A Good Mail Day

Yesterday was a very good mail day. Kari's ribbons arrived and I got to admire their sweet detail up close. I love them and decided to hang them from an old mirror on my mantle. Thanks Kari for the great swap and all the extra goodies you threw in...what fun!

The canvas below is from the talented Corey Moortgat who has a new book coming out soon. Corey's art has such a soft, ethereal, other-worldly feel to it. She works with a lot of pastel, muted colors and well...her art just has a yummy marshmallow feel to it. I want to eat her art! Her baby books for her two cutie-pie sons are total inspirational eye candy. Can't wait to see them featured in an upcoming Somerset Studio publication. Thanks so much Corey...I love this piece!
Not much else going with me...just gearing up for the big 4th of July weekend at the lake. (It's so weird to have the 4th fall on a Wednesday this year.) Tonight I have a date with the Miss Potter dvd and these two fun reads.

Remember These?

A picky eater, I was not a fan of the school cafeteria and brought my lunch to school every single day. Picking out a lunch box every fall was perhaps the most important school decision a kid could make. Choose the wrong one and your social status was destined to go down a peg or two. You were stuck with it all year so it had better be cool.



Personally, I was a Snoopy kind of girl, occasionally lured over by Holly Hobbie. Eventually, I graduated to The Bionic Woman and Charlie's Angels. I began collecting vintage metal lunch boxes about 15 years ago. Today I have about 120 which is a little less than a fourth of the total number produced. They bring back a wave of school memories - some good, some not so good. It's funny to smell those musty food odors in the boxes. What is it about those smells? Are they radioactive...they linger for years!! Once, I found a box and it still had a dime taped on the inner lid (for emergencies). Others are covered with Wacky Packages stickers. Each surely has its own story to tell.

Vintage metal lunch boxes are quite collectible today. Two of the more coveted ones are The Jetsons dome box and the Star Trek dome box. (I have neither.) Metal lunch boxes slowly began to be phased out in the 1970s, when a small group of concerned mothers from Florida began a well-organized campaign. Apparently, some kids (it's always the bullies who ruin things!) were whacking other kids in the heads with these things and causing permanent damage and chaos. (Hey, maybe they were just trying to put a few dents in and rough it up a bit so they could plead with mom for a new one.)



Alas, the trend of metal lunch box as weapon caught on and production of all metal lunch boxes stopped around 1986-1987. Two of the latter boxes produced were Sly Stallone's Rambo and The Transformers. Now, other than the cute metal repros, kids have to take the "safe" plastic boxes to school. Every time I look at my lunch boxes, I smile. Unfortunately, my husband and I are still living in my single-girl house. Translation: lunch boxes are packed away in the attic. But, one day, when we have more space, I will take them out, dust them off, and display them on high shelves in a game room or maybe a retro-themed kitchen.

A few of my favorites are: H.R. Pufnstuf, The Flying Nun, The Partridge Family, The Bugaloos, and The Beverly Hillbillies.

Do you remember which one you carried to school?

Nifty Thrifty Finds

First, I have to say how thrilled I was yesterday to read all my new comments. Thank you all so much! I felt like Sally Field, "They left comments! They really left comments!!" (I'm such a dork...I insisted that my husband read every one of them!) The beauty of the Internet and blogland is becoming very clear to me - it's about CONNECTIONS and SHARING and feeling like, "Hey, somebody out there kind of gets me" and "Someone out there is into this too! Is there a better feeling in the world than that?

Now, I feel even more motivated to blog more frequently and to stop second guessing myself so much and just put it out there. I was reading Lauren's blog and she spoke of how easy it is to get intimidated by all of the amazing talent out there. I so respect and admire Lauren's work that it dawned on me that if SHE feels this way, then it truly must be a universal feeling. On a daily basis, I feel like I don't have any idea what I'm doing and most of what I make is just pure crap and not worthy of a picture much less a blog post.

Not the best attitude for creating, I know. I'm working on it. So thanks, you guys, for the encouraging words.

These are a few items I found over the past few months, some at local antique malls and some at vendor night at Art & Soul Hampton.
I find it hard to resist the Victorian scraps...just the history and story about them. Can you imagine all the girls long ago cutting those images out and glueing them down in scrapbooks?
They, too, must have liked collecting pretty images and papers and bits of ribbon. Like-minded spirits from another time.

