jane's apron

organizing season

Today is my husband's birthday.  I know he has never liked his birthday so close to Christmas but I love it because it's a built-in deadline for getting our tree and other stuff down and put away.  It's the start of my favorite season...organizing season.  

I love all of the magazine articles about getting your stuff in order and all of the sales on supplies (not that you have to buy anything to get organized)...it inspires me to edit all of the things that have made their way into my house over the last year or so, go through the closets, get rid of clutter.   I have no idea how much I'll like it but I just signed up for a Martha Stewart organizing tip of the day.  

For inspiration, I saved a quote from a designer that redid a sewing room (Creative Home, Spring 2008)...

If there's one lesson to take from this and most of the rooms I design, it's this - keep only what is essential and what you love, and get rid of the rest.  Everything you own steals energy from you in multiple forms.  You use it, clean it, store it, fix it, or simply think about it.  Let bidding it good-bye be the last bit of energy it takes from you..."

etsy front page - how to find

This post may seem more self-indulgent than my last...but bear with me. 

I was on the etsy front page a few months ago and the only reason I knew was that a very nice fellow etsy member told me about it.  I searched, searched, and searched but never figured out how to find the phantom "front page".  

The same thing happened last week...a nice etsy member let me know and, again, I had no idea how to find it.  But I figured it out and wanted to share what I found.

There is a flickr group that posts front page screen shots.  Search the group using your etsy name...it's like magic. 

me and santa

A little self-indulgent I know, but I had to share this picture of me with Santa.  I was 5 and had both an older and younger sister so I have no idea why it's just me.   Perhaps someone noticed our matching outfits and suggested a solo pose with Santa...no one seems to remember.  But it's cute.

from me to you...Merry Christmas!

brownie mix

The last day of school is this week so we will be putting together these brownie kits for the kids' teachers.   I'll make a couple of extra too...because you never know what gift situation might come up and, even it you end up using them yourself, it never hurts to have a brownie mix on hand.  

I made a 4x6 recipe card to go along with the mix and you can download a copy.  Just to be clear, the card is the recipe that goes to the recipient of the mix (see the above link for how to make the dry mix)...but you knew that right?

Like last year, I'm putting the dry mix in zip lock bags and placing it inside a brown bag.  I might use a ribbon to tie on the recipe card or I might staple it to the bag...easy to put in a backpack and make it to school all in one piece.  

vintage ornaments

We put up the Christmas tree on St. Nicholas Day last week.  At this point, I have so many vintage ornaments that there is no way they will all fit on the tree...or in bowls...or on shelves.  I didn't think I had that many but I guess at $0.80 a box you can accumulate a few over the years.  

I picked up my first vintage ornaments about 10 years ago at an estate sale in our neighborhood...a bag of them for $0.25.   The bag included these two...still my favorite ornaments.   They have little glitter churches inside, faded and crackled paint, and silver and white glitter.  Even better are the flat bottoms so they are easy to display.

So, what do you do with all of your extra vintage ornaments?  I think I'd like to try a wreath (next year) and I love this idea from Suzy.  Her collages using ornament boxes are the cutest thing I've seen this season.  

I missed this one but a few are left in Suzy's etsy shop. 

nintendo ds cozy

 

I can't lie.  If I saw a post titled "nintendo ds cozy" I'd smirk and think "What kind of doofus makes a cozy for a nintendo ds?".  But...

If your kids are constantly asking to use your sewing machine, and they have a day off school, and they've cleaned their rooms, and you find a tutorial for easy tissue cozies (so they don't ask to make something outside your skill level...like a cape for the cat), and the tissue cozies somehow turn into ds cozies...well, you just go with it.  

We followed the tutorial but made the 4 fabric pieces 4.5 in. x 7 in. (with a 3/8 in. seam).  I top-stitched a ribbon to the back to tie it together.   We also made some by making one of the top pieces slightly wider (5.5 in. x 7 in.) so one piece lays over the other in the opening.   

