New shoe clips unveiled (drumroll, please)

he clock is ticking and the vacation will be officially over in about 9 hours! Back to the grind. I love my job, so it's not so much that, but I won't have the same kind of free time to craft, paint, cook, rearrange stuff, and hit every thrift store in town like I have done over the holiday break. One of the things I did make time to do was to create new shoe clips for my Etsy shop. Each pair is unique, so when I make them, I like to have at least half a day to take out all of my fabric and trimmings and just play. I did some shopping for vintage fabric, buttons, and beads on my vacation, so I gathered all of that up and had some fun. Check all of them out here.

Happy New Year

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been."

-Rainer Maria Wilke

Wishing you every good thing this new year. I'm kicking it off in grand style by cleaning my bathroom like it has never been cleaned before. I'm talking scrubbing the floors by hand, here.
This will happen no more than once a year, twice at most, I assure you. We're good for the next six months. And there's nothing quite like the feeling of having a big basket of fresh white towels.
I had a long vacation and lots of down time, and it's time to kick it back into gear again. I made a whole bunch of new shoe clips that I am starting to post on my Etsy shop, too! New shoes for a brand new year. Hope your holidays were amazing. I'm looking forward to a fantastic 2010 full of adventures and surprises.

You'll have to pry this glitter out of my cold, dead hands

Much like my fun with turquoise spray paint this fall, I have excessively used this fantastic mint green glitter from Martha Stewart. It is subtle and a super fine grain, and don't we all love sparkly deep down? I have glued and glittered and my porch has a green metallic sheen that will probably last until spring. I recycled my fall pine cones and used card stock and white paper strips to make the trees inspired by my trip to the NYC Anthropologie flagship store on Park Ave.

Oh, Charlton Heston. Maybe I should start a National Glitter Association.

Yarn wreath with glittered sparrow now on sale in my Etsy shop

I decided to list the winter yarn wreath I created on my Etsy shop. You can view it here.

The pinnacle of my crafting career

I was inspired by KnockKnocking on Etsy to make a yarn wreath. It took forever to wrap the yarn neatly around the wreath form, but it was totally worth it. I made a few yarn flowers and attached a vintage button in the center. I also made some rosettes of of lace, some snowflakes, and the cute little glittered bird. I think the chandelier glass in the center really makes it special. OK, so maybe I got carried away with the glue gun and some little rhinestones and a few feathers, I bedazzled it quite a bit, but it's sparkly and fun. I also love that I can leave it up post-holiday. I'm already envisioning how sad my bare my apartment is going to look after Christmas.
I'm considering putting this guy up on my Etsy shop, I had so much fun with it I would love to make another.

Post office mayhem and making cards

It took me three attempts at the post office (and TWO post offices) to finally get my stamps so I could mail all my holiday cards. I work from home, so I even got to go at odd hours when I thought there would be less people in line, but no luck. Here was my mistake - using old first class stamps that needed that little extra postage to make them legit. I went out of my way to a post office that I knew had a kiosk where I could just buy from the machine and be on my merry way, but after standing in line for that machine, I found out you can't even buy them there. So I waited, and waited, and waited and finally purchased my 2 cent stamps from the postal worker who appeared to have checked his personality at the door.
The view from the post office in Little Five Points, across from the Junkman's Daughter, which I used to think was the mecca of cool when I was in high school.

I made my cards again this year. I can never find cards I like in the store, I hate the generic sayings inside, too. So I got some blank cards and a new stamp at the craft store and used my embossing powder and hot air thingie that makes it all work (which is the purple phallic looking contraption there in the picture). If you have not embossed, I highly recommend it. It is minimal effort and it looks really fancy.

Textile fringe necklace giveaway drawing!

Enter the giveaway contest for a textile fringe necklace fringe necklace like this one from my Etsy shop. These make cute, inexpensive Christmas gifts, too. Just post a comment with your name and email address and make sure you're following this blog to enter the drawing. Post by this Friday, December 11 at noon EST. Winner will be posted on Friday.

