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handcrafted.vintage.thrifty.fun Home February 12, 2017 some things never change, but some do This picture says so much about me and about how I do things. It seems very staged. But it's not and that's why it's so funny to me. We had just finished the basement space and I had moved my crafting stuff into the room. At the same time, I was sewing curtains for the newly repainted kitchen. I pulled out the sewing machine, sat it on top of a vintage suitcase from my stash, and pulled up the nearest chair. A tiny chair built for a 3 year-old. But I only needed to sew little hems on a few pieces of small fabric. I would be done in just a few minutes. And then it hit me. This is how a crazy person sews. When I shared the pic on instagram, by sister commented that she wished she had a straight jacket emoji. Some things will never change for me. My crafting will always be impromptu. I still love sharing what I make and what I find but it is just not that easy to share from a blog. The instantaneous sharing from phone to picture to instagram is a perfect fit for me (at least for now). I'm a visual learner and obviously a visual sharer. I found an easy way to keep my blog archives without the pesky annual fee and schlepped most of my posts to WordPress . Of course, I love the picture-centered theme I chose and, if you've stopped by here, please visit me there and say hey. I have no plans to post to the new space but plans change (sometimes in an instant). ♥ Feb 12, 2017 3:43:53 PM | {at home} Comment 0 Reblog It 0 March 10, 2015 relentless winnowing Relentless winnowing. It's a term one of my oldest blog friends used recently and it put words to the state that I've been in over the last several years. I've moved my mother-in-law to our house (severe winnowing), moved my mom to her new house (more winnowing), and am now clearing out my mom's house (still winnowing). All of this has made me even more vigilant about my own house. If I use it, it's staying. If I love it, it's staying. If it brings me some sort of happiness; it's staying. All the rest (the someday piles, the "but it was only $6" items, the furniture that just can't seem to find its place) are quickly making their way to new homes. To her credit, I got up my nerve from this post from tiff at dottie angel. It's really hard to let go of things I've made, things my mom made. But letting go makes space for new ideas and new creative adventures. And moving what remained of my crafty piles out of their squirreled-away places and into my soon-to-be creative space has opened up all kinds of space around my home. Deep sigh of happiness. To her credit again, I am getting up my nerve to let go of my blog from this post . Not today. Not tomorrow. But sometime soon. Sometime before my blog starts its 10th year. More relentless winnowing. The paintbrushes? Those are from my mom and dad. Beautiful and well-cared for. I love them and they make me happy. Mar 10, 2015 9:14:17 PM | {at home} Comment 5 Reblog It 0 February 22, 2015 changing colors OK, that's a lot of pictures so I'll keep the words short... I'm slowly taking the color off our walls and making my house a little more calm (color-wise at least) I switched out the bright sunflower yellow for a pretty grey (dolphin fin) in the kitchen. Grey doesn't mean colorless. All shades of green are all mixed with pale yellow and gold. I still want to add simple curtain tops and art work. But I'll get there. Tudor houses don't have to be dark and serious and it's ok to paint the woodwork. I was taking these pictures yesterday while everyone else in the house kept putting stuff in my shots...flooring pieces, tools, lunch...pulling out the dishwasher because it stopped working. Like this... Feb 22, 2015 8:08:41 PM | {at home} Comment 1 Reblog It 0 January 22, 2015 an affair to remember If life can be a metaphor, then the year my sisters and I have been through is like a hurricane; a hurricane with only the smallest of calm. We all helped our mom move from her home and into the cutest house ever. It was perfect and cheerful in every way. But it was so, so very brief. The details are too sad and too hard to share but, within a few weeks, our mom could no longer walk...no longer stay in her new home. I am pretty sure that I will always be shaking my head about how quickly everything happened. We were so quickly back with the same Sisters and nurses that had cared for my dad. So happy and so sad to see them all again. So quickly back to group texts with my sisters trying to figure everything out. I spent a lot of time in the evenings just sitting with my mom in her room and her small tv was always on Turner Classic Movies. The movies were slow and quiet...with no commercials. So I would leave the tv on and quiety watch. I watched "I Walked with a Zombie" on Halloween with my mom. I watched many more as my mom slipped farther away and was not really talking. One night, I was drawn into a movie. I couldn't hear what was going on but I didn't need to. When my sister came into the room, I told her how this guy and this girl seemed to agree to meet but the girl never made it. "It's "An Affair to Remember"... that's Cary Grant", she told me. And we watched it. And when my mom's nurse Tanesha came in at the very end of the movie, we told her wait, wait, wait. And we all sat down together. Tanesha on the end of my mom's bed, Jennifer in my mom's wheelchair, and me. My sisters and I were together when we said goodbye to our mom. Crying, laughing, praying...and so quickly planning another funeraI just a few days before Christmas. I guess we take away lots of things from our experiences. For me, I find myself watching TCM. Taking comfort in the slowness and the quiet. Still laughing with my sisters. Still sending group texts. Remembering my mom and dad. Jan 22, 2015 9:02:22 PM Comment 6 Reblog It 0 December 09, 2014 a printed pic I printed a picture. Like on paper. At a place that magically does that. Walgreens even has an app that lets you select photos directly from your instagram account to be printed. I know this because I had to make something (just a little something) for my teacher friends. I had an instagram of the old-school Mary in my classroom. I added a Hail Mary. She's pretty and simple and she makes me calm; hoping she does the same for everyone that got one in their Advent package today. I am happy to share it. Download it, print it, and share it too. View this photo Dec 9, 2014 6:19:18 PM | {share} Comment 1 Reblog It 0 November 02, 2014 young tudor The house-changing frenzy that I was feeling this summer has slowed to a crawl. A super slow mo crawl. To refresh, we had all of our floors refinished this summer. Which made it easy to re-think my spaces and to look critically on what I wanted to keep...as in no mercy. I've been turning by eyes toward the "young tudor" look that is popping up everywhere. I've changed our computer room with pretty gray walls, artwork I love, and a thrifted bulletin board redo (and, even better, I got the ugly computer monitor moved out of that room so it really needs a new name). I painted every inch of my back hallway a pretty and fresh white (dark tudor woodwork is now singing a happy tune) and a gallery space for artwork is on my next-up list. I also looked critically at my living room and removed (almost) everything that was granny chic. The empty china cabinet was patiently waiting for a change. Paint? Wallpaper? Wallpaper! Me, the girl that put the idea of wallpaper into the "never again" pile. I found this paper at Lowe's . It is kind of textured and thick and I almost didn't buy it. But I reminded myself that I had nothing to lose but $30 on a roll of paper I might hate. I'm good at measuring, cutting, and matching paper and the back of the china cabinet was very forgiving because I could tuck extra paper in the space between the cabinet and the back panel. Start-to-finish was less than an hour and I don't think I cussed even once. An...