CHALLENGE...

I don't think we have had a challenge in awhile. Is anyone up for it? I think I can finally do something crafty. Last time I think I challenged you to get an art journal and do something or write something in it every day. I didn't do that challenge since I was in the process of moving away and had none of my craft/art supplies available.

Perhaps a challenge to ourselves is an idea. Something you've been putting off starting, something you don't like to do, what would you challenge yourself to do?

I challenge myself to finish the Christmas trees I started two years or was it three? years ago!!

Here's a photo of the trees in their half finished state...

Stash Busting

I was inspired by the children. Some friends of ours visited recently, and their daughters are nine and 13. They are into the friendship bracelets that I used to make...ahem...over 20 years ago. The oldest had 12 bracelets on one arm and 13 on the other, but she didn't know how to make them! She was relying on friends to make them for her. She saw my box of embroidery floss skeins and asked what I do with them.
Well, I explained how embroidery works, and then I pulled out a friendship bracelet that I had begun a very long time ago and had never finished. I then used that start to refresh my memory of technique, and then I taught them both how to make a basic 1/2 chevron stripe bracelet.

I was so refreshed that I came home on Friday and made myself a bracelet and a necklace. I pulled out my stash of hemp twine and glass beads and have decided that, in addition to knitted items for Christmas, my younger recipients might also be sporting some handmade arm and neck embellishments.

This has been a hoard de-stash inspirational anecdote...

SORRY FOR THE ABSENCE...KIND OF!

Hello fellow Hoarders! I've been away for quite some time and have had no computer/Internet. So I've missed out on posting here and in my own personal blogs.

I've been living at the beach, Oregon Coast to be exact. We are renting a house there and I live there and hubby comes to stay on the weekends. Up til now he's had every Friday off so he arrives late on Thursday nights but now he has to work every other Friday so will arrive on Friday nights that week. I will miss having him there for that one day, but that's life!!

My crafting has been minimal, almost nil. I did make the wedding favors for our daughter's wedding, which was right there in the town where I am living. I put a sand dollar in a square of tulle and tied it with a ribbon. Each ribbon had a little square of ocean blue paper and a sticker with the bride and groom's name on it and the date of the wedding. That was June 26, 2010. The sand dollars were already boiled and clean. When I ran out of sand dollars I used several small seashells. They were a hit! 

I bought a sketch pad to doodle in, but drawing has never been my strong suit and I was not happy with the results of my efforts. I guess I'll stick to what I'm good at! Or think I'm good at, I guess!

I'm at home now in Eastern WA but going back to the beach house on Tuesday. I'll take some of my hoarded craft items because quite frankly, I'm having withdrawals! I want to make more cards. I used up a lot of my stash for the Spirit Jump Cards for Cancer event in April and have not replenished it. I've been buying cards to use to send to Spirit Jumpees. If you don't know about Spirit Jump, click here for the website and info about it: SPIRIT JUMP. 

So how has summer been treating you? Are you still working on crafty items and using your hoarded craft/sewing supplies? Or do you take the summer off and spend it traveling, picnicking, etc.? A lot of people start working on their Christmas items in July? Are you one of them?

Hopefully I'll be able to post again soon. I've made it very clear to hubby that I MUST have my computer and Internet access after being without for about 5 weeks...I'll be able to post some photos of the items I will be working on!! But for now, here are a few images you can snag for your own creations. They are from vintage cards which I scanned and uploaded. If you like these, let me know, I do have more.

~NANCY~

MY HUGEST HOARD - IS HUGEST A WORD?

So glad to see all the comments on last week's post! I went over to the Flickr page but didn't add anything to it. Not yet, I'm just too busy to do anything artsy-crafty right now. Although I do need to finish a sweet charm bracelet I'm working on for my niece who graduates on the 12th.

My hugest or largest hoard is...

Bottle caps. Why, you say? When we moved here to our mfd. home in an adult park, I asked DH if I could decorate the side of the little building out back. That little building was like a blank canvas to me. At first I thought I would decorate it with vintage yard and/or garden tools. So I thought about that for awhile and awhile longer and then some more... I guess I didn't really want to do that or I would have started that project. 

