Indulge Your Shelf

Hello, world!  Welcome to my blog!   My name is Laurie, and I call my blog "Indulge Your Shelf" because I often post about the pretty things that catch my eye at antique stores, thrift shops, estate sales, street fairs, flea markets and the like -- and end up on my shelf at home, or in my Etsy shop by the same name !  My maternal grandmother had a great love for pretty old things, and it was she who taught me to rummage for treasures in thrift shops, to collect what I love, to sew, and to embroider.  And, that's another thing I write about often on my blog: creating! I love to sew and re-purpose vintage and antique linens into pillows and sachets, plus, I do a little bit of crazy quilting (and sane quilting, too); and, lately I'm big into paper crafting with ephemera.  In fact, I probably do paper art more than sewing these days.  I also do some regular, special event scrap booking.   I love paper -- the older the better!  I collect many small...

In case you're wondering where my One World, One Heart post is: there was a little confusion over the start date.  I was all ready to go this morning when I saw Lisa's blog post which says the event begins AFTER midnight PST on tonight, Sunday -- i.e., 12:01 a.m. on 1/31/11 .  So, stay tuned for my OWOH giveaway to post here technically tomorrow morning!  I can hardly wait -- it's a favorite time of the year for me and blogging! Don't worry -- it will be worth the wait! That wonderful antique postcard was part of the fun and gorgeous Valentine surprise I received from Linda Sue that I was telling you about the other day: Isn't she spectacular?! I love her birdie banner that spells out "Love"! And, Linda Sue made her with brads so she can kick up her heels!  And she does, often, because it makes me smile! I adore how she created her with paper and pure genius! But then, Linda Sue is like that! She added paper ephemera, and this absolutely wonder...

I'm doing better now!  I just received a surprise in the mail which I will photograph and show you as soon as possible; and, my son is back at school after being home ill for a couple of days!  I have spent the morning doing what I love: going to an estate sale, and then an antique store.  I took lots of photos of the antique store's Valentine's Day displays for an upcoming article, too, which is always fun!  This morning I hung up my Valentine banner that I made last year from cards I bought from Julia at The Spotted Sparrow .  It's red and purple, because my dining room is painted aubergine.  Here are some photos from when I blogged about it before .  Have you been decorating for hearts and flowers day? Angela made the cutest snowman quilt recently, and gave away her leftover material, including a quilt block, on her blog.  Guess who won it?  I just saw on her blog that she's doing it again, too, with different scraps, so go visit and ...

Hey, isn't it about time for some thrifty finds? This is a very fun apron, isn't it?  I love the party and cocktail theme, and the green binding! Here's something I rarely find in thrift shops: vintage wallpaper! And then, at the same time, I found this vintage textured wallpaper, too! I like to use it in my ephemera journals, so I was pretty pleased. At a recent estate sale, I bought this Little Red Riding Hood full card of MOP buttons that was sitting in the drawer of a sewing machine table; also, this huge box... full of snaps and hooks, most of them on cards.  I love adding the cards in my journals, as well -- there's just something about that sewing theme with old paper!  Also a bunch of American made steel pins were in the box. This particular color of red and the print and graphics on these old notions are just so lovely! I love the cover and the illustrations in this childrens song book! And then I was intrigued by the scribblings made by "Donal...