Dishy Vintage

Altered Journal Swap Reveal

2012-02-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

My journals are on the way to my swap partners, so I think it's time for the full reveal. I made little dresses for both journals out of lace, and adhered them to a chipboard dress form. I considered stitching dresses like I've done in the past, but I was afraid that I would run out of time. The colors for the journals were very different; I'm not sure which one I like better!

My swap partner Marian likes pinks and aquas, so here's the journal I made for her:

Here's the inside cover:

After covering the page with paper and a lace border, I made a pocket out of a linen piece and a corner of a vintage hankie. I added a few antique papers as a surprise.

The inside back cover and the back cover were pretty simple -- just pretty papers:

All wrapped up and ready to go:

with a few extra trims just for fun!

My other swap partner, Jill, likes neutrals, so here's the journal I made for her:

Here's the inside front cover, along with a few antique surprises in the pocket:

Again, I left the back inside cover and the back cover pretty simple:

Wrapped and ready:

Extra trims for Jill:

This was a fun swap -- I love making journals! I'll post pics soon of the journals that I received from my swap partners. Have a great week! :)

Feeling Pink?

2012-02-03T07:27:00.000-06:00

Just in to the shop are all sorts of wonderful pastel organza laces! Even though it's only February, these dreamy pastels have me thinking of spring projects.

There are more fun trims to come -- this was just the beginning of the pastel goodness!

In other news, I'm mailing my altered journals to my swap partners today, so I'll have the full reveal very soon. :)

Altered Journal Swap Sneak Peeks

2012-02-01T11:00:00.000-06:00

I'm hard at work on the journals for my altered journal swap, so I thought I'd share a few sneak peeks. If you are my swap partners -- no peeking! Avert your eyes!

This swap has been really fun. I will be sure to share full photos after I get these journals in the mail. I had the same basic idea for both journals, but my swap partners wanted different colors: one is into neutrals, and the other is more of a pink and aqua gal. So, I got to create two very different looks.

Back soon with the full reveal! Hope you're having a great week!

Cupcake Liner Cuteness!

2012-01-10T13:57:00.001-06:00

A little shopping alert for you -- I just got these cupcake liners at Michael's on the dollar aisle! I couldn't believe it, as the strawberry pattern looks just like one of my favorite Cath Kidston designs, and the blue floral looks a lot like some Greengate cupcake liners that I've been wanting to order but I haven't because they have to ship from Europe. There are 75 liners in a package for $1.50. Woohoo!

Aside from making cupcakes with these, I think I need to come up with some other uses for them (given the rather large amount that ended up in my basket). Any ideas for cupcake liner crafts?

There were other fun items, too, like this nail file:

So fun! Happy shopping!

Shop Update

2011-12-29T17:28:00.000-06:00

I hope that you had a delightful holiday! We had a wonderful time with friends and family -- such a blessing to visit with loved ones and share such fun times over the holiday season. We are still enjoying the last few days off from school before our hectic schedules start up again.

I'm just popping in with a quick shop update. I'm seriously overstocked -- seriously! -- and so I will be listing items like mad over the next few weeks. I've also put together some new lace goodie bags, pictured above and below -- each has 12 yards of lace! I've got a bag of pinks and creams, one that has lavender and yellow, and one with creams, blues and silver. Lots of fun lace for crafting!

As the year winds down, I've been thinking a lot about the new year, and my resolutions, both personal and business-related. I've got an idea for a new direction for my long-ignored Dishy Vintage Weddings shop. I'll have more news on that soon, but here's a hint of what I've got in mind:

What does the new year have in store for you? I hope it is full of joy and good health!

Happy Creating!

American Girl Tea Party

2011-11-28T13:27:00.001-06:00

My youngest baby recently had her 8th birthday (sheesh -- how is it possible that time moves so quickly?). To celebrate, she wanted an American Girl-themed tea and crafts party. Since this is probably the 10th tea and crafts (of some description) type party that I've had for my girls, I feel like we've got the basic idea pretty well down.

For this party, we decorated the dining room with bright pink and lime green, to coordinate with the American Girl paper goods and cupcake stand. I used lime green tulle to put bows on each chair and dress up the chandelier. We had a small group, so I kept the food pretty simple. We had cupcakes (girl-sized and doll-sized) for the girls to decorate, as well as gingerbread cookies. We made tea sandwiches (pb&j and cheese) and cut them into hearts and flower shapes with cookie cutters. We served juice for most of the girls, but a few brave little souls tried hot tea (with lots of sugar!).

Before we ate, the girls used an American Girl craft kit to make and decorate a crown for their dolls.

After crafts and tea, the girls played a few games and then opened presents. Each girl took home a goodie bag of American Girl craft goodies and candy. A fun time was had by all, but mostly by the birthday girl, who was thrilled!

Now that the party is done, it's full speed ahead on Christmas! My goal is to be finished decorating by Dec. 1 -- hopefully I'll meet that goal and have a few pics to share soon.

Hope you are having a wonderful start to the holiday season!

Oh, Cath Kidston!

2011-11-16T16:36:00.001-06:00

The Cath Kidston Christmas catalog arrived in my mailbox today. Which immediately brought up this burning question: just how many sewing baskets does one need? Or, maybe more accurately, how many sewing baskets can one justify??? I ask because I think I simply must have the one pictured above. But I'm kind of wavering because I also like this one:

But I already have this one, which I love a whole lot:

Maybe if I claim to now be "collecting" sewing baskets I can get away with buying another one?? Hmmm? What do you think? And which do you like, red caravan or pastel caravan?

Of course, it doesn't stop with over-the-top cute sewing baskets! Oh, no indeed! There's also this towel:

And this mug:

And all manner of other things that I "need" like a need a hole in my head. But will that stop me from placing an order and paying exorbitant shipping from the UK? I think I'll take the Fifth on that.....

The Case of the Missing Blogger

2011-11-07T19:27:00.000-06:00

So, my goodness, it's been awhile, no? I knew that I had been neglecting my blog, but when I went realized that my last post was almost 2 months ago I was shocked! So sorry to have been away! I wish I had a really good, juicy excuse, but the truth is that the girls went back to school and then time just started sliding away at an alarming rate. I went on a buying trip to Round Top, Texas, and Kari and I have done three shows, and meanwhile I've been doing all the things that busy moms do -- and I guess the blog just kind of got pushed to the back burner.

But, I'm back! And, unbelievably, the holidays are upon us! I'm pondering whether to revive my Christmas stitching project (and, my stitching blog -- if you think this blog has been neglected, it doesn't hold a candle to my poor stitching blog!). I've got lots of Christmas crafting and shopping to do, and I've got a doll-themed birthday party to throw for my 8-year old in a couple of weeks. And will we send Christmas cards this year or will we be slackers?? Hmmm..... Time will tell.

In the meantime, I do have a project to share! I apologize in advance for the photo quality: the photos are terrible. But the project was fun and I want to show you the finished product. I made a tag banner for Kari for her birthday. Kari has a brand spanking new house, with her own brand spanking new office! Her office is painted a lovely light teal blue, and she uses accents of red, which works well with her collection of vintage school stuff and vintage books. Using all of those elements as a starting point, here's what I came up with:

I used some of my favorite scrapbooking papers, combined with chipboard accents, small pieces of lace and trim, and of course, LOTS of tatting.

Here it is, wrapped up and ready to go:

Such a fun project!

Well, thanks so much for visiting and for hanging in there even though I've been gone for an eternity. I promise to be back again soon!

Happy creating!

Alison

Missoni for Target -- A Tale of Epic Greed

2011-09-13T14:44:00.000-05:00

So, I'll have to ask you to pardon my rant. Here at the Dishy Vintage blog, I like to keep things focused on happy, upbeat things -- like lace and glitter. But today I am so disappointed about this Missoni for Target debacle -- I just have to speak out.

The much-typed Missoni line for Target -- with its fun, characteristic zig zag designs -- debuted today in Target stores and online. There had been a lot of buzz about this launch, so I expected things to go quickly, as they always do when something at Target is popular. I went online at 7am and wasn't able to shop, because the Target servers had crashed. I went to my local Target around 10am and everything was gone -- I mean, every single Missoni item, from file folders to baby clothes to shoes -- GONE.

I was a bit mystified by this (I mean, how many people had beat me to Target by 10am?) until I got home and did some Google searches and found pictures and first-hand accounts of people sweeping entire racks of clothes into their carts the minute the store opened. Sure enough, before noon there were thousands of listings on Ebay of these very same items, only priced at 3 to 5 times the retail price.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand capitalism and I'm all for making a living. But I think what these people are doing on Ebay is disgusting. I really wanted a few of the items from that collection, both for myself and for my girls, but there is no way I will buy them at a ridiculously marked up price on Ebay from someone who bought out an entire Target store this morning! I will not reward that kind of behavior, especially not with my hard-earned money.

So, this is my plea to you, if you wanted some Missoni for Target items but missed out, as I did: boycott the Ebay sellers who ruined this for everyone else!

Okay, rant over. Tomorrow we shall return to glitter and lace and all things vintage! :)

Tag Banner: Tag #5

2011-08-16T12:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! Sorry for the long break between tag posts -- summer is coming to a quick end around here and we are scurrying around, trying to get ready for back-to-school. Here is tag #5 -- it's a bit more simple than some of the others. I used scraps of one of my favorite vintage organza trims, along with a bit of vintage lace and a large chipboard rose. I added some sparkle with Stickles.

I had planned to do 7 tags, but now I'm wondering if 5 is enough for the banner, given that I'm hanging it in a bookshelf (a pretty small space)..... I've also started working on another tag banner that is a gift, so no pics for now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy what is left of your summer! Happy creating!

Tag Banner: Tag #4

2011-08-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

My tag banner is still coming along, slowly but surely! Here is tag #4 -- this one is currently my favorite. I just love the charming chipboard and of course the tatting.

I hope you're having a great Monday!

Tag Banner: Tag #3

2011-08-04T15:17:00.000-05:00

Here's tag #3! My favorite things about this tag are the small doily that I used as a background, and the tiny sewing pattern piece of chipboard. I love the wonderful graphics on old sewing patterns, but because of their size, I have a hard time figuring out what to do with them. Maybe I could reduce them on a color copier? Hmmmm.... Anyone tried that?

By the way, if you're looking for some darling old sewing patterns, Kari has a nice selection in her Etsy shop!

Well, that's all for now -- off to work on tag #4!