Packages, packages, packages

I spent Thursday night getting together all of my wrapping for gifts that needed to be shipped. I made a lot of little gifts for girl friends, and I'm excited to be done and have them all in the mail. Here is one of my boxes of gifts for my best friend from high school. I sent her a monogrammed ornament, some jewelry, and some kind of smelly bath product. I also have almost all of my gifts purchased and wrapped, thank god. I love wrapping presents and making cards, and I got amazing paper from Ikea for 50 cents this year. Here's one of my favorite packages - I used braided yarn as ribbon and made a little embossed tag from the boxes of cards I bought.

Ornament of the day - Bert

I made this ornament as a memorial to my dear friend Russell Groff, who died from complications from the AIDS virus in 2002. Russell and I went to college together, and he was one of the most joyful, brave, and loving people I have known. We studied theater together at Maryville College, and his Bert doll was hidden on stage for all of our shows. I love to remember him each year when I take out this ornament.

Is that vinyl real wood grain?

Who knew there were so many uses for wood grain contact paper? I have been eye-ing this refrigerator makeover project, but this paper was surprisingly hard to find. I have to be honest, it took way longer than I am comfortable to admit to cover that fridge in contact paper. But now I have my very own fake wood appliance. It's kitschy, I love it. I have miniature, out of date kitchen space with old appliances, what's a girl to do? It's a design dilemma. But, I think you just have to embrace the quirks of a space and roll with it.

I already showed you my wood grain wrapping paper idea with the contact paper, and here is my next project, the faux mantle. Perhaps I have gone a little overboard with the stuff...I still have another way I have used it - in wrapping gifts. Do I need an intervention?

A home made, earth friendly advent calendar

I made my own advent calendar this year, and decided to use materials I already had in the house. I used plain white envelopes to make square paper pockets, and cut out interesting photos from magazines and some old books from the thrift store. I buy a lot of books just for the pictures to use in collages and card making. I added a little ribbon loop from scraps and hung each on a wide gold ribbon with an ornament hook. The ribbon was salvaged from some old holiday decorations my mom was sending to the thrift store this year. It was perfect for this project because it is a wide weave, so the ornament hooks worked out great. I wrote numbers with a Sharpie, and in each envelope a put a page from the Advent meditation book that is a collection of writings (new each year) by people in my church. You could put little candies or treats in the envelopes for kids, but I don't need any more chocolate in my life than there already is.

Saving the trees with my e-card

I was looking for a really free and easy way to make a holiday e-card using my own photos. I found this site called Smilebox where you can upload your photos and customize your card. You can even add music. It takes a little bit of time to get acquainted with the program, and you do have to download a little bit of software. But it's fun to send a non-generic Christmas card via email. It definitely saves on postage, although I will still be sending paper cards. This year I'm reducing my paper card list and I always make my own cards. I can send this e-card and still maintain my own aesthetic and make it personal.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Faux finish wrapping paper

I love to use unexpected things to wrap a gift. Here's a little project using one of those free standard rate mailing boxes from the postal service and some wood grain contact paper. Trace the box on the contact paper, cut out, and apply. Getting the paper on straight takes a little bit of time, but you get a very unique faux finish gift box. Wrap some ribbon, lace, twine, or even garland around it, and apply one of your eco chic recycled gift tags.

Easy eco chic gift tags

These gift tags are a great way to recycle your old Christmas cards, which I never throw out. Cut the old cards into interesting gift tag shapes. You can usually get 4-8 tags from each card. Punch a hole and thread with a ribbon and you've got yourself a unique and eco chic gift tag.

These are a few of my favorite things

Well, these are not brown paper packages tied up with strings, but they are pillows tied up as packages. This is a super easy and inexpensive holiday decoration. I happen to have a giant box of ribbon hanging around my house, so I chose some in holiday colors and just tied up some of my pillows like presents. I was worried they wouldn't stay put, but they are working out beautifully.

Ornament of the day - handmade bird

As promised, here is the first in my ornament of the day series. I love an eclectic tree, I think each ornament tells a story. In my family, we each get a new ornament or two to add to the tree every year. And of course, there are the ones we made as kids, some hand me downs from grandparents, and those we got as gifts along the way. I love unpacking all of the ornaments and decorating the tree, recalling the story behind each little trinket and bauble.

