My very own spot!

I was over at Daisy Cottage, and adorable blog done by Kim, and she posted about how important it is to have your own space, a space that is uniquely yours. Go on over and visit, and tell her I sent ya! (I'm not afraid to ask for credit!) I decided to post about my journey to creating my own space.
In the last few months, I had soo wanted one, but just couldn't figure out where to put it!
I wanted a space to craft and create in, because I hadn't done anything creative in so long! I kept looking at this wall in our "Master" bedroom, and when I say Master, I say it loosely. (It's so small!)

On that wall was an old cedar lined chest that was my Grandmas, given to me in my late teenage years by one of my Aunts. I took it more for storage purposes, than anything, and moved it around with me through the years. The thing is huge, like bigger that your average charming cedar chest, made of walnut, and is a 1930's art deco 'waterfall style".

I decided it had to go, because I pictured me putting a long table there, so I could set up a craft area. The big dilema? I had NOWHERE else in my small house to put the chest!

I decided to call my cousin, and offer it to her, after all, it was my grandma's, and I knew it had to stay in the family. She gladly took it, and my craft area was born.

Below are some pictures I took of my little area that I use all the time.

I took one of those cheap bookshelfs that you put together yourself, and put it on my table, to create "shelves" at the right height for me.

I am a ribbon addict, and have another whole box up on the shelf, to use in all of my projects.

I don't do alot of stamping, but I love the ones that are very vintage-y, and I use my mini alphabet stamps all the time. The standing lamp next to the table was a yard sale find for $3!

I found this little metal box at Goodwill for .99 cents, and it was this ugly gold. I painted it with cream white paint, and then glued on a cute picture from an old children's book, then stamped the word " Play" in brown ink. I also glued an old button on the flap of the lid where you pull it open. Look what's inside.....

Some of my favorite old buttons and earrings for my many projects!

The old copper sugar bowl (I think), had lost it's lid, so I use it for pens, scissors, etc.


The box below was also a thrift store find. I painted it on the bottom, and then glued ric rac around it, and adhered buttons on each side. The top was blue, so I kept that, and went through my vintage postcards, finding the perfect one to glue to the top. I keep my tags in there.


I have alot of old books, that I use the pages and illustrations out of. I'll have to post closer up pictures of some of the cool pages in these.

A metal shelf from a garage sale ($1) holds my decorative scissors in a handy place, and I put some of my fave pics of my daughter as a baby. I painted the edge my favorite color, Robin's egg blue.

I love old buttons, and keep many of them in an old mason jar, so I can dump it, and dig through.
I put a bubble gum pink vinyl leter on the back of my vintage chair, which I scored at an antique auction for $1.50!

Who is brave enough to show what it looks like UNDER their craft desk? I am! Lots of stuff waiting to be painted, covered, and redone!

Love the old wood magazine holder. (Yes, another yard sale find!) I painted it white, and glued on a wood scrolly accent thingy. It holds old sheet music (Ebay), and composition books waiting to be covered.

I love my space, it is so perfect for me. Someday? I'll have my own craft ROOM. (Be still my heart!)

Show me your craft space, or where you relax and unwind , that you've created. Leave me a comment with the link to your blog, I'd love to see them all!

Have a creative day!

Edit: For those of you that have tried commenting, I'm sorry, right now for some reason only those of you who are on Blogger, or Anonymous can comment. I'll try to fix the problem asap! Please keep trying to leave a comment, or if you've personally experienced this, email me if you know how to fix it!

The Glamorous, Glamorous Life

I love vintage jewelry. I always have. It's no wonder the God's were in my favor last summer when I hit this fantastic yard sale.

It didn't look like much when I pulled up. (It never does, right?) Everything was on blankets, on the ground. A teenage girl and her young brother were running the sale, and as I walked up, I could see all the jewelry sitting on the blankets. Hard to tell exactly what was there, and it didn't look that exciting, but I stooped down and looked anyway.

There was an odd mix, and seriously, the person this jewelry belonged to was a butterfly fanatic!
There were what seemed like hundreds of butterfly pins and necklaces!

I did pick a few pieces, though, and loved what I bought. I really wasn't sure when I picked up this cream flower pin, though, of what it was. It was marked on the back Ming's Ivory.