(Hope you're staying cool. It's going to be 102 degrees today.)

Tag Banner: Tag #2

2011-08-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

Here's tag #2. This one is a bit more simple than tag #1, but I have to tell ya, I'm in love with these chipboard doilies. So cute! I wish I had a box full.

See you tomorrow for tag #3!

Tag Banner: Tag #1

2011-08-01T09:32:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of creating a small banner for my office. I've made various banners before (usually for holidays) but before I've always used chipboard as a base. This time, I decided to use layered cardstock in a tag shape. I'm planning to make 7 tags for the banner, but the neat thing about this approach (IMHO) is that you can add/subtract tags to/from the banner whenever you want. So, we'll see how it looks when I get seven tags done -- maybe I'll be done, and maybe not!

I'll be posting each tag as I finish it. Today is tag #1. For all of these tags, I glued together 3 layers of cardstock (which ends up being a nice sturdy base). On this tag, I wanted to use one of my stitched dresses, so it was the main focus, and I embellished around it. I'm trying to use some of my "good stuff" that has been sitting around, so these tags will have some very nice lace and trims.

Check back tomorrow for tag #2!

Finally, this is off-topic, but I can't believe it's already August! How is that possible?? I need another couple of months of summer....

Fun with Decoupage

2011-07-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

My sweet oldest baby girl is now 11 years old. It's hard for me to wrap my head around how this happy little toddler could possibly already be a "tween!" Ugh! To celebrate her birthday, she wanted a slumber party with a "Night in Paris" theme. I came up with an art project for the girls, in keeping with the theme.

Using flat canvases (available in packs of 8 at Michael's), we made decoupage collages with antique papers, old sheet music, French-themed scrapbooking papers, and all sorts of fun embellishments (including lace, of course!). Here's the sample that I made so the girls could see a finished project:

I did several layers of paper, used lots of distressing ink, added lace and flower trims, and at the very end, embellished with bronze-colored Stickles (I love that stuff). The whole process took a couple of days, so that each layer had time to dry.

Here's the busy project table that the girls used at the party:

And here's the birthday girl's project, almost finished:

This was a fun, multi-step project that kept the girls busy in small doses over the course of the evening. I think they enjoyed it, and their artwork really looked fabulous!

All that said, if anyone has a magic potion that will turn my tween back into a 5-year-old, please pass it along!

Eye Candy: Dreamy Pastels

2011-07-25T16:48:00.000-05:00

These trims make me wish that I could actually sew! I unpacked them and they were in a big, frothy pile on my living room floor, and they looked so soft and gorgeous.

I may need to put together a kit of some of these pastel gems for my next giveaway....

Hope you're having a great week!

Winner!

2011-07-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

And the winner of the lace giveaway is.... Comment #2: Creative Wings! Congrats to you!
Thanks to all who entered! I'll have another lace giveaway soon.

Sneak Peek!

2011-07-21T11:43:00.001-05:00

Oh, boy! I just got some new laces in, and I'm so excited about them. They are definitely some of the nicest pieces I've ever found. I'll be listing them in the shop as fast as I can, but here are a few sneak peeks of just a few of my favorite pieces:

Don't forget -- if you're interested in the lace giveaway, you've got one more day to enter! See the post below for the details.

Lace Giveaway!

2011-07-18T13:59:00.001-05:00

It's giveaway time again! This time, there are two prizes for the lucky winner: a goody bag of 5 yards of vintage eyelet trims in fantastic pastel colors, and a set of two tags, each with 4 yards of vintage French Valenciennes lace! That's a lot of lace! Enter now through noon central time Friday, July 22, 2011. You can enter by leaving a comment on my blog, and if you blog, Facebook, or tweet about this giveaway (with a link back to my blog) you get an extra chance for EACH (so, you could possibly have 4 chances to win). Just tell me all about it in the comment you leave. Entries will close at noon on Friday and I will randomly draw a winner. Good luck!!

New Pretties in the Shop and Other News

2011-07-15T09:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a great week. I'm just popping in to post a few pics of some new items that I've added to the shop recently, and share a few updates as well as news about an upcoming giveaway. First, the pretties:

And, in the Dishy Vintage Weddings shop, I've started listing some wonderful pieces that were salvaged from a great vintage wedding dress from the 1960's:

In other news, I've decided to discontinue my newsletter through Constant Contact, primarily because I rarely sent one out, but also because the service was expensive (especially since I wasn't using it every month). I really appreciate those of you who signed up to be on my mailing list. If you'd still like to keep up with blog/shop news, I hope you'll check in here, or on Facebook, where I will try to post often.

I've also decided to close my Artfire studio, at least for now, to focus more fully on my Etsy shops. (I did some "deep thinking" about the business while we were on our California adventure, and decided it was time for some streamlining.)

Anyway, with that said, I think it's time for a giveaway! Check back on Monday for pics and to find out how to enter!

Have a great weekend -- mine is going to include margaritas! :)

Birdsong Tag Swap

2011-07-11T10:35:00.000-05:00

My tags are finished! Hooray! I'm excited to get these tags in the mail, and I can't wait to see the tag book that Karla will put together. As I mentioned before, this is my first tag swap, and I think I'm hooked!

I decorated the backs of the tags, too, and added a bird to further go with the bird theme. The nest on the front is made from vintage lace, tulle, and strands of perle cotton, which I hand-stitched on linen embroidery fabric and then cut out and attached to the tag. The "eggs" are vintage rosary beads.

Big thanks to Karla of Karla's Cottage for hosting such a fun swap!

A Tale of Two Tags

2011-07-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

I've been hard at work (off-and-on, before and after vacation) on tags for my first tag swap. I've participated in several match-box swaps (super fun!) but I've never done a tag swap before, and for some reason, I'm really nervous about it. I guess I just want to be sure I'm up to snuff with all of these talented tag swappers! I signed up for Karla's Birdsong Tag Swap, so the theme involves birds. To be honest, birds aren't usually my "thing," so I was at a loss for what to do.

In the beginning, I found clip art of a vintage sheet music cover that I loved (thanks, Graphics Fairy!) I played around with paper, stamps, and trims, and decided that the tag would look something like this:

But then I had second thoughts..... I really wanted to stitch something -- add a hand-stitched element to the tags, preferably using some of the ridiculously large lace stash that is ever-growing around here. But what to stitch? I decided to try to create a hand-stitched nest out of lace and trims. I was pretty excited about this idea! So I got out a few special trims, and I stitched and stitched until I had...... a big flat flower.

Ugh! Nothing nest-like about it. I started over. This time, I used less lace, added some tulle and a few strands of perle cotton embroidery floss:

Still kind of flower-like, but better, I think. I glued a few vintage rosary beads into the center for "eggs."

Once the nests were done (or, almost done -- I've got 7 nests to finish!), I laid out the paper and trims again, and decided on this design:

But in keeping with the theme of over-thinking these tags, I've decided that teal-blue paper is too dark (sigh), so now I'm thinking of switching it out with a lighter blue, for a look kind of like this:

Anyway, this has been a fun project -- it's nice to be creating again. I'm not sure why I've been so fickle and nervous about this little project! But the tags have to be in the mail Monday, so I've got to finish them all this weekend. I'll post more pics when they're all done. Wish me luck! :)

California Dreamin'

2011-07-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back! Sorry I've been gone so long! We have returned from our big summer California adventure: a trip to visit family that also included trips to Legoland, Disneyland, Palm Springs, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park. It was a whirlwind and such a wonderful, fabulous time! Yosemite was so beautiful, it completely exceeded our (already very high) expectations -- we could've stayed there much longer. It certainly was hard to come home to the 100 degree heat.

If you're suffering in the summer heat, here are some pics from the beautiful California mountains to help cool you off:

As always, as wonderful as it is to travel, it is also wonderful to come home. We are happy to be home safe and sound and are looking forward to the rest of our summer. I hope you are having a great summer, too!

And now, back to work! If you haven't had a chance to check out my Facebook page for Dishy Vintage, you might take a moment to pop over and take a look. Right now, there's a special sale coupon code for Facebook friends! Also, I'm planning to announce another giveaway soon -- probably in the next two weeks -- so stay tuned for that!

Happy creating!
:)

Summer Has Finally Arrived, and So Has Some Awesome Lace!

2011-06-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

School is finally out for the summer! I don't know about you, but I am so excited. We are all looking forward to unscheduled days, swimming in the pool, staying up late to read our summer books, and sleeping late, too! And as if it couldn't get any better than that, I got in a wonderful lot of lace yesterday.

I've already put a few things into the shop, with more to come, so if you see something you like, look for it in the shop.

Next week I'll be sending out a newsletter to the folks who've signed up for my mailing list. I'm sorry it's been such a long time between newsletters! To celebrate summer, I'm going to include coupon codes that will be good for a discount in all of my shops. If you'd like to receive the newsletter, but aren't on the mailing list yet, you can sign up easily in the box over there to the right. ------>

I hope your summer is off to a great start!

Odds & Ends

2011-06-01T07:48:00.000-05:00

I love this new paper line from Cosmo Cricket. It's got a great vintage vibe, and neat lacey accents.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for us here -- summer has arrived!! My goals for the summer include scrapbooking (scrapbooking and more scrapbooking -- I'm so behind!) and some personal crafting time. I'd like to get back to stitching, and I've joined my first ever tag swap, which is exciting. I'm also writing again, so I'm trying to find time for that. And, of course, summer is full of down time and play time with my girls.

What are your summer plans? Any new papers you've found for inspiration?

Spring Swap Goodies

2011-05-23T08:40:00.001-05:00

I wanted to show you the wonderful boxes that I got from my swap partners! In the picture above is the amazing box that I received from Stevie. It is so lush and layered -- love those pink fabric roses! Here are the wonderful goodies that were inside:

These two special handmade goodies were extras -- aren't they divine? What a great treat this was! Visit Stevie's blog to see more of her art.

The other lovely box I received was from Julia, all the way from Russia!

I love the gorgeous rose on the box, and the sweet paper that she used to line the inside of the box. Here's what was inside:

You can visit Julia's creative blog here.

Thanks, ladies, for such a wonderful swap! I can't wait to start creating with these wonderful goodies!

Spring Petite Inspiration Swap Boxes

2011-05-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

Here are the boxes that I sent my swap partners. This was a fun swap, hosted by Heather. Thanks, Heather, for another great swap!