Then one day I got the bright idea to decorate it with a mural...made of bottle caps. Pop bottle caps, milk jug caps, water bottle caps, etc. These are not normally recycled and I thought it would be a great "green" project as well. So I saved and saved and saved and all of my sisters, children, grandchildren and friends saved and saved and saved. I even told them I'd pay 1 penny per bottle cap so I could make it fun for the kids.

Now I have so many bottle caps that I can't possibly count all of them! My dilemma: we are moving away from our little mfd. home in the park! And I have all of those bottle caps, still. I haven't done my project yet. And now I won't do it here, but I still want to do some sort of a mural or design with it at some point in time, somewhere!

What is your largest stash? Make a comment to let us know! Is it unusual? Why did you start saving that particular item? How many do you have?

IS ANYONE OUT THERE?

I try to be faithful about my writing assignment, i.e., to write a blog entry here every Wednesday. But I'm not feeling the love, people! Is anyone out there? I know Sinclair is around, she has a new job and she isn't able to check in as often as before. I know the attic elf was here two posts ago. Anyone else? I hope so. We have something good going here. What can we do to garner more interest or more participation? Any ideas, peeps?

We are supposed to be working on an art journal. I must admit that I ordered mine but I haven't used it yet. I was disappointed in the size for the cost, but no matter, I should have done something in it by now. Alas, I have an excuse, we are moving to the beach. Now if my muse is silent there I will be surprised! I've just been busy ordering pots and pans, silverware, dishes, etc., etc. (We're setting up another household.) And a daughter is getting married June 26th and I've been trying to find a dress to wear and I have favors to make. So I have excuses, I'm sure we all do. It's a busy time of year! Our gardens beckon, our children and grandchildren are playing spring sports, etc., etc.

So, let's see if we can make a comment here now and then, do a page in your art journal soon, and be thinking about how we can get more participation, etc.

HAPPY SPRING!! (I think it might finally be here.)

This is the view from the deck of our beach home. It is also the view from the living and dining areas and the master bedroom.

VINTAGE HATPINS

I love vintage costume jewelry. Actually, I love all jewelry~the good, the bad and the ugly~and it doesn't have to be costume. I just love jewelry. I have several books on the subject and just picked up another last weekend. This one is about plastic jewelry and though it is copyrighted quite some time ago, it helps in identification and is enjoyable to read. One can pick up these guides for a fraction of the price at second hand stores. Often times collectors will purchase a newer version and sell their older version. I have several up-to-date books for valuing and pricing but older ones help in identification and colors, etc.

Thumbing through the book I found a section about "pins," i.e., hatpins. I have a small collection of hatpins and two hatpin holders so I was interested in this section. I found it very interesting that a pin-making machine was invented in 1832 and after that pins became very popular. Prior to the invention of the pin-making machine, people were taxed to pay for the Queen's pins! Another anomaly was that if caught stealing a pin, a person would be hanged! Yikes! Pins were so treasured and valuable they were bequeathed in wills and could only be purchased on New Year's Day. Have you heard of "pin money?" Yep, hatpins.

I also learned that there is a difference between hatpins and hat pins. Hatpins are pins used to anchor a hat to a woman's head. A hat pin was a badge or type of ornament worn by men on their hats if they were a prominent man. When a man met another man, he could tell by the hat pin whether he was of lesser station than the other and would therefore tip his hat first.

Do you collect hatpins? You might be interested in the American Hatpin Society. Click the name and go to their website.

Are you worried about buying fakes? Learn from the American Hatpin Society about fakes by clicking here: article on fakes at American Hatpin Society.

Hatpins can be found on eBay but "buyer beware." According to the American Hatpin Society, 10% of all hatpins for sale on eBay are legitimate and 90% are fakes! Hatpins can also be found on Ruby Lane and other shopping sites with antique and/or vintage categories.

JUST A BRIEF NOTE...

I received my journal in yesterday's mail but sadly did not start it yet. I had quite a busy day today! I may have purchased my journal "too small." I write in a journal frequently, not daily, but often. I've been doing it for years so this new challenge will be different for me. I have lots of journals but they all have lines so I ordered one on Etsy without lines.

Have you started yours? Have fun with it, that's what its all about, right?

(The design is from a Dover sample.)