Indulge Your Shelf

One of the gifts I bought for my husband, son and I this Christmas was a "skin" for our cell phones. The thing is, we all have the same phone, so in addition to being fun it was a way to tell our phones apart! Here's mine: This is a photo of a hang tag I made that is a favorite. The reverse is a close up of some of my antique lace. I created these by uploading photos on the website skinit.com . They have many designs to choose from, or you can make your own as I did. It was so easy: just choose your phone model, they bring up a template for it, you upload your photos and place them where you want them! Mine was $20. I highly recommend it!

Just before Christmas, I was charmed to find an envelope from Germany in my mailbox, which I opened to see this beautiful collaged card... The color and texture of the card are just amazing. Look closely to the lower left and you'll see a pendant as well; here's the reverse: They were both gifts from Viola , who must have been able to hear me across the Atlantic as I squealed in delight! (You may remember when I blogged about Viola after I purchased one of her beautiful collages as a graduation gift to myself. It continues to inspire me!) Thank you Viola for the sweet and generous Christmas surprise!

One of the things I've been looking forward to all year is the beginning of the next One World, One Heart (OWOH) Blog Party and giveaway! I participated in it last year, and I credit the event for making this blog come alive with readers and with making some wonderful new friends! During OWOH, I made a point of bookmarking all my favorite participating blogs, and visiting them again as time allowed in the weeks following the event. That's how I met so many of YOU! This year, OWOH has the theme of Magic Carpet Ride. The organizer, Lisa, aka A Whimsical Bohemian , is hosting the event on her blog this year. She recently sent out an informational email to those of us who participated last year, which included this bit of direction: "One thing I am asking this year is that whatever your giveaway or giveaways are that you find a clever way to present it on your blog when the event begins. Since this year we’re riding the Magic Carpet perhaps you can find some way to us...

As much as I love the holidays, I'm always happy for things to get back to "normal" afterwards, how about you? I enjoy the week between Christmas and the new year as a "tying up loose ends" kind of time. This is when I typically delete unnecessary files and back up my computer files (both computers) onto CDs. I also try to organize and transfer all of my thousands of photographs onto CDs as well, and order prints of any that I might not already have printed through the year. It's so important to stay on top of that! I use Snapfish and get my photos by mail -- it's my favorite service, and I've tried a lot of them. The photograph organizing isn't as daunting as it sounds because I use Google's Picasa application. It catalogs all of my photos on each computer, streamlining the process, and is especially helpful for emailing photos to friends. And in the spirit of closing out the year, I am also going to highlight the Etsy Blogger of the ...

Merry Christmas to all my friends the world over, who open their blogs and their hearts to me and make this a wonderful place to hang out, all year long! I hope you have warmth and happiness, and surprises under the tree tonight! Love, Laurie, Ben, and Dennis

This morning I took one last sprawl out on our sofa while I watched some of The Today Show . Any minute now, the furniture truck will bring us a new sofa, ottoman, and entertainment console. Dennis and I moved the old sofa out into the garage to await a friend's picking it up later today. It's been cleaned and had its insides examined for stray Lego pieces, change, and peanut shells. I hope that, despite our snow overnight, the friend will come to get it. We have nowhere to put the thing! The new sofa is smaller, so it will fit much better in its allotted space. Because it doesn't have the reclining feature of the old sofa, I insisted on getting the matching ottoman. I'm short and need to put my feet up to be comfortable sitting for any length of time. Furniture just doesn't fit people my height! The entertainment center is just lovely -- it's long (80") and will look great in the family room. But, for now it's going to live in the dining roo...

I was thrilled to learn that I won the 14th Day of Christmas in The Twelve Days of Christmas from Where Women Create Contest! Here's what I won: This beautiful print "A Creative Woman" by artist Sandra Evertson!

Only a few more days until we celebrate Christmas! I'm feeling happy (and, honestly, kind of smug -- shame on me !) as I've finished all the holiday prep, shopping, wrapping, etc. I had planned. All that's left is to go grocery shopping for Christmas dinner, which I plan to do today. Today we have sunshine and highs in the '50's, but the weatherman tells me it will be cold the next couple of days (slight chance of snow.) When I make my grocery list in a little while I have to decide, once and for all, if I will be baking. My son wants to make fudge. Once upon a time I made dozens upon dozens of all varieties of Christmas cookies; we always made a gingerbread house, and decorated sugar cookies. This year, my heart is just not in it! What kind of baking have you been doing? I just had to show you these amazing vintage glass ornaments I found on Thursday at the thrift store: They're incredibly thin and delicate! These are the kinds of finds that make me w...

You may have noticed I'm really into combining red and teal-ish blue lately! I did it here, in my Homage Box : And here in my funeral card scrapbook : The other day, Melissa blogged about this color combination and got me thinking about how much I love it! I think I first began noticing how well the two colors go together when I bought some Anna Griffin scrapbooking paper that had some pretty designs in those shades. From there, I went nuts. Here is some more inspiration from Etsy Bloggers Street Team Members! Click on the name under each photo so go to the listing on Etsy. by Kalapohl FoxyGKnits A Keeper's Jackpot Winemakersister'sshop What are your favorite color combinations these days?