I started these boxes by spray painting them a creamy ivory color. Then I covered them in a new favorite paper that looks like a sweet vintage wallpaper. I adhered a doily to the top of each, then attached velvet strawberries and velvet leaves. I added lace on the edges of box and tied a bow on the bouquet of strawberries. The final touch was a small blue brad on the end of the box.

Then I filled up the box with flowers, leaves, glittered clothespins, a bag of vintage lace, a tag of pink and blue trims, a Victorian calling card, and a piece of special organza trim.

I hope that my swap partners love their boxes!

Swap Box Sneak Peek, and Some Thoughts on Justice

2011-05-02T12:32:00.000-05:00

I participated in another fun petite box swap, this one with a spring theme. I had a lot of fun with this one, and I'm happy with how my boxes turned out. I'm just showing a little sneak peek today, because I don't want to ruin the surprise for my swap partners. I'll post all the pictures later in the week!

In other news, I just want to say how grateful I am today to our men and women in the armed forces and the intelligence community for all that they do for us every day, and in particular, for pursuing justice to the end, even after almost a decade. Like most of us, I will never forget that day -- never forget the fear and the grief -- and while nothing will bring back those that have been lost, at least this is a certain measure of justice.

We have a winner!

2011-04-29T16:19:00.000-05:00

Drum roll, please.... the winner of the lace giveaway is Kitten! Kitten, email me with your address and I'll get your goodies in the mail to you.

Thanks to all of you who entered! Check back for another fun giveaway soon!

Royal Tea

2011-04-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

This was the scene early this morning at our house. I hauled out the vintage Spode, loaded up on scones, and brewed some Earl Grey tea. I had set the DVR to record BBC America starting at 3 a.m., so I got the girls up around 6 a.m. our time, and Mimi came over to our house to join us. We watched the highlights of the wedding via the BBC recording until the girls had to leave for school. What a fun morning!

So, what did you think of the wedding? I thought it was lovely -- just like the dress -- classic and elegant. I particularly enjoyed all of the hats! Wowser -- there were some interesting/cool/jaw dropping hats on display!

Don't forget -- if you want to enter the lace giveaway, leave a comment now! The drawing is later today, so time is running short!

Lace Giveaway!

2011-04-25T17:09:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've had a lace giveaway, so I think it's high time for another one! In this fun giveaway, you not only get 2 hand stamped vintage tags with a total of 6 different types of vintages laces (like the ones above), but you'll also get a set of these tags, too:

The pink tags have a total of 8 yards of French Valenciennes lace!

That's right: the lucky winner gets all 4 tags (the tags will be similar to, but not exactly like, the tags pictured).

Just leave comment here in order to be entered to win. BONUS: if you spread the word about this giveaway by either tweeting, posting on Facebook, or mentioning the giveaway on your blog, you can have an extra chance! So, if you spread the word like crazy, you'll get as many as 4 chances to win! Just tell me about it in your comment here, and I'll add your extra chances to the hat.

I will put all the names in a hat and draw the winner on Friday, April 29, at 3pm Central Time (assuming, that is, that I can tear myself away from watching the Royal Wedding over and over and over.....). So, hurry and enter! Good luck!! :)

Cuteness Alert!

2011-04-15T09:06:00.000-05:00

I have to share another shop update with you today, because Kari has been busy adding lots of our fantastic Round Top finds to her shop. If you're in need of a gift for Mother's Day, she's got lots of darling hankies listed, with more on the way! (The heart hankies are soooooo cute -- I'm still having trouble parting with them.)

She's also got more fantastic vintage fabric listings, including a favorite from my own stash that I finally decided to let go of:

This sweet fabric is flocked!! I love it so much. But that's not all:

Kari is also now adding vintage patterns to her shop, like this, super groovy pattern:

Check them all out in her Etsy shop Pixie Dust Linens!

Seriously?!

2011-04-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

Sigh. Remember my pristine, newly renovated bathroom? I remember it fondly, as well. Sunday morning I went into that bathroom and noticed that the ceiling was collapsing above the tub/shower. Turns out, we had another water leak -- this time in a pipe in the ceiling. For those of you who are counting, that's three water leaks in the less than three years that we've lived in this house.
Certainly, there are worse things in the world than a house with crappy plumbing, but I have to admit that I am frustrated. We are trying to decide whether to re-do the plumbing in the entire house (!), or just fix the damage from this most recent problem and wait for the other shoe to drop (i.e., the next water leak) down the road.....
I will keep you posted. If we do decide to re-do all of the plumbing, that will mean lots of new sheetrock, and lots of painting -- so, the up side (if there is one) is that I'll get to pick some new paint colors!

Are You Feelin' Groovy?

2011-04-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

If you are, feeling groovy that is, you need to head on over to Kari's Etsy shop! We found lots of very groovy things at Round Top, including this awesome embroidered piece (above) and some really cool retro fabrics (below):

I love this black, blue and green fabric so much that I'm considering taking it for myself....

If groovy's not really your thing, and you're more into girly, then you'll want to stay tuned, because we found an amazing stash of the most wonderful vintage hankies -- truly, the nicest we've ever seen -- and Kari is hard at work getting them into her shop. Here's a sample:

This sweet hankie with pink roses is available now, and more are coming soon. The embroidery on these hankies really amazes me. Such charming vintage treasures!

Happy shopping!!

Organza Bonanza!

2011-03-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what it is about organza that I love so much -- it's just so charming and fabulous! Whenever I find organza trims, I have to have them. I've been lucky lately and have added a bunch of great trims to my stash:

All of these and more are in the shop, available by the yard, with more coming soon!

Round Top/Warrenton Texas Antiques Fair

2011-03-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well, we are back from a wonderful buying trip to the spring Round Top area antiques fair. This year we had the good fortune to spend the night at a friend's ranch (thanks, Marilyn, and thanks Mom, for hooking us up!) so we were able to spend 2 full days searching the fields for great finds.

It was an amazing trip. I didn't find nearly as much lace as I hoped to find, but we found so many other great things that it more than made up for it. I was so distracted by all the great stuff that I forgot to take pictures! So, I'm sorry that I don't have more pics for you. But here are some of the highlights:

We found some AMAZING linens:

And one seller had this amazing collection of vintage shakers. I couldn't believe the colors! I bought a small pink and a small blue shaker, but I'm already kicking myself for not buying more:

And I was shocked to find a vendor who not only had a huge set of the vintage Spode Mayflower china that I collect, but also a massive set of a coordinating pattern -- Spode Strawberry -- that I had never seen before. She even had a punch bowl!

I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, I admit. China is a huge weakness of mine. I did not buy the punch bowl, as it was just too expensive for me, but I did buy the set that she had priced all at one price:

Um..... that's a LOT of china, no? We packed it into 5 huge boxes (thanks Kari and Mom for the packing help!) and just barely got it all into the van. I still can't quite believe my luck at finding this wonderful pattern. Yippee!

But not all of my finds were as high-brow. Another favorite purchase was the "vintage" 1980 Darth Vader cake pan:

There will be a Darth Vader cake, very soon! I'll be sure to post pics.

We enjoyed lunch at our favorite barbeque spot, where I had a baked potato loaded with brisket:

And of course, we saw some really interesting things:

Usually, I pick a "weirdest item of the day," but not this year: this year, I'm sharing with you the "weirdest exchange with a rude vendor," instead.

Now, before I tell you this story I want to say, in full disclosure, that I have been a vendor at many shows over the years, and I know that buyers are sometimes rude and as a vendor there is a lot you have to deal with. That being said, here's the story:

Early Friday morning, Kari and I hit the fields ready for our second day and super excited to find new treasures. One of the first booths we entered was very cute -- a huge space (at least 3 times the usual size) and packed full of wonderful old finds, mostly in whites and creams. The vendor was still finishing her set up, but she welcomed us in to look around. We oohed and aahed over how wonderful her items were, and Kari spied a few things that she wanted to buy. I did a loop of the space and noticed about 3 pieces of lace -- all nice, but I was looking for more. So, as I always do, I asked if she had more lace that she hadn't had time to put out yet.

And the following exchange ensued:

Vendor: "Oh, I have 2 bins just full of lace!"

Me [very excited now]: "Great! Do you mind if I take a look?"

Vendor: "Oh, I have some ladies who always shop with me on Sunday and they buy a lot of lace from me."

Me: [confused silence and some blinking in surprise]

Vendor: "I just put these other pieces out last night."

Me: [more confused silence]

then I say, "well, I'm here to buy now if you are willing to let me see the lace."

Vendor: "I understand. " Then she turns her back on me and goes back to setting up her booth.

Kari and I exchange incredulous looks, then immediately exit her booth, buying nothing, of course.

So here's the thing -- why tell me you have TWO BINS OF LACE if you have no intention of selling to me? Why not just say, "No, all that I have is what is out." Why on Earth would you tell a customer, "Oh, I have tons of what you're looking for, but I'm not going to sell it to you! In fact, I'm not even going to let you look at it." I mean, why are you open for business with an attitude like that?

It's been two days since this happened, and I'm still amazed by it! Weird, weird, weird.

But in any event, that was a minor hiccup in our trip -- we had the best buying trip ever, and came home with loads of fun stuff! I will be busy getting new laces and trims into the shop (not to mention trying to find a place for my new china -- I think I'm going to have to part with some of my other china; no room to keep all of it). When we go back for the fall show, I promise to take more pictures!!

Bookmarks for my Bookworms

2011-03-22T15:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a lot of time for creating lately, but I bought some new scrapbooking supplies that I couldn't wait to use! My older daughter saw the chipboard embellishments from this line and fell in love with the gumball machine, and that got me thinking: rather than use the chipboard for a scrapbook page that would rarely be seen, I decided to make bookmarks that my girls could use and enjoy every day. This darling paper, with its vintage book design, is just the perfect thing for a bookmark!

I added some embellishments from my stash -- no reason a bookmark can't be girly, right?

I also decorated the back, adding some pretty papers and making a little pocket with a secret note in it for each of my girls.

This was a quick, fun little project! It was fun to make something again!

Antique Lace Happiness

2011-03-21T18:20:00.000-05:00

I'm lucky to have piles of "new" (new to me) lace on my office floor -- big piles of every type of lace you can imagine! What a super way to spend an afternoon, sorting through all of these wonderful old treasures!

I find it both exciting and calming to sort through and organize these types of new finds. Is that weird? :)

Most of these goodies will find their way into my shop (some already have!), but others I just won't be able to part with. I hope to add to the piles later this week in Round Top!

