Thank you Meggie, for the "Excellence Award" It's so nice to be recognized and appreciated! You are so sweet! So I am now passing it along to 10 other bloggers, whose responsibility will be to pass it on to 10 more! So here are some pretty excellent sites to check out, of course Meggie's could be included (but her blog diservingly, already got this award!) so here goes:

Laurie, Laurie's Charming Designs

Kathy, Kathy's Cottage

Kari & Kijsa, Kari & Kijsa Designs

Adrienne, With a Grateful Heart

BJ, Sweet Nothings

Rue, Rue's Peanut Butter and Jelly Life

Mary, Little Red House

Penny, Lavender Hills Studios

Cathy, Tadpoles and Teacups

Lisa, A Thing for Roses

The picture at the left is from Lauries Charming Designs. I bought this cute pincushion from her last year! She painted the box too! I have to thank Laurie for getting me into blogging in the first place!

I was just visiting Kathy's Cottage and her blog was so inspirational. She talked about how she has always been creative, but put it on the back-burner to work and raise her family. I can relate to that, as I'm sure most of us bloggers can! I'm a Grandma now, so you know I have lived a long life so far! A happy life! I believe that raising my children was THE most important thing in life, next to that the grandkids! I have worked outside my home most of my adult life also. So finding time to be creative was very hard at times. I used to sew my dolls clothes when I was young, then my own clothes starting in high school...art class was always my favorite in school. I dabbled in other venues while raising my family. Later, when I met Roger, my husband, he was so creative and knowledgable about how things work (he was in the park attraction/imagineering business all his life) and with his know-how I just felt that I was sort-of set free and could finally do anything I set my mind to!

Seeing all of your blogger sites is inspiring too...I have always loved going through decorating books and magazines, watching HGTV...sometimes I see something and it inspires me to do something similar to it or to embellish it in another way (I hope I am making some since here, I feel like I am babbling on!) Anyway, since I am new to blogging, I have visited so many wonderful blog sites and seen so many creative people, I think this is just so enlightening. It's really nice to have a place like this!

One more thing; we live far away from our children and grandchildren. It has been very hard not living close to them. We now have a wonderful new invention: a web-cam! It's almost like being there - you can actually have a conversation and see them at the same time (better than using the phone!) When I saw my new grandson Luke, walking for the first time, I realized what a great invention this was! It really does keep you closer when you are far away.

Well, you all have a great week. I'll be out working in my shop creating a new lampshade, or maybe just cleaning up out there, it surely needs it!!

Bye for now, Marilyn

Just When I Thought Spring Was Here!

It snowed and rained again yesterday! But today is starting off with some sun breaks. Maybe I will be able to get some time outside clearing away the packed snow to make some room for the garden...Or I could work on another shade?? Please check out the picture at right and let me know what you think about my kitchen light? When we bought this house, there was a typical little light with three bulbs. And when I re-decorated my kitchen in yellows, blues, pinks, reds and greens (a chicken theme) I thought of using this birdcage for a light above the sink! So my ingenious husband transformed the birdcage (he is sooo smart!) into a light fixture and I made the shade to go inside. I used one of the fabrics that you see on the window in the background for the shade with some vintage lace at the bottom. The "curtains" are made from scraps of fabric that I tore into 1" by about 15" strips and tied to the rod.
Well, y'all have a great weekend and I'll be blogging again soon!

It's Been Two Great Weeks Now!

I have had some wonderful comments these past two weeks and a lot of great people are helping me with my blog! I am trying something new with the help of Kathy at Kathy's Cottage (please check out her blog, which I added to my list below.) I am adding a picture into this post, instead of lining them all up below. There are other things I would like to do, but am still learning and my blog site is slowly getting better!

Well, we STILL have snow here in my part of the country...in fact it has been snowing off and on for the past three days. When is spring going to get here??? The birds are starting to make nests; in fact I caught a Northern Flicker pounding away at our house this morning! Yikes!

There are two other places that are really neat to check out; one is a company called The Wee Garden. They make the cutest little tiny gardens in a pot. Also I have a friend who owns a wonderful nursery here in Central Oregon; they have decorated it with all kinds of goodies and it's so much fun to shop there. Also she is in the Dutch Oven Society and has a web site, that I am putting on my blog list too. It sure is fun doing this, I never even realized there was this whole world out there I didn't even know about!

