A Favorite Etsy Shop

On of my favorite Etsy shops is Vintage Hot Cakes. Dawn, the owner, makes various items out of vintage tea towels, among other things. She loves to do commissioned work, and I have gone to her several times with tea towels commemorating anniversaries and birthdays for my family and friends. She has made beautiful pillows and tote bags for me and the recipients have been really tickled when they see the year on the towel.

This year, my husband and I celebrated 13 years of marriage. We really didn't do anything special to commemorate the event, so I told him that I wanted a pillow made for us with our anniversary year. I went on an internet hunt for the perfect 1995 towel, and found it via Ebay in England, of all places. I had Dawn preview it before I bought it to make sure she thought it was doable, and then I waited for it to arrive from across the ocean. I sent it to Dawn who sent pictures back to me for approval with several fabric options. The finished product can be seen below...the photos don't do it justice...and once again I am just so impressed with the quality of the workmanship and presentation. Since the towel's design was a bit different, she cut out our anniversary month and put it on the back, as seen in the second photo, and made an oven mitt (not pictured) out of the rest of the months, just for fun! So, if you are looking for something unique and different to commemorate a special event, check out Vintage Hot Cakes on Etsy! You won't be disappointed!

(Note: I am not getting anything for promoting Dawn and her store...she doesn't even know I'm doing it...I just love her work!)

A Favorite Blog

One of the blogs I love to check on a regular basis is Second Sister Suaviloquy. I found this blog through the Etsy shop Second Sister Jewelry, when I was searching for jewelry related to adoption. As it turns out, this family is waiting to adopt a daughter from China, too! Second Sister Suaviloquy is hosting a ten-day giveaway that you might want to check out. The fun starts on December 5...and check out the Etsy shop, too, for great jewelry at reasonable prices!

My First Blog Award!

Thanks to my dear friend Beth, at Red Yarn, I have been nominated for my first blog award, and fittingly, it is in Spanish! Here are the rules for this award:


1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking everybody's mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!



So, here is my Academy Awards style award acceptance speech (you'll have to imagine the tears of happiness and gorgeous gown!)...

A year or so ago, I barely knew what a blog was, but thanks to my youngest sister, Steph, and my dear friend, Beth, I was quickly bit by the blogging bug and began to read various blogs quite faithfully. It wasn't until this past January that I decided to write a blog as a personal journaling venue--and now I'm hooked! I wish to thank my dear husband, Dave, for working second shift so that I have nothing better to do late at night than read and write blogs...just kidding (well, sort of!)...and for supporting me on this endeavor. I would thank my kids, but I don't think they have a clue about this blog...maybe I should thank them for that! And I wish to thank my faithful blog readers, many of whom are now new friends via cyberspace because of this blog and the blogs of others. You encourage me and inspire me in so many ways--thank you for being there--wherever there is!

And now for my nominations for the Brillante Weblog Award...may I have the envelope please?
(I'm afraid I won't have seven, though...I don't know that many other bloggers who haven't already been nominated!)


My sister, Stephanie, at Garcias2Chile...for a glimpse of life with three small children in a foreign country, check out her blog! She's also adopting two babies from Haiti...you can see that blog here.

My long time friend, Ricardo, at Sudaca Americano...we go way back to my high school days in Chile, and he is just starting his blog after some encouragement as a way to keep in touch with family and friends in the US and Chile. I hope my nomination encourages him to keep going with his blog!

A friend and homeschooling mother of (almost!) eight, Lisa, at A Second Generation of Homeschooling...her ability to juggle teacher, mom, and wife amazes me!

Another homeschooling mom of seven, Laura, at Laura Williams' Musings...she has great money saving tips, links to contests, and just glimpses into her family's life that are neat to read!

A fellow adoptive mom and blogger, Angie, at The Downtown Boutique...her blog has information on all kinds of goodies, but I especially like how she highlights various Etsy shops and also has giveaways each week for homemade items!

And now the orchestra is playing and I'm supposed to stop talking...have a great week everyone!

Etsy Purchases...Finally!

Here are the promised photos of some of my first Etsy purchases! This first one is the long-awaited card set in the little bag from Chile...my very first Etsy purchase! I think the designer does excellent work...well worth the wait from northern Chile! This next photo shows some of the tags I bought to use in my scrapbooks. I think they are of the "shabby chic" variety and sort of "grungy"...or some sort of lingo like that! I think they are cool!
And here are the two vintage postcards I purchased that I can't wait to frame and hang in my office area. With all boys in my house, these two images just resonated with me!
I have since purchased MANY other things, and all of my experiences with the various sellers have been great. I HIGHLY recommend checking out Etsy if you haven't done so already...you will be amazed at the creativity there!

Playing Catch Up

(Note...this was supposed to appear before my previous post, but somehow it never did!)

As I was perusing my blog this afternoon, I realized that in the events of last week, I never let my blog audience know that my Etsy purchase from Chile finally arrived! I figured out that it took 20 days to get from northern Chile to Jonestown...but it was worth the wait! I have actually received all of my recent Ebay and Esty purchases and am enjoying them very much. I will post photos soon...I promise! (I just have to figure out how to get them from the camera to the computer...) I definitely will be purchasing Christmas presents from Etsy this year!

Imagine That!

Yesterday I spent a good part of the morning cleaning out and reorganizing my pantry in anticipation of my new, old, tupperware arriving later this week. I have not really done that since we originally move into this house almost two years ago, so I found many interesting things! Of extreme satisfaction to Sabastian was the location of a long lost Game Boy game and shark tooth; I was impressed with the spare coinage I found...it was enough to allow the boys to purchase lunch this week! I also threw out a bunch of stuff, and put some of my Longaberger baskets to good use...now I'm just awaiting my tupperware so that I can put my dry goods away properly. When it's all done, I'll have to post pictures...I know, not the most interesting thing in the world, but important to me! Speaking of waiting, I'm still waiting for my first Etsy purchase to arrive from Chile. The tracking website says it's still enroute to Miami, but that was almost a week ago! I check the mail with anticipation every day...when it gets here, I'll let you know!

I'm Vintage!

I have been having fun lately looking at vintage items on Etsy and Ebay. I'm looking for some large tupperware containers in which to store my flour and sugar, etc., and am really wishing my mom kept all her old stuff...that's what's vintage and collectible now! I just have to laugh when I see pictures of the things I grew up with labeled "vintage"...I just don't feel that old yet! I'll let you know if I win any of my current high bids!

Etsy-ing

My new favorite pastime at night is to browse Etsy for unique and different handcrafted items. If you have not visited this site yet, you really must do so. I am just amazed at the creativeness of so many people, and their willingness to share it (for a fee!) with the world. I have found that the prices are usually very reasonable for the time and effort that was put into creating the items. My favorites list grows nightly as I peruse the stores and their merchandise. So far I have only purchased twice...my first purchase was from a Chilean woman in the northern city of Antofagasta (where my youngest sister and her family are going to be missionaries) who creates handstamped items and had just opened her store the day I found it--I figured "what's the likelihood of that happening" and decided to be her first customer! I'm still waiting for my cards to arrive from Chile, but when they do, I will post a picture of them. My second purchase was of two vintage black and white postcards with photos of little girls on them...they were just too cute to pass up. I want to frame them and hang them in my workspace downstairs for inspiration. While they are not uniquely homemade items, I have found many vintage things on Etsy that people use in altered, creative ways. So when you have some extra time on your hands and you want to be inspired, check out Etsy and all it has to offer...and if you find any favorite stores, pass along the information! (BTW, I'm not being paid for this commercial!)