Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Gifts & Giving Thanks

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Thanksgiving always brings a flurry of activity, doesn’t it? Around MHC, we stay low key. We try to be thankful every day – of course, it’s easier to be thankful when everything is going well. We’ve had our share of adversity here this year. The challenge is in staying thankful despite the stress, loss and worry. Since we don’t eat turkey or meat, our dinner will be side dishes. They’re always my favorites. Mashed potatoes and biscuits and yams and green beans and cranberries – yum!

Elyse sent me a box full of goodies for my birthday. I thought I’d share a few photos with you.

This is what I saw when I opened the box. Definitely my colors!

These pretties were inside the pretty pink flowered box.

And I opened this sweetly wrapped package to find these:

I can’t wait to play with everything. Thank you, Elyse!

A few weeks back, I sent a little gift to Elyse as a thank you for her friendship and constant support of my writing and this blog. I made another Boite de Vignette, inspired by a comment Elyse made on one of my posts. She liked one of my figurines and I realized it looked rather like her gnome-like tinkerer.

Now, I know I’m a rank amateur at all this. I’m learning….very slowly.

So be kind.

This is the outside of the box. I wanted it to look like a door into Elyse’s tinkered world.

This is what you see when the box is opened. I used the background on E’s blog, some ribbon, the tinkerer and lots of glitter. My first foray into the world of glitter, by the way. Martha Stewart glitter.

I would love to make more of these in the future: creating little worlds inside a box that are specific to each giftee. I don’t know…maybe that’s silly. This form of creating is new to me and I am sometimes so intimidated by what I see my fellow bloggers create. The talent in blogland is amazing and humbling.

But you never know what you can do until you try, right?

Comments

  2. The little gnome world in a box is precious! MS glitter is amazing stuff. I could easily get carried away with it!
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thank you for being a part of creative and friendly blogland!

  3. Oh my goodness!.. no doubts, no worries about these sweet little shadow boxes you plan to make, Claudia! I can’t wait to see MORE!! This one is beautiful!… Wishing you and yours a blessed and very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy! ~tina

  4. Hi Sweet Claudia,

    I LOVE the box you made for Elyse it is fabulous!! The detail and elements are magical.

    What a fabulous box of goodies Elyse sent you…don’t you just love getting surprises like that?

    Happy day to you Sweet Friend,
    Karyn

  5. I think your glitter-venture turned out great. What fun. And Elyse’s gift box of goodies is the ultimate in pretty. uber-pretty (: happy thanksgiving

  8. Claudia,
    The talent in blogland IS amazing and it CAN be intimidating. However, your little world inside a box is equally amazing! So sweet, so thoughtful and not silly in the least. I think you hit on a wonderful gift idea.
    Have a very happy side dish Thanksgiving!
    hugs,
    Beth

  9. I, too, am so inspired by what my fellow bloggers create. I love your little door into Elyse’s world. It’s the sweetest thing.
    Indeed, it is true that you never know what you can do until you try – and I really just have to start trying harder – and more often.
    Happy Thanksgiving!

  12. LOVE ALL YOUR GIFTS FROM ELYSE, YOU CAN CREATE SO MUCH…….
    YOUR SHADOW BOX IS ADORABLE, I MADE A FEW IN MY DAY….THEY ARE FUN. I ALWAYS WANTED TO MAKE ONE OF LITTLE WOMEN, MAYBE SOMEDAY. HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING, WE HAVE TURKEY, BUT I LOVE, THE SIDE DISHES TOO.
    RIZZI

  13. Love your new photo! A very Happy Birthday to you my dear. Love what you made for Elyse. Never doubt your creativity or capability. A warm and plentiful Thanksgiving to you and yours…

  14. Your gifts from and to Elyse are lovely, and the idea of making those individualised little boxes isn’t silly at all!!

    BTW your new photo is soooo pretty!!

