GrandmaBarb, Just loved the pretty little birdhouse and the fantastic garden pointer. How clever you are!! Barb sent me a sign that she had made from an old piece of weathered board on which she had painted the prettiest yellow flowers on the left of the board. On the right of the board she had glued little tiny pointed pinecones in the shape of an arrow with blue jewels along the sides showing the way to the garden. On both the birdhouse and garden sign she had painted Ellens Joy. I am so happy that you were my Secret Santa as you nailed my personality to a tee. Thanks for the time you spent on my gift during this busy time of year. I love it. Ellen

I think that maybe looking for fresh new ideas is part of the problem. There is a vicious circle that goes on in the crafting world that involves the basic "I wanna do that too" mentality. Right now a large chunk of the crafting community is into jewelry right? Well, if I went to a crafts show and saw that 10 of 20 booths were all selling jewelry that pretty much all looked the same, I would in all honesty quickly lose interest as a consumer. But if among those booths I find one booth that has something completely different even extraordinary from all the rest, I might be tempted to linger and look, and if the crafter is warm and friendly, I will probably buy. I, who does find the style charming, am throroughly sick of "country crafts" - no offense to any of you who love and enjoy that. It's just that it's something that has been done over and over and over again. I think the key to having a successful crafts business these days , and I don't count myself as an expert, is to find something that is hard to duplicate by machine. In reality everything can be replicated by machine, but some things just aren't the same. Maybe we need to look not for brand new ideas, but dig into the past(and I mean pretty far back) to revive all but dead crafts that could have a possible aesthetic and attention grabbing quality that would appeal to today's consumer. Consumers who are looking for that special something that is out of the ordinary. Honestly, if you go to the same crafts shows year after year, how many scarves and Home Sweet Home signs can you possibly collect before it just becomes ridiculous and not worth your effort. I don't even go to the local crafts shows anymore because it's just the same old stuff year after year. And I too understand the fact that most consumers now days can't tell the difference between handmade and machine produced which is a sad indicator that the artistic side of our culture is in a sad state of decline. Personally, I don't join crafts shows anymore either. I sell to private persons who have entered my home and drooled over my wares long enough until they are willing to pay the price I want because they can't find somthing like it elsewhere. As for "Dollar Tree" ornaments...sure, I've bought some in the past and will probably continue to buy them in the future. But I do have rules when doing so: 1). Is this what I would consider a "bare bones" ornament, meaning will it act as a filler. 2). Will it compliment my "handcrafted" ornaments, which happen to be the showpieces on my trees? 3). Is this something that is of decent quality, that would cost me a fortune at an upscale ornament display and would be very difficult to easily and successfully replicate by hand? 4). Is this something I can take apart to use in my "hand crafteds"? And personally, as a crafter and artist, I am finding myself drawn more and more towards "old world" crafts that just cannot be had in this world, things that are even difficult to find reading materials on. You know there is a reason the Amish make the kind of money they do from their quilts. It's hard to find quilts that have been completely hand constructed these days and with the precision and artistic quality they present. So I all of a sudden find my self interested in things like bobbin lace, weaving, egguery, pysanky, and many other things. From an equally frustrated crafter who refuses to give it up because a part of myself would more than likely wither and die - doubt I would be much fun if that happened. Netta

Seller's RE called and asked if I might bump closing to tomorrow. This time tomorrow night I will be the owner. It's been a really happy/sad two weeks. I have my house about 90% packed. I'll glance out to the front yard and remember when my son first crawled, it was on an old quilt out there. There are very beloved pets in their final resting place in the backyard. I really regret not having them cremated. I was so happy to see my son pull up last Sunday. I just knew he would tease me about being so sappy and I'd go back to my "normal" no-nonsense self. Instead, he pulled a Power Ranger out of a garage sale box and started crying too. All 6'6", 280 lbs of him reverted back to the little boy that hates change! His dad pulled up to go through some storage building boxes and did the same thing. I suppose this is pretty normal for people who have so much history in a house. I've been watching the market and my budget for 5 years in preparation for tomorrow. And I'm really proud. I can't think of a single other woman on either side of my family who has ever bought a house on her own. Maurenemm said it all: A house is more than an investment. And.......I don't think my son and ex thought I would ever actually take the leap. I knew I would and had been preparing myself for leaving our home. They are not quite there yet. There is much discussion of "maybe I need to buy it and then lease/purchase it to Son" statements being made by the ex. I'm definitely not up for that negotiation just yet, lol! Thanks for indulging my sentimental ramble. My logical self is just having a short lapse, right??

Moccassin- I would love to see your swarovski stars tree! Since our wedding colors were blue and silver, I've always gotten ornaments in those colors. In the past few years, I've really fallen in love with crystal ornaments. I didn't even realize until I was putting up my tree and looking at the date written on each ornament, that the past 3 years have been crystal. This years is the Waterford snowflake, lasts years was a teardrop shaped crystal and a swarovski snowflake, the year before was a swarovski bird. All of the ornaments on the family tree in the living room are durable, nonbreakable ornaments. Hopefully, when my kids move out they will be like I was, and have a tree full of ornaments. Terri- beautiful tree but you do have to bring Rudy back! As we have all agreed on, its about the memories! I have so many ornaments and I love this time of year so much that I'm thinking I will snag a tall narrow tree after Christmas on clearance and put it in my dining room next year. I will keep my wedding tree in my room where it currently resides, my "elegant" tree in the living room and the brightly colored, all other ornaments, in the dining room. I already have a miniature tree for each of the girls that is 4 ft tall for them to have in their rooms but they are still young enough that they mess with ornaments so I haven't put them up in a few years. I can just see though, in 10 years I'm going to practically have a tree in every room!! As much as I admire my tree every year, I think I enjoy putting it up and taking it down the most. As I grab the seashell ornament and pack it away, I'm reminded of my trip to San Diego. When I grab my cute little snowman ornament, I'm instantly transported back to our weekend trip to San Antonio and the Macy's store I picked him up at. Every ornament is a little vessel of memories. I see them, touch them, and I'm right back at the moment in time and my life that I was when I got them. I think the fact that we only see/hold them once a year is part of what makes them so magical. That cheap, one dollar globe from the dollar store? We were flat broke, college kids but I still insisted on getting an ornament for the tree and that means just as much to me as the 75 dollar swarovski crystal does. It tells a story, specifically, our history. Where we once were and where we are now. That Pyrex I received as a wedding gift? I use it still, every single day but when I grab a loaf pan, I'm not flooded with memories of my wedding day, despite the fact that I received it on that day. I think only seeing and touching these special items for a short period of time each year makes them all the more special. This post was edited by Texas_Gem on Mon, Dec 15, 14 at 23:31