Amazing Discoveries

Today, from the "Just when you think you've seen it all" file, comes this:
Yes friends, that is pancake batter in a squirt can! Unbelievable, right? My neighbor was at Costco yesterday where they were demo-ing this product and selling 3-packs of cans for a mere 99¢ each, so she bought two packs and shared a few cans with us. Hey, I'm always up for squirting my breakfast out of a can, so I tried it this morning. The verdict: eh. The pancakes tasted good, but were a bit thin, whereas I like mine nice and fluffy ala IHOP. I also had trouble getting the pan to the right temperature so they were too dark, but that is operator error--however, it would have been nice to have a heat setting listed on the can (lest you think I'm a total cooking dunce, I normally make pancakes on a big griddle with a temperature dial. Today I just wanted to use a frying pan and I don't know how lo/med/hi on my stove translates to degrees).

However, the awesome novelty factor of squirting your pancakes out of a can sort of makes up for the lackluster taste & texture. Just don't mistake this can for the whipped cream when you wander to the fridge for a midnight snack and shoot it straight down your gullet. That'll wake you up right quick.

The next AMAZING DISCOVERY for today is not something I actually discovered. Santa-Grammy Pam brought it to Maren for Christmas but heck, it might as well have had my name on the tag as well for as much as I've played with it.
It's a good thing I love this toy, because that is the only thing that is keeping me from pitching the WHOLE JAR straight into the trash this very second, because Maren just dumped it out again. For the sixth time in about two days. Literally, I had to clean up the beads to take this photo 15 minutes ago and then right after that, she dumped them all out again. This time, outside on the back deck. That earned her a little trip to her bedroom for Time Out, so at least I'm typing in peace.

ANYWAY. Santa brought these awesome pop beads for Christmas. I have played with pop beads before, but never a set that had such pretty colors or interested shapes as these! Included in the set are bracelets, rings, charms, and pendants that you can decorate with the pop beads.

See, aren't they cool? All different shapes, sizes and textures. The label on the jar recommends them for ages 4+ and I agree that Maren is still a little young. She's past the putting things in her mouth stage so I'm not really worried about the choking factor, but it's difficult for her to get the little beads to snap together--she just doesn't quite have the dexterity yet. Also, you might want to make sure your kid is old enough to CLEAN THEM ALL UP without requiring punishment first. That is, unless you enjoy picking up tiny beads from your floor (or deck) over, and over, and over again.

03-11-08

This, my friends, is what obsession looks like:

That would be 30 tubes of Mentholatum Natural Ice, the only lip balm that I will use. I can't buy it around here anymore--believe me, I looked in every store in a 10-mile radius and came up with nothing. I read a rumor somewhere online that it is discontinued, a fact (if it is true) that is enough to send me alternately into full-body convulsions and screaming, crying fits. Folks, I am SERIOUS about my lip balm. I did find an online drugstore that sells it in boxes of 15 and I bought two. I need to do more investigating to see if that ugly rumor is true and if so, I need to order every tube I can get my shaking little hands on. Seriously. If the Apocalypse comes and I don't have any Mentholatum, I'm going to wish I was dead anyway.

In other, not so obsessive news, I finished the glittered eggs and will post a pic soon. They're pretty but I still think they'd be really great in pastels. Next, it's on to stacks of glittered boxes. Shortly after, I'll be glittering anything that will stand still long enough for me to slap some glue on with a paintbrush.

Are these not the cutest skirts? I found this link via Petula Darling and now I am quite sure that I need the red and white scherenschnitte skirt, the red and white toadstool skirt and the green apple skirt and the red and yellow tulip skirt as well. Oh my gosh, those are cute. Wow. I luuurrrrve them.

And because this thread needs another picture, Gratuitous Cute Kid Photo Alert!


This is Maren enjoying the spring sunshine when we were visiting my folks a few weeks ago. I love her big movie star sunglasses. So glamorous!

03-07-08

Thank you all for your great suggestions for what I should do with my shelf. It always helps to have a fresh pair (or a dozen! LOL) of eyes, doesn't it? I'll keep playing with it and rearranging and I'll let you know what I finally come up with.

Today I have a few crafty things to share. I chose not to participate in any Easter swaps this year. I did too much for Valentine's Day and ended up a bit burnt out, so it has been nice to be able to craft without a deadline. When I was home last week my mom and I made our customary pilgrimage to my most favorite store in the whole world. Even though I didn't actually buy anything, just looking at the beautiful, unusual displays was inspiring. I did see a few interesting things that I knew I could recreate at home.


