Indulge Your Shelf

In honor of the scrapbooking/stamping party I hosted last night, which was tons of fun and VERY inspiring, I wanted to show you some of my button packs. I spent quite a bit of time sorting vintage buttons into piles of similar shades and then packaged them for sale for your scrapping, collages, or other art or passion! There are 50 in each packet - at least - all different sizes! All are clean and thread-free. Here's a sampling - don't they look great arrayed on Starbucks dessert plates? These are all available right now in my Etsy store ! This one is called "Cotton Candy Mix": Then there's "The Blues": Chase those blues away with some "Sunshine"!

Well, it's getting to be the last day of January, 2009. How are you doing on those resolutions? Me, I didn't make any. I figured that, since this was the year I was going to attempt to finish two 22 week college courses in 8 weeks, that was enough of a challenge. If you're not faring so well on that list of resolutions, here's something for you: The to do list you can actually do: Hit snooze. Shampoo; rinse; repeat Forget to floss Eat a bagel Forget to put laundry in the dryer Screen phone calls Get sucked into a movie on Lifetime Put off remaining duties while reading celebrity gossip Skip Pilates Eat a burrito Get sucked into surfing around on Facebook Pick up The Story of Edgar Sawtelle on nightstand Read paragraph. Put book down. Leave eye makeup on Lights out (adapted from Real Simple magazine , back page January 2009)

...then these are the cards for you! I am the happy owner of a set of this Friday I'm In Love valentine card pack! Julia of The Spotted Sparrow has created this set of cards using antique images and the titles of '80's songs! You must see them. They will, they will rock you. Right now it's sitting in its pretty red, handmade box in this Shawnee planter, along with some vintage Valentines. Soon, though, I'm planning to clip the cards on a string of red ribbon and hang it above my desk. I can't bear to part with them by sending to friends, sorry folks. Maybe next year.

I love this pillow I made for sale in my Etsy shop ! The pillow front speaks for itself, don't you think? The fabric that frames the front and makes up the back is "Holbein" by the English Nina Campbell. My cat, Kyra, approves!

Okay, I know I can't be the only one who's still putting away their Christmas things...can I? Here's something I wanted to share before it goes in the box for next year: a couple of weeks ago I did a scrapbook of all my special Christmas ornaments. As I was decorating the tree I was enjoying putting them all on the tree, these ornaments we've been collecting since we were married 17, almost 18, years ago. They include Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments depicting a special event from the year, and also ornaments we collect whenever we travel. I got to thinking, what will happen when I'm gone? Will anyone remember why this particular ornament is a keepsake? I decided then and there that while I was on break from school I'd create an ornament scrapbook with all the stories in it. I used a small, 8 x 8 album kit which was on after-Christmas clearance at Hobby Lobby. It came with the little album, pages, some stickers, some borders, and a couple of embellishments. A...

After unseasonably warm weather for the last week or so, we've had a weekend of typical January weather. I awoke yesterday morning to that frigid, frozen landscape I know so well, with snow dusted ground, evergreen trees that look dipped in powdered sugar, bare-branched trees that appear frosted white, as well as a white, rather than blue, sky. Yesterday the sun eventually came out. Today it didn't. It snowed all day -- sometimes sparkly little flakes that blew in the wind like so much glitter, other times real snowflakes. I know this, because I was out in it all day. As part of an effort to raise money for my son and his fellow Boy Scouts to take a trip to D.C. next year, we were slated to deliver telephone books Saturday and Sunday. Little did I know when we signed on for this that it would take us two whole days of hard work in the bitter cold. Yesterday my husband delivered with my son; today it was my turn. Yep. When we began tramping around in the snow with those...

I've been sewing busily away and have piles of pillows newly listed in my Etsy store ! Here's a sneak peek: One of my favorites -- I love the fabric and how well it coordinates with the antique French pom pom trim! I couldn't resist this one; I only just found the vintage floursack dishcloth embroidered with the little girl a couple of weeks ago and it's already a pillow! If you know me, and how I hang on to linens for years sometimes before I use it for its intended project, you'd see how unusual that is! More like the one I'm giving away for One Heart One World are in the store, and, MORE TO COME!

Please feel free to follow this blog (click on the link to the right) and/or otherwise add me to your list of blogs you love to read -- I'd be honored! I'm visiting everyone who comments on my One Heart One World giveaway post (and many others from the Gypsy Caravan, too!) Remember: only bloggers who comment on the above linked post will be entered in the giveaway! 'Can't wait to meet you all!

Okay, I was tagged by Julia at The Spotted Sparrow, so I'm going to take a few minutes to tell you a bit more about myself via her list. I've bolded the things I've done: 1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disney World 8. Climbed a mountain - well, it was more like a big hill... 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo - auditioning for choirs 11. Bungee jumped - I will NEVER do this! 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child - almost; we went through the year-long process to get licensed, got the license, got the phone call, but had to turn the baby down because I'd just discovered I was pregnant 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train -...

