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Friday, December 31, 2010

And the WINNER IS...

After using a random number generator...

I am very Pleased to announce that the WINNER of the countdown blocks giveaway is ...

Drumroll please...

Elaine Hirst!

Happy New Year EVERYONE and thank you for participating in the Giveaway and for being such a wonderful group of blog followers!

Elaine please contact me so I can get you gift off to you ASAP!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all:
May your year be filled with love and laughter



Saturday, December 25, 2010

The BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER!!!

Honestly the best Christmas present I have ever received... sorry Mum but this one even beats the roller skates in the 80's!

So... it's been a really long time since a gift has brought me to tears but today ... a very special gift did!

Not an easy task to make me this special gift...

It took my husband months and months and it was sooooo wonderful to hear all about the journey to bringing this creation to fruition 

First a very special pillow needed to be purchased,
Then some buttons needed to be carefully removed from my stash without me noticing...
Then there was a much needed pattern...
where would he look... the computer, where some of my patterns are kept.

Once the patterns were found he knew that he wanted this gift to be his own and so the mixture of several patterns was reworked until he was satisfied that what he had drawn might work.

The pillow was cut apart so that the special material could be used...

I had made him fabric juggling balls years ago that were filled with steel shot so he knew he needed some of that...

then there were the joints...

have you guessed it yet...

what my husband made for me this year?

There were no machines that he could use to sew with as my machines are in plain sight and almost always in use by me so he had to hand sew the entire gift...

He would sneak off to his workshop to "weld" some of his art but really for months and months he was drawing a pattern, cutting material, sewing by hand...

attaching the eyes, jointing the arms and legs...

and especially for me... a very FIRST one of a kind Sinister Creations BEAR was born!

A sweet pudgy 9" plush bear with zombie eyes made of pearl buttons and an embroidered nose!!!He even has a gusset... can you even imagine?

"WOW!" he say to me after I open this gift..."What you do it HARD! The NOSE was the hardest! It was falling apart so I used wood glue and painted it after I embroidered it!"

LET ME TELL YOU ALL... this bear, for me, surpassed all the other gifts, even the one in the jewelry store box.

I simply cannot believe how blessed I am to have found this wonderful mysterious man who always seems to abound my expectations and dreams... it will forever be my very favourite bear! It will indeed, without a doubt, be the best gift ever!

So here he is in all his splendour... please meet MORTIMER!


He came with his ATC card with all his specs as all "my" bears do also. He has sweet little round paw pads which are super hard to make and even wears a vintage cross necklace! He is just simply the most beautiful bear in the world to me.

Funny thing too...

This was the year that I made my husband his first bear from me...

Here they are together...
Mortimer and Forevermore:

Bravo my love... he is splendid in every way.
Thank you so much for such a heartfelt gift, you have genuinely touched my soul.



The Gas Station ~ A Christmas Story

The Gas Station, a Christmas Story:

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn’t been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn’t hate Christmas, just couldn’t find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.

Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. “Thank you, but I don’t mean to intrude,” said the stranger. “I see you’re busy, I’ll just go.” “Not without something hot in your belly.” George said.

He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. “It ain’t much, but it’s hot and tasty, “Stew … made it myself. When you’re done, there’s coffee and it’s fresh.”

Just at that moment he heard the “ding” of the driveway bell. “Excuse me, be right back,” George said. There in the driveway was an old ’53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front. The driver was panicked. “Mister can you help me!” said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. “My wife is with child and my car is broken.”

George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead. “You ain’t going in this thing,” George said as he turned away.

“But Mister, please help …” The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. “Here, take my truck,” he said. “She ain’t the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good.”

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. “Glad I gave ‘em the truck, their tires were shot too. That ‘ol truck has brand new ……..” George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. “Well, at least he got something in his belly,” George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn’t cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. “Well, shoot, I can fix this,” he said to himself. So he put a new one on.

“Those tires ain’t gonna get ‘em through the winter either.” He took the snow treads off of his wife’s old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn’t going to drive the car anyway.

As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, “Please help me.”

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. “Pressure to stop the bleeding,” he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. “Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin’,” he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.

“Something for pain,” George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. “These ought to work.” He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. “You hang in there, I’m going to get you an ambulance.”

The phone was dead. “Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car.” He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.

He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. “Thanks,” said the officer. “You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area.”

George sat down beside him, “I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain’t gonna leave you.” George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. “Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through ‘ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain.”

George got up and poured a cup of coffee. “How do you take it?” he asked. “None for me,” said the officer. “Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain’t got no donuts.” The officer laughed and winced at the same time.

The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. “Give me all your cash! Do it now!” the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

“That’s the guy that shot me!” exclaimed the officer.

“Son, why are you doing this?” asked George, “You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt.”

The young man was confused. “Shut up old man, or I’ll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!”

