Sew much Fun!

I am really going to have to learn how to take better pictures of the things I make, especially if I am going to be sharing them on a blog. I was recently in a swap and this is what I made. I decoupaged a paper mache box with a vintage sewing pattern and vintage sewing images. I glued buttons and other embellishments on the box and filled it with sewing supplies. It's too bad that sewing thread does not come on wooden spools anymore, I love those. I tried to find vintage looking things to fill the box. I made a needle book out of felt and added a blank card that I made. I had fun doing this and think my swap friend really liked it. The paper I used for the card was "Cosmo Cricket, Material Girl" and the stamp is from Stampin' Up "Puns from the Past" set. The label shapes on the card were cut with my Cricut and I don't remember the cartridges. I'm bad about that. Enjoy.

A tree to remember....

While going through the photos in my iphoto today, I noticed that I sort of track the seasons through my kitchen window. I spend way too much time in there but I can see the world pass back and forth in front of this window. I watch my kids leave and come home from this window. Sometimes they leave when the leaves are green and return when the leaves are red. I watch as the "Honey Birds" (my daughters word for hummingbirds when she was small) visit this tree twice a year and purely enjoy the duration of each stay. I just never noticed that I documented some days of my life this way as I stand in the kitchen window. The maple tree is my partner and sees it all with me and has surely seen much more than I. What it doesn't know is that as much else as I am looking at, I am also marveling in it's constant beauty and presence whatever the season.

Happy Valentines Day !!

Valentines Day is around the corner

Although I am all for sharing with the people you love just how much you love them, I don't like the idea of a day that forces you to say it. So much retail hype and mushy yuckiness. Never the less, I can't ignore it all together because my loved ones may feel hurt that I didn't at least remember. That said, I adore all the images of Valentines day. The red, the hearts, the Vintage Valentines. They do cheer my heart up just looking at them. So, to fit somewhere in between the thoughtful and the mushy I like making handmade gifts because it is more in keeping with the real idea that I loved you enough to spend my time making this for you. A little bit of handmade decoration doesn't hurt. Here are a couple of things I made. A heart garland looks so pretty hanging in the window, and a recycled heart shaped candy box containing a small heart hanging. Just hearts, just sweet. When I find the blog that was my inspiration I will share it with you but I cannot find it right now. Enjoy and have a Valentines Day that makes you happy! !

A little Holiday, a little late.

My December was a whirlwind month. I can hardly remember it. Besides the normal holiday preparations, I also have two family birthdays in December, hosted an employee party for our children's hospital, prepared for two son's to return from a long visit overseas and make these fun garland elements for a swap I joined at RedLead . They have the neatest stamps, embellishments and vintage collage sheets that I can barely contain myself whenever I place an order with them. I love Christmas, particularly and Old Fashioned one. Over the last few years I have added more vintage and retro type decorations to my collection and weeded out the more modern things that didn't feel cozy to me. I have a huge list of blogs I follow in my reader that share my love of Vintagey Christmas. So many in fact, I am still reading the posts. I think it may be time to move on to Valentines posts. Oh, wait. I have that's why I am posting the Christmas garland so I can chronologically post the Valentines things I have been working on. Enjoy my belated Christmas post. : )

Happy New Year..... so someone shared this video and someone else shared it with someone else... and they shared it with me. Some of my favorite quotes paired with some beautiful works of art and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Goin'Buggy and ProMarkers.

The Giveaway is over so I removed the post and the link.