It is Sunday night
Every year my Mom and I spend a day around Christmas going somewhere to browse, ooh and ahhh over Christmas decorations and cute shops. 
This year as we are both broke we went to Jackson Square Antique Mall in La Grange, IL. We reined ourselves in to just a very few purchases; but we took lots of pictures of things we would buy if we were really going to town!
I definitely would have bought this little Santa doo-hickey. I would have said "oh, this is very Mary Englebreit" and away we would go!
There was lots of fun Christmas jewelry.
Fun threads!
I thought this was a great idea. Frame a piece of old Christmas wrapping paper in a clear simple frame.
If you know me, you know that I could not pass this up! It is a cut out from an old magazine. It was only $2. Had to have it.
Same story, second verse!
This is one we left behind but I really liked it. 
Love vintage graphics!
This lady would have definitely gone home with me. Isn't she gorgeous? They were selling her with an expensive frame though.
Gather round all of you nostalgic Chicago Christmas shoppers, here are some boxes from Marshall Field's. Nothing says Christmas shopping like these do! If I was still in my hoarding stage I would have bought these and then wrapped my Mom's Christmas present in them every year.
Here I am with some flashbulbs. Another great memory!
Fake fur wreath with pheasant feathers. Who would have thought that this was cool? Not me, until I saw it.
Here is the "My Grandma had that" portion of your visit. So cute!
Lastly, here is my other minimal purchase. I am going to turn this book into a journal. (I finally sent some books off to my Dad so he can start on the project!) 
NEW BLOG ANNOUNCEMENT
In honor of those thoughts and because I am a hoarder and am now going into therapy for the same (not formally; just on my own) I have some cross-stitch charts to give away. Here is the first set.........
These are the things I am currently excited about.....time to start listening to The Nutcracker!! I think I will bring the CD to work tomorrow and listen.....or maybe not. It touches a really tender spot in my heart and sometimes I get emotional. Better save it for home listening. 
Loving the TV show Glee!!!! I bought the album too! 
Looking forward to reading this book. I was lucky enough to meet the author, Jim Kokoris, once. He is a really nice guy and a great writer. Run, don't walk, to get a copy of his first novel, The Rich Part of Life, one of my all time favorite books.
You know how I have not been stamping in a while....that means that I have not been scouring stamping sites on a daily basis. Today I stumbled across some stamps that inspire me to clear a path into my stamping room.
Last night at the stitch night at Inspired Needle my friend Karin was working on the above. It is Finch Song by Shepard's Bush. It is one million times more lovely in person. I hope to stitch it someday. 
Above is Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. I will be working on this one next year. It will be so much fun because several stitching friends will be working on it and we are going to meet once a month to sit and stitch on this project. Last night at stitch night I had a blast just stitching and listening to all the conversations around me. I love to hear people talk passionately about their hobbies and things they love.
Above is a piece of Christmas art that got my heart racing. This ATC is from the Red Lead Paperworks blog and is by a really great gal, Linda Freeman. If you want Christmas inspiration get over to their website. It is a treasure trove.
Lastly, above and below, two new stamps from Magenta. They are so dear!
I have been very neglectful of my blog of late. The main reason is that we have a new computer. We went from a PC to a Mac. I love this new computer. It is completely amazing and gorgeous, but there is a bit of a learning curve. So, I have been acclimating myself and moving slowly. 
Here are a few of my "early works." These are three of the pieces I made for my Dad and Mary. They still have them hanging in places of honor; isn't that sweet? Above is a Prairie Schooler I did for my Dad. He was in the Navy and now has a sailboat. He loves the sea. I still love this piece very much. I think it is one of my favorites. 
This is a sampler I made for Mary. I guess I have loved samplers for a very long time as this was made in 1990.
I believe this is one of the very first pieces I did. At the time my Dad and Mary had a sheep ranch near Mt. Shasta in California. 
Ingredients: Tab, old books, adoring and smart father, Zutter Bind-it-All Version 2.0, time, patience (provided by said father), inspiration, and love of ephemera.
Several years ago I ran across an old book that had been turned into a journal. Ever since, I have been on the quest to make my own. Research was done, time passed, interesting books were gathered, conversations were had, and finally it was the right place and time to proceed.
Let me say at the outset that this project would have never come to fruition without my Dad. He is a genius at measuring, spatial thinking, and craftmanship.
My Dad deconstructed the books in a manner that preserved the entire book. 
He made sure that the pages came out so that they could be used. 
I brought four books for our trial run and they turned out fantastically. Above is the book my friend Noreen picked. These are our prototypes. Eventually what I want to do is add blank pages (using plain paper, patterned paper, old maps, etc.) and then use my stamp collection to add journal prompts. There are so many old books out there with great covers! 
My Dad and I are going to try to work out a system whereby I send him the books, he does the hard work, and then I decorate them up. I do believe that I will always leave the covers as they are orginally; they just look great exactly as is.
Here is the team; Jacobs and Daughter. We had a great time and I can't wait to keep working on this project. Thanks Dad!!!!
I know, I know! I have been gone for weeks only to return with a picture of cut up apple pieces???? What kind of return from vacation post is this? Well, we only have my PC to blame. It is running at the speed of a person entrenched in quicksand....very slowly in other words. I only have the patience for one picture to upload because they are all turned this way and that and straightening them out would take hours!