At this point, I'm trying to play it cool, thinking, Do I have something of value here? So I nonchalantly ask the girl "Who's jewelry was this?" and she said that it had been her grandma's. I could tell alot of the pieces were old, so I was pretty sure this piece was worth something.

Isn't it beautiful? I looked up Ming's and it was a well know company that made one of a kind hand carved pieces out of Ivory, with stores all over the world. Of course, this was before the ban on Ivory, which was put into effect to protect the elephant population from becoming extinct. Below is a shot of the pin that I strung onto a cute silver necklace that I bought at the thrift store for $1.49! Cute look, Eh?

I also snagged this turquoise bead necklace and earring set at the same sale.

And this awesome green glass bead necklace...

And this shorter strand of black glass bead that are faceted....

And this gold butterfly pendant (I think). It has an odd back to it, with a loop on each side of the wings. It's tarnished somewhat, so I think it is Gold overlayed on a different metal perhaps.
I also bought two old butterfly prints, and a small enamel pin for my daughter for.... (Are you ready for the total?)..... Drum roll.........

$8.00! The Ivory pin itself would be worth about $100 by itself, and I know the butterfly pin is very old, so I think I did Great! I also wear the green and the black bead neacklaces on a regular basis, so what a value!

Then there was the antique auction my good friend Dani and I used to go to every Thursday night. I had a booth at an antique mall for a couple of years, and this was a great place to pick up stuff for my booth. There was this box of junk jewelry there, and we both bid a dollar to go up and look in the box, and buy what we wanted. We went up, and both started digging at the same time, and I sware, at the same time our hand both landed on the sweetest pin. ( the rest of the box was total junk, really).

I really wanted that pin, let me tell you. But it was one of those things, where you love your friend, so much more than you love that pin, so I let it go and offered it to her. Well, being the darling that she was, she let it go, too, and offered it to me. How dare she try and take all the glory of being the better friend??

I insisted she have that pin, so she went ahead and bought it for $1. (how dare she not INSIST that I take that pin, after all, she seriously was the kindest, most generous friend I have ever had, to this day!)

A few months later, maybe for my birthday, she delivered a little package to me, and in it were the cutest little potpourri packets, one with a little bird stitched on, and the other pinned with that little round jeweled pin. I laughed so hard, knowing her generous spirit had beat me, once again!

I think they are rhinestones, but ooh, maybe they are diamonds! I don't care, I just love to wear it on a necklace, or pinned to a sweater.

A few years back my Mother-in-law decided she "trusted" me enough to give me some of her Mom's jewelry. (Just kidding, Mom!)

I took photos of some of my favorite earring that I picked out. There were some really pretty brooches, and rhinestone jewelry, which I'll post pics of soon. She let me take whatever I wanted, which means she MUST love me. (Again, kidding, Mom.)

Love the four leaf clover ones!


A couple of different cameo earrings in there, one large and one small. I love the round gold circles, too. I wear alot of it on a daily basis, which I always get compliments on. You can't buy this stuff at Kohl's, people!

The earring below belonged to my Great Aunt Hallie. When she died several years back, my mom got her jewelry box, and let me look through it. I'm ashamed to say, I just wasn't into vintage stuff back then, so I only picked two pair of earring from the box.

I love this pair of gold and rhinestone balls, kinda disco-ee.

My Aunt Hallie was so cool, and was the older sister of my grandma. She could play the piano like a crazy lady. I have fond memories of traveling to Arizona in the summer with my family, and gathering around the piano, singing with all my aunts and uncles and cousins. Showtunes, like Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Wizard of Oz, stuff like that. Her house was packed with old folk knick knack, and that was fascinating to an eight year old. I'd climb up on a chair, and touch all her figurines and STUFF! My mom would yell at me to be careful, and get down off that chair! but my Aunt would laugh and say it was fine. She'd even say, Do you want that, you can have it! and my Mom would say No! that's your Aunt Hallies!

She also had candy dishes everywhere in her cram packed house, and I'd gorge all day on spicy gum drops, and Kraft Milkmaid chews. Good times!

Add some glamour to your day with a fun vintage brooch or pair of earrings. If you haven't inherited any, pay a visit to your local antique mall, and find the perfect piece. I guarantee you will love it every time you wear it, for it is a special part of the past that no one else owns but you!

