Retro Christmas Cards Galore!

Disclaimer: I know I just wrote about skipping Thanksgiving BUT these awesome cards sell out and I don't want you to miss your chance to get them!

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I have always said that I was born in the wrong time. My love of all things MCM proves it!  I am lucky to have met  Diane Dempsey, an artist out of Tampa, Florida who has a love for MCM that goes way deeper than mine and that is saying a LOT! Each year my family and friends are treated to the newest cards from The Retro Christmas Card Company. This year is no different and Diane has once again created amazing Christmas cards in the MCM style.

What is more MCM than a silver Christmas tree??

This year I am hosting my first ever Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and you can guess where I am getting my invitations from!

Do you have a thing for coordinating all your mailing products? If so, take a look at their stamps, labels and envelopes to be so coordinated you will make June Cleaver green with envy!

Looking for a bargain? Don't mind last year's designs? Check out the 50% off section! They are just as awesome as the new designs!

Want to know how to order? Glad you asked! Check out the store!

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I am so excited! Diane was kind enough to give me an interview to share with my awesome readers so enjoy getting to know her!

How long have you been doing what you do?

I have been a graphic designer and illustrator since 1982 - I am a graduate of the Ringling College of Art + Design

Do you consider yourself an artist or a graphic designer? I am a professional commercial artist. 

Let me expand on the term “Commercial Artist”:  Granted, this is an old term. Just using this term actually refers to my long career and multiple abilities in graphics, advertising design and illustration. The Retro Christmas Card Company is a seasonal side business my husband and I created from our love of vintage Christmas and my illustrations, photography and designs.

Do you work alone or do you have help? 

I would be lost without the help of my husband. He is the fulfillment department and the reason that the customers get their cards in the most affordable manner possible and at lightning fast speed!

When did you fall in love with the MCM style? 

I grew up in the 1960s - so I have always loved images, decor, fabrics, fashions, wall papers, kitchen appliances...that took me back to a very happy childhood. My Mom was super swanky in her dress, decorated the house in the up-to-the-moment style - the moment being, say 1966. I fell back in love with it 3 years ago when we bought our 1968 ranch house time capsule. We have been restoring her to the glory days perhaps a bit earlier than her age. We would have liked a more atomic style, but fell for a colonial ranch with great bones.

How long have you been making cards? 

We begin our Christmas Card Company in 2006 - back then we were calling it "WhatsBuzzin". I Knoooow... crazy name. At the time we were heavily into swing dancing and listened to a lot of Cab Calloway - he had a song from the 1930s called "What's Buzzin' Cousin?" We thought it was cute, it was all about saying hello in many ways. Whatsbuzzin started out life as an all year greeting card and wrapping paper business. The most successful of the product prototypes proved to be the Christmas cards.

How do you create your cards? Do you draw them on paper or do you use a computer? 

We start by selecting the best ideas from a list of inspirations that we collect throughout each holiday season. Then the artwork and copy come together in a long process of illustrations, photographs, and collages of memorabilia and ephemera. We select the perfect ecologically responsible paper stock and matching envelopes. We work with a local printer just around the block from our studio in Clearwater, Florida. We stand by the printing press carefully balancing the colors and registration, and making everything is just right for the new seasons’ retro Christmas Card Selections. For a more detailed blog entry take a look here!

Your cards are amazing and sometimes quirky, what is the inspiration for them? 

I get inspired by old Christmas songs, classic Christmas movies, vintage holiday decorations, and I also look out for trends that are being followed by the vintage lifestyle community. Right now everyone seems to be mad for mid-century!

 

Be sure to LIKE them on Facebook and Pinterest! 

Skipping Thanksgiving

Sad to say but many people seem to use Thanksgiving as nothing more than a vault to get from Halloween to Christmas. It makes me sad because some of my happiest memories are of sitting around a table that was sagging under the weight of delicious food. Around that table we talked and laughed. Stories were told and retold. We remembered those who were no longer with us and anticipated those who would be joining us either by marriage or birth.

I scoured the internet and dug into some of my own ideas to get you thinking about how to share this special time with your loved ones. Here are a few great ideas that you can use to bring your family together at this special time of the year! : )

Turkey Tickets to get you to the table....
I found this gem on Let's Get Together. It is a turkey ticket that you must have to get to the table. The idea is cute and can be used with everyone in the family. Those who are not yet able to write can still participate by drawing what they are thankful for! I made turkey tickets for my family. You can download them here and print them on colorful paper.