    I wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and a year to come full of many things to be truly thankful for :)

  16. How perfectly sweet! Love all those florals….and her packaging was so pretty, detail after detail…

    I happen to think your tinker box for her is fabulous! Lots of sweet touches. It’s hard not to be intimidated by some of the bloggers out there, but your style is beautiful Claudia! I love your house, how you put your little things together….there’s meaning in so much of everything in your home, and I admire not only your talent, but your heart that is seen via this blog every post. :)

    PS..I like the side dishes best too! I don’t eat turkey either.

  17. Aren’t packages from Elyse just the sweetest? She really knows how to pack a fun gift!

    And speaking of fun gifts….I LOVE the little vignette box you made for her!!! What a wonderful and thoughtful gift! Beautiful!!!

  18. Claudia, first I have to tell you,you looks so lovely without your glasses,too.
    The little sweet tinker box, is wonderfull, you made a beautifull gift for your friend,-and she send you, so many great things to play with.
    I wish you a happy thanksgiving.
    Hugs, Dorthe

  21. Claudia, I bet Elyse is in love with her beautiful little altered box. I think this is one of the many blessings of blogging, sharing our creations with others and inspiring each other to do things we probably would never have tried before in our wildest dreams. I haven’t done much altered art, but I really want to. Your gifts from Elyse will be so fun to dive into and use in your next little boxes.
    Oh I just love the new picture of you you on your sidebar! So pretty!
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving sweetie.
    Hugs to you…

  22. Claudia, I bet Elyse is in love with her beautiful little altered box. I think this is one of the many blessings of blogging, sharing our creations with others and inspiring each other to do things we probably would never have tried before in our wildest dreams. I haven’t done much altered art, but I really want to. Your gifts from Elyse will be so fun to dive into and use in your next little boxes.
    Oh I just love the new picture of you you on your sidebar! So pretty!
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving sweetie.
    Hugs to you…

  24. hi claudia!

    just took the apple pie out of the oven and am about to begin packing and then remembered – i’ve got to check claudia’s blog today! so glad i did.

    i love the personalized gift you made me. there’s so much creativity in blogland but let’s both be inspired rather than intimidated (i get the same way).

    i’m so happy you like the assortment of goodies i sent to you. even the purple “meople”

    okay — much to do. wishing you a happy and yummy and healthy thanksgiving!!

    xo
    elyse

  26. Hi Claudia! First, I love your new profile pic, very pretty! And I love that little box, boy these have so many possibilities. Have a wonderful, turkey-less Thanksgiving, :), Nan

  27. It’s beautiful, Claudia! So Elyse! I love that photo you’ve added to your sidebar. Perhaps it was here last time I visited and I didn’t notice. But your smile in this photo is just radiant. I will be home crafting tomorrow, making ornaments. As I’ve been doing for two days. Happy Thanksgiving, my dear and beloved friend!
    Brenda

  30. I love the whimsical little box you made, Claudia! It’s charming! And how fun to receive all the goodies, too! I understand how you are feeling…it’s like really putting yourself out there when you post artwork, but I have found bloggers to be very supportive of each other, and we all have our own style!

  31. Hi Claudia,
    Your gifts are wonderful and the gift you made is darling too. Love it all and how fun to receive such a great box of goodies. I bet Elyse felt the same way.
    Best wishes to you for a wonderful Thanksgiving. Your side dishes will be so yummy!

    Thank you for stopping by. I am having a giveaway for Christmas if you’d like to enter. The drawing is the 10th of Dec.

    Yes, I do remember waiting for a counter seat at Sanders. Remember the cakes with the nuts of the side? oh and the butter creme icing! It was a wonderful place.

    Happy Thanksgiving.
    Hugs, Celestina Marie

  33. What lovely gifts you sweet girls made! How fun to get such lovelies! Enjoy your Thanksgiving is sounds yummy!!!
    Hugs, Lisa

  35. You have a very sweet blog. I learned about it from Spence at Bellamere Cottage. Happy belated Birthday. Mine was the 20th and judging from the charm bracelet we must be about the same age. Happy Thanksgiving,
    Annette

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