Crafty Christmas

Here's how Christmas looks at the Norman household.

This is my favorite part. It's the tree my mam-maw and pap-paw used for years––since the 1930s, I'd guess. It even has all the original ornaments.

The other tree has some ornaments I've found at garage sales, auctions, antique stores, and my beloved Anthropologie.

Can't forget the stockings. I made these a few years back. I stitched on some buttons from the sewing kit I inherited from my mam-maw and embroidered our names at the top. Our furry children, Persephone and Demeter, also have the privilege of homemade stockings.

It's just not Christmas until you see a cat in a Santa hat. As you can see, Persephone loves hers.

Demeter is as thrilled with this hat as Ralphie was with his pink bunny suit.

Thankfulness for the Health of It

Cliché or not, taking time out to express our gratitude is good for our health.

Need proof? I pulled this finding from the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness:

"In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)."

So here are a few on my list:

• I am thankful that my family all lives close and stays close.


• I am thankful for a job that allows me to be creative and eat lots of good food.


• I am thankful for a husband that never loses his patience with me.


• I am thankful for friends that are insightful, quirky, and compassionate.


• I am thankful that my windowsills are wide enough for my plants to enjoy the sunshine.


• I am thankful for my mother's cooking on Thanksgiving Day.

Now, please share your own. (Remember: It's good for you!)

Beer Label Table

No, I'm not a bro. Nope, never been in a fraternity. But my collection of beer labels needed a home, and we had a hand-me-down table that we had spilled paint on during renovations. So, it became the logical resting place.

Here's the final product of several dozen happily-consumed brewskies.

Teacup Candles

In honor of the beginning of garage sale season, here's an easy trash-to-treasure idea: if you find a pretty teacup that is flawed, just use it as a candle holder.

The same can hold true for tins or containers that are too pretty
to toss out.

All This Beauty

One of my favorite quotes is by George Santayana: "Interest in the changing seasons is a much happier state of mind than being hopelessly in love with spring." But let's be honest. Spring kind of steals the show when it comes to seasons.

All the flowers blooming and trees budding in our yard has made me one chipper gal, so I thought I'd share the eye candy.

Antiquing as Sport

I've always said antiquing and thrifting are the equivalent of hunting for me. I'd really rather not shoot furry, doe-eyed creatures, but I do enjoy the challenge and thrill of seeking out a game of sorts.

The chase is addicting: eyes dashing around the store, finding mostly junk but then––oh, the moment is so glorious––there it is.

That's the feeling I got when this wreath caught my eye. I found it in an antique store in Tipp City. It's handmade and has a variety of vintage fabric yo-yos with vintage buttons in the center, and it even had a nest with a couple of faux eggs. The nest was missing a bird but I quickly filled that void with one from the craft store.

After a recent conversation with a friend, it occured to me that the antiquing/thrifting habit might also derive from a desire to salvage. I always think about how that knick-knack might have been a favorite in its past life. When buying second hand, you're giving that knick-knack another chance. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Recycled Art

Our bedroom needed a bit more color, so I decided to make a vibrant collage painting to brighten it up. I started with a base of my favorite color, turquoise. Next, I painted and stamped with different layers of yellow and gold.

Then came hodgepodge time! A couple years back, I had bought an old dictionary at a garage sale that was falling apart to assist me in craft projects. A couple carefully torn excerpts provided a black and white contrast to the color. There are also closely cut pictures of yellow and red roses from an old gardening book I had found in a give away pile. I had a calendar of vintage bird illustrations that I couldn't bear to throw away, so they nested on my painting. Lastly, I had dried some peach poppy petals from my garden and they also found their place amongst the fodder.

I love how every piece of the collage has a story.

Ephemera becomes eternized!