My mom is EXTREMELY talented and has always been since I was a baby. I grew up with her always making so many different things. She even had a business selling her handmade items. She has made so many creative things. I wanted to share some of her handmade items with you that I have around my house. Starting first with this adorable bunny that always sits on the back of my couch. Isn't she adorable? My mom made every single part of this little bunny doll. Well, she is not exactly little. She is a good size bunny doll. I wish I had the other many dolls that my mom has made for me over the years. They are in storage while we are trying to sell our house.
My mom also makes these unbelievably beautiful wreaths.
I have them all over my house. This one is in our master bedroom right above my bed. I LOVE it so much. This wreath also lights up and is beautiful at night when all the lights are off. It gives off such a soothing aura.
My mom can sew, she can create beautiful wreaths with dried flowers and she can also paint. She painted this for me as a gift back in 2000. She did such a beautiful job. She is like another Donna Dewberry. This is hanging in our dining room.. well our eat in kitchen rather.
This wreath lights up as well. This wreath is in Hallie's bedroom and she loves it. Isn't my mom so talented? I think so and I am her biggest fan. Every new piece I always wanted and had to have.
This is another beautiful wreath. It is hanging in our living room above our flat screen tv. This one lights up as well.
This is something my mom made along time ago but I still have it displayed. It is a rod iron heart shape and she put dried and silk flowers on it. I have a rod iron house that she put some of these same flowers but different colors and it is gorgeous. It is packed away. I love to have my mom's hand made items all over my house.
My mom made this for me and it is a little doll that hides those plastic bags from the store. She has made so many of these and she made one for my daughter so that she could put her overnight items in when she stayed the night at a friends house. So you can use it for many different ways. Isn't she so cute though? I love her piggy tails. She also painted her face. She is SO talented when it comes to drawing little faces. I only wish I could draw like my mom does. If she ever made cards they would be absolutely stunning. As you can see I am a huge fan of my mom's stuff.
This is another piece that was made along long time ago. It is a little glass jar filled with potpourri. Then my mom took the front of the jaw and used a magnolia scented envelope sachet and then added her trademark flowers, ribbon and greenery.
This is a beautiful swag that my mom made for me. It is in our living room above our windows. She has made so many of these swags and they are all so beautiful.
This is a little fruit wreath that my mom made for my kitchen. Every Christmas I always asked for homemade items from my mom because there is not one single item that she could have bought that would have meant more to me. Plus all of her items are so special, beautiful and very meaningful to me. I will keep every item she has ever made for me forever. Once we get into our new house I will show you a bunch of other amazing items my mom has made through out the years.
I don't know how many of you have mother's who have passed on their creative talents to you or have encouraged you to be creative. But having my mom's handmade items all around my house always makes me feel like she is always around. She lives about 2 hours away from me. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the things that my mom has made for me and my daughter over the years. I have SO many other items that are stored away that I will have to show you one day. I hope that these items inspire you in one way or another. I know having her talented creativity all around me inspires me every day.
Big Cricut Hugs! ~Terri
Your mum is very talented Terri. My mum can knit beautifully though she doesn't do any now. My grandma - mum's mum was a tailoress she taught me to sew and crochet. Anne x
ReplyDeleteTerri your Mom's quite the artist! She reminds me very much of my Mother, she used to do all these beautiful things for me too! She was a beautiful painter and made beautiful wreaths as well as quilts and sweaters and scrapbooking and cards, she cross stitched and knitted, crocheted, sewed, on and on! She was the person who got me into everything crafty in my life and it is so much fun to see where your creative-ness came from! I see in another post that your Daughter at 11 is already starting herself! Just like mine... it runs in your family! Take care my friend!
ReplyDeleteCrafty Hugs,
Pendra
Hi Terri,
ReplyDeleteClearly you got your creative gifts from your Mother, and it's a joy I share too with my Mom as well as with my daughter, and my late grandmother (Mom's mom). Some of my earliest memories involve working on crafts with Grandmom; she used to subscribe to an early crafting magazine that showed how to recycle things like bleach bottles into piggy banks. She taught me to decoupage, and I taught her to macrame. My grandmom was one of the first clothing designers for Mattel's new doll, Barbie, wayyyyy back in my early childhood. Later in her life (she lived to 99), grandmom made and dressed beautiful porcelain dolls. She died at her craft table, a paint brush in her hand, detailing the eyelashes on the last doll she made, and she made hundreds. Truly, she died what she loved doing. My mom and grandmom sewed all of our clothes.
When I was a teenager, my mom had an international business where she took and repurposed old denim jeans worn by prisoners (!!!), boiled them to sanitize them and then made string bikinis out of the worn denim. She made and sold denim skirts (mini, midi and maxi) and appliqued vintage floral fabrics on them. Her string bikinis were featured in TIME magazine as a trendy design of the decade (in the 1970's). Later, she went on to design and make bridal gowns with custom embroidery on the bodices. (She made all my prom gowns too, with hand-beading and sequins!) She's done all sorts of dried flower arrangements, pine cone wreaths, you name it!
I also remember, in my youth, that Mom and Dad had a group of friends who came to our family room once a week with their easels, to learn from a teacher in our home how to oil paint. Later, Mom and Dad and I took a watercolor class together, and I saw that my Dad is just as talented as my Mom. I have framed paintings in my home by my Dad, my Mom, my sister, her husband, an aunt, my husband's aunt, and my daughter!
A few years ago when my daughter got married (and wore a store-made dress, alas -- Mom is long out of that business), my daughter asked me to make beaded necklaces for her bridesmaids, and also to design and make all of her wedding invitations and program and such. When my mom saw the beautiful necklaces, she decided then and there to take up beading, and she learned and mastered this craft at 79 years young. Six months later, she had a massive brain stem stroke that left Mom a quadriplegic, comatose and blind. It should have killed her. Instead, we kids authorized life-saving surgery where a cardiac stent was deployed in her brain. It gave her enough blood and oxygen that she, miraculously, came all the way back to life. We knew she was healed fully when she not only has the ability to walk unaided now 2 years later, but she has the dexterity and interest to craft again, and has made me some lovely beaded bracelets and earrings.
Sometimes we live to craft, and other times, crafting is our life. Thank you for reminding me from where I grew my talents and love, and in showing me that I need to do a better job of appreciating this God-given gift of family!
Fondly,
Ellen ♥ CardMonkey
http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com
E-mail: cardmonkey@comcast.net