Happy New Year

I wish you Joy all through the year.
I wish you Love of Family and Friends.

I wish you Happy Days that never end.

Happy New Year, 

Gina

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Little extra color to spread around the house.  

No snow for Christmas?
Maybe Christmas day, they say.  

Celebrating with friends and family. 

Enjoying vintage wax decorations over and over. 

Pasha's domain is outside.  Except during the holidays when you will find him under the Christmas tree. 

With warmest thoughts and wishes for a wonderful Christmas. 

Gina 

Print, Print, Print, Stamp, Stamp, Stamp.

Print it yourself, it's easy.

Why not wrap your presents with inexpensive brown paper and decorate with 6 inch wide Toile de jouy Paper Ribbons.

Paper Ribbons you have painted yourself.

Print General Purpose Masking Paper, 180 feet for under $2, with rubber stamps.

(I used rubber stamps from "Rubber Stampede")

 As pretty as any 18th c. French Toile de jouy Fabric.

Happy wrapping and happy gifting

my dear Blogging Friends.

Gina

Not really a Christmas Story

Tucked away in the most northeastern corner of Italy

A special place called Südtirol

Where the cows go to green pastures and come home every evening to be in their cozy barn, where each cow has a hand painted name plate and her own window to look out from.

This is also the place where I buy my hand knit sweaters.
(The black sweater on the left is my newest acquisition).

From a special shop by the name of Trachten Stueberle

Where every balcony is  adorned with the most impossible and

luxurious flowers.

And where an elderly gentleman, of nobility, lives behind these towering walls.

He lives there, by himself, hidden.

In this enormous castle.

And every year I ask the locals: 'what do you hear from the old Gentleman' ? 

And always, a shrug of the shoulders follows.

And every year, I am hoping, that the elderly Gentleman will see me from his window, and send his manservant to invite me to have tea with him. 

And then I will sit quietly and listen.

Where is this magic place, you ask?

It is called Toblach/Dobbiaco in the Südtirol, where both Italian and German is spoken.

Each year I discover a little more and one day I will know everything.

Gina  

Repost 2011