This sweet little baby...

Is 16 today. It's such a cliche to say, but really.... where does all the time go? I'll never forget the day he was born, the thrill at the discovery that he had inherited one of his daddy's dimples, just in the left cheek, the little blue knitted cap they put on his head before letting me hold him for the first time, me, only 20 years old, utterly terrified but oh so in love with this perfect gift...the day my life changed forever.
(Geeeeeez, is it nomal to cry when blogging?)

Happy Birthday to my beautiful son Alex!

Unprecedented second post...

But Tim Burton is worth it....




Ooooooooooh!!!! I can't wait!!!!!

On a sunny Saturday....

I find myself wasting away a gorgeous morning (I should be catching up on housework and laundry after a long workweek and a short trip to L.A.)

Instead I have been lured by the contents of my google reader, the Etsy storque (love the There's no Place Like Here series) and the fabulous resource Archive.org. I wanted to share that last one with you in particular as I sit here typing away while Fats Waller sings to me in that rich, sweet, velvety jazz voice that I adore. Fats Waller was one of the great jazz pianists of the 1920's. Lots of his songs are in the public domain. Take a listen here and if you need a little portable lift, I highly suggest you download and add some of these tracks to your MP3 player....

All that Meat and No Potatoes

A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid

Abercrombie had a Zombie

You can save the tracks to your computer by clicking the file; save as; on your browser. Lovely!

(Vintage photo: Picnic on the beach obtained from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA )

...then whip up some lemonade, wrap up some sandwiches and go enjoy yourself a little picnic in this gorgeous, glorious summer we are so blessed to be enjoying. Happy weekend everyone :-)

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas in July!!!!

So grab a cup of hot cocoa.. okay, a chocolate milkshake will work too :-) And check out my newest little addition to my Storybook collection for PFATT's annual holiday celebration.

This sweet little Santa was inspired by that famous Christmas song that had the kid version of me double minding my P's and Q's in order to make sure that my name made it on that famous list!

If you take a closer look, you can see lots of names... ..Whew, looks like I am a- ok this year. (Wait......That's the good list he's holding, right??? ) This Santa is in a miniature dollhouse scale with head hands and legs hand sculpted from paper clay. Vintage polka dotted fabric and aged cotton batting creates his coat. Even his little black buttons were hand formed from polymer clay.

Included in Santa's bag are hand crafted toys: a minty swirled paper clay ball, a cane created from wire and painted in a candy stripe, and a needle felted bear, complete with a polka dot tie.

This unique Santa will be available on PFATT Marketplace this Friday July 10. Blog readers will be offered free shipping this month.

Crafting before crafting was cool...

Does anyone remember Aleene's Creative Living? Way before the "handmade movement" was mainstream, Aleene's Creative Living was a daily hour long craft show that featured wonderful tutorials and crafty genius guests. They also had a monthly magazine and would come out with varoius crafty books. It was must see TV for me. I had a giant sketch pad, and would watch the show with it and pencil in hand, and draw out my favorite ideas . I believe it was Aleene's that introduced me to polymer clay which got me on the dollmaking path in the late 1990's. I really loved that show! As a stay at home mom at the time, it was just the type of show I needed to help me take a break from exhausting toddler chasing.

(above... one of the Aleene's books... I love crafty recycling!)


Sadly, Aleene's Creative Living went off the air awhile back, and it seems like since then, despite the popularity of crafting in general, other wonderful creative shows like Carol Duvall have also slowly disappeared.
I am happy to report that the ladies of Aleene's are now doing a weekly radio show that can be listened to and even downloaded here... This thrilled me to discover. It was like running into friends you haven't seen in years! I encourage you to give it a listen. The ladies also blog here. I think we need to start some kind of letter writing campaign to the television networks bring craft shows back! What do you think?

Office decor

I am super fortunate that my workplace allowed me to decorate my cubicle space as seen in this post . A month or so after that post, I was able to move into an available office... I wasted no time in dressing it up...

The view right as you walk in the door... vintage tablecloths tacked to the wall add some coziness. I want to slipcover those chairs!!!

The hutch on my desk.. forgive the mess. I prefer the little vintage lamp light to the overhead fluorescents. You'll notice one of the best children's books ever...The Little Engine that Could... leaning against the wall. Who need motivational speakers when you have that kind of truth so colorfully illustrated.

I purchased this unusual lantern from Castle in the Air

And these lovely lanterns are from the Crown and Crumpet's fabulous little boutique.

I love vintage toys. This cute metal carousel was a gift from my sister in law

The file cabinet plays host to an awesome hand painted umbrella that I found while antiquing in Phoenix this past wintertime. The stained glass window panel was a Christmas gift from my mom, brought back from an artisan shop in Mexico.

And the bookcase to hold office supplies and essentials (yes I actually have work in this place). The record player is great for impromptu dancing. It helps to put on some disco midweek to shake off a bad day!

I get lots of smiles from people who walk into my office. As my program serves clients who are over 50 years old, it's great to see their faces light up when they recognize the linens that their mom had.

We spend so much time in our workplaces that I think it's essential to make them as comfortable as you can. My job in particular, can be very stressful and emotion filled (I coordinate a cancer screening program). So having a warm and welcoming office (complete with the record player) helps me get through the hard parts of the day, when I'd rather be up in my studio, making dancing cats out clay.

Happy July everyone!