Vicki Batman's Blog, page 33

Handbag and Book: Vicki is showing off the present she bought herself #readroamance #RLF #holidaysareovernowwhat

It's a new year! And I know you are wondering did VB get a new handbag for Christmas? Handsome gave me smart wool socks, three sweaters, and a lovely scarf with birds. But no bag.

LOL. I bought myself a bag. You know how I cruise eBay and ETSY for vintage handbags? I found one, in fact, a needlepoint one in a different style than I have bought before:
 Isn't it adorable? Guess what sold me on this one beside the size? The black  poodle in the bottom right corner. Some of you may know I have two Adorapoos, aka Malti-poos which are part Maltese and Poodle:  The bag is about twelve inches in length and five inches wide, eight inches high. Both sides have the same needlepoint patterns. I'll have to road test it to see how my stuff fits. I'm pretty sure only the smallest paperback will.  And just for fun, here's the link to my Author Central page in case you might need a good read: Vicki Batman

Handbag & Book: Holiday Stars

Every year, I travel to a small town for their Christmas Candlelight Home Tour. One year, star-shaped tree toppers caught my eye. I made my own film with them. Enjoy!

Handbag & Book: A holiday film for you

This Oscar-winning short film about the Birth of Jesus in an auto park in the 40's is incredibly touching. It is well worth the 30 minute viewing. Click the you tube link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXjdBs70syY



And from me, may your days be merry and bright, filled with family and love.

Handbag and Book w #author Reggi Allder #antiquefind #cowboyromance #Christmasstory

Happy Holidays everyone! What handbag do you use with a favorite party outfit? On most days I carry a large black leather purse capable of holding everything I might need, including a paperback book.

I don’t go to many parties, but when I do, a small shoulder bag is good for me. So, a couple of years ago I was excited to find an unused vintage gold quilted leather bag in an antique store. It’s just big enough to hold what I need for the night, my cell phone, credit card, ID, keys, lipstick, and, money. The purse was made by Caprice Design Los Angeles. Now it’s my “go to” bag whenever I need something elegant.

  Her Country Heart Christmas EditionLove cowboys? Need the perfect holiday read?
  Will Amy Long have a home for Christmas?
She was downsized and then lost her apartment in the city. Hoping to find a fresh start, Amy returns to the small town of Sierra Creek. Does she fit in?
Cowboy Wyatt Cameron knows Amy belongs in the city. She’s in the way of his plans and he has the power to send her back. What can she offer to change his mind? Sparks fly when opposites attract.
“Sierra Creek,” the driver shouted as the Greyhound Bus came to an abrupt stop on the two lane highway.Amy Long pushed her hair behind her ears and grabbed her worn suitcase. Surprised to see her hand tremble, she seized the case with both hands and rushed toward the front of the bus.A gust of hot wind slapped her face as she stepped off the bus. Gravel pelted her bare legs when it drove away. She squinted and read a faded road sign, Sierra Creek population five thousand. There wasn’t a building in sight.After years of living in the city, she’d forgotten how sweltering and desolate it was here. She’d vowed never to return home. Odd it was the first place that came to mind when she and her young son needed a fresh start.With Granny gone, there was no family left to welcome her. She swallowed a sob. Maybe it was a mistake to come back.The relentless afternoon sun beat down on her shoulders and her arms began to burn. San Francisco, the air conditioned city, seemed a million miles away.Impatient, she cleared her dry throat, wiped perspiration from her forehead, and let out a groan as the minutes ticked by. What wouldn’t she give for some shade and a bottle of ice water?With a sigh, she pulled out her smart phone and checked the time. Thirty minutes since she’d arrived at the bus stop and not a single car had gone by. Where was the arranged ride into town?Granny’s handyman was supposed to meet her. He obviously wasn’t a stickler about being on time. She reminded herself she was in the California foothills not in a busy metropolis where time was money.The sound of a truck rumbled in the distance. With the back of her hand, she pushed her bangs out of her eyes and squinted. Hopeful, she watched the pick-up come closer. A shiny black Ford F 150 with extended cab pulled up in front of her.“Amy,” a man yelled through the open window as his brown hair fell casually over a high forehead and deep-set blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight. She moved nearer and stared at his wide cheekbones, square jaw and full lips. About thirty?A flutter of recognition stirred in her as palpable charm radiated from his broad smile, Wyatt Cameron.His muscular arms flexed as his huge hands squeezed the steering wheel. “Don’t just stand there. Get in.”Surprised by his gruffness, she stepped back.“I heard you need a ride into town,” he said quietly as if he understood her reaction. “It’s Wyatt.”“Hi, nice to see you again.” Even now her cheeks burned with the memory of him. As she stared her heartbeat increased and her breathing quickened.
Find at: Amazon Find Reggi Allder at: www.amazon.com/author/reggiallder   Nice find, Reggi! I'm always amazed at what shows up at antique stores.

