Happy New Year!

Antiquing with Lon
La Shea's Antiques




This is my planned purchase for extra storage/work station for the studio.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas this year! We have had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. Our families will all be here through New Year's Day, so we decided to have a last-day-of-the-year antiquing trip. My sister and I went together to a new shop that just opened and we love it! It is in a charming old home and has lots of character upstairs and down. We were so happy they were open. Having family here to do these fun things with and make memories is what it's all about. My new year's resolution lists is getting longer and longer, but I know one thing for sure is to try and make the most of my time with the people I love. It's so easy to take them for granted. I hope to be better at making the people I love really know how much I cherish them. One thing I did this year was take my tea cups and gave one to each of my sisters with some of our favorite teas. Then I gave them a framed picture of the three of us and a card that said we are having a weekly "phone chat" 3-way call over tea. Even though we live in 3 different states, we can look at our picture of us together, drink our tea from the same tea cups and chat as if we were in each other's kitchens. It will be one small way to stay connected and feel like we've had a visit. I'm looking forward to it so much! We're calling it "Sisterly Necessi-tea".

Enjoy your new year! I hope it will be a wonderful one filled with lots of joy and love.

With warm wishes~
Lori

The Ellenay Bag is here!!!!!!!!!

"Serendipity"
Oh, I can't believe it! They are finally here!! My talented friend, Rebecca Smith of Sew Happy Boutique has teamed up with me to make unique designer bags for my website. I am such a bag fanatic that this is really exciting for me. She pays extra attention to detail and makes a bag that anyone would be proud to own. They will be named limited editions and be highest boutique quality. Our first series is named "Serendipity". It is made from my favorite: black and white polka dot collage with pink accents. The monogram in the middle is pink embroidery. It has clear acrylic handles, adorable silver feet on the bottom to protect your bag from dirt and germs when on floors or counters, magnetic snap closure, polka dot pocket with logo on the inside and solid black on reverse. Check back to the website often as we will be adding on more styles, colors and themes soon. We will be using Amy Butler and Michael Miller fabric in our upcoming designs.

~Fun Christmas quiz

You Are a Gingerbread House

A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you.

>http://www.blogthings.com/whatholidayfoodareyouquiz/">WhatHoliday Food Are You?

I got this quiz from Roxie at: www.jorabeels.com. She's always finding fun stuff. Thanks, Roxie!
Try it out and then tell what food you were.

Butter Christmas Cookies & 25% OFF SALE

The shops at www.makeminepink.com are having a cookie swap. Check out the boutiques there and get tons of cookie recipes from the blogs as well as some great handmade and high quality gifts! If you comment on my blog or send me an email, I will email you a 25% off coupon good now through Christmas for my online boutique: http://www.ellenaydesigns.com/. Coupon is good for custom orders also.

Here is a recipe anyone can easily make as long as you have a cookie press. These are sooooo good and very buttery-hence the name.

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven to 375'. In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, and vanilla and almond extracts to butter-and-sugar mixture; beat well. In a large bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Gradually add the creamed mixture. Mix until you have a smooth dough. Put dough in cookie press. Press trigger and form cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake until golden, 6 to 8 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

This is such a fun cookie recipe for the kids. Mine just love to press the trigger. They are delicious too and very easy to make. Enjoy & Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas! You know how when your'e little, Christmas seems to take FOREVER to get here? Well, those days are long gone once you're grown! I find myself totally and completely running behind for the entire month of December. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. I have all these grand visions of all the wonderful things I'm going to plan. A Christmas tea party with my girlfriends, making a new wreath, watching Christmas movies, finding the perfect gift for everyone etc. Who knows if I'll actually get everything accomplished, but I'm sure gonna try. Sometimes, it's nice to just make it simple, like sitting by the fire and just enjoying the moment. Here's warm wishes from me to you that no matter what lists didn't get finished that you had time to stop and really savor the season and the reason for it in the first place.

I think I'm in love

O.k. I know this isn't very Christmasy, but this I had to share. My husband works in the airline industry and we took a last minute trip to Venice, Italy this week. It was up there in the "coolest things I've ever done" category. I know we're crazy, but we flew all that way to be there for 24 hours. Yep, we actually did that. We lived on adrenaline and espresso and did as much as we could in that tiny amount of precious time. These are the memories that will stay with us forever though and I'm so glad we did it. Now that things are back to normal, I'll be soldering away on my necklaces and adding more Christmas pieces. But, just maybe I'll start daydreaming that I'm back in Italy with the gorgeous architectures, gondolas, breathtaking views and the smell of espresso and Italian food wafting in the air. I'll close my eyes and remember and I'm sure it will bring a smile. Ciao! Bella Venezia!!

