february is a great month for

I forgot to post this at the beginning of the month. Here are some thoughts about your February from 1977. Not sure what this is? Past posts here.

valentines day is around the corner

I really like Valentines Day. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is because the focus is on cards more than gifts and handmade is encouraged.

So, now it is a week away and it is time to get started on your project/card if you haven't already. Here are some ideas to inspire you.



I'll begin with the Valentine Match Boxes I made last year. You can always make your own version. The exact size is in the original post or you can use the free download from that post.

Printables are great, especially for people who put things off.


Valentines Labels Free Printable (above) from Mer Mag
Valentines Card Printables from Valentina Design
Valentine Printable Freebie from The Black Apple
Valentines Card Printables from Three Wheels Design



Printable Valentine Wheel (above) from Martha Stewart



If you wanna put a little extra time in there are 2 awesome looking paper cut Squirrel Valentines (above) on the Little Acorn blog. The tutorials are listed on the side.

If decorating the house is something you wanna do, a Valentine banner is a fun idea. I made one last year. You can find lots of ideas on Etsy for banners.

Another fun idea would be to place Valentines all over the house, in drawers and cars. If you want some sweet vintage valentine images for that, you can find some here and on a vintage Valentines Flickr page or on this page here.

There are also some interesting Valentines projects on this Flickr group. And of course, there is always Martha.

Okay, now I need to get to my Valentines project. Have fun!

on my mind

groundhog hat print by amberalexander

Sorry about the quietness on the blog the last couple of weeks. Ironically, I am feeling very creative lately and have lots of ideas. But, everything is in the thought stage and I haven't had time for action. So, even though I feel like I have more I would post on here, there is nothing to post yet....

A lot of it is thought, isn't it? Hemingway said something like 90% of writing is thinking about it and I think that is true for many things. I just have a problem having the free time to do all the things I think about. Well, at least I am never bored.

Tomorrow is Groundhogs Day. I like this "holiday". I watched the movie a couple weeks ago, but other than that I have no way to observe it. It makes me want to print more of my Groundhog pillowcases and napkins. It reminds me of this wonderful picture I was sent a couple years ago from a woman in Canada who bought my pillowcases and who has a pet Woodchuck (another name for Groundhog)!


Isn't she so sweet sleeping in the pillowcase I made? I hope you have a nice Groundhogs Day.

dear google reader,

I have met someone new.

Not that long ago I was completely in love with Google Reader. It seemed ideal. I had no need for anything else.

And then I saw Feedly. I downloaded Feedly and it populated the Feedly page with all my saved Google Reader blogs. And it was a beautiful thing.

Browsing your subscribed blogs are even easier and more pleasant. You can see the first few lines and an image for most of the posts. You can read entries and delete ones that don't interest you without leaving the main page. Feedly lets you choose to see listings from everything or you can choose each sub category. Seriously, it is rad. It is my new favorite thing.

I am totally fickle and I am okay with that. See ya Google Reader.

january is a great month to...

A little late on this one. Hope it inspires you as it did me in that nice late 1970's way. Wondering what this is? Click here.

just one more christmas post, please

I know most of us are ready to let go of Christmas, including me, but I did want to get one more post in. Today I am putting away the Christmas stuff. I heard recently it is considered to be bad luck to have Christmas decorations up after 12th night, which is January 6th (some think it is the 5th). So, yeah, I am tempting fate.

A week or so ago I finally did something that I have been meaning to do for years. I took many of the saved Christmas cards I have had and cut them up to make Christmas tags. I am not really lacking in Christmas tags, but the cards are so pretty and it is a shame to just throw them away.

It was a nice little post Christmas project and it lightened up the received Christmas cards I am saving. I used decorative scissors and a hole punch.



When I went to put away the tags I realized that one of my favorite Christmas things is the box I keep my Christmas Tags in and I wanted to share it with you. I got it at an Estate sale in the Hollywood District years ago. I am guessing it originally held stationary.


I was in the attic of the old house looking at all the holiday decorations. When I opened up the box there were Christmas tags in it and also this little prescription box from Meier and Frank (a department store in Portland). How odd that they had a Pharmacy.





Inside the prescription box were these beautiful vintage gummed Christmas seals.



This year as I was going through all the Christmas tags I found one I don't remember finding before. This is not the handwriting of anyone in my family. It must have come with the box.


Every Christmas I rediscover this box and the little box inside. It is always so nice to look at them again.

farm chicks

Isn't this a great idea for storing your cake decorations? I have one of these old toy refrigerators (although not in nearly as nice condition) in my craft room and it works nice as a place to hold magnets and other stray items, but I love the idea of using it for cupcake supplies. I know one of you crafty friends with a cute vintagey kitchen could totally do this up good.

This image was my favorite from The Farm Chicks book I just finished reading.

I only recently discovered The Farm Chicks. I'm always so behind on these things. The Farm Chicks started out as two friends who love salvaged old things, pretty things, making things from scratch and rural life. They built a business based on this, having antique shows at various places near Spokane, Washington and that business merged into magazine articles and then a book.

I really liked hearing the stories of the two friends and their history of baking, crafting and making things pretty. I like the balance in their combination of new and old. The book also has some neat craft and decorating ideas. There were a number of recipes that I liked, even though being a vegetarian did take many of them out of the running.

The Farm Chicks may be singular now (the other chick decided to pursue new interests), but it seems to still be going strong. Keep your eye on Serena's blog to get a better idea of whats in store.