A Short Intermission

Just a quick note to let y'all know that sister and I are taking a short break for about a week or so. She's moving in to a new house!!!! YAY!!!! And you know what that means. Oh yeah, paint swatches! :)

Meanwhile, I'm turning a year older, and at my age that takes a few days. Hey, I like to streeeeetch my birthday out as long as possible. More cake that way! Speaking of cake, here's a pic of last year's fabulous creation. My but sister is talented!


See ya soon!
Tiffani

You'll hear me comin'!

Over the past few months, I've found new homes for nearly 600 buttons in my quest to declutter the craft room. However, I kept many, many buttons. The good ones. The ones I inherited from grandma. The ones she inherited from someone else. The really really old ones that I just could not part with. But keeping heirlooms in boxes or bags, hidden away from the light of day, isn't the way to keep them or show them--or who you inherited them from--any respect.

So last night I channeled grandma by setting up shop on the tv tray in front of the Olympics and crafting.

I made two noisy bracelets!

This one has a copper base and is covered with all of the Victorian metal shank buttons in the collection:


This one has a silver base, better to show off the glass buttons.


Aren't they cute?? And NO ONE has a bracelet like either one of them!

I might make a couple more. I still have a bunch of funky plastic and bakelite buttons and several mother-of-pearl ones in the collection.

Tiffani

Road Trip!

The past two weeks have been crazy for the RicRac gals. Seems that nearly everyone in the family has a birthday within the same week, and two weekends ago we had the BIG bash. Lotsa food, lotsa prezzies, and lotsa visiting.


This past weekend Dena & I had to go to TN to pick up the munchkin from her grandma's house, where she had gone for a week visit. The day before that big road trip, we took a smaller trip to nearby Greenville, OH, birthplace of the one and only Annie Oakley!


It's also the home of the shop Mcmaster & Storm. We first heard about M&S in Country Living magazine, and when we realized that we were only about 40 minutes away, we knew we had to go! The shop itself is billed as a mini department store--and it's full of fun stuff, all displayed on and in the most beautiful furniture. Housewares (beautiful soaps, linens, and tableware), craft goods (they have the best pink crepe paper edging, beautiful millingery flowers, and on our visit there were LOADS of clearanced ribbons!), and other fun things are to be found in drawers, cabinets, and even a tiny back closet.


My take? A bunch of ribbons, this fab paper frame, and a bunch of velvet millinery leaves. Don't miss McMaster & Storm's blog and web site, where you can order these goods and so many more.


Across the street we found the cutest flower shop called Ivy League, full of fabulous antiques and decorative touches--and the sweetest proprietress! If you're ever in the area, don't hesitate to stop by.


I bought some great stickers...


...and look how she wrapped them!


The following day we spent 8 hours in the car, driving along some of the emptiest highway--not a lot of stops, but we still found antique stores in Princeton, KY, and I bought this fab vintage sugar shaker for a whopping $5! Whee!

All in all, some rather productive windshield time :)
Tiffani

Have the leaves turned yet?

Every year, I get all excited when the snow melts and spring starts to peek its soft green head up out of the ground. And then it's halfway through July and I could give a flying leap about any of it outside. Too hot. Too muggy. Too many bugs. (And I'm a particularly sweet kind of bug sugar--I have to Off! myself just to walk out the back door.) Right about now, I'm hoping for a tiny cold front--enough so that I can get out my jeans and Docs, a favorite jacket, and go walk arund in the refreshingly crisp air without worrying about sweating. But it's barely August. The only cool thing about August is that my birthday is later this month, and I firmly believe that my birthday should be a national holiday--at least for me :)

Some cool things to look forward to:
As if my autumn won't be exciting enough (those in the know, know), lookie what's coming in November! Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the trailer for which has just been released!!

Soup, casseroles, red beans & rice, and crumbles! I just made this tray of blueberry crumble squares (thank you Smitten Kitchen!).


Go check out her pics--waaaay better than mine. Oh, and I only had 2 cups berries, but it still tastes great. (I was supposed to wait until they were fully cooled before eating ... yeah right! I scooped some out and ate it with a fork from a bowl. Had to be sure they weren't poisonous...)

Until then, I guess I'll have to make do with homegrown toms. I just popped out into said buggy yard to dump stuff into the compost and made a pit stop at the mater plants. First of many harvests:


Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, the buttons ALL found homes!
Tiffani

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

at least, I was always curious. How much a quarter of a cow actually LOOKS like, all cut up and ready for your freezer. Man and I finally, after many moons of debating, bought a share of a cow--1/4 of a cow. And here it is:




And, because I know that I would want to know, it cost-all together with the processing fees--about $350.00. This is an Angus cow, grass fed, no hormone, free range, all the good stuff. It is about 275 pounds of meat. Completely worth it.

Like Rabbits

I think buttons reproduce while we're not watching.

No, really.

I recently found a lovely new home for five collections of buttons--white, red/pink, green, blue, and yellow. I thought I was done. Oh no! I just went back through the stash to set aside buttons that I know that I cannot part with, and I was left with GIANT piles that need new homes. I have now listed four more sets on Etsy: black (200+ buttons!!), brown (160!), gold (101!), and silver (61!). I really really really hope that's all. Or they're all going on the pill.



Tiffani

Letting go of the past--Facing the future

I nearly failed Home Ec in junior high school. I had to make a pillow out of felt: it was black, purple, and yellow and shaped like a surfboard with a big footprint on it. Very OP. Very west coast. And I could not make the damn thing. My grandma ended up finishing it for me! (Shhhh... don't tell)

A few years after that, I embraced my heritage and learned how to sew. And now, I'm proud to say, I can make lots of stuff ... it's just too bad that I don't do it very often! There's only so much time in the day. And, to be honest, having the Etsy shop and making things that just sit there has been a little heartbreaking. I went through this years ago when I had a small (small as in just me) purse business and would spend hours making one-of-a-kind creations out of velvet and trims and tassels, and some ... lady ... would come to my table, pick it up, and say "I could get something cheaper at W*lM**t." Ugh. To leave all that behind, we've slowly been closing up shop. I haven't made anything for the shop in months and months, and I haven't made anything for myself since last year. Until this week.



A friend gave me a t-shirt with a decal of Sock Puppet Theatre (don't know about them? YouTube it--if you love Doctor Who, you'll totally get the joke!). The shirt was way too small, though, but there was no way I'd get rid of it. So the other day I took it with me to the fabric store with the idea of making a bag. One thing led to another and I found the perfect pair of plaid wool shorts at the thrift store for $2. Making all of those purses over the years came in very handy as I was able to make this bag without a pattern. I just made it up as I went along! It's lined in green & white flannel with two pockets inside. I even kept one of the pants pockets along the seam on one side! I think the whole thing cost around $5. And it cracks me up every time I look at it :)

I'm pretty proud of myself. Makes me want to find that Home Ec teacher and show her that, yes, I did figure it out!
Tiffani