Tag Tuesday: Black and White and All Stitched Up

I so appreciate your kind comments during my unexpected absence.  The concern of my blog pals means so much. I've fallen behind lately with Tag Tuesday and decided to catch up before tomorrow's Inspired Sunday blog party by meeting this week's challenge with a quick and simple chalkboard tag.

The base of the tag is thin black chipboard that I bought online at JoAnn.com. I scraped one side of a regular piece of chalk to make it flat and then rubbed it across the surface. Next I stamped a variety of snowflakes and the sentiment in white embossing ink and heat-embossed with fine embossing powder.  I plan to make a lot more of these for gifts this year!

I also forgot to post this stitched tag that I created a few weeks ago -- seems like a lifetime ago! Time flies and creeps simultaneously...


I hope you are having a great kick-off weekend to the holidays, and I hope to see you tomorrow for Inspired Sunday!

Laura

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours

I had to take an unexpected absence last weekend. I will be back on Sunday for the Inspired Sunday party, and I hope to see you link up your best Christmas recipes, decorations, wrapped gifts, shop window scenes, store displays -- whatever ushers in the Christmas season in your neck of the woods!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Laura

Inspired Sunday: Great Ideas

Happy Sunday, everyone.  It is FINALLY looking and feeling like fall around here.  Our temps have been up to 90, which really makes it seem more like the middle of summer, but I can happily report that the autumn chill is in the air.  I don't have anything particular to share right now, just finished my tag for Tag Tuesday: Proverbs here, so I'll move on to what you shared.

In last week's blog party posts, there were so many great ideas! Trisha, at Glass Slippers is planning to transform those old, yellowed electric window candles into a shabby chic style with a lot of bling. Aren't these adorable?  She also has a whole lot of crafty ideas up her sleeve.

And Penny, at Penny's Vintage Home made these great trees from leftover tinsel garland wrapped around a cone made from a 12-pack soda carton! What a great way to get just the right sized cone without having to  spend money and time shopping for the right size!

Karee at The Vintage Chateau shared many wonderful ideas for a bridal shower that could be transformed into a variety of celebrations. (I especially loved the banner and the book plate treats!)

I also wanted to welcome newcomer, Thrifty Amos, in Cork Ireland, who shared these beautiful Arklow pottery tea dishes along with a bit of their history.  (I am a complete sucker for a bit of history about any vintage piece or antique!)  Go on over and show her some blog love! 

Thank you again, everyone, for linking up with our intimate little group.  I hope you are enjoying the posts each week.  I know that I am. Have a great Sunday!

Laura

For this blog party, please link back to my blog from yours and don't link up the same post as last week unless you ask me first.  I would love for you to become a follower, and I will follow you! Just let me know in a comment.  I try to have the features and party up on Sunday morning, but sometimes it's up by noon Pacific time.

Tag Tuesday: Proverbs

I've been so busy and creating my tags so much later than Tuesday, that dear hubby is now teasing me by callling it "Tag Next Tuesday, which is nearly true! Wise guy!  I chose a proverb that is very pertinent to my life right now: "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold." I have several dear friends who are moving out of state in the near future, which makes me sad.  But I have to keep thinking about the new friends I've made and how to cultivate deeper relationships with them while cherishing my old friends and planning wonderful trips to visit them.

I decided to make this a bit rustic, so I drew and hand cut the hearts on chip board rather than using a die cut machine, and I painted and scuffed the edges. I hand-wrote the proverb.  A new technique I tried was embossing foil in plastic embossing folders, which worked really well. Here is the whole tag. It's kinda long, and I had a really difficult time getting a good photo:

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party

Happy Sunday everyone! I have spent the last few days relaxing after a super busy month! I haven't decorated or crafted nearly as much as I had desired, but with my only child leaving the nest this month with all that involves and taking on a new student after work--I'm trying to adjust to a new schedule and wonderful new season of life. Here are a few vignettes I threw together to celebrate this gorgeous season:

The lidless tureen is mid to late 1800s, purchased for a song at an antiques dealers' yard sale. The handleless cup and saucer is also mid 1800s. The style was adopted from Asia, and the British would pour their tea into the saucer to cool before drinking it. The custom was called "saucering" and persisted until handles were added to cups. My Appalachian mamaw would constantly scold my papaw for keeping this tradition even though their 1950s cups had handles!

