Indulge Your Shelf

Has one of these creative reuse, recycle, upcycle CRAFT stores popped up near you yet?  Oh my goodness, I visited this one today and it was like heaven! It was as if you were in the sewing/crafting section of your favorite thrift shop and found something amazing for pennies...except, EVERYTHING was amazing and everything costed pennies! I spent a total of $6 and got all of this: Vintage Hallmark embossed wrapping paper - perfect for Valentines! - an unopened vintage tissue roses kit, beautiful old card box, NIP Dept. 56 garland...  a bride and groom cake topper that I've been looking for for a project, pretty old pin box...  3 yards of fabric with finished edges -- perfect to make table runners from...  and a bag of all these finished quilt squares, plus extra pieces... someone worked very hard on these, and most of the fabric is raw silk.  I'm thinking pretty pumpkins! Not shown: a stack lovely blue deckled writing paper, some large ma...

I'm so happy to finally have time to come back for a visit on my blog!  And, I actually have some rather good news: my husband will be starting a temporary job tomorrow.  It is of unknown duration, and right here in town.  It's not a great job, and it doesn't pay much -- but it is the first job he's been offered despite his herculean efforts, so we are happy! We found out on Friday, and that evening we'd been invited to a karaoke night at a nearby venue; I hadn't been to karaoke in 20 years, I think -- it hasn't really changed!   It was fun to be out with friends on a night we really felt like celebrating! We had way too much fun and, gosh, did we need that!  To my left is Rebecca, her husband Conrad, and on my right is Vonnie, her husband Bob, and Dennis.  The sparkly lights on us are coming from the karaoke guy's fancy light set up.  Don't I look like I'm giving Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer a run for his money?!  We closed down the show...

The other day friends came over for dinner and then we did some painting. I covered this cabinet front I'd bought at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore: Mind you, it's not yet finished -- but as you can see, I tore paper to create a mosaic-look along the border, sponged on some paint, and then I printed out some words to a song that is meaningful to me right now and adhered them to the middle of the board.  I still have to work on that section.  The song says,  I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert/but I can live and breathe and feel the sun in wintertime . That really spoke to me, as we live in the high desert and have, as I told you last time, been frantically packing and cleaning, because we were planning to sell our home.  But, guess what?   We changed our minds. Everyone wants to know why we decided against moving, and we're feeling a bit sheepish for being so wishy washy, and getting everyone all up in arms about this big move, and now pul...

I picked up a small, hand painted sign at Vintage Market Days, held in Colorado Springs , last week.   I went to the market twice: once on my own and once with Rebecca!  It was an event I'd been looking forward to for a long time. Here's that little sign: I bought it because, there has been an unexpected development in our lives. In writing, this is called a plot twist. We have decided to put our beloved home on the market and move to a more urban area, North of Denver, where jobs are plentiful and pay better. It's a move we've been contemplating for a long time, but love of our home and reluctance to make such a change has always overridden the decision. Until now. As you know, Dennis has been out of work for more than 5 months.  I've been working for a temporary agency pretty steadily, but have not had a permanent job for 8 months despite applying everywhere, too. It's not that there aren't any jobs here -- it's just that t...

I know it's not quite July yet, but, I am getting so busy that I decided to go ahead and start my Christmas in July Sale, now! New items being added for the next week or so!  Please share with your vintage Christmas loving friends!   Indulge Your Shelf .

Please pay no attention -- I'm putting this mechanical Santa video on my blog so that I can link to it in my Etsy listing !

Thank you for all the nice comments and likes on my Jane Austen Fabric Journal! As you can see, Paul Simon gave me a lot of "help" when I was finishing it up. Job Update: Dennis flew to NC for a job interview last week and we're waiting for an offer to come from them this week (the job would be in CO.)  It's not a sure thing as he's competing with three others for the job -- so we're holding out breath. I interviewed for a local firm last Thursday, and should hear "early next week"; it would be a temp to hire job.  The "thanks but no thanks" emails keep flowing in from jobs I've applied to online.  I've been out of work for a month now. Waiting, waiting, waiting. But, it is FINALLY summer in Southern Colorado.  We've been enjoying some beautiful days!  Before, during and after job hunting I am sometimes able to get Dennis to go out to enjoy our lovely area. Hiking at Bear Creek, above, and a Dairy Queen/th...