Awesome friends...

I'm sure like me, you've all met some out here. I certainly hope so anyway. There is nothing like a blog buddy, and here's proof!

Amy from Life at AJ's posted a while back about making a zippered pouch. She was commenting on how expensive zippers are and so I left her a comment about my gigantic zipper collection and offered to send her some. We decided a swap was in order, so I sent off a handful of zippers and look what she sent me! I kind of feel bad, zippers are in great supply at my house and they certainly don't measure up to all this awesome stuff!

A beautiful bracelet!

With matching keychain!

A bookmark, which I love! And she made it extra long to fit in all my thrift store craft books.

And this cute decorative clipboard. Isn't this great? I have already used this a ton - great for projects in front of the tv!

THEN, the ever generous Mary Ann sent me my Pay It Forward gift! (You have a whole year to get this done if you were a part of this fun Challenge. Of course Mary Ann is an early bird!) I am absolutely in love with this little beauty named Gretal.

She has already found a home in my kitchen - what do you think?

Mary Ann knows my fabric weakness and sent along this beauty as well! I can't wait to make myself a bag out of it! You'll see me coming with that one, won't you!?

Thanks Amy and Mary Ann!! You sure know how to make a girl's day!

Junk Fest

Whoa! It's Thursday already! Where did this week go? I have to show you some of the treasures I brought home from my trip to my grandparents. The small town they live in (where I grew up) was having a flea market of sorts called the Junk Fest! How coud I go wrong, right? Here's what I snatched up there....

Three rolls of this old contact paper! I'm thinking either I need to start covering my whole house in it, or I will be selling a roll or two in the shop.

I absolutely love this clippy thingy! I am still trying to find a good place to put it. I can see this decorated for the seasons, pictures of kids, etc. Can't wait!

Then, on the way home, Sydney and I stopped by a thrift store along the way. Out of town thrifting doesn't get much better!

I love these Japanese mugs...but they will probably end up in the shop as well, just no room!

But this purse? All mine!! It folds up and snaps on the sides to make a smaller bag. Genius, huh!

I also got this green bedspread for $2! I love the color and texture. Now I just have to decide if I am going to keep it whole or cut it up. Decisions, decisions!

Tomorrow I'll be showing off some recents goodies my mailman brought me!! See you then!

My trip to Grandma's house...

The drive: The Interstate cuts straight through the mid-section of North Dakota...unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot out there.

But, if you can look past the bugs, there are some pretty sights to be seen.

And if you watch close enough you just never know what you might find! (Yikes!)

Sydney and I had a great time. She hung out with my Grandpa doing what he does best I guess!

Meanwhile, my Grandma gave me a complete lesson in the art of canning. (Pickled beets - sounds gross I know, don't knock 'em until you try them!)

Overall, a great trip. I came home with enough beets to last 2 winters, a new gigantic cast iron pan, some very cool junk and a few thrifted treasures to share. I'll show it all off tomorrow!

An Experiment...

This...


Plus this


Equals this!


Heading off to visit my Grandma for a couple days. Have a great weekend!

The Traveling Bag - A WIP

We are leaving for vacation in a couple weeks (7 days in Washington D.C.) and I decided to not wait until the last minute to start a new bag. This bag has to meet a lot of requirements. There will be a ton of sight seeing and a ton of walking on this trip. My bag has to be big enough to hold touristy stuff for a whole day and be light enough to carry a whole day. I'm going for a messenger bag style. Anyway, I'm sure you will hear about both the bag and the trip a lot more in the coming weeks, so I'll just leave you with these WIP pictures.

Shop Work...

Thanks to Amy, I had the chance to work on my packaging for the pendants. I decided to go with a matchbook design. What do you think?





This weekend after playing with all my new fabric, I decided to make up some free gifts to go along with my etsy orders. Here are some bookmarks made out of my new vintage fabric...

I think its a fun way to really showcase the fabric and hopefully give my customers something functional as well. The more I go through my fabric the more I fall in love with it. I can't wait to start creating things with it. (I will not hoard, I will not hoard, I will not hoard.....)

We interrupt this program...

Sorry, we have to take a little break from the book review so I can brag about my fabric score today! You know when the classified's ad says "Quilting material from my mom's closet and some of grandma's too" that its going to be good. But I never could have expected this...

See this pile of of quilt squares. 50 cents. Yep, 50 cents for ALL of them! I have no idea what to do with them, but aren't they beautiful?

