Moving Right Along . . .

While I may not be keeping my promise to myself to blog more often, I AM steadily working on the doll house.



It is a slow going project as I often have to wait for paint or glue to dry.



I am enjoying the building part much more than I expected to.



However, I have learned that I do not like painting tiny little things like porch railings.



It is a very fun project and I'm already purchasing some decor for the outside like door knobs and a porch swing. Next step: drawing the lines for the roof shingles. :)

New Year, New Project

Happy New Year. :) I've neglected my blog a lot lately and have made it one of my resolutions to post more, craft more and take more photos.

Speaking of resolutions, a few years ago I bought a doll house. It's been sitting in the basement since then ( yes for FIVE years) and I've finally decided it's time. So one of my New Year's resolutions is to build the doll house. I'm off to a great start:






Step one is to paint the outside and all of the trim.



I'm using Safari Green by Glidden for the main house. For the trim I'm using Ballet Slipper and Aegean Blue by Martha Stewart Living. I've ordered the stain for the roofing shingles and hardware for the door. I ordered them from this fabulous site. This will be a big project and I'm expecting a lot of cursing to go along with it but I'm looking forward to the challenge. The kit I'm using is Allison Jr. from Real Good Toys. It says it's an easy to assemble model. I can only imagine the more difficult ones. :)

Wish me luck!

Annual Christmas Craft Party

Time sure flies. I can't believe it's almost Christmas! Of course I have not nearly as much done as I would like but I know I am not alone there. Back in November we had our annual Christmas craft party. I think this was the 4th year and as usual it was a great success!

Each year we make 2 to 3 crafts, have a lovely pot luck lunch and do a Greedy Santa gift exchange. It's a great way to get into the holiday spirit!



This year we made glittered cookie cutter ornaments designed by Heidi and fabric yo-yo trees designed by me.



We decorated in fun pastels and a good time was had by all. As a gift I made everyone fabric pin cushions to use for our sewing project.



I put the cushions into vintage tins and wrapped them in tissue.




This is the glittered bunny cookie cutter ornament I made.



All the glittered cookie cutters came out great! Thanks to Heidi for the idea and to Amy for the photo.



And these are the yo-yo trees. I plan to put up tutorials for both these and the pin cushions in the new year. The party was a great success and I am already looking forward to next year!

And because there aren't enough cute baby photos on this blog:



My too cute nephew on his Baptism. :)

Until the next . . .

Ask and ye shall receive . . .

I won't waste your time making excuses as to why I haven't blogged in forever. I am sure you know how it is. :) Instead I will share a story of how I asked for something and was rewarded.

So here is the link that I pinned and then sent to my Mom: http://home-frosting.blogspot.com/2011/10/reindeer-plaque.html

Okay, did you check it out? Now meet Victor*, made by my Dad:



Isn't he awesome? He is hanging above my fireplace and looks perfect.



I even decorated him a bit. I think he'll stay up there even after tha holidays. Thanks, Dad!

* - apparently Vistor is Rudolph's brother who had an unfortunate hunting accident. Hmm . . . .

Guest Post: Design Shuffle - Embroided Accessories

Hi, I'm Susi and you can usually find me writing for DesignShuffle.com, a wonderful community of designers and their work from around the world. I'm lucky to get to visit great blogs like the Thrifty Goodness as a guest blogger. My guest post today is all about embroidered home accessories and decorating ideas. Whether you are investing in a suzani textile or adding embroidery to a new or vintage find, embroidery is a great way to add color, pattern and personalize home accessories. Thanks for letting me stop by today! Enjoy!

 

Many ethnic textiles like the design darling Suzani use embroidery to create elaborate and colorful patterns. This chain stitch embroidery is a Kazakh rug, a beautiful accessory.

 

A whimsical shape, bright colors and detailed pattern combine in this embroidered bird pillow to make it a stand out. The embroidered pillow would look lovely on a bed, chair or sofa.

 

Embroidery on a coverlet or quilt adds a little extra something to a bedroom design. I love this bird embroidered quilt from the creative folks over at Martha Stewart.

 

Embroidery on a pillow turns a plain pillow into something more. Look for embroidered covers on Etsy or add your own embroidery to pillows you already have.

 

Adding embroidery to a lampshade like this drum shade pendant light personalizes it. You can easily create a subtle or bold pattern by choosing coordinating or contrasting embroidery floss.

 

Embroidery lends itself to customization that is only limited by creativity. I love these embroidered portraits—so charming and beautiful. They're great decorating ideas for living rooms or bedrooms.

 

Embroidered accessories can act just like printables and add charming expressions to your walls. How perfect would this “eat local” be for a vintage kitchen?

 

Pegboard replaced cabinet inserts create a background that can be embroidered for a unique look on this armoire. This would be very cute in a kid's room or nursery. Which one do you like the best? Find many more interior design ideas over at Design Shuffle! Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

All things sparkly and bright

My recent antique jewelry finds took me on a journey among my sparkly collections. Wanna come?



Some vintage, some new, my mini dress form holds my collection of necklaces that I wear on a regular basis.



My collection of odds and ends for making jewelry. You know, when I have time to learn to do that. :) Right now it's just fun to find things to add to this collection which is housed in a vintage pink jewelry box.



My current favorite necklace. The chain is a vintage Anne Klein I picked up in a thrift for a few dollars many years back. The tassel charm belonged to my fabulous Aunt Sissy.



This collection is on a table in the craft room.



Fun pins, mostly, I think they are pretty and clip them on my coat once in awhile.



This is a recent thrift store find. I paid $5, which is a lot for me at the thrift, but I have this same bag in silver and it sees a lot of action at dressy affairs. Plus now, it's a collection. :)

Cheers!

