Happiest New year!

with a bit of 1890's advertising

"...and unto us a child was born..."

Merry Christmas!

Do Your laundry!

Why is the IDEA of laundry so appealing,
and yet DOING laundry so...not?
Here are a couple of fun etsy
offerings with the laundry theme.

It's Not Your Mother's Tupperware Party

What fun! My home was turned into a store for a day this weekend as I hosted an art show for my virtual community on etsy, the NCTriangle Street Team. The theme was Handmade for the Holidays, and shoppers were invited to feast on Christmas treats while browsing through the tables of 15 sellers. I love living in a store! Stop by our team blog, http://nctriangle.blogspot.com/

O Christmas Tree! (and the husband with issues)

There are so many things you don't find out about your man until after you're married. Tiny, irritating habits, wonderful, deep running character traits, things both good and bad. And some revelations don't quite fit into either the good or the bad categories. This is one of them.
My husband has Christmas tree issues. The problem surfaced during our first Christmas, 11 months after we were married, on a bitterly cold afternoon in Connecticut. We went to a tree farm to find a tree. I was dressed for going to a tree farm to find a tree. My husband, as it turned out, was dressed for a Quest, as in The Quest To Find The Perfect Christmas Tree. Oh sure, it was romantic and fun- for the first 3 hours anyway. Then as the cold from the frozen tundra beneath my feet crept into my brain, I began to get a little sarcastic. "How about this tree, HONEY?" I would say, jabbing at a two foot Charlie Brown Christmas tree look alike. He was undaunted. 47 hours later we tied The Perfect Tree on top of our Just Out of College Married Poor People car, and headed home. In the years that followed, I tried all types of intervention to help my husband, all for not. The Quest resurfaced every year. I gave up, and began producing children who could take my place accompanying my husband, while I stayed home and made cookies. "You go on ahead," I'd say in my martyr voice. "I'll stay home so you can have hot cookies when you return."
Our marriage was saved.
We moved 5 years ago to a house I fell in love with because of its big and beautiful kitchen/sun room combo, with a 14 foot ceiling, and in doing so, unknowingly added another dimension to the Quest: not only is it to be perfect, but it must be as tall and as wide as the White House Christmas Tree.
Perhaps I'll convert to Judaism...

Winter Pale

Just my mother's wedding nightgown, and some soft etsy finds!

A Simple Christmas: decorating your home when time, patience, and money are lacking!

After Christmas, 75% off little trees deocorate the bath and foyer. Vintage Christmas postcards (literally shoved on the tree- I was in a hurry!) can be found on etsy, ebay, and in junkie antique shops for a dollar or two. Oragimi boxes (okay, these take a little patience!) made from vintage sheet music add fun to a bowl of 75%off ornaments from Pottery Barn, along with a giant jingle bell, which was also on sale (of course!) at a local boutique.

Sepia and Frosted Blue- my Treasury made etsy's Front Page!

It was quite fun!

Christmas Birds

Lovely winter offerings from
VintageScraps.etsy.com
siskastudio.etsy.com
ara133photography.etsy.com

Christmas Reds- etsy's front page, and I was on it! (whoo whoo!)

And there I am, the bird in the lower left corner.

The Vintage Man Gift

"For the man that's hard to buy for" is misleading, as it implies that some men are NOT hard to buy for! Here's an idea for a manly man gift: go to your parent's house, steal tools from the garage that are 20 to 60 years old, and create an assemblage from them, using an old parts manual and vintage ads for background. This example shown (tools stolen with permission) is for sale at VintageScraps.etsy.com

How to Craft instant Vintage!

While Halloween themes are expensive and hard to find, antique and vintage postcards with Christmas themes are out there in abundance! You can pick up inexpensive, beautiful postcards in most antique stores and flea markets. These pictured have been turned into tree ornaments using vintage seam binding and Shiny Brite (a little harder to find) mini ornaments, and a hole punch, easy enough for even the craft-challenged individuals. The Christmas greetings on the backs add a little history to your holiday celebration, with charming old handwriting and hopes of peace and joy.