Vintage Wedding Dress Lace Tags

2011-03-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

I've whipped up a few more tag kits (what better to do while catching up on many hours of Syfy on my DVR?). For these I decided to go with a vintage wedding theme, though these ivory and cream laces could be used for all sorts of projects.

They're all wrapped up with blue lace and ready to go! You can find them in my vintage weddings shop.

In other news, later this week Kari and I are headed to Round Top and Warrenton, Texas for the spring antique show. Stay tuned for photos from the show and peeks at all of our (sure to be) exciting finds!

New Vintage Lace Kits -- Shop Update

2011-03-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

Just popping in to share a quick shop update: I've put together these new vintage lace kits, and they're available now in the shop. Each kit contains 2 hand stamped tags, and each tag has 4 yards of Valenciennes lace -- for a total of 8 yards of lace per kit!

Happy Creating! :)

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

2011-03-09T15:18:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we attended the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, as we try to do every year. It was a beautiful day with glorious weather -- and enormous crowds! If you've never been to the Houston Rodeo it's hard to imagine the scope of this event, but believe me, it is massive. It takes place over almost 3 weeks, with thousands of people in attendance each day. The day we attended, there were 71,000 people at the rodeo!!

The livestock show takes place in the huge Reliant Arena. The girls enjoyed viewing and petting the animals -- we'd never seen pigs this big before, and the girls had never been that close to a Longhorn!

We also enjoyed walking around the carnival; though it was so crowded that it was hard to move at times!

After several hours of walking and enjoying the exhibits and the carnival, we went inside Reliant Stadium for the rodeo and a performance by Selena Gomez.

As you can see from the pictures above: this is rodeo on a HUGE scale!

The best thing about the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is that it is all for charity -- over the years, the rodeo has raised millions of dollars to send literally thousands of kids to college on scholarships. It's an enormous undertaking that does an enormous amount of good.

The second best thing about the rodeo is carnival food -- specifically, fried carnival food. Each year we endeavor to try something new. Two years ago we tried fried Oreos -- yum! Last year we tried fried Snickers -- double yum! But this year we tried my new favorite: fried Moon Pie! Think Moon Pie, inside a warm beignet, with powdered sugar on top..... Wow. [It was too dark by then to get a good picture of it, sadly!]

If you're ever in Houston around rodeo time, don't miss it!

Breakfast of Champions

2011-03-03T13:17:00.000-06:00

Sorry I've fallen off the face the last couple of weeks. To say that it's been busy around here would be a huge understatement!

It's almost Mardi Gras -- which means I have a great excuse for eating King Cake. I'm a bit picky about my King Cake -- fortunately, we have a local bakery [Acadian Bakers here in Houston] that does it right. My mom picked up a cake there yesterday and split it with us.
Nothing like a big slab of King Cake to start the day off right!

The Snow Day that Wasn't

2011-02-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

Last Friday it was supposed to snow. Snow is a normal winter occurrence for many people, but when you live in the Texas tropics, this type of news is met with a mixture of panic and excitement. School was canceled, the news went crazy with constant the-sky-is-falling updates, etc. As it happened, there was no snow, but what we got was worse -- freezing rain and freeways covered with black ice. The hubs insisted on going in to work (despite the fact that he is neither a doctor nor a fireman, nor any other type of emergency worker), but the girls and I stayed home and enjoyed our "snow day." The girls spent hours playing "restaurant" and watching lots of Disney movies.

I pulled out the scrapbooking stuff and decided to start making progress -- since at this point I'm almost 2 years behind on both girls' books.

I'm happy to say that I got 15 pages done on Friday, and have a whole new momentum!

Just think: if I can keep up this pace, soon I'll only be 1 year behind....

I hope that those of you that were snowed in -- by real snow or ice -- also had a great time while staying safe and warm. :)

Parisian Dreams

2011-01-28T12:26:00.000-06:00

My oldest has had the same bedding since she moved into a "big girl bed" -- over seven years ago. I still love that bedding (thank you, Shabby Chic for Target!) but she was ready for a change. Lately she's intrigued by Paris and all things French, so when I spotted these Paris toile sheets in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog, I thought they might be perfect. She loved them, so we took the plunge and placed an order.

The new bedding -- the sheets, along with coordinating bedding in pink and chocolate brown -- came yesterday, and I set it up for her while she was at school. She was thrilled! And how do I know for sure that she loves it? She made her bed today:

One other big change -- the Barbie Dream House moved out, and a comfy reading chair moved in:

Her room is starting to look a lot more grown up, as is she. (Sniff.) Someday I hope to take her to Paris, but until then, the sheets will have to do. :)

French Lace Overload!

2011-01-11T11:20:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited about this lace! It's all old French Valenciennes lace on cards -- and some of the cards still have their original labels. I'm a sucker for original labels!

Here's my dilemma -- how best to sell this lace? By the yard? By the card? Or should I make some special French lace goodie bags? What do you think?

I hope you're having a great day. It is coooooold here -- COLD! -- so I'm enjoying a day inside, trying to catch up on a bunch of work. :)

Of Pointe Shoes and Braces and the Speed of Life

2011-01-05T16:47:00.000-06:00

My oldest got her first pair of pointe shoes this week. What an exciting day -- one that she's been waiting for/working towards for years. I was so happy for her, but between that and the news that she'll be getting braces next month.... well, it's made me feel like life is just speeding by and I'm running behind, trying to catch up. Sometimes I wish they could stay little forever! Pointe shoes and braces... and soon to come: middle school and texting. EEEEK!

New Year, New Shop!

2011-01-03T12:21:00.000-06:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a particularly happy New Year! I, for one, sat misty eyed, wrapped in my TCU Snuggie, while I watched the Frogs win the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. What a thrill -- I think I'll be floating on air from the joy of that win for weeks!

I promised that I'd be back in the new year with big news, and here it is: I've opened a new shop on Etsy: Dishy Vintage Weddings. I've spent a lot of time in the last few months thinking about how to continue to grow my little business. My original Etsy shop started out as a mix of lots of things: linens, lace, vintage papers, crafting kits, etc. Now it has evolved over the last 2 years to mostly be antique laces. I love that, but I wanted to find a way to incorporate a bit more variety, while perhaps finding a new customer base. So, after much thought, Dishy Vintage Weddings was born!

I'm still working on stocking the shop, but my goal is to have wonderful laces in yardage for seamstresses, people who make garters, and for wedding decor:

along with fun vintage wedding-themed paper ephemera for paper crafting and scrapbooking:

and heirloom linens and wedding hankies for the bride:

I also plan to list tags and journals made from my little stitched wedding dresses -- just as soon as I finish some. :)

So, I've got lots of work ahead of me! But it's exciting to have something brand new to work on in this brand new year. (Aside from losing 20 pounds, which unfortunately always seems to be on my to-do list, so it is not "brand new.")

Of course, I'm still finding new treasures for the original shop. I found this amazing flocked fabric over the holidays:

It's in the shop now. And I've got piles of wonderful lace to list, too. So, I hope you'll stop by either shop soon and browse around! I'd love your thoughts on the new venture!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T14:12:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are filled with joy. I will be back in the new year with a big, exciting announcement! See you then! :)

Christmas All Around the House

2010-12-17T10:50:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd show you a few of our Christmas decorations. We haven't even gotten everything out of the attic yet; at this point, I'm not sure we will. But this is what I've done so far, so here's a bit of a tour. Above is the mantle over our fireplace. This is essentially the same as last year. I added an additional ball garland, but otherwise it's the same as before. I made the wreath last year to match; it's still one of my favorites!

The fun gnome and mushroom ornaments I told you about previously are now residing on a feather tree in the kitchen. Also in the kitchen is our Mickey Mouse gingerbread cookie advent calendar:

I love this advent calendar! I got this as a gift from my parents after we took a huge, multi-generational trip to Disney World during Christmas time. This was in the window of a store there, and I just about had a heart attack when I saw it. I'm so glad that Mom got it for me; every time I see it I think of that trip and how magical it was to be at Disney surrounded by Christmas decorations and music.

Above is the entry way. I love the pink/gold glitter trees! I found the tablecloth on Ebay (I have it folded in half to drape over the console table) -- the workmanship on this tablecloth is amazing to me:

I made a wreath to go with this grouping, but I'm still not sure that I like it. I think it looks kind of like a sea urchin:

Finally, I have a weakness for vintage felt Christmas things, so we've got them all over the house:

Our Elf on the Shelf (who the girls have named "Minty") ended up here yesterday morning:

That's just a little bit of what Christmas looks like around here this year! I hope that you are having a joyful holiday!

Cuteness Alert!

2010-12-13T18:43:00.000-06:00

Those of you who have been following my blog may know that I have a thing (a recent, kind of inexplicable thing) for gnomes and mushrooms. So, while searching "gnome" today on Etsy (instead of doing the gazillion things on my to-do list) I happened upon the most adorable shop: A Little Sweetness. Be still my beating heart: there are girly gnomes (hooray!) and mushrooms, and even Little Red Riding Hood!

These are all embroidery patterns, but there are also prints and notecards, and other lovely things made from shop owner Tasha's delightful artwork. You simply must go check it out!

I think once I'm done with my 25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong, I'm going to treat myself to a few of her darling embroidery patterns!

I hope your holidays are going well. Things are crazy around here, but festive, too! Happy holidays!

Stitching Update

2010-12-09T14:05:00.000-06:00

The 25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong is moving along! I'm trying hard to stay caught-up with a square a day, but I admit that it's hard during the crush of Christmas. I've really enjoyed getting back to stitching; it's very relaxing for me, and the Christmas theme is fun.

It's not too late to join in the fun! Check out my other blog to join in on the fun!

25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong: Ladies, Start Your Stitching!

2010-12-01T07:11:00.000-06:00

It's finally here! Today's the first day of the 25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong! Here's my first square. Follow along with the fun on my other blog, and be sure to leave a comment with your blog address if you'd like to join in! It's not too late to get in on the fun. I can't wait to see what everyone is stitching. :)

Nutcracker Cupcakes

2010-11-28T17:27:00.000-06:00

For one of our Thanksgiving desserts this year, I made these cupcakes, with special picks to celebrate the fact that my daughter is dancing in the Nutcracker. I found the kit with these darling Nutcracker picks at Williams-Sonoma. Aren't they fab? The ballerinas even have tulle added to their skirts!

