Indulge Your Shelf

 I love Valentine's Day!  I recently decorated for it, and wanted to show you all the beauty: When I took the Christmas ornaments off the tree, I replaced them with valentine decor -- hearts, tags and even some antique valentines! I never tire of these decorations!  Happy hearts and flowers day!

When you live in a cold climate, January can really be tough.  Even though we get a lot of sunshine in Colorado, it's still frosty, and that chill can travel right down to your bones.  We stay indoors alot during a normal January, but this year it's that much worse because we've been doing it for so many months now. This photo came up in my memories, from when Ben was a toddler.  We'd been given a hand-me-down snowsuit and I couldn't wait to use it, so on one cold California day I dressed him up in it!  We were so innocent of real extreme weather conditions in those days!  The photo is over 20 years old, but I remember that day so well, and I can still feel the weight of Benjamin in my arms. Art Garfunkel My cats are in winter mode.  If you love a cat of your own, or ever have, I don't have to tell you how much they enjoy a sunny window... Hey Jude or a sharing your blanket on a winter night!  Both of them have grown in their winter coats and are spend...

Dennis and I attended a beautiful wedding last weekend for one of my new co-workers.  Everything about the day was lovely and we were so glad to be included! The wedding colors were dark blue and white, and I was so inspired by the pretty invitation that I decided to create a frame for it for them as a keepsake. Here's how it turned out.  While the images of brides were scans of originals, almost all of the rest of the details including the beaded flowers, millinery and fabrics, were vintage (of course!)  Here are some of my favorite details/close-ups of the decoupaging: The back, and a little gift card I made to go with it.  I know that decoupaging with vintage paper isn't everyone's style, but I hoped she'd like it, and she did! This weekend was quieter; after Dennis was out of town for the whole week (and the whole week before, too), he came home Friday and took me to a local pop up vintage market.  It was small, but we had a l...

Well, you guessed it: I had the time of my life at the Rod Stewart/Cyndi Lauper concert!  First of all, it was great to spend time with my old friend Judy -- who I've known since 7th grade.  She visited Colorado for the first time and enjoyed our wonderful weather and the relaxing (compared to the bay area) feel. On the night of the concert we had just found our way to our seats in section 306 when we got the surprise of our lives: I asked another fan to take a photo of Judy and I with the stage in the background.  The next thing I knew this fan, who it turns out was part of the backstage team for Cyndi Lauper, was handing us tickets to the sixth row next to the stage!  She told us, Cyndi liked to gift people with seat upgrades!  We moved down to our new seats in a happy daze! Cyndi Lauper performed first and she was energetic and inspiring.  I re-lived many 1980's moments listening to her songs, which were always both fun and also touching -- like...

Have you seen this meme on Facebook or elsewhere on the web? It makes me laugh and at the same time it strikes fear in my heart!  Because I had such grand plans for Christmas crafting this year.  I intended to start in July.  Well, it's mid August and I finally did start preparing last week by sorting through my Christmas thrift store finds from this year. After sorting, I started grouping.  These are all the special shaped tart tins, molds and cookie cutters that I bought specifically for crafting this year; I grabbed them whenever I found them cheap at thrift shops. But when I went through the stash I already had, I discovered a great supply (above) that probably would have taken me through this year's crafting!  But no matter, because I have an idea to sell  kits  for making those wonderful little tart tin/mold ornaments this year -- so, extra is good.  I am so excited about this project and have spent time yesterday and today gather...