Strawberry Iced Kisses

Hi!

Did you have a good weekend? I had a fabulous one with gorgeous weather and all! Today is another beautiful day with the windows open and I can hear a couple of crows 'talking' back and forth, a bird of pray is flying around making its call and occasionally I hear the Canadian Geese at the lake in our neighborhood. It's so nice to take a deep breath, close my eyes and listen...take it all in!

Okay, back to the task at hand! ;) I want to share a card I just made this morning.

I love these floral and vintage looking patterned papers from a new digital kit at Two Peas in a Bucket called
'Strawberry Iced Kisses - Papier Selection'from Anita M. Richards. So feminine and beautiful, I thought they would be perfect for a Mother's Day card!

I added a lot of Walnut Distress Ink to the edges of my card stock and papers to give the card an aged appearance. The wrinkled and dyed seam binding works fabulously, I think.

I used die cuts from three different companies...Papertrey Ink, Spellbinders and Quickutz. Love the look of die cuts! The pretty paper rose is from  Prima Marketing.

And there you have it. Not to early to think of Mother's Day! That's one thing less on my to-do list!

Have a super duper Monday! :) Kathy

More Spring Crafting

Hey! Happy weekend!

Look what I made yesterday...

I used the last bit of jute from this spool and thought I'd make something with it. I wrapped some 1927 sheet music around it, then added a bit crinkled seam binding, a vintage mother of pearl button and a jute bow. Then I topped the spool off with a sweet little nest from the craft store and some millinery flowers purchased on Etsy. I rather like it! What do you think?

I think it looks darling under a little cloche on the coffee table with a few of my favorite things. What a fun project and it's perfect for spring!

Hope you have a lovely weekend! :) Kathy

Wish for Spring

Hi!

Do you have spring fever?  I do! Big time! It's my favorite of all seasons! I love blooming daffodils, singing and nesting birds, the trees growing their leaves, the warm and longer days. I feel like I come alive along with every thing else in the spring!

Well, spring is near. Daylight savings happens the week after next, we've had some warmer days. The trees are starting to bud and I drove past a beautiful field of daffodils yesterday. Close, oh so close! I can smell it when I take a deep breath! And while I wait rather impatiently for its arrival, I made this springtime card.

How about these whimsical and colorful patterns? They feel like spring to me! They are part of a new Two Peas in a Bucket digital kit called 'Spring Breeze'by Chrissy W. Digital.

This butterfly is a layering of a Silhouettedie cut that I embossed, a hand crochet flower I purchased on Etsy and two stackable flower buttons I found at Archiver's yesterday. The buttons are made by Pebbles, Inc.and they are right up my button lovin' alley!

There's stitching on this project too! I've gotta have it! I love the look of zigzag stitching overlapping two pieces of patterned paper.

So what's the weather like in your area? Warm temps? Sunny? Snow? Cold? We're have a pretty warm day because it's a little humid and raining. We need it to water all those pretty new daffodils! :) Have a great one! :) Kathy

Etsy Finds

Hey!

How are you? I'm enjoying the day so far! I received a couple fabulous Etsy packages in the mail and thought I'd share! I can't say enough about the incredible talent and wonderful shopkeepers on Etsy! Where else can you find one of a kind handmade items like those on Etsy? And the shipping! Nobody ships for less!

Just take a look at this cutie!

Buy

This little hen puts a great big smile on my face! Can you tell what she is? These used to be popular years ago. It's an egg cozy! The owner of All Things White made this vintage inspired chicken egg cozy and when I saw it...well, she had to come live at my house! Doesn't she look adorable in my real nest? What a great spring and Easter decor item!

Have you noticed in past posts and photos that I have a thing for vintage hammered aluminum? I do! Hammered aluminum pieces were made in the early 1900s to be functional and an affordable alternative to silver. It's often called poor mans' silver for this reason. I enjoy collecting it because there are so many beautiful pieces to find and they are still affordable, unlike many other antiques.

This is my first piece that combines china and hammered aluminum and it's made by Farber & Shlevin, Inc. Almost every single item in my collection came from Ye Ole Emporium. Ali, the shopkeeper finds the most amazing pieces of hammered aluminum, her prices are fabulous and the service is exceptional! I love that she always tucks in a piece of handmade soap into my order! Often it's lovely smelling lavender!

I also got this glass thumbprint and hammered aluminum basket. Gorgeous, isn't it? I love the embossed flowers, the scalloped edges and sawtooth rim. These pieces are truly works of art!

Another item that Ali specializes in, and I've purchased quite a number of, is vintage lace doilies. I love this one! It just baffles my mind that someone actually made this intricate, beautiful thing by hand!

Look at the detailing! I hope to have a few of my doilies framed someday. I think they would look gorgeous in a cluster on the dinning room wall.

Did you know that a lot of Etsy shops struggle to stay in business? They do. It's not easy to learn how to promote one's shop and keep it stocked. I hope when you have some gift buying to do or are looking for a few special decor items for your home that you will give Etsy a try!