One more thing I would like to say; blogging really does work! I got an email from a very nice lady who wanted to buy my doggy lamp (see below) and I will be shipping it out to her very soon! Thank You so much Renee!

Y'all have a great week!

It has been such a wonderful week!

My husband, Roger and I watch the news every night...and you are probably wondering what does the news have to do with my blog? Well, right now there is quite a "to-do" about the new commercials from both Hillary and Obama about that 3:00 a.m. call! I say that if they had one of my pretty lamps next to their bed, they could turn it on and ANSWER THAT DARN PHONE!!!

Politics aside, I have made another lampshade and there is a picture of it below. I love this shade, and again, I want to keep it! And I hope someone will love it as much as I do!!! When I make a shade, I start by looking through the fabrics I have; when I find a fabric I want to use, I put it together with a frame and then start the process by lining the ribs with a matching or complimentary fabric and attach the lining for the shade itself...then on goes the pretty outside fabric I had chosen, then the embellishments, like beads or lace. When I am happy with what it looks like, I finish off the inside with a braid around the top and bottom and attach a button with my signature and year it was made. That's about it in a nutshell!

Now that I am blogging, I am meeting a lot of very nice people...and I am seeing a lot of things that I never knew existed! Like Cathy from "Tadpoles and Teacups." I found her blog from Laurie's Charming Designs. She makes these wonderful little people out of paper mache...you'll have to check out her blog at tadpolesandteacups.blogspot.com.

Thank you all for your comments!

It's March 3rd and I can't believe that my blog has received 9 comments already! Thank you all for your wonderful comments. Since I am new to this, they really help! Some of you have asked if I sell them and I should tell you that all of my lamps are one of a kind, and I usually don't make more than one - that is because I don't always have all the fabrics or vintage doilies, lace and such! Of course, that is always a VERY good reason to go antique shopping! Also, some of the lamps are already sold!
Thank you Laurie, at "Charming Designs" for your help and for letting others know about my blog page and lamps, you are such a nice person, and so helpful too!
I have added two more lampshades to my blog. One is a USA: red, white and blue! And the other is a darling pastel shade with beads. They are shades alone, I didn't make them to go with any particular lamp base.
You'all have a great day, and thank you for visiting me again!
xxxooo
Marilyn

Blogging: Day One!

I am attempting to make a blogging site, so please bare with me! This is difficult, I don't even know what I'm doing! I make lamps and lampshades. Cottage style. I have been making them for about seven or so years now. It all started when I was antique shopping and saw the cutest little antique half doll. I wanted to make a lamp finial out of it, but it cost about $70. A lot for a lamp finial! Since I was taking a class in china painting, and doing plates and such; I noticed that my teacher had a reproduction half doll that she had painted. She told me that one of the other women in another class actually poured them and sold them. Well, I started having her make some for me and I painted them myself. When they were complete, my wonderful husband, Roger machined the metal screw and filled the inside of the half dolls with an epoxy and waa-laa! A reproduction half doll finial for my lamp!
I had been collecting vintage doilies, lace and other textiles for quite some time. So I used some of these things and made a lamp shade for myself. A lot of my friends loved it, and asked me to make them one too! I kept that first shade because I had put a button on it that was from my grandmother's wedding dress. (And also because I had made lots of mistakes in those first lampshades!) My daughter now has that shade in her bedroom!
I looked all over the internet and elsewhere and could not find anyone else who made the same shades and finials that I made. When we moved to Oregon, I had my lamps in an antique mall and sold quite a few of them. But alas, that store closed and what is a girl to do?
I have taught myself how to make the shades from start to finish. I usually use old frames and sometimes buy new ones. I wrap them myself with twill tape. Then the process starts: I line them and put pieces of linens and lace, etc., together and also use fine quality fabrics to make a shade that I think is cute! I finished off the inside as well. Most of the time, when I am finished with a lamp or shade, I like it so much I want to keep it. But Roger says: "You're in the business to SELL them, remember?" Ok, Ok!
Well, I think that's about it. My husband is retired and keeps busy either in our yard or making 1/8 scale train engines and parts. But more about us at a later time!