Monday, January 11, 2010

dear google reader,

I have met someone new.

Not that long ago I was completely in love with Google Reader. It seemed ideal. I had no need for anything else.

And then I saw Feedly. I downloaded Feedly and it populated the Feedly page with all my saved Google Reader blogs. And it was a beautiful thing.

Browsing your subscribed blogs are even easier and more pleasant. You can see the first few lines and an image for most of the posts. You can read entries and delete ones that don't interest you without leaving the main page. Feedly lets you choose to see listings from everything or you can choose each sub category. Seriously, it is rad. It is my new favorite thing.

I am totally fickle and I am okay with that. See ya Google Reader.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

january is a great month to...

A little late on this one. Hope it inspires you as it did me in that nice late 1970's way. Wondering what this is? Click here.

januaryisagoodmonthto

Saturday, January 9, 2010

just one more christmas post, please

I know most of us are ready to let go of Christmas, including me, but I did want to get one more post in. Today I am putting away the Christmas stuff. I heard recently it is considered to be bad luck to have Christmas decorations up after 12th night, which is January 6th (some think it is the 5th). So, yeah, I am tempting fate.

A week or so ago I finally did something that I have been meaning to do for years. I took many of the saved Christmas cards I have had and cut them up to make Christmas tags. I am not really lacking in Christmas tags, but the cards are so pretty and it is a shame to just throw them away.

It was a nice little post Christmas project and it lightened up the received Christmas cards I am saving. I used decorative scissors and a hole punch.



When I went to put away the tags I realized that one of my favorite Christmas things is the box I keep my Christmas Tags in and I wanted to share it with you. I got it at an Estate sale in the Hollywood District years ago. I am guessing it originally held stationary.


I was in the attic of the old house looking at all the holiday decorations. When I opened up the box there were Christmas tags in it and also this little prescription box from Meier and Frank (a department store in Portland). How odd that they had a Pharmacy.


meier and frank prescription box


Inside the prescription box were these beautiful vintage gummed Christmas seals.

inside box

This year as I was going through all the Christmas tags I found one I don't remember finding before. This is not the handwriting of anyone in my family. It must have come with the box.


Every Christmas I rediscover this box and the little box inside. It is always so nice to look at them again.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

farm chicks

Isn't this a great idea for storing your cake decorations? I have one of these old toy refrigerators (although not in nearly as nice condition) in my craft room and it works nice as a place to hold magnets and other stray items, but I love the idea of using it for cupcake supplies. I know one of you crafty friends with a cute vintagey kitchen could totally do this up good.

This image was my favorite from The Farm Chicks book I just finished reading.

I only recently discovered The Farm Chicks. I'm always so behind on these things. The Farm Chicks started out as two friends who love salvaged old things, pretty things, making things from scratch and rural life. They built a business based on this, having antique shows at various places near Spokane, Washington and that business merged into magazine articles and then a book.

I really liked hearing the stories of the two friends and their history of baking, crafting and making things pretty. I like the balance in their combination of new and old. The book also has some neat craft and decorating ideas. There were a number of recipes that I liked, even though being a vegetarian did take many of them out of the running.

The Farm Chicks may be singular now (the other chick decided to pursue new interests), but it seems to still be going strong. Keep your eye on Serena's blog to get a better idea of whats in store.

Monday, January 4, 2010

fresh starts

I like the hope that the first week of January brings. The days lay out in my mind like a walkway of fresh snow and I hesitate to step, even though I so want to. I want to wait till I am feeling clear and organized, till I know the best way to walk though the fresh white day. I don't want to muddle the snow with lots of back and forth footsteps.

Sometimes I don't ever make the time to sit down and get things clear in my head or more often I have some time, but never enough. Still some is good and I have started feeling more clear and I definitely am craving more organized days.

I haven't sat down yet to write my thoughts about last year or more importantly, what I want from and what I want to give this year. But, I do believe in doing this. Getting it down on paper, planning out things, making deadlines even. I do this at work.Why wouldn't I do it in the rest of my life? (p.s. This cute little calendar from cabin and cub would be a nice way to help you plan your projects).

I do know that on the top of my to-do list for this year is: read more. The books are piling up and I really want to start focusing on some of the subjects I have lined up.

And I know that one of things I feel most accomplished about for last year was finally getting my Dad's film on DVD, including designing the covers and menus, which I wasn't sure I could pull off.

Maybe I will share more ideas later on, once I get them situated on lined paper.

I hope you all are enjoying the new year. I would love to hear your fresh start traditions or rituals. I am looking to add a few.

Happy 2010!

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