Greetings for Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all!!

Vintage Glittered Bells

Remember the thrifty goodies I wrote of finding a couple weeks ago?  Here is another happy find.  But first there is a pre-story story.  Last summer my mother in law and I made our annual Elburn Days garage sale trek and at our very last stop I found one vintage glitter wedding bell in a box of “free stuff” and of course it came home with me.  It is so pretty and slightly yellowed with age, just the way I like it.

Then a couple weeks ago, the same week I found the seam binding and other assorted goodies, so I imagine someone cleaned out Aunt Mabel’s home and she used to be a wedding planner back in the fifties, because I found a bag of , uh, several of these bells.  I do have plans for them, oh yes.  Perhaps part of next years craft show collection, so stay tuned.

And last week I found this large Christmas glitter bell with all it’s plastic greenery and glitter doves.  So pretty.

Have a lovely weekend!

Handmade Open House

Heartfelt gratitude to everyone who attended my little PK  Handmade Holiday open house this past weekend!  I so enjoyed seeing so many friends who were interested in purchasing handmade items, either to give as gifts or to keep.  Loved hearing that “this bracelet is perfect for my daughter” or that this journal covered with this vintage wallpaper “reminds me of  the guest bedroom at grandma’s house  where I spent my favorite weeks of the summer as a little girl”. Or that this card is too pretty to send but I will frame it and put it where I can see it everyday.   To me that is the true spirit of holiday giving, when you chose a gift from the heart that perfectly suits both giver and recipient.  Now I know what I want to do when I grow up.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Enjoy your week

Christmas in Kaneville

Many, many thanks to everyone who visited my little crafty booth last Saturday at the village’s Christmas celebration.  In addition to the craft show, there was a wagon ride pulled by Belgian horses, a visit with Santa at the firehouse, cake walk, and a cookie sale at the church, which I understand, sold out very quickly.  Lots of handmade goodiness.

Everyone who visited was so kind and had many nice things to say about my booth.  Most often heard though, was that they had never seen anything like it at a craft show before.  I made some ornaments that had a definite and intentional vintage look.  One woman, of great-grandmotherly age, commented that they brought back memories of the lovely decorations she had on her tree as a child.  I think that was the nicest thing I’ve ever heard about my handmades.  Another vendor, who had the most delicious smelling handmade soaps, said she loved the look of my booth because it “made sense”, “the props and products all flowed to tell a story about the things I was selling.”  WOW!!  She got it!

I really needed to hear those things to confirm that this is what I want to do.  I just want to make things. I want to make things that people will use and love, that will bring back a memory and help create new ones.   So that’s my mini mission statement, which I hadn’t intended to write today but really that’s it in a nutshell.

Thanks for reading today.

Vintage Seambinding

Oooh.  .  . look what I found at one of my favorite thriftys a couple weeks ago,  22 rolls of vintage seambinding.   For those of you who enjoy such things, you can imagine my excitement.  All yummy colors (just look at that chartruese!) and many put to use already.  They just don’t make things the way they used to and lets not talk about the price of just a couple yards of the stuff.  (Remember my rant about buying fresh basil in December?!?)

 

There were a few more happy, happy finds lately but you’ll have to come back to see those.