Printable Family Gratitude Devotions for the Month of November
I found these on Frugal Fun for Boys.  The lovely devotions can be done together and even the littlest ones can participate! Do them just before dinner or just before bed. It is a way to spark discussion or quietly wind down the day.

Thankful cards to make you think...
These cards can be printed out and placed at each setting. Be sure to include a colorful pen or pencil for writing. If the kids are too little to write give them a little bundle of crayons to draw what they are thankful for. No one is too small to be thankful! You can print these two sided cards here.

A thankful box for each person or for the family...
This is a cute idea and a great way to recycle those tissue boxes! Use the instructions found on I heart Crafty Things  to make your thankful boxes. Leave a stack of papers, pencils, pens, markers or crayons for people to write or draw what they are thankful for. When you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner open the box and read them. You can download a copy of one of two thankful sheets here and here.

These are just a few ideas. Look on Pinterest for ideas that speak to you and your particular family or situation. Remember, everyone has something to be grateful for!

Don't Forget the Details

Hello blog readers!
I have been busy in the house creating awesomeness and making my husband cringe! I jest on the making my husband cringe. It is more like a sigh full of strained patience as I jot around covered in caulk and paint of various shades.

This week I hosted my first (and only) Tupperware party! Yes, Tupperware still has parties! Who knew?! Anyway, I wanted to get the house ready for company so I decided that my bathroom needed to be painted IMMEDIATELY.

I went to the closet and grabbed the gallon of paint that has been nesting there since I bought it last summer. Once stirred it brought glory to my drab white walls!

The color did just what I wanted but I realized that the built in medicine cabinet was nothing short of a glaring white boil on the beauty of my walls. Never one to let something mar my decor I got myself to the garage and dug through my stash until I found JUST the thing!

I bought this a couple of years ago for a project that never materialized. It was so lovely I just kept it instead of returning it.

I painted the inset area of the cabinet a pink color that I mixed up on my own. Upon reflection I really should have tested it and done a bit of tweaking on the color but once the whole thing was completed the color blended.

You can see that the color of the inset and the tile are a couple of shades different but all in all it works out fine. 

I painted the wood medallion a bright white and rubbed it with a silver wax to bring out the features. Then broke out the E6000 to glue it on. I didn't want to put a hole in the cabinet and the E6000 will hold until I go to pry it off. 

If my guess is correct there will be minimal scarring of the wood when I take the medallion off. ( I say when because I am a sucker for redecorating...obviously! ; )

Just a few dots of glue did it. I secured it with painter's tape overnight.
Below is the finished product. The picture is a bit off because I have a small bathroom and I wanted to get the wall color, the tile color and the cabinet all in one picture.

All in all I am exceptionally pleased with the result and even my less than enthused husband had to admit that he liked it! 

Making Your House Smell Like the Holidays on a Budget

I don't think there is anything more inviting than a house filled with the smells of the holidays. There are all sorts of studies on the way smell influences our moods. I have to agree with most of them. When I smell cinnamon, cloves and orange simmering on my stove I am instantly transported to Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and friends.
The biggest problem with making a simmering potpourri is the cost. It can be quite prohibitive.
Never fear! The sale rack, grocery store bargain bin and garage sales (especially estate sales) are your friends!

Here is one of my great finds. I bought the spice rack and spices all for $3.00. The brand of spices is Spice Island. This is a premium brand of spices and jars can run $8.00 each! As you can see most of the jars are full or very near full. I consider it a win plus the rack and jars will go on to live life as another project at a later date.

Not all of the spices were of the holiday variety. Those I put into my mulch pile (why waste it when you can recycle it??) The holiday spices I put together in an old tin (There is that need to recycle again!)

I was exceptionally pleased that it almost filled the can! The jars I washed and am saving to use with my spice rack. I have some ideas but they are not yet fully formed.

I clearly labeled the container because I have a husband who does not look when he grabs something and I could just see him deciding to make himself a cup of coffee one night and instead of instant coffee he would wind up with a mouth full of spices........ewwwww!

I use the spices one of two ways. I either put them in a pot of water on the stove to simmer or I drag out the crock pot and cook up a house full of cheer!

