New Lace Sneak Peeks!

I had one of those wonderful days yesterday, when I found some FABULOUS lace! Really, it's so great, I can't wait to get it into the shop. Here are a few peeks -- should be in the etsy shop by the end of the weekend:

A Birthday Crown

Full disclosure here -- this post is really about how I've dropped the ball in a BIG way when it comes to my youngest daughter's birthday. She turns 6 tomorrow, which is very exciting, but for some reason this was not at all on the family radar until about 7 days ago. Usually, I've got the party planned and invitations in the mail weeks in advance, but this year, not so much.

As a result, her party won't be until early December, and I've been feeling a whopping dose of Mom guilt for dropping the ball. To try to make it up to her, we're having a special family dinner tomorrow on her birthday. She gets to pick the menu -- well, sort of. She announced the menu would be "Cake!" So we had to lay down a few menu ground rules. Anyway, partly to try to assuage my guilt, and partly because I thought it would be fun, I decided to make her a special birthday crown to wear during dinner. I love the way it turned out, and it was EASY!

Here are the basics: I cut out a crown shape on cardstock using my Cricut. I cut it as large as it would go -- which was about 8 inches. You could also just trace a crown shape or cut one free-hand. I added some strips of cardstock to the back just to firm it up a bit. Then I layered more papers, some tatting, fun shapes, attached velvet flowers with brads, added a few grand adhesive stickers, and ta da! A crown! I'm going to glue a ribbon to each side so that it can be tied together to stay on. Easy, and hopefully, a big hit with the little one!

It's Showtime!

We had our first big show of the season last week at St. Martin's Joy of Giving Market. Here are a few pictures of our booth. I thought it looked super-cute, and in particular I loved the way our new glitter houses and trees looked along side our usual vintage goodies. It was a lot of work and a hectic week, but we had a great show!

The Hazards of Decorating

Saturday was the big Carnival at the girls' school. The theme was space, which is a fun theme, and long ago I volunteered to help on the decorating committee. I actually played a pretty small role this year, and helped out another (VERY creative) gal in decorating the Bingo room -- also known as "the gym." We spent HOURS cutting out and hand glittering lots of stars. She cut out and painted a super rocket, and I spent an hour doing touch-up painting on it. Then we spent 3 hours on Friday taping up black paper to one wall of the gym and creating our space mural masterpiece, which you can see below:

Sadly, when I arrived at the gym early Saturday morning (pre-Carnival), this is what I saw:

Apparently, someone came in Friday night and taped a sponsor's banner on top of our mural. Not surprisingly, the weight pulled our mural off the wall. My crafty friend and I tried really hard not to cry, and with some help, were quickly able to fix the mural. So, all was well!

The weather was PERFECT here on Saturday, cool and dry, with a clear blue sky! We were so lucky. The girls had a great time at the Carnival. All of the decorations were so cute and clever. Here are some other examples:

A fun time was had by all!

We have a Winner!

Comment #2 is our lucky winner, so that means Peony, you've won this week's giveaway! Please send me a convo on etsy with your address, and I'll get this crafting kit in the mail to you.
TinyBear, since you were kind enough to be my first comment on my first giveaway, I'm going to send you a surprise as well! It won't be the same item as the giveaway, but hopefully some goodies that you can use. Please convo me on esty when you get a chance and give me your address. Thanks for commenting, and stay tuned for another fun giveaway soon!

Happy Columbus Day! Let's Have a Give-away!

It's Monday, it's Columbus day, and here in the tropics, it's misty and cool!! What a relief! I'm feeling like celebrating, so let's have a give-away! This give-away this week is this fun mini-crafting kit, which features 3 yards of seam binding (pink, white and green), and 3 vintage mercury glass picks -- two are small balls and one is a fabulous spray of silver mercury glass balls. Jump start your Christmas crafting with this cute kit!
To enter, just leave a comment below by the end of the day on Thursday, October 15, 2009. On Friday, October 16, I will pick a winner using a random number generator, and I'll announce the winner on the blog! So leave a comment and good luck!
****Also, I've started a mailing list, so if you're interested in receiving my newsletter, which will feature special discounts and sneak peeks, please sign up in the box over on the right. ----> ****

Treasure Hunting at Round Top Antiques Weekend

So, despite all the odds (bad weather, sick kids, sick Mommies, etc.) we powered through it and spent Friday roaming the fields in Warrenton. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have, but we were uber-focused, so I rarely stopped to think about pictures. It was a great day, with perfect weather! We found lots of treasures, and even discovered the weirdest item of the day. The first picture (above) is some of the linen treasures we found -- aprons, hankies, towels, so many fun things!

And, of course, lots of lace!

Scenes from the fields:


I found a new bluebonnet picture for my collection (us Texas gals LOVE our bluebonnet paintings!):

And how about this lunch? A HUGE chopped BBQ brisket sandwich, topped with onions, and a large iced tea on the side. YUM!


And finally, without further delay, here it is, our Weirdest Item of the Day: painted mannequins

Not sure what to say about that -- I'll have to let the picture speak for itself!

It was a great day -- can't wait for the spring show!