Hope your day is a fantastic one! :) Kathy

Happy Birthday

Hi!

I was on a chat earlier this morning with my fellow Digital Creative Team members at Two Peas in a Bucket and everyone is experiencing different weather today! We're cloudy, one gal had kids home for a snow day and another said it was sunny but only 5 degrees! Brrr!

With our cloudy, gloomy weather, I've decided to create a bit of sunshine in the form of a colorful card this morning!

How about this for color? These awesome papers are part of the Modern Homemakercollection from October Afternoon.

 I also used some green card stock and K & Company party hat accents from my stash. The green frame was made using some Spellbinders dies.

The finishing touches include hand stitching, a button with ribbon and a 'happy birthday' rub on sentiment from Pebble's Inc.

Well, wherever you are, no matter the weather outside, I hope my card has brought you a little cheer! :) Kathy

Storybook Card

Hello!

It's another Monday! A President's Day Monday. No mail, our son's home from school, but hubby and I are working at home. How about you?

I have a handmade card share this morning. :)

Buy this Card

Check out these pretty patterned papers! They are from a  new Two Peas in a Bucket digital kit called 'Storybook - The Papaers'from Polka Dot Pixels. Love, love, love these patterns and colors! And the darling vintage image is one I've used on another card, but too darn cute not to use again! The little boy, girl and pup image are from another Polka Dot Pixels kit called 'Pick Me.'

This card features some hand stitching, die cuts from Silhouette, inked edges, jute and crinkled seam binding for the bow.

I hope you enjoyed my card as much as I love to come see your projects! You all always inspire me and I hope to give that back to you! Have a super day! :) Kathy

Best Friends

Hi!

Are there sunny skies and warm temperatures in your neck of the woods? Ohhhhh...the weather was heavenly yesterday...upper 70s! It doesn't get any better than that! I ran some errands just so I could go out! :) Today is supposed to be a little cooler, but I'll take it!

I finally have a crafty project to share with you today! Woot woot!

This is a hybrid card I created with a new digital kit at Two Peas in a Bucket called 'Sincerely - The Papers'by Polka Dot Pixels. I always adore the papers in the Polka Dot Pixels kits! I can use the patterns time and again for all kinds of projects!

I inked the edges of all the papers and added some hand stitching, jute, and a little bauble from Making Memories. The sentiment is by American Crafts...from my stash.

I used my old Sizzix die cut machine and heart die along with one of those little Paper Shapers punches from EK Success. Remember those? I have 30 or more of them! When my son was a toddler, he used to line them up by color! Brings back memories and I'm thrilled to put them to use year after year!

Did you notice the nest in my photo? Isn't it precious? I found it yesterday while running errands! I love abandoned nests. They make great spring decor pieces! And card props! ;)

Well, I hope you are enjoying this gorgeous weekend! Thanks for stopping by! Kathy :)

Now Open!

Hi! T.G.I.F!

I can't believe Friday is here already and I haven't had a craft project to share with you all week! I kind of feel like a slacker! Except that I have been busy with a little project! You know how I love to search for vintage treasures? I just can't seem to get enough! And before I run out of money...I thought I'd try and support my new hobby by selling some of the beautiful things I find!

Here it is...the banner for Vintage by Card-Blanc. What do you think? If you have a moment I would love it if you could stop by and give my new shop a look! Is there an item you would love to have? Do you collect antiques? What do you collect?

One of my favorite items listed is this 'Peter Rabbit' glass candy container.Can you believe we used to give kids candy packaged in glass?!?! Hard to let go of this fabulous find! Maybe no one will want him and then I'll just have to keep it! ;) Anyway, it was made in 1947 by the J. H. Millstein Company in Jeannette, PA.

In doing research on this candy container I found a few that were selling around $50! Wow! Since there are a ton of antique/vintage on-line shops out there, I'm trying to be the shop that sells things at a reasonable price. I am willing to cut the profit I could get for a piece in order to sell more things! That way I can keep shopping at flea markets and antique malls! ;)

Well, I'm working on a crafty little project I hope to share with you this weekend. I hope you enjoy the beautiful weather a lot of the U.S. will be experiencing the next couple days! :) Kathy

Free Easter Download

Hi!

I wish I had a crafty project to share with you today, but I've been quite busy lately. My weekend getaway to Wilmington was fabulous and so was Valentine's Day with my hubby. Here it is Wednesday and I'm still trying to get the week started! Oh boy! Are any of you in the same boat?

Now that Valentine's Day has passed we can look ahead to spring and Easter! I love spring! And the weather we're having here in North Carolina this week is quite spring like! Can you believe we're supposed to get up to 75 degrees on Friday?!?! Are the temperatures warming up where you are?

Well, I thought I'd post a vintage Easter post card for you.  I bet this image would look fabulous on a greeting card or scrapbook page. Or how about an Easter decor project? Enjoy!