If you want to really intensify the scents you can use apple juice instead of water. You can also cut up fresh fruit such as lemons, oranges or limes or use the peels and apple cores from a baking day. I troll the marked down fruit in the produce section because believe it or not bruised fruit smells just as good in the potpourri as fresh fruit!

The spice mixture and liquid will last for a few days all you have to do is add a bit more water when it gets low. Watch for tell tale mold to give you the hint to throw it out. 

Please note that this is not good for kitties so if you have fur babies that like to drink liquids that are left out you will need to cover the pot on the stove or the crock pot. Also PLEASE watch a pot on the stove. You don't want a fire!

Enjoy! : )

Something Old Made New

Just last Saturday I went on my weekly jaunt to the local garage sales. It was later in the day when I happened upon my bargain. The lady hosting the sale was tired and had marked everything down to rock bottom prices to get it gone! I picked up a lovely side table for a mere $2.00. The top was distressed but I was not discouraged.

 I brought it home and the cat promptly claimed it as his. Gotta love my Mister! : )

After removing the cat I cleaned it off and got to work. I decided that I would use decorative stones to make a sort of mosaic. Since my decor is mostly '70s I wanted to use orange and green stones with a few clear ones thrown in for an accent. I didn't have enough stones so I had to jot to Michael's for more.
While there I found some awesome M&Ms that I just HAD to try and I have to say that I highly recommend Birthday Cake M&Ms.

Once home I laid out my stones but the brown table did nothing to show off the loveliness of the stones so I took them off and painted the top of the table white.

I wanted the stones in a random pattern so I put them in a bin and then dumped them out on the table and set about turning them to the flat side. I tried very hard not to let my ocd get in the way of leaving them randomly placed.

I think I did pretty well. I will be using a two part resin (epoxy) to finish it off. I haven't been able to do it yet because of the rain. I don't want to risk having it bubble or warp in any way. When we go back to our hot as hades Texas days I will put the resin on.

Necessity Begets Creativity

They say necessity is the mother of invention. I also say necessity is the mother of creativity. 

For example; I have a lovely area next to my building that is used for potting, painting and anything else that needs doing. It is handy but unsightly.

Fast forward to a trip to ACE Hardware for items to restore the family farm house. As I walked down the isles looking for the right kind of caulk what do I spy but a marked down screen door! It was originally a $100 dollars but was marked down to the bargain price of $25 because of a crack. While in the store I looked for the crack and couldn't find it. It had to be pointed out to me, that is how inconspicuous it was. Aesthetically it was fine but for continued use it wouldn't have stood up. 

I wanted it to hide the junk on my bench so I added extra layers of screen. I put silver first and then a darkening kind. I don't remember the brand but I bought it at Lowe's.

I added a "doorknob" that is actually an outdoor faucet handle. I added some bricks to make a little porch and voila! A cute way to hide the junk!

Design Master TintIT

So on super hubby's shopping excursion I found this nifty stuff called TintIT by Design Master and decided to give it a whirl. I bought Strawberry and Pinkalicious.

The results were awesome!

I tried it out on a small jelly jar that I plan to use as a votive holder. The paint is sheer to allow you to choose how much coverage you want. When you spray it the paint covers nicely just like a good quality spray paint. Since I wanted the color a bit deeper I used several coats.

I suggest that you wear plastic gloves and put your fingers inside the jar to hold it as you paint. It really helps make sure you get an even coverage especially if you have a jar like mine that had bumps and creases.

This jar is painted in the Strawberry color.

I can't say how well it will stand up outside or to washing but I was told it was a permanent paint coloring. Let's hope for the best! : )

Speaking of paper goodies...

Last night hubby took me to dinner and in a moment of awesomeness told me he would take me to Hobby Lobby, Michael's AND JoAnn's!

I got goodies at each place but I hit the gold mine when I looked in the paper section at JoAnn's! I came across the 7gypsies paper collection!

I wanted to buy the entire display but I stopped myself at purchasing one of everything! : )
I can see that I will be putting these folks kids through college with all of my purchases.

If you look on their website it has about a bazillion different links that take you to the most amazing places and gives you the most amazing ideas!! I am absolutely overwhelmed with inspiration!

My worst habit is that I collect things that I just KNOW I will need one day and the truth is that I usually do wind up finding an exciting and unique use for things.
One of the things that I just had to have but haven't actually used yet is a vintage recipe stand.