This is a papier mache letter that my mom got at Paper Source, and I know there are other stores who sell similar large letters and shapes. I simply squirted tacky glue all over, smoothed it out with a sponge brush, then dumped silver glass glitter all over the letter. The key is that I used very coarse glitter--it looks like little shards of silver. I ordered it last year with no idea that it would be quite so coarse and when I received it I was disappointed; I just couldn't see what I could possibly use it for. Now I'm so glad I have it! After I dumped off the excess coarse glitter, I then dumped fine glass glitter over it to fill in any open areas of glue and to add an extra layer of sparkle. I wish I could show you how truly sparkly it is in person--it just doesn't translate well to a still photo. Here's the best I could do:


In person, it glitters as if it's covered in thousands of tiny mirrors! One thing I learned is that you should do any inside or hard to reach areas first--I saved the inside of the H for last and it was tricky to get the paintbrush in there while holding onto the the outside. The glitter is so coarse that it's kind of poky, plus I didn't want to knock the glitter off the already-glued portions by handling it too roughly. Dear Lizzie also sold a line of boxes completely covered in the glitter and as soon as I can run to Hobby Lobby, I'm going to buy a few boxes of my own. I found some thrifted wooden eggs rolling around in my box of Easter decor so I did the same treatment to those as well. They're drying right now and they look great! Now I wish I had other colors of the coarse glitter besides silver. Wouldn't a whole bowl of pastel-colored glittery eggs be pretty?

The other crafty thing I have to share is for a church party in a few weeks. The women's organization is having a dinner with a birthday theme and we made favors to put on the tables.


We'll be decorating the tables to correspond with the months of the year and using holiday decorations for each month. So, the December table will be Christmas decorations, the February will be Valentine's, and so on. We chose to do the favors in primary colors because then they'll match all the different holiday decor, plus I like bright colors for a birthday party. I got the idea for the little jars from my mom, who sent me a couple filled with pink and red M&Ms for Valentine's Day. I copied her design exactly using the bright colors and used Skittles in the jars instead of M&Ms, just in case of peanut allergies. The little jars are from Michael's and Party America, I used cardstock scraps from my stash to punch all the shapes, and I got self-adhesive rhinestones from the $1 section at Michael's and used my 40% off coupon to buy a box of Glue Dots. We made 56 bottles and the total, including two huge bags of Skittles was somewhere around $40.00! Not bad, eh? I prepped all the pieces and then we put everything together in less than an hour at my meeting the other night. Easy as pie! Now the hard part will be finding a Maren-proof place to stash them until the party on the 19th.

Quin left today for the weekend; he's attending the wedding of a good friend in Georgia. I'm envious that he gets to go somewhere where it will be warm and there are flowers and green leaves. I would like to just skip March and April altogether and head straight to May's warm temperatures, thankyouverymuch. Spring is by far my least favorite season--around here and where I grew up in Utah it's just so wishy washy. Warm one day, snow the next. The crocuses get brave and push their little heads through the cold ground, only to be felled by yet another night of below freezing temperatures. The sun comes out and looks deceptively warm, but the air is still too chilly to spend much time outside without the burden of a coat. Blah. Give me summer or autumn any time! The only good thing about spring for me right now is that it heralds the beginning of yard sale season around here. It's still a bit early but I did see two yard sale signs when I was driving home from the commissary today, so that gives me hope! And you know where I'll be tomorrow morning. :)

03-06-08

You know, I'm sick of trying to come up with clever titles for my blog posts. I think I may steal a page from this blogger and just start dating things.

Thanks for sharing my excitement about my Jadeite find! Here's what I've done with it:


There is a shelf over the pantry door in my kitchen so I put most of the pieces up there along with a few of another collection, my sunburst Ovenex pans. I like it, but it's a little boring, right? It needs some red but I'm not sure how to add that in. What I had up there before was a row of old blue glass canning jars and then I folded some old printed dishcloths into points and had those hanging over the edge, overlapping. Maybe I could do something similar with squares of fabric? Red gingham, maybe? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

I've been on an eBay binge now for a few weeks. Unfortunately it's a buying binge, not a selling binge, which is the kind of binging I really need to do. It was love at first sight when I found this cute sign:

It's a reproduction, but cute nonetheless. It's red, has a heart, looks old and mentions cupcakes so that meant I pretty much HAD to buy it, right? (And let's not even mention my secret shame LOVE for Hostess snack cakes.) I rearranged my kitchen counters so now it lives next to Ruby the red KitchenAid and they make a cute couple. Unfortunately, the eBay seller was lousy and the sign arrived 1) very late and 2) slightly bent due to his poor packing job, so if any of you are looking to buy one of these, contact me and I'll tell you who NOT to buy from.

