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.

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.

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.





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



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.

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.

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!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is here. I have a lot to organize for our families theme Christmas tonight. We are doing a 1930's theme. You can read more about that on The Cedar Chest blog. While you're there take a look at all the neat Christmas postcards and ephemera I have posted over the last couple of weeks. I still have so much more I didn't get to! More for next year.

I had touble getting some good photos of my Christmas decorations this year. I need a new camera (hoping Santa wil bring me one) and the lighting was just too low. But, I am going to post a couple anyway.



The village I made turned out pretty good this year. I love all the different trees. Although it is nothing like Alicia's. There is a great tutorial on how to make her Christmas Village on her blog, Posie gets Cozy.



I hope you all have a fun Christmas. I will be heading to my parents in Washington, about 20 minutes away from here later on. I will leave you here with this photo of me from a Christmas Eve in about 1970. (I couldn't wait to use that new coloring book, I am guessing. They still make me feel that way). Merry Christmas!!

I made this for you

I have been selflessly scouring the database at Lala to make you this Christmas Mix. ;-)

I was inspired by the Sufjan Stevens Christmas 5-disc CD and there are a lot of his songs on here (how many other people in the last ten years have 5 Christmas records?). But, there are also others, too. There are some nice vintage songs in the middle and although it is generally pretty mellow, it picks up a bit near the end. I hope you enjoy it.

Just Like Christmas

[Edit: Bummer. Didn't realize you had to be a member to listen. Still...I encourage you to join. It is free and it is a great way to listen to anything you are curious about.]

using a christmas journal

I am the kind of person who makes lots of lists. I always want to buy blank books and memo pads even though I have tons of them. You know my type.

One of the things I love to do is start a journal on a theme. I have started journals for books I have read/want to read, quotes, zine topics, projects (I have many different project lists), personal writing, travel, gardening, cooking....it goes on and on. Most of these have a few entries and not much else.

My most successful and useful theme journal to date is my Christmas journal. About ten years ago my niece gave me a velvet covered blank book for Christmas. The next year I decided that this would be my Christmas Journal and titled it such and used some vintage gummed stickers to decorate it.



Every year I make a list of the people I am buying gifts for and I make a list of people I am sending Christmas cards to. Sometimes I record how much I have spent on people and sometimes I keep a record of Christmas cards I have received too. I also use the journal for any other Christmas lists including things I need to do, craft ideas for gifts, Christmas mix tapes, ideas for next Christmas and whatever else comes up.

Each year when I take it out I look through the previous years. I moved to Portland in June of 2000 and this journal starts that December. It is neat to see what I got people in the past. Most of those gifts I would have long forgotten, but I can be reminded each time I look through the journal. It is also neat to see the crafts I made or considered making.

The list of recipients has changed a bit over the years and that is interesting to see, too. It is a reminder of friendships that have faded over the years and it is interesting to see the new names that appear each year.

This Christmas journal is a nice record to have. Last year I recorded the presents I received for the first time, just so I could have that on record, too.

The memories that this journal keeps is just a secondary benefit. The best thing is that I have it all in one place and I have the last several years to look back on to help me remember the folks on my list and the ideas I have had through the year.

It is nice to realize that at least on of my many many journals has actually lived up to plans I had for it.

december is a great month for...

From the Glamour's How to Do Anything Better Book, published in 1977. More here.

contribute to a mix tape tribute

King Bingaman-Burt is a busy Portland artist who draws things. She draws the stuff she buys on a regular basis, putting out a monthly zine called What Did you Buy Today. A book is due out soon based on these zines. She also has her illustrations published regularly and is shown in galleries.

Right now she wants to draw your treasured mix tapes. Take a pic and send it to her or upload it to her flickr page. I have a few I want to submit. More info here.