Happy Halloween!

Vintage postcard graphics decorate a mini scrapbook/photo book (just sold it- sorry!) Have fun trick or treating!

An Etsy Treasury

Just a few more favorites

Colors of Falling Leaves

Just some favorites found in shops on etsy! Consider shopping among the thousands of shops dedicated to handmade goods, like these pictured:
JudyStalus.etsy.com, GetReadyGetSetGo.etsy.com, StrongStreetStudio.etsy.com, alexandraleah.etsy.com

why men shouldn't take phone messages

A funny card (at least to women!) handmade from an antique graphic from a 1940's Meredith Collage yearbook.
The answer inside:
"Someone from the Gyna Colleges called. They said the Pabst Beer is normal.
I didn't even know you liked beer."

Turn Your Home into Store

...just for a day anyway! I hosted 19 vendors from my etsy.com "virtual community" to get together, shop from each other, and sell to others. It cost us nothing other than a little time advertising through email and putting up a few local signs, and it was very successful. Now is a great time to have a Holiday Boutique Open House!
Tip: since the weekends are becoming so busy with art shows this time of year, consider doing an afternoon into evening show on a week day.

Deep Meaningful thoughts on Journaling

I have always admired people who journal; who write out their thoughts or prayers, ordering their inner life or chronicling their outer one. I believe these people are at an advantage, and will more likely succeed at, well, whatever they are writing about. But I can't do it, not without sounding like a psycho who is in great need of intervention. And what if I really am? I certainly don't want other people to find it out via my own hand! But I love journals, notebooks, all things paper. Love to make collage art journals and have stacks of them all over the house. So if you're a writer, a list maker, or journal-er (is that a word?) I respect you. And I have a shop for you! Because while I don't journal, I'm certainly willing to make money off people who do :)
See journals at VintageScraps.etsy.com

Quote of the Day

"You and I are here to do good to others.
What the others are here for, I don't know."
W.H. Auden

Sesonal Damask on Etsy

A collection of favorite, elegant, black and orange from etsy.com

boo. Vintage Halloween Graphics

Vintage Words (yes, there really is such a catagory!)

beblubbered adj. "swollen" from the Dictionary of the English Language, 1881.

Now why is this rolls wonderfully off the tongue word not in use anymore??
As hundreds of new words are annually added to our language, older ones are sacrificed, but fortunately have been captured in Jeffery Kacirk's book Word Museum. A delightful read, he has "rescued" the following for us, words that we should all work into our sentences at least once a day:

bloddy hand- "One of the four kinds of offences in the king's forest, by which the offender is supposed to have killed a deer." 1656

clapperclaw- "to tongue beat; to scold. To scratch, maul, or fight in an unskillful manner; generally used of women.....hence clapperclaw, a noisy woman. See also batterfanged and curtain-lecture. 1896 (I am not making these up)

cynathropy- "Madness caused by the bite of a dog, wherein the patient avoids light and water; or a particular kind of melancholy when men fancy themselves changed into dogs and imitate their actions. A frenzy which makes a man haunt unfrequented places." 1749
So there you go.

Vacationing with teenagers without wanting to kill them

Jerry Seinfeld was right: "There is no such thing as fun for the whole family."

Traveling with little ones was exhausting, true; but vacationing with teenagers is impossible! Assuming you've even found dates when they are all available at once, finding a suitable place is tough. But we've found it- hiking in the amazing Blue Ridge Mountains. We started when the youngest was 4 years old, and have gone back every year since. It works for even the most electronic of teens (that would be my 15 year old son). Rent a "cabin" (ie: gorgeous wooden house, with technology and hot tubs, reasonably priced when it's not ski season) park on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and hike for free. And if you hit a rock funny and blow out your ankle, 9 rescue workers will carry you back down in a metal basket, and even provide a morphine drip!

About Vintage

Everyone has at least one box in their attic filled with bits of history. Antique papers that don't rate a $300 shadow box, but cannot be thrown away either- your grandmother's recipe clippings and report card, your great aunt's favorite magazine ads and postcards. They are a former part of everyday life and they are falling apart in your hands- what to do with them? That's my passion: bringing forgotten bits of history back into daily life via hand collaged art, journals, clipboards, and cards.
Go in your attic, open the boxes, and bring your family's memories back to life!
(See ideas at VintageScraps.etsy.com)