How to make your mom really happy...

This Mother's Day post is a little late, but so was the gift.

Last summer I purchased a Coffee Break design kit from a store near Cleveland, Ohio. I had good intentions of creating a garden type piece for my mom's birthday. The problem is, my mom's birthday is on Christmas Eve and I'm kind of a big procrastinator...so I went another route for her birthday.

My mom is a big into gardening so I knew that had to be my focus.

The blue flower lace on the sides was from my mom's stash of sewing notions, circa 1970's.

That's my mom...she laughed at her ruby slippers...they're just like the many pairs she would buy for my daughter over the years.

 What a cutie pie.

I don't say it enough, but I love you, Mom! XOXO



I'm a Pepper

He's a Pepper, She's a Pepper, We're a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?

 

 

Pepper was rescued from a thrift shop, after enduring a tragic divorce from his mate.

 

 Dressed up in a polymer clay hat, he was given new life.





 

 I'm really hoping the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" rings true. I really don't have much to say. Enjoy the photos.

 

 



Crack that Whip!

Oh, great, now I have that Devo song running through my head. I guess if you know the song, it is now running through your head also. Your welcome.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Step right up, to the most amazing, fantastical, spectacle of all spectacles. Or, just take a look at my latest creation. I rescued the elephant, lion and lion tamer from certain death. The more boring version being that I purchased them from an antique shop in Manteo, NC while on vacation last summer.

 

 For years the monkey held a job holding birthday candles atop cakes. He's much happier now that he is recovered from his sugar addiction.

 

The piece measures around 10"(h) x 8.5"(l) x 2"(d)

 

 

 

 

 

Salty Dog

Here's my latest creation. I've had "Nipper the RCA dog" figurine for a few years. He was half of a salt and pepper set I picked up somewhere. I've always had a love affair with Nipper. I remember listening to "45's" on my little portable record player in my bedroom. I always thought RCA must be the best if they had a cute dog on their records.

 

 That's right, Dolly Parton singing 9 to 5. Classic.

 

I added a polymer clay hat and a little sparkle around his neck.

 

Perched atop a dressed up Jello mold.

What a sweet face.

Hipster? Me?

"What's that?" I said to my niece on Christmas Day.

"Oh, I got this for Christmas. It's a Polaroid camera." she replied while looking at a developing photo of our Christmas tree. 

Me: "Really? A Polaroid? That's cool. I've been thinking about getting one for myself. What are you going to use it for?"

Niece: "These are great for Smash Books. The size of the photos fit perfectly."

Me: "I'm so happy you liked the Smash Book." (Side note: Smash books and accessories were last years Christmas gifts, yay me!)

 

Fast forward to this past week. I'm walking through my local Walmart and decide yo go look in the camera department, again. Every so often I go take a peek at the Fuji Instax Mini hanging in the bubble packaging. Today was different, today I saw a price break. I picked it up, looked it over, then put it back. Do I? Don't I? I have a number of cameras and lenses. Why would I go back to this old technology? Maybe not today, I'll think about it some more. Awe heck, for the price, I might as well get it. It's going to be so much fun! Added bonus, the film packs were on sale.

 

 In today's digital world, we all just click away. Taking hundreds of photos of everything we come into contact with, meals, drinks, temperature gauges in our cars. We have cameras in our phones. Good quality cameras. So good that my daughter won a photography contest with a photo she took on her iPhone. Everyone takes photos of everything without even thinking. When I was growing up, it was kind of a big deal to take a picture. You had, 12, 24 or 36 frames to use at a time. We used them wisely as the film cost money, then the developing and printing cost more money. Then you had to wait to shoot through the roll. It could takes months before you saw if any of the photos were good.

I'm just as guilty as the rest of you. Heck, the same day I bought the camera I snapped this photo for a funny Facebook post regarding the news reporting a possible Velveeta shortage for the Super Bowl.

 

So I got my new camera loaded and started taking photos of different subjects. Figuring out the lighti settings, what subjects work best, how close you can get to subjects. At first, I wasn't too impressed. I've been spoiled by the quality of digital cameras. I was expecting this camera to work like my other cameras. I was expecting the same quality with a vintage feel. I was wrong in my thinking. 