Handbag and Book: #Decorating for the #Holidays #Christmasdecorations #quilting

This past spring, I browsed a craft catalog and found a lap quilt that was adorable. I have embroidered many a baby blanket over the years and decided it was time to do one for me. So I purchased two (who knows? I might have to make another. teeheehee.) kits. But when I opened the package, I found not a quilt, rather a top. Rats. I guess I didn't read the description very well.
 
Okay, find. I can do just the top and perhaps, my sister who had had other quilt tops quilted recently could help me. So I got to work, only to find the thread was terrible. I could fix that! And went to Joann's to buy matching skeins.
 Because there was so much embroidery, it looked daunting. I mapped out a plan and picked out sections until they were completed and then, moved to the next section. Before I knew it, I was finished.
 
I asked my sister for help with the quilting. I trusted her judgement on coordinating fabric. The quilter put a holly berry stitching in the perimeter and a random one in the center. I added the matching lime green rick rack,
beaded many of the stars and added some green ones to the ribbon.











It's gorgeous (if I do say so myself).

Do you craft for Christmas?


Besides embroidery and needlepoint, I craft romantic comedy. Here's links to the holiday anthologies (a mere 99cents):

Hopes and wishes. And holiday kisses...the Season of Magic. Wrap yourself in the holiday spirit with five romantic stories filled with fun and forever after.
Season of Magic: Amazon
Season of Surprises: Amazon
Season of Promises: Amazon

Handbag and Book w Kate Randle: Hard to Choose the Handbag to Share #VeryBradleyhandbag #accessory #contemporaryromance #cruising

Oh my goodness! It was so hard for me to choose just one handbag to share with you. But I’ve chosenmy Vera Bradley mini purse that I got on my very first cruise. And in turn, the cruise inspired my very first novel “In Pursuit of Paradise.” It’s a fun, versatile bag that I love and is perfect for vacationing. Which is starting to sound like a great idea now that winter almost here! And I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was something my character Lily might pick up before she embarks on her journey of a lifetime.  

Ship Captain Nicholas Becket knows he needs to change his playboy ways. And when he discovers beautiful divorcee Lily Kingston at a job fair for his cruise line, he thinks he has found someone who can reform him.
Lily is looking for a change of her own, but she isn’t prepared for Nick and all of his baggage. Not to mention her own scars from the recent past. Although she is fiercely attracted to the handsome and dashing millionaire, an unexpected event threatens to tear them apart forever.

Can this pair of lost souls overcome the stormy waters of life’s ups and downs in order tofind their true paradise?
He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips.  He kissed her so delicately that she thought she would faint on the spot.  His touch was warm, light and inviting and he was only kissing her hand.  She imagined how his kiss would feel on her lips and the rest of her body.  What was going on with her?  She felt like she was completely losing her mind. 
“No Lily,” he said.  “The pleasure was all mine.”  He paused for a moment. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?  That is,if you don’t have to head home right away to Orchard Park.”
Lily hesitated.  She had been on a few casual dates since her divorce six months earlier but she had never been asked out by a complete stranger.  Most of the one-date-only events she had attended had been set up by sympathetic friends, just trying to help her get on with her life.   But none of the nice yet ordinary men had made her feel the way she did right now.  
Electricity was crackling between them, she was certainof it.  She felt a strong, unexplained connection to himeven if her rational side was telling her it wasn’t a smart idea to get involved with this guy.
Find “In Pursuit of Paradise” at: Amazon
Find Kate Randle at: Website   I love the Vera Bradley fabrics and have one with a unique handle that I carry. There are huge fans of those bags!!

Handbag and Book w Kathleen Krevat: A Birthday Gift from Hubby #birthdaygift #accessory #worksofart

  My husband bought me this gorgeous handbag as a birthday gift. It was created by one of my most creative friends, which is saying a lot! Susan Forte O’Neil. She’s an amazing artist, designer, teacher, businessperson and more. Check out her website:

Forte Designs

I love to carry around my own work of art created with love.

Single mom and gourmet cat food entrepreneur Colbie Summers thought she’d escaped her tiny California hometown forever. But when her father needs her, she packs up her adolescent son, their finicky feline, Trouble, and her budding business. She knows change is tough—but she doesn’t expect it to be murder . . .
 
