My Craft Room Reveal for Where Bloggers Create 2013

Welcome!

Hello to you all!!  I hope you enjoy your time here at Faith, Grace, Crafts, and that you enjoy seeing my craft room.  My name is Doni and I am a lover of all things beautiful and lovely.  Pearls, Lace, Vintage Thread and Sewing Notions, Buttons and Rhinestones are my top faves.  My room is a mixture of all the things that inspire me and things I love.  You might see things stay the same for a long time, or things might be changed often, but I have had SO much fun preparing for the party!
This is the third year I have joined Karen at My Desert Cottage for the Where Bloggers Create party and I want to give her a huge thank you for hosting!  Be sure and check out the other blogs that have joined!

And a huge thank you to each of you who have shared your spaces in the past for the inspiration!  I LOVE looking through your spaces and look forward to seeing what y'all have to share this year!
Now on to my room!  Feel free to PIN!

The huge long wall of shelving is my main work space.  I have used a door from Home Depot for a table (left side), and an old desk on the right.  Storage beneath the table is covered with a thrift find...a pink baby bassinet skirt tacked to the sides!

If you were here previously, you might remember that I wanted to change rooms with a larger, lighter room that was the guest room.  Well, starting in January, I did just that!  Everything was changed from one room to the other!  It was a HUGE job, but I'm sooooo glad I did it!

The button shelf (below) is dedicated to my vintage rhinestone buttons, favorite regular buttons, and rhinestone bead collections.  Many styles, colors, and types are stored in glass jars.  Most are small spice jars found at Goodwill and garage/yard sales.  The larger jars are jelly jars, cleaned out with labels removed.  Free is always good!

The little salt cellars are almost all of them from my birthmother's collection!  The peach colored one below is from a blog friend in Austrailia!  Thank you Melanie at French Blue and Peachy Pink!!  It fits perfectly with my collection!

OK, enough buttons.  How about some other items??

Last year I had many of the items I collect displayed by theme.  For example all the threads in glass jars all together.  This year I put my items similar color groupings.

By the way, my favorite color combination is pink and cream...

The next area of interest is my collection of lace trims which are displayed in vintage dresser boxes.  They are divided boxes and are perfect for perusing the stash!  They sit on top of lovely quilted satin boxes (or glove boxes as they are also known), some matching, others not.   Lace trims are some of my favorite things, and I love playing with them.  I use them in almost all of my blog posts, and I've recently begun to make fabric and lace collages with them.  See my older posts if you are interested in fabric and lace collages!

The chair above is the most comfortable chair I own.  I have owned it for many years.  AND although it lacks in style and has shabby tatty arms, I love it and won't get rid of it.  Instead, I have my most favorite and gorgeous piece of floral barkcloth over the back, and some hand-stitched arm doilies displayed.  Believe me, it's the best spot in the house!

And if you were guessing that these boxes below must have laces in them too, then you were correct!!

The wallpaper drawers store my doilies as well as my huge collection of colored seam bindings and tapes in packages.  The bottom box of 4 drawers is full of paper flowers!

Next we can have a peek at the sewing corner where my machine resides.  Above it is my collection of vintage thread cards.  I just love these little bits of color!  And next to the machine is a shelf full of vintage sewing boxes.  Yes, they're full of lace.  Mostly.  There IS some thread in ONE of them.  I have blogged about the drawers of lace in the past and have more to show you in the future!

I love these old sewing boxes and would love more!!!  But their prices are getting too high...

Nadine is the name of my dress form, and I've introduced you to her before here.  She is wearing one of my most exciting finds!  My husband and I went to an estate sale last spring, and way in the back of the house was a huge trunk.  I opened it up, and dove in.  Anything with lace on it I grabbed.  I noticed the dress (I'm sure the look on my face would have made you all laugh!), and quickly bundled all the pieces together to add to my official "PILE" of objects for purchase.  Get this....the whole pile of laces was only 5 bucks!!

The musical dress form below is one I made using cardstock printed with old music, then glued to a plastic dress form with Mod-Podge!  Thanks to Carol at the Polka Dot Closet and her great tutorials!

The tray of pearls (above) has been one of my favorite spots in this room.  I did a post about it previously HERE, and still can't make myself do anything different with it!  So, the pearls will stay here.

There are some other pictures I took of the room, different spots of interest here and there, and I hope that you have spotted some fun and interesting items. 