I took some photos before throwing these in the laundry this morning. These are the type of vintage Christmas linens that make my heart go pitter-pat : A thrift store find large tablecloth... I love the Yule Log design! This was spotless -- I doubt it had ever been used! Here's another - same store, same day. It's a bit busy for me... But if you look at it one section at a time, the design is so quaint! And (above) here is the detail of a tree skirt with great, kistchy red, green and white pom pom trim! Then, I discovered this in the handkerchief section: It is a silk hankie with the most incredible, watercolor-like design... From an Expo in Brussels in 1935. I love this so much! I'm thinking of making it part of a crazy quilt, someday. Tomorrow begins my son's Christmas vacation from school. I'm very excited to have him home for two weeks. Then, it should really begin to feel like Christmas around here. We're having mild weather. I'm finished with al...

take a look at the icon on the top of my left sidebar: it's advertising a contest over at Where Women Create . They're giving away 16 prizes, and you have until midnight on December 16 to enter all of them. Go see!

I'm escaping from wrapping Christmas gifts for a few moments to say H-E-L-L-O! Here's a photo of a button tree I made with vintage buttons from my collection, some tiny silver beaded garland, and pins: Also, I have to show you this print that I have been coveting from my favorite local antique store for more than two years. The last time I was there, the booth owner happened to be there working on her display, and I asked her to give me a deal on it. She was happy to sell it to me, she said, because I wanted it so much! It's a sample plate of monograms, from Germany. Earlier this month we had my Aunt Delores visit for a few days; she was actually here for my husband's surprise birthday party. Here are the boys playing around with my husband after dinner; notice the empty cake plate in front of him! It took 2 cakes and a pie to feed the crowd of 12 that night!: Aunt Delores was grieving the loss of her faithful beagle, Cricket, who she'd had to put to sleep last...

Thank you to all who entered my Blogaversary Giveaway , and welcome to the new followers! I used the Random Number Generator, and the winner is: SANDRA Congratulations, Sandra, and please email me your home address so I can get this little guy in the mail for you! I hope you all have a happy Saturday planned; I'm going to bet it will be VERY BUSY, so close to the holidays. I am taking the day "off" to enjoy another all-day crop and work on my scrapbook project about my parents. My husband and son will be bell-ringing for the Salvation Army and then going to play LaserTag for my son's best friend's birthday party. So, I don't feel bad about "abandoning" them on a Saturday! I'll see you back here tomorrow! Congratulations again, Sandra!

Happy Blogaversary to me! So, we've been having incredibly frigid, below zero temps that have kept me inside most of this week and I've been crafting. Here's a bit of what I've done: I've been pulling apart those vintage corsages you sometimes find in thrift stores, saving the best pieces, and re-assembling them. This is one that I put on top of a cigar box I covered in scrapbooking paper. Here's another that I paired with that snowman ! Just an idea of how you can use the snowman if you win my Blogaversary Giveaway! A cute little Santa on a vintage glass ball...sitting atop a rusty bed spring! And then...bottle brush trees! I am obsessed with them. I tried bleaching these -- from dark green and hot pink, respectively. Do you know, I have never been able to identify the odor at my local Dillard's Department store. Whenever I buy stuff there, it lingers in my car for days. Now, I know what it is: it's the smell of bleached bottle brush trees. I ki...

The bad news is, I didn't get chosen to be on Wheel of Fortune. (Booooo.) The good news is, I spent Tuesday's "snow day" crafting, and finished another Artist's Class project! (Hey, you have to celebrate the little things!) This time it was the "Pretty Fabric Covered Box." I started out with this vintage quilted box: I covered the bottom, sides, inside, and the top with paper, vintage fabric, vintage ribbon and trims, and a few bits of newer trim. This beautiful blue and green wired ribbon was a purchase from a specialty ribbon shop a few years ago when we vacationed in NM. I had been saving it for something special. The same with the lovely fabric I used to line the inside: I bought it at an antique store a while back and was saving it. I bought the antique trim that's on the inside of the lid in Missouri. The antique ribbon that covers the sides coordinates with the "Marie blue" theme, inspired by the antique print on the top of ...

I really hate it when I fall behind in reading all my favorite blogs, but I do like it when I spend a few hours catching up and come across a theme of sorts. This time, the theme I found was a bunch of wonderful tutorials, all winter themed, and all generously shared on the blogs of these talented ladies. I'm going to share the links with you, here: A ruffled felt wreath, courtesy of Kristen at Domestifluff . Really cute Advent Calendar idea from Ann at Keepin' Up With the Tatums . Wonderful snowflakes from Karoline at Cherished*Vintage . Thank you to all the bloggers who shared their talent and creativity! Don't you feel so blessed to be able to share in all this wonderful creative energy? I do! If you decide to make any of these, please thank them, and be sure to link back here and show me what you made! Don't forget, you have until 11:59 p.m. MT on December 11 to enter my Blogaversary giveaway here .