than dollhouse size.

THANK YOU  KIKKA FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.  YOUR GIFTS HAVE ARRIVED IN TIME TO BE MY FIRST HANUKKAH GIFTS.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.