Tag Archives: christmas

“Catching Snowflakes”

Catching snowflakes was easy peasy this weekend as they fell practically the whole weekend long. I think we got about 4 inches on Saturday night with another 8 inches or so on Sunday! It’s a white winter wonderland out there, and I am VERY happy to be warm and cozy inside my house.

I finished up Lucy’s new ensemble yesterday, then we had our photo shoot. I definitely wanted to use the snowy landscape as a back drop. I brought out my studio light for front lighting. It was perfect . . . and quick—my favorite kind of photo shoot.

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Lucy’s eyelet capelet has 7 panels which are perfect for embellishing. I’ve embroidered different snowflake compositions on each panel using mohair/silk yarn for snowflakes, white pearlized seed beads for tiny flakes, and clear seed beads for ice crystals.

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Lucy’s vintage-styled headband earwarmer uses two strands of lace yarn to give it more thickness. Each side is embellished with an aqua blue snowflake and matching seed beads.

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The little muff hand warmer is the perfect size for Lucy’s hands, and is also embellished with an aqua snowflake. The bracelet is incorporated into the muff as a handle. You can see Lucy’s prized snowflake memento charm. She will always remember this magical pre Christmas snowfall.

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Lucy’s “Catching Snowflakes” ensemble will be available tonight (December 12, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Have a great week everyone!

Bye for now!

Winter is in Full Swing

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Winter bullied its way in last weekend; autumn is long gone by now. We broke an early snow record last weekend, and we will be getting even more snow this weekend. I know we’re not the only ones. It’s been a dangerous week for multi vehicle accidents on the highways, and some places have almost two feet of snow already. Yes, winter 2016 is proving to be a bully!

The day after Thanksgiving, two weeks ago now, we went to the local tree farm to pick and cut down our Christmas tree. We have a couple of tree farms which are minutes from our house, but choose to drive a little bit farther. This one is quite festive and busy. I think it’s more fun to share this experience with many others. I love seeing all of children and the dogs that come along.

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These tractors take everyone on a fun ride around the farm and to the specific location that grows the type of tree you are looking for. We always get a Fraser fir, the kind with the short, but soft needles.

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Our chihuahua loves to come help us pick out our tree. As we roll along on the trailer, he’s taking in the smells of the farm.

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They have “zillions” of trees. We found ours in a matter of minutes, a huge change from last year.

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Thank goodness for husbands who don’t mind kneeling down on the ground and doing the dirty work. (My husband also gets the honors of stringing the lights on the tree, bless his heart.)

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Our tree gets wrapped in twine, then gets a good shake to remove any dead needles. Afterwards they put a ticket on the tree and give us the other half. The tree waits outside for us while we go into the barn for doughnuts, hot cocoa, and to shop.

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My daughter got a little bag of doughnuts to bring home; I had a bite. The hot cocoa was EXTREMELY sweet, but I did manage to drink a small cup. 🙂 We resisted purchasing anything . . . except the tree, of course.

The tree is all tied down on the roof of our car. It’s ready to become a part of our home for the next couple of months. (These trees drink a lot of water, but last well into January.)

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My husband put together a little video of our visit to the tree farm. I have it on my Facebook page. Click here to see it, if you’d like.

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Have a great day everyone!

Bye for now!

“A Nostalgic Christmas”

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Hello everyone, from snowy Illinois. It snowed all day on Sunday! We ended up breaking a record for getting this much snow during the first December snow (or something like that). With even colder temperatures arriving, this white stuff will stick around for a while. I’m not sure how I feel about that . . . so far so good though. I’m surviving!

Yes, Alice is here again to show you something new. Nelly’s dolls have a muted rosiness that I notice above their eyes; it’s kind of a vintage look. The colors in this ensemble are perfect with her coloring, so she gets another chance. I love how all the artists paint the Little Darlings a bit different.

I wanted to photograph my newest outfit this past Sunday. I think I fussed around with the photos all day. The Christmas tree seemed so busy and the color wasn’t as pretty as I wanted it to be. Finally, my husband gave me some tips (he was probably tired of hearing me complain–lol). He had me put a different lens on my camera, so I could stand back and zoom in on Alice. I also put Alice farther from the tree and opened up my f-stop as much as I could. The result was that I got a somewhat blurry tree with Alice all in focus. My favorite photos were taken when it was around 4:00 in the afternoon! It was quite dark in the room, but I had the tripod set up and Alice stayed as still as possible.

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This isn’t a typical Christmas print for a Christmas ensemble, but it kept calling to me to be made into one, so I did. The colors in this ensemble are shades of mauve, a little deep red, warm pink, salmon. They all go together beautifully because all the colors are neutral, nothing is bright. I even added a little bit of plumminess with the organza ribbon used for the sash and present.

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The embroidered motifs, are all slightly different compositions, both on the sweater and cuddle cap. I used four shades of floss to shade the roses. Ecru colonial knot buds add a bit of bright and the perfect shade of green foliage ties the blossoms together.

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Alice’s sweater is knit with Peruvian Highland wool and her 1950s style cuddle cap is knit with a wool/angora blend. Her scarf is knit with a lighter shade of mauve, also in Peruvian Highland wool.

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