Attention friendly bloggers : this is for you! One World One Heart ( OWOH ) is an annual event and I'm participating for the first time this year. If you haven't already heard about it, OWOH is a big party where the venue is the world wide web, the party guests are us bloggers , and instead of standing around holding drinks and making small talk, we are reading each other's blogs to make new friends. The best part is there are favors! The party favors are a free gift we're going to give away to fellow bloggers who post a comment on our blogs! The brainchild of Lisa , OWOH is a giveaway of epic proportions in that there are, as of today, already more than 400 blogs participating. That means 400 prizes you can enter to win! Click on the blue logo above to get to the OWOH site; there you'll find more info about getting involved, like I did today (thank you, Sunshine & Ravioli !), and, most importantly, the list of links to the participating blogs who ar...

I have newly listed domestic violence note cards in my Etsy shop, four in all. They are the result of a heartbreak, a vision, and a collaboration with Etsy artists. I'm proud of them and hopeful that they'll somehow make a difference. Warning: they are not for the faint of heart. And, although it's not my intention to offend anyone with the cards, it is my intention to draw attention to the danger of domestic violence and to rage against the typical behavior of "looking the other way." Proceeds from the sale of these cards are being donated to the National Domestic Violence Hotline .

You know, I didn't vote for Barack Obama, but I'm still excited for the nation on this momentous Inauguration Day. It's fun to see how energized and excited everyone is feeling -- and it will be incredibly interesting to see how things go in the coming months. I hope the energy lasts!

I've now listed all my ephemera packs in my Etsy store -- go and have a look!

Follow the link to a page of resources about the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA.)

I spent some free time today putting together small collections from my piles and files of ephemera. Here's the littlest one, with a dog theme: The baby themed collection is full of sweet little scraps: One of my favorites so far is this western/cowboy themed assemblage: I assembled 8 groups in all, which will be on sale in my Etsy store over the next day or two!

Well, I'm beginning the new year by closing my eBay store. All of my items remain for sale, as I stopped doing "store listings" several weeks ago. The only thing that has changed is that I have no "storefront" anymore. Many have asked me why I'm closing the store so I'm going to state my reasons and hope the information helps someone else with their decision to open, or keep open, an eBay store: In the past year, eBay has shown their unapologetic favoritism of the stores that sell a ton of new items, aka Power Sellers. I admire those hugely successful sellers but really cannot compete with them, especially now that they receive big breaks in search results rankings. It is a fact that if you have an item ending sooner and costing less than a Power Seller with the same item, theirs will still appear higher in the search results unless you know how to get around that. Guess how hard eBay tries to teach people to get around that? Here's how: chang...

Since Maggie is big boned , I always have trouble finding a jacket to fit her. Then I stumbled upon lzpets who was able to make both Maggie and Snoopy a custom fitted jacket! The jackets are fleece inside and out; Maggie's has quilted red hearts with coordinating plain red inside; Snoopy's is a green fleece print that my son picked out with a coordinating blue on the reverse. The best thing is that the coats, being fleece, dry off real fast when the dogs come in from the snow! Maggie says, "The best thing is it's soft and cuddly." Snoopy says, "I'm stylin'." Stop by lzpets and see what she has for you and your pets!

One good reason to get married to have someone to tell about all your bizarre dreams. They have to care, or at least pretend to care. So, I was telling my husband about this moment in a dream I'd had the night before where a guy we knew was leaving our house, and just before he went out the door he walked back to our kitchen counter, grabbed the German fruit cake I had sitting there, and shoved it in his pocket. My husband goes, "So, you mean your Stollen was stolen?" See what I mean?

Here are a couple of photos of "Pueblo Sand" by Behr, the color we painted our kitchen last week . What do you think?

Did you wake up to a snow covered landscape like I did? 'Need something to do to chase away the cabin fever? Don't forget that the deadline for Extreme Craft 's call for submissions for their upcoming book is coming up. They are looking for crafts that are made with recycled, upcycled, repurposed and reused items -- and the deadline is tomorrow, January 5th. Get out that camera, download the submission forms, and get busy!

For a wonderful burst of color and inspiration, check out the blog Etsy in Spanish . Wonderful, talented, fellow Etsians!

We're taking advantage of the very mild winter day (in the high 50's!) to open the windows while we paint our kitchen. Our kitchen is small but efficient; we have many cabinets so there's not a lot of wall space; therefore, it's not the biggest paint job -- just big enough to make it fun! We're freshening up the original, mushroom colored walls (really -- that was the name of the paint!) with a Behr shade #260E-3, Pueblo Sand. It's lovely! A kind of orange melon color, it looks great sandwiched between the aubergine of the dining room and the sage green of the family room. Ahhh...color!