...but inside it's so delightful

 

ahhhhhh...we are having a nice relaxing evening at the Brickhouse. We hope you are as well.

 

wonderful scent filling the room

even a little smooching going on

Howie relaxing..just like he does every day!

 

JOY!

 

must have candlelight

curling up with my favorite magazine

and my favorite wine

 

Let me tell you...these are da bomb! Hershey Kisses Candy Cane!

We hope you are enjoying a relaxing evening. At this time of year it seems a lot of people get stressed by doing so much to get ready for Christmas......turn off the lights, light some candles, have a glass of your favorite wine and relax,,,,oh and don't forget the chocolate!

~~Can't wait~~

SO excited for.......Christmas? Well, yes...it is almost here and that is exciting, even though our Christmas's are usually low key. What I am excited about is I will finally be able to cook and clean. Yep, you heard me..I can't wait to clean my house and cook and bake. And  if you ask Tim, I am SURE he is excited, too. The last couple of weeks...well more like MONTHS, it has been crazy here at the Brickhouse. We have been spending more (lots more) time in the Shop then we do in the house, our neglected house!  Not only is the house being neglected, so are poor Howie Dog and Cricket...I think Santa needs to put extra treats in their stockings this Christmas. So come December 26 I will dust off the vacuum cleaner and dust off the pots and pans and get cooking and cleaning.  AND after I get caught up with the cooking and cleaning then I will  do what I REALLY am excited to do and that is....start to work on some new projects for the Shop.


~~Can't wait to create~~

 Remember how I mentioned in my last post, we are making some changes in the Shop? Well, I am excited to get started on the changes....need to decide on paint colors for the walls..new curtains and new display pieces....lots to do!

Now if I can control myself and not start to craft before I finish the cleaning...it may be hard to do....can't wait to craft and create. Maybe Santa will bring me a Cleaning Lady and a Chef to help me out so I can do what I REALLY want to do...craft my days away.

We are back....

SO I make the commitment to blog regularly..well that didn't happened since October. Sorry, but it has been crazy here at the Brickhouse. Lots of exciting things have been keeping us too busy to blog but we promise we will do better in the New Year. I for one am excited to see the New Year arrive....I am working on changing a lot of things...and one thing that I have already started to change is ME! YEP, working on a new and improved Patti...since September I have lost 15.5 lbs. I didn't wait till the New Year to start working on THAT improvement. But I will be working on other "Patti improvements" in the New Year....lots to work on! And speaking of the new year Tim and I are excited about what 2013 has in store for us and our customers here at the Shop. Stay tuned to see some changes! Just like my early start on my New Year changes, we had some changes here at the Shop this Fall. We welcomed some wonderful and very talented new crafters/FRIENDS to the Brickhouse Family. We have Matt and Beth from Backwoods Creations, Traci Bowman our new Potter, Marie Miller from Simple Whimsy Designs and last but not least Alison of Alison's Petals. Tim has been saying that they are like a breath of fresh air here at the Shop...they are fun to work with and so supportive of each other and we are even brainstorming with them about what changes we would like to do...asking for their input as well. (grrrr..I want to post pictures of the creations of our new crafters but I can't...darn blogger)
We don't know what the New Year has in store for us but we know if 2013 is half as good as 2012 was..well we will be blessed with whatever is in store for us.
 I have to warn you..Tim is preparing to make an appearance SOON on here...he will be doing some blogs posts..so stay tuned! 

Final Fall Project...onto Christmas Crafts

I am SO ready to do some Christmas crafts for the Shop. Yesterday I finished up more of the canning jar ring pumpkins that I showed you a few weeks ago.  Last week, my friend Judy, stopped by with a big bag of old canning jar rings, so I was able to make more of these pumpkins.

I want to thank this BLOGGER , she was the one that came up with the idea for these pumpkins.
 I am putting away all my Fall Craft projects for this year .....now onto Christmas crafts!