A chicken rang the doorbell.
I stood in the open doorway, a little dumbfounded, and stared down at the beige bird with a mop of floppy feathers on its head that looked like a hat. The kind of hat women wore as a half joke to opening day at the horse races. How could it even see through that thing? And did it really just ring the doorbell?
Braving the mid-morning heat of Sunnyside, California, inland from downtown San Diego by twenty miles and what felt like twenty degrees hotter, I stuck my head out and looked up and down my dad’s street. No teens were hanging around, giggling over their prank.
The chicken ruffled its whole body as if to say, “Yes, it was me.” The you idiot was implied by the way it poked his beak toward me and then scratched its feet on the wooden porch floor.
“Right.” I spoke out loud. To a chicken. I had to get out of the house more.
I’d been up since four in the morning, grinding various chicken parts and cooking them for my organic cat food business and I was already tired. Maybe this was a poultry hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Or induced by guilt.
Maybe this was the king of the chicken underworld, seeking retribution for what was going on in my kitchen.
I shook my head. I had to stop reading so many of those horror novels my blood-thirsty twelve-year-old son, Elliott, couldn’t get enough of.
Find The Trouble with Murder at: bookstore

Find Kathy Krevat at: website


I love the handbag, Kathy. I can't wait to go to the site and see what else the designer does.

Handbag and Book w #author Melissa Keir: More Christmas Lovin' #boxedset #Christmasstories #bargainshopping

I’m a bargain shopper. Most of my handbags come from Target…on clearance. After my husband decided to splurge and get me a quality leather purse, I literally wore it out. We were on vacation and trolling the re-sale shops in a quaint little town in Northern Michigan when I spotted this purse on a rack.  First, my husband had to be sure it was leather and when I checked the interior space, I was pleased as well. It was perfect, so I bought it and filled it, then threw away the one in tatters while still in the middle of the store! Brighten this holiday season with seven stories from New York Times, USA Today, national bestselling, and award-winning authors. Grab a cup of your favorite cocoa, coffee or tea, a holiday treat and settle in with the authors from More Christmas Lovin’ for a festive holiday read.
Santa for Christmas by Lisa Kumar. A sexy elf who hates everything about Christmas is forced to be Santa and must go into the seething heart of humanity—the abode of a beautiful single mother and her child in order to save them.
An EverAfter Christmas by K.S. Thomas.  Sailor Belle is no stranger to adventure, so being stranded in a blizzard three days before her wedding, is not about to stop her from marrying the man of her dreams. But then, as the obstacles keep coming, she clings to her last hope - it’s the season for miracles, and she may need one to get her EverAfter Christmas.
Holiday Homecoming by Melissa Keir. Two broken hearts mend as love blossoms, but when danger comes calling, can the two loners learn to rely on each other or will they lose all they have found?
Mistletoe & Ashes by RaeAnne Hadley. Tiffany knew the threats of being a firefighter on the Hot Shots team. She embraced the heat and the danger but she could have never predicted that her heart and her mind would be in peril. Could a Christmas miracle save her or would she end up as ashes?
Seduction at the Christmas Court by Jenna Jaxon. Lord and Lady Longford have journeyed to the Christmas Court of King Edward III to wait upon the king and take part in some Yuletide merriment. When Geoffrey is suddenly called to war, and rumors of his death arise, Alyse fends off an old suitor who wants to renew their friendship. But how long will he take “No” for an answer?
All I Want For Christmas by Deb Julienne. Who knew one little boy’s Christmas wish could change so many lives?
The Christmas Fantasy by D’Ann Lindun. Widower Christian Vega believes he’ll never find true love again, until an actress catches his eye. But she’s way out of this cowboy’s league. Hope Snowden swears to never date another out-of-work actor again. Then she falls for a cowboy-turned-stuntman. Is it love, or just a Christmas fantasy?
Excerpt from Holiday Homecoming by Melissa Keir:
Tanner studied the woman. Her strawberry-blonde hair slid around her shoulders like waves, colors a mix like the fall leaves on a tree: red, gold, and light brown. Her tresses were thick, with a little natural curl. She obviously didn’t hit the salon to style it each week like his sister did. He glanced at her fingers. No wedding ring and no shiny high-end polish. In fact, her nails were uneven and short, as if she’d been chewing on them.
The woman’s pain over the crash and then smiles at his daughter had his heart beating faster. It wasn’t the practiced expression he’d often seen of the women he’d dated in New York, donned to make him think they were “good with children,” but more of a shy, small-town variety. With the way she looked at the baby in her arms, he knew she’d never be a danger to his daughter. Love radiated from her as she rocked the baby on her hip but still managed to discuss the book in his daughter’s hands.
The woman’s clothes dwarfed her body. Worn and out of style, they appeared more like hand-me-downs than her everyday fashion, but it was the contents of her cart that had him thinking she didn’t have much money. Only generic store brands and minimal things. No splurges for coffee or soda. No treats of ice cream or steaks. The picture she painted was one of poverty, as if she lived on the streets, no place for a baby.
His sister’s idea flashed through his mind. Maybe he’d run into a woman who could help him with his work schedule as well as caring for his daughter. Trusting his gut had gotten Tanner a successful Manhattan restaurant. Maybe he should trust it again. As he enveloped his daughter in a hug, he vowed to at least offer.
Find More Christmas Lovin’ at: Only $0.99 or #free with #KindleUnlimited: Amazon Find Melissa Keir at: Website Hi, Melissa and thank you for sharing your boxed set and your story. I have thrown away handbags in a store too. And I love a good bargain. Shop "Clearance First" is my motto. Happy Holidays!

