2011

Posted: December 31, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays, thrifting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

dropping in briefly to say happy new year.

have a whale of a time, a whale of a year.

(just when ya think you’ve thrifted everything you could possibly need (almost), along comes teak whale napkin rings.  look at ’em.  they’re so mod.  they’re so cool.  they’re so whale-y.  they’re everything i could ever hope and dream for in the all-important, essential danish modern napkin ring.  how did i live without these before?)

THE BEST 2011 ALL-AROUND!!!!!!!!    HEAR, HEAR!!!!!

solstice

Posted: December 21, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: crafts, holidays | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

it’s officially winter.

while it’s been cold here, we haven’t gotten any snow accumulation, although there were some cute little flurries this morning.  last year at this time i was digging out of a blizzard.  i’m thankful this year for zero shoveling duties since i’ve been dealing with a bum shoulder.    (guarantee i just jinxed myself.)

i went outdoors early this morning and took a photo of a little cork ornament i made last night after seeing this tutorial here. 

a cork christmas tree ornament!

as you can see, i’ve been very busy drinking wine. 

very busy.

no, of course i haven’t.

(maybe a little.)   

i went into the dungeon to drag out old crafting supplies and i happened to have a bag of corks. and a box of colored wire.  i think at one point i had visions of making a headboard out of corks.  or was it a raft?  as so often happens in my craft world, none of those projects came to life (which is probably a good thing.) 

i’m signing off now ’til the new year (or maybe the new season???).  i’m getting bored with myself.  i think i’ve thrifted every possible thing i can thrift (save for one particular chair i’m always on the lookout for.)   

leather sling/safari chair

(i think i swiped this photo from an ebay listing.)

and since i don’t own that house i anticipated owning by now, i’m not busy repainting or decorating and showing off,  and therefore i’m running out of stuff to say.  and let’s face it – now’s the time for me to get a job.  i need traveling money.  i’m itching to get out of town again and explore a new place.  the inside walls of my apartment are getting dull and i’m getting dull.  so i need money and i need a job to travel and make myself more interesting.      

so – have yourself a merry little winter.  maybe i’ll catch you on the equinox.

good things come…

Posted: December 19, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: thrifting | Tags: , | 2 Comments

…to those who wait.

a job, you ask?

no.

a boyfriend?

no.

a house?

no.  i’d have to have a job to get a house, now.

it’s a pretty trivet.

to replace the skin colored trivet i found a year ago.

yellow.

dansk.

fish.

one dollar.

a reminder of the flesh fish:

now i own jaundice fish:

and all is good.

the blinking bush

Posted: December 15, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays | Tags: , | 4 Comments

as i mentioned last year, i love to find that one house decorated with the blinking bush.  that puts me over-the-top in the spirit of the holidays.

you know what i’m talking about.  all solid lights on the rest of the house or the rest of the shrubbery – and then – the lone blinking bush.  it kills me for some reason.

well, my oh my, i found one and it’s right down the street from where i live.  if i need a jolt of funny, it’s just a mile away…

BEHOLD.  what christmas is all about –

(i was driving and still moving when i captured this shot, but you get the idea.)

that low white bush on the left is the blinker.

now, you may be thinking, “bleh.  what’s so great about that?”

take note of the choice styles of draping execution.  the wrap-around.  the casual looped drape.  the clustered wall of multi-colored lights. 

sure, i’d prefer if they’d taken it one step further with lights on the house or in the windows, but still.  bonus points to them for NOT using inflatable ornaments.  inflatables bug me.   

that is one little slice of sunshine in my cold cold world. 

random shots of xmas from around my apartment:

hot mulled wine and ginger cookies

yeti

top of kitchen cabinets

close-up of danish candelabra

teeny tiny swede

Posted: December 13, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays, thrifting | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

i scooted into goodwill to see if there was anything worthwhile inside.  man – there really isn’t anything this time of year. 

but then i spotted what i think is a swedish ornament. 

my eyesight stinks now.  even with reading glasses while holding this thing up against the glass window for better light, i couldn’t be sure if i was reading “sweden” or not.  i think i am.  in certain angles i believe i see sweden carved (or stamped) in the wood.

there are 3 lines of info there.

a line of numbers, another line that i can’t make out at all, and then “sweden.”

you see it, right?

