More Catalog Inspiration

As I was flipping through Pottery Barn's April catalog, I came to a screeching halt when I saw this photo.

The table was not what caught my eye... sorry Pottery Barn.

It was the books.  Specifically the stamped numbers on them.

I have lots of old books scattered around my home and I also have book innards (as I like to call them) lying about too.

When I make journals I use unloved library books, purchased from the library. I gut them and use the covers/spine as a base for the journals. So I have a lot of book innards.

Just what I needed for this project.

 Because my books were too bright I made a tea bath for them and I'm a messy crafter so I did this outside.

And I remembered how hot the bath was when I went to push the book down with my finger.

Of course, I didn't bring out any type of utensil for pushing/flipping the books.

And just so you know, in case you too want to do this, a stick tends to get mushy and quite worthless as a pushing/flipping utensil.  Best to remember to bring out some tongs with you.

Once the books were the color I wanted, I laid them out to dry.

A heat gun helps speed this process up.

Now for the fun part.  The part that this project was all about.

I simply used some number stamps (foam worked best here, because I was able to conform the stamp to the tea warped spine) and Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

Distress Ink is totally the best.

In my humble opinion.

Once the ink was dry (in no time at all) I was able to get to work creating new and pretty vignettes around the house.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

A quick and fun project.

Thank you, Pottery Barn, for the inspiration.

A Little of This and a Bit of That

A few things that have been keeping me busy...

I taught a card class for my Crafter's Business group. We had our holiday get together and part of our merry making was creating cards. I taught one and one of our organizers taught another one. Loads of fun!

Pretty kits ready to go.


And this was the final product. The great image is a French postcard download that I got from Ranjini of Scrapologie. She's posting a vintage Christmas image a day, this month, as a sweet holiday treat. She also has a selection for sale in her Boutique.

I've been slowly decorating. I got E to pull everything out of the attic last Thursday (I won't go up there... it wiggs me out and makes me wish, for a moment, that we lived up North where basements exist). But once everything was down and my house looked like a storage room (a very messy one I might add) I felt overwhelmed and left it like that for a couple of days. Yesterday I started opening boxes and placing things here and there. However, seems I'm not even going to use half of the stuff in all of those boxes.

My Farmboy was bitten by the Christmas bug a couple of weeks ago and agreed that it was time for a color scheme change. And quite frankly, I really like looking at my everyday stuff and didn't want to put it away, so the majority of it is going to stay out and I'm just accessorizing around it. Oh, and when the bug bit the Farmboy, he started picking out pretty brown and champagne balls which was totally crazy, because I had been trying to think of a way to convince him that that was what we needed, but hadn't mentioned it to him yet! Then last night, I went to Target, which I had not been to since before they put out their Christmas stuff and low and behold, those seem to be one of the popular colors this season... and I didn't even know. The planets are aligned evidently.

Teresa is in the middle of her Comfort and Joy ezine. The first project was a crown.

Here is mine. So far this is the only one I've done. I'm really hoping to do some more of the projects before the end of the week.

I finally tried my hand at bleaching bottle brush trees from the craft store.

For some reason I was shocked at how easy it was. I really love them this creamy yellow bleached out color. I got busy when I was doing the bigger ones and forgot about them. Note to self... forgotten trees sitting in bleach become brittle and have a tendency to look like drowned rats once finally remembered and dried. I would really like to find some really large trees to do this with. Like 10 -12 inches high. Anyone know where I can get some? There are a couple of vintage ones just this color at my local antique store, but I can't justify the price they want for them.

Let's see, what else. Oh, I've been making Christmas presents.

These are totally inspired by the article in the latest Somerset Life. And they really weren't as difficult as I expected them to be. That's always a good thing.

And lastly, I had E put up the Christmas tree last night. Would someone PLEASE convince my Farmboy that it really is time for a new tree!