For the love of a journal

As promised, I am posting pictures of my altered journal projects. These are so special, and truly one of a kind. The story behind these as is follows:

There is this incredible antique market that runs every summer, here in Colorado. It's called A Paris Street Market, and it's the first Saturday of every month, May thru October. I was wandering the stalls, and walked towards the back of one that really didn't look very promising. You know, the ones that just look like just a bunch of junk.

I spotted a table full of albums, and alot of scattered maps and paper, just a mess. But what I picked up was gold! These albums were full of the most amazing vintage paper ephemera, a recently love of mine. I had been wanting some, to start making journals and other things. I had been inspired by the book by Anna Corba, Vintage Paper crafts.

I haggled with the seller, and ending up buying three full albums, one of which was filled with about 50 old postcards, from the very early 1900's. The other two had old tickets, travel labels, and seriously like every bit of paper ephemera you could think of! All very old, from early to about 1950's. I was in heaven, as I love to look at things like this, and wonder who owned these things, and what were they like.

Below are some of the journals I covered, using pages from old children's books on the front of a composition notebook. On the inside and backside covers, I used pages from a french manual, and decoupaged labels and other bits on from the albums I found. Then I made bookmarks from fatter ribbon, attaching old buttons on the top, or I used old playing cards or other things from the albums as a bookmark.

I didn't get to take pictures of the insides, because they were at a boutique night, and they were already sold, so I quickly remembered to take pics of just the outside, before she came back to collect them.







These turned out so cute, and when you spend so much time creating something, it's hard to sell! These were all one of a kind, with original pages and other paper pieces, and I really wanted them to be that way. I could've photo copied them, to use again and again, but I really like the charm and character, that they truly are a one of a kind piece.

These were a smaller version with spiral sides. From a 1930's primer.
I just free-handed a dress shape for this one, and stamped on it, adding buttons under the black bow.
I did photo copy and reduce the size of the cover of this sheet music, to decoupage on the cover of this one.

Love this one, from an old Bible stories book from the 1940's.

I've found that when I use decoupage glue to attach these, they warp pretty bad, no matter how careful I am, so I use a glue stick, and cover the back thoroughly, then lay it on the cover, and smooth it firmly.

I also stamped little words here and there, and glued vintage buttons on to add some bling.

You can be as creative as you'd like on the inside, depending on theme. I own so many old books, from dictionaries, to books written in french, and I especially love old children's book, because they have fabulous illustrations in them. Also, antique pictures are darling on the cover, or inside as well.

Start scouring your local thrift stores for cheap old books to use, to make your own vintage inspired journals, then hit the flea and antique markets this summer, you never know what you may find!

I also look for old buttons, ribbons, and trims. Pick up bits of old jewelry, even if it's broken. You can take it apart, and use the jewels or pearls to add to your project.

Please feel free to email me, if you need help, or have questions.

Have a journal inspired day!

Spring, Spring, wherefore art thou, spring?

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning:

SNOW!

We didn't get alot, but it was cold, only 19 degrees, and dreary. Luckily, the beautiful sunshine came out and warmed things up to the high 40's.

Our winter here in Colorado has been fairly mild, compared to other winters, where it dumped on us Big-time (think 2006). That was one of the worst I can remember, with 2 storm, back to back. It left us completely buried for days, and our roads a nightmare for weeks and weeks afterwards. I think my car is still suffering the effects of driving through snow sinkholes 2 feet across!

I thought I'd post a few pictures of my garden last year, for those of us who are suffering from Spring fever, and are sick of the cold weather. My snapdragons, delphiniums, and roses are my favorite, so full of bright, cheerful color.

I'm excited to get out in my garden and start planting. I am totally redoing 2 of my beds, by relocating some of my salvia (I had salvia overplanting issues last year!), and pulling out 2 large Russian sage, to let the Liatrus I planted there last year have some room.

The dang squirrels kept digging up the bulbs, after I planted them, and so I had to keep going out and reburying them! They could smell the fresh dirt all dug up, and knew something was going on, so they wouldn't leave the area alone!

This is not one of MY squirrels; when I went out to take pics of the 59 squirrels that live in MY yard, of course, there were NONE to be found! I borrowed one off of a squirrel picture website. Who knew there were so many squirrel fans out there?

