Indulge Your Shelf

 I love to create these miniature fabric collages -- snippet rolls!  They look beautiful cascading off from the top of a vase, or can be pinned open to a curtain or swag. My favorite thing is to just roll it open and gaze at all of the details!  I never tire of having something like this in my hands! Now in my Etsy shop here !

I'm trying to downsize, and cut back on buying.  I love buying and re-selling kitschy stuff, and have had a long and enjoyable hobby doing that...but, with my full time job and no plans to revert to part time again soon, something had to give!  I've tried very hard this summer to resist the temptation of flea markets, antique shows, and thrift shops.  But every once in a while, I'll treat myself -- and I did that Saturday! I adore this little cloth bag that someone created from an embroidered runner (I think.)  The best part: that little covered button! I went back and forth about buying this polyester "throw" that someone sewed like a quilt -- so much ORANGE!  I ended up getting it and then was lucky enough to find this little juice carafe.  I'd actually been searching for it for a couple of years, as I have another glass bottom without the lid.  I think it's a cute holder for fall snacks like nuts. One of my collections that many people don't know ab...

Precious time is flying away, here we are almost at mid-May!  Lots of happenings: Ben has graduated from college and is getting ready to move once more to a new apartment (his fifth move in as many years!) This graduation was more enjoyable for me than his high school graduation, but less comfortable as it was out in the blaring hot sun!  We were all happy when it was over, and had sunburns to go with our smiles! Dennis and I spent a couple of days in Ben's college town and had a few meals and visits with him, which were a delight!  The campus is very pretty. Above, I'm making fun of his stiff photo stance .  Just teasing him -- he gave us lots of "real" smiles during this visit. In other news... My friend Wendy and I have gone in together on a booth in a section of an antique store called, Citywide Garage Sale; we are sharing a table to sell off odds-and-ends, random antiques and vintage stuff we've collected that doesn't really go on ...

I'm trying very purposefully to make time for "making"!  This week I exchanged an altered tin in a Vintage Crafters Cafe swap; I had been working on the tin since after Christmas, here and there, very slowly.  It was satisfying to have a project to work on, even while being so busy with so many other things! I started with an empty Altoids tin.  I painted it inside and out with white paint.  Then I found a couple of scraps of vintage linens with pretty floral designs for the top and for the bottom.  For the bottom, which is deeper than the top, I sewed the linen onto a piece of felted wool from an old blanket.  I liked the "cushion-y" look it gave to the linen. I was making a wall hanging, so I glued the tin "open", and covered the back with scrapbook paper that that had a small, doily design.  I added a phrase that was the "theme" of the tin. Pretty vintage needlework and trim, as well as a new tiny doily and a Martha Stewart doil...