The cop was reaching for his gun. “Put that thing away,” George said to the cop, “we got one too many in here now.”

He turned his attention to the young man. “Son, it’s Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain’t much but it’s all I got. Now put that pee shooter away.”

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. “I’m not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son,” he went on. “I’ve lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week …”

George handed the gun to the cop. Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can.”

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. “Sometimes we do stupid things.” George handed the young man a cup of coffee. “Bein’ stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin’ in here with a gun ain’t the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we’ll sort this thing out.”

The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. “Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I’m sorry officer.”

“Shut up and drink your coffee.” the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. “Chuck! You ok?” one of the cops asked the wounded officer.

“Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?”

“GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?” the other cop asked as he approached the young man.

Chuck answered him, “I don’t know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran.”

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.

“That guy work here?,” the wounded cop continued. “Yep,” George said, “just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job.”

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, “Why?”

Chuck just said, “Merry Christmas boy … and you too, George, and thanks for everything.”

“Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems.”

George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. “Here you go, something for the little woman. I don’t think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day.”

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. “I can’t take this,” said the young man. “It means something to you.”

“And now it means something to you,” replied George. “I got my memories. That’s all I need.”

George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. “Here’s something for that little man of yours.”

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.

“And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too,” George said, “Now git home to your family.”

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. “I’ll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good.”

“Nope. I’m closed Christmas day,” George said. “See ya the day after.”

George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. “Where’d you come from? I thought you left?”

“I have been here. I have always been here,” said the stranger. “You say you don’t celebrate Christmas. Why?”

“Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn’t see what all the bother was. Puttin’ up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin’ cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn’t the same by myself and besides I was gettin’ a little chubby.”

The stranger put his hand on George’s shoulder. “But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. “That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man.”

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. “And how do you know all this?” asked the old man.

“Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again.”

The stranger moved toward the door. “If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned.”

George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.

“You see, George … it’s My birthday. Merry Christmas.”

George fell to his knees and replied, “Happy Birthday, Lord.”

~ author unknown




Friday, December 24, 2010

A Special Visit for Cozy

I had a wonderful visit from one of my Collectors on Tuesday this week. Ingrid, drove in from out of town to pick up her new Seraphim Bear ~ Cozy ~ and with her she brought three of her own bears to escort Cozy to her new forever home.


It was a very nice visit and wonderful to meet Ingrid's bears. I was so happy to see Cozy going to a good home and joining her little brother ~  the white rabbit ~ that Ingrid adopted at this years Teddy Bears On Vacation show in Toronto.

Ingrid also showed up with a little bear for me,
a mini manufactured bear who is simply adorable and is now sitting in my tree ~
the stocking that this little bear is in was handmade by her Mom.


To you and all of your families...



Thursday, December 23, 2010

More of the village

A few more images taken at Upper Canada Village



Just a peek at the gingerbread contest




In the village store...



above ~ my fave artist ~ Jim Shore!!!




The bear above was made of cotton balls!


And lastly... there is the man in red, taking a quick break before his big night out!
Only 2 more sleeps till he comes down the chimney!


A Family Tradition

On this past Monday my J and I took a trip to our traditional location to bring in the season in style!

Each year since our marriage we have returned to Upper Canada Village to see the Alight the Night event and each year it has grown and gotten even more spectacular, just like our love for each other!

I wanted to share with you some of the things we saw this year.

Some of the pictures will be a bit blurry due to being on the carriage ride and using my little pocket camera but you'll get the idea.







~Be back later with more photos~


Thursday, December 16, 2010

Seraphim Bears is Having A CHRISTMAS FREE GIVEAWAY

HELLO EVERYONE and MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!

As a thank you for being such a wonderful group of followers I have a very special
very prim FREE GIVEAWAY for you!

THE CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY COUNTDOWN BLOCKS





Ooooooo.... that's the right number of days left for TOMORROW... YIPPIE!


So what do you need to do to win?

It's really simple
Share with me here on the blog your favourite Christmas moment.
If you can do that I will add your name to the giveaway.

If you would like your name added twice...
Just add my blog Christmas Block Giveaway image below to your blog with a link to me and send me a short message to say you did.



Then I will add your name TWICE!!!

These are the absolute coolest things! I own a few sets myself and there may even be some under my tree for some very dear friends... hehehehehe but I won't name a soul.

They have wonderful papers and nice big numbers and actually can count down to any special event as you can count down from 31 day to O. Think of that vacation you are looking forward to, a special show you have coming up, a birthday, anniversary or any number of things. Do you have small children? These blocks are wonderful for learning numbers too! They are nice and BIG too at 3.5" square and the base is approximately 8" long.