 

i mean, that’s just cute.

third of three

Posted: December 12, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: crafts, TV | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

i decided to complete the cast of american pickers.

danielle.

or as i like to say, essence of danielle.

danielle from american pickers

danielle and the boys:

mike, frank and danielle of american pickers

now i’m in the mood to go thrifting.

xmas hutch

Posted: December 11, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays | Tags: , | 4 Comments

make your own merry christmas.

and make it cheap.

i decorated my hutch top again this year.  did not set up the xmas ‘hood village as i did last year.  like i said, this year i’m channeling nature, sort of.  wood, pinecones, feathers, fresh boughs, rafia lights.  i just used a bunch of (mostly) thrifted stuff you’ve already seen before, but when you throw in those boughs and lights, suddenly it becomes christmas-y.

way too cluttered or richly layered and interesting?

obviously layered and interesting.

i didn’t spend a dime. 

if you’re thinking, “well, that’s obvious,” stop that right now. 

owl candleholder.  it’s pretty tacky looking, but serves my nature theme.

hoo.

some red and green danish candlesticks,  an original winter scene painting, and my brass squirrel bell.

there’s that mini quilt i finished earlier this year that was supposed to be last year’s decor, but i hadn’t finished it yet.  turns out i still like it (i’ve been known to change my mind all too often,) and so it made the cut this year.   

 

more nature.  fresh pheasant feathers given to me by a stalker a friend who hunts down innocent birds and kills them dead.  somehow knowing these feathers were plucked from a pheasant whose brains were just blown out sucks some of the joy right out of the holiday decor.  

how’s that for a nice happy christmas visual?

the pinocchio yo-yo makes a repeat appearance.

     

it looks cozy at night.

and the lighting does wonders for my complexion.  or so i think.

wreath

Posted: December 10, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays | Tags: , | Leave a comment

the goats have a home.

look, i made a wreath out of the boughs i got the other day.

oh wait, no i didn’t. 

i bought it at the grocery store. 

normally i have an orange feather wreath hanging here during the winter, but this year i’m channeling nature and going with the traditional evergreen wreath with the traditional swedish goats.  am i swedish?  no.  do the irish have goats?  can i now proclaim these as traditional irish goats?  i might have to make a potato ornament and place it next to the green goat there at the top.  then they’ll look like irish goats.

xmas smell

Posted: December 9, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: holidays | Tags: , | Leave a comment

sometimes it only takes one small thing to get me in a festive mood.   i call it hot mulled wine.  on my way to the bank i veered off course and visited a christmas tree farm looking to buy some boughs, some fresh tree branches to scatter on top of my cupboards and living room hutch.  i don’t have room in my small apartment for a big tree, but oh how i love the smell of fresh tree.  i suppose everyone loves that smell, right?   it is fact.  tree smell is heavenly.  and quite frankly, i’ve kinda forgotten about tree smell.  i’ve been lacking in fresh greens/fresh trees for about a decade.  a decade?  can it be?  oh, that ain’t right. 

the christmas tree farm dudes were so nice – they said i could gather up as many random tree branches from the fields as i wanted.  for free!  is this common practice?  i don’t know.  but i was thrilled.  i gathered up a big armful, threw ’em in the car and drove around with fresh christmas tree smell all afternoon.

not quite as compact and convenient as those air fresheners that hang from the rearview mirror, but way better smelling. 

also putting me in a festive mood:

trees.

wreaths…

and quite possibly, from the looks of that mouth, blowjobs.

winter hibernation

Posted: December 7, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: crafts | Tags: , | Leave a comment

i got nuthin’.

crafting attempts have been few.  and they’ve been flops.     

the upper left corner is all tangled up.

i experimented using regular thread to embroider with.  three strands of regular neon pink thread.  it didn’t cooperate with me.  this tree is one little element of a grander scheme i envisioned in my head.  the vision became frustration unfortunately.  (i did make one successful ornament for a buddy of mine, but it’s for christmas, so no photo spoiler.)   

not thrifting much, either. 

big find of the week

that’s about the extent of it.

no good movies in the theaters.   i don’t get it.  i thought this was supposed to be good movie season.  hurry up good movies.   

i haven’t even broken out the christmas decor from the dungeon basement.  i’m in an uninspired slump.

i think it was one of those weeks where stuff started breaking down all around me, one thing after the other after the other after the other.  i said, “what the?” and “really?”  a LOT.  and also, “you gotta be kiddin’ me.”  i’ve remedied most of the broken down things because i’m resourceful like that, but man, some stuff just sucks up a ton of my time.  last on my to-do list is replacing my kitchen ceiling light bulbs.  i bought fluorescent light bulbs for my burnt out kitchen ceiling light fixture, got them installed (without a ladder mind you, don’t ask, it’s an accident without health insurance waiting to happen) and they DON’T WORK.  nit-picky aggravating crap like that.  back to the store i go.  sure, i could call the landlord but i don’t want to be that tenant that calls for a burnt out light bulb.  but i may have to be…

i’ll rally.  just give me a minute or two.