Who watched the Project Runway finale last night? I knew Christian would win based on his work for the whole season and I think he's incredibly talented and he deserved it, even if he is an arrogant little twerp. I did like Rami's runway collection the best out of the three and I think he'll have a successful career dressing movie stars for red-carpet events. His gowns were gorgeous! Jillian's collection was such a letdown for me--I loved her work all season long, but I thought her stuff last night was ugly and just totally blah. Too bad. Tonight I have a busy evening of "LOST" watching scheduled because I have to catch up on last week's show as well.

Tomorrow I have a few crafty projects to share!

While I was visiting my folks last week I thought it might be fun for my dad and me to hit an estate sale (or perhaps even a garage sale, if the weather held) so I popped on Craigslist to see if any had been listed. Out of curiosity I also checked the 'collectibles' section, to see if anything interesting was posted for sale. I did find a listing for a few days previous for a collection of Jadeite that a woman was asking $125 for. I checked it out, but figured that since it had been a few days it had probably already been spoken for.

On Friday morning I checked again and there was a new listing for the same Jadeite, but this time the seller had brought the price down to $100! The listing was for 20 pieces of Jadeite, so that made each piece $5--a bargain, considering the prices I'd seen on the Jadeite items at the antique mall the day before.

However, we had guests coming and I didn't have time to contact the seller until after lunchtime when they'd gone home. I was just sure that someone else had beat me to it but I called the seller anyway to check. To my surprise, it was still available! My mom and I loaded Maren into the car and ran to the ATM to get cash, then headed down to the seller's house.

The seller was a sweet woman named Lynda who lived in the coziest little pink and green apartment. I can see where her Jadeite collection fit right into her decor! She told me that since I had spoken to her, she had found a few more pieces of Jadeite that she would add at no additional cost. In fact, as I was leaving she spied a vase on the table, pulled the flowers out of it, and plopped it into the box in my arms! We visited for a few minutes and I told her how tickled I was to find this collection. She told me that she could tell it would be going to a good home, and I assured her that was definitely the case.

So, do you wanna see what I bought?

And this isn't everything! It's just what I could manage to stuff in a carry-on to bring home with me. There are still 4 or 5 large bowls, a drippings jar and another small covered jar that I had to leave behind at my parents' house until one of us drives to visit the other. I thought I was going to have to leave it all until a few minutes before we had to leave for the airport when I had a flash of inspiration. I dumped all of Maren's clothes into my suitcase so that I could pack hers with my bubble-wrapped treasures, which I then carried on to the plane.

I love, love, LOVE my new collection! I've been looking for Jadeite for a long time but have never found anything. I take that back--I once found a chipped dinner plate at a thrift store but I didn't buy it because of the condition, and even then they wanted several dollars for it. Now I have an instant collection! I love that there are a variety of shapes and sizes of items. I think my favorite is probably the large pitcher--won't it look gorgeous with flowers in it? I also love the shape of the small green vase. Now, I have a suspicion that some of the pieces might be reproductions. I'd have to do some research to find out for sure but even if they are, I don't really care! They're for me to enjoy, not to sell, so market value is irrelevant.

If you want to see some closer photos of the items, you can find them on my Flickr page.

Thrifting on the road

While I was in SLC we found time to do a little thrifting, of course! We stopped at a couple of thrift stores and though the pickings were slim, I found a few items worth making room for in my suitcase.
The glass jars are nothing more fancy than old olive or caper jars, but I think I can gussy them up with ribbons, rub ons and pretty treats and they'll be darn cute. None was more than 50¢. The Martha plate holder was also 50¢; I always pick those up when I find them cheap because I use them in my guest room to hold my souvenir plates. This one actually has some nice little details. The old red-handled ice cream scoop was less than a buck and will go with the rest of my collection of Old Utensils with Painted Handles That I Have No Good Way to Display But Cannot Seem to Pass Up. The neat old number stamp in the front was found by my dad somewhere and has a cool green metal knob on top and will be displayed on my desk.