For the cupcakes, I wanted to make something "salted" because lately I've been obsessed with salted dark chocolate. So I made spice cupcakes (from a mix -- easy, peasy), and then made the icing from scratch: a salted caramel buttercream. I wasn't using a recipe, so I was kinda flying by the seat of my pants. But I thought they were super-yummy, and there were no complaints at the dinner table.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any other pictures at Thanksgiving! I was too busy cooking, and then cleaning, and then giving in to my turkey coma.... I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Glitter-Palooza!

2010-11-22T09:50:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday everyone! I'm so excited that it is a short week and that Thanksgiving is almost here. I've done my grocery shopping and I am ready to cook. How about you?

Today I've got not one but TWO fun glitter projects to show you! The first one is glittered clothespins: a quick, easy, cheap, and fun project brought to you by my friend Kari. She came up with this project for our girls (10 year-olds) to do together for teacher's gifts for Christmas. All you need are some clothespins from the dollar store, an assortment of glitters, some glue, and you are good to go!

Just brush on the glue (to one side of the clothespins only), glitter, and let dry.

Kari cut strips of cute paper and clipped the finished clothespins onto the paper, and then put then into bunches in plastic gift bags.

I just need to add ribbons and tags and we are done! How easy is that? The girls had a great time doing these, and I think it's great that Chloe can give her teachers something that she made herself.

The second glitter project was also very easy and fun. I found these large plain snowflakes at Target:

I was excited about the idea of making them into glitter snowflakes. I found this cool tinsel glitter at Michael's:

(Thank you, Martha, for yet another cool glitter product!) Anyway, after that this project was pretty standard: cover snowflakes with glue, cover with glitter:

And ta da! Glitter snowflake!

Just as a note: I found that the glue/glitter did not stick very well to these snowflakes. I did 2 (and even 3) layers of glue and glitter to get the coverage I wanted. I do love this tinsel glitter -- it has a very cool effect and is super shiny!

I did 3 of these, 2 in blue and 1 in white. When I was done, I hung them in my kitchen window.

[See that lovely -- not -- blue square tile in the picture? If I'm a really lucky girl, that blue tile is going to be going bye-bye in January. Fingers crossed!]

Anyway, once the glitter snowflakes were hung I thought, why not go ahead and start decorating for Christmas? So I did. I'm rushing the season a bit, but that's okay. :)

And the Winner Is.....

2010-11-19T15:22:00.000-06:00

I threw all the entries (and double-entries) into the hat (or actually, a bowl in this case), and picked a name! The lucky winner of the lace giveaway is.... drumroll please....

Peggy!

Congrats Peggy! If you'll drop me an email at ajcreed[at]comcast.net with your address, I will get this lace in the mail to you.

Thanks for entering, everyone! This was fun, so stay tuned -- I think I'll need to do another giveaway soon.

TGIF! I don't know about you, but I've had a long week. I'm ready for a margarita (or 3). Have a great weekend!

Lace Giveaway!

2010-11-15T08:24:00.000-06:00

I hit another personal Etsy milestone this weekend - I had my 2000th sale! WOO HOO! To celebrate, let's have a lace giveaway, shall we? There are 10 separate bundles of lace here, with a little bit of everything: some crochet, some Irish crochet, some filet lace, some chemical lace, all sorts of delightful things!

If you'd like to enter for a chance to win this lace assortment, just leave a comment here. If you link back to my blog and mention this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter, tell me about it in the comment and I'll throw your name in a second time for the drawing. Enter by this Friday, November 19th at noon, Central Time. Friday afternoon I'll randomly select and announce the winner.

Good luck!

A Special Baby Journal

2010-11-12T10:32:00.000-06:00

This week I've been hard at work on this little altered journal. A friend of mine is about to have a baby girl, and so I decided to make her a journal for a baby shower present. This is the most elaborate/complicated journal I've ever done, and it was quite a process! I started by wrapping a composition book with burlap. I'm not sure why I chose to do that, to be honest, but I wanted a fabric starting point (not paper). I think the burlap is good starting layer to work with, but a couple of things to note: it frays (a lot!) and it's kind of see-through.

After that, I started on the front cover, and layered an old doily with a tatted lace edge, paper, another doily, several layers of trim, and some chipboard until I got to this point:

Then I went to work on the inside covers. Here's the front inside cover:

I covered the page with my all-time favorite scrapbooking paper. Then I used another small rectangular doily, added part of a hanky to it, and glued it down on three sides to make a pocket. Then I added some trims to the edge of the page.

For the back inside cover, I kept things a bit more simple with just paper and trims.

Then I finished up by adding paper and trims to the back cover.

At this point, I think I'm done, though it's hard to know when to say when. I feel like it may need a few more things here or there..... Anyway, the shower is tomorrow so I need to be finished with it soon!

Hope you have a great weekend! I'll be back on Monday with an exciting giveaway! Also, it's not too late to join the 25 Days of Christmas Stitchalong -- the more the merrier!!

Blame it on the Burlap

2010-11-09T14:13:00.000-06:00

So, it began innocently enough. I needed to run into Hobby Lobby to buy some burlap for a new project I'm working on. [This is very similar to something that happened last week, when I just needed to run into Target for packing tape.... But I digress.] I noticed that Christmas ornaments were 50% off, as they often are, but I thought "I don't need any new ornaments. I have too many ornaments as it is. Hobby Lobby won't get me this time!"

But then I thought, maaaybe I should just take a little peek on the glass ornament aisle -- I always get my girls a special ornament each year, so no harm in looking now, right? Wrong. Twenty minutes later I emerged, blurry eyed, with a full shopping cart. Here's some of what I came home with:

Gnomes on mushrooms, and clip-on mushrooms! The gnomes have glitter accents, and the clip-on mushrooms have moss around the bottom! Gack! So cute! Do any of these ornaments go with any theme of any kind that we have going on at Christmas, you might ask? No, they most certainly do not! Guess I'm going to need an additional tree....

I also couldn't resist this cool acorn ornament. The back is an acorn (more glitter!):

and the front is this wonderful reindeer scene:

Now, I realize these aren't high end Christopher Radko pieces or anything. But I think they're pretty cool, especially at 50% off. So, if you're at HL, you might want to check them out. But be careful, HL has a way of sucking you in -- it's almost as dangerous as the Target fugue state. (Oh, and I did manage to remember to buy the burlap.)

Oh, Happy Day!

2010-11-08T15:39:00.001-06:00

There was already a lot to be thankful for today: beautiful weather, healthy kids off to school for the day, and a tennis match that I played pain-free (for the first time in about 6 months). But despite all of that, I let myself get irritated by some small stuff, and by lunchtime, I was in a bit of a bad mood.

But then the mail arrived -- and lo and behold, it was Cath Kidston! My mood lifted. Then I saw this:

and this:

and realized that I could order wrapping paper for Christmas that looks like this:

and well, I've been basically giddy ever since then. The best part? Apparently now Cath Kidston ships from the U.S. -- so, no more crazy expensive shipping from the UK! Woo hoo!
[Edit: well, after placing my order it appears that shipping is still kinda pricey. Maybe a little less, but not much. Did that deter me from my impulse purchases?? No indeed.]

Wish I could stay and chat, but I've got shoppin' to do!

Inspired Ideas!

2010-11-04T07:09:00.000-05:00

Amy Powers has outdone herself again! Her new Christmas issue of Inspired Ideas is chock-full of fantastic projects -- just brimming with inspiration! Go here to take a peek for yourself!

In other news, I hope you'll consider joining the holiday stitchalong! If you're interested, just leave a comment here or on my stitching blog -- and please leave your blog address if you want me to add you to the blog roll! Also, I'd love it if you would grab a button (the code is over there to the right) and help me spread the word! The more the merrier! :)

The Cupcake and the Ice Cream Cone & Some Random Musings

2010-11-03T10:36:00.000-05:00

Allow me to take a brief break today from all things crafty and vintage, to brag on my girls a bit. I try not to post pics on them in this blog, but I just had to share these Halloween pics with you. My oldest daughter fell hard for this cupcake costume. I think it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! But my youngest daughter had her heart set on being a pink frothy princess. Which was okay -- in all of their little lives, my girls have never coordinated at Halloween -- they've always done their own thing.

Anyway, as luck would have it, the frothy pink princess costume was sold out, so she reconsidered and decided that she wanted to be an ice cream cone. Hooray! Two cute costumes, kind of coordinating, and a break from the parade of princesses that we usually have year after year after year.....

What a blessing these two little girls are! Halloween was such fun this year. I hope you had a great day, as well!

In other news, it's rainy and cold today here in the tropics of south Texas (and by cold, I mean in the 50's). I'm so glad for the change, actually. While the girls are at school I'm planning lots of Earl Grey, some reading, crafting, and maybe even catching up on my favorite SyFy shows that are adding up on the DVR. Sounds kinda perfect, no? Tonight I'm making sausage and chicken jambalaya from a recipe I adapted years ago from the original River Road Cookbook (a true classic from the Junior League of Baton Rouge). I think it's a great meal for a cold, wet day.

One last random thing: for those of you who share my almost 20 year-long obsession with Law & Order, I have exciting news for you: Law & Order UK!!!!!!!!!! It's British L&O, on BBC America. Same L&O (basically), but with wigs! Awesome!! And the absolute best part:

Yes, ladies, that is Jamie Bamber -- most recently known as Apollo on Battlestar Galactica. (Given my previous Star Wars themed posts, I hope it does not come as a surprise to you that I am a huge geek. The remake of BSG was one of the best series on TV, in my humble opinion, and I still miss it. And Jamie Bamber.) Anyhow, talk about a double geek-out! A new L&O series, and Apollo? Wow. Be still my beating heart!

Thanks for hanging with me today for this randomness. I'll be back tomorrow with the usual lace & glitter. :)

Alison

Holiday Stitchalong!

2010-11-01T06:00:00.005-05:00

Even though I didn't get an overwhelming response to my poll, I couldn't get the idea of this stitchalong out of my mind, so I decided to go for it! I'll be doing a 25 Days of Christmas stitching project of some kind (not sure yet if it will be a Christmas design or a 5 x 5 sampler grid), but I'd love for you to join in!

If you'd like to join in on the fun, please leave a comment here or on my stitching blog, and give me your blog address so that I can add it the blog roll I will have on the stitching blog. If after a couple of days you don't see your blog listed, please just drop me another comment as reminder. Also, I'd love it if you would grab a button and add it to your blog to spread the word. The code for the blog button is right over there to the right -------------->. The more the merrier, really! It's so fun to log on every morning and see what everyone has stitched.

