Sweetheart Giveaway!

So this is what I did to display the bulk of my vintage Valentine collection. I strung up some twine and hung them all in a row with little clothes pins. And since it's hanging from the archway between my entryway and kitchen I stung them on both sides...this is the view from the kitchen,

and this is the view from the front door.

And the rest are strewn about on tables all over the house.

And now for the giveaway...I will choose a person at random to receive:

1. 5 unused vintage valentines

2. Vintage pink velvet millinery

3. 40 Piece pack of vintage ephemera that's currently for sale in my Etsy shop

4. 4 of my Tiny Books (also available in my Etsy shop)

There are two ways to enter the drawing...The first way is to leave a comment on this post telling me how you discovered my blog.

The second way to enter is to mention my giveaway on your blog. Just send me an email or leave another comment giving me your blog address.

I will draw one winner at random on Sunday, February 6th so I'll have time to get your valentine-y package sent to you in time for Valentine's Day.

Thank you for playing along!

It's Valen-time...

Well...I think it's close enough to Valentine's Day to get out all of my lovely vintage Valentines...my collection keeps growing and growing. Even when I tell myself that I have enough I can't stop buying them...they are just so CUTE! (My favorites are the glossy German ones from the '20's)

My collection has gotten so big that I don't have room to display them all, so shamefully they sit in a big stack on a table where they get neglected. But, I have an idea how to display them so I can look at them all the time (at least until Feb 15th)...I'll post pictures when I'm done so you can look at them too!

Be My Valentine...

I finally put out my collection of vintage valentines...There's not a rhyme or reason to my collecting. I buy ones that catch my eye because of their cuteness, ones that have ridiculous sayings that make you laugh, and ones that are given to or are from "Rachel". My favorites; however, are the glossy German ones from the '20's with the little cherub-like characters.

I bought this one because of the saying..."Open your mouth and shut your eyes and I will give you somthing to make you wise"...hmmmm.
This honeycomb one reads "Oh would some power inspire this line to win you for my Valentine"

A bird of a valentine for-you? What's that supposed to mean?

And a few of my German favorites lined up on the fireplace mantel...wish I could leave them up all year round!

Finally...Virus Free!

Whew! Three computer gurus and four anti-malware/virus software downloads and my computer is finally virus free. Now I have to frantically play catch-up with my 25 Days of Christmas album since I haven't been able to print my pictures...I'm hoping to post pictures of the first 10 days of my album on Friday (however that might be wishful thinking!) Here are some pictures of Tom's and my weekend getaway to historic St. Charles and Geneva, Illinois...love the houses in these two little towns (not to mention the antique shops)...

In St. Charles they've converted many houses from the 1800's into shops...like this one.
And there were gorgeous churches literally on every corner (couldn't avoid the ugly powerlines in this picture)

Geneva had quite the Christmas festival going on all weekend, Santa Lucia arrived by horse drawn carriage and Santa Clause arrived soon after she did. These old time carolers were roaming about singing Christmas carols and many home owners opened up their historic and festively decorated houses during the home tour. We really had a good time!
On Sunday we headed to the Kane County flea market and antique show...got there an hour after it opened and many vendors still hadn't arrived (hope we didn't miss anything good)...unfortunately, this flea market was rather disappointing.
Here is what I came home with...

Christmas ephemera...

And I can never pass up a vintage Jesus...

Check out the sequined mushroom ornament, reminds me of the ornament kits we used to make when we were kids...
I found a few great valentines to add to my collection.
And a couple of bottle brush wreaths with great tarnished glass ornaments. We also found a very unusual vintage mahogany standing humidor with a little door that opens to a tin inside which used to house the tobacco and cigars.

Weekend Projects

I had an amazingly productive weekend. We had subzero temps all week but finally on Friday we made it to 6 above; however, I still wanted to stay indoors snuggled in my slippers and 7 sweaters (I have a medical condition that makes me cold...all the time). So, with that said, I was busy working in my "studio" all weekend long. As if the cold weren't enough, we've gotten more snow this winter than I ever remember us getting...I work at the local ABC affiliated TV Station so I'll have to ask one of the meteorologists tomorrow how much snow we've gotten so far, especially since our heaviest snowfall seems to come in March.

Anyway, here is a quote book I'm working on, there aren't many quotes in there yet but I've got a bunch written in my journal so I'll be transferring those this week. I've got a great quote by Martin Luther King Jr. so tomorrow would be a fitting day to transfer that to the book.




I can't decide if I'm going to put this birdhouse in my Etsy shop or not...Shelby wants me to keep it but if I kept everything I made we'd be buried in goodies. I took pics of all the steps from beginning to end so if you want to make your own you have a little guide to follow. Incidentally, Tom and I went "Goodwill hunting" again and this was one of the treasures I found. Who would have ever thought that your local thrift store would be a treasure hunters haven?

Naked birdhouse

I painted the entire thing with ivory colored acrylic paint

Then I covered it with patterned scrapbook paper. This was the fun part, it was very challenging getting the paper to fit all the odd nooks and crannys.

After all the surfaces I wanted to cover were covered I sanded it to give it a somewhat distressed look.

After the sanding was done, I inked it with Tim Holtz's distressing ink in Walnut.

Get ready to decorate...

I used blue vintage seam binding for the bow, adorable vintage red velvet millinery here and there, aged vintage lace around the rooftops and a cute little vintage yellow bird perched on the post.

Here are pics of the other Goodwill treasures I picked up and pics of how I used them around the house. The book is for Sebastian, I can never resist a cute book...my house is busting at the seams with books. I want to mention (for my sister's sake) that I had to disinfect it due to his severe germ phobia...wonder where he gets that?

I filled the cute cherub planter with a yellow flower I got at the grocery store yesterday...I, for the life of me, can't remember the name...help Lisa, is it a persimmon? or a mmmmmmm, I can't think of anything.

And here it is nestled in among my other plants.

And this little junk holder, I almost didn't get this but Tom called me a cheapskate and sort of coerced me into buying it...and I'm SO glad that I did.

I have a very extensive collection of vintage valentines, I'm very very proud of my collection but never have enough room to display them all, this little treasure helps out with that problem.

Arn't they pretty...I love Valentines!

And finally...I've had these vintage bottles lying around for years along with the vintage victorian scrap...so I put the two together and this is what I got.

Some these bottles will definitley end up in my etsy store...aliceandelsie.etsy.com.

I started my "Week in the life of Me" mini album today in addition to all the other stuff I've been doing. I sold a few of these in the store but kept one for myself. I thought this would be the perfect week to record events since our new president gets sworn in on Tuesday. I haven't been this excited about a president ever, this is really big for our country and for history and I'm so hopeful for what Obama can do for our struggling country. God bless the USA!