Liquid Paper

quicker than quick

We are visiting friends and attending this.

This is what we did last weekend:

Because it looks good with red velvet cupcakes

I took this photo while I was watching the DVD on my mac the other day. I plan on watching it again while I make Valentine's Day cupcakes this afternoon. If they turn out and if I remember to take pictures, I'll post photos.

I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

p.s. This is also my current desktop wallpaper. Jealous? ;)

after a slight delay

Opps! Yesterday seemed to get away from me and I completely forgot to announce the winners of the fabric give away. Sorry about that all. Here are the six winners (drawn randomly by my husband): kate, Roxanne, cindy k, Ashley, Lew and brandy. Congratulations all of you! I think each person will each be getting either their first or second favorite bundle. Phew. That worked out pretty well, now didn't it? I'll e-mail each of you for your addresses today.

And thank you so so much to everyone who entered. I wish I had the extra fabric to send something to each one of you! I was honestly surprised that there were so may of you out there. Mark and I were talking the other day and I said that I think the explosion of craft blogs in the past couple of years makes it hard for bloggers to comment as much as we used to. At least that's my experience. I visit a lot of blogs -- more than I ever have before -- but, I have less time to comment. It sure makes me appreciate those of you who leave your comments here every once in a while. You're all welcome to stop by and visit anytime. ♥

you still have until midnight tonight...

...to leave a comment on this post. At Midnight (CST) I'll close the comments and tomorrow I'll draw names for the fabric bundle winners.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share the name of the stamps I've been using for the easy Valentines and the lettering on my container labels. It is a set of vintage (inspired) alphabet stamps in the font BREITE ITALIENNE. I picked them up at Kuhl-Linscomb (a very favorite place) when we were in Houston over the holidays. Although I don't use stamps very often, I loved the style of this set as well as explanation that accompanied them:

VINTAGE ALPHABET STAMPS celebrates historical typefaces that hark back to the days when type was carved out of wood, cast in lead, and set by hand. This nineteenth-century typeface was originally featured in a German printer's specimen book.

Here they are in the lovely afternoon light that sometimes finds its way through our studio windows. Not today though... brrr. Baby, it's cold and snowing outside!

Little Deers
For those of you who asked about the little deers grazing by my ribbon jar, I believe that they're carved wooden figurines from the Erzgebirge region of Germany. I, of course, got them on ebay. ;)

it was hurting my eyes

I never thought that I'd say this, what with all of the white on my side of the studio -- white walls, white furniture, white chairs -- but, there's just too much color going on in there. I need to dial it down a bit. Therefore, as a part of the current de-cluttering process, I've decided to get rid of the visual clutter too. I feel like getting any more large storage units would only add to the clutter. So, at this point if I'm going to keep something, I know that I'll need to get creative and find a place for it.

My first project was my big IKEA jar of ribbons and trim. I like having them all together, but it looked like a tempest inside there.

Here's what I did:

I cut a couple sheets of white card stock to fit inside the jar + added a simple label with stamps. Easy peasy. It all equals a much simpler and visually appealing jar.

Wowza!
Thank you to everyone who has already left a comment for the fabric give away drawing! And thank you to all of you who delurked for the very first time. I had no idea you were out there. Yay! There are still a couple of days left to enter so don't be shy. Oh, and if you're looking for the items that I talked about adding to my esty shop, you probably noticed that they're not there yet. Yep, I'm still gathering items and taking photos and getting sidetracked by ribbon jars and clutter. But, I'm slowly plodding along and will let you know here when I've added them. Thanks and have a great weekend all!

p.s. You can also sign up for the shop mailing list over here to get shop updates via e-mail.

No, really. I want you to have it.

For the next few weeks I'm going through all of my stuff in the studio to get rid of the things I don't need anymore. I tell myself that it is to clear out the clutter, but deep down I know that I'm just making room for the new stuff I'll accumulate over the next how-ever-long. Some of these things I'll be putting in my etsy shop, but others I want to give away to people who can use them.

First up are these piles of fabric from my stash. I've used pieces from them and now it's your turn. The pieces are all good-sized. The smallest is about a quarter yard and they range in size up to two or three yards each. Maybe you can make fabric Valentines with them? Who knows!

If you'd like one of these piles, please leave me a comment and tell me which pile you like best and which pile you like least. It'd be great if you could list them in order with your favorite pile first, your second favorite next, and so on and so forth. (I sure hope that makes sense.) That way, I'll try my best to send you one of your favorite piles!

On Monday I'll draw six (6) names and email you to get your address.

Update: I forgot to say anything about where I'll ship to -- thanks those who asked in the comments -- I am happy to mail globally so everyone is welcome to join in!

Thanks!

pretty easy valentine

These days, easy is ultimately what I'm looking for when it comes to crafts and it doesn't get much easier than these simple stamped fabric Valentines.

Here's how you can make one (or a dozen) too:

♥ Cut a heart shape out of paper to create your pattern. If you're no good with freehand cutting, I made a PDF pattern for you that you can download here:

Easy Valentine Heart Pattern [PDF]

♥ Pin the paper pattern to any fabric of your choice (I used linen).

♥ Stamp out your message with ink and letter stamps.

What will you do with your so-easy-it-should-be-a-crime fabric Valentines? I think I'm going to add mine to a the paper Happy Valentine's Day garland that I made for our mantel and then make a bunch more to send out to friends and family. ♥

collecting blues

Recently Mark and I headed off to a local antique mall. I was hoping to find some Cathrineholm pieces. (Is it Catherineholm, Catherine Holm, Cathrine Holm? Help.) After four hours of looking up and down every-single-solitary aisle, we came away with a few things but not a stitch of Cathrineholm. What's up with that?

I consoled myself with this little chair -- I knew I'd seen something like it before. I've had it in my flickr favorites for a long time! Now, if only they'd had the tiny ottoman too.

Mark found this vintage Pelican to add to our collection. He's got a good eye, that man of mine.

winter pinks

It's snowing here today and perhaps it's just Valentine's day looming ahead of me, but I'm seeing pink everywhere.

Like the little bands of the softest pink that can be found in between the red and white of this Cineraria's petals.

And how much do I love the pink coat (the whole outfit really!) in this recent etsy purchase? It is called winter boots from photobird's etsy shop. I think I first saw this photo in Jenni's flickr and asked her where she'd gotten it. Thanks for the tip Jenni!