Memories of Home

The last three years have been packed full of work and challenges. In addition to full-time job, I tutored dyslexic students after work a couple of nights a week and also pursued a second degree in communicative disorders. I had very little time to pursue my creative passions. By December of last year, my husband was in touch with a company that had an opening for a composer/sound designer. After years of being self-employed, he was ready for a change, and on the morning of New Year's Eve, the on-site interviews were being planned. By mid January, he had been hired, and he moved to Reno in February. I stayed in our California house to finish my degree, let our son find a place to live, and tie up the loose ends of life. What I hadn't planned on was doing a cosmetic remodel of our house to get it ready to be leased, which I headed and worked on. Finally after 8 long months apart, I moved to Reno with my husband just before Halloween a few weeks ago. With newfound time to relax and restore, my creativity has now found release. All those things I've saved, packed, and moved are becoming new creations! Here is one of them.

Notice that it says "Reuse this package." I really took that to heart!

The front of the box has a window and cellophane. I pulled out my stamps from 

Character Constructions and went to town:

I love the thoughts on back of the box. For me, creating is play.

"Follow your own path."

"To find your creativity, allow yourself to think like you did as a child."

Here is the finished result--a shaker box that can be put on a tree or placed in a Christmas setting.

The advent house and deer are stamps from Character Constructions' Vintage Christmas collection. I'm so happy that I overlooked comments of "hoarder" and saved this box!

Are you a box recreator?

                                                                                                                     Laura

Christmas "Altoid" Tin

Hi friends! For the past 6 months I have been remodeling our house in Southern California and packing our belongings to move to Reno. It has been lonely, grueling work, and I am so happy to finally be finished and to be with my husband once again. When I arrived in Reno ten days ago, some new Christmas stamps from Character Constructions were waiting for me. I just had to take time out from unpacking to make something with them.

I stamped and colored the santa from plate 7 of Vintage Christmas and 

mounted him on a mint tin from Whole Foods.

Next I stamped and colored the car from plate 6 of Vintage Christmas and

added it to a chipboard box that I covered with Christmas paper.

Have you started making cards or crafting for Christmas?

Laura

Decorating for Christmas

Oh, I'm so thoroughly enjoying this Christmas season! After six years of too many difficulties to share, we are having a wonderful, wonderful holiday season. Last week we attended the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra's Bach Brandenburg Concerto Marathon. The music was divine. And last night we went to see the "Nutcracker Suite." It was a feast for the eyes and ears. We loved just loved it, and my husband can't wait to see Prokofiev's "Cinderella" in the spring. I never knew he would like ballet -- he didn't either. Now he wants to compose a ballet... Well, after the money-making work is done, I told him! lol!

I'm taking off from work for a few weeks, and I'm just loving all the decorating. I haven't really decked the halls in many years. What a joy it is for me now!  This 1800s pine hutch is a thrift shop find from six weeks ago. This corner of my kitchen has waited years for this piece!

It's filled with santas that my dear mother and I collected through 

the years. I celebrated her with each piece I unboxed and placed. 

These great vintage lights and boxes were a surprising find from 

weekend thrifting with my friends Christel and Heidi. 

The centerpiece for my kitchen table with vintage  ornaments and 

beaded garland and  Tom and Jerry cups.

A display of my cards and decorations I put together with thrift shop finds:

 A few years ago I discovered Tom and Jerry punch bowls, and 
it has been a love thing ever since:

You might say that I'm quite addicted. Christel found this chocolate brown

 set for me at the the thrift shop last weekend.  I LOVE it, especially against 
the light oak of my mother's favorite piece of furniture. (I have 
more Tom and Jerry pieces, but that will have to be for another day, lol!)

Here's a creche that I created from a TJ Maxx find and an image from an 

angel calendar. The figures are hand-carved from Austria--a gift throughout 

many years from my dear sister-in-law:

 I did my Christmas tree in red and gold with a few House of Hatten ornaments:

 House of Hatten was around 15 or more years ago. My mom and I 

collected these together--another reminder of the fun we used to 

have with our after Christmas shopping.

Not House of Hatten, but I just love these snowballs!

Another view of the tree:

 Christmas in the City. What haven't I collected? Lol!

One of the sideboards in my family room. I have a lot of these! lol! 

The decorations are minimal as the hand carving and stained 
glass stand on their own as a testament to the artistry and 
craftsmenship of the past. My paternal grandmother's clock is a focal point:

I guess I should have started with the entry first,but I spend 
most of my time in the kitchen!

The chalkboard door hides a closet that used to house our furnace, 
which now resides in the attic.  This little closet makes a nice pantry. 
I really do have to improve my chalkboard lettering!

These vintage silverplate pieces are thrift shop finds that I painted with 
chalkboard paint. I am still getting up my nerve or the patience to 
trace lettering and go over it with a chalk pen.

 The tree in my craft/tutoring room full of vintage ornaments and 
some of my handmade things. 

What a great way to celebrate a good and busy year! 
Wishing you peace and joy throughout the holidays and all through the new year!

Laura

Tag Tuesday: Christmas Card Tag

Happy New Year to my dear blog friends! We are visiting family in the South, and I took no supplies with me.  It was just killing me to miss Tag Tuesday this week, so finally I went through my sister-in-law's Christmas cards and set to work. (Love that I found one with a piece of ribbon and a sentiment so perfect for Christmas and the New Year!) I first cut a properly sized tag from one of the large cards. I fussy-cut the birds and the tree on the right from remnants of the card and added dimension with foam tape (hard to see in the picture). There is also a lot of sparkle from glitter, also hard to see.  The plaid strips were from part of another card. You can see the dried glue on the left where I detached the ribbon from the original card.

