Today's snowstorm kept me home from work and school and gave me a chance to finally finish a craft project I had started before Christmas: a mini winter village.
A miniature winter village of little white houses
Crafting | Painting a Christmas sign
To celebrate the holidays -- and the end of my first semester in my second go-round with college -- I made myself a little Christmas present. Isn't it purdy? I've been crushing on the Pottery Barn JOY sign the whole Christmas season, but as a poor college student, I didn't have 59 discretionary dollars to spend …
Collecting | A vintage Christmas book
As I was leafing through my stash of Christmas books this morning, I came upon this gem, published in 1968, that I thought I'd write a quick post about. I picked the book up at an antique store about 15 years ago. I love the cover of the book, and the inside illustrations are divine. …
Collecting | Saving the snowpeople
Despite my best efforts, my little collection of snowpeople keeps growing. I never go out looking for them, but (like a lot of other things) they just keep finding me. This is the guy who started it all. He was a Christmas gift when I was kid. (You might recognize him as an Avon decanter; …
Crafting | Making a woven wreath
This week's project -- a DIY woven wreath -- has been on my to-do list for about a year and a half. That's when I dragged this wire frame home from a garage sale. Actually when I dragged it home, it was green, but I forgot to take a "before" picture until after I had …
Christmas | Silver and gold
One of my favorite things to decorate at Christmastime is the hutch in my dining room. Mostly because I get to open this suitcase... ... which contains all of this. Nothing says "Christmas" like a suitcase full of shiny baubles. A few of them end up on our tree, but most of them go into …
Christmas | Making a miniature farm scene
In honor of our first measurable snowfall this winter, I decided to put together a miniature winter scene in my dining room. I started with this little thrifted barn. Then I pulled out my small herd of secondhand livestock. I'm not sure if any of them are truly the right scale for the barn, but …
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Collecting | Secondhand stars
I've come to the conclusion that I'll collect almost anything. Except for stuff that's made specifically to be collectible. Hummel figurines? I'll pass. Precious Moments? God no. Those faceless Willow Tree people that everybody else loves? Not my thing. But turn me loose in a thrift store or at a garage sale and I guarantee …
Crafting | A stenciled Santa
I love stenciling. It takes time and patience but absolutely no special skills. Anybody can do it. And you can make almost anything. Say, for instance, you wanted a dish towel with a retro black-and-white Santa image printed on it. You probably wouldn't find one in a store, but you could stencil one. You'd just have …