What do you do to celebrate New Year's?

It's almost that time....New Year's!!! I've started taking down a few of my decorations, how about you?
We always leave our tree and nativity up through the Epiphany, and my snowman mantle will stay put for awhile since it's so Winter oriented. I usually leave them out until Valentine's Day and try to combine some valentines in with the snowmen :).
Hopefully you all had a wonderful Christmas...ours was fabulous, time spent with extended family and time just on our own on Christmas day, playing with our new toys, reading new books, watching movies, eating....all the good stuff!
I took down all our Christmas cards we received and decided to display all my vintage New Year's postcards....I really dislike hiding them in a drawer somewhere, they're just too pretty!
Dd and I hit Target this a.m. to see what was going on, they have lots of Christmas items left, all at 50% off. We didn't buy much at all because we really don't need anything.
This will be a relaxing week with dd still on vacation...love this time with her! Hope you're all doing well and have a great New Year!

Wishing you all a heavenly Christmas......go spoil someone you love and do something nice for a stranger.....you have no idea what they may be going through right now....you might even make their day :).

Cheers!

Gail

What is it about creating something?

It's just that feeling that you've done something that satisfies your soul.....you've accomplished something, something that isn't cleaning the kitchen, or finishing your laundry. After all, anyone can do that. Now I know creating a banner isn't rocket science, but what makes it fun is that you use the unique supplies that you have so that it's original...I'm big on that.
To create something is to take stock of your supplies and to reach inside and think of what would make you happy to look at.......something you can keep.....or to give to someone else.

I purchased these photo holders on Etsy......just love them for their possibilities. Right now they are holding Christmas images, but I've just slipped them in, so when Christmas is over I can change the images to whatever I want. So it's essentially a one-of-a-kind banner. I added the stars (also purchased on etsy). These are the kinds of things I like to create for my home because they're unique....I'll just bet no one else on my street has a banner like mine, and I love the thought of that!

I'm making a lot of gifts for friends and relatives this year as Christmas presents, what about you?

The biggest dictionary evah!!!!

I had to laugh out loud when I saw this "beast" at St. Vinnie's....I mean, come on people, could this be any BIGGER? It measures 5 inches from cover to cover, printed in 1946....hilarious, I had to have it.

pretty endpapers....
Then I hit Goodwill and saw this shiny brite box, I don't collect them or anything but because the bubble wrap was hiding what was inside...I had to take a peek.....
and found these adorable nursery rhyme ornaments! Aaackkkk!!! Have you ever?

I was also smitten with this little hanger, I'm sure you've all seen these before, but I just love the color of the little plastic clothespin hangers....
I think this will look great at Easter without the red cord, maybe a pastel seam binding ribbon?

So those were my meager finds for the day...not much but since I was going to the thrift store to drop things off I figured I may as well walk in and see what's going on.

Have you found any thrifty finds lately?

What I want for Christmas.....

A photography class!!!!! I've taken about 15 pictures of this little guy and they all come out fuzzy! Frustrating to say the least....and no, I didn't use my tripod because I'm just lazy!

In any case, this is the little guy I made last night for my dd's advent calendar. Since I've been sick all week I finally got out yesterday to do a little shopping but for the life of me I couldn't find anything cute to put in her calendar...so, what's the saying, "neccessity is the mother of invention", or something like that. She was happy with him so that's all that matters, right?

I'm very smitten lately with these little chenille ornaments so I'm going to make a few more, they have such a charming vintage feel to them.....

What have you made lately?

I want to live in this house....

don't you? Doesn't it just look magical and cozy and peaceful? Just like an enchanted village, no?
These sugary houses must speak to a lot of us because I see so many of them in most of the blogs I visit. Mine aren't old, but are charming nonetheless. I bought them at Home Goods last year and I just added some bottlebrush trees I already owned. I set this little vignette up in my foyer so I see it first thing when I come home....and I can see it from my kitchen and family room too. Hope your decorating is coming along well, I'm home with a sore throat and trying to take it easy. It's hard to be sick any time of year but seems so much worse around the holidays when there's always so much to do!