I am an avid birder, so I have no fondness for squirrels anymore. Sure, they're cute when they frolick around the yard, with their stupid little antics, but when they destroy all my bird feeders trying to get the seed out, and gnaw their teeth down on my wood deck, and dig up and eat my bulbs, then they are on my black list!

I have baffles and deterrants on my feeders, but I am really limited on where I can place my feeders, due to the many trees on my property. My inlaws live out in the country, and they get those cute little ground squirrels, you know the ones that look like a chipmunk? They hate them , because they burrow tunnels everywhere, and ruin the lawn.

Today marked the return of Doves to my backyard. I have the Eurasian collared doves, and the mourning doves. I love the way they coo in the morning, so soft and sweet. Soon they will have babies, and bring them into the yard for food and water. Here is a baby from last year.

And a robin, freezing in our late spring snow!

The dove babies are so unafraid, that you can literally walk right up to them, as they are laying in the grass. They just stare at you, so cute and small. I'll post pics of them, when they are finally here. Just today in my yard, I've had Juncos, assorted Sparrows and Finches, Robins, 2 kinds of Doves, Black-capped Chickadees, Flickers, Blue Jays, and a few hungry squirrels. The juncos will soon be moving on, and we'll have spring migration moving through. What do you get in your yard during migration? Comment on your favorite visitor!

Hang in there, it's almost Spring!
(As promised, tonight or tomorrow I will post pics of all of the journals I made, covered with vintage paper ephemera.) I'll also do a short tutorial on how to make these darlings, so start scouring your local flea and antique store, for old paper things to use.

Do you love vintage images?

I wanted to post a quick note, to let you know about some of my favorite web sites, that share free vintage images to use for whatever you want. The first is Vintagerio, which has many cool images, Victorian, and what not. Look for the free section in that one. The second is The Vintage Moth (Love this One). It has so many Old fashion and vintage images, all free. The third is Art-E-Zine, which has really old style vintage images, though not as many. I have used all three of these websites to pull images for my paper collaging, and journals. I'll post pics of those soon.



Love this darling Easter bunny. He'd look cute on the front of an old paper mache type box, with lots of old ribbon entwined through out.

Aren't these too cute? I love these labels, you can size them, to fit your particular bottles. Have fun searching, and finding just the right one, for your projects!

Also, I wanted to tell you about a blogger I love, Joy over at Cupids Charm. She recently did a post about quotes, also. She has a great love for quotes also, and shared a post about happiness. She gave me permission to post one of her quotes.
Thanks, Joy, for cheering up my day! And today, make up your mind to be happy, no matter what.

A quote will cheer your day!

I thought I'd share a story with you, that started me on my way to collecting quotes. My mom used to have this book full of quotes that she collected, and wrote down. The book was very, what we crafty girls would call, primitive. It was just a small 3 ring binder, and I remember it being covered with something like contact paper printed with small flowers. Obviously this was back in the day, before Michael's and Hobby Lobby, where you could buy something to bling up your stuff.

We were in the basement one day, after I was grown and out of the house, going through some stuff, when she pulled it out and showed me. I flipped through it and thought "What a cool idea". She told me she had just written stuff down, as it inspired her, and the book had come to be.

Well, years went by, and I thought I would like to start my own, so I got just an inexpensive blank book, and added a few I had found here and there.

My book is about half full now, with many inpriring quotes that I turn to now and again, to lift me up, and help me to be a better person. I noticed in looking through it recently, that I have a lot of quotes that relate to courage, and trying harder, and not being afraid. That probably stems from being picked on when I was in Elementary school.

I had no clue how to defend myself, and I wished my parents would've taught me how to stand up for myself. Trust me, it wasn't in me, I just had no idea!

Anyhooo.... I'd like to share a couple of my favorites, and then, I'll add a few here and there, when I post, as a tradition. I'll also challenge you, my readers, to go out and get a blank journal that speaks to your soul, and start your own quote book. Start filling it with things that uplift and inspire you, and read it often.

Some of my favorite quotes are by Eleanor Roosevelt

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt.

and I love this one:

Life is like a field of newly fallen snow; where I choose to walk every step will show. - unknown


My mom's book? I don't know what ever happened to it. When she died last summer (from Alzheimers) my sister and I went through everything with my dad, and I didn't see it in her things. Maybe she thought it wasn't important, and threw it away at some point. I know I will keep my book, and someday give it to my daughter, so she can see a glimpse into her mom's life, and what made me happy.