It's like Santa's workshop around here making cozies for cousins and friends.   And I think I'm going to ask Santa for a rotary cutter.  

new note flats

I have been wanting to try a new type of note card for a few of my collages and have two new ones available.  The cards are standard A2 size and are note flats...very simple and sweet for sending a small note.  The first one is a smooth cotton version of the sewing kit girls and the second is a textured linen version of my popular gift girl.

Both are now available in my etsy shop in sets of 6 including pretty envelopes (I never skimp on envelopes...the ones I use are really nice, smooth, vanilla colored).  As always, if you want a different quantity, just let me know and I can create a reserved listing for you.

I added two new pieces of vintage luggage to my shop yesterday and will be adding the last of my items today...a few clipboards that I'm finishing up today.  And, don't forget, I'm including a pocket mirror with any purchase.  

OK...enough with the shop talk...lets get back to some fun stuff.  I'll be back Friday with an easy sewing tutorial (this one was my kids idea and it's kind of cute).

little gifts

I participated in a craft fair at a ladies holiday luncheon yesterday.  It was a last minute decision but I am glad I went.  So many of the shoppers, young and old, shared lots and lots of memories about sewing...how their mom sewed all of their clothes until they were married, how they remembered looking through the big pattern books, how you had to stand and turn slowly while your mom checked the hem on your dress.  It seems that everybody had a sewing story and I was so happy to get a chance to hear them all.  

I plan to fill my etsy shop with new items (including new pretty noteflats) this week and, as a thank you to my blog readers, will include a "sew lovely" pocket mirror with each order placed until the end of December.  I'll probably know you as a blog reader but, just in case, please let me know in the "message to seller" section.  

frugal yet fabulous

I found this trio of angels at the thrift store this week and sent them straight to my mantel. They are made of wood, painted, jeweled, and antiqued...I'd guess vintage 70s.   As I was putting them up, I was thinking that I could decorate my house for the holidays using only the things I have thrifted in the last month or so...just let whatever I have stored stay there for the year...except maybe for some favorite vintage ornaments.   A little bit frugal? A little bit fabulous?

I picked up the "Frugal yet Fabulous" Holidays tag from fellow St. Louisan Colleen at not quite vintage.  Always a girl with a plan, she has some great ones for the month of December and I'll be checking in on her.  Grab the tag from her blog.

And another tag...this time from one of my favorite bloggers.  Bethany and bitter betty tagged me to list a few things that are inspiring me.   I feel a slight craft burn-out and making a list may help get me back on track.

The color combinations on this quilt. 

Steampunk.  Not the weird but the pretty like this...and wouldn't it be cool to do a steampunk collage (similar to all of the Marie Antoinette versions)?

My kids...they are always making something and I'm just trying to keep up.

What Not to Wear.  Funny for sure but I always learn something and am trying hard not to dress like a 46 year old without a clue.

Music inspires me...to get my house clean, to exercise. And I am so happy to have a local radio station that is commercial free (like satellite radio but better) and it keeps me company all day with favorites like this.

christmas tablecloths

I saved some more pages from a Country Living magazine...this time about vintage Christmas tablecloths. I only have a few but love and use every one of them.  My favorite vintage linens are a set of 12 napkins (one is pictured with the magazine above).  They are faded and softly worn...well-used...and continue to be used at my house.  

The magazine article talked about the tablecloths as collections..."which we'd never dream of putting on the table".  Where's the fun in that?  Also mentioned in the article are popular motifs..."The most sought-after designs include...Jack-in-the-box Santas, elves riding geese".

Damn...I've got a tablecloth with both...

We've been using this one and spilling food all over it for at least 15 years...think of all the fun we would have missed if we didn't use it.  

At the one-and-only estate sale I went to this year, I bought a "Peppermint Cane Red" Simtex cotton sailcloth tablecloth...still in its original plastic bag.  I ripped it open and have the tablecloth running through a hot wash hoping to soften the colors and texture...getting ready to use it this year.