From Maine to the Brickhouse

Check out what just arrived from Maine...upcycled doormats and dog leashes handwoven in Maine from recycled lobster trap float~ropes. Stop by the Brickhouse and check these out!

~A tart makin'~Light dippin' day~

It looks like today is going to be a busy day here at the Brickhouse.

I will be making more of these, today.



Uh oh...time to make more tarts!



Need to make more of these!

Yep...it is going to be a busy day!

~~New Arrivals at the Shop~~

 Today was a busy day in the Shop..lots of people stopping by..it really was a fun day. We also had some New goodies arrive at the shop....LOTS of pumpkins! AND Christmas goodies are starting to arrive at the Shop...tis' the season!! I love this time of year!

~ We Found the Key~

We found the key....the key to our blog. We are unlocking it and dusting off the cobwebs. We are BACK! We missed blogging and we missed all you great bloggers.
Tim and I were using FB to keep our local customers up to date on the happenings here at the Shop...well after being frustrated one too many times with FB, we decided to use our blog more often. Now we need to get our followers on FB to head over to our blog and visit with us. Tim and I will be updating our blog daily...word of warning...... maybe twice daily! :)
 Anyhow, it is great to be back!

Porch Sale at the Brickhouse

 The weather the last couple of days has had that late summer like feel to it...so we decided to do a PORCH SALE here at the Shop this weekend. We had a great day today with customers stopping by to take advantage of some great bargains on the porch...see the porch isn't just for sitting..it is also great for shopping..so if you are in the area tomorrow we would love to have you stop by and shop on the porch at the Brickhouse Craft Shop.

Quick project

 My friend Marie found this on Pinterest and told me about it...so I found some old canning jar bands in my basement. Right now I am kicking myself for throwing away all the old rusty bands that I had...I threw them away because I knew I didn't want to use the rusty bands on my canned goods. I only found a handful of the bands and I created this pumpkin...thanks to Marie for sharing this and thanks to this wonderful BLOGGER  for coming up with this awesome project! This is how I did it,  I took a piece of twine and put it through the bands and then tied it tightly and I stuck a small limb from one of my trees in for the stem....Now I am on the search for more bands so I can make more of these pumpkins. I hope you go out today and try this project...It is SO EASY!

~~HAPPY LABOR DAY~~

 

Tim and I hope you all are enjoying your Labor Day. We both are spending the day working on wood projects for the Shop.

Whatever you are doing today we hope you are enjoying the last official day of Summer. I am happy to see Summer come to an end...BRING ON FALL!

~~Trying something new~~

I finally got up enough courage to do something that I have been wanting to do for a long time......here it is...my very first painting. It was suppose to be a picture of Queen Anne's Lace but I do think it looks more like dandelions. :) I think I need to practice some more and maybe even take some art lessons...I will admit though that I did have fun painting this picture.

~~Creating~~

 After a long hot, dry and very humid summer I woke this morning to a bit of a nip in the air. It was just a bit but I could feel it...maybe it is just wishful thinking but I can feel Fall in the air. I also woke up to a beautiful sunrise.

 Last evening Tim and I had a meeting with Jake and Dean, the owners of Armstrong Valley Winery and Vineyard. We were meeting to go over plans for the upcoming Fall Festival which will be on September 29 & 30. We will be there along with over 25 other vendors/crafters. We hope to see you there...make sure to stop by our booth and say hi. 

We have been busy crafting and creating new goodies. I am enjoying finding treasures to repurpose and adding them to our Shop. The only thing is that they hardly ever make it to the Shop. I post pictures of the new creations on our Facebook page and next thing you know they are sold! Not complaining, though :)

repurposed an old door knob



Another old door knob



Glass insulator

A fun craft...snowflakes made with clothes pins

A grungy snowflake

Tim has been busy in the woodshop creating wonderful things for our customers, like this cubby box.

Cubby Box created by Tim

So you can see we have been a bit busy here at the Brickhouse.