Mom, I dedicate my quote book to you, for all the love and inspiration you gave to me.

What's in a name?

So I thought I'd explain how I came to the name of my blog, The Cozy Chickadee. Several years ago, my Brother in law got me interested in birding, or Bird-watching, as some call it. Now let me tell you, he is BIG time into birding. Keeps a jounal of a list of daily birds he sees in his backyard, along with what the weather was that day. etc. Also catergorizes by state, and Life list, of course. Has every Birding book known to man. Worked in a Wild Bird store for awhile, just to get the discount on birdseed, which can run a couple hundred a month, according to my sister. Also takes awesome pictures of birds from all over, some of which have been published.
I really have just enjoyed it as a side hobby, and I put out seed on a regular basis, and have had alot of really cool birds visit my yard. My rarest sightings have been a Lazuli Bunting, an Oven Bird, and a Spotted Towhee. But for some reason, my favorite bird of all is the Chickadee. Doesn't matter if it's a Black-capped, or a Mountain Chickadee, I love them both the same. Their perky cutenes steals my heart, and they are not greedy at the feeder, like alot of birds. They take one sunflower seed at a time from the feeder, flying up into my Pine tree, and peck it open. Then they come back for another. They also have the cutest 2 note whistle ever, which just cheers my day right up.
Can you believe, I actually got to hold one of these darling little creatures a while back? One afternoon, we heard a loud thump against out patio door, and ran over, knowing it had to be a bird.
There, on the deck, was a very still Mountain Chickadee. I about died, thinking it was surely dead. I picked it up, and it seriously was light as a feather! I could feel it breathing really fast, but it's eyes were closed, so I thought it would probably die of shock, or a broken neck.
Then, it slowly opened it's eyes, and fluffed up a little. It sat in my hand for a minute more, with me saying words in little birdy talk, and then it perched on my hand, and flew up into the nearest tree. What a neat-o experience!
I was shopping at my favorite Goodwill store a few weeks back, and already having named my Blog, and getting it ready, it was fate that I stumbled upon this darling picture of a Chickadee. It was like a nubby material stretched across a wood frame, really plain.

 

Of course, my creative spirit could not let it stay like this, so here's what a little imagination and creative spirit did:
And here is a farther away shot, showing on my wall, above my little craft studio: area:

I will post more photos of my craft area, probably next week, to show you how I manage to stay organized in a such a small space. And by small, I mean one area of our already small master bedroom. You can get creative, and still have an area to call your own. Have any ideas for creating in a small space? Any cool bird stories? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear inspiration from my fellow Bloggers!

A tail waggin' full of Love!

I used to love Valentine's day as a young girl. The preparation of filling out the Valentines, sorting through, and picking the biggest and best ones out of the pack. One for the cutest boys, or the girls who were my favorite friends. So many politics, like how to sign them: Love, or Like? If you gave a big one to someone you liked, would they get the wrong impression? (How impressionable could you possibly be, at 8 years old?)
Back in the day (the 70's) you didn't have to be nice, and bring a Valentine for every boy and girl in class, you just brought to those you liked. I remember one year, coming home and counting the Valentines in my bag, measuring against how many were actually in our class. I wanted to know how many snubbed me, and then figure out in my mind who was mean enough to leave me out!
I hope this year, no one leaves you out, and if they do, tell them to go take a hike!

This Valentine is dear to my heart. My husband gave it to me several years ago, because he knew I collected vintage Valentines, so he went to a nearby antique store, and bought it for me. He surprised me with it on V day, with a sweet sentiment on the back.
Now, my husband is not romantic by any stretch, or really thoughful. Not in the way us girls THINK should be thoughtful. He has a hard time buying gifts, period, even when I post ideas all over the house! Just doesn't get it. But I'll tell you what really makes my heart pitter patter ( and when I say this, I know I've been married waaay too long), is when he empties the dishwasher, or takes bath duty everynight with our active 6 year old, or when he runs to the grocery store at 11 p.m. for Kleenex and cold medicine. Now THAT is love! I love you, Honey! Happy Valentine's day!