They are made of wood, hand painted and the papers and numbers have all been sealed for long lasting blocks that can be gently wiped down with a damp cloth if need be. This set is super prim with nice warn edges and stain ageing to add to that well used and love look.

The front of this set says "Countdown to Christmas" and the back of the stand is blank so you can make your own signs and sayings that fit your all year round countdown.

So when is the draw for this beautiful set?

Well seeing as how you cannot use these for Christmas this year... I decided to draw on NEW YEARS EVE so some lucky person can start their New Year with a gift from ME and my BEARS!

Thanks again for your wonderful emails, blog posts and comments. You have been so supportive in every way and I am thrilled to be able to offer you this wonderful gift!

Have a Happy Holiday Season, A beautiful and Merry Christmas, or if you celebrate another holiday... HAVE a FABULOUS _______________________.... you fill in the blank!

Safe journey's to all if you should be traveling this holiday.
I'll see you soon

Blessings to you and yours!


An Update and HINT to your FREE giveaway to come...

It's hard to get here lately! I am just coming in quickly to tell you all that I am still working out and as of yesterday also joined Weight Watchers online! I have started the NEW and improved PointsPlus plan and so far so good. I did very well yesterday. I have been on WW before with the old plan and actually occasionally return to the plan to get back to where I should be. I have used the plan in the past as a maintenance plan of sorts to keep me in check. This time I am hoping to use it as a lifestyle change and hopefully will be able to keep on TRACK forever. Anyway, one day at a time, one step at a time. A couple more weeks till I post another picture for you all and hopefully with some results. So far I am much stronger and able to keep up with the workouts and even switched to level 3.4 a couple times a week. I do level 1.2 of my workout for the rest of the time. Don't forget, for me there are NO days off! It's been tough but even when my Mum came for a visit I got those workouts in...

As a matter of fact, the last day my Mum was here she joined in and completed her first workout also! That was a really fun experience as I don't think my Mum and I have ever done anything athletic together.

Okay, so other than all that, I cannot believe it is only 9 days till the man in the big red suit arrives! WOW! I have a ton to do.

I bake every year for the Police and Fire Dept. here in our town and surprise them with a tray of goodies for Christmas Eve as they have to work, cannot be with their families and might get injured also. I do it to show how much we appreciate them. Normally I have the trays almost ready by now... I have not even started! YIKES. Plus it is my weekend to work this week! YIKES again!

I still have a ton of presents to wrap and even some to buy! I hope to get out there tonight for an hour! This is where it all starts to get fun! Hahahahaha

So Remember I mentioned that because I now have a following of over 100 I was going to offer a free giveaway... Well it is now ready I just have to photograph it for you all and I will post it in the next day or two!

Here's your HINT:

You won't be able to use it for this year but you most certainly will for next year. It will keep you aware and on track. You can play with it and if you are a tiny person you can even learn from it! It's something you will touch every day and it's completely handmade!


Friday, December 10, 2010

Elf Boots for the Christmas table

Whaaawhoooo! We have reached 100 followers! How exciting! I will be putting together something very special to celebrate and it will be a free giveaway so please stay tuned!

Until then I have something really fun to share with you:

How would you like to impress your guests this year with a napkin that is folded like an ELF BOOT!


ELF BOOT NAPKIN INSTRUCTIONS



You'll need to start your Elf Boot Napkin like this, just lay out your big SQUARE napkin and you are ready to begin. I like to iron mine as I go along. You can start now and just put these away one at a time and by Christmas they will all be ready.



Next fold the napkin in half.
 

Then in half again in the same direction as you just did.


Now, find the centre and fold one side down.


Now fold the other side down too so they meet in the middle.


Fold one side again into the middle in the same way you just did.


Fold the other side to match.

 
Now this part is a bit tricky due to the bulk but you can do it. Don't lift it off the surface you are working on and that will help.

Fold the whole thing in half along the "meeting line" that you have created by folding all the other folds in to the centre.


Once you have it folded in half you will see the top of the boot showing on the outside. Turn you boot so that the fold is away from you and your open side is facing you.


Now take your top tail that is on the left of this picture and fold it straight up so that the edge of that piece meets the top of the boot fold.


Next, the other tail is left laying on the table right? Well, it is a bit bulky so we need to minimize the size a bit. Just fold a small bit of the edge of that piece up a bit.


We're almost there... stick with it!

Now take that underneath tail that you just minimized and brig it over to hold the tail that is folded up - up.


The last tricky part...

You need to tuck the tails of that piece under the boot flap to hold your boot together.


Lastly... pinch the tip of the boot and push it up a bit to make the turned up point of the elf boot.
That's it
you're done!


You can even use tassel napkins or paper ones!


One side


The other side!

I hope you enjoy your Elf Boot napkin this season!

I will be back really soon with a lovely little package for our CELEBRATION giveaway of 100 FOLLOWERS!