Crafts from the past!

Today I went into work from 9:00 until about 4:45. Suzanne needed a full staff today because the shop was holding a customer appreciation auction at 2:00 in the afternoon, and many guests were expected to be in attendance. I acted as Camera Girl throughout the event. As soon as I retrieve my pictures and short video from Suzanne's store camera, I'll let you in on the eventful occasion.

The reason behind this blog entry is exciting! It was so unexpected that Suzanne called all of us girls into the back office around noon, before many patrons started flooding in. She had two gigantic boxes filled to the brim with magazines, books, patterns, and other printed materials that she had inherited from a long-ago customer's stash overflow. Hardback and paperback books on crocheting, knitting, embroidery, cross stitch, quilting, and more crafts were overflowing from the boxes. Suzanne invited us to rummage through the boxes, claiming that she hadn't been able to get rid of their contents in many, many years. Her plan was to have us rummage through and take what we pleased, and auction the rest of the goodies at the event later in the afternoon.

Well, oh well, did I come away with some great reference materials! I got lots of vintage inspiration from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I found a few good books on knitting, and I also took some cross stitch and other great sources just because they interested me, or because I liked how the book looked. Thanks, Suzanne, for all of the great books!

This super-vintage book (printed in the 40's!) on making lace really makes me want to learn the craft, and soon!

I liked the cover of this embroidery book so much I couldn't let any fellow employee grab it. I'm imagining a hooty sort of toss pillow....


One of the best discoveries was this box filled with patterns for knitting, crocheting, needlepoint, cross stitch, and other crafts... all in one!


This last one was just a loose page floating amongst the chaos. Knitting a sweater with only two skeins of yarn? Sure! If nothing else, she sure is fabulous enough to frame.

Baby Alpaca!

New plan on the yarn for this dream sweater I posted about earlier. All I would need is this one spool, and this yarn will save about $100. And I like it just as much as the high end linen yarn I originally listed. Plus, won't the sweater be pretty in this green color?

Something to know, and a word of advice

Something to know:
We have a fly catcher, also known as fly paper, also known as a fly ribbon, hanging in our tiny little laundry room here in the apartment. You know, those sticky things you hang from your ceiling. Flies are attracted to them, fly into them, get stuck in the sticky goo, and die there after a long, torturous, and fruitless struggle to break free. I think they're great tools to use against these annoying house pests. However, something to know, and something for a southerner to keep in mind, is that gnats are not attracted to this fly ribbon. So it's been hanging in our tiny laundry room, right by the door and in front of where I keep my Swiffer Wet Jet, broom, iron, and laundry detergent since we moved in. A naked and useless sticky ribbon I have ducked below and maneuvered around for months. Silliness, I know.


A word of advice:
Don't go reaching for your Swiffer Wet Jet and broom to do house work on a rainy Thursday afternoon with this playing through the computer speakers without watching where you're reaching first. I stuck my arm--from thumb to elbow--directly onto that useless, annoying, and empty fly ribbon. Like hot, wet gum from the asphalt to your shoe, this thing had tiny stringy stickies that stretched for about 3 inches before they broke! Anyone know what gets fly ribbon sticky off your skin? Well, I still don't. From thumb to elbow, my arm is still a bit tacky to the touch. And after plenty of time spent scrubbing at the bathroom sink with an old rag and nail polish remover, all I got was lint stuck in the stick, an irritated streak of skin, and a stinky arm!

A bit nutty

Fall crafts are about to begin! I just found my source for buying the acorns I need.


Can you believe they actually have a blog? There's actually an entry showing how to make cute crafts using their acorns, and they were really cute! How about this pint-size version of your favorite porch accessory for Halloween:


Or, maybe you're in the mood for something a little more subdued and subtle. Try a wreath or the frame of a mirror covered in acorn caps, like this one from Martha Stewart's crafts site... very posh:


Personally, the first thing I'm going to do after ordering (probably just a) pound of the Acorno acorns (aside from keeling over from the $10 shipping fee!) is zip myself over to Hobby Lobby to purchase as many felted fiber balls as I can find. Then, I'm splatting in the middle of the living room floor, hot glue gun in one hand and acorn caps/felt balls in the other. I'm making my long-hoped-for-and-dreamed-about felted acorns! Yippeeeeeeee!!!

Vespa's New Trick

Carlton and I have been clapping for Vespa lately when she rears up on her little bottom and waves at us with her front paws, which has added lots of encouragement for her make the adorable move more often. Yesterday afternoon on a whim I decided to associate a command with the move, and this smart little dog figured out what I meant within 2 commands! As soon as Carlton came home from work I had to show him. This afternoon, Carlton got a hold of my camera and we headed up onto the bed to get a video of Vespa in action. She's having so much fun, she has to roll around in celebration after every move!

Do you think she's showing off for the camera?

Just a little shopping around...

I've found myself shopping for decorations for a future house. And not really so much of that cute stuff over at Target or Target.com. I really like the idea of having lots of handmade things all over.

Remember the kick-butt program I found that would turn any picture you download into a "Paint By Numbers" image? I would love to get a few girls together one weekend, pick my range of paint colors to coordinate with the house decor, have a selection of images ready to go with canvases and brushes, and set those girls to decorating my new house with original artwork! Who's up for it?!?

I've been peeping around Etsy quite a bit, too. The daily report of Etsy Finds that comes to my email account is a great way to get my shopping spree headed in the right direction. Lately, I've been attracted to a lot of milk glass (milky white glass in lots of different shapes, mostly vases) and little love birds made out of tons of different materials.