Since I am not at home to photograph my recipe stand I borrowed this image from sewwhatsnew47. 

After seeing this project on 7gypsies I am inspired to drag it out and use it!

I will be using copies of all the vintage recipes I have from family and friends in a scrapbook format! With each recipe I will add a picture of the item when it is made up as well as photos of the author and maybe even an event where we enjoyed the food. What a fun idea!

Nifty Clip Art, Labels and Other Nifty Stuff

I consider myself to be pretty proficient in the use of Photoshop but sometimes there are things that I just can't do, won't do or just don't have time to do so I went to the internet (as you do) and the amount of stuff that I found was unbelievable....I could have surfed for days and weeks and never covered it all.
Here are a few printables I found as I was looking around for that perfect label for my project.

Apothecary Jar Labels from Knick of Time
Fruit Can Labels from Knick of Time
Apples and Citrus from Kick of Time

I could keep going but I figured it would be easier to direct you to Knick of Time's Pinterest Page.

Vintage Printable - They have quite a few different categories on the page.

The Painted Hive - Lots of lovely printables.

Free Vintage Posters! -What's not to love?!!?

The Old Design Shop - Lots of great Victorian type things.

Eclectic Anthology - Another collection of Victorian items including gift tags.

Sweetly Scrapped - Lots of free ephemera for you to use.

Everything Etsy - this is a collection of collections of printables.

Vintage Alphabet can be found here.

Enjoy!

Coupons!

Hello Crafters and Lovers of Savings!

If you are like me you LUV a bargain! If you are also like me you knew that most stores put coupons in the paper and on their websites. If you are again like me you didn't know that most stores will accept e-coupons! Yes! It's true! Gone are the days of dragging coupons with you or worse yet forgetting them at home!
Now if you have any type of 'smart' phone you can simply show the coupon to the cashier and VOILA! Money off!

Here is how you do it!
Jo-Ann's 

Go to the coupon button.

Find the Take it With You button

Put in your mobile number and you are good to go!

Michael's

Click on "Weekly Ad" and it will take you to the page with the coupons.

You have two choices. You can download an ap for your phone or you can text the coupon to your phone. Either is acceptable to the cashier.

Hobby Lobby

I didn't find a mobile ap for Hobby Lobby but that is OK. When I go to the page I have found that more times than not the 40% off is offered.

Togetherfarm Blocks

Legos for adults who also like to garden!

I am in LOVE!

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

I just saw these on one of the blogger sites I frequent and it was all I could do not to swoon!

From the Together Farm website:
The Togetherfarm Block kits are lightweight, portable, and assemble without any tools required. And because they are modular in design, they can be built in multiple shapes and sizes. The blocks are built to be sturdy and last many growing seasons, in all kinds of weather conditions.

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

The basic kit is $49.99 plus tax and shipping.
The basic kit has 24 blocks and makes a 2' x 2' square or any other shape you want.
The blocks come in: Slate Gray, Terra Cotta Orange, Kale Green, Sky Blue, Earth Brown, and mixed color Mosiac.

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

You can order them from Amazon dot com.
Amazon only offers the Slate Gray in Amazon Prime (From the Amazon site: Sold by TogetherFarm and Fulfilled by Amazon) You will have to pay an additional fee for the other colors because it actually comes from the  Togetherfarm site. (Note: $9.14 shipping when purchased from TogetherFarm.  Not eligible for Amazon Prime.)

 Here are all the color kits:

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

Images from Amazon dot com and Together Farm

 Needless to say I have my credit card out and ready to go!

Adhesives, Glues, Stick 'ems

Clip art info Here

After my post about the glass totems I had a couple of questions about different adhesives. I started looking around and found that I am very limited in what I use so I went to the internet to find what other crafters use.

This Girl's Life has a great list of all kinds of adhesives. I went a bit further and went to the websites and got information for each type of glue.

Elmer's Glue - this site gives you information about the glues as well as great suggestions!

E6000 - this is my new love. I have fallen head over heels for the E6000 line of glues! : )

Mod Podge - another go to for me. I had no idea that they had so many different kinds of Mod Podge!

Super Glue - I have used Super Glue but I find that it is very messy and doesn't allow for mistakes.

Glue sticks are so generic that I couldn't find just one site for them. I adore hot glue but I have to admit that I have only used it in a glue gun not a pot. I guess I need to try a pot to be a "real" crafter!