Where do you store your keepsakes, journals, and special stuff?  I think everyone should have a special place to keep such items.  I don't know what it is about boxes that I find so intriguing.  I love when they have hidden sections or extra drawers.  You know the old saying, "A place for everything and everything in it's place".  The first box below was a Christmas gift I made, and the second box is one that is in progress.  Pieces created from the heart.

This was the nicest Christmas I have had in years! I was ready, it was low key, and we had so much fun! 
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too! Thanks to the Pioneer Woman because my bread pudding rocked!!

My mister brought me some wool socks and asked if I wanted them for Christmas stockings.  Well of course I would!  They are old fashioned and just perfect.  I was just going to put our initials on them, but as I sifted through my stuff I found some beautiful wings a friend gave me a couple of years ago.  Then I added the vintage lace, and it made me so happy.  What about my mister's?  He is definitely not foo-foo, so I found the deer image and some old quilt pieces.  I stitched it all together and we hung them by the fireplace.  A reflection of ourselves in each stocking!

Knowing my word of the year is "FUN", I decided to change up the table setting this Christmas  to one that is bright and colorful!  The idea started when I found really pretty placemats at the newest store in town, Nest.  Then I went to Tuesday Mornings in Phoenix and found the most beautiful Kantha quilt. So this morning I decided to put some of the pieces together and I love it!  The best thing is the colors match the dishes that were my parents.  I'm going to get it all set up Christmas Eve so it's ready to go Christmas day. 
On a side note, my mister wants me to make bread pudding Christmas day, does anyone have a great recipe they might be willing to share with me? 

I have been thinking about up-cycling this chair for about a month!  I bought it at the thrift store for $5.00.  I stripped it down and let it sit there until I figured out what I wanted to do with it.  Then I went shopping and found some really pretty napkins and decided to try to decoupage them onto the wood chair. (I pinned something similar on Pinterest).  After the decoupage dried over night I sanded it down, especially around the edges.  Last but not least I rubbed a dark wax paste over the entire chair.  

Isn't it amazing how much you can change an object with a little TLC!

I cross stitched the center piece of this pillow about 25 years ago.  I had it in a frame for years and then I took it out and put away. Today when I found it in my Christmas box I decided to add  pieced fabrics around the cross stitch to make a pillow. 

Making tamales at Christmas is a tradition in our home.  We make them, we eat them and we share them.  This year I made canvas bags with little trees to gift my tamales.  Everything is handmade with love!

I just finished this cute little Crabapple Hill pincushion.  I bought a pattern/kit but decided to take a practice run with wool and materials I had on hand.  It took a little time but I like how it turned out.  I forgot to add the rick-rack on the bottom of the pincushion, but I can do that later.  Now I am going to make the pincushion from the kit I purchased. It's called Lacy Wool Cookie House Pincushion. It is cream colored and very feminine, the perfect gift for someone who quilts or sews!