My dad and I made the ambitious (or foolish, you make the call) choice to attempt the antique mall with Maren in tow. I don't think I've ever said "Hold hands!" and "Only touch with ONE finger!" so often in such a short period of time. Still, in between the frantic admonishing I was able to find a few goodies. I was chiefly looking for aqua-colored things to flesh out my new vision for my front room.On the left is a cream soup dish from the Franciscan Coronado pattern. I love the color and the graceful swirls! On the right is a little planter. It's a bit chippy and has a few pinpricks in the glaze but those imperfections don't bother me one bit, and they brought the price down to $2.00! I love color, the roses, the shape of the handles--it's perfect to me! I wrapped them both up in lots of bubble wrap and tucked them in my carry-on bag and thankfully, they made it safely home! I love thrifting on the road!

In like a Lion

Yesterday, it was 70 degrees here in Denver. Today, it looked like this:


When I got up to let the dog out at 5:45 a.m. I opened the door and was hit by a blast of icy cold wind and snow! It was then that I decided maybe today might be a good day to play hooky from church and stay inside where it is warm and cozy instead. We've had a lazy, snuggly day and we've thoroughly enjoyed it. Today is our 6th wedding anniversary and it's been so nice to just be together.

Maren and I got home last night from our trip to Utah. We had a wonderful time visiting family, shopping, and just hanging out. The change of scenery and time with my parents was just what I needed to feel energized and ready to tackle life again. There was thrifting, an awesome score from Craigslist, and a hilarious Broadway musical. Here's a little taste of the show we saw. I'll be back tomorrow with more from our trip!

Good heavens! I didn't really intend to drop off the face of blogland, but that's what seems to have happened since I haven't posted in almost a week. Yikes.

First, the winner of my little tag giveaway is........ Miss Paula!


I already notified her and a little packet of Happy Mail is winging its way toward Oregon as I type. Thank you all for your comments and your entries! I have another fun giveaway planned for the future.

Many of you commented about the cute pink purse I showed in my last post. My mom bought it here at Bella of Cape Cod online. They have quite a few very inexpensive but very cute purses, bags, and other accessories. If you know someone who needs a sparkly pink purse, you know where to find it!

Last week I had an unexpected free hour and a cooperative child, so we stopped at the thrift shop to see if the Easter goodies have been put out yet. They haven't but I found a few other things that I couldn't leave behind:

This pretty little jar was only 40¢, which is surprisingly cheap for this particular thrift. I think it's new but it definitely looks old and has a pretty pinky-copper metal lid. The Madeline book was $2.42, the Stinky Cheese Man was $1.81 and I think Horton was somewhere in between. They are sitting on this:
My newest vintage tablecloth! It's red, so it will be perfect in my kitchen. Do any of my fellow vintage tablecloth-loving peeps recognize the pattern? It reminds me of a Wilendur and the flowers look like poppies, but the Wilendur poppy tablecloth is different. It had a few yellow spots but I used the bleach pen on them and I think all but one came out. Hooray!

Tomorrow Maren and I headed to visit my folks in SLC for a few days. Maren has been asking all day, every day for a week now if it is time to go to the airport yet! We're both excited. :)

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 Presidents' Day

Happy Presidents Day! In honor of the holiday I wanted to show you some close-ups of the adorable little candy container that Amy Bauer included in my Valentine's Day box.

It's tiny--the whole thing is only about 2.5" tall and I believe it's made out of a toilet paper tube. In case you can't tell from the photo, it's meant to be a little tiny log decorated with faux cherries and a wee axe, all to commemorate the famous story about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. Unfortunately, the axe got a bit mangled in the hands of a curious 2-year-old (seriously, is every toddler as utterly destructive as mine or did I just get lucky?) but you get the idea.

Here's a view of one end of the little container. What's so darn cute about the box is that it looks like a real piece of wood! The ends have tree rings and the middle part looks like bark. Amy even cut the ends of the bark paper with deckled-edge scissors--nice attention to detail.

And the best part? The treats inside! Amy filled mine with chocolate-covered cherries. The box is just big enough for two little chocolates. I absolutely adore it and want to make a whole forest of my own next year. Thanks again, Amy!