Once we get rolling, I'll set up a Flickr group as well where people can post their stitching pics.

So, I hope you'll join me for some holiday stitching!

Alison

Down the Rabbit Hole

2010-10-28T10:52:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we finally had my oldest daughter's birthday party. I say "finally" because her birthday is in July. We were supposed to have this party in early August, but that was in the middle of the whole water leak/demolished house debacle, so we had to push the party down the calendar. She wanted an Alice in Wonderland theme, so I did my best to give her an Alice/Mad Hatter themed party.

We had loads of treats labeled "Eat Me" or "Drink Me":

Everyone got a crazy top hat when they arrived, and then went in the back yard to play croquet:

We had our tea party table set up under the magnolia tree:

The girls had tea sandwiches, fruit, and lots of sweets with their tea or apple juice (not too many takers on the tea!). Then they played an Alice in Wonderland trivia game (with Alice in Wonderland books as the prizes). Then we played a fun (but messy!) paint the roses red relay race game. I had drawn a mural of roses on white paper that we taped up across the garage doors (it was a BIG mural). The girls divided into teams and did a relay race where each person had to run up to the mural and paint a rose red. The girls loved it, but it was crazy and messy (so much so that I forgot to take pictures).

After that excitement, we opened presents, watched a few minutes of the Disney Alice in Wonderland movie, and then it was time to go! The girls got an assortment of party favors, including keys and teapots that we made out of candy melts:

I think that it was a successful party. There were so many things that I wanted to do, but didn't have time to do. But in the end, my sweet (10 year old) baby was happy, and that's all that matters:

The Motherlode!

2010-10-25T08:22:00.000-05:00

I promised you some pics of my new lace score -- and here they are! It's hard from these pictures to get a sense of just how huge this lot of lace is: but trust me, it's massive. Certainly the largest amount of lace I've ever bought at once. I'm going to be busy photographing and listing..... but it's going to take me a long while to get through all of this wonderful lace! For now, enjoy the eye candy:

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We were busy with our Mad Hatter Tea Party. Pics of that to follow soon.

New Flowers Coming Soon and Exciting News!

2010-10-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited about these new flowers! They are little velvet forget-me-nots, on a bendable wire. The flowers are actually two layers: velvet underneath with a thin net layer on top! So cute! I have them in this gray/light blue, and the light pink. I hope to have them in the shop later today (and I hope to have more colors soon).

In other exciting news, remember these kits I made for the show?

Well, I didn't sell a single one at the show. Not.A.Single.One. BUT.... one of the other vendors who has a brick and mortar store saw them, loved them, and placed A WHOLESALE ORDER for them!! OMG!! Perhaps I'm making too much out of it, but I've never before had anyone ask for a wholesale order of anything I've put together, so I'm pretty over the moon about it. Guess that goes to show that it's worth trying something new because you never know!

And finally, for my fellow lace junkies, you are not going to believe the lace that I just scored! (I do sound like a junkie, don't I?) I'll have pics galore in my next post. :)

Show Pics

2010-10-20T21:59:00.000-05:00

We're in the middle of the show, so things are crazy, but I thought I'd share a few pics with you. These were taken on my Iphone, so they are, ahem, well, not great pics. But hopefully you get the gist. Here's our booth, all dressed up and ready to go! Little tip for those of you who do shows: a few years ago, we started taping down oilcloth fabric as a "floor" for our booth; in the fall we use this white with red polka dots, when we used to do spring shows we used a pink oilcloth with strawberries. Anyway, it instantly brightens up the space -- and most vendors don't think to do it. It can make your booth really stand out! Just be sure to completely tape down all the edges so that no one trips!

The vintagey looking pink/gold/silver trees on the top shelf above are new for us this year. I love them so much that I've been hoping that no one will buy them so that I can keep them! Bad business decision, I know, but LOOK at them -- so pink and sparkly!!

Kari had the inspired idea to hang some of our vintage hankies on this feather tree -- I think it is super-cute and a great way to display the hankies! Building on her idea, I set up a lace display tree on the other side:

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our booth. Tomorrow is another long show day, followed by packing up what's left, hauling it home, and then finally some exhausted couch time with a bottle of vino and hours and hours of L&O on my DVR! (But that's just the calm -- or the bottle of vino -- before the storm: have I mentioned that I'm hosting an elaborate Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter themed tea party for my daughter's belated birthday -- this weekend?!?! In t-minus 3.5 days??? Holy cow. I can't think about that now. More to come on that later!)

Hope you're having a great week!

More Show Prep: Vintage Crafting Kits

2010-10-17T13:01:00.000-05:00

Saturdays at our house in the fall are busy with football watching. Lots and lots of football watching. We follow 3 teams (TCU, LSU and the University of Texas) -- so that can be a big time commitment! I love football -- love it! -- but I have to do something while I watch so that I don't feel too guilty about all of those hours. Last night, while we watched Wisconsin beat Ohio State (helping out TCU a lot -- thanks, Badgers!!) I put together some crafting kits to take to the show this week.

These have sheet music, vintage papers, flash cards, a vintage glittery greeting card, a tag with laces and trims, and a spray of velvet flowers. I think they came together nicely, but will they sell? Who knows! We've been doing shows for years, and it still surprises me from year to year what sells and what doesn't. (If these are not a hit at the show, they'll soon be appearing in my Etsy shop.)

I used my new Moo cards as the tags on these -- so fun!

Well, I'm off now -- more linens to iron before the show! Hope you had a delightful weekend! :)

I Moo!

2010-10-14T14:33:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited -- I received my first order of Moo minicards! I had been considering getting these cute little business cards for awhile, but then I saw Elyse's cards on her darling Cottage blog, and decided that I had to have some of my own. Now, I don't think mine are quite as adorable as hers, but I'm still pretty thrilled with them. I uploaded 10 different photos for this set of 100 minicards. I think these will be fun for packaging, giving out to friends, all sorts of things. You can go make your own fun Moo cards here.

It's that Time of Year Again

2010-10-12T16:56:00.000-05:00

It's show time! My friend Kari and I don't do nearly as many shows as we used to -- it's just too hard to juggle childcare and our other jobs, etc. to do a bunch of big shows. But we still do St. Martin's Joy of Giving Market here in Houston, which starts next week. After that, we'll do a small show at my daughter's school, and that will be it for us this show season.

So, now we're in the thick of the getting-ready frenzy. There are piles of laundry to soak and then iron. We've been collecting these fantastic vintage towels all year -- aren't they awesome? I wish we had twice as many!

Meanwhile, in the dining room, little sugary boxes and houses are boxed up and ready to go to the show:

Even the living room is full of show stuff: boxes of vintage inspired glass garland (in silver and pink!), huge bags of lace, and bins full of vintage linens.

I think I might have mentioned before that I have a very patient husband. See what I mean? :)

If you live in the Houston area, come see us at St. Martin's Episcopal Church's Joy of Giving Market, next Tuesday, October 19 (preview party night) through Thursday, October 21. I'll share some pics from the show next week!

What I'm Working on Today

2010-10-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

I pulled out the stitching supplies last night and started on some new little dresses. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with them, but they sure are fun to make!

This one above is a work in progress.... Of course, tiny as these little dresses are, it seems that I need to create quite a mess on the coffee table in order to be creative:

I have a very patient husband. :)

More Black & White Box Swap Fun!

2010-10-08T12:15:00.000-05:00

Here are the fabulous boxes that I received from my swap partners! Aren't they awesome!! I'm in love with these!

Here's what I received from Mary:

Don't you just love that glittery witch riding in front of a doily moon??? So clever!! And here's what was inside:

So many fun things -- and that tiny purple doily?? Love it! There are much better pictures on Mary's delightful blog. You must go check it out!

And here's what I received from Stephanie:

How fantastic is this? I'm loving that big flocked damask "A"! And here's what was inside:

So many fun things for creating! She put lots of little treasures into mini cupcake liners -- what a great idea!!
Stephanie has a wonderful blog -- be sure to visit her to see more examples of her fantastic artwork.

This was a wonderful swap. I can't wait to use all my new fun crafting supplies! Thanks to my swap partners!

Black and White Box Swap Reveal

2010-10-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

I think that my swap partners have received their boxes, so here is the big reveal! Here is the box that I decorated and filled with goodies for each of my partners. A look at the items inside is at the end of this post. First, here's a step-by-step of how I made the boxes:

I spray painted the match boxes a creamy white.

Then I used some ModPodge to adhere a piece of paper to the bottom of each. (These are little pieces from the Halloween Alice in Wonderland paper I told you about a few weeks ago.)

Not finished with the ModPodge, I then used pages from a vintage Physics textbook to cover the outside of the boxes.

I then glued a piece of black lace along the sides. After that, I admit I hit a wall. I just couldn't figure out what to do with the top of the box!! Finally, I decided to go with my first instinct, which was (and usually is) lots and lots of lace! I got out the trusty glue gun, and glued several layers of lace to the top. I hand pleated some of the layers as I glued them on:

Finally, I added the velvet flowers (seen in the first photo), and I was done! They turned out a bit more frilly and less "haunted mansion" than I had originally planned, but I hope my swap partners like them!

Here's what was inside: trims and laces, glittered chipboard, Halloween cupcake pics, several different types of flowers in ivory, clear adhesive gems, vintage tatting on an old wooden spool, a few tags, and a sparkly vintage button.

And, because the small match boxes kind of frustrate me (I can never fit everything in there that I want!), I added these separate packages, with flash cards, Quizmo cards, sheet music, pages from a vintage music textbook, and some orange velvet flowers:

What a fun swap! Stay tuned, tomorrow I'm going to show you the FABULOUS boxes I received from my swap partners!

Halloween Decorating and Black & White Box Swap Sneak Peek

2010-10-04T13:02:00.000-05:00

We hauled out all of the decorations this past weekend, and got most of the house decorated in my new fave "haunted mansion" style! We used to be all about the "happy pumpkins" in this house, but lately I find that I'm gravitating towards more of a Munsters-style Halloween. I find myself daydreaming about random things that I can spray paint black and then dunk in glitter. That's normal, right?

