heather's valentine matchbox swap

In preparation for making our Valentines this year, Heather of Speckled Egg hosted a Valentine Inspiration Matchbox Swap. For my talented swap partners LiLi, Heidi and Cheryl, I painted and papered the inside box and made a little drawer

with buttons for a knob. On the outside, I wallpapered, wrapped with vintage laces,

and added old crocheted flowers I found in a dark corner in a trim shop in Phoenix,

plus an old French ladybug hovering over a rosebud.

Then filled the drawer with a collection of pink, red, and cream.

The first box I received in exchange came all the way from LiLi in Holland.

Look at the delicate details on her beauty, which came accompanied by a handmade tag doll with a flouncy flower skirt and glittery heart bodice.

Among all the vintage goodies spilling out were these wonderful thread bobbins, a sweet bird, Dresden trims and playing cards. And a surprise -- tucked inside the pink-thimble canister was a mini sewing kit!

Sweet Georgia girl Heidi ruffled and glittered her light-hearted charmer,

accenting a pink toile with aqua ribbon.

The goodness tucked inside included lovely lace, flowers, a filigree heart and its key,

fun cards, and Cupid himself. :)

This romantic red velvet stunner made by Cheryl came with an extra sweet treat of CA salt water taffy and and a vial of mini seashells.

Inside, a vintage handkerchief opened to reveal feathers, flowers, Dresden trims, a card with my initial, a sweet dolly, and trims upon trims.

Oh, look at the birdie eyeing the mercury glass beads!


Thanks to my talented and generous swap partners for making this so much fun!

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happy birthday party garb

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On Saturday I happily skipped off to a wonderful birthday party, toting my camera as "official party photographer" and dressed in my party garb. I'm on the left and party hostess Amy is on the right (top photo). The safari-themed festivities were even more colorful, with balloon palm trees, animal tails to pin on, and a cake with a whole zoo right on top. I really wanted to be 3 years old again, licking the icing off the animals' feet. So much fun! Happy Birthday, Alfredo!

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(Do you see me in there trying to be one of the kids? Amy's Rich took these two photos)

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resolved . . .

Thank heavens! We've survived one last weekend of family comings and goings. Picked up my youngest at the Baltimore airport back from a friend's wedding in sunny Puerto Rico. Packed off my husband for another week in sandy Kuwait. Shuttled my grandson back home to Maryland after a nice long visit. Suddenly, although the house reverberates like Grand Central over the holidays, all traffic seemed coordinated to end with a final clap of the front door, leaving me as the lone elf staring at the half-burned-out tree lights in the front hall. The house sits becalmed now, sighing gently into the stretches of silence. Together, the house and I watch the dust motes settle through shafts of sunlight on all the holiday-recovery chores left after the bustle. It's January again.



While my grandson and I worked into the New Year on the kitchen island, creating our fabulous hodge-podge journal of knights and heraldry in his favorite colors of red and gold with black, all chores were put on hold. But now it's resolution time, time to start afresh with a clean slate of promises to myself. Little and big things, like a promise to spend a month of Sundays resting, reading, listening to my old jazz recordings. Is that a little thing or a big thing? A promise to spend concerted effort on organizing my studio so it invites me in and stimulates creativity. Big thing? Promises to . . . well, tackle the big and little things as they come.


On the agenda is the online journal class "Remains of the Day," offered by Mary Ann Moss. This is my kind of no-stress class, with class videos (and registration) remaining active through next December! First step is collecting all that leftover scrap paper and fabric from one's stash, along with labels and other ephemera, in preparation for assembling the pages with "guerrilla-style" sewing. So it seemed fitting to use some of that paper stash to cover a postal box to hold my labels. Ah, progress! And it's still only January!

P.S. See you in class at the store tomorrow, my first class taught in the New Year!
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happy happy new year

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May you open the door to a fortunate and happy new year!

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