Giveaway!!!!!!!!!! - Valentine's Day Gift

One week until Valentine's Day - no time to finish my other items much less post or sell them so I decided to give one away. You have your pick.

Here's a pic of them, but for more pictures look at the post a few down from here and make your choice when/if you win!!

I'll pick a winner on first thing Wed. Feb 10th so hurry! I'm hoping it'll get to you by Valentine's Day, it should, it'll fit in a regular envelope, at least if you live in the US, otherwise I have no idea how long it takes.
Once the winner is announced, please let me know which one you want and if it isn't the ornament one and you want it to be - let me know ASAP!!! :)

Edited to add: In fact, let's be more generous - there will be TWO winners. Double your chances!

So Happy Valentine's Day a little early - comment for your chance to win!!

Inspiration Thursday: Hallway Picture Wall

When I was growing up we always lived in a small ranch house or an apartment. My grandest wish was to live in a big house with an honest to god staircase. Of course anyone that lives in a multiple storied house and gets sick, needs to move furniture, or is severely or even moderately injured (knee, foot, etc.) knows that staircases can be a pain. Now I'll show you what I have so far, I'm not done by a long shot and it changes now and then, but whatta ya think of this:




You will notice it is mostly vintage pictures, all genuine ancestors - no cheating with garage sale or flea market pics. The top left one is a really cool old fashioned wedding photo with my grandma as the flower girl. The one below it - my grandfather looking handsome in his Marine uniform - he fought in the South Pacific in WWII and was nearly killed, but saved by his helmet when a bullet hit it and stopped just short of killing him. Thank goodness for that or my dad and I wouldn't be here. :) There is another older ancestor picture copied from my grandmother's album, a large D to stand for my dad - Daniel as that is his side of the family.

Below the D, though, starts my mom's side of the family: my Yiayia and Papu (grandma and grandpa in Greek). Yiayia gave it to me and I display it with pride.

A look going up the stairs, you can see that there is a golden M for my mother, Mary. I like how it stands out and goes with the frame of her parents. (I have my initial, N, painted white with gold showing through for an antique-y look, but I keep it in my room. I'll show it off sometime.)

Here's the best pic I could get leaning on the shaky banister of a close-up of my mom's family - unforutnately I couldn't avoid the glare in the first pic of my Yiayia as a young woman. The rest are actually pictures of me at various stages of childhood. There are more of my mother's family photos not shown. One of them is a really cute one of my uncle really young in full cowboy getup on a horse. lol

Looking up the stairs you can see the picture I have there at the moment, I change it frequently. It's a painting by my very talented mother of a folk art rendering of their wedding photo. It's beautifully done and reminds me of the Frida wedding portrait - folk art clothes and making the way she paid such attention to detail. She did it in the mid-eighties when I was about five or six - made the most gorgeous and perfect painting and then just stopped. Always promised to paint me - never did. She's a great artist and it's so frustrating her lack of time and commitment. I won't show you the painting up close because...well, I fear copycats. Yes, it's that good in my opinion. And if she won't make anymore I want it all for myself, selfishly. Sorry. She's slowly losing dexterity in her hands now thanks to Lupus, Reynaud's and early arthritis, I really wish I could get her to paint again, but I've pretty much given up.

And just for fun I added this to the wall, a silhouette on a Vintage French book page. I like it and I think it suits my family wall. It's my small contribution.

Just a glimpse and maybe inspiration for making your own wall of photos. I suggest different shapes and maybe a color or two, but try to keep a little unifying theme or color going throughout. All, but the heirloom picture of my Greek grandparents, are in black frames. I feel the gold M balances it out, though. No white frames or stained wood ones.

That's what is slowing me down - finding the right sized black frames for certain photos. Also having to have someone hang them for me and help me keep it looking balanced. I'd love to add also a small antique mirror or two to let light bounce off the wall and help lighten up a rather dark lower hallway. The skylight above isn't quite enough.

Anyway, that's my wall for now - it's the only place we really display personal photos - everywhere else is full of art we pick up. I have a few pics of art that is up for early spring and I'll share them wih you another day.

Valentines - sneak peek

I've been working on a few Valentine related items, but these are the first to be finished.

You may notice they are all different shades of pink, light to dark and with different backgrounds, one is mixed media with Mona Lisa's eyes and crowns and a heart cut out of vintage music paper, the rest are silhouettes. I was just having fun with them. One was already made as an ornament, but the rest are not, I can alter them to be ornaments or leave them alone.

I love pink and am becoming a bit obsessed with pink and white, I think. :)

Those captivating eyes, the medieval writing on the background makes me think of da Vinci's journals and sketches - like it is his handwriting. It's one of my newer stamps and I love it.

On the back, vintage sheetmusic, my favorite medium, cut in a simple heart with another crown. Just because. :)

A typical silhouette by me, French text, black silhouette of an Austen style young girl. On the back, her bethrothed? Her husband?

