Christmas with ittybittybirdy

Well despite their being no sunlight for photographing

my computer crashing

and endless baking, cleaning, wrapping, and what not

I am here to share with you my home as it is this Christmas

and a few extra sweet things as-well

Ah there is nothing better than inspiration from flickr and friends like you

and 4 bags later I finally have my own gumdrop wreath

only problem is that I have a whole bag left and I can't stand the taste-ick!

I thought I might hang some of my vintage Christmas records above my dinning room bench

but then I scored these amazing vintage Christmas cards

at my local flea market Sunday for just $2!

Miller seems to like them :)

this is my very favorite Christmas tree yet

it's a beautiful Blue Spruce

and the prickly needles have made eating Christmas ornaments

a whole lot less fun for poor miller

I'm sure someday we will get a fake tree

but I can't imagine it quite yet

I love going and picking one out

helping out our local community

and the smell of pine

These are a few of my favorite Christmas decorations

My first Bradley Doll was eaten by Miller

(I'm sure your sensing a pattern right?)

So everyday before I leave for work I have to move these

to the dinning room table

I've been very good not to go to the flea market for the last few months

but I just had to go this weekend to catch the last minute deals on Christmas goodies

it's a pretty strange market

mostly just tools

but one table always has me forking over my cash

and this week was no exception

most of the items I picked up I will be saving

to place in my etsy shop next holiday season

but I just had to have these vintage candles

and this adorable little snowman :)

I also picked up this beautiful felt and sequins santa

Whenever I start taking photos Miller just has to be in the shot

Charlie on the other hand hates cameras

We will be taking the vitrolas back to Jim's dad this week

it seems my husbands family would rather it be left to rot in a basement

than have it be a center piece of our home

it makes me really sad and mad

but hopefully someday we can get another one! :(

I made a few ornaments for my fluffy white tree using the mushroom form my Merry Kitschmas digital kit and the cotton candy from my Circus Party kit.

I really adore the way they turned out but I'm going to have to figure out

how to make the paper stick to the plastic pendent

without bubbling or blurring

This is my first Christmas in my whole life

that I will not be spending with my mom and dad

so last night they came over for dinner and to exchange presents

My vegetable barley soup was a success

and yours truly was spoiled rotten!

I got some Christmas village pieces, pjs, an amazing coat from Anthropologie

and a CRICUT!

Quite honestly I have no real clue what it does

but I know it's really cool and cuts paper

I guess my dad has been watching infomercials on it for years

who knew?

So I'm excited to find out what I can do with it :)

If anyone has one I am eager for tips!

I am just crazy about my Christmas outfit this year

I pulled the whole look together rather quickly

as I was cooking all day and had no time to properly put myself together

before the folks showed up

The skirt was an awfully big purchase for me

I'm more of a penny thrifter gal

but it was love at first sight

at the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Sale

It's so amazing how many talented people are from Portland!

The Skirt was made by Loni Gaghan

of I Love to Love You on etsy

I also ran into the owner of Knittn' kitten right after making the purchase

and she said the fabric came from her shop

small world!

Thank god for safety pins because the skirt is too big! CRY!

I was just sure it was going to fit but well at least I have room to grow! :)

You must must must check out Loni's shop!

I wish I could be her model!

I just ADORE clothing that makes your heart smile when you put it on :)

I wanted to remind you that my Merry Kitschmas digital kit is on SALE!

My sweet friend Karli used my Christmas kit and Rosette kit to make these oober adorable pages of her beautiful girls all dolled up for the holidays

I'm always so inspired by Karli's layouts

and her use of color!

I'm am just crazy mad in love with how she ampted up the colors

of my very traditional colored kit!

Check out Karli's blog - Retro Plant - to see more of her pages, vintage treasures, darling daughters, and digital kits too!

My very good friend Stina shared her handmade cards

and Christmas Tree ornaments she made using my kit.

She has a step by step on how to make the ornaments on her blog

(just change the language to English)

It's such a wonderful blessing to have so many wonderful friends

come into my life each year through my blog

I am truly blessed!

I wish you ALL a very very Merry Christmas,

a Happy New Year

and a prosperous and especially wonderful year to come!

Love~ Chelsea Ann

Christmas Scrapbook

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm very confident that we all have busy weekends ahead

from baking, cleaning, shopping, and wrapping gifts...

I wanted to thank you all for you comments about the buttons and my show display

You comments not only make me smile but they are a valued source of inspiration

so the winner is #12, ms. Amy S.

I was tickled this morning to find my ice cream button

posted as part of Paper*Cakes Finds Mosaic Friday.