Today's ornament is a handmade bird that I created last year from some scraps of fabric, card stock, sequin trimming, and ribbon. I made a ton of these from different fabrics. I gave some as gifts and kept a few of my favorites for my tree.

The tree, by the way, this year is white! I spotted it in the Family Dollar store, which is next to the estate and antique shop I frequent. I have wanted a vintage tinsel tree for ages (or a vintage-y reproduction, at least). They do have some nice ones on sale at Target for around $70, but that doesn't agree with my penny pinching ways. So when I saw this guy for $20, I went for it. It's no silver tree, but it has a shabby chic, vintage vibe but is modern, too. My brother said it looked like the tree from Goodfellas, which was the kind of thing I was going for. I must confess I honestly had just passed up a pink tree at Big Lots. Controversial, I know. The tree is really nice and even though it's just 6 feet, it is the right size for my tiny, annoyingly narrow living room.

Trimming the home for the holidays

It's finally time to get ready for the holidays! I don't have to restrain myself any more.

My regular posts this month will feature an ornament of the day and a song from my holiday mix, in addition to ideas for DIY, cheap and chic holiday home decor, crafts, gift ideas, and tips for holiday entertaining on a budget.

I'm kicking off the official season to be merry by making my second-annual holiday mix CD. Last year, I put one together, made some copies, and gave it as gifts to friends . I was inspired by a friend who also does the same thing, and I look forward to getting his mix each year. I like a mix of traditional, choral, old crooners, motown, acoustic, humorous, etc. I'm counting down December days til Christmas giving you a song (or maybe two) a day.

Today's Holiday Mix Song -

Please Come Home for Christmas, Harry Connick Jr. (Super jazzy and fun.)

I did a bit of holiday decorating, I got the tree and some lights up. Unwrapping those ornaments takes forever! I did some other fun little projects that I will be sharing with you in upcoming posts - an easy holiday pillow makeover, my faux wood mantel, and DIY advent calendar from recycled materials.

New jewelry and embroidered monogram ornaments in my Etsy shop

I spent a Saturday afternoon with my mom making these new flower pendants from vintage pieces I picked up. They are so fun to make and so cute, especially with the little charms they are paired with. Tiny glasses, a sail boat, a tea cup, I love them and will be giving some as gifts this year. Here are just a few, but there are tons more in my Etsy shop.

I also started making custom monogram ornaments inspired by Anthropologie. You can order any letter and they will ship the next day. Also a really cute gift.

No budget thanksgiving decor

I've done a few autumnal, harvest-y decor projects around the house this season. I made some harvest garland, had it up for a few weeks, got tired of it, and decided to go for round two of the DIY fall decorations. The challenge? Do it on the cheap, really cheap, as in shop my own house and spend no money cheap. I had eyed fall wreaths in Target, but didn't want to plunk down the $20. I had some leaf garlands in my stash that I have had for at least 3 or 4 years, and little red berries that I put out every Christmas. I bought those berries the first year I moved to Atlanta, so I've had them for 8 years now? They are super versatile. I pulled out a wire hanger and wrapped everything around, and voila, a new fall wreath.

I also made a little bookshelf vignette from things I had around the house. I filled a clear vase with acorns I collected a while back. I learned from blogging friends that there are little worms that live inside them. So, I baked them at low heat for a few hours, which did the trick. I collected some bare branches from the yard and hot glued little fabric leaves I had leftover from the garland project. I always keep white pillar candles on hand, and stuck them in galvanized planters and tins, one borrowed from my desk, the other I grew basil in this summer. A little fall ambiance to tide me over until I can bring out the winter holiday decorations.

And on the theme of thrift, here is a really cool story from NPR on the recent rise in popularity of thrift stores.

Top 10 DIY Advent Calendars

Here are ten craftastic ideas for making your own, unique advent calendar. Check out these for inspiration or come up with your own idea. Take a look around your house, see what kind of things you have on hand, or wander around the thrift or craft store. I would love to know your ideas or links to other cute calendars!

1. Simple Spools
2. Construction Paper Treats
3. Matchbox Garland
4. Paper Chain
5. Family Activities Envelopes
6. Little Stockings
7. Recycling Bin Materials
8. Mini Pinatas
9. Vintage Frame & Advent Book
10. Pocket Gum Calendar