In other news, my boxes are in the mail to my swap partners! This was a fun swap, and it really got me in the mood for Halloween. Here are some sneak peeks at the swap boxes that I made; I'll post full pics as well as a tutorial on what I did to decorate the boxes later in the week when I know my partners have received their packages. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

Hope you're getting in the mood for Halloween, too! Lastly, if you're interested in doing a holiday stitchalong (or not) I'd still love to hear from you! You can still leave a comment here, or on my stitching blog. Thanks!

Important Poll: New Stitchalong?

2010-09-28T12:30:00.001-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember how much I enjoyed Amy Powers' 39 squares stitchalong. I also started the counting my blessings project, but I admit, I have fallen off the wagon. My counting my blessings project is kind of floundering, but I do miss my stitching.

I've been tossing around an idea for a few weeks now, and I wanted to get your opinions. I've been thinking of hosting a Christmas or holiday-themed stitch-a-long. Something small and defined (like 25 days/squares). I know that the holidays are such a busy time, already so packed with projects and a million things to do. But the idea of stitching a bit each night during the holidays appeals to me.

So, the question is: does it appeal to you? I'd like to get an idea whether anyone would be interested in another collaborative stitching project before I spend time trying to organize it. (By the way, I contacted Amy and asked her if she was planning to do a holiday stitching project. She said she did not have one planned, and gave me her blessing to go ahead.) So, I'd love to hear your opinions, thoughts, ideas, comments! Please leave a comment here or on my other blog, Needle and Thread Adventures.

Thanks, and happy stitching!

The Big Reveal

2010-09-26T07:53:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited to report that we have reached the finish line on our home repair project. There are still a few small details that remain, but for the most part, the job is done. So, without further delay, here is the big reveal!

Just in case you can't recall the "before," here are some shots of the bathroom before:

And here's the exciting after!

As you can see, the room was completely transformed! I was going for kind of a vintage European hotel look, and I'm thrilled with the way it turned out! We have new marble floors, wonderful marble countertops (we went all over town looking for really white marble -- and it was virtually impossible to find. I'll have to do a separate post on that adventure), a new vanity and cabinet, new toilet, new tile in the shower, and new fixtures. The walls are a lovely very soft light green (Sherwin Williams Opaline). We kept the original white cast iron tub, and I spray-painted the gold mirror from the old bathroom silver so that it would match. My only regret is that the ceiling configuration won't work for the big crystal chandelier that I wanted. I haven't done any decorating in there to speak of, and I need to find a shower curtain.

The other big transformation was the laundry room. I don't have many great before photos, but here's one of the utility sink that I hated:

It was dirty and stained, and it was impossible to find a stopper to stop up the drain, so it was useless to me as a soaking sink (and a gal's got to soak her vintage linens somewhere!). From this pic you can see that there was big white tile on the floor before. So, here's the exciting after:

Woohoo! The layout is basically the same. We replaced the white tile with this gray porcelain tile that I love, and it was laid in a brick pattern. I have a new stainless steel sink that is huge and very functional. We doubled the size of the cabinet/counters, bringing it along the wall in an L shape (it used to just be next to the fridge only). And yes, that's marble on the counters! (The excess from the bathroom slab had to go somewhere, right?) I added some glass knobs from Anthropologie -- they look like little vintage glass door knobs. We painted the room essentially the same blue as before, but I went one shade lighter. Now it's Sherwin Williams Mountain Air.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this little tour. I'm thrilled to have these rooms completed! Now, maybe it's time to focus on the kitchen.....

Giddy

2010-09-17T09:12:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that antique lace makes me irrationally happy. So, you can imagine how giddy I've been this week, as I've been going through boxes -- yes, boxes! -- of new finds.

I've already put a lot of new laces into the shop, but I'll be doing more every day -- it's going to take a long time to get all of these fabulous goodies photographed and listed!

I hope that you have a great weekend! We will be busy watching football, unpacking the last few boxes, taking our little one to soccer practice, and celebrating the end (almost!) of this home repair journey. I hope to have pics of the finished bathroom and laundry room for you on Monday. I'm told that my marble countertops are being installed today -- another reason to be giddy!

I Remember

2010-09-11T05:08:00.000-05:00

(Photo from Time.)

Yesterday I was running around in the van, rushing from meeting to meeting to appointment, and I turned on the radio. One of the talk show hosts on A.M. radio was re-playing audio from the morning of 9/11. I listened to about 20 seconds of it, realized that I was crying, and quickly turned the radio off.

I still remember, and in some ways it still feels like yesterday. I remember the horror of that day, the hours while I waited to hear if my brother (in NY) and many friends (in NY and DC) were okay (they were, thank God). Racing out of my job high up in a building in downtown Houston to get my baby from daycare; hugging her and crying and wondering what type of a world she would grow up in.

I fear there are many people who have already forgotten that day. Who have become complacent.

I am not one of them.

I remember.

For the Love of Marble Tile

2010-09-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

Things are still moving right along at the casa. I wanted to show you a few new pics now that the bathroom floor is in and finished. I love this marble tile even more now that it's on the floor! I know it's not particularly practical, but I love the way it looks and it gives such a great vintage feel to the bathroom. In the picture above you can see a part of the vanity, which is going to be painted white. I had found these pictures in the new Restoration Hardware catalog:

I wanted that vanity and cabinet, but painted white and scaled down for my space. (As a side note: as much as I love Restoration Hardware, all of their new furniture is SO HUGE! Who has room for furniture that big? If you do, then my hat is off to you! But my little teeny tiny hall bathroom requires something more "wee" than that.) Anyway, I gave the carpenter the picture, and crossed my fingers. Well, it may be hard to tell from my photo, but this is what he created:

I'll take better pics when they are painted (I think I'll need to stand in the bathtub to get a good shot), but let me tell you -- this totally exceeded my expectations! It took my breath away. I am so impressed; I wish that I had the skills to make furniture like this!

In other house news, when we last left the hallway, it looked like this:

And now, ta da!

So, as you can see, things are looking up around here! I hope you have a great weekend! I'm going to be busy this weekend dealing with this:

Say Hello to my Little Friends!

2010-09-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

So, what does one do when trapped in a hotel room for 3 1/2 weeks? Other than climb the walls??? One makes lots and lots of little festive trim tags, of course!

These cute little trim kits, that include these darling vintage picks that someone, long ago, must have spent lots of time creating, are now available in the shop.

In other news, my movers are here as we speak. I think last night may have been our last night of sleeping on a mattress on the floor in my daughter's room. Hooray!! Hope you're having a great week! :)

I'm Back! Let's celebrate!

2010-09-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

I'm so happy to report that we are back home! It's still total chaos here, with half of the house a construction zone, and currently no fridge and no downstairs furniture. But it's still home-sweet-home, and we are all thrilled to be here. Read on down to the end of this post for a special celebration sale announcement!

As promised, here's a pic of my new Ikea desk, which the hubs put together for me yesterday in record time:

It feels a lot more permanent and substantial than my folding table! This pic makes my office look oh-so neat and tidy, right? Well, here's the rest of the story:

That's the cabinetry for the laundry room, waiting to be installed and painted. And in the big box is my new laundry room sink. So, I've eeked out a corner of normalcy in all this, but it's still a big construction zone.

Here are some other updates for you. When our story left off, here's what the laundry room looked like:

And here's how it looks this morning:

New walls, new paint, new tile floor (what do you think?) just waiting for grout. And here's where we left the old bathroom shower (before demo):

Here's the current state of things -- new subway tile, also waiting for grout:

Last on our little tour today is our master bedroom, which looked like this:

And now, miraculously, looks like this:

The workers have really done an amazing job! But I'm afraid I'm going to have nightmares about the way that wet subfloor looked and smelled..... ICK.

Thanks for joining me on this little tour. I'll keep you posted as things continue to get put back together! And I'm so excited to have my computer back that all sorts of new things are coming to the shop as quickly as I can list them. To celebrate, let's have a little private sale, why don't we? For the rest of this week (through Friday, September 10, 2010), mention this blog post in your notes to seller, and get free shipping on your entire order from my Etsy shop! (I'll refund your shipping charges through paypal.)

Happy Labor Day, and happy shopping!

A Fun New Swap, a House Update, and an IKEA Shout-Out

2010-09-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited that Heather is doing another fun petite box swap -- this one with a black and white theme. Spots are limited, so if you're interested, run on over to her blog, Speckled Egg, and sign up! I'm feeling inspired to do something spooky for this one; visions of the Munsters are coming to mind. :)

In other news, we are still living at a hotel. Of course, it's a huge blessing to have a place to live, but it's been 3 weeks now, and we are looking forward to going home soon. They were in the process of staining/coating the new hardwood floors this week, so we are hopeful that we may be able to partially move back over the long Labor Day weekend.

I made a pilgrimage to Ikea today. We are very fortunate to have a huge (and I mean Death Star huge!) Ikea only 5 minutes away. But the truth is that I rarely go, because it's so big and so crowded -- you kind of have to psych yourself up for it. But I need a new desk for my office (I've been using a large folding table as a "temporary" desk for the last 2 years), so today I ventured over there, arriving right at opening time. I found my new desk (I'll post pics soon) and I have my eye on some new bookshelves as well. It's hard to beat those Ikea prices, I tell ya! But the big news was what I found in the housewares area: towels and aprons covered with cupcakes!!!

Sorry about this kind of weird far-away picture of the apron, but it was all I could find on the web. The towels are darling, too, and I think the set of 3 was $7.99. Just can't beat that!

Hope you have a great holiday weekend!

A Little Absence

2010-08-12T08:22:00.000-05:00

I knew this day might come, and indeed, it has arrived. Today the workers will come to move me out of my office to start working on the floors. The scope of this house-repair job has grown and grown like the Blob! It's frankly a bit hard to believe that this much damage and chaos can result from one water leak.

As of this morning, I will be without access to my computer hard drive. I'm going to try to figure out how to blog (with pictures) using my Iphone, but that may be beyond my limited technical capabilities. :) I will try to keep in touch as best I can, but I will soon be back with pictures of the remodel! Hope you'll come back then!

And so It Begins....

2010-08-06T12:23:00.000-05:00

Well, we're still wrangling with our insurance company, living in a partially demolished house, and no construction is yet underway. We've also been told that we'll have to MOVE OUT for several weeks while all of the hardwood floors are ripped out and replaced. Urghhhhh!