I will be spending a good portion of my weekend working on my wedding scrapbook

as it is my gift for my family this Christmas

(i'll share with you how it turned out in the next few weeks)

I hope to finish at least one scrapbook a year

I think it would be really fun to make one entitled

"Holiday Memories"

and just share in order Christmas memories from childhood on

you could even go back as far as your grandparents

I just think it would be really fun to see them all together like that.

I have marked down my Merry Kitschmas kit to just $3.50!

I know I should probably wait until after Christmas

but what the heck :)

remember all my kits come with a print friendly file

you DO NOT have to be computer savvy :)

here are the Christmas pages I have made this year

I wish i could be more uniform with my scrapbook

but they seem to change based on my mood

I'll be able to share how I pull all the unique pages together

when I share my wedding scrapbook with you.

feel free to ask if you want to know where any off the elements

from my pages come from

also you can always jump over to my flickr

to find most of my pages

were I am pretty good

at sourcing the kits used for each page.

The Craft Show and Buttons to Show and a Giveaway too

It's been a crazy couple of weeks

well who is kidding who?

it's been one CRAZY year!

Hasn't this year just flown by?

Honestly I truly can not wrap my mind around how quickly this year went by

not sure if I was just really busy, or distracted this year

but what ever the case

I hope next year goes by at a bit more manageable rate.

Anywho~ I have a TUN to catch you all up on

and I hope to be filling my blog with more nonsense

throughout the next few weeks

Crafty Wonderland was AMAZING!

over 7500 people came and went

it was so overwhelming

I met a lot of really lovely people

spent way to much money

made a little too

but mostly just had a grand ol' time

It is crazy how much time goes into preparing for such an event

there's differently those who are seasoned venders and have a system

for me it was pure chaos

my poor house is in shambles

so I invited my folks over for dinner this weekend

nothing like the stress of knowing you have company coming

to get your house back to tip top shape

as soon as I get things looking like a home again

I'll share this years Christmas decorations and such

You will notice many many new items arriving in my shop

in the next few days, weeks, - month

I have been working on so many different new ideas

and really challenging myself to come up with new unique items

and every now and then facing my greatest fear

my PRINTER! ICK!

So one such new item to introduce is...

well I must first say that I am a very very terrible girl

I have quite an impulsive nature

of which I should be ashamd

well at-least when it coming to spending my money

so after playing with my friends button machine

I had to have my own!

A HUGE purchase

but my goodness is it addicting

and hopefully sometime in my life I will pay the silly thing off :)

So the first thing I've added to my shop are some really fun button mirrors

using items from my digital kits and also my hand drawn and colored illustrations

I've also made cute coordinating sets of 3-5 small buttons

that I will be adding to the shop just as soon as I get them photographed

I'm not sure if I ever shared this drawing of a little sailer outfit

it was suppose to be for the paper dolls I was working on

but as I never figured out how to really capitalize on selling the paper-dolls

I thought I might incorporate them into collage work or something else in the near future

As you can see I got really into making these.

I pretty much did these all in one day

as my machine arrived just in time for the craft show

Christmas is a time of giving

and because you are all such great bff

If you leave a comment sharing which button mirror is your favorite

you might just be lucky enough to be receiving it the mail very very soon!

I'll announce the winner Friday!

Thanks again for all your support!

I heart you all!

Toys and Childhood

Life was so much more magical when Santa Claus was just as real as your imaginary friend, and the monster under your bed. Do you recall the thrill of stepping into Toys'R' Us or the excitement and nervousness of waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap?

What did you ask for?

What toy did you want more than anything in the world?

Did Santa bring you everything you wanted

or did you get hand-me-downs and last years must haves?

We didn't have a lot of money growing up

but I never recall being disappointed on Christmas day

Except for the year I asked for an American Doll

I can't really recall being extremely specific

(I had almost all of these Mattel Toys - I especially loved the kitchen)

I do remember always being jealous of my best friends toys

she had all the "must-have" toys like My Little Ponies, Trolls, and a Barbie dream House

It's funny how we become so nostalgic of the toys we played with as a child

Rainbow Bright, Little Pet Shop, Polly Pocket, Strawberry Shortcake, Cherry Merry...

All bring great big smile to my face

and when I browse the toy isles today

I am surprised by just how many of these same toys are coming back

sure they have a new "cooler" look

but they still have that sweet and innocent charm.

* all images were pulled from the Portland Central Library Clipping Files

- otherwise the actual sources are unknown.

The 3 Lucky winners of last weeks giveaway

for my Sweet as Can Be- macaroon Post cards

are:

# 2 Bunny

# 3 Sassy Packrat

& #5 Gypsy Mermaid

Congrats ladies! I will e-mail you when I get home tonight.

Hope you all have a lovely week! It's going to be a crazy busy one for me as I have so much to do before this weekends Crafty Wonderland Holiday Show.

~ Chelsea Ann