As fun as it is to scout for these treasures, I realize it is time for me to cool my jets and get to creating. I just love foraging so much! (My Italian grandma was an antiques dealer (not fine antiques...just beat up, chipped up junk so I think it's in my blood.) If there were a 12-step program for junkers and antique shoppers, I would don a wide-brimmed hat and dark sunglasses and sign up today. Does anyone else have this problem? Oh well, they say the first step is admitting that you have a problem. I've done that so I think that's enough honesty for today.

Paper Planet

These are just a few of the papers that Julie has over at Paper Planet. Right next door is a bakery...how about that for sensory overload...sweets and papers - a perfect combo! These pictures are not the best and don't quite pick up the amazing detail. Some are glittered. Some are flocked. Some are sewn with metallic thread. Some are sewn and glittered. Some are embossed.






One thing's for sure, they are all fun and ready to be made into pretty little things.

Address is:

Paper Planet
6511 East Lancaster Avenue
Ft. Worth, Texas 76112

817.451.8898

Ribbons for Kari

I have had sooo much fun working on my first ever swap with the amazing Kari, aka artsymama. Three decorated vintage horse ribbons in mint, pink, and yellow are all dressed up in their finest party clothes and are patiently waiting to be shipped to Minnesota. Kari is such a sweet and generous person and, as we all know, an amazing artist and blogger. I am new to the blogging community and her blog, writing style, artwork, and special way of uniting the cyber-artist community have been a real inspiration to me. Take a peek at her blog and see the fabulous goodies she made for me. Ooooohhh...I can't wait to see my postman!

What A Wonderful Year...

Today is our first wedding anniversary! It seems like only yesterday that we were planning a wedding, in a whirlwind of activity. We were married at the wedding chapel in The Venetian Hotel in fabulous Las Vegas. Vegas is my mother's most favorite place in the world (yes, we are quite fond of our addictions) so it was only fitting that we tied the knot there. It was a very elegant and intimate affair with only a few guests. We stuck to an old style Vegas theme and only played romantic Rat Pack tunes. We worked so hard on perfecting our wedding dance (to Frank Sinatra's I've Got the World On a String ). I was the confident one in rehearsals...my husband...not so much. But when it came for our first dance, I had drunk so much champagne that I completely forgot all of the dance steps! Thank goodness my husband was channeling Fred Astaire and came through in the end.






Our wedding cake was so whimsical and fun...I made the cake toppers out of foam core and then glittered the backs. Of course, Cosmo Kitty had her place on the garden of love cake. One of the happiest days of my life...isn't love grand?

As you may know, first anniversaries are symbolized by paper. Pretty cool for an artsy crafty girl. I gave my husband NASCAR tickets (as he is a huge fan) and he gave me three antique, mid-19th century journals. One is filled with beautifully handwritten receipts from a general store and the other two are filled with handwritten recipes and cooking related clippings from old newspapers. I am one lucky girl! Forget copper and crystal....who needs leather or pottery...I'll take paper any and every year...well, except maybe for diamonds. Diamonds are ok.

Pretty Papers

Last week, I ventured to the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, Texas to check out new product lines. They pretty much had the same things on the shelves of my local scrapbook stores. There was one booth, however, selling cards and invitations that caught my eye. On the floor were three baskets of beautiful handmade papers, all rolled up and tied with sassy bows.






What is it about paper? I've been in love with paper since I was a little girl. All of you out there who can relate...well, we must be from the same planet or something. Anyway, as I was walking around with my bags of pretty bundled papers, one lady said, "Excuse me for asking, but what are you going to do with those?" Me: "Uh...make stuff." It's paper, lady! You can do anything with it. So what WILL I do with it? I'm thinking these might be a major ingredient for some type of Silver Bella swap.

Add a dash of glass glitter, a bit of ribbon, a strip of crepe paper, and some vintage baubles and it might just appeal to some of those crafty Bella babes. I don't know though...the creative stakes are pretty high with this uberly talented group. Now I'm off to snuggle up with a steaming cup of herbal tea and this hot-off-the-press book.

Stephanie Jones-Rubiano

I am fortunate to have two pieces of Stephanie's work. (I apologize for the quality of these photos...they do not do her pieces justice.) Her art is whimsical, enchanting and so beautifully crafted. Vintage materials and found objects give her work a timeless and other-worldly feel. Her meticulous attention to detail really shows the love and perfectionism she pours into each piece. I love how she put "no peeking" under the little girl's skirt. One of my very favorite artists and an incredibly nice person, (don't hate her...she's beautiful too!) and now...she has an etsy shop. Get ready to click!