This led me to researching the camera on the internet. I wanted to find out what the camera is best used for, as clearly it was not great for overcast, late afternoon, outdoor, snow scenes. It was during this research that I discovered I am a "hipster" for owning this camera. Me? A hipster? I'm pretty sure I'm about 20 years late to being considered a hipster. Plus, I don't have the wardrobe. My vintage clothing is really not vintage, just old. I am proud to say, I don't wear "mom jeans". But not wearing " mom jeans" does not make me a hipster.

So what is this camera good for? Candid shots of people. I snapped these 2 photos at the swim meet today. All the kids were fascinated by the camera and the instant print. Plus they love the vintage look.

 

These cameras are being used at weddings for photo guest books created right on site. I'm planning on using this for a travel journal on our next vacation. A family reunion would be good. You could create an instant family tree. ( I just now thought up the idea.) I'm confident I will discover many more uses for this camera. So join this middle-aged, hipster mom on my Fuji Instax camera journey. 

Smile. Say cheese!

Okay, here are a few more of my favorite things...

...the paper village under my tinsel tree. (see previous post)

 



 

The main village area in the back, was a Christmas gift from my mom a few years ago. Does she know me or what? Now that I think about it, she has given me nearly all of these little structures.

 

 

The houses were tree decorations put out by Martha Stewart a number of years ago.

 

Mom definitely gave me the paper church.

 

My miniature snow babies collection look so cute displayed with the village.

 

As you can see, I used a set of tiny LED lights.

 

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

 



These are a few of my favorite things...

...my tabletop tinsel tree.

 

I scored this gem at the local "junque" emporium for a whopping $5.

It was love at first sight.

 

 

Last year I picked up this book.The author takes you through the decades describing what were popular images, colors, products, crafts, etc during each decade. In the book I discovered this tree was from the 1950's era. After showing the tree to my Mom, she gifted me these three hard plastic ornaments from her own stash of goodies.

 

 

 

Last year I acquired the snowman in the cage from another "junque" emporium.

 

The skiing Santa came from my mom, the snowshoe Santa from my mother in law.

 

My mother in law, Janet, would gift us beautiful glass ornaments every Christmas. She loved and cherished her beautiful ornaments. Janet's neighbor and friend would pick out and purchase the ornaments in small quantity, during her yearly trip to New York City. When the neighbor returned, she would invite her friends over to purchase the beautiful ornaments. Janet looked forward to this annual event. 

 

 

Janet passed away very suddenly over 13 years ago. Every Christmas I lovingly unwrap and carefully hang all of the ornaments she had given us over the years. 

 My husband's favorite color is purple and he played the saxophone in high school.

These are just a few from the collection.

 

This ornament is so awesome. One side is the sun (above), one side is the moon (below). I bought a special motorized hanger that rotates the ornament round and round.

 

Well, it had to happen eventually. I dropped the ornament shown below, while packing away Christmas, last year. I felt as shattered as the ornament, even though it was never one of my favorites. One less keepsake, one less memory, I felt like she slipped a little farther from my life.

 

 

As I assessed the damage, I realized only one side was damaged. I could "fix" this! I don't mean "fix" as in as good as new, but "fix" as in alter and therefore keep the memory alive.

 

 

 

Notice the mini tinsel peeking out from the edges?

Are you ready for the big reveal? Are you? Are you? Huh? huh?

 

 

 

The shiny glass interior of the ornament makes this very difficult to photograph. Here's what I did: I attached mini silver tinsel all around the sharp edge. A little downy cotton for the snow, a bleached out bottle brush tree and two miniature deer.

 



 

The vignette is very "quiet", much like the original side of the ornament. It's almost as if the deer are in the nearby church woods, watching the lights, listening to the people sing during Christmas Eve services.

I love that it is now like a little secret to be discovered by those who admire our tree.

 

Also, I have carried on gifting our own children with glass ornaments. I usually try to match up whatever they are currently into... like pizza...

 

 ...or cute little dogs...

 

 ...or UFO's to commemorate the year we watched nightly episodes from the X-Files. All nine seasons worth plus the two movies. Nothing says Christmas quite like UFO ornaments on your Christmas tree.

 

Have rockin' yule, earthlings!