And this pile? These were all of the scraps. Some are clothes that have been taken apart, some are parts of pillowcases, some just plain old scraps. How much for all of these you ask? FREE!! At this point I was starting to feel a little guilty, so I actually spent money on the rest...

Ten whole dollars to be exact! The bad part is I didn't need one more scrap of fabric in my house. But honestly, how could I not, right? After I go through it all (and my mom goes through it, and my sister, and probably you too Sara, right?) then I will list some of it on etsy. We'll see if there is any left!

Here are a couple of my favorites!

In the meantime, I am planning a major sale on any current fabric in my etsy shop to make room. I'll be adding some new stuff and slashing prices on current things. Take a look!!

Thrift Store Book Review - Part III

Are you ready for another? Getting bored? I have to say I am having a great time...I honestly haven't look this close at a lot of these books before, its kind of fun!

Today - A Treasury of Needlecraft Gifts for the New Baby copyright 1972.

This book has a lot of quilt and softy patterns in it, along with some really cool applique patterns and of course tons of felt projects! Funny, after rereading that sentence I realized I could just as easily be talking about any current craft book on the market! Do you ever feel like there are just a limited supply of ideas floating around out there and we just keep making them over and over again with just a little something changed every time? Honestly though, I don't feel that in a bad way, its kind of cool to see the cycle.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites...

They did some sort of free motion machine sewing to create these pictures.

With the right fabric, this could be a really cute quilt!

The have a whole section in here on making gifts for the older sibling. This is a softy made from the kid's drawing supposedly. It doesn't really look like how any kid I know draws, but still a really good idea!

Another cutie - this stuffed hen could be great!

The whole book has these little drawings all over it. Wouldn't these be adorable for applique or embroidery? Here are just a few of my favorites!

The book's only real downfall is the lack of pictures in color. Then again, that may be for the best!

Thrift Store Book Review - Part II

Today's book is another 25 cent beauty from the thrift store. Farm Journal Christmas Idea Book, copyright 1973.

The first third of this book is recipes which I haven't looked to closely at yet, but the other 2/3 are on decorating and gift giving. One of the first projects to catch my eye was this wall decoration. Doesn't it remind you of the Alexander Henry fabric from last Christmas called Merry Modernica? You can check it out here (sorry, kind of a bizarre link, it was the only place I could find it! I know I have a yard of it hidden away somewhere though.) The only difference? The wall hanging pictured is 5-1/2 feet tall!!

And do these remind you of anything? Martha thinks she is sooo smart! :)
For all you patchwork lovers out there...how about a poncho? Or a nice vest for your man? A classic look, no? He, he, he...
Now, these I think look like fun. It is felt glued on painted plywood then sealed. Some very cute possibilities for kid room decorations.
Hoped you enjoyed this one! I'll be back tomorrow with more. Would you like hints on entertaining from the 50s & 60s or needlecraft gifts for the new baby from the 70s??

Thrift Store Book Review - Part 1

Hi All! Not much crafting going on around here, even though I have a million and one ideas. I am supposed to be working on some marketing stuff for my brother-in-law's auction company, and thus have put myself on a sewing ban until I get it done. In the meantime though, my house is getting really clean! Procrastination is the best way to motivate the cleaning machine in me.

So, even though I don't have any new projects to show off, I thought I would share some book reviews from my ever growing pile of sewing, crafting, entertaining books from thrift stores and garage sales.

Book One: Women's Day Bazaar Best Sellers, copyright 1983

I found this book at the Salvation Army for 25 cents. All library discards are 25 cents there - I love it!! There are a lot of basic crochet and knitting patterns in here.

And some sewing....some patterns just need a little fabric update...

While other are just plain hilarious!

And of course a few classic food magnets thrown in for good measure! I think Sydney would get a kick out of these!

Overall my opinion is a big thumbs up - worth every last cent!

Finally!

I finally finished some pendants to list in the shop! The jump rings went through MULTIPLE versions, but I am really happy with how they turned out. I will gradually be listing the pendants you see above. [HINT: Those planning to give etsy ago in the future, this is the key to making it work. Don't list it all at once! Your stuff will just get lost out there in the shuffle.] They probably look better on their own, but I am so excited about them, I think this is how I would wear them! Next I'm working on my packaging -- marketing freak that I am you know. Assuming I actually sell any, I want the packaging to really fit the feel of the jewerly. As always, I'll let you know how it goes!

Have a great day!