New Christmas designs rolling out weekly

I'm currently in the process of rolling out my new Christmas designs and I really feel in the Christmas spirit. I love it! I love everything about Christmas. It's definately the best time of year and I always hate to see it go. We started decorating the house last night and had the Christmas music going, candles lit, hot chocolate and everybody's excitement making it so much more fun. We're leaving today to spend Thanksgiving with the family and I wanted to come home to a cozy decorated home. Normally I wait til after Thanksgiving, but this year the Christmas spirit came early. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you count your many blessings.

Le Charme Bouton

I have a beautiful memory everytime I look at my newly made "charms of button" bracelet. It reminds me of shopping with my mom & sisters because we went together the day I found these great vintage enameled buttons. My sister actually spotted them first. We had a meeting before our day began as I turned my family into shopping assistants for the different items I was on the lookout for. What's especially sweet for me is that I rarely get to go shopping with my sisters anymore now that we do not live near each other. The second unique and especially sentimental part to me is the family picture charms. I have my Dad sitting on his mother's lap (she died when he was 10) and my mother's parents with her (her mom died when she was 11). In another charm is my mom and dad's wedding photo. I happened to buy some old letters in an antique shop while on my recent trip to the mountains and I was shocked to find that several postmarks were dates of birthdays and anniversaries of ours. The postmark charm is our wedding date. So, this bracelet is a keeper as I could never part with my bracelet of memories. I will make another as I love the button idea. Before I go, I want to dedicate the song "Satie Gymnopedia #1" by Charlotte Church to my family. The words are precious and very true for me. They are always so supportive and I appreciate them so much.... "From my first moment, you gave me wings, let me fly and believed in my dreams. From that first moment you cherished me so- a journey through life would be hard without you........

I Love you~

These are a few of my favorite things......

Upside down hat, upside down doughnut- who cares! Life is sweet......

If you've never eaten a Krispy Kreme doughnut, first let me offer my condolences. It is truly one of the guiltiest of pleasures in life. They are the most delectable when eaten hot straight out of the oven after being slathered in rich, creamy icing. If you go in the store, you can buy them 2 seconds after they've been iced. Talk about melt in your mouth! Really is hard to describe the joy of it all if you've never experienced it for yourself. Being from the south, it was hard to imagine a place not having Krispy Kreme doughnuts. We grew up eating them and it was the preferred place to go for any occasion. So, when I moved to Ca. after getting married, to my shock I realized there was no Krispy Kreme doughnut shops!! What a terrible place it must be. Of course, now you can get them pretty much anywhere. I do live back in the south now(for many years) where life is as it should be with restaurants completely understanding when I order sweet tea. When life has you a little down, you can always head to the nearest Krispy Kreme for a sweet pick-me-up and a large gourmet coffee. As for the calories, like Scarlet O'hara would say, you can't worry about that right now, you can worry about that another day.

To a great Mom!

We have one of the most fabulous Moms in the world . She is loving and thoughtful and always puts everybody before herself. She is celebrating her birthday this month and to make it extra special, my 2 sweet sisters flew in for a surprise birthday party. It was the best surprise ever since she was totally and completely unaware. Her favorite thing to do is be with her family, so we knew just being together would make her the happiest. We stayed at a wonderful place on the beach and spent hours talking and laughing and enjoying being together for our short time we had. It was a memory we will all cherish forever. We love you, mom!

Here are some photos of November in Florida and our weekend with our

very special mom.

Pumpkins, Flea markets & Fall leaves

A wonderful flea market display outside the market.
My mom holding a beautiful pomegranate. A mountain road with the leaves changing-my favorite.
What a cute pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.....

I told you before that I had to go up north if I ever wanted to really see the changing leaves. Well, I did and we just got back. It was absolutely wonderful! I'm ready to pack my little duds and move to where the seasons actually change. I loved every minute of it. We got to go antiquing/flea marketing, but the highlight of our trip was getting to go to our family reunion and seeing family that we hadn't seen in years. It was great to visit with everyone.

I'm so ready for the holidays. I can't wait to show you what we have new coming this week!! Talented designer Rebekah Smith will be joining Ellenay Designs for a surprise addition to the website. I'm not saying more than that just yet, but if you haven't signed up for the newsletter, it will be there first. I'll be sending out my November newsletter with all the details. Go to http://www.ellenaydesigns.com/ and click on the newsletter signup box. Let me put it this way- I already have my order in and can't wait to get mine!

Take a walk with me

I don't believe I've seen a prettier day than today. It was absolutely spectacular! I'm so glad that it turned out to be such a perfect day since it was picture day for my kids. My close friend is a wonderful photographer and we chose this particular place for it's classic beauty and charm. The park was built on a round lake that is a natural spring. It's history is a city that came into existance because of the railroad that was built right through it. Old restored victorian mansions line the lake as well as cottages with white picket fences. It's like seeing America over a hundred years ago. It has a library and gardens that were built in the 1800's as well as a gorgeous church. So come take a walk with me and imagine the wind blowing off the lake, the birds singing, and the church bells chiming on the hour......

The library gardens....

The gorgeous Presbyterian Church....

What a perfect way to spend an afternoon.