The Crafty Housewife Graces Etsy's Front Page!

What a lovely surprise on this January Day. Front page exposure stats: 34 shop hearts and 17 item hearts in the 30 minutes of FP Fame. The item, itself got over 600 views! That little housewife's got something, eh? Stay warm, friends. Speaking of friends, thanks to all who text messaged, twittered, convo'd and posted kind comments about the event. I LoVe my friends.
oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo joon

Upcycled Sewing Kit

Can you spy the bow shaped button? It's one of my favorite elements.

Here is another example of a beautiful, functional upcycling project. I made this for Scout for Christmas, 2007. My inspiration came from an unusual place. Arlington, MA has an old school 5 & 10. Seriously. And many of the items for sale have been there since the mid century. If they haven't sold, they remain until they do. Imagine that. Take that quality control. Things I found there include: pink famingos from the 60s ~ oh, yes, the price tags stay intact, too, a Buster Brown chocolate toned turtleneck for Scuppie {baby beatniks anyone?}, metal rack shelves...I must take photos as these need to be seen to be believed, and TADA! {tribute Pearl} ... peeking out from behind all the new packets that sport Made in China {and a most unattractive package, at that} a vintage package of sewing needles. This packet labeled SINGER and Made in U.S.A. was so superior, I knew it was a sign. It's been waiting for Scout all these years.


It is made from a thrift store french style bandana with an alphabet theme, lined with high quality muslin remnants. There's a little pocket for the darning needles and that navy blue bandana pocket holds a needle threader/slicer. The buttons are from my collection and the yarn bits are leftovers as well. Some of you who have received packages from me or bookmarks from the flying housewife may recognize that yarn. I have wristwarmers knit from it. I love them. In no small part because I accomplished a rather difficult project for a beginning knitter. And I needed teeny {8"} round needles, which snooty yarn shop owners told me ~ complete with haughty sniffs ~ 'don't exist'. Well, I won that fight, too. But that's a story for another time.

Scout loves it and, lucky me, she shares. :) til next time.
Be inspired.
Because environment is everything.
ox joon

Scuppernote ~ A Happenstance Design

Last year's calendar & other recycled papers get a new life.
Tri fold notebook with velcro closure.

This afternoon while Scout was resting and the sky adhered to gray mode with a vengence, I worked on a new design. My objective was to create a notepad with a pencil attached. That didn't work out, but I love this design, which sprang from that template and formed as I went along. Here's the short of it:

Random papers are cut to the proper width. They will be stitched together & slipped into the reusable paper case (a folded magazine slice), which, in turn, will slip up into the paisley (vintage tie) fabric, which is sewn onto a card stock remnant & tucks into the inside pouch seen here:

The calendar is 2008's Scuppernut All Year Long . The view below shows the back of the note pad. If you look closely you can see that the fabric pocket wraps around the bottom edge, is pinked & stitched in place. The policeman fending off 'alligators in the sewers' (of NYC) is from a discarded Children's book. You can see the velcro closure in his choppers. Anyone else hearing little Drew Barrymore in their head right now?

Here is a view of the notepad insert system:

And here it is in place:

The finishing touch ... a denim shade cotton yarn bit with a vintage bunny button I've had forever and then some, as my favorite cousin would say. My pencil challenge is also solved as this led me to the answer that will see my design work. My template was made first, this evolved, so I abandoned that, but now as luck would have it, I am all ready for my next happenstance adventure. I'll see you soon ~ pencil me in, won't you? ox joon

So Many Good Friends Treating Me So Well oxox

Aloha from Austin, TeXaS.
Someday I hope to say this standing on an Hawaiian island and I dream of meeting my wonderful friends there. One of them surprised me ~ totally ~ when this arrived in our mailbox yesterday. Talk about your red letter day! I don't know if she wants to remain incognito or not, so, unless she tells me otherwise, I'll leave her identity a mystery. :) How fabulous is this, though, I ask you?
Sweet dreams, dear readers.
Mahalo.

