Indulge Your Shelf

I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  We did. Ben came home for a few days and we loved seeing him.  He rested, helped around the house, and bonded with the kittens! I also spent the holiday weekend happily working on a swap for Christmas. I had to do six White Christmas themed ATCs.  Instead of using a vintage image like I normally do, I went with a tiny Christmas tree that I created from tulle tied to a toothpick.  It sounds a little odd, but I think it looks really sweet.   Here's the prototype, which I made into a tag rather than an ATC: It's kind of hard to see it in a photo, because the tulle is so light and wispy; when I get the rest of the swap in the mail, I'll try to take better photos for you! I also treated myself to a trip to the thrift store, since everyone's putting out their Christmas items!  I love this new/unopened box intricate plastic figurines of the Three Wise Men! I think the camels they are riding are incredib...

For the first time in many, many years, I had a booth at a craft fair!  It was a large show at a local high school, and I signed up to do it at the last minute.  Rebecca crafted some wonderful gifts for the booth, but couldn't be there on the day of the sale.  Dennis helped me -- and he was a huge help!  It was fun! We set the tables up the night before; they were very simple, but pretty with lots of white, and lights.  Besides the handmade stuff, I sold some of my vintage Christmas items -- like the angels and caroler statues.  This photo was taken late in the day, after we'd sold quite a bit! Some friends stopped by, including Jeanelle -- who is looking so fabulous after regaining her health/surviving breast cancer!  'Makes me so happy! Rebecca did the canvases with deers (this one says, Sparkle), and we painted the stars and our husbands cut and put them together for us! In the afternoon the sun came through those l...

It is like Christmas at my house right now -- as I've been making delightful crafts to sell at a fair in town NEXT weekend!  Everywhere you look there are piles of evergreen and sparkly things, and old stuff that many would consider trash: true ephemera!  And in that Christmas spirit, as I've mentioned before, I, who needs NO MORE, have happened upon some treasures at thrift stores I just couldn't and wouldn't resist!  Let me help you get in the mood:  vintage Hallmark gift trims - never used!  old stickers and tags  This "cutter" tablerunner  card-table sized tablecloth  I love that Santa and the Noel in different colored letters!  another tablecloth!  Odds and ends from The Bins (Goodwill)  All of the above, except for the Hallmark trims, were a total of $2.23 at The Bins! So, you see why I had to rescue them! I ran into my friend Kathy there, and she gave me some good pointers as she...