Oh well, c'est la vie, right? I'll keep eating my soup and hopefully will feel good enough to go out tomorrow........hope you're all well....

Let the festivities begin!!!

Hi friends, I finally got around to decorating one of my mantles! Woo hoo! Big accomplishment of late...before Thanksgiving I made some "ledger" flowers that you can see in the arrangement above. I love anything made with old ledger pages, and these have velvet flower centers and velvet leaves as well. The picture below is an angel (can't remember where I found her) but her dress is luscious, silk...but what made me unable to resist her were her angel wings...she's so soft and Christmasy to me!
I'm slowly easing myself into Christmas this year...I think because we hosted Thanksgiving for some of dh's family I'm a bit slower on the uptake than last year! At least I start my decorating for Christmas with a cleaner than normal house.

Yesterday we went to get two trees, one for the house and one for dh's office. I finally got rid of the pumpkins in front of my house (thought it might be time since our neighbors already have their Christmas lights and wreaths up!) oops....hate being that one weird house on the street, don't you?

Today will be more decorating inside and some crafting for me, I have some unfinished projects just calling my name...it's freezing here so a good day to stay in.....I hope you all are having a great start to the season!

Happy Thanksgiving friends!!!!

Here is a picture of some of the artwork that will be gracing our dining room as we eat our Thanksgiving meal, courtesy of my dear daughter, Katherine. She's 9 yo and made this in school....her rendition of a Thanksgiving meal!

I hope you all have a fun and relaxing day with family and friends....I'm so blessed to have both!

Christmas tags anyone?

This is my starting "pile" of tags, they need to be inked, then sparkle added...that's the fun part.

I'm really trying hard to get a few items in my etsy shop, why is that so hard for me? Guess it's just finding the time...when I started my shop I had visions of grandeur like "How fun, I'll get up every day and craft, then just list my items and away we go!" Well, then real life intervened (we all know how that goes) and I just really struggle with finding the time. So I've decided to quit pressuring myself and just list things as I have time, after all, I'm lucky I don't have any deadlines to meet and (thank goodness) am not having to make my living based only on etsy.

Moving on...please note the photo below of the green metal cabinet that I got from Melanie a while back that I said I was going to make over......
well, below is the new and improved version, complete with labels (of course I haven't gotten around to labeling the drawers yet, but soon, very soon :)
BTW, those adorable labels came from Cathe Holden of Just Something I Made. Love her blog and all her creative ideas!
I'm happy to say that I have items in just about every drawer! What a perfect organizer for my studio.....love this sooooo much, thanks Mel!

I'm smiling at you with really, really white teeth!

Love you my friend!

Cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning some more.....

if I ever get my computer back and running the first thing I'm going to do is update my Etsy shop!

It looks so forlorn and lonely and unkempt to me...as I've been cleaning my studio I've found so very many items to list in my shop, things I'm now ready to part with.

No more shopping for me for awhile, I just have too much "stuff" right now! When it's cleaned up I can't wait to start creating for Christmas...................hope you're all having a great week!

Not to whine but.....

I'm still without my computer.....the "fix" was short-lived. When the computer tech tells you "I tried but I couldn't get it to act-up for me", well that's never good news now, is it? Because you know that the minute you get it home it's all downhill from there. And well, I'm unhappy to report that this time I was right, it lasted for a while and it was so nice to have my computer back........at least for a bit. Tomorrow back to the shop.

I'm using dh's tonight so I can actually update my blog. I want to show you some before pics of my wonderful (only one of them mind you) present from Melanie. Just the coolest metal cabinet ever! It was a green color but I painted it and you'll just have to be patient for the after photos. I love it to pieces and look forward to fixing up the inside drawers and then filling it with all my stuff.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, our holiday was somewhat "hijacked" because of a local football game, in other words most kids went trick or treating Friday night instead of Saturday. Made me extremely unhappy but nothing I could do about that. Dd had a wonderful time and what's more important than that? Nothing I tell ya! We have tons of leftover candy too, yikes.

Right now I'm exhausted because I took down ALL my decorations today, inside and out, and lemme tell ya, I have a lot of decorations. Just pooped but it feels good to get my house cleaned up and ready to stage the next holiday!

