Old, Yellowed, Goodness

I LOVE old, yellowed paper and especially newspaper. I grab it when I find it and right now I have a surplus. More than I can use alone! So I am offering some for sale in my etsy (see my side bar). It's a great material for fall projects. A natural pairing with a bold rubber stamp. The crow stamp is my newest aquisition (on ebay!)- you will be seeing a lot of it!

A simple scrap of newspaper makes a great cumberbun wrap for a gift. Here I just wrapped a book for demonstration purposes, but it would make a great seasonal display. Pair it with colored tissue paper, plain brown paper or let it stand alone on its own lovely, yellowed merits.

There's that stamp again!

And let's not forget the possibilities for altering the photos and artwork!

Any fashion model from these pages is instantly bewitching with the simple addition of a black pointed hat.

Watch for crows in future posts.

Famous Lutherans

Our two youngest kids attend the local Lutheran school so Hubby and I decided this year we would join the church. We are taking classes before we become official members, but in the mean time, I have found out that we will be in good company with some famous and not so famous people. You might recognize a few from the video. Also be sure to check out Martin Luther's Rap. Who knew religion could be so hip?

Let's See What Nathalie's Doing in The Kitchen...

When life gives you a bushel of apples, make apple sauce.

My friend, Katie, has several trees. She hates pesticides, so doesn't spray.

It means her organically grown apples have this lovely old world patina on the outside, and

are riddled with worm tunnels on this inside.

Fortunately the apples are firm enough to run through my apple-corer-peeler-slicer,

so cleaning them up is easier than I thought it would be.

You can get one of these from Pampered Chef or William Sonoma.

Mine? I got it from my local thrift store for $1.00 and it has been the best investment!

My house is smelling quite heavenly about now with a pot of apples simmering on the stove.

A taste test to adjust the flavor and now I'm off to hunt up some canning jars in the basement.
Can you feel autumn coming?

Margaret's Stitchery

I still have a few finishing touches to add to Margaret's piece, but thought I would show a wee peek of what I added to her sampler. Being that she lives in "Switzy", having a skier seemed natural and because I can't be serious about hardly anything, having a skier in a bathing suit was even better! No, this image is not done with TAP (transfer paper) and I didn't feed fabric directly into my computer printer. Nope, this is a scrap from an old Eddie Bauer T-shirt I wore for years. I loved the image on the front so much that I cut it out and saved it before making rags from the rest of the white cotton T. The truly amazing part is that I was able to find this scrap again! I have a photographic memory of where I have squirreled things away-- until they are moved. That's why I am undone when my husband insists that we do some deep cleaning. NOoooooooooo! It ruins my filing system!

We are nearing the home stretch of our QB5 stitchery round robin (members are in my side bar). I have Linda's stitchery already waiting for me to stitch on, but first I have to finish up Margaret's!

I'm a Winner!

I had never won a blog giveaway until I won Patty's. The prize was one of 3 felted heart pendants. The packaging itself was a lovely prize!

And being a good blogger, I resisted tearing into it before taking photos (it wasn't easy!)

Inside the keepsake box was her beautiful felted heart (I had asked for the "hope" one if we were allowed to have a preference) and bonus, one of her nests!

Thank you, Patty! Your packages are always a delight!

1959 Time Capsule Opened

I love old printed matter. And I am amazed when I find stuff today that would have normally lined the bottom of a bird cage or gone out with the daily trash, soaked with that morning's coffee grinds, 50 years ago. This is the Kansas City Star/ Times in 1959, when it provided the news twice a day. Now it can barely survive being read once a day. They rely on readers to buy their Sunday edition to stay afloat. That's circulation dependant on being read once a week!


Not a lot of content even then. The ads take up most of the paper. But the ads are amazing!
Love that artwork!

And there were bargains to be had back then!

But also some news hasn't changed--

I do believe that breakfast is still thought to be the most important meal of the day!

Maybe that's why no one reads the paper any more.

It's history, not breaking news.

But I am here to show a few uses beyond lining bird cages.

Stay tuned.

And the Art Tag Winners Are...

Laura and Linda! Thanks everyone for "playing" and for all of your good wishes you sent me. For those of you wanting to try your hand at creating a quilted tag (the Domestcially Disabled Diva, to be specific!), I am selling the kit in my etsy shop. It comes with a piece of pre-cut antique quilt, snippets of all of the laces I used in the original, a rusty suspender clip (of course!), 3 buttons in the sizes shown, seam binding embellishments, and the Diva herself-- although you could also substitute an image of your own choosing. Oh, and simple instructions. All you need is needle, thread and a sewing machine is helpful, but not absolutely necessesary. I hate housework, but I can sew on a button! And now you can too! (er, three!)