Vintage Dragonfly Snippet Roll Swap - Part Two

In my last post I shared the snippet roll I made for Vintage Dragonfly's recent snippet roll swap. Today I want to share the beautiful snippet roll that JoAnne made for me. 

Isn't it lovely? Every little detail makes me happy.

I love how she used the large key as the hanger, and the sweet little rose print on the fabric, plus that pretty pin and the vintage pearls.

Look at that sweet little Miss with her crown, and the pretty trims with just a touch of pink. JoAnne's style is what I aspire to - the true spirit of snippet rolls. Mine always get too precise and organized, in spite of my best efforts. Too many years of making clothing, I suppose, but I'll keep trying to achieve this look that I enjoy so much.

Every element she used is something I love, and it all fits together perfectly. 

Thank you, JoAnne! Your wonderful creation is proudly displayed in my craft room.

Vintage Dragonfly Snippet Roll Swap - Part One

JoAnne at Vintage Dragonfly hosted a snippet roll swap last month. I knew that I wanted to make something using images from the 1900 Home Needlework Magazine from the treasure box that I purchased last year. 

The magazine included a story on the latest fashions and fabrics, with wonderful hand drawn illustrations of period dresses. The artist inserted actual photos of women's faces. 

I used the images on some tags last fall, but thought they'd be perfect for this project.

I tried lots of bits and pieces and struggled to find the right amount of black. Ultimately, less turned out to be best. The black and cream striped ribbon is probably my all-time favorite and was ideal for this.

It turned out to be less about "snippets" and more about just finding something that looked good with the images, but I still love the end result.

I had trims that were very similar to style of the hemlines of two of the dress images so I just had to use those.

For the back I used ads from the magazine. I re-sized them to be more uniform and to fit on the fabric.

Here it is all rolled up and tied with seam binding.

In my next post I'll share the beautiful snippet roll JoAnne made for me. 

What I need is more swaps. They motivate me to create, and that always makes me happy. I've joined three swaps for the upcoming Glitter Retreat and can't wait to get started!

A St. Paddy's Day Pocket Letter

Laurie sent me a beautiful Valentine-themed pocket letter last month, and I responded with some St. Patrick's Day creations for her. 

The Graphics Fairy had many great images to choose from so I included several. The velvet bow came from a vintage hat, and had been on my work table for some time waiting for the perfect project.

The first row has a tiny green millinery flower and some vintage buttons with a Graphics Fairy image in the center.

Row two includes two Graphics Fairy images, plus a bit of bling in the center pocket.

Row three has lace snippets, millinery, a bit of a rhinestone and floral necklace, vintage buttons, and ribbon rosettes.

This was my first pocket letter and it proved to be a bit addicting. I finished the front and just couldn't stop, so I filled the back side of each pocket, too!

It was too hard to decide between the images of the ladies and I could only use one for the tag, so I included two more for Laurie. Some of the papers were purchased specifically for this project, but it was surprising how many green bits there were in my stash. The flamingo card is a bit out of place, but I knew Laurie would like it and it was a perfect fit.

Laurie was in a recent swap where participants exchanged ribbon dolls and that inspired me to try one on this tag. 

The flower "badge" came from more bits from my table and a fun button I had just received, and I had to include some trim, of course, and a bit of beautiful velvet.

Someday I hope to have more vintage finds to share. I'm a bit flummoxed by the lack of good estate sales so far this year. They've all been too high-end and "new" for this vintage loving soul.

In the meantime, hope you've enjoyed seeing these bits of green. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fabric Marbling - Possibly Even More Fun Than Paper Marbling!

The talented Chris, who has taught several paper marbling classes at Paper Crown recently, taught a fabric marbling class last month. It's hard to describe just how blown away we've all been with these classes. You splatter paint onto treated water, comb and swirl, lay the paper or fabric onto the water surface, and get something amazing every time. 

Here are Chris and Cindy prepping the water for their next prints.

