Halloween Happy Mail & a Spooky sign

Now that we've established that Pushing Daisies is perhaps the most charming show evah, let's talk about the other big TV event of last night: no, not those two pin heads yammering at each other on the Presidential debate, the Project Runway finale!

I get why Leanne won, but I did love Korto's line and thought it was really beautiful and ultimately much more wearable. Kenley's clothing was pretty but not fab, with the exception of this dress:
which was my absolute favorite outfit from all three lines combined. Where can I buy one RIGHT THIS MINUTE? The mandarin collar, kicky full skirt and gorgeous hand-painted flowers make me covet it completely. Oh, and I would totally wear it with feathers in my hair too.

Best line of the night was when Kenley realized that Tim Gunn was the third judge and said that maybe she should have improved her attitude. Hello, Karma? Meet Kenley. Ha! And now that Leanne has won, do you think show sponsors Tresemme and L'Oreal could put their heads together and convince her to ditch the stringy hair and art school-nerd glasses? Yikes.

The other day I was delighted to receive some Halloween Happy Mail from the lovely Shara. I have to show you what she made because I am so in love with it:

Shara used an old book (appropriately ORANGE and titled Suddenly A Corpse) and altered it into a Spell book! You can't see from the photo, but the edges of the papers are covered in black glitter as well. Love the vintage 13 card and all the little witchy trinkets hanging from the front! I adore it so, so much--how very clever of her! She also sent a beautiful handmade paperweight with vintage Halloween images inside. What treasures to add to my Halloween decor and what a sweet friend. :)

One other piece of my Halloween decor to show you:

I bought this wall hanging at a great place called Tai Pan Trading Company in Utah, but I was thinking that you could make something similar pretty easily at home. This one is large--11"x19"--but it seems that I've seen smaller unfinished wooden plaques at craft stores. The background is German text printed in a blackletter font (what is it about that combination that looks so creepy?) on aged-looking paper. The 'Spooky' is printed on top of that, and the whole thing is decoupaged on top of the painted plaque. Easy as pie!

Happy Mail

Lately, my mailbox overfloweth with Happy Mail!

From Shara I received this fun little packet with flowery note cards and zinnia seeds. I've heard that zinnias are fast-growing so I'm looking for a place in my yard where I can plant them. These arrived last week when it still seemed like Spring was never gonna happen, so it definitely brightened things up!

The next round of Happy Mail came all the way from Australia! The Shopping Sherpa and I did a little one-on-one swap and she sent me this package full of goodies. She included a vintage apron in the cheeriest floral fabric and a set of dishtowels with aprons on them--how perfect! She also included vintage trim and coasters, the most adorable little cupcake-shaped soap and yummy koala-shaped candies & chocolates. Why is it that other countries always have better candy? Now I'm hooked and I can't get them around here! LOL


I think what prompted our swap in the first place was this beautiful vintage Valentine. It's just wonderful--the little girl's parasol is actually a honeycomb that opens up. It's absolutely charming and will be a prized piece in my collection!

The last (but not least!) package to brighten up my mailbox was my Vintage Apron Swap package from Anne. She sent me not one, but two great vintage aprons--she said it was one to display, and one to wear. This one is to display--be sure to click on the picture so you can see the turquoise and red fabric up close. I am in love with the fabric and it is just the perfect apron for me! Anne also sent this apron to wear. I mentioned that when I cook I always wear a full bib-style apron because I am messy, and she found one! I'm impressed because it seems that bib-style vintage aprons are much more rare--the half apron seems to be norm. This will happily go into the regular rotation. Cooking dinner is much more fun when you wear a cute apron, don't you think?
Don't forget to enter the giveway for this week if you'd like a little Happy Mail from me!

A new favorite blog, Happy Mail & a giveaway!