Handbag and Book: Don't want to carry a purse w Constance Bretes #musthaves #contemporary romance

I am not one to have to carry purses anymore. It used to be that I had to carry a suitcase purse for all my stuff that I had to have available and handy. There are certain things that I MUST have in my purse. My inhaler, for one, hearing aid batteries, wallet, and of course, little note pads for writing.This particular purse, I got from my husband's storage unit purchases. I thought it was kind of cute, and of course, the cost? $0.00. Oh yeah, and I am a cheapie. This is smaller than usual for me and my wallet barely fits in it. But, it will work.

Marissa came home to escape her abusive ex-husband. Her home was her haven, until Riley invaded her space.It seemed to Riley that Marissa was being evasive and noncommittal. She sure was an attractive woman, maybe a little too thin, but she had a lovely face and perfect rose-colored lips. Something about her piqued his interest.“I just wondered how you were. Is this the first time you’ve been back to Frankenburg since high school?”"Yes.”“What brings you back?”“I wanted to come back.” She crossed her arms over her chest.He was aware of her annoyance, he tried to coax her into a better mood, but failed.“Marissa, if you’d like, I could make you an offer on the twenty acres of land. That would give you enough money to buy a nice home in town and live more comfortably than you would here.”“Why are you so bent on me leaving this house?” Marissa shot him a cold look, uncrossing her arms and squeezing her hands into fists.“I’m not bent on anything, but I told you before I think the house is dangerous to live in.”“Well, it’s my problem, so I’d appreciate it if you would mind your own business.”“Why are you so testy? We’re a tight community here in Frankenburg, you know that. We look out for each other and try to help when we can. I’m only trying to be neighborly and keep you safe.”“I’m not interested in you being neighborly and keeping me safe. I’m capable of taking care of myself, and I don’t need any help.”“All right, Marissa, but you get that inspector out here as soon as possible.” Riley’s voice was smooth, but insistent.“Yes, Sheriff.” She spat out the words contemptuously, did a mock salute, whirled around, walked into the house, and slammed the door in his face.
Find Blue As Sapphires at: Amazon Find Constance Bretes at: Website   Hi, Connie! My dilemma is finding the right one to carry when on vacation and inevitably, I go for a crossbody style.
 

Handbag and Book: What's your favorite toy? #classictoy #boardgames #Christmaspresent

How many of you grew up playing board games, or baseball/softball, or making your own toys?

For the Class of 2017, the National Toy Hall of Fame released their selections that received superstardom:

Clue: the whodunit game where players must name the crime scene, murder weapon, and whodunit. This game was patented by a British couple during WW2.

The Wiffle Ball: invented six decades ago by a retired semi-pro baseball player from Connecticut. His son had stopped playing regular baseball because  of lack of space and causing broken windows. Eight oblong slots allow the ball to take air and cause a slow trajectory when hit.








Paper Airplane: Who created the first paper airplane? No one knows for sure. Inventor Leonardo Da Vinci did design flying machines with parchment paper.

The selections are chosen by historians and educators with nominations from the public. Toys must have inspired creative play across generations.


Other finalists are: Risk, Magic 8 ball, Matchbox cars, My Little Pony, PEZ candy dispenser, play food, sand, Transformers, and Uno.

For more information from the National Toy Hall of Fame: Website

What was your favorite toy?

Don't forget a good book as a favorite. Find Season of Magic, Season of Surprises, and Season of Promises at: Vicki Batman, Author Central