The printed fabric was placed on newspaper to dry. 

Here are some closeups. 

I'm not sure who created this next one, but I love it. 

And here are my four. The colors are a bit more vibrant than they look in the photos.

The fabric, a lightweight cotton broadcloth, isn't stiff at all. The fabric can be heat set with an iron, and is then fully washable. It could be used for so many things - if one can bear to cut it up!

Of course, a lot of prep work goes into this process before the class. Chris has to spend several days treating the water, prepping the fabric, mixing paints, and many other things. She does all the hard work, and we have all the fun. Thanks, Chris, and thanks to Cindy at Paper Crown for asking Chris to teach!

I HEART Pocket Letters!

Wonderful Laurie of Indulge Your Shelf sent me my very first pocket letter this month. I've been seeing lots of pocket letter swaps lately but hadn't joined any. This one has a pretty Valentine theme, and came in a cute envelope with a vintage card and the sweetest tag.

The vintage card is embossed and oh so adorable. And that tag! What's not to love - lots of pretty layers, a precious little girl with her pup, and some of my favorite trim at the top. The rosette is the icing on the cake.

The pocket letter has pretty papers, bits of ephemera and trim. Some things are attached but many are loose so they can be used for projects. I don't think I could bear to disassemble it! 

 This first row of pockets reminds me of Laurie's love for all things Jane Austen. 

The middle row has pretty ephemera bits and some vintage buttons.

The bottom row might be my favorite. I love the aqua ephemera in the first pocket. The second pocket has chocolate (!) and the third has the sweetest Dresden cupid.

If you'd like to see more photos of this and another lovely pocket letter Laurie created, visit her blog here.

I'm creating a pocket letter to send to Laurie and will share that soon.

A Slow Start to the New Year, OR "What? It's February Already?"

This year is whizzing by, but I've been under the weather since the week after Christmas so haven't accomplished a lot. Nothing serious - just a cold-turned-sinus infection that won't go away. 

Yesterday I made it to my first two estate sales since well before Christmas, but the pickings were slim. One sale had a few vintage things I would have loved to purchase, but the prices were horrendous. The second had great prices, but hardly anything I wanted. Here are my meager purchases.

 The book isn't vintage, of course. I've seen the movie a couple of times so no surprises, but for fifty cents it should be a good read when I don't have any library books on hand. 

I've been trying to spend some time organizing. My favorite vintage lace has been mostly piled in a box on a shelf, but lately it was taking up more and more space so I decided it was time to make some sense of the mess. Here's what it looked like when I pulled it from the shelf.

And here's what it looks like now. With other pieces pulled from around the room, the collection expanded to two boxes.

There are a few more pieces to be ironed and carded, but this project is almost complete - at least until I buy more lace! Here are a few of my favorites.

This next shows a card of narrower lace and a couple of pieces I picked up when I visited French General in 2012.

While I was organizing, I pulled out some lace and a few other items and listed a few lots on Etsy. These two have already sold. The cream lots sell quickly.

I liked the two photos above so much that I used them for some of the MOO business cards I ordered last week. I love MOO, because you can use multiple photos for the back of your cards and their paper is nice.

This blue lot includes some fun embellishments. The color lots take a bit longer to sell, but just the right person always comes along.

After Christmas I found this Smith and Hawken plant stand at Target and had to have it for my work table. Can you see it among all the clutter on the shelves in back?

I was using just the oblong white basket that's now on the lower shelf. It held all my tape and tags, but my stapler and other things were scattered about. It's nice to have everything together when I'm creating or packing Etsy sales for shipment, and I love the look of this piece.

The lower shelf holds tape, tools, tags, pins, and more.

The upper shelf has inks, markers, scissors, and more tags. There's still a bit of space to be filled. 

Those are my accomplishments for the last few weeks, along with a bit of watercolor and journal pasting. I'd love to hear what you've been up to!