Collectable Christmas Pins

Because I don't shop at the mall very often, I wasn't aware of this last year until it was too late. JCPenney gave away little 1" Christmas pinback buttons as promotional items. Each button had a code on the back to use for future purchases. My mom, being the collector she is, picked up a few every time she went to Penneys, and she was nice enough to give them to me (shown below). Apparently there are 50 in the complete set, which I only know because I checked to see if people are selling them on eBay (and they are, of course!). I don't know if they're actually worth anything...I just thought they were cute. Too bad they didn't continue the promotion this year, or I might have wandered into the store!

TBT: 50 Quick & Easy Bazaar Best Sellers!

Included in the September, 1980, issue of Better Homes and Gardens was a section featuring 50 craft items you could make to give as gifts or sell at craft bazaars. Remember when they were called "Bazaars"?! I thought it would be fun to reminisce about what our moms were all making over 30 years ago: Bandanna Babies, Veneer Tree Dazzlers, "Hand" Bags, Country-Style Key Rack... Some might even be popular today, like the Loveable Fabric Doll, Crayon Caddy Apron, Needlepoint Door Signs, and the Piece of Cake Pincushions (awesome!)... I'll let you be the judge! Do you think all of these items we're making for Etsy today will look this groovy 30+ years from now?

The Alphabet 100 Project

I just love this project by Christopher Rouleau: Hand-draw 100 versions of each letter in the alphabet, in both upper- and lowercase, take one week to work on each, and you've completed the project in exactly one year!

You can view his complete gallery on his website, and also download your own BLANK Alphabet 100 pages to do the exercise yourself, by clicking here! I'm starting January 1, 2014, and will post my weekly results. How about you?

TBT: Cross-Stitched Stockings

From the "Homespun Crafts" article in the December, 1982, issue of Better Homes and Gardens comes these cross-stitched stockings. Now, if you can get past the early-'80s pirate shirt and the kountry décor, the stockings are actually really cool! I've included the original instructions, which you can download here. Enjoy!

Three and the Moon: Early Work by Illustrator Boris Artzybasheff

During a recent thrift excursion, for some unknown reason I picked a book from the shelf and boy was I glad I did! You see, the library-bound cover was nothing spectacular, so who knows why I was drawn to it.

But as soon as I saw what was inside, the book was in my cart. And I haven't read any of the stories, yet, because I can't stop looking at the striking illustrations! The book is Three and the Moon: Legendary Stories of Old Brittany, Normandy, and Provence by Jacques Dorey, illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff, and published in 1929.

Later in his career, Mr. Artzybasheff moved on to produce more detailed illustrations of three-dimensional, often surreal and grotesquely anthropomorphic objects. He also illustrated several Time, Life, and Fortune magazine covers.

TBT: Rhinestones, Crisscrossing

On a recent thrifting excursion, I found another '80s issue of Brigitte, Germany's answer to Seventeen magazine. This one, from August of 1984, included a fun idea for embellishing a collared shirt with sequins and beads. I love the geometric pattern in which they were applied, and the contrast of the almost computer circuit-board look on the plaid flannel. Now all I need are some high-waisted jeans and I'm set! I quickly did a translation of the text using Google Translate:

Also sporting checked blouses can embellish with shiny beads, sequins and stones: Here they were arranged graphically. Material of mine.

It's a Paint-By-Number Christmas!

Inspired by my collecting obsession with vintage paint-by-number paintings, I decided to go the "original" DIY route with this week's Spoonflower contest entry.

The assignment this week: create a festive tree that can be printed on one yard of fabric. My one yard features a 24" x 30" tree painting in a vintage frame, along with seven ornaments you can paint yourself (using the color key provided, or using your own colors), then cut out and attach to the tree! One yard of Linen-Cotton Canvas actually has an additional 12 inches, so the extra space includes more unfinished ornaments, as well as seven finished ones. I plan to adapt this to a wall decal, too, once the contest is over. Might be a fun way to decorate a child's room for Christmas!

What do you think? Wanna vote? Click here! Thank you!

Detail of the unfinished ornaments:

Detail of the finished ornaments, using the color key provided:

And a mockup of a decorated tree!