Hold Dear

before.you.know.it...

Silver Bella will be here! I'm so excited for this event! Happy happy happy! I've been working on some projects as well as going through my stashes to see what I want to pack up to bring for vendor night. It's kinda tough because while I do buy things with the intention of sharing, I have things I just can't part with yet.

I thought I'd share a sneak peek of some things I'm going to be selling...

I scored a whole slew of vintage floral supplies recently...

Lots of milk caps...

Frozen Charlottes...

Some super awesome packages of vintage Dennison seals...I love these things!

 Vintage ledgers...

My favorite...vintage Dennison labels...

Yep. Believe it or not, I finally have enough in my life that I am willing share these! I never thought I'd see the day! :-)
 

I have lots more than this to bring, but this is just the start!

just plain fun...

A couple of weeks ago I made a trip down to Eugene to do two things...teach a class at ComePlayEugene and go to the Coburg Antique Fair! Both are super fun events and something I look forward to the whole year! 

My sweet sweet pals, Jill and Emily, are the gals behind ComePlayEugene and they made me so very happy when then invited me to teach. I had such a wonderful time (and growing experience!) last year when I taught a class. Since the class was the day before we were to head out to Coburg, I thought it would be fun to do a vintage inspired charm bracelet...

The kit...

The girls working...

 

 

 

    Class photo...

 
These girls were SO fun!

L to R in front:  Dorothy, Tiffany

L to R in back:  me, Dawn, Jill, Emily, Tricia, Shannon

The bracelets turned out cuter than I could have imagined! These girls did a great job! And thanks again to Dorothy for sharing all her bits and baubs with me!

Here's Emily and Jill at Coburg rockin' their bracelets...

 
After my class, Jill taught a super fun Memory Box class and while my project is a work in progress, I did get a picture of the class kit and my box with bits I brought before I started...

After a day of classes and a quick dinner with Dorothy and Tiffany at Hawaiian Time, two of Jill's friends, Lisa and Isabell came over to spend the night. We kept it a very quiet, low-key evening considering how early we all were to get up the next day!

We woke up at 4:00 am to hit the Coburg Fair by 5:00 am. SUPER crazy I know, but it's part of the experience and totally part of the fun! And bless Emily for stopping and getting us coffees! I still owe you, girl!!!

Picture snagged from Kim! Some friends we met up with at Coburg, Kim and Ali, both took some lovely pictures of the early morning hours at Coburg. I forgot to take any because I was so busy not being able to see! :-)
It was actually kind of fun shopping in the dark...the people that had the booths were absolutely the nicest and encouraged us to just dig in!  And I loved meeting Auntie Joy! I made my first purchase of the day at her booth, in the dark. And Joy, sorry again for pawing at your personal receipt book, a gorgeous vintage ledger. You gotta know I love those things! :-)

So here are a few random pictures from the day, in no particular order...

 
This picture of bakelite items totally inspires me to start yet another collection!

 

I am completely and absolutely in love with these old cabinets. I covet them. However, at their current price (I don't even remember but it was four-digits), I will probably never own one. :-(

 

 
More random fun...
 

 

 

Me and Cassondra!!! Absolutely one of my besties! She doesn't live far from Coburg so she and her mother (awesome lady!) came by and we got to have a quick visit. 
 

Me and Jilll...another super bestie and my partner-in-crime for Silver Bella this year!  

 

All the gals...

 

It was a super glorious, fun-filled, treat-filled, heart filling, picture perfect day...

...and I can't wait for next year!
 

whoopsies...

I think I forgot about blogging there for awhile. Lots of good stuff going on behind the scenes though so I'd better get crackin'!

Last weekend I taught a class at ComePlayEugene which happily was planned to be the same weekend as Coburg Antigue Fair (SUCH a great event!) I got to hang out with two very special friends, Jill and Emily. Also got in some time with some other fabulous ladies, Dorothy (thank you again for the cake charms!), Tiffany, Tricia, Shannon and Dawn. While at Coburg, I got to see one of my favorite gal pals, Cassondra and found two other sweeties along the way, Ali and Kim. Also this week I got to have dinner with a second cousin whom I hadn't seen in 20 years (thank you Facebook!!!). Very good stuff, in deed.

