Indulge Your Shelf

photo via Late Night Coffee First and foremost on my mind is that it is a sad day in OK, and my thoughts are with them.  I've spent time in the city that was hard hit yesterday, Moore, as we have friends that moved to that very town from here a few years ago.  They are, thankfully, safe.  But so many others aren't, and it is heart breaking. I have other friends in the area that I haven't heard from yet; so we wait.  Given the situation with utilities, it may be a while.  Stay strong, OK.

As soon as the weather warms around here, people get to junking!  This weekend my community is having their neighborhood garage sale; would you believe I haven't been out "shopping" yet? ...Because, for the first time in a while, I spent some time this week thrifting and doing some other junking/exploring.  You might call that "bad timing", because now I feel like I have plenty to keep me occupied without hitting the neighborhood sales. I found this fun old novelty fabric the other day and I am in love with it.  It is just so FUNKY! Not to mention it continues with the Breakfast at Tiffany's kick I've been on lately...do you see how it says, "Love for sale at Tiffanys"? I found this great old souvenir New York cocktail glass -- in Tiffany blue and gold -- at the same store. As well as this rhinestone beauty that was all gathered up in a little bag so I couldn't really see what it looked like until I got home.  It was mar...

I've had Breakfast at Tiffany's on the brain the last couple of weeks; it might have something to do with a certain, special article coming up in Somerset Studio Gallery magazine's Summer 2013 issue , set to hit newsstands on June 1.  ( Wink, wink! ) One of the Birdsong 3 swaps I was working on had us creating a rosette; well, I got to designing layers of petals with vintage fabrics and I can't seem to stop!  Here's one in progress, with a Tiffany blue center -- it's not the one I'm giving away in the swap but I am enamored by it!  You can see how I finally taught myself to do it: sewing the layers on a piece of felt which I will later trim away.   I love pairing aqua with salmon red -- it's unexpected but beautiful, I think. Then, I had a chance to work on a project I've been dreaming of doing for about a year -- ever since Karla gifted me this GORGEOUS Breakfast at Tiffany's pendant she got at the Affair at Tiffany's event last S...

Kathy's always showing fun vintage button purchases on her blog , and it has really whet my appetite for finding a button grab bag of my own! The other day I found this one -- it sure does fit the bill, huh?  Like most, it contains buttons and an odd assortment of other items one might find in a button box, sewing drawer, or even a junk drawer.  The most unusual item in this particular pile was, I think, the music holder that attaches to an instrument so it can be played in a marching band.  (It's buried so I'm not sure if you can actually see it in the above photo.) Most of the buttons were just common plastic sewing buttons, BUT I was excited to find some great vintage ones here and there -- including this pile of realistics: white stars, clear glass stars, red horseshoes... keys, tea pots, padlocks; etc.  Do you see the little elephant in front of the blue buttons?  It's glass!  The one above him is a butterfly -- also glass. the pink one...

This is one of my favorite things that I've made recently.  I added a ribbon so now it's a hanging piece of art -- and I tried to list in on Etsy only to find I couldn't part with it yet.  Does that ever happen to you? The little birds really speak to me.  I hope you're having a lovely Monday!

Motherhood is such a journey.  It's the best -- and the hardest -- thing I've done in my life.  And definitely the most humbling. Ben, my one and only Happy Mother's Day to you all -- we are all on this journey together.  I hope you are pampered and spoiled -- or at least, appreciated , today!

I really enjoyed this snippet tutorial by Carole Bunger of Madness and Mess ; she published it on her blog a couple of years ago but I only recently found it and I just had to try it out! What. Fun.  It is a roll of small strips (snippets) of fabric and whatever else you feel like adding, prettily arranged, sewn together and then rolled around a large wooden spool.  My spools are old, from a vintage seller on Etsy. I used fabrics inspired by the film, Breakfast at Tiffany's . There's a fabric that shows Japanese lanterns, a vintage postage stamp from Brazil... the streets of NY, Cat... and some sparkle to remind you of Audrey.  I just love them!  They are fun to play with, and can be used as embellishments for your fabric journals, projects, or just for decoration. I listed these in my handmade Etsy shop .  I don't know if anyone will buy them, but it was fun to create them!