My Birds Nest

A great crafting source

Wanted to share a great source for vintage provisions! Paper Valise has the most adorable things. I love all their labels, ribbon, sequins, buttons, etc. She has been mentioned in several great publications, including Martha Stewart Weddings!! And for the next 4 days you can get 50% off your entire purchase with coupon code AUG50Y Happy Crafting!!

Days of the week labels

Vintage Metal Tab Folders

Our "Bird" Vintage Labels (I think I have to get these??)

Also be sure to check out the Paper Valise blog Scissor Variations for lots of inspiration!

Calling all Crafters

It is sad to say I have been out of craft mode for quite a while now. And I am really starting to miss it. Every time I walk by my yards and yards of ribbon or stacks of beautifully coordinated paper I start to whimper and just want some time to play. But I feel I lack inspiration and I want to feel that spark again. I really want to go and do this:

Creative Escape

It is a weekend filled with inspiration and fun!! And the best part of all is that I have two friends that are playing a big role in it!! The amazingly talented Maggie Holmes is teaching a photography class! To get to take a class from her is awe inspiring. She blows me away!! And the ever so crafty and super stylish Jaimee Rose is the key note speaker. Jaimee is just so fun and is such a pleasure to listen to. She has the sweetest voice and is totally hilarious!! Her written words bring tears and laughter and I could read her stories over and over again.

So, if you can swing it-GO. I really wish I could...I went the first year and had so much fun. It really puts you on a crafting high.

100 things

Yesterday, my son celebrated his 100th day of school. So we (really just I) made him a shirt. I wanted to make something different, maybe something the other kids wouldn't have so I decided to stitch "100 days" on his shirt, by hand no less!! Since my embroidery floss was no where to be found I stumbled upon this big ball of bakers twine. I seem to find countless uses for this enormous spool of joy. (right about now you are probably thinking this girl has a real problem of buying textiles in bulk- but just you wait to see my ribbon collection then you'll see a real problem!!) I promise I won't list 100 uses but here are a few things I have used it for and still haven't made a dent in this thing!!

1. ties a great gift tag

2. ties up a chicken for roasting really well

3. looks adorable on a scrapbook page

4. finishes off a gift box of homemade goodies

5. can double as embroidery floss

6. string beads on it for a child's necklace

There probably really are 100+ ideas but I will stop. Want your own bundle of joy? Shop here to get yours. Here is my son's shirt. Not sure if he was as excited about how it turned out as I was. But I thought it was subtle and stylish-not really a kindergardeners concern!!

 

Inspiration

Where do you find yours?? Mine is found from being with friends and looking at blogs that give me great ideas to either incorporate into my home or craft projects. Yesterday I was spending time with my sweet friend Maggie (who is an inspiration to me on so many levels) and she made me inspired to scrapbook. This is a hobby/passion that I have loved for a very long time it is just hard sometimes to find the time to dedicate to it. But part of my goals for 2010 is to scrapbook more. So even though I had great intentions to actually create yesterday, time once again got away from me-but I have the intention to complete something by the end of the week. Here are some older layouts that I love and wanted to share:

 

Hope this inspires you to create in some form or fashion!!  (And once I create something new I will post it here!)

Getting Crafty

I was lucky enough to receive the jute webbing I wanted for Christmas. And since things are getting back to normal around here I had a little more "me" time this afternoon so I whipped something together with my new fabric obsession:

here it is right out of the package:

my canvas (aka dining room chair):

after 85 1/2 inches of webbing:

And my dining room:

So excited to get a project accomplished today! Next with the webbing will be the runner for my entry way table. More photos to come soon. (P.S. sorry for the large images I will try and make them smaller next time!)    

 

Just a simple request!!

I love gift cards, giving them and receiving them. They may not always be the most personal of gifts but when it comes down to it-you get to buy what you want!! With that being said, I do hope that I get gift cards to some of my favorite stores (and those buying for me should know what those are) but this year I want more! I want them all wrapped up like this:

the step by step for those are here.

And if you have time browse thru Elizabeth Kartchner's blog. She is super crafty, has a great sense of style, and just looks like a fun person!!

  

My Dilemma

I need some advice. I usually display my Christmas cards on my entry way table like so:

But this year I am getting more flat cards that will not stand up so I am contemplating doing this. But need to find decent looking branches (hard to do when you live in the desert!) 

I hate to replace my feather tree but I also don't want to not display my cards!! What do you do with yours?