Valentine's Day wrap-up

I had such a great Valentine's Day! Maren and I started out the day by making "Balentimes" for Daddy:
We even used glitter glue, at Maren's insistence. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

Quin brought home this beauty for all of us to enjoy:

It is from Edible Arrangments and it was delish! The chocolate-dipped pineapple in particular was especially yummy. They use dark chocolate to dip the fruit and the contrast between that and the sweetness of the fruit is wonderful. It was a fun alternative to flowers, and something we've all been able to really enjoy.

I attempted to make strawberry blossoms:


They didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped but they sure do taste good! Between these and the fruit arrangement it's pretty safe to say that we've all met the suggested daily fruit intake for the past two days.

For dinner I attempted Middle Eastern food. Quin traveled to Jordan in December and raved about the food there. I chose a few recipes off the internet and gave them a whirl but I was at a disadvantage since I didn't really know what the food was supposed to taste like! I thought it was okay, but I know I can do better. Time to head to the library and the local middle eastern restaurant (complete with bellydancers!) for a fact-finding mission. Dessert got postponed until tonight, as I read the recipe rather hastily and forgot the vanilla ice cream, a key ingredient. It was no big loss as our bellies were full of chocolate-covered strawberries anyway. If the dessert is good tonight I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

For my RED installment today, I have a photo of some vintage crocheted potholders that I thrifted very recently.

Actually, the basket with the rose is an old find but I thought the photo needed three instead of two. I picked up the two round potholders last week and I love them! I see crocheted potholders all the time in thrifts but I'm very particular about the ones I will buy. Anything red gets tossed into the shopping cart, post haste. The small red one has a tiny circle of the palest spring green in the middle and I really love how it looks with the red; such a great contrast. The larger circle is very nicely done and in perfect condition. I was tickled to add these RED cuties to my kitchen!

It was so nice to have Quin home today. I was able to go to JoAnn's and Target all by myself, which qualifies as a huge thrill for me these days. I'm excited that we get a free day tomorrow too, and I think we'll spend the day getting some of our piles of items ready for listing on eBay. I've also got a few crafting projects that were shoved aside in order to get all my swaps done that I'd like to finish up and get off my desk. I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to keep busy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For the last Valentine, I want to show you the one card that might just be my favorite for now.


I love, love, LOVE this sweet girl with her rosy cheeks, bow-shaped mouth, wayward black curls and jaunty red beret. This card is sweet beyond words; I love everything about it! The flowers around the edge, the lace, the bright colors. It's just perfect. And imagine my surprise when I was surfing around Blogland and found someone who bears a striking resemblance to my Valentine girl! This sweet card is the centerpiece of the clothespin garland hanging on my mirror. I love it so much that I thought it deserved the place of honor.

For my RED item today I had to venture into the depths of my closet. I'm not a terribly sentimental person and I don' t tend to keep objects around for sentimental reasons, but this is one thing I just can't let go.

You already know that red is my favorite color, but you combine red with sequins and my inner 6-year-old takes over and I'm powerless to resist. I made these shoes when I was a senior in high school when I dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween. I painted a pair of Keds with red acrylic paint and then used tacky glue and miles of sequined trim and glued it around and around in a circle. I wore the shoes for Halloween but then decided that I loved them so much that I kept wearing them! I'm sure there were kids at school that thought I was a total weirdo but I didn't care. In fact I found out later that year that a boy I had a HUGE crush on liked my style, my red shoes in particular.

The shoes don't fit anymore, and neither does the Dorothy dress--my feet grew a half size bigger when I was pregnant with Maren, and to say that I'm not the same size as I was in high school would be a gross understatement indeed. However, the shoes will stay in the back of my closet, because they're red and sequined and that alone wins them a place in my heart. But even more so because they're a reminder to me to do my own thing and not worry what other people think. There's always someone out there who appreciates me for ME, and they're the ones who really matter.

Tomorrow DH has the day off because of the holiday on Monday, and this is the first weekend in a long time that I don't have a 'deadline' of some sort. I hardly know what to do with myself! Tomorrow I'll have pictures of our Valentine's Day festivities and I think I'll keep up with the RED week celebration, even though the holiday is over. I'm always happy for an excuse to celebrate my favorite color!

Hanging Heart swap, Red Appliance #2 and Vintage Valentine show & tell #7

Today's Valentines are the same style as the ice skaters I showed a few days ago. I love the style of illustration!
I adore the little boy in the sailor suit, although the verse is not exactly what I'd call romantic.