Another silhouette, this one in white. I like the play of white and pink and antiqued brown writing. Just seems to go so well together...

On the back, another Austen style man. All of these rectangular silhouettes are on wood, the general size of a standard playing card. They have teeny tiny holes so you could thread a piece of thread through them or ignore it, they just come that way. Or, if you'd like any of these as ornaments with wider thread I can drill a slightly bigger hole as is already done in the ones without text back grounds. Please note - all are different shades of pink. I've been playing around with the colors and I like the varying shades of pink.

This one was completed just as I was finishing up Christmas ornaments. It has a very pretty white ribbon as you can see, there's a glimpse of the other valentines in the side, you can see how much darker a pink this ornament is from the others. I like the postmark stamp and the Bonjour and little fancy fleur de lis stamps on these.

Oh, also, thanks to tip on how to remove spam, I've removed comment moderation for new comments, older comments are moderated just so I can see them and read them or otherwise I'd miss them. So feel free to comment!

New Coat - (thanks to Black Apple) and Etsy Update

This is the coat just plain buttoned up, a bit on the boring side - needs a little accessories, but all I have to show at the moment, sorry. Should have snagged one of my red purses at the very least, right?

Check out that rounded color, the vents - they are all over - it's like a coat dress, with two buttons in the back, too. Just too cute not to buy it with such perfect details and fine quality.

I tracked it down after Black Apple's post here. She shows it off much better - open with a cute outfit underneath. I'll try that another time. With the weather this cold I'm sure to have more opportunities.The color is a nice light gray - very neutral, which means a dark red scarf is a good idea...



I wish the pictures were nicer and you could see my face, but I lack severely in self-confidence and I'm nowhere near as cute as Black Apple so I'll just let the coat speak for itself. The scarf is hard to tell, but a really dark burgundy velvet scarf, long enough to wrap around your neck and still dangle - I love that scarf and my mother keeps stealing it!! Darn it! :)

I can't wait to wear it with a cute skirt and tights - here I just wore my typical jeans as it was a quick outing and I thought it'd be too cold for a skirt. But this coat deserves a nice dress or skirt and some fantastic mary janes. I owe it to the coat. If you are interested - it wasn't cheap and I did have a bit of trouble getting it - took quite some time to come through, but for a quality London coat like this - well worth it. I can't believe they named the color so ugly, though - Donkey?? Not appealing, Saltwater...cute company name, but you need better names for your colors - if I hadn't seen how cute it was on Emily I never would have thought to buy a donkey colored coat. I only wish they had this in dark red, too. Not that I could afford two. LOL If you want more info on where exactly to find it let me know, I had some trouble at first, myself.

Next post will hopefully finally show off some of the work I've managed to do. Can you believe it's February already??

I've also updated a few items to Etsy tonight and tomorrow I will photograph and add more. Be sure to check it out!!

Inspiration Wednesday: Red Purses

I don't have a specific favorite color - I love LOTS of colors - most shades of blue, blue-greens are a fave, pink, a recent love of all vintagey whites, etc., etc. But one color that NEVER fails to catch my eye is RED. And the reason this color is on my mind is Valentine's Day, which is coming up. I can't stop looking at pinks, whites, and reds.

Oh how I love red for accents - for eye drawing objects in a room, lipstick, nail polish, dresses, shirts, sweaters and, of course - purses! I love a good red purse. For some reason I rarely wear them, though. I usually just stick to my trusty black or brown neutral color purses, because I don't know what I'll wear day to day and changing out purses is a hassle so I am very lazy you see. But does that stop me from collecting them? Nope. Also - wallets. ;)

An assortment of my favorite purses. I likely have more, but these are within reach. Aren't they adorable together? Sorry for the bad lighting - overcast, rainy day.

This is the first red purse I remember purchasing. It's like a cheap version of a little satiny cocktail purse, too small to hold much beyond some lipstick and a compact, etc. I don't think I've ever used it, but it's too cute and small to part with. It doesn't take up much room is my excuse.

I probably bought this wallet at the gap at the same time - far more used - It's probably my favorite wallet as it has the easiest to open and organize features. Probably the last time Gap really made a worthy wallet, IMHO. Also last time they had really classic clothes they were known for - this is back in the '90's - then they turned trendy and it is soooo hard to find decently made classic clothes there.

What happened to you, Gap? I still shop there and find the rare decent top, their jeans are still great, but last time I shopped there I ordered online, not being able to drive there and leave the house so soon after my operation and the clothes that looked the same as I'd bought last time came tissue paper thin. If I'd felt it in the store I'd NEVER have bought it. They cheaped out on the fabric of all the shirts and that really pissed me off - thus the rant, sorry. I had to drag myself to the store and return them as soon as I was able. Darn it. So few quality stores left and usually at prices I can't afford. /rant. Just look at the wallet and pretend I never went crazy about the store.