He loves this tree so much because it's a symbol of, well several things actually, because he purchased it after his divorce. But I really think it's time. I "lived" with it like this last year. Yes, I know... you're as shocked as me. He did manage to get some of those dark areas to light up last year, but not all of them. It really is a sad little Charlie Brown tree with some of it's lights not working and branches drooping pathetically. I just don't know that I can pull off another Peanut's gang transformation again this year. He's coming home tomorrow night from being out of town for over a week now and I'm crossing my fingers that he will finally agree to a new one. So do you think I should leave it as is for him to see or maybe hang a few balls on it first. Let me know what ya think.

I'm off to finish decorating and do more creating. Have a beautiful day!

Crafter's Accessories

I've been bouncing around a lot lately. From craft fair stuff to Halloween to Silver Bella swap stuff to LolliShop stuff and so on. One of the things I decided I would need for the craft fair was an apron. However, I decided I needed this at the last minute, the night before. The whole reason it came about in the first place was because I went into my supply closet to get something for the show and I just happened to look up and spy a stack of old pillowcases. Light bulb moment. I pulled one down, not a vintage one, just one that had been kept after the set had been retired because of it's pretty lacy potential for something else.

Forgetting for a moment that I was not Superwoman, I thought I could whip it out that night. Didn't happen. But while still in my delusional state, I thought I could just whip it out the next morning before I left for the show... at 6:30 in the morning. Right... not so much.

I did, however, finish it earlier this week. I mean really, I couldn't start a project and not finish it at some point. (Emphasis on "SOME". I'm quite proud of myself for actually finishing it!)

Take a look. Callia will be our lovely model today.

I decided on one large pocket, as opposed to sewing two or three smaller ones. So the entire apron is a pocket, from the pink ribbon at the top down to the top of the lace at the bottom.


And of course, my accessory need an accessory of it's own. So I made a flower brooch to pin to it. I added a few loops of left over pink ribbon (that the apron is trimmed in) to the back of the silk flower and sewed on one of my favorite vintage buttons in the center of it.

I finished it with a wide, chocolate brown satin ribbon to tie it on with.


Over all, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. This was kind of a first for me.

Hope everyone has a beautiful weekend!

Whew... it's over

The Craft Fair that is and now I can breathe (and eat and sleep) again. I have to say, I don't think I did too bad for a first timer. I took to heart all of the great advice everyone gave me and I think my set up turned out pretty good.



Yes, that is a look of slight irritation on my face. Really a person can only have their picture taken so many times. My Farmboy got a new camera that morning and evidently chose me for his subject. But that is all I can complain about. I have to tell ya, I really think I'm the luckiest person in the world when it comes to that Farmboy! He was so there for me this weekend... 110% in every way imaginable! Love that guy!!!

Anyway, I was up until 2AM the night before making sure I had everything and that all was just right (OCD, yes I know). I set everything up in my sitting room just how I wanted it and then took a picture and printed it out. When I got to the church the next morning (with a Venti Caramel Macchiato and my picture in hand) I got everything set up in less than 30 minutes and then had nothing to do for the next hour and a half before the fair opened.

There was a really good turn out and I had quite a few friends show up too! A GINORMOUS THANK YOU to you guys! Totally made my day! My little family even came by in the middle of the day and hovered for awhile (that's my E, looking bored out of his mind, in the picture up there).

I finally got to meet my blogging friend Allie. And what an absolute sweetheart she is too! Look what she brought me!

Is that not the most wonderful stack of old sheet music?! Again, thank you SO much Allie! Don't forget to email me... we still need to do McKinney!

I did this show with a MeetUp group I'm a member of, which in my opinion, is such a great way to do a fair. It was really nice to have the support of other vendors set up right next to me. There were 7 of us all together. One of the seven was a fellow Etsy Cottage Style/ LolliShop member... Stevie of SugarLoveHoney. She is just as sweet as can be and I'm not the only one who thinks so! Capin' Davy Cannon Swine was quite taken with her. Bless her heart! When the pirate wasn't outside hitting all of the carnival games winning tickets, he was standing in front of Stevie's table talking nonstop to her. But that's just him and she was an absolute doll to sit and listen to his constant chatter. She made such an impression on him, he continued to talk about her all through the evening after the show! You have a fan Stevie!