This lovely Limoges bowl is from my friend Beverly at Tea Cottage Pretties!...specially picked out for me by her daughters and her!!

It's so beautiful.  Be looking for a special post about it in the future!!

Yes, the door is pink!

It has been so wonderful to have you come over to visit me.  I hope to see more of you!  Please feel free to PIN any of my pictures that you'd like.  I have a Pinterest Board full of my favorite pictures that I got from all of YOU!!  You all inspire me!!

And come back this fall when I will start up Pearls and Lace Thursday again. 

It's been wonderful to be a part of Where Bloggers Create again this year.  Thank you again Karen for such a fun party, and for hosting this awesome event.  And again thank you all for coming by!!

Blessings to each of you,

Doni

A Sweet Vignette to Share

I'm all finished with my craft room, with the photos, and with my post.  All I have left to do is

PUSH THE BUTTON!!

Are y'all ready??  Where Bloggers Create party will be here on Friday!!!

So, with only a few days until the party, I would like to share a few photos with y'all of a vignette I have displayed in my room.

I try to dry some roses each year as they bloom in abundance.  Extra rose blossoms dry beautifully when hung upside down in a dry dark place.  I still have some from almost 10 years ago!!

As you can see, I have two chairs in my craft room.  One for me, and one for YOU!!

Please come back and visit my craft room starting Friday for the Where Bloggers Create party.

I have a HUGE post of photos of my room to share with you all.



Looking forward to seeing you at the party!

Blessings to you all,

Doni

Getting Ready for Where Bloggers Create!!!

The room is almost ready!!  I've started taking pictures and have more to take, but the lighting has to be right.  And all the junk has to be hidden , ah, put away in it's place.

So, I took a few pictures and thought you might like a bit of a preview, though it's only going to be a very little preview.  I'll show a few bits at the end of this post.

First, I have some pretties to share.  Just some items I have that I haven't used lately.

Do you like Hand Painted buttons??

I love them.

OK...and I LOVE pearl buttons too!

Are y'all going to join the Where Bloggers Create party???  It's hosted by Karen Valentine over at My Desert Cottage and it's going to be so much fun!  I always spend HOURS looking at all the beautiful and crafty spaces that y'all share and I'm really looking forward to seeing them all again.  It's the highlight of my summer.  And it gives me an excuse to clean and organize my own craft room!

Speaking of my own room, here's the sneak peek.

I know they're not the greatest pictures, but at least they give you an idea!

I have lots of pictures to perfect and retake, so I'm glad it's still a number of days away.  Getting the lighting just right is difficult, and trying to take a crisp shot is hard, but I'm getting there!

OK girls.  I'm gonna get back to my room and get it done!

Hope you each have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Doni

Some Lovelies I Won From Liz!!

It was destined to be mine...I could FEEL it!

Do y'all do that?  See something that you just KNOW will be yours?

Well, that's how I felt when Liz recently had a giveaway on her blog!

I saw the most GORGEOUS lace cuffs she had made, and I KNEW I would win one.

and so I did....

drum roll please:

There it is!  She posted it right before her trip to FRANCE!! (yes, I am jealous, but I asked her nicely to please take lots of pictures of her pretties, and she has!!)

But wait!  That's not ALL!!

Be still my heart.  A wonderful French thread card...I'm in heaven!!

Look at the gorgeous attachments she sewed to the cuff:

Right up my alley!!

But wait, there was MORE!!

A lovely length of lace, a piece of aged background paper with the loveliest script, and a hand made tag!!

Liz, you outdid yourself, and I'm so excited!!



I've just delighted in the details...pinks and creams, tiny tiny beads all beautifully stitched to make a lovely one of a kind cuff especially for me!!  The textures of all this lovely antique lace and pearls and velvet just make me swoon!!

Thank you so much Liz!!! 

If you have never visited Liz before, be sure and check out her blog HERE.

I'm so blessed!!!

Hugs to you all,

Doni

Now We're Talking!! Favorite Lace Pieces

I'm back in business!  Or should I rather say, I'm back to blogging!!

My email is fixed (a new password did the trick), and the monitor is working, so I feel normal again!!
I did try to get my craft room better organized, but it's a slow process...and I keep on finding pretties to play with!!  Oh poor me...I know. Teehee!!  Hope y'all are wanting to see some room pics for the Where Bloggers Create party next month, 'cause I'm already taking pictures!!

