Fat cats and glue sticks...

I'm going to go a little crazy with the pictures now, so don't lose me, okay? I've got a lot to catch up on. So Jack has decided that he likes to sleep in the kitchen chairs. Well, not all of the kitchen chairs, just Mom's. It looks so uncomfortable, but it makes a good joke. When you go to jerk the chair out from under the table and plop down in it, it won't budge. Because this dude weighs almost 20 pounds.


Yesterday I raided Hobby Lobby for supplies for my sewing inspiration book (for lack of a more witty name). I worked on it yesterday afternoon, and I just love the way it came out! It's hard to believe that this adorable little book is nothing but recycled cardboard (from my sewing machine box, ironically), vintage-style scrapbook paper, colored cardstock torn in half, and binder rings. I used an Elmer's extra strength craft glue stick to glue the scrapbook paper over the cardboard, folding in the corners like I was wrapping a gift. Then I cut out small coordinating pieces to glue over the ugly part on the inside covers. Punch holes for the binder rings, add paper, and that's pretty much it. It was really easy and fun. It was partly inspired from Emily's book and by some Etsy journals.

The front cover. The little vintage fashion thing is a little charm we found in the clearance bin at Joann's over the summer. I sort of wanted to make a key chain out of it, but this is where it stays for now.

I got a tiny alphabet rubber stamp set that I love! It looks like an antique typewriter. I had the wrong sized brads to hold the little frame on, but I was too impatient to wait until the next day to go by Hobby Lobby again. So I sewed it on. Sewed through cardboard? Yes, it bent my needle, and it might not hold forever. But it's fine for now.


The inside front cover. This shows how I folded down the corners and glued them, and then covered it with other paper.

The first page. It says, "I *heart* to sew. Inspirations, Ideas, Lists, Drawings, and More..." and has a beautiful vintage picture cut out from one of my 1940's McCall magazines (the one that was already torn up! Don't worry, I don't dare cut up my other two that are in perfect shape, no matter how lovely the pictures would look in my journal).

The back outside and inside covers.

I had to tear the cardstock instead of cutting it, because I love the rough edges.

So now on to more Christmasy subjects! We put up this tree in the kitchen a few days ago. It's supposedly "my tree," because Mom says when I get married it's going with me. We got it at Walmart after last Christmas for about $5, with boxes of ornaments for probably 50 cents each. It's a white tree, with colored lights, and green, red, and deep purple ornaments. It's really beautiful.

My 1960's aluminum tree has been standing in my room since the beginning of November, but I have yet to put lights on it or decorate it. It's so hard that I keep putting it off. The tree is basically a wooden pole with aluminum branches that stick in holes drilled in it. It's made to be used with a color wheel, which I have, but I think it doesn't look as pretty that way as it does with lights. So I like to put blue lights on it. The problem is that it takes about 2 hours to put lights on because the branches constantly fall out when you're trying to wrap the lights around. So I will do it sometime before Thanksgiving and post pictures of it, because it is such a cute, unusual tree.

Well, that's all for now. I'm off to eat supper while I watch an episode of "I Love Lucy," read a chapter for a class, and perhaps try to revive my dying novel, all before "Dancing with the Stars" at 9:00 pm.

Until next time,
Kristin (missvintagegirl)