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 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...

This is the last of the three swaps I did in May, which I've finally received!  It was with a Facebook group called Rag Bag Gals, and was a "Perky Pin or Pendant" swap.  Here is the pin I made and sent out -- seven of them!: I created it with a vintage doily, which I cut the middle out of and inserted a piece of vintage cotton fabric; then, I cut it up into seven sections; here's how it started out: Here are the wonderful contents of my returned swap package -- a pile of pins! Here they are individually:  A happy face by Deborah Piefke  Sweet doll by Penny  Dyed, painted apple by Brooke Bock  Red heart with crochet by Coleen Franks Angels by Glenda Miles Vintage style dream by Jean Rubman A gift from the sea by Catherine Etter Here's a close up of what's under the netting in this pin -- seashells!  This swap took a lot of time and energy -- but what a fun return!

Wanted to show you some more of the thrift store fun I've been having while unemployed: In the photo above there are shallow tin canisters that I have had fun decorating; I'm saving them for a future special (unknown) project, or as gift boxes.  There's also a Yahtzee score pad, which I think makes great ephemera, a papier maiche angel, a wedding topper, and a lampshade frame.  The Alice in Wonderland print has already sold in my shop, and the sweet silhouette one is still here because I couldn't list it, I love it too much! What's not to love?  The details -- like the cat being tempted by the parasol tassel, and the mouse in the clock...! This set of hand carved mid century bookends has been popular in the shop (lots of favorites) but so far no takers! Sometimes I buy stuff I have to research and am then surprised, like when I realized the pearls in this fancy souvenir ashtray are probably genuine!  It is also in my shop . I really love the graphic ...

Since being unemployed, I've made more frequent, shorter visits to thrift stores and estate sales than I normally do.  My husband has been working a lot from home, so in an effort to stay out of his way I've been spending less time in the office at the computer.  The result is that while I've found oodles of fabulous linens and fabrics -- I've not taken the time to blog about them as often as I should!  Today I'm going to try to catch you up -- get ready for lots of photos of vintage fabrics, lace, crochet and some other odds and ends:  Almost without fail, I end up with lots and lots of crochet and doilies... Believe it or not -- I do try to limit myself to only the most interesting and unique ones, and leave the rest behind for others to find!  I'm getting ready to make some of those "dreamcatchers" with doilies, so I've been collecting for that purpose.  I buy hand-tatted trim whenever I find it -- because we all know how hard it is ...