Want to see some pretties?

I took these pics back a few weeks ago, so I thought I'd share them now.

The crocheted flowers above are commonly called Irish Lace, and have quickly become a favorite among lace makers and collectors for their beauty and ease of making.  They are fun little embellishments and I love the coloration and age of these in particular.  The raised edges forming the 'petals' makes it a unique style for doilies and runners, etc.  I see wedding dresses adorned with these while looking around pinterest and love the way they add such texture to the items made.

Below is a lovely example of lace-making lace...I don't know exactly what it's called, some call it honiton, brussels, or battenburg for example, but it is used to make other larger pieces of lace.  They are twisted into shapes and woven in between with tiny threads to make the actual lace.  The example below is my very very favorite of this sort that I've seen.  If you are curious, I found a listing on ebay (here) for some of this type of lace making trim, and one of the pictures with the listing shows a page from a book that shows different styles of this.  It is very interesting to see how different styles and thicknesses, from fine and narrow to thick and intricate could be had back in the day.  This particular example of trim is #117 according to that book!

Below is an example of coronation lace that also was used for lace making, same principle as the previous example, with the twisted pieces being formed to make elaborate and beautiful lace pieces.  The one below was being crocheted together to make a long piece, supposedly to become either some trim or something more.  Who knows.  BUT, I love coronation lace too, so was excited to find this big chunk of loveliness!!

There's your lace history for today!  I don't know much, but find it fascinating and always learn something interesting when I search.  One of these days I will purchase a lace book that tells more about the different types of lace and be able to share better what I have on hand.

Hope you had fun looking, and hope you all have a lovely week!

Blessings to you!

Doni



When It Rains It Pours.

Some days it just seems like every thing goes wrong at once.  One thing leads to another, and before you know it, you feel like Scarlet O'Hara from Gone With The Wind.  "I'll think about it tomorrow".  That was my thought yesterday.  Now I am thinking it again today!

  Yesterday my main email account seems to have been hacked, and now it is just Gone!  To top that off, we can't get the home computer monitor to come on.  It makes noise and the light is on, but the screen is black.  So again, no computer there.  My ipad is working, just no email!  So if anyone is trying to get in touch with me, I cannot get emails on my regular account.  If you need to contact me please leave me a message here and I will keep a look out for comments on this post instead of relying on my emails to tell me.

  One good thing...I have been able to think about what all I need to do to finish getting my craft room ready for Where Bloggers Create hosted by Karen Valentine over at My Dessert Cottage.  So are y'all going to join?  I hope you do.  I love seeing what you do in your own craft spaces, and I like seeing your ideas for storing and decorating.

   Believe me, the pic below has now changed drastically!  I hope you will come back and see what all I have accomplished!  And pray we can figure out the computer problems!

 

Blessings and hugs,

Doni

Pearls and Lace Thursday Pearls Giveaway Winner!

Howdy to you all!!

I have a winner picked!!

But you'll have to wait to find out.  That's 'cause I'm mean.

Yep, just plain mean.  And selfish because I want you see what I've been working on.

So.  Remember the collage I wanted to make for my friend 'L'??

Here is the start of it.

I have it all pinned, and yet there are still a LOT of items I haven't put on it yet.  You know I can't stop with it until there are buttons and pearls and roses!!  The picture below is my work area.  I'm supposed to be getting my craft room ready for Where Bloggers Create!!!

OK.  I need to stop first and tell y'all something I've decided.  I have been so late getting to everybody who has joined my party this last month or so that I've decided to take a break from hosting the Pearls and Lace Thursday party for a while.  Probably for most of the summer.  I will think about getting back to hosting the party after the heat of summer is over.  Now don't think I'll be absent from blogland, because I love to take pictures and have fun showing y'all what I've been doing.  AND there's the Where Bloggers Create party coming up in July and I want to participate in that again this year.

So until further notice, there will no longer be a Pearls and Lace Thursday party.  I must say that you all make it fun to host, and you all share such lovely things!!  I appreciate your comments and joining me so much.  I just need to take a break.

Hoping you understand!!

NOW, how about that winner! 

I had a TON of glass pearls that I found on sale a few weeks ago and wanted to share, so of the people who commented on my last post, here is the winner.

Drumroll please.......

Cynthia, would you please get me your address so I can send you a package of pearls???

I will try to email you and let you know...

Big hugs and blessings to you all!!

Doni