And speaking of LolliShops, I need to give a big shout out to Sadie! Sadie was so sweet to feature me on the LolliShops blog this weekend. Thank you so much Sadie and thank you to all of you who stopped by over there and left such wonderfully sweet comments for me! I really, really appreciate it!

Okay, I'm off to focus on Silver Bella now. Have a beautiful Monday!

The Stamptini Girls

Good afternoon! I wanted to pop in real quick and introduce you to some friends of mine.

The Stamptini Girls!

These three lovely ladies have recently started up their business, Stamptini Girls, and offer a great selection of gift items. They create all kinds of wonderfulness! From cards to mini albums to coaster to candles. Check out their blog and if you are in the Fort Worth area you can find their creations for sale down at the Stockyards. They are also teaching classes and workshops in the Frisco area. Oh, and when LolliShops opens, be sure to look for them there as well!

(photo: Stamptini Girls)

Fall Craft Fair

For those of you in the DFW area the Fall craft fairs are upon us.

As you know, I will be participating in my very first craft fair, so I thought I would share the details with you. It will be held...

Saturday, October 18, 2008
10am to 4pm

Arapaho United Methodist Church
1400 West Arapaho Road
Richardson, TX

Admission is free.

Here is another little peek of just a few of my items.


If you live in the area, I would love for you to come by and visit with me!

Okay, gotta get back to work... only a week left!

Bellaween Candles

So, you know how I have this Craft Show coming up? (My first one... thank you, everyone, for all of the great advice! Good news, I was thinking along the same lines as all of ya'll, so I think I'll be able to pull this off.) Well, I've been working so hard on items just for this show, that I short circuited my brain last Thursday afternoon. Yep... my creative well, as Rebecca Sower puts it, dried up. So my solution was to...
-go to a scrapbook crop Friday evening and work on my Halloween book.
-do absolutely nothing creative Saturday and Sunday.
-and on Monday, dip into the Bellaween projects.
I did just that and now my well is slowly filling back up.

The first Bellaween project was "The Shining", aka candles. So yesterday, between laundry and house cleaning and an ongoing email conversation, I decorated candles.

This was seriously what I needed and so much fun! I really didn't want to stop, but then Farmboys and teenagers needed to be fed. But I'm definitely not done!

Sorry for the not so great photos. Someone took the good camera to Austin with him this morning.

Hoping to fill my well up a little more today. Have a beautiful day!

Happy Autumn

I know... I'm a day late, but better late than never. And I'm late because Autumn has been front and center for me for the last month. No, not physically... not here in Texas (although it has cooled off quite a bit). You know how I've been so busy? Well, I have my first Craft Show coming up next month. A Fall Craft Show. Here is a small glimpse of what I've been working on.



In addition to these, I've been making note cards, gift tags, some Halloween goodies and a few other Autumn things.

Like I said, this is my first Craft Show, so if anyone has any advice, well, PLEASE feel free to share. I'll take any advice I can get!

Have a beautiful first week of Autumn!

A Sweet Gift and Some Other Pretties

First the gift.
I got mail the other day and what a lovely surprise it was!

Diane sent me this sweet "thank you" package. Diane is a busy lady! Along with a lot of other different crafts, she makes these pretty pins with bits of textiles and trims and embroiders on them... they are really pretty. She also designs fabric for Clothworks, as well as, paints. Look at these watercolors! Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you so much Diane! :)

And now for the "other pretties".
Remember those little bottles my BIL gave me? Well before I left, I started playing with a couple of them.


I hit the mother load in vintage image rub ons at a garage sale last month. You should have seen my MIL and I digging through all of these boxes and spazing like a couple of kids in a candy shop. At one point I thought it was going to be a wrestling match, thank goodness she decided to share. She's one tough, old bird... I think she probably could have taken me without any problem.