Ahem, now that my Gap rant is through - this is a patent leather, very thin red purse. Doesn't everyone need a patent leather red purse? Well I do. Even if it also doesn't hold enough to be very useful. LOL Nice and shiny and oh so cute on the shoulder, though.

And also everyone needs a red crocodile purse. I got it from Target a few years ago as a present from my mom for starting an internship in March at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I always think of how excited I was for the chance to work there when I see this purse.

And a velvet Esprit purse I've had for many years - this close up is to show you how dark red, burgundy, really, it is and how velvety soft. It has this super long strap which was really useful as a student to sling over like a messenger bag. I did use this in the winter quite a few times. Too pretty to part with even if I don't use it anymore.

And while on the subject of winter red purses - you must own a wool one, too, right? Well, I do. It's so cozy looking.

But this one - this is my favorite of all and it usually sits on a shelf protected all on its own (but filled with smaller bags so it doesn't lose it's shape and is still useful) - this is my Coach tote. I LOVE this purse. It's big enough to hold everything you need and even a book or a magazine and more. It's my special purse that I only use when I want to feel good about myself. I use it sparingly, though, as I don't want it to get an accidental pen mark or something on the precious canvas sides. The red leather trim is gorgeous, though.

And as much as I love Coach purses - a special treat for me. I will admit that they sometimes have a bizarre humor and use a really UGLY lining in their pretty purses. Almost as a joke you'll find a pretty dark brown purse and open it up and there is neon green or orange lining inside that totally doesn't go and is actually an assault to the eyes. Now maybe they are trying to make it easy to see your stuff inside a dark bag, but there are FAR better colors and materials to use. Many a purse has been passed by for me because the lining is atrocious.

But see here in this pic - the lining is sky blue!! Another big plus!! That's how you line a pretty and rather expensive purse, right? I love the inside as much as the outside.

And if you have a coach purse you have to have a coach wallet, too. Just because. It's a little on the small side to be useful, I use it a lot, though, just have a second small wallet for the other junk I need. :)

Next post: likely the unbelievable cute shoes I got from Santa - well, my mother. The light's all gone now and I want to show how just how precious they are. And maybe a few other items I got for Christmas because isn't it fun to show off your pretty new gifts?

Igloo and Penguin Treats

Just a little pic from some of our Christmas spread this year, in the back ground are my mincemeat cookies and in front is the Igloo cheese ball. :)

Every year at Christmas we make a great cheeseball/spread, which the look of I got from one of those little Holiday recipe booklets they sell at the grocery store years ago. While the look of the igloo is the same, I detest blue cheese and also experiment and don't follow any recipe at all really when I make it so every year is a bit different, but always yummy - and a little spicy. Anyway - the igloo features little black olive penquins that are just too cute to eat, though they finally get eaten, too after awhile.

Sorry the pics aren't the greatest and you can't see the detail, but we make this spread which is golden yellow in final color (it has a variety of mild and sharp cheeses, bacon bits, green onions, and tabasco sauce, etc.), we then put it in a round bowl with plastic wrap and let it harden overnight then ice it with whipped cream cheese the next day of the party. You trace little blocks of ice on the igloo and cut up little squares for the entrance, which in this picture you can see a penguin is guarding or coming out. LOL

The penguins are made with jumbo black olives, split, stuffed with cream cheese, small olives for the heads and carrot feet and noses (though this year mom went with almond beaks for some reason) and then you stick a long flourished toothpick through the whole penguin and ta da! Something that has nothing to do with Christmas, really, but cute nonetheless and a treat I look forward to making each year.

The pics were taken shortly before the party and it was late with awful lighting and relatives arriving and unfortunately I don't have any nicely detailed pics. I do have older pics from past years I could maybe dig up and scan in. Anyway, it's always a hit spread on crackers and the spiciness of the cheese is calmed down with the cream cheese outside. It's delicious! :)

It's late to post a Christmas pic of a treat we had, but I kept forgetting to do it earlier and just now got around to it. I'm really procrastinating this year.

If anyone is interested in better pics and a recipe for the cheeseball just let me know. It really is a great centerpiece. People are afraid to ruin the artwork at first and then soon enough they dive in and carve the heck out of it. Poor penguins being swallowed whole by some. LOL Might be fun to try, especially if you have kids that liked the penguin craze of the past few years.

That Uh-Oh Moment Arrives

Remember how much I wanted that snow? I got it, less than predicted, but really cold temperatures to keep it around. It'll be 4 degrees tonight. So what happens? The furnace breaks. Yep. We're all freezing and bundled in blankets with the oven on and guess what? Can't fix it ourselves. Oh man, I was just asking for it, hm? lol Wish for my family and I not to freeze overnight. I take back the wanting snow comment - I wish it was summer now.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

ETA: Thank goodness for emergency repairman. Costs more, but worth it when you face freezing, literally. Aaaahhh...warmth. Don't let it happen to you!