I would love to see what you make with it! Have a fabulous day! :) Kathy

Happy Valentine's Day - Free Dowload

Happy Valentine's Day my blogger friends! :)

I hope you have a whole lot of love surrounding you this Valentine's Day and everyday! :)

I have a little vintage Valentine's Day post card download for you!

Enjoy! :) Kathy

How About Hybrid?

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to pop in!

Do you create digital scrapbook pages? Maybe all your pages are digitally produced? Or maybe you're not sure what digital scrapbooking is?  Digital scrapbook pages are created on the computer using a program like PhotoShop and digital papers and elements. These pages can remain on your computer or you can print them out. You can even have a printing service bind your digital pages into book format.

A lot of people prefer making their pages with supplies they've purchased from their favorite craft and scrapbook store. Did you know there's a way to combine the two worlds? It's called hybrid scrapbooking. Many of my scapbook pages use a combination of physical and digital supplies. You can keep an endless amount of beautiful papers and elements stored on your computer giving you even more options when scrapbooking!

Here's a hybrid page I created. The Kraft card stock page base, foam letter stickers and white card stock (used for printing) was combined with a digital kit that included these patterned papers and accents printed out. I love the end result of hybrid scrapbooking. It's a physical page I can touch and feel with the added bonus of not having to physically store all these different papers and elements!

I enjoy creating pages that I can hold in my hands and can feel the foam letters under my fingertips. Digital supplies helps me keep the amount of stuff in my craft under control and that's environmentally friendly! There are so many positive aspects to both kinds of scrapbooking! ;)

If you would like to give digital or hybrid scrapbooking a try, there are many awesome free tutorials on Two Peas in a Bucket along with free digital kits to help you get started! The digital kit I used to create this page is called 'About a Boy' by Polka Dot Pixels. The kit contains many more papers and accents than I used so you might want to take a look!

How about a hybrid card share?

I created this card with a new digital kit called 'Art Papers IX' by Vinnie Pearce, some Basic Grey chipboard letters and a little heart shaped button.

I kept this card simple for a couple reasons. The first is that this patterned paper from Vinnie's kit is so pretty on it's own that I didn't want to muck it up! The second reason is that the card is for my hubby for Valentine's day so I didn't want to get carried away with lace and gems and feminine stuff! ;)

The Thrill of the Hunt

Hello!

We got a little dusting of snow on the ground this morning. Just enough to look pretty!  I read on someones blog this morning that they were knee deep in snow! I think we're all ready for spring! Are you? It's my favorite season! And this spring I want to hit up some garage sales! Can you believe I've never done that? Oh sure, I've gone to the garage sale across the street that my neighbor was holding, but I've never made a list of garage sales to go to. Have you? Have you scored some fabulous things? Do tell! :)

This week I visited my local second hand stores and a couple antique stores. I found a few fun things that I'll share with you.

This little paper mache duck makes me smile! He's only 3 1/4" tall including the handle! I'm not sure what to make his history. Paper mache pieces like him were popular years ago, and can cost quite a penny, but his paint looks too new to be very old. Anyway, he'll look splendid among my Easter decor! He was just .50 cents!

In a recent post I talked about creating a unique bulletin board for the kitchen using old graters, here's that post. I found this little grater to go with the other. I think I'll need one more to complete my project! There's something about mini pitchers that I can't resist! This one looks like a tiny ironstone version. The glass tray caught my attention too because I love to use trays as a base for a display. I really like the design with the handles.

This is a fun find! A silver plated serving tray with lid, just $12! The minute I saw it, I envision serving a dish of scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast in bed! I sure wouldn't mind that for Mother's Day or my birthday! ;) Aren't the flourished edges beautiful?

I've been on the lookout for brown transferware and found this beautiful plate from J & G Meakin for $8.50! I also got a couple salad plates in the same pattern for just $3.50 each. Have you seen some of the gorgeous displays people are creatingwith transferware? My dearest friend Audrey Pettit just pulled out her red transferware to create this lovely Valentine themed display.

Isn't this gorgeous? Click on her name above if you would like to see the detailed photos.

This was my big purchase, a Sunbeam Mix Master butter churn! Isn't it cool? I can close my eyes and picture a lady in a floral apron, cranking away, making butter the old fashioned way! This was marked $69, but the dealer let it go for $50. I think I got a bargain. I briefly looked around the Internet last night and saw lots of higher prices.

Well, the weekend is coming up! Will you be doing something for Valentine's day? My hubby and I are actually taking Monday off and spending the day together. Shall be delightful! This weekend, however, I'm going on a girl's getaway trip to Wilmington, NC. And guess what we're doing? Antiquing, what else?!?! ;) Oh and lots of eating! I'll bring the camera! Hopefully, I'll remember to take pictures! I often forget!

Hope your weekend is the best! I'm going to try and post tomorrow and perhaps have a post set up for the weekend. We'll see how it goes. :) Kathy