I also have to show you these, because I simply love them. Remember when I bought that gorgeous old clock face? Remember how ridiculously happy it made me? (It still does.) Well, I found another old item that makes me just as ridiculously happy as the clock face.

Look at that Lemon Extract bottle!!!! I know, how can a dirty, old bottle make someone SO giddy with excitement? I don't know, but it does! As for the book, well, every time I went into this one shop I would pick it up and then eventually put it back. After doing that for months, I finally brought it home with me. I love the image on the cover and thought that some of the pages were missing so planned on using the cover in a piece of art or maybe doing an altered book with it. There aren't any pages missing on closer inspection, so I'm going to read it first... then use it.

The last little pretty.

I've been so into polka dots recently and I decided I needed a red and white polka dotted apron. I found this at Honey Bend Vintage and loved it, so I snatched it right up. It's not red and white, but that doesn't matter. It has that cute little ribbon flower and the bottom edge is scalloped... love that! So it hasn't made me cook more than usual, but I sure look darn cute in it while I am cooking. :)

Oh! Be sure to stop by and visit Jenn's new etsy shoppe, The Peony Princess. I already have!

That's it for today. Have a beautiful one!

There's No Place Like Home

Well, we are back and as much as I enjoyed seeing my parents and viewing that gorgeous turquoise sea every day, there really is "no place like home".

I was going to share some photos of our trip, but my Farmboy left for Austin and took the camera with him. The camera and his laptop are where all of the pictures are. So I will have to wait a few days before I can share them.

In the meantime, I missed the Cottage Style Street Team's "Christmas in July" event.

I made two Tussie Mussies for the event.

The color in the photo above does not do it justice at all. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get it to look right either.

I listed them in the shop before for I left since I wasn't going to be here for the event and the pink one sold before the event ever took place. Thanks Jenn! :)

Here is the blue "Noel" tussie.

This one is still available here. There are still many gorgeous Christmas goodies to be found from the other members of the CSSTeam. Just put "cssteam" and "Christmas" and "July" in the Etsy search engine to find them.

I also want to share this with those of you who don't know yet.

Sadie Lou, the marvelous idea guru herself, is creating the ultimate shopping/selling/information gathering venue. LolliShops will be THE place to go to for all of your "Elegant Whimsy, Romantic Inspirations, Fanciful Creations" needs! Before the official Grand Opening in the fall, she will have a trial run, so to say. There will be a few shops open so that the bugs and kinks can be taken care of before all of the other artists open their shop doors there. Including mine. Yep, I'll be opening an Alisa Jane shop at LolliShops! I am SO excited about this! You can keep up to date on all of the LolliShop happenings at the LolliShop blog. Seriously, you have to go check it out right now!

What are you waiting for?! Go!!
Talk to you later! :)

Siren Songs and Polka Dots

A couple of new things to share today.

First off, I've created a new collection for Alisa Jane. This collection is called "Siren Song". I'm loving these polka dotted papers!

I'll be listing these three journals in the shoppe today and will hopefully have a few more items for this collection by the end of the week. We'll see. I need to get on the ball and get my "Christmas in July" project for the Cottage Style Street Team started and completed before we leave for St. Croix in a couple of weeks.

I guess because it's summer and because of our vacation destination, I can't seem to get the sea out of my head. I cannot wait to get into that gorgeous blue water! I know there will be a lot of diving being done while we are down there, but even though I dive, my favorite outdoor activity next to riding my sweet pink bicycle is snorkeling. Like riding my bike, I can snorkel all day long. Even the farmboy can't keep up with me!


Anyway, that leads me to my latest art journal page. So Teresa had two techniques she wanted us to try with this one. Pointillism and spelling out a phrase within our journaling.

Back to that sea-thing again! I have to admit that even though I am quite pleased with how this turned out, I did not enjoy it in the least. It was a little to tedious for me and for some reason I actually stressed over it a little bit. Maybe because I was afraid of screwing it all up. I don't know... it was a fairly easy technique for me to do. Who knows! Despite how I felt while doing it, I haven't been able to keep my hands off of it since it dried. I love feeling all of those little dots under my fingertips.