The Great Pumpkin

So before my nephew was even born my sister requested a pumpkin hat for him for Halloween. As usual, I was WAY behind in my crafting so I decided to make his hat more fall like and traditional so he could wear it past All Hallow's Eve:



The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts but I added a little i-cord top knot. Now I must warn you, the next photo is so sweet it may send you into sugar shock:



Now by that photo you may think he doesn't like his new pumpkin hat but Mandi assures me that he didn't try to pull it off once.



See you in a few weeks, sweet boy!

Antiquing

On a recent visit to Clinton, NY to see my friend Nina I got a chance to hit up a fabulous antique market. For the most part I thought the prices were reasonable and found quite a few treasures.



Most of my purchases were jewelry. All of these pieces were $3 or less. I love the compact, it's very elegant.



I also found this fun New York souvenir! Take a look inside:



A compact and mirror on one side and the other has a clip to hold money I think as it seems to slim to be for cigarettes but that is possible, too, I guess.

I also found a pink silk glove box (which I gave as a gift to Nina) and a paper box for handkerchiefs that I had to leave behind for fear of it getting crushed on my train ride home. Nina will bring it when she visits next month. We had a great time, including a fabulous trip to the spa, and I can't wait to go for another visit.

What's been going on . . .

A lot of glittering in preparation for the upcoming annual Christmas Craft Party:





And my first try and paper sculpture:




What have you been up to?

Apple Cranberry Walnut Breakfast Bars

Fall is in the air so it's time to bake!




Apple Cranberry Walnut Breakfast Bars

BAKE at 350 for 35 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups (packed) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups diced apples
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with cooking spray and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In an electric mixer, beat brown sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add flour mix until combined. Add apples, cranberries and walnuts and spread into cake pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Bewitching Beauties

I was happy to join Sarah's Halloween Ornament swap this year and blow the dust off of some of my crafting skills. Everytime I join a swap I start freaking out that I won't finish in time. Luckily my second idea turned out well (the first, not so much) and I was able to finish them up with time to spare.



My theme was Bewitching Beauties. I love using vintage images* in collage art and when I came upon some cute scrapbook borders of different poisons I knew I wanted to show a fancy lady with her preferred method of getting rid of her problems. ;)



I gave each beauty a witch hat, crepe paper collar and some bling and packaged her up in a sweet little toile bag. Toile made of skulls that is. Spooky.

I've received my return package and all I can say is WOW. These crafty ladies are good. I'll share links to Sarah's posts of all the creations soon!

Cheers ~

* - I find a lot of my images here.

Canning Jar Lid Pin Cushions

On my last trip home my Mom handing me a bag of things she picked up for me at the Treasure Sale. There were lots of fun finds but one in particular piqued my interest:



It's a pin cushion made from two canning jar lids, some fabric scraps (velvet in this case), stuffing, fancy ribbon, gold rickrack and a ring. Clever! Many of us probably have these very things taking up space right now.

I've had swaps on the brain lately since I joined Sarah's Halloween ornament swap so I think these clever pin cushions would be great for a future swap. Now I know I asked if anyone was interested in a pink, white and gold swap in my last post but I think these pin cushions would be fun, too. Also quick to make and not too expensive to mail. And what they heck, they could be made to be pink, gold and white, right? :)

Seriously . . .

Where does the time go? I know I haven't posted in forever but partly it's because I find I don't have the time to create, thrift, cook, etc. these days. Tempus fugit I guess.

Finally last week I was able to fit in a quick trip to one thrift store. It wasn't a stellar trip but I found a few things of interest:



I hardly ever buy vintage sheets anymore but this was too cute to pass up. I've had this grand idea to make a hooked rug from strips cute from sheets forever so maybe this will be the one to start on that? I do already have the rug canvas and the hook so it's really just my laziness keeping me from getting started. :) Of course the pattern is fun and could be made into any number of things. What would you make?



Another vintage apron. This thrift is pretty good for finding these. I guess the shoppers there aren't looking for aprons these days. This one is pretty badly stained but I loved the colors and the construction so I grabbed it anyway. I have a pretty good collection going now. Of course they are just folded in a basket and don't see much use.



I've been very into long necklaces lately. Particularly those with tassels or large ornaments. I was thrilled to find this bead and leaf necklace and have already worn it twice. I think it's a true piece from the 70s and not a reproduction. Maybe my favorite find of the day.



And last but not least by any means . . . I spied a bag of beaded holiday garland. The color combo is what caught my eye, I love the pink, white and gold** together. Normally I don't buy these garlands as I don't have many ideas on what to do with them besides decorate but then I noticed that the gold strand was vintage mercury glass beads. Be still my beating heart! I've never found any true glass garland and am thrilled to finally have some to call my own. Of course now I'll be checking every bag of beaded garland hoping to find more. Maybe one day I'll luck into some glass bead picks, too.

So that's my thrifting report. I miss it and want to go more often. I definitely want to make a trip up to Connecticut to the Elephant's Trunk flea market soon as well. I do have a few more things to post about this week including a clever idea for making pin cushions and a recipe for apple cranberry walnut breakfast bars. Yum.

** - wouldn't pink, white and gold make for a fun swap theme? Maybe for Christmas? Thoughts?

Some Bunny to Love

Made from the same original pattern I created to make this one, a gift for my nephew.



Made with Bernat Cotton Tots yarn and some scraps of cotton I had laying around.



Made to be loved. Pattern coming soon. Vintage high chair courtesy of Mom's house. Hmm, I think it was mine. Does that make me vintage? ;)