Indulge Your Shelf

I received my swap package from my partner, Marilyn , in the It's About Time swap . It arrived via the cutest little bird on the box, and contained so many fun things! My favorites are the interior square box, which is covered with hydrangeas and vintage motifs, and the decorative keys, one which is shiny and ivory metal, and the other which is sparkly green! I also love the "Once Upon a Time" stamp, the large vintage motif tag, and the way she decorated/wrapped the items in vintage seam binding! Thank you, Marilyn! And, thank you to Mary from Vintage Patina , one of my favorite blogs to read, for being the helpful hostess!

We're home from St. Louis after a long, long day of driving, and were welcomed by two very happy dogs, an indifferent cat, and a pile of mail. Among the post was a surprise: several lovely copies of my college's literary journal containing one of my works -- a play that I wrote for a class I took in my next-to-last semester. My instructor had encouraged me last winter to submit it to the journal, but I'd heard nothing more until about a week and a half ago when the instructor told me it that it actually was chosen for the journal and printed. I'm pleasantly surprised! You can read Aurora Magazine , and my play, Barren Courage , here ! I've missed you all, and all your blogs, and can't wait to begin catching up tomorrow!

If all goes well, we're on our way home today! Meanwhile, I took some photos recently and noticed their common thread: beautiful blues! Here they are, and I hope they inspire you: Shabby blue Harker Ware (available in my Etsy shop .) Rescued from Auntie's garage... aren't the floral handles precious ! Two fantastic Vera plates! Close up of majolica plate by Jay Willifred (available in my Etsy shop .) Detail of a colorful pair of vintage bark cloth drapery panels I think these prove that, sometimes, it's just fine to have the blues!

I recently put some new, fun vintage items in my Etsy shop ; here are just a few: I love this vintage plate showing Surrey, England! It's squarish, rather than round, and has the greatest detail. The green is spectacular! A different, but also lovely, green on this plate, with it's awesome clock! This print is antique, and mounted on silk which, despite the stain, is wonderful in it's original frame. I'm selling a set of two of these beautiful aprons, that are small enough for little girl's dress up, but big enough for an adult. The handkerchief pockets are precious! Click on the photo to go to the shop listing for a closer look!

While we're in Missouri we plan to visit the small wine town Hermann , which is west of St. Louis, where we honeymooned 18 years ago. We'd decided that after our wedding we would visit all of Dennis' family to celebrate with (and for me, meet) them. The only drawback to that plan was that I would, literally, be spending my honeymoon with my in-laws! So, after a few days with them, we took a trip alone to Hermann and stayed at a bed and breakfast. The scenery in the area is just beautiful! The highlight of the visit was dinner at a restaurant named Vintage 1847 , at Stone Hill Winery . Stone Hill was then and still is an award-winning winery. I know, I know, you're thinking, winery in Missouri? Well, the town of Hermann was settled by German settlers because it reminded them of the Rhine river valley in the old country, and some of them started raising grapes and continued the tradition they'd been born into. At the time, Vintage 1847's claim to fame was that i...

The best thing about Ben's trip to his week long Scout Camp is Family Night, where we get to visit him there, have dinner, and hang out for the flag ceremonies and awards. This past Friday we did that, and everyone in the Troop -- the leaders, the kids, the parents -- was celebrating their difficult experience. Not only did they survive this tornado, they survived four others, I learned, that were in the vicinity that same day. My son described being under the storm. The words, "What tornado, there's not even any hail?" were just out of his mouth when he rounded a bend on the trail and saw the huge twister just on the other side of the small lake. I asked him what everyone was doing, and he imitated the frantic waving of the leaders to get them all in the storm shelter. He said that once inside the shelter, which was under the mess hall, the leaders sang and tried to play games to keep fear at bay. Needless to say, they lost some of the younger campers to phone ...

Rie over at Simple Pleasures was my pin cushion swap partner. She's a very talented quilter, wife to a soldier deployed in Afghanistan, and mother of two. She just posted that she'd received my package over on her blog . Her style is primitive, reproduction antique quilts, and so I tried my hand at that. I'm so glad she liked it! I've been working on some tags for gift bags that I'm taking to St. Louis. As I may have mentioned, there are few in my "real" life (as opposed to "online" life) that like the same vintage things that I do, and that includes my in-laws. So, I don't often share much of this side of me with them. I decided I need to change that! So, I'm going to give out these tags with the coffee gifts we're bringing. Here I used one of the cool paper flowers I made; the one on the right was my try at a patriotic tag Here I used some of that great wallpaper I bought in Nebraska; these are way more "frou frou...