Have a great week everyone, hopefully the next time I blog I'll have a fixed/new computer.....

Computers can be a pain!!!!!

Wow, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks from a technology standpoint...and right before Halloween. I would love to have offered more items in my Etsy shop, but since my 'puter wasn't having it, it's too late now!

Oh well, onward and upward, there's always that little holiday called Christmas! And besides, I don't really need a holiday to create something cool, right?

I've been really busy cleaning and organizing my studio and getting dd ready for the big night on Saturday....she can't wait!

I did get up to Portland to see my best friend, Melanie. That was a blast and she gave me some of the coolest stuff yet! As soon as I get some photos I'll post them....meanwhile I hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween :).

A fun holiday project.....

For those of us with young ones at home...I know my dd asks every Halloween and every Christmas..."how many more days until_______", so I was searching the web for countdown calendar ideas and came across one that was perfect. This idea came from the very talented Lori at mudpiestudio.

Go get yourself a tin sign, one that will take magnets...mine was originally a Bar type sign, so I painted it black, and luckily the corners already had the lovely white scrolls. Bought this at Michael's. My fun images on the magnets were from Lisa's Altered Art, you must check her out! FAB, is all I can say!
Go get yourself some little pieces of thin wood (about 1.5 in.) also at Michael's. Right next to the wood pieces you'll find little thin magnet squares to fit on the back of the tiles you'll make.

Buy your images, cut them out, glue onto the wood tile, age them with inks, stick magnet on back of tile, then I used old orange game pieces from a lotto game for my numbers on each tile.

Then I used copper color stickles to outline my calendar days.....super easy and sparkly!
Then I had some leftover stickers that I applied to the calendar....my dd loves getting up every day and seeing how many days are left until Halloween. And next year we'll pull it out and do it again...

On a thrifting note, look what I found at Goodwill yesterday. Now I know not everyone wants an old beat up music stand, but I did and I was lucky enough to find one for $4.99. It's the perfect amount of chippy, adjustable, and lightweight...what more could you ask for?

This will be fun to decorate with, I have soooooo many old books and vintage sheet music....

Go create something fun people.......

Witch boots, haunted mantel, and a ledger....

Aren't these boots just the "witchiest"? Thank you Etsy.....where all things cool can be found.
I've been really busy decorating the house for Halloween, or as my dd calls it, "Hallowed Halloween", she just loves it to pieces!! She's going as a bee keeper this year...do you ever get tired of going to the stores and seeing the same old costumes, year after year? Well, that's where I'm at this year, really needed something a bit more "out there" and clever. So hopefully she'll be the only bee keeper at her school parade. Trying to find the bees is a bit tricky this time of year though, so I had to go online, but found some today so will anxiously await them and then start applying them to her costume.
Found this ledger on ebay, I really do need an intervention when it comes to these....I adore them! This one is large and just stunning with cool writing inside.....at least it wasn't expensive so I can't feel guilty for "winning" it.

It's been beautiful weather here, sunny but getting cold, 28 degrees tonight! Love it that way.

My big project this week is cleaning my studio.......again :(. Wish I had magic fairies to keep it clean, I really do.

Hope you all have a great week, and happy creating :)).

More Halloween to come......

Well, if you've not experienced the weirdness of a computer going rogue you're lucky!

Mine decided to do some really strange things on Friday that really scared me. Even worse was when dh got home and looked at it and heard the sounds it was making he said, "It doesn't sound good." In other words the hard drive was fried or the mother board (whatever that is) was history. Either way, all I could think about was.......what about all my "stuff".....my downloads, my purchases, my email, all of it........gone......

Well, because my dh is so talented..he got it going again, and needless to say I now have backup so I don't have this happen again.

PEOPLE, GET SOME BACKUP FOR YOUR COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you really afford to lose everything that's on there? I know I can't.

Just some advice, take it or leave it......I know what I'd do.......

Soon I'll be posting some new Halloween goodies in my etsy shop........stay tuned...again!

Kickin' Halloween into high gear.......

I've got so many ideas for Halloween goodies that sometimes I feel I'm spinning my wheels!