Wishing everyone blessings, joy, peace, and many more beautiful tags in the new year!

Laura

Inspired Sunday: Little Christmas Boxes and Blog Party

Happy Sunday! This has been a very exciting week for me, but it has also put me a little behind with today's blog party.  In addition to an unexpected invitation to a party with a dear old friend, I received an e-mail from the owner of Pink Persimmon asking me if I'd like to be on their creative team. It didn't take me long to answer that question! :-)  I own a couple of their 50's style vintage girl sets and used them in my Tag Tuesday samples:

 


In the coming months I will be showing projects with their stamps, including a few tutorials. It's very official, contract and all, and I am SO excited. My first deadline is December 30, but I will probably have my samples made before then. My mind is creating already!

But now, back to Christmas! I had planned to photograph an antique store's Christmas displays, but with eight goody boxes to finish for a Christmas cookie exchange tomorrow at work, I had to save that for another weekend.  For the goody boxes, I started with eight  plain kraft boxes from JoAnn:

After lots of glue and paper and glitter, I have transformed them into these:

 

Now I just have to finish  the baking and tying up box and goodies in a cellophane piece with a pretty bow. 

I hope everyone will like them!

In last week's blog party there were so many beautiful Christmas posts.  What really stood out to me were ones with decorations that keep fresh long-cherished memories of loved ones and times past.

Reading through Celestina Marie's post almost brought tears to my eyes as she shared the remembrances associated with her lovely things, including these beautiful red vintage glasses made by her family who worked in the Pennsylvania glass factories in the 30s and 40s. What a lovely tribute to the people in her life!

Another post full of Christmas memories is Sally's from Salmagundi. Her beautiful vintage decorations and her story about the Christmas elf and her child's tantrum made me smile. I think most of us can relate in some way!

And last but not least, is the little unexpected surprise that brought a magical Christmas moment to Judy. If you haven't already, check out her post for the delightful little discovery.

If you were featured, please put my badge on your blog.  Thank you, everyone, for linking up each week. I will try to leave comments from last week's link ups if I haven't already. And thank you for being patient as I get posts up on Sunday, some time.  I do love seeing what you are up to.  I hope you are well and are finding time to enjoy the season.

Warmly,

Laura

Tag Tuesday: Twelve Days of Christmas

For this tag, I chose "Two turtle doves."  It's probably more of an ornament than a tag, but my definition of a tag has expanded to include pretty much anything with a string! :-)  I would put this on a gift or hang from a gift bag, though.  I cut chipboard with my die cut machine (dies from Tim Holtz) and made use of  vintage book pages. All the pieces are mounted on a gold glitter wreath from the Dollar Tree.  Composition and construction were the main tasks for this tag.

On a chalkboard

Wreaths from Dollar Tree

On a tree branch.

I hope your holiday season is going well!

I am entering this in the All Things Dollar Tree blog party at Debbiedoo's!

Laura

Tag Tuesday: Angels

I'm finally on time again!  For this tag I used an angel image from The Graphics Fairy. I adhered it to light-weight chipboard and cut it out. I stamped a large snowflake and cut it with a matching die.  The stars were glittered, punched, and strung together. I added lots of glitter and "mica" snow to make it very sparkly.

I guess this is as much an ornament as a tag! :-) The picture doesn't really do it justice - so much prettier in person when you can see all the sparkle and the dimension.  Please be sure to link up with the Inspired Sunday blog party here!
\

Laura

I'm linking this post with these great blog parties:

Creative Monday Blog Hop

Inspired Sunday: 30 Days of Christmas and Blog Party

Happy first day of December! There's nothing like shopping in gorgeous stores to get me in the holiday spirit. So to kick off the holiday season, I decided to bring you thirty days of Christmas beauty. Each Sunday I will be showcasing Christmas decor from shops, antiques stores, and perhaps even my own home.  I will continue the Inspired Sunday blog party and showcase your links on Friday evening.  Please link up any Christmas-themed post that you think would inspire us (at the end of this post).

Today's feature is the Traditions Store in Canoga Park, about 20 minutes north of L.A. The store sits unimposingly in an industrial area among auto repair shops and the like, and provides an entree into a fantasy world upon passing through its doors.  Proprietors Debi and Barbara Thomas graciously let me photograph their gorgeous theme trees, folk art vignettes, and tabletop decor.  They ship all over the country, so if you love folk artists like Debbie Thibault and Bethany Lowe, you've found the source. They also  have sales and offer coupons throughout the year.  This store is nothing short of heavenly!

A row of greeters shoppers as they enter the store.

Little drawers covered with Victorian Santas make a wonderful advent calendar.

A simple feather tree with scrap ornaments.

A variety of folk art figures displayed on a chippy painted hutch.

Trees for the garden lover, one with flowers and insects and one with fruit

 

An elegant gold tree trimmed in cream and red

Red and creamy white set the color scheme for this beautiful setting.

 

A Putz house surrounded by Chritsmas trees

A "feather" tree made of paper fringe

Old-world Father Christmas figures in various sizes

Putz houses are scattered throughout the store.

A glittered deer grazes in the yard of this Putz house.

A Putz village offers a feast of endless sparkly pastel variety. 

A "rustic" version of a Putz house

A sideboard laden with folk art Santas, bears, and Christmas trees

Visions of sugarplums take center front in this sweets-themed vignette

 I hope you've enjoyed this stroll through the Traditions Store with me.  Now I'm ready to go decorate my house? Did it get you in the mood, or are you already done?

Laura

Now let's see what the Christmas spirit has brought your way. Link up any post related to Christmas.  Please link back to my blog.  I would love for you to become a follower. I will follow you back. Happy Sunday!