June 21 is the first day of summer, and in 1991 it was the first day of the rest of my life , when I married Dennis Jackson. What a huge, life-changing decision. Looking back, I think I took it a bit too lightly. I'll always be thankful that it has worked out, and that Dennis was the right man for me. We've been happy together all these years. A little over 3 months before, Dennis proposed over dinner at our favorite little Italian restaurant. I wasn't surprised by the proposal, as we'd already been to chose my ring, but I was surprised when he suggested a June wedding -- I'd been thinking September. We didn't have a lot of time to plan the wedding, but since it would be small that wasn't a problem. We were married on a Friday, and that wasn't the only "unconventional" thing about our wedding. I don't like to be the center of attention, and so I just was not into having a wedding in a church in front of a lot of people. (There were...

I know summer doesn't officially begin until June 21, but as far as I'm concerned, Memorial Day weekend signals the beginning of the season. It's right around the time my son gets out of school, our neighborhood outdoor pool opens, and the cookout season begins! When I was a child, summer was a lazy season. The only real activity was the dreaded swim lessons at the high school pool, and the only nice thing about them was stopping at our neighborhood soda fountain, Shaw's , for ice cream afterward. I liked to get vanilla hand dipped in chocolate shell, on a sugar cone. Shaw's single scoop of pistachio Beyond swim lessons, my summer activities as a kid consisted of following my mother around on her errands, and reading. I would go to the library several times a week and bring home books by the armload. I loved to sit in my backyard on a blanket under a gangly old tree and read. The highlight of every summer came at the end, when our town had it's Labor Day...

I have a fellow Etsy Bloggers Street Team member to tell you about: Lazy T Crochet . You have to check out her Etsy shop by the same name, full of knit and crochet fashions and accessories - wearable shawls, shrugs, sweaters - all which are one-of-a-kind designs - hats, headbands, scarves, and more! She takes custom orders, too. Right now she has a huge summer sale section in her shop. As you can see, she has a way with needles and yarn! Here are two of my favorite of her items: A knit wrist cuff with a carved bone "bead"! Chunky knit bangle bracelet For more fun and also traditional knits, go visit Lazy T Crochet's blog and shop !

A while back, Julia, aka The Spotted Sparrow , blogged about this paper flower tutorial from a blog called "It's In the Details." It shows how to make flowers from old sewing patterns! I got excited right away -- I just loved the look, and the way the flowers are finished off with buttons! Unfortunately, I don't own a Sizziz -- that cool tool that perfectly cuts paper from a template. But I thought, how hard can it be to use scissors? First I made a stencil, then I traced it on, and then I cut. And cut. And cut. Well, it was a little messy, but it did work with scissors! At that point, it was actually very relaxing -- because, once you get all the flowers cut from both the tissue pattern and the instruction sheets, you get to separate the thin, wispy tissue flowers and alternate them in little piles with the thicker instruction paper! It was fun choosing buttons for the middle of the flowers, and sewing through all the layers of paper. I decorated one wit...

We're going to visit my in-laws in my husband's hometown, Saint Louis, Missouri, and I plan to visit thrift stores! I have very happy memories of visiting shops in Alton, Illinois, just over the bridge, on a visit -- it was there that I discovered my first button tin and there's been no going back ever since! I'm going to arm myself with a GPS and I'm looking for suggestions of "can't miss" antique malls and second hand stores! Or events. I'm not looking for clothes -- just fun, vintage items and especially textiles (you know how I am!) If you have any to recommend, please let me know as soon as possible!

I got word from my partner that she received my swap package today in the It's About Time swap, hosted by Mary (thank you, Mary!) and she really enjoyed it. I'm so glad! It was my first-ever swap! Here are some photos of what I sent, to go along with the theme of time -- clocks, numbers, letters -- and in keeping with things my partner said she loves: a button collage, with samples from my collection, sewn onto an antique white double damask napkin; some ribbon and lace on tags; some paper things she likes, like postcards and seed packets; some pretty things in her colors; and an antique sewing machine drawer with sewing notions, linens, and one of my pillows: I had the time of my life putting the package together for her -- it's all shabby and vintage and everything I love. How wonderful to find someone who loves it as much as I do! I'm waiting to receive my package from her; I just know I'm going to love it!

My son left yesterday afternoon for a week long summer camp and I miss him like crazy. I don't remember feeling this forlorn when he went last year, but I think that's because he went in mid July and, after his being home on summer break for a month and a half at that point, I was a little more "ready" for him to be gone if you know what I mean. I have it as a goal this week to do some writing. During my last semester at college, I wrote a short story of about 25 pages that I am very fond of, and that my instructor suggested I let sit for a while before editing. It's been sitting now for 2-1/2 months and I'm ready to take another look at it. Honestly, if I only accomplish editing it to prepare it for submission to some journals, it will be enough for me for this "free" week. (My husband already started to put pressure on me last night, though, when he walked through the door after work and asked, "How was writing?" Yeah, I gave him a w...