I have some catching up to do, bloggily speaking, but for today, I wanted to share something I received in the post from one of the most thoughtful and generous friends I have, Julie Baxley!

A cigar box beautifully wrapped with tulle and velvet ribbon? I was swooning already...

 ...and when I opened it, I found it filled with perfect treasures...buttons and trims galore! Julie knows I love buttons and she shared some fantastic ones with me!

Happy!

So the buttons and trims are absolutely fabulous and I love 'em, but the real scene stealer was this beautiful necklace Julie made for me...

I love this so! I've  tried to figure out how to make these on my own without success. Julie said when I see her at Silver Bella, she'll teach me how to make this! So happy and so Julie! Thank you!

r e a d y . s e t . . . d o n e !

Hi there...

So you might recall that back in July, I took a solo vacation down to Paso Robles, California to visit my family. Just me without the hubbs. I knew I'd have lots of relax time so for that special trip, I repurposed a little book into a Ready Set Go journal to take with me. My intention was to have the pages ready and just waiting for journaling in the moment as well as to have a place to stash business cards, pictures, and any other little souvenirs I found along the way. And that, my dears, is exactly what I did...

Here's what it looked like before my trip...

 

Before my trip, it was pretty full looking just from the glueing and sewing in various papers and adding bits of this. However, now that it's full of journaling, pictures, cards, it is bulging at the seams and sporting that well-worn, well-loved look. :-)

Here's some pix of the exterior of the journal...these are the views that make me happy and makes all the work that it takes to put these books together all worthwhile.

Views of some pages...

That little tag with the "don't worry be happy" lettering is a cardboard luggage tag. I missed the check-in time on my flight out of Portland and had to rebook my flight. Thank goodness I didn't pack my journal in my checked bags so I was able to work through that stress and realize that even though I didn't get on the airplane yet, I was still on vacation!

 

If you'd like to look at any page closer, just click on it.

 

(this is a quote from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet - so perfect that I had my travel copy with me so I could go to that for inspiration!)
 

One night my sister, her husband and I went to the Mid-State Fair one night to watch Smashmouth. We also walked around and hung out and found a photo booth! Yay!

Somewhere along the way at the fair, I got an arcade token mixed in with some change. Normally, I would be annoyed but when I realized this, I thought "Yee-haw! Souvenir!!!"

Feathers found on a walk around my Mom's neighborhood...

Little fluffy fuzzy found on a walk with my great nieces...

Eucalyptus sprig that is still aromatic and triggers memories of Paso...

When I got home, I found a package had arrived from my super friend, Hope, filled with fabulous treasures. I loved the tag she made for me so it now lives in this journal.

Underneath the tag, a picture of me completely and 100% rested and relaxed...this doesn't happen too often!
 

If you'll indulge me just a wee bit more, I have a few more pics of the journal, mostly done and stuffed full of memories!

  

There's still some room so I may add a few more pictures and journaling but for the most part, she's done! Thanks for hanging in there with me! :-)

g o n n a . p l a y . . .

Super jazzed about going to the Play Retreat next year in Port Townsend, Washington! I decided not to register for the 2011 Artfest. I've gone for the last three years and decided to spread my wings and try something new. And since I've been very heavy into journaling lately, I thought Play would be perfect!

I received the confirmation packet the other day in the post and if I thought I was excited before, well, this quickly spun me in to the SUPER excited category! This totally inspires me!

This is SO gonna be the cover of my Play Souvenir Journal! That "M" is stapled to the collaged page. LOVE it! I usually go for a smaller format for the souvenir journals but I'm thinking the journal I make for Play is gonna be 8 1/1 x 11 just so I don't have to cut this up!

This year's Play format is going to be a bit different than what Teesha and Tracy have done in past years. Each attendee gets to do demonstrate/teach theilr favorite technique! Cool! I'm super stoked for that! 

Anyone else going to the Play Retreat?