And speaking of dots again. I can't seem to stop with the polka dots either! I've liked polka dots for a long time, but I'm really liking them right now. I can't seem to get enough! In fact I just bought a new pair of polka dotted flip flops (too stinkin' cute!) and I think it's time to make a new apron. A red and white polka dotted apron. I bet I'd cook better and more often in one of those! ;)

A Few Lovelies

Just a quick post today to show you a few pretties.

My mother-in-law brought this box over to me earlier this week. When I opened it, I found a stack of lovely, old hankies.

They belonged to her mother. I love them! We sat and went through them all and she told me stories that she remembered about them.

I so wish I had known her. Farmboy adored her and he is always saying how well we would have gotten on together.

On the creative front, I have been a busy bee with multiple projects going on. Here is a journal and a couple of tags I made to send to the sweet lady who gave me my 100th heart on my Etsy shoppe.

Thank you so much Granny's Stuff!

And this was a nice surprise.

I received a phone call yesterday afternoon which turned stressful. My own fault... it shouldn't have because in reality it really wasn't something to stress over. Anyway, I called my stress reliever, farmboy, but he was on a conference call so couldn't help at that moment. While I was waiting for him to call me, I pulled down this silver dish from a cupboard without really thinking about it and started pulling out all of the creamy buttons from my button box that was sitting in front of me. I wasn't thinking at all about what I was doing as I did it. Two things were discovered in the process however. One sorting buttons is SO calming!!! And two, I had no idea that I had that many creamy buttons! They are so pretty, I'm going to leave them in the dish, which is deeper than this picture looks, and put them on the buffet in the dining room!

I have a list of things to do today longer than my arm, so I'm off to it. Have a beautiful weekend and a Happy Father's Day to all of the daddies in your lives!

Freaky Friday

Well, not really freaky, more like crazy, bogged-down, way too much to do today Friday. In fact, this is the last place I should be right now. My "to do" list is getting longer as I sit here. Speaking of "to do" lists, I should really carry a small journal with me everywhere I go. I make them, you would think I'd carry one. I had a brilliant idea yesterday evening while out and nothing to write on and of course, now I can't remember what it was!

I worked on tags for Lori part of yesterday. (here's a little peek)

I have five military images, so I thought I'd make five tags... and thought I'd finish them up last night.

Yeah well, this came on TV.

So I watched it. I did have the thought that I'd just plop everything down on the coffee table and work and watch at the same time... didn't happen. I didn't move... not even during the commercials. In fact, it came on again right after and so I watched the first half of it again before dragging myself to bed. If you haven't seen this movie watch it. I have the book. One of the most sweetest ladies on Earth gave it to me six years ago, just before my farmboy whisked me away to Tuscany on our honeymoon. However, being the horrible person that I am, I started it several times and never finished it... sometimes life gets in the way I guess. Anyway, I did read enough, I think, to know that the movie and the book are very much NOT alike. (By the way, I'm stating to the universe, right now, I will read this book from cover to cover before the end of Summer!) The movie is lovely... very romantic. And in my opinion, captures the feeling of Tuscany completely. Of course, keep in mind when I was there I was on my honeymoon, so everything felt romantic to me at the time!
The movie definitely put me in a mood.

The mood to work on my honeymoon album.

One of the items on my growing list is to pack my scrapbag for the monthly scrapbook crop I'm going to tonight. So the album and all of the goodies for it will get packed today and hopefully by the end of the night I will have something to share. And speaking of sharing, on my list is baking.

The scrap group I'm a part of meets twice a month. I usually only make it to one of the crops and I'm not allowed in unless I have brought cupcakes. :) I make a different kind every month and they are always a huge hit! Don't tell, but I get all of my recipes from here. Today I'm going to make Neopolitan Cupcakes.

(photo taken from Cupcake Scrapshop)
I'll let you know how they turn out.

Alright, I guess I'm off to that huge list now! Have a beautiful weekend!