I received my Sweet Goodness Hanging Heart swap package from my partner, Kim, and I couldn't be happier with what she made for me! Kim made me this darling heart wreath by sewing all the individual hearts and attaching them to a grapevine wreath form with a great big bow at the top.
I love it! I love all the different fabrics she chose. The hearts all have cute pinked edges and button embellishments. I was just thinking the other day that I wished I had a Valentine wreath and -poof!- one showed up! Kim also included some of my favorite chocolates and a sweet little treat for Miss Maren. Thanks again, Kim!

And now for my continued celebration of RED week, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Ruby:


O Ruby, how I love thee. If I knew how to use Photoshop, I'd have fixed this picture so that a heavenly aura would be encircling my beautiful new KitchenAid, because that's pretty much what I see when I look over in her corner of the kitchen. Wait, wait...what's that I hear? Could that be the heavenly courses of angels singing in praise of my gorgeous mixer? {Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh}

Seriously, I've wanted this mixer for about three years now and finally this past Christmas my wish came true. I've already used it for several batches of cookies and it mixed like a dream. I think it's possible that the cookies actually tasted better because they were made in my snazzy red mixer. If my blender is like the fingernail polish of my kitchen, Ruby is definitely the unapologetically bright red lipstick! Is it wrong to be head-over-heels in love with a kitchen appliance?

Back tomorrow with one last Valentine and more Happy Mail. Don't forget to wear red!

Happy RED week! and Vintage Valentine show & tell #6

Today's Valentine is, well, you guessed it--one of my favorites! LOL It's actually much neater in person, as the scanner didn't pick up the embossing or the bright, glossy color. Somehow I got lucky and I actually have two of this same card!

I thought this week it might be fun to showcase some of my favorite RED things from around my house. Red is my favorite color and so my house has lots of red decor. My kitchen is done in bright red, yellow, aqua and cornflower blue--all colors taken from the vintage printed tablecloths from the 1940s and 50s that I love so much. We recently had the need to purchase a new blender so of course I jumped at the chance to buy something RED.

Oh, isn't she beautiful? She's a classic Osterizer Beehive blender and the base is the most beautiful metallic red! The color combined with the retro styling meant it was pretty much love at first sight for me. And let me tell you--she makes a MEAN smoothie! The motor is very powerful and also very loud; it sounds like you're firing up a 737 when you first hit the switch. There will be no middle-of-the-night milkshake making with this baby, I assure you. The red metallic color reminds me of my favorite OPI nail polish. Do you think it would be too crazy if next time I go for a pedicure, I get my toes done to match my blender? :)

Tomorrow: another Valentine and another red appliance, plus my last Valentine swap package. Tune in for lots of red and lots of hearts!

Vintage Valentine show & tell #5

Today's Valentine is another of my favorites. Okay, I know I keep saying that but I have lots of favorites. :)

I love this sweet, smitten ice skating couple. Do you not love their bright clothes? I love the girl's rosy cheeks and the way her black curls and yellow scarf are blowing in the wind. It's just charming! I have a few more cards that are done in this style that I love so I'll be sharing those in days to come. This Valentine is die-cut around the top--you punch it out and then the outside part folds down to become an easel. Clever!

When I put away my Christmas decorations, I left up the little clothesline & clothespins from this post. I had an inkling I might want to use them in my Valentine's Day decorations. I switched out the green clothespins for red and pink and hung some of my favorite heart-shaped Valentines on the string.
I love the way it looks! I love it so much that I think I might just be doing a variation on this theme for all my holiday decorating in the future. I will probably change out the red & white twine for something more appropriate for Easter, but I like the concept. That wall is very bare except for this mirror which is pretty simple and square itself. I like that the garland adds a little spice. Some more of my favorite Valentines are hanging on the garland so I'll give you a close-up view of those in a few days.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Heart swap #2 and Vintage Valentine show & tell #4

Today's Valentine is one of my very favorites from my collection. My uncle gave me a big frame he'd found somewhere that was full of vintage Valentines that had been glued to the paper backing. I love this Valentine because of the bright colors and the sweet graphics. Doesn't it remind you of Mary Engelbreit? You can tell where she gets her inspiration!
Here's the back. Unfortunately I wasn't able to remove it from the paper it was glued to without doing some damage to the corners.