This is my latest creation....I'm really trying to work on using all elements of the paper items I find, in this case, books. So the covers can be used as either a matte board for a collage or re-use them for art journals. I don't throw anything away, so what to do with the book pages?

Well, even though this isn't my original idea (to crease the pages and fan them out this way) I find that this method makes a great and original "photo stand" for seasonal artwork.

This was so fun to make....
It will be listed in my Etsy shop soon.....along with some other Halloween goods.

Happy creating....don't you find it easier now that the weather has cooled down and we have a reason to stay inside? I'm loving it!!

Isn't it amazing how....

having an unorganized kitchen can halt forward motion? For me at least, this week at least....my kitchen has been giving me fits for a while now. It's a standard kitchen of the 80's with all of the inefficiency therein....the standard cabinets that are a pain in the rear to get into. So I'm just trying to be smarter than my cabinets....I think I'm winning!

Until we can afford new, updated, sleek cabinets, I'm stuck with what I have. Which means I have to be that much more organized...not always my forte but I'm trying...and I'm persistent.

And boy does it feel good to get rid of all the extra junk that we don't use anymore that's just been taking up valuable space!!!

Looks like a trip to St. Vinnie's is in my immediate future...yah!

Now I can feel free to get in my craft room and create some more Halloween goodies......stay tuned....

My flea pickings..........

Well, here they are, my HUGE haul from the flea yesterday :). Ok, I didn't get a lot, but what I did get I absolutely love! These two books are so awesome. The little one is leather bound with gorgeous endpapers inside. It's called Petits Sermons by Bertrand. It has the most perfectly aged pages within, all in French, mais oui!
The larger book is a giant! It was *gulp* $5! I grabbed it quick....it's all about Egypt, Greece, and Italy....history, etc. and has lots of steel plate engravings inside...just beautiful. According to a signature in pencil in the back of the book it belonged to a Miss Malia Bell in 1888.
The tin and a half were just cute, I'll try my hand at making something with them.

Thanks for checking in, I'll be listing new etsy items, hopefully today if my pictures came out ok.

Hope everyone has a great week, it's supposed to be in the 90's here for about the next 3 days.

Happy Fall!!!!

Went to the flea today.........

I only wish I had more money with me.....I took a $20 bill out of dh's wallet and set out...wish I had grabbed more!

I had to pass up two very lovely hat boxes for $15! AAcckkkkkk, that one hurt...oh well, that's one way to make sure you don't spend too much, right?

I'll post pics tomorrow of the four items I did buy.....the sun is out so I could have taken pics but it's so dang windy here and that always wreaks havoc with my photos....and trust me, I need all the help I can get in that department :). Oh well, can't be great at everything.....

I hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend, we went to a football game yesterday (our team lost) and today went out to lunch and then went on a nice walk to a local park where I proceeded to fill my pockets with acorns......love them!

I feel some Fall decorating coming on, how about you?

Some Colby Cottage love.....

It's open ladies, and it's gorgeous in all it's shabby, chippy, worn- in spendor.....that's right, I'm talking about Colby Cottage here in Eugene. And I was the first customer to walk through their doors on Tuesday! (Not that I was anxious or anything:))

They had their "soft open" on Tuesday and it was so fun walking in and seeing all the beautiful vignettes that Kathy is so known for....I purchased the beautiful pillow above (it's huge, about 22x20 and filled with the squishiest down insert), the "perfect shade of pink velvet" jewelry case, and the oh-so-cool old shoe form.

I love it all.....and I'll be back tomorrow for their GRAND OPENING at 10am sharp...with a friend of course, because friends tell other friends about Colby Cottage.

Kathy has so many beauties for sale and the prices are very reasonable...happy, happy, happy.

So do yourself a favor, go grab your calendar right now and find a time to come check out this beautiful new store, you'll be so glad you did.

(And no, I promise she hasn't hired me to be her new personal agent or anything like that!)

BTW, the pillow I purchased did not come with that flower, it's one I already owned and decided that my pillow needed it, not that it's not gorgeous on it's own....because clearly it is.

Trying to find my routine........

