Oh deer!

This post is titled 'oh deer' because right now I feel like a deer caught in the headlights. No wonder people start their Christmas tasks after Halloween!  Soooo much to do in one month. First on my list is getting my booth festive for our Christmas Open House next weekend. Here is a look at my progress so far.

My darling neice CC stringing lights on my manny. She's an art student at UT in Austin, getting ready to  study next semester in Paris. Oh to be 20 again!

Across from my booth is my girlfriend Carolyn's space. Check out her amazing goodies!

The things this girl makes....OMG. The darling Santa cottages, she spends hours on each one. They are all different and in every color you can imagine. Love the wreaths, & the stockings are my new favorite. Great color & pattern combo's.

And Jana...don't get me started there. Last time I was in the store she had her sweet 'tater' in a baby sling while re-arranging an entire booth.  Talk about multi-tasking.  Jana has some amazing collections from Christmas past.

I also saw her work table loaded down with awesome tags & banners.
If your in the area Saturday, December 5 stop by Collected Treasures & have some Christmas cheer!

Paper Whites

Welcome to another episode of White Wednesday presented by our host Kathleen of Faded Charm. I don't know how she comes up with great posts week after week, but she does! 

 My inspiration this week is paper. I've been working with a lot of it getting my booth ready for our Christmas Open House December 5th.

My latest banner, Joyeux.

I usually use only vintage ephemera, but the background on my 'J' is a french letter dated 1863 that I purchased from Corey of Tongue in Cheek.  I can't cut that up! So I copied it onto vintage book pages.

I really love using the Tim Holtz chipboard letters in odd fonts, I think it makes my banners unique. I use only German glass glitter & the letters from last years banners are  beautifully tarnished already!

I was looking for some religious postcards on ebay awhile back & hit the mother load. I won a lot of amazing cards from Italy dated 1928. Most are black & white, some have a dab of one color like the one I used on the 'Y'. They have beautiful script on the front & backs, intricate note of bible verse & such. I need to do a post & show them all. 

Because my booth is so crowded I couldn't get a great shot of the whole banner, so I'm showing you pieces.

Here's my Ho Ho Ho banner. I used vintage sheet music & flocked wallpaper for this.

Do you use embossing powders? I've just started, any time I can add texture I do.

Both of these banners are for sale in my booth & my etsy shop. I'm working on Fa La La & some others.

I wanted to decorate with & sell paper chains this year. I'm bagging some up for the shop.

I have my elves working on them.

Lily's working on a tutorial!

Some pretty white hats for the shop, I love the one in back, it's white feathers!

I love the wonderful fonts & design found in old sheet music, I thought I would share some of my favorites.

Well, that's it for this week. Thanks again to the awesome Kathleen for getting all these beautiful whites together.

I wish all of you the best Thanksgiving holiday ever! I have so many blessings in my life, so much to be thankful for. I am truly grateful for discovering a new group of amazing, talented & supportive friends here in blogland.

PS -You may think I've gone off my 'meds' with the daily change in my blog's design. I'm working on a face lift for the 'ol girl', hope to have it done soon.

I don't live in a cottage, so I collect them instead

  When I was five years old I found my dream house. It was on my way to school, I walked past it every day and imagined life there...with my husband Frankie M. (kinder garden classmate), my baby Julie (named after Mary Poppins) and our kitty(now deceased).  It was a sweet yellow cottage with a pitched wood-shingle roof, window boxes, dutch door and a sweet garden. My tastes never changed, my life sure did though. Instead of that cute cottage in California, I live in a 80's era subdivision... in Texas... with Kevin M. & 3 kids... none named Julie.

`

Life is good, but I still have my dreams!

Smorgasbord of a post

I have been a bit of a blog slacker this past week. I'm working on a special project that has taken every free minute I have, (that's not many). I hope to share it with you all soon. In the meantime, here are some of my latest aquisitions.

I cannot get enough of these sweet old baby shoes, I found these for $4!!

And speaking of sweet baby things, check out this little corduroy cap. I love the little pom poms, I bought them from my friend Angela of Filgree Moon. She participated in the grand opening sale at Cottage Panache . Angela is such a sweet girl & has the cutest stuff, she makes cool jewelry too!

Picked up this little cutie at the same sale.

And look at my new fall banner! Wish I could say I made it, but I got it from one of my favorite  Etsy sellers. Amanda makes all kinds of cool things from burlap. I LOVE burlap, and the way she stencils it looks great.

Awhile back I adopted a beat up old wing back. It was in pitiful condition, but the price was right - free. I used fabric leftover from projects past & sent it off to be upholstered.

Love it.

It looks really cute with this one.  Bought it a few years ago, I fell in love with the black & cranberry barkcloth.  They have the same black & white ticking & piping. I'm selling the pair in my booth.

One last thing, I discovered 2 great contests.  Jana at Collected Treasures is challanging anyone to repurpose something into something fantastic. Read about it here.

You could win one of her awesome handmade altered sweaters.

Tracey is giving away some incredible euro goodness in celebration of her online store.

This would look really good in my living room.....

And this for my kitchen......

and these anywhere! Can you imagine a Christmas tree covered in them!