Gotta love Thursdays!

Thursday is my day to play hookie! And what a day today is shaping up to be! I spent the morning pressing, measuring, primping and finally taking pictures for my new Etsy shop. Yeah, another shop at Etsy. I have learned a few things so far on Etsy and this new shop is hopefully going to be a better or more inclusive reflection of me.

When I first thought about opening a shop there I read in the FAQs and How Tos all the various suggestions and advice they offered. Of course I took their advice and named my shop according to their suggestions. They recommend a name that reflects the type of items you will sell in your shop and therefore I came up with ReduxPapers because I planned on selling reused repurposed paper in various incarnations. Fast forward a few months and I don't want to only list my paper escapades. I love so many arts and crafts that I just can't be held down to just paper!

Enter "HandAnd HeartWorks". All works of my hand straight from my heart! So I might list my hand woven boucle' scarves or maybe a hand knit one now and then. I have a few woven bags and pouches that should finish up nicely too. There will be reused and repurposed vintage linens that will find new lives. I'm actually pretty excited about both shops now. My stash in the work room holds more than just paper and now I can follow whatever creative moment that strikes!

The other creative moment that struck this morning was Banana Bread! My favorite is this whole wheat recipe out of an old Sunset Quick Breads book. So I think it is time for a cup of tea and a slice of heaven.

Rummage Sale Season

Man, I used to be a serious garage and rummage saler. I swore off of them over 5 years ago when we moved into this house. We lost about 800 square feet from our old place. That's alot of stuff to get rid of and then not replace. Unfortunately I think I'm a "stuff" kind of a gal. With the opening of a shop on Etsy that was my permission slip to go to second hand stores again but I have been resisting garage sales. That is until last weekend. I have been craving old doileys and embroidery and I think the only real place to find them for a good deal is at a garage or rummage sale. Well, like I said I haven't been to a sale in more than 5 years and wow, folks have really raised the bar for garage sale prices! I can't believe that I had to pay like 4 bucks for a pretty beat up, faded and stained doiley because the woman's mother in law spent so many hours crocheting it! Nonetheless I paid more than I had ever expected to for some fairly cute stuff last weekend.

I haven't been to a rummage sale in even longer. Somehow I just never hear about any and I only find them by chance. Well, I saw an ad in my little local paper the other night for a rummage sale at the little Unitarian church up the road from my house. I was earnestly hoping for some great embroidery or sewing supply finds. Alas no. But I did find a couple of pretty cool books. I am going to make another paper bunting from one of these children's poetry books and I think I need to make some new envelopes. It certainly wasn't a huge score but it was a start!

I spent the morning working on my Mother's Day gift. It is an idea I have had for several years but I only recently found the shadow box frames I had purchased with this in mind. Here are a couple of pics in process. I am super excited how it is coming together. I think I'll head to U-Frame It this weekend for a matt, I think with an oval opening for my sweet Grandma Mabel.

It's been a really long hard day of crafting. It must be nap time...