This super cute and whimsical wreath by artist Agnes Blum at her shop, KnockKnocking, is right up my alley, and I can absolutely picture it hanging inside the kitchen on the door leading out to the carport. The perfect place to make seasonal changes!

I think this small ceramic plaque by Sikiu would be adorable in any space... on a tiny stand on a side table in the living room, hanging in the bedroom next to the door, in the bathroom with other little bird artwork... the possibilities are endless!

This trio of wall hanging bud vases by Eikcam wasn't on the short list of milk glass or bird inspired art, but they are high up on my list of wants because they would pair perfectly with a set of original watercolor paintings I purchased many years ago in Florence, Italy and have yet to frame, hang, and adore:


(see the paintings and how perfectly they'd match up to the bud vases? forgive my pitiful camera phone image)


And then, some of the pretty milk glass I've found:

I'll let you know if I actually purchase any of these pretty things once all the papers for the house are signed! For now, I'm trying to stay as frugal as possible and just looking around.

Vespa's got a new 'do and new neck gear!

Today was a fun day for Vespa and me! While Vespa was waited on paw and foot at PetSmart Grooming Services, I got to go shopping at Target and Hobby Lobby as well as eat lunch at Moe's!

{{{ Side Story: If you haven't heard the tale before, I will go ahead now. Oh, the horror! Vespa went to a groomer here in Moultrie that was recommended to me my a co-worker. This co-worker (who will remain nameless) has a chihuahua and takes him regularly for baths and nail trims (keep in mind, this short-haired tiny dog doesn't require full grooming services like our Puppa's diva self). She likes that he always comes home with a hip new bandanna around his neck. So I made an appointment for the Thursday that I left for my sister's birthday weekend/Pampered Chef party at Katie's house (July 23rd). Because I left town after dropping Vespa off, Carlton picked her up during his lunch break. I got the report later that evening that Vespa's grooming experience was... well... sub par. I experienced this part when we dropped her off: the "groomer's office" was actually a lady's laundry room in her home. The rusty front-load washer and dryer were a base for the crusty bathtub where each dog was bathed. A table in another corner was equipped with the shears, buzzer (?), and other tools for grooming. And in between were walls of full dog kennels, stacked on top of each other. Just gross, very cramped, very noisy, very stressful, and depressing! What I didn't know when we dropped her off, and what Carlton told me later that night, was how Vespa's grooming appointment would turn out. She came home with one schnauzeresque eyebrow and the other one shaved even with the rest of her face. The hair in her ears hadn't been plucked (the insides of her ears get very hairy thanks to both poodle and yorkie breeds, so they get very hot, which is a breeding ground for germs that cause ear infections, or long-term effects, deafness). And to top it all off with a load of crap... what we call her "undercarriage" was, well, not groomed at all. Not around her bottom, not around her "area". Not even trimmed! Just totally ignored. So, even if the grooming hadn't been so negligent and pitiful work, Vespa would not have gone back to this groomer. The environment was crusty enough to make me want to wash my hands after "signing in" at the door (aka next to her freshly dried personal underwear basket on the shelf). To PetSmart we go! This means, Vespa gets groomed while I buy toiletries and such at Target. }}}

This morning Vespa was not at all prepared to leave for the groomer's. "We're not going to see Naomi? Then I'm not going and you can't make me!" Can you find her belly-up legs and tail hidden in the covers?


Once we arrived for her appointment, I told Sam (the girl who was grooming her) all of Vespa's specs which I memorized from Naomi's notes in Arizona. A short #7 all over, ears shaved and then sheared to the leather, a teddy bear head on the shorter side up top, angular trim around the paws, and a fan tail. Sam was impressed with my in-the-know lingo. I'm just glad I remembered everything, because Vespa turned out great! It's not as spot-on meticulously perfect as Naomi's scissor work, but Sam did a pretty darn good job and I am sooooo pleased... I couldn't be happier! Here she is, in all her glory, sitting in the apartment window sill and dreaming about the back yard she will soon be able to lay in the sun and guard 24/7:


Not only did Vespa's new groomer Sam please me, but so did PetSmart's new line of Pet Head soaps, leashes, collars, toys, clothes, and more. We're all familiar with the line of lazy people friendly hair products, Bed Head, and now they've got a posh new line for dogs! The clothes were like a combination of Harley Davidson and High School Musical... the shampoos, soaps, and other bathing treatments are bottled exactly like the human version--very cute. And, I just couldn't resist purchasing two new collars for Little Miss Prissy Pants. Here, she was so excited when I got them out of the bag (she knew they were for her), she brought Priscilla the Opossum up to see:


By far, one of her most favorite toys is her own collar! We allow "Naked Sunday" around here, which means Vespa gets to roam the apartment without her collar on (rest assured, we're clothed full-time!). Once we reach for that buckle, she freaks out, bouncing around and whimpering like crazy! After it's off, she picks the collar up with her mouth and off she goes to love on it and chew on it. She was ready to do that with her new collar as soon as I clipped it from its packaging!


Well, a few weeks ago I forgot I gave her one of my favorite collars of hers (lavender with glittery rhinestones all the way around, plus, it was on clearance--also at Pestmart--when I bought it so her sissy Shi got a matching one in mint green)! And this is what happened after I forgot she had it for 15 minutes:


Now that she was down to one last collar with a semi-chipped plastic clip closure, she was in need of a new neck accessory... and these were so perfect. The one she is modeling is black with black sequins stitched together with a very hot pink stitching. The other is a hot pink and black canvas argyle with purple detail stitching, complete with rhinestones and frayed edges at the ends... you know... for that hard core broken-in look. Below is the freshly groomed Vespa, excited enough about her new get-up to become a blur.