The good news is that the plumbing fixtures that I purchased online arrived yesterday. I'm kinda excited about them! Here's the faucet I chose for the bathroom:

It's not the Restoration Hardware faucet that I was drooling over, but it looks about the same and was a lot (LOT) less expensive. In the laundry room I'm replacing the old utility sink that I had with a large stainless steel sink that is quite basic, but big enough to soak lots and lots of vintage linens. I chose a kitchen faucet from the same line as the bathroom faucets to use in my laundry room:

The handles on this faucet come with these cute porcelain inserts that say "hot" and "cold":

but the super-cool part is that they come with replacement inserts in French! (Please excuse the blurry photo.)

It's the little details that are making me smile right now. One last building detail: I picked out the tile for the bathroom floor:

It's a honed marble hexagon tile. I think it's going to give the bathroom that vintage-European-hotel look that I'm after. Here's what my bathroom used to look like, right before the demo started:

I think it will be fun to see the transformation.

So, that's my home improvement update for today! In other news, I've been busy adding lots of antique laces to the shop, as well as supplies for Halloween and Christmas crafting. So, stop by if you haven't shopped in a while!

Vintage Baby Cards

2010-07-27T11:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new obsession: vintage baby cards! I'm in love with the sweet designs, soft colors, and charming details:

So darling! These cards have embossing, fold out details, and some of them are flocked!

I'm keeping some of these for my own stash, because I can't bear to part with all of them, but the rest will be appearing soon in my Etsy shop. I think these are wonderful to use as intended, or to use for papercrafting. I'm already planning to use that rattle (above) as inspiration for a square on my current stitching project. :)

New Paper Sneak Peeks

2010-07-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

Rather than wallow in the misery of demolition at my house, I'm choosing to distract myself by looking forward to all of the new paper collection releases coming out next week in conjunction with the CHA Convention. This is a sneak peek of one of October Afternoon's new collections: "Modern Homemaker."
I am really digging this line -- love the polka dots and the flowers, and that she's wearing an apron. Can't wait to see the rest; I think I'm going to need all of it!!

Calamity

2010-07-18T23:25:00.000-05:00

So, remember just a few days ago when I was making progress in my scrapbooking, and summer was humming along in a nice, unstructured way that I love so much? Ah, the simpler days!

Here's what the last few days have brought at our house:

A leak in the wall between my laundry room and hall bathroom -- a leak that we didn't know existed -- warped the 50-year old original wood floors in my hallway and master bath, and caused so much damage that we had to gut the master bedroom, long hallway, hall bath, and laundry room down to the subfloor and the studs.

Then everything was sprayed with bleach, and the following day painted with Kilz. (Sadly, I'm very familiar with this process, since our first house was completely destroyed by flood during tropical storm Allison, back in 2001.) Here's what the destruction looks like after the Kilz:

You know what they say about best-laid plans and all of that. Suddenly we are faced with rebuilding almost half of the house -- and we don't yet know if insurance will cover any of it. Good times!

But the truth is, we've been through much worse! This doesn't compare with spending the night in the attic, with an eleven-month old infant, as the flood waters rose around us. Not even close! After something like that, this just seems like an annoyance. But still, I admit it is not how I planned to spend my summer, nor is it something we planned for financially. But does anyone really plan for a calamity?

On the bright side ('cause there's gotta be one), I get a new laundry room and a new bathroom. Here's what I'm dreaming of:

(Laundry room pics from Hardhat & Heels; bathroom designed by Nate Berkus -- I do love me some Nate!)

So a new journey begins, one filled with insurance adjusters, contractors, and tile selections. (The tile part may actually be fun.) I'll keep you posted!

BOO!

2010-07-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

Is it too early for Halloween? The over-100 degree temperatures here have me longing for pumpkins and cooler weather! So, early or not, I opened the Halloween crafting shop in my Etsy shop, and I've been filling it up with treasures. Just today I got in these fabulous flowers in orange and black. Inspires me for some spooky crafting!

Hope you're having a lovely summer day, and that it's cool where you are! :)

Back in the Saddle

2010-07-08T13:50:00.000-05:00

Long ago, when I had spent hours and hours scrapbooking and had, amazingly, "caught up," I vowed that I would never again let myself get that far behind.

Whoops.

Flash forward to today, where I find myself over a year behind. Sheesh! Life, the Etsy store, the kids, and a million other creative projects have all conspired to get in the way of my scrapbooking.

I decided that I could no longer let it go, so a couple of weeks ago I finally took the bull by the horns. I dragged out all of the stuff and got to work. I'm still over a year behind, but at least I've made a little progress.

And, just to keep myself motivated, I've pre-ordered this fabulous new Alice in Wonderland Halloween collection from Graphic 45:

It never hurts to have new paper on the way! :)

Petite Paris Box Swap: Part Deux

2010-07-07T09:21:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share with you the lovely boxes I received from my swap partners!

Catherine sent this -- truly a little work of art, filled with all sorts of delightful treasures:

To see more of Catherine's work and wonderful style, check out her blog, My View.

Linda sent me this wonderful, fabric-covered jewel of a box, again filled with wonderful surprises (some of which I had already removed before I took the pictures):

Linda has an eBay store, Fancy Linda, full of all sorts of fun things -- check it out here.

Thanks so my partners for such a fun swap! I can't wait to create with all these lovely supplies!

Let Freedom Ring!

2010-07-04T09:36:00.000-05:00

Wishing you a fun and festive Fourth! (How's that for alliteration?!)

Paris Petite Box Swap Reveal

2010-06-29T13:37:00.000-05:00

My swap partners have received their boxes, so I can now reveal to you what I sent to them. I had so much fun decorating these match boxes! I used some of my favorite papers, pages from a French text book, vintage laces, and some grand adhesions that I've been holding on to (hoarding).

I filled the boxes with lots of vintage laces and trims, some velvet flowers in their favorite colors, a stamped tag, an antique calling card from my collection, and some crown ledger paper punches:

I hope they loved it! My partners Linda and Catherine sent me the most amazing boxes!! As soon as we can get some sunshine here (go away Tropical Storm Alex!!!), I'll take some pictures and share the loveliness with you.

Thanks to Heather for such a fun swap, and for being such a fabulous hostess!

Lace Tags

2010-06-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

I got inspired by these yummy pastel candy colors over the weekend, and whipped up a few lace tags. They're in the shop if you're interested! Stay tuned soon for my Paris swap box reveal....

Paris Box Swap Sneak Peak

2010-06-24T13:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a little peek at what I've been working on for the Paris box swap. I'll post more pics when my partners receive their boxes. Don't want to spoil the surprise! :)

Good News, and Bad News

2010-06-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

First, the bad news.

Just a few days ago, I was here:

And here:

And just before that, I'd been here:

and here:

And now I'm not. (Coming home from vacation is haaaaard! Especially from a Disney vacation. Sigh.)

But the good news is that I'm home, and it's good to be home! The shop is open, and I've been keeping busy adding new trims and laces. Here are some other new goodies that are either already in the shop or will be by the end of the day today:

Hope your summer is off to a great start!

Where Bloggers Create: Welcome to my Studio!

2010-06-18T17:00:00.002-05:00

I'm so happy to be participating in Karen's Where Bloggers Create II event this year! I'd love for you to have a peek around my studio/office. I wish I could I could show you every nook and cranny, but the awful truth is: there's just too much mess and clutter in here! But hopefully I can show you enough to get an idea.

I am very fortunate to have a small spare bedroom that we've turned into my office. It's crucial for me to have a dedicated space, because my craft supplies and the inventory for my Etsy shop were taking over the house! When we moved into this house a couple of years ago, I chose a lovely light green shade for the walls in here, and had all the trim painted cream. It's a soothing backdrop that goes well with all the other colors and laces that I have going on in here.

As I mentioned, this room is a mixture of my personal crafting stuff (which seems to be constantly growing -- I'm a bit of a hoarder!) along with my shop inventory of linens, laces, trims and vintage ephemera. This old armoire (also pictured above), which originally belonged to my parents, holds much of my shop inventory:

I've found that I can never have enough bulletin boards! I've got one hanging to the right of my desk, and it's slowly filling up with pretty tidbits of things that make me happy, including a receipt from our hotel in St. Bart's on our honeymoon (13 years ago!), and some antique lace pattern cards:

My 39 Squares stitching project is also pinned up there, since I haven't figured out what to do with it yet. Here's a closer shot of that project:

Across the room, I hung two empty white canvases so that my daughters could hang their art and create an "art wall." It's constantly changing, and I love it!

Under that, I have a large organizer that holds some of my scrapbooking supplies. (Did I mention that I have a bit of a hoarding problem with crafting supplies?) On top of that, I have my postal scale, a statue of Mary, a dress form hung with rosaries and pearls, and a basket that is quickly filling up with lace remnants.

This basket really comes in handy -- whenever I need a little something for a project, I have these delightful little scraps all ready to go!

One of my favorite decorations in my office is the perfectly frivolous vintage pink gown that hangs on the closet door.

It's lovely and pink and oh so vintage-y, and it makes me smile.

I also enjoy my bluebonnet paintings, which hang on the wall to the left of my desk, and right above my Cricut. (Us Texas gals love our bluebonnet paintings.) These are old and imperfect, but I like them that way. Someday I hope to have a whole wall covered with these.

There are piles of lace and trim all over this room! Some are waiting to be photographed for the shop; others need to be measured for customer orders:

This little vintage wedding cake topper is the first in what I'm afraid will become another fast-growing collection:

My last pair of pointe shoes -- I keep hoping that I'll wear them again someday, but for now they get to hang next to the TV and class up the joint a bit:

So that's a little peek inside my studio/office. What do I do in here? Well, most days I spend the majority of my time on my Etsy shop. Between finding new fun things, getting them listed in the shop, and filling and shipping orders, there's very little time left to do anything before my girls get out of school for the day. But I do still try to make time to make things! :)

I'm a pretty avid scrapbooker, but lately I've become so distracted with embroidery and with papercrafts, I've fallen woefully behind on both of the girls' books. My summer goal is to get caught up!

Here's a peek at my current embroidery project -- Amy's Counting Our Blessings stitchalong:

I love this project! I've got a dedicated blog now, just for stitching, which you can visit here.

Papercrafting and collage has really caught my attention in the last year. I particularly love making journals:

Once I caught the needlepoint bug, I started combining papercrafting with needlework, in the form of these vintage dress tags:

Thanks so much for coming along on a tour with me! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm off now to blog hop -- I can't wait to see all of the other wonderful creative spaces!