So two blogs in a row with no photos.......aaaaacccckkkkkkkkkk!!!!

Never thought I'd do that. So much going on..today is dh and my 14 year anniversary, dd's 1st day of 3rd grade....and Sunday is her 9th birthday. So just a bit going on. So what else is new?

Tonight we're going out as a family to a nice dinner to celebrate all the good (and let's face it, there's a lot of good :))

Friday I hope to get to Monticello since the former trip didn't work out (car troubles). Dying to see my bff, Melanie, just miss her to bits!

Wish me luck with this trip........I really need some shopping therapy, hasn't happened in quite a while.........

Is anything better than back to school time?

Tomorrow is our dd's first day of 3rd grade......where has the time gone? She's over-the-moon excited to go, today we visited classrooms, took pictures, etc., and she can't wait!

Me, I'm a little sad......excited for her but sad at the same time. This is what she needs to grow in every way, and I'm so happy for her in her excitement! I do remember what it was like, the anticipation, the smells, the nerves...all of it. The supplies, seeing old friends.

For me, the first few days are the hardest......it's really quiet around the house, all my activities are based around her pick-up time..........and I can't wait for that!

"How was your first day, what was for lunch, what did you do on the playground, who did you play with?"

Sigh........a new routine is beginning.....

The time is drawing near, and I can't wait!!!!!!

My darling daughter and I will be heading north on Friday morning to see Melanie at her darling shop, All My Favorite Things, then we'll all head over to Monticello for the big sale that starts on Friday morning....I'm beyond excited to have a great day with my daughter and my best friend both..... what could be better? 

I'll try to take lots of pictures for those of you who can't get to Monticello....it's superb! As is Melanie's shop, I'm making her a Halloween coffee filter banner to put in her window for the "wicked season".

Did I say "I can't wait" yet?

BTW, the pretty clock above was just listed in my Etsy today.....

It's beginning to look a lot like....Halloween!!!!!

O.K., so I don't get to post very often, but I AM trying...my dd doesn't start school until Sept. 9 so until then, she's my priority!!! That being said, I have been working on creating for my favorite holiday...Halloween.
I love creating Halloween goodies, they're just the best...and now is the time to shop for Halloween, all the stores are putting out their goods. But we all know that the best items are those that are handmade, in other words, ONE OF A KIND!!!! I love knowing that some of the decorative items in my home can't be found anywhere else....because they are handmade, unique.

So here is a small sampling of what will soon be in my Etsy shop...just check the upper right side of my side-bar and you will be whisked away to my Etsy shop.

I've made some journals, some small Bingo cards, shadowboxes, collages, etc. for your enjoyment....
Have fun and I hope you're all getting "in the mood" for Halloween. I know I am....

Estate sales....the happy and the sad....

Friday a.m. dd and I happened upon an estate sale sign, so we followed it. It led us into a trailer park. The aged oak trees were so beautiful....we got out and went in...the woman obviously had come from means at one time....there were several fur coats and fur stoles for sale, and lots of very well made and (at one time) expensive suits. She also had lovely china and curio cabinets filled with interesting things. The signature above is found in the lovely birthday book below,
it's so tiny and pretty, with a proverb for every month.
The ration book above was in a curio cabinet and is filled with interesting information....and tokens, not sure what those were for. The case is buttery leather.
I couldn't pass up this tiny leather Bible....


This woman had several card sets, like the Canasta set above, how cute are they?
The box above is my favorite find of this sale, I can only imagine what treasure was inside...at one time....but the fact that she saved it is so touching....

The box below intrigued me as well, I just wonder what it held...I have no idea but look at the stamp on the back of it...


I think this woman was well-traveled at one time (at least I like to think so.) I also bought a beautiful black cloth umbrella with a carved wooden handle for $1.

I just can't help but wonder about who this woman was and what brought her to where she ended up.......do you ever wonder like I do about the people at estate sales and what happened to them? Although it was a humble trailer, she had some lovely collectible items.....makes me wonder. I'm choosing to think that she was a widow and decided to downsize years ago and just keep those things that were the most precious to her...that's what I'm choosing to think.