Indulge Your Shelf

If you're looking for Show us your Best Handmade 2010, click here . An article I wrote on examiner.com: Happy New Year wishes of yesteryear ; I included some lovely antique postcard photos!

If you're looking for Show us your Best Handmade 2010, click here . This morning, I finished up a project I've been working on for six years total, but one year in earnest: scanning, printing, and cropping my entire family's photographic history.  I blogged about it a bit here and here . Two volumes worth: all of my parent's photos from their own history and childhoods, and all of my childhood through age 18.  I'm so happy to be finished!  What a great way to end the year. A safe, happy, fun new year to you!

If you're looking for Show us your Best Handmade 2010, click here . It's amazing to think that the year is ending within two days; I do look forward to 2011 -- during this year I will celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary, my son will begin high school...and who knows what other wonderful things will come? We went grocery shopping and ran errands yesterday, so we're prepared for an oncoming storm which I am hoping will dump a lot of snow on the ground!  It sounds so cozy to be holed up inside with my husband and son, to ring out the old year and welcome the new one.  Believe me I have plenty of projects to work on if that happens! Here's the latest of my sponsored articles:  Great TV for antique and vintage treasure hunters .  Feel free to comment on the articles, even if you're not local.  I would love to hear what TV shows you've seen and liked on the subject matter! The sun is shining now, but who knows for how long?  I'm going to take advantage of i...

Welcome to Show us your Best Handmade of 2010 -- a look back on your creative year.  I hope you will blog about what you've created that you loved the best, and link back here to share the beauty! It really is hard to choose just one thing, isn't it?  But I think that this is what I made that I like best: I found this bird "plaque" at a thrift store, where it looked like this: I just really liked the shape and size of it, and decided it had potential if painted.  So I painted it all white.  But then it looked too "flat" to me.  So then I added color on the flowers. I used some of my Silver Bella skills to paint, shade, and "antique" the piece. It still needed something...so I added the collar and the crown, and glittered and embellished it with something like abandon (another Silver Bella-learned skill!) I was doing all this during the week after Thanksgiving, and it enjoyed working on it more than I can say.  I guess that's why ...

Incredibly, as I watch the news reports of monster storms and rare white Christmases around the globe, this California girl is envious.  There's plenty of snow in them thar hills (ski country) but not a flake to be seen around here, and none on the horizon, either.  Hmphf! Normally, it's plenty deep by now! Post your swirling white photos on your blog so I can have a look, okay? And, please visit my second article on Hidden Treasures: Vintage Christmas treasures at thrift stores now Only two more days until Show us your Best Handmade 2010 !

We had such a lovely holiday this year -- mellow!  Friends came over for a wonderful meal on Christmas Eve, and it was so nice to see them before they flew off to be with family the next day.  I can't believe how big the kids are getting! On Christmas morning our teenager let us sleep until 8 am; then we awoke to coffee and opening gifts.  We all got some wonderful things, including my new camera!  It's an upgrade to my Sony Cybershot, and I'm excited to begin using it!  Ben's excited, too, because it means he gets to use my 3-year old one.  I'll never tire of watching the surprise and excitement on my kid's face when he opens a box to find his heart's desire, will you? We lazed around the rest of the day, watching TV, talking on the phone with family, and snacking on some of the fantastic treats we have in abundance. In the late afternoon I roused myself to do some scrapbooking.  It was my kind of day! I'm up early, so I think I'll be headin...

I just had to get into the post-Christmas shopping spirit of things and offer sales in both of my Etsy shops! In Indulge Your Shelf , items in the SALE Vintage Christmas category are 50% off with coupon code AC2010. Vintage Angel Picks  In Twice Shy ReStored , ALL ITEMS -- even the newest journals -- are 25% off with coupon code 25IN2010. Handmade Vintage and Antique Journal Both sales run now through January 2!  Who's going after-Christmas shopping?

Merry Christmas! I can't wait to hear about your holiday!   and, don't forget to take photos of your favorite handmade creations of 2010 to post and share next week! Right here beginning December 29!

This morning I awoke to a frosty world... On mornings like this, it's foggy, and cold.   And slick.   The trees look as if they'd been dipped in sugar! I'm much happier about these "sugar-dipped" trees:   If you've never had the pleasure of receiving a package from Karla's Cottage , put it on your list!  She wraps everything so delightfully...    and has been known to send along something extra, and beautiful! I always feel spoiled when I order from her shop. Karla's trees added to my collection And, after the day I had yesterday, I needed a little spoiling for sure.  To give you the end of the story I posted yesterday, we spent most of the day handling my speeding ticket.  First, driving out to middle-of-nowhere, Colorado, locating the courthouse, then waiting, waiting, waiting.  I was sick to my stomach the entire time, and not unaware that it was also a full moon, Winter Solstice, and the morning after a lunar eclipse! ...

I got some really good news yesterday from the website I write for, examiner.com .  As you may know, I write about antique and thrift shopping in Colorado Springs, the city nearest me.  It's a lot of fun but also a challenge, because they have rules like, for the max pay, you need to write about local stuff; you must also write like a journalist -- they specifically ask that your writing not sound like blogging -- and refrain from writing in the first person.  It's always interesting to try to make my articles fit their guidelines and still be me . Photo of a junk store I profiled in Simla, CO, for examiner.com So , I got an email from examiner.com yesterday saying that my page is going to be sponsored for three weeks beginning December 26 by HGTV !  Specifically, for their upcoming new series on estate sale and flea market finds, Cash & Cari .  This means they'll put their ads on my page and examiner.com will promote it as well for that 3 week tim...

This past Friday I took my wonderful dogs to "the spa", aka the groomer, for a much-needed bath and freshening up.  The groomer's in town, so instead of driving back home while they were away, I decided to stay in town and shop -- including visiting some thrift stores! Maggie says, "You know what's coming, don't you?" Snoopy says, "She's going to try to blame it on us!" I will admit it: I am obsessed.  Obsessed with vintage Christmas stuff!  I can't stay away from the Christmas tables at the thrift stores, and then I come away with stuff like this: I bought these little elves with their "Japan" stickers intact to sell, but when I got them home they worked their mischief on me so now they live on top of my electric fireplace. I love and collect vintage Vera, so even though I only found one of these sweet Christmas napkins -- I'll cherish it! These long ones are a bit younger than most I buy, yet are made by Larisa,...