I mixed some very old vintage folding rulers in with the fall foliage.

And I had to display this wonderful appreciation gift cup:

Nearby is the velvet pumpkin I made from a thrift shop shirt and 

adorned with a leaf pin from the vintage market:

Below is the overall view--sort of.  It really looks so much better in person. Dear son, who is an excellent photographer, keeps reminding me that the camera lens is not a human eye. (While slightly annoying, there's something reassuring to me about man's not being able to replicate what God has created!)

I found many great posts this week at the blog party, and I trust you did as well.  I have a picture wall, but it looks no where as put together as Julie's at Creating this Life.  So I am going to play "copy cat" and spray all my frames black. What a great way to update those outdated frames we all have or can pick up cheaply at thrift shops! Love this!

And next on my list of things to make, like today, is Jann's "Give Thanks" banner! I am SO excited about this idea! I can see chalkboard style labels, memorabilia from trips, map pieces, endless possibilities for every holiday. And the really nice thing is that storing is so much easier than with most banners as you can just unclip the top pieces and reuse the base for another season.  I will share my banner(s)  in a future post.

If all this craftiness has worn you out, you might sip a cup of pumpkin spiced coffee or tea and browse Brittany's wonderful post on the Ludwigsburg pumpkin festival. What interesting history and culture and beautiful scenery she has captured for us.

And finally, as many of us are looking ahead to Christmas already, 

let us not pass up the beauty that autumn provides. Debby Ray calls it "the color 

of God's love" in her inspirational post, perfect for a Sunday afternoon:

Now let's see what you are doing this busy week!  If you join the blog party, please link back to my blog and please become a follower.  A huge thanks to all of you who link up each week!

Laura

Inspired Sunday Blog Party and Halloween Afterglow

How many of you are like me in that the best time of a holiday seems to be after it is over?  The decorations are still up, fond memories have been made, there is leftover food or candy, and you can finally relax and just appreciate it all.  That's how I felt on November 1st, and 2nd, and even today.  I am enjoying the few decorations that I managed to get up and the tag I made for Tag Tuesday this week:

I am relishing the way my colleagues at work put together their best creative efforts and turned our suite into a Wild West town after work hours the night before Halloween. 

                                                                    Our food table:

  Our candy bar:

A very clever cookie with a melted
witch and her broom.

We thought my pumpkin "carving" might win
the pumpkin carving contest, dea, but alas, it did not.

I am smiling deeply at how our art director friend and his wife transformed the whole front of their house and yard into a Western town  (love that the Wild West happened to be everyone's theme this year).  

I went as a bawdy lady of the evening. I was really tired by Halloween evening, and decided just to look as er, um, "authentic" as I could, so ... hmm... gotta have a little bit of fun, huh?

So rather than cleaning up really quickly and moving on to the next holiday, I like to reflect, and smile and enjoy the creativity, friendship, and fun that was shared this week.  I am lingering in Halloween afterglow.  Are you?

Laura

We had some wonderful posts at the last blog party, I hope you found much to enjoy.   Susan at Eclectic Shorebird seemed to be lingering in the last bit of beauty that summer had to offer.  Julie, at Creating this Life, also seemed to be lingering a bit too, gathering bits of green branches and other "yard clippings" to bring indoors for lovely arrangements.  And because I'm still lingering in the Halloween afterglow, I browsed through Jann's post at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen and enjoyed so much her clever witch's tea.  The fantasy and decorations are so much fun! Being a paper crafter, her Witch's Travel Guide had special appeal for me:

I hope that you will link up your inspired posts this weekend.  Please link back to my blog from your blog.  I can't wait to see what you're up to!