Rare Vintage Find

I just had to share these fabulous cards I found at my favorite local thrift store- all unused and many still in their original cellephane wraps that protected them from rack damage. I love using old cards for correspondence, so I couldn't NOT take these home! I know there are collectors out there so I am offering them for sale in my ebay auctions.

All come with their original envelopes and I have only found a couple glued shut (nothing that a little steam won't solve!) These are all Birthday cards, mostly for female... sister, mother, daughter, niece. A couple for brother and dad. Check them out!

The '70s are making a raging come back!

The 5th Day

It's been 5 days now of healthier eating and I have gone from losing 6 pounds of water weight to regaining 3, but I am not detered. I won't give up, I won't surrender! I don't expect to look like the above photo, but it would be nice to feel like I do! The last time I felt remotely thin was 13 years ago, before I met my husband and became a couch potatoe. Years of bad eating habits are being changed this week. The weight loss will follow. I have faith.

Looking for a vintage dachshund planter, men's Tommy Hilfiger jeans (sz 32 x 32) or some "new" rubber stamps to add to your collection? I've started my ebay auctions again. Check them out! I always add extras in my packages (I can't help myself).

And don't ask me about my artwork. I have no new developements. Believe me, if I had anything new to share, I'd be posting it!

Seeking Bliss

I have 3 swaps going on now and one I am grossly behind on one, so what do I do? I start my own personal project to avoid the creative block I am suffering elsewhere. Heehee. Actually, my personal project is a tiny altered book created from a mini Golden Book. I can complete a page working a few minutes here and there which is about all I've had away from kids and housework and holiday-ing. God only knows how I will get the swaps done!

While decluttering (a little- to the naked eye, you wouldn't know I had organized anything) I put away Christmas rubber stamps and papers and in the process have found some lost things. Some things have still remained lost so I need to continue my decluttering to find them (namely some hole reinforcements- the vintage kind you lick and stick- I have an unfinished tag that is just not complete without one and I refuse to add fibers until I find those silly reinforcements. I know they are with a small bag of blank dog tags, but where did I squirrel them both away?????) It's making me hanker for altering and starting some things differently in the New Year. I want to lose 30 lbs. (not unreasonable) and make some art and think of the two goals as one in the same since I plan to use my art as a means to accomplish the weight loss (If I am painting and gluing, I can't be stuffing my face!) So what are some of your goals for the new year? They don't have to be big. Even one small change can be life altering.

HAPPY 2008!

It is an hour before midnight here in the midwest and I wanted to post a wedding photo as part of my greeting, but it will have to wait. Sylmon and I were married 13 years ago today. At 2pm on New Year's Eve. Happy New Year to you all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From our gingerbread house to yours!

*********************************************From Sylmon, Nathalie, Victoria, Seth and Rebecca

Playing in a Winter Wonderland

Tonka trucks are always in season for Seth .

Lucy wants someone to toss her deflated football so she can frollick in the snow...

Rebecca eating snow off of her mittens.

Christmas Cards

Have you received any cards in the mail? Up until Dec. 9, I hadn't. On the 10th, a promising envelope arrived, but it was just an obligatory card from a car dealership thanking us for our business. No heartfelt, Christmas cards from friends and relatives. Is sending cards a dying art? A victim of high postage rates and cheaper to send e-cards? Absolutely! And I can't say that I have helped the cause to preserve the tradition. Until yesterday. While the kids whined, "I'm-bored-I'm-bored-I'm-bored", I made several trips up and down the stairs from my studio, hauling down promising papers and bits of things to transform into greetings at the dining room table (the only surface big enough to spread out on). This year I am jumping on the glitter band wagon and sparkling up cards, ignoring the fact that my glue stick is getting imbedded with shiny bits. "Too much is never enough" is my motto for making cards this year. The brighter, the shinier, the more layered. The better! My son joined me in making one card, and Rebecca (3 yrs old) glittered and stamped until I encouraged her to go play somewhere else. (Yes, I am a bad mom, but I can only tolerate so much chaos). My oldest daughter (Victoria, 11) was too busy with her Nintendogs to care about cards (if only our St. Bernard, Lucy, got as much attention as those virtual dogs!). To Victoria's defense, I should say that she loves to write cards and letters to friends, but gets few responses, so she does not feel encouraged to send out Christmas cards, hand made or otherwise. Me, I will mail out cards not expecting a response. The point is, that you have heard from me!

I created with images cut from Victorian themed giftwrap (Vintage Hallmark bought at the thrift store), a little bit of stamping, a little bit of vintage trims, a little bit of paper (from a dwindling stash) and more images from a catalog, Victorian Papers. And gold stars (teachers' reward stars)- I love using them! Everything is shinier and brighter with gold stars!!! I won't have the time to make enough cards to cover my whole entire mailing list this year, but hopefully all of my creative friends (plus a few RAK'd folks) will get a hand made gem. Just be warned that you may need to vacuum after opening!

Now, off to the post office!