Today I want to share with you a link to my favorite new blog discovery of 2008. Bakerella has only been blogging for a few months but I can't wait to see what else she has up her sleeve. Her final products look fancy even though her ingredients are all store-bought and her great photography skills make every treat look charming and delicious. She's not doing any really fancy-schmancy baking--she's just doing things in innovative ways. For example, I've been making this same recipe for Oreo truffles for years now but it never once occurred to me to shape them like this or like this! And I've made the cake balls before but I never thought to make them like this or like this, which is seriously the darn cutest thing I've seen in a long time. Wouldn't those make the cutest treats for a shower or a birthday party? I can't wait to try them myself.

Between my three Valentine's swaps, a fun surprise package from Shara, a sweet Valentine package from my mom (including the beloved shirt I left at her house when I was there at Christmas) and the fruits of the online shopping I've been doing lately, the last few weeks have been a veritable extravaganza of Happy Mail here at my house! Would you just look at this darling purse my mom sent?


It's pink and covered with beads and sequins and my inner 6-year-old wants to stuff it with lip gloss and gum and carry it with me wherever I go. It's perfect, and now I need to buy some fun, bright clothes to wear with it. And shoes. Definitely shoes.

I've received so much Happy Mail in the last few weeks that I feel the need to put a little Happy- Mail-karma of my own back into the universe. I was playing around yesterday with a stack of shipping tags and some metallic paints I bought back in my calligraphy days and made a whole pile of pretty pastel-colored tags.


I thought I'd offer up a dozen for a quickie giveaway here on ye olde blogge, so if you're interested in receiving some Happy Mail of your own just leave a comment between now and 5 pm MST on Wednesday and I'll draw a name and pop them into the mail!

Happy Mail

My goodness, it's been a while since we visited, hasn't it? Since I last posted, my parents came to visit from Utah and then together we drove to Southern Colorado to spend 5 days at a family reunion. The rest of the days have been spent getting the house put back together and getting back into the swing of everyday life. I admit that I haven't felt like I had much to write about, hence the blog silence. I don't know why but for me it's so easy to fall out of the blogging habit and such a struggle to get back in the saddle. How about I ease back into things by showing you a few photos of fun mail goodies I've received?

The first package was just a fun, no-reason Happy Mail box from Miss Andy, who is on a fabulous island vacation as we speak. She sent me a set of handmade tissue paper cards and envelopes, a bottle of her favorite OPI summer polish, perfect for pedicures, a bookmark (which promptly went into Harry Potter), cute H sticky notes, and a great vintage Colorado plate for my guest room wall! The plate was even tied up in a vintage apron. What a fun surprise it was to receive those goodies in the mail!

The second package was from Shara, who very sneakily found out when my birthday was and sent a box full of red & aqua goodies! Everything was wrapped creatively in red or aqua fabric and tied with ribbon and vintage seam binding. Isn't it just darling? I had to take a quick photo before I opened it all up so I could remember how cute it was. I still haven't unwrapped the books tied up in the red nylon scarf and vintage aqua earrings--I just like looking at them on my desk! LOL

Inside all that wrapping and ribbon was a neat vintage Fire-King turquoise mug, a set of vintage Colorado salt & pepper shakers and a Colorado bell for my guest room, the books Heidi and Heidi's Children, a hilarious t-shirt with Heidi the Hen on the front (conveniently done in red & blue!), a baby Leo Ward bluebird (to go with the mama bird Shara sent me a couple of weeks ago), a cool letter H from a sign, a set of glass salt & pepper shakers with darling red lids, a very funny Rugrats book for Miss Maren (who is not too young to love junk!), red and aqua foil, and two darling aprons. One has buttons strategically placed so that the wearer can make a little pocket to hold eggs or veggies (or Legos, as Shara suggested LOL) and the other one is probably my new favorite: it's done in turquoise polka dots and seam binding and has bright red radishes appliquéd on the front. I love it so much that I very nearly wore it to dinner that night, only to chicken out at the last minute! One of these days I'll get up the courage and do it. Shara's package was an absolute delight to open!

I did some good junking in my travels last week and I'm off to take photos so I can show you all my goodies!