Oh, how I love that little red and yellow cottage with the smoke curling out of the chimney and the little boy wearing shoes that look like Mary Janes. You know, Valentines aren't nearly as cute these days! Heck, even the inside is charming:
I think you can see why this one is one of my favorites. :)

The mailman has been good to me lately! I participated in ArtsyMama's "For the Love of Supplies" swap and was partnered with the fabulous and charming Dede Warren, who I had the pleasure to meet at Silver Bella last year. I received my swap package from Dede the other day and it is fabulous!Dede went with a very romantic, shabby theme for the box that she decorated. I love the flowered wallpaper, the darling vintage Valentine image, and the big poofy blue flower she used!
The insides were wonderful too:


Dede filled the box with all kinds of wonderful goodies like vintage buttons, ribbons, pompom trim, these amazing feathery wings, gorgeous vintage wallpaper, great chipboard shapes, and much more! What a treat it was to pull each thing out of the box. I can hardly stand to put it all away--it looks so pretty in a pile of goodness on my desk! :) Dede also included a lovely handmade card and this sweet little flowered teacup.


What fun these swaps have been! And now it's back to work for me. I have to speak in church this Sunday as well as prepare a Sunday School lesson for the same day, so I have to get a move on! I've grounded myself from all fun crafty activities until my talk & lesson are done, and I have Valentines to make so I'd best get MOVING!

Heart swap #1 and Vintage Valentine show & tell #3

Today's Valentines are both from the same line, and from the names on the back I think I must have gotten them from the same source. They both feature a gap-toothed boy--one blond, one red-head. I love their outfits: the bellhop uniform with the jaunty cap and the raccoon tail hat and knickers on the other! They both look a little impudent, if you ask me.

I also want to tell you about an amazing swap package I received. I participated in Maria's Sweet Heart Box Swap and my partner was Amy, who unfortunately doesn't have a blog (but she does have some awesome photos of her work up on Flickr!) Amy sent me the most beautiful box decorated in rich pink and brown velvet and glitter. It's so pretty! Rebecca, I know you'll be jealous. ;)
The inside of the box was amazing too!


Amy stuffed the box with all kinds of wonderful treats:

Vintage Valentines for my collection, heart tins filled with gold filigree charms and buttons, cupcake toppers, paper flowers, vintage crepe paper nut cups (how did she know I was just looking at these on eBay last week?)

And a few more of my faves:
Personalized stationery, Almond Roca (yum!), chandelier crystals, little grapevine hearts, ribbons, wee feathered birdies, and more. One item absolutely tickled my fancy: in the bottom center, you can see a little container that looks like a log with a little axe and cherries attached. Inside are cherry chocolates--it's for President's Day! Isn't that the cleverest thing? Now I have a mind to save all my TP tubes and make a whole forest of beribboned stumps. LOL

Tomorrow, yet another lovely swap box and more Valentines!

Vintage Valentine show & tell #2

I'm back with more Valentines from my collection. Some of my favorite cards are those that have moving parts, often attached by a brad. Here are three examples:

This is one of the first vintage Valentines I ever bought, and she's stayed one of my favorites even though my collection has grown. When you move the bottom loop of her blue hair bow she gives you a saucy wink! I just love her beauty mark and the way her hair is colored. The cut at the bottom is a little piece that folds back like an easel so that the card will stand up by itself, a clever feature often found on old Valentines. Note that someone wrote the date on the girl's arm--it looks a little like she has a tattoo!

I can't recall if I got these two cards from the same source, but they are definitely part of the same line. Both of them have moving eyes: for the Indian princess, you move her feather and for the Girl Scout, you move the brim of her hat. Love the Girl Scout's kicky uniform and knee socks.

I'll be back tomorrow with more Valentines and a fabulous swap package that I received!

Vintage Valentine show & tell #1

Well, I did okay on my January Blogging Challenge--up until last week, that is, when I totally pooped out! Oh well, I blogged quite a bit in January and I'm still happy with my progress. It was better than December, that's for sure!

I am just about done with my Valentine's (or Clementine's, as Maren says) decorating and up until the big V-day, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite vintage Valentines from my collection.
I love vintage 1950s and 60s space-themed stuff! I have no idea why it appeals to me so, but I've always said that if we have a son, I'm doing his bedroom in a vintage space/robot theme. I found this Valentine last summer at an estate sale in a pile of papers. I could see there were Valentines in there and that was enough for me--I grabbed the whole pile! I was thrilled to find this one.

Hope you're having a warm and wonderful weekend, wherever you are. We spent today watching funeral services for this amazing man. Like my little brother said, it's not every day that the world loses the best person in it.