2008 in a word: Inspiration

one of many pending 2008 new project starts

I tend to feel that I don't accomplish enough. OK, I'll be truly honest and admit that I most often feel that I am not accomplishing anything. I have been preparing a blog post that would be a retrospective for days now. And why? Well, it turns out that I have accomplished so much that I became overwhelmed with my notes. My blog post would be pages long and all my readers would be cross eyed. I'd be typing for hours. Then I thought maybe I'd break it down into smaller posts. Well, you know where that led me? Straight here to January the 6th. Yes, that 01.01.09 post is a fading memory. My reflection led me to a new thought ~ just write anything. A quote. A fact. A one line silly. A fragment, God forbid. Or how about one photo? Add a caption?

And so the year has begun much like many others with my head spinning. Filled with so many ideas and dreams and goals and the inevitable sinking feeling that not a one of them will ever take form. But, that is just not so. Maybe a miniscule percent of the million new (and pending) projects will flower, but when I look back this time next year, I am willing to bet ~ and you all know how thrifty I am~ that I'll be pleasantly surprised at what I accomplished.

My word of the day is inspiration. It is the word of my year. On January 01.2008 I stopped by the BBEST Thread for the first time. I applied the next morning. I also joined a small group called Create-a-Day. I made new friends and each one inspired me on a daily basis and I tried more new ventures than I could ever have imagined. Entire new worlds opened up to me.

More on those firsts another day. But for now...this morning I found this article in the Times and I hope you will read it and find it as inspiring as I do. These people are going forth, against all odds and at considerable personal expense for something they believe in. And they are not alone. The next time I speak up for something I believe in ~ which I do often ~ I will do it with a little more strength because I'll remember that I am not alone. Environment is everything.

Here's to hope, peace and inspiration for the bright new year ahead.

Favorite Things Continued

So here are the first photos of our room. It is not totally set up but this is a fine beginning as far as I am concerned. Here are more of my favorite things & their stories...

My Song & Dance Princess Framed Art Piece. You can see close up photos of this self portrait in my flying housewife listing HERE. This has been in every bedroom ~ all 13 ~ since I brought it home from my classroom. I made this collage in a matter of minutes as an example for my students for our Friday Funday Project. It was based on the book Song & Dance Man. It's holding up exceptionally well considering its construction materials & journeys.

My white rocker ~ I found this at a thrift store for $12. I thought that was a bit pricey. :) The seat needed re-caning. Evan brought it to a woman who quoted us a price of $96 or so. He tried not to laugh ~ not at her, mind you, but because he knew what my reaction would be. Years later, he bought the materials, taught himself and did it for me. It's perfect!

Of course the handmade bookcase and some of our book collection, including our precious journals. And there's more...

How groovy is this Abe Lincoln framed poster from the 1960s? This is an original and I found it a few years ago in Northampton, MA. I adore Abe and, let's be frank, a paisley hat? Does it get any better? I think not. Also here: my George & Martha hippos (Pittsburgh), my kitty cat clock (San Francisco), my $4 vintage glass lamp with my just acquired in Arlington pre-move, $4 mid-century shade, German hotel ashtray, one of my collection of sterling crosses, vintage beaded coin purse, a funky painted tile & the ever hilarious, What's Up Doc? video.

I also spy my square deck of cards in my square Westinghouse glass case, the 30+ year old Miniature Sendak Nutshell Library, one of my lovely new candles from Shelley, my Edward Gorey special edition from Jon Cody, and my Italian leather ~ brought back from Italy ~ art journals from Dusty.

You can always find new treasures and here is my most recent favorite thing, my vintage rolling table for my adorable and much revered old school kitchen sized TV with built in VCR. May it live forever. And now we can roll Dave that much closer at the end of a long day. And, on that cheery note, I end this edition of favorite things. More to come soon on this blog station. :)

PS. I update my flickr page often. To view more of my favorite things, family photos & new creations, click on the photo slide show above.

Favorite Things...from the past. Snoopy & Woodstock

A good friend and I were talking about our favorite vintage Snoopy treasures and I had just unearthed this in my settling in process. I love hearing about and seeing people's favorite things. I will be sharing more on a regular basis. Up next...a snippet of our decor, expanding on this tiny window...with some more of my all time favorite things.

Do you have a favorite Snoopy, Woodstock or Peanuts vintage keepsake? Or a super funky earring holder from days gone by? Let us know! And, if you post a photo somewhere, all the better. Don't forget to leave the link here.
ox joon