How much do you love this??????? My love for vintage patterns really has no bounds... I am going to have to do something crafty with this image.. but what???

Between Eggnog and Ginger Snaps

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas. As usual we got up and spent time opening gifts one at a time, youngest to oldest. No grabby free-for-all here at chez Kertay. Long ago I realised that if the kids were only going to get three gifts each that the whole process would be over in mere minutes without some sort of timing intervention. So thus was born the *taking turns approach* and we have done it that way ever since. It's quite nice to watch each in turn open a gift, appreciate it and thank the giver.. I think it gives more meaning and gives me time to actually snap some photographs that are more than paper and bows being flung about.

The afternoon was dedicated to another long held tradition... a family movie. For years we have enjoyed a family movie on Christmas Day and obviously this is getting to be a more popular idea around here since at today's showing of National Treasure II it was a full house and that was on two screens at the same time!

So now we are back home and gearing up for the last tradition of the day... Christmas night is for Roast Beef hash served with a fried egg on top. Yes, it's a bit odd but another of those things that the kids hold dear and it makes for a nice relaxing dinner time that is not bogged down in pomp and circumstance. A nice break indeed.

It's a break I need since in the net day or so I swing into what might be my most productive time of the year. .. ORGANIZING SEASON... yep.. It's the time I clean, purge, and put right the house in the vain hope of starting off the year on some note of organization. I haunt the Container Store website looking for just the right products and make my annual pilgrimage to the store in Atlanta to pick them up. I dust, I fluff and if you are not careful I fold your underwear into tidy Origami shapes!

Oddly enough I LOVE this time.. it totally brings out the "Martha" in me. While it would be hard to tell looking around my very busy home. I love things tidy to the point of OCD but I don't live that way and honestly don't think it's healthy in the big picture. When my house is totally spic and span you can be sure I am not spending at much time with my kids as I should. So for 11.5 months of the year I live to live and tidy as I can but for two weeks all bets are off. I shall post up some photos as I go :)

Everyone in the Domestic Anarchy household wishes you and yours a swanky holiday and most joyous New Year! See you in about a week with rock'n stuff and fun to-do projects.

With this much crafting you know my house must be a mess!

Tooooo cute.. I am loving the time I have spent crafting and the stuff I have made. I had to be up early this morning to take Doc to the airport so thought I would steal some early morning hours to craft alone. That did not really work out since 9 year old son got up and wanted to work on a project and be with me. This was really ok and he worked on a new Christmas stocking while I worked on this very cute bib for a rockin little baby of a sweet friend of mine. ( So if you happen to petite, cute, have a baby girl and a husband who is a doctor drop by some time.. I have a bib for your sweet baby!) The bib is made from some of my vintage sheets and was fast and easy to make and I might just have to make a few more!

The rest of our day was spent hanging with my " sister of the heart" ( Hi Kay!) and her wonderful kids. It's never enough time and I totally understand the kids when they whine that "we just got started" even when we have been together for 4 hours!

The evening went by quick and more crafting was taken on with one fatal flaw being that I have run out of crafting funds! *pan to quick shot of Maddie with hands on cheeks in OH NO! ~ala, Home Alone pose*. Yes, dear reader Maddie has blown the December/holiday crafting budget and is now firmly in the *shop at home* zone. This is not the worse thing that could happen and anyone who knows what sort of crafting supply stash I have knows that I am not exactly sitting on my last spool of thread or anything but geesh!..

So in the *Use What-cha Got* spirit I pulled out a pack of charm squares ( don't know what a Charm pack is?... well.. A charm square is a square piece of fabric; it can be any size, but is usually 2 to 6 inches. A Charm Square Pack is a bunch of charm squares. Currently, charm packs from the fabric manufacturer are popular. The packs include a square of fabric from each material in a fabric line. For example, Moda's Chocolat line has 50 prints, so the charm pack includes a 5 inch square of each print. It is an easy way to get variety in your projects. If you love a fabric line, it's a great way to get a little piece of all of it. )

This charm pack happened to have 42 prints in it and had been resting on my shelf for the better part of a year just waiting till it was called into action. Well tonight was the night and I started making some very cool retro-looking drink coasters. This of course meant I needed something to line them so once again I drove back into my wreckage of a studio and came up with some heavy flannel that had been there so long that I *think* it might have been some of the flannel I had used to sew hourglass diapers for the boys. ... For those handy with the math that means that this flannel was quite possibly 18 years old!.. but still looking good it was pressed into the service to be the lining of my coasters. They turned out great and I even took some shots along the way so I can put together a quick tutorial if I can find some time the the next few days.

But now the hour draws late and my pillow calls to me... good night sweet friend and crafters... we shall meet again tomorrow!

A Peek into my Studio

If you have not noticed I finally got my new camera. It's not the one of my dreams but then it was not 1/2 the cost of my house payment either so given the price I paid I am quite happy with it. Mind you I have NO idea what most of it does and am carefully making my way through the instruction manual. But given that the manual regularly assumes I know my @ss from anything else I am thinking that I need to get a "Digital Cameras for Dummies" sort of book.

In any case the photo to your right was shot with the new camera while I was looking at the mess I call my studio. I was just struck by the various blues in the composition and thought I would share it with you. The canister is from a vintage set of 4 and I keep sewing notions in them. That one happens to hold pins. The ginger jar holds my bias tape and in the back ground you can see my studio wall color and some of my framed paper doll prints. Just sharin, that's all.

Getting closer

The all day craft-o-rama was divine but as always I did not get near as much done as I wanted to do. It was not a "wash" by any means but I always think I can get so much more done than what I end up accomplishing. And the really worst part is that I can't show most of it to you since SOME people who read this blog will be getting some of the items I finished up yesterday.

What i can show you is a project that has been languishing for a while but that I can now cross off my " I will do that someday" list. It's my Oh-so-very retro yardstick holder. This project was a real low key affair but ever since I found this piece of needle point at the thrift I have wanted to make it into something useful but cute. It finally occurred to me that it's shape was perfect for making a yardstick holder very much like the one my mom had in her kitchen for years. Of course mom's was made of burlap with little ceramic mushrooms down the front. Just give it time.. it will also come back in style.

This piece has a very Japanese craft book feel to the design but alas it was never finished and over time it has taken on a very serious wonk to the shape. But never mind.. I paired it up with some nifty quiting cotton and zipped it together and hung it up. I then went and dug up a yard stick and we will call this project done!

All Day Sew-0-Rama!

Today is for sewing and crafting and nothing else. No errands, no visits, no cleaning and if I can get away with it no cooking!... So far I have finished gifts for two adorable little girls in my life and one for my bestest bud. I am trying to sneak in doing some stuff for the boys so I think that might mean a quick trip to the movie store so that they will be entranced in front of the tube so I can get that done. Otherwise I will do those tonight after they go to bed.

I am almost giddy... all day sewing and crafting.. yeh me!... talk to you later!

Fun with circles!

I am not sure that I am suppose to have this much fun with a simple 3 inch circle punch...but wow.. I really am. This shows how lame I really am but I really am having quite a nice time working out a few fun crafts that take advantage of using the punch.

Right now I have been crafting it up with the making of garlands out of old holiday cards. I am totally rockin' on the old cards you can find at the thrift.. the 1970's seemed to be a ripe time from some great graphics and some "out-there" versions of holiday cheer.

With the 3 inch punch I am able to punch a nice chunk of the card and get the most important part of the image or color composition. Although I am not a real traditionalist I really like this vision of the Christ child and parents at the manger. Look at the sweet little head!

Sorry for the AWFUL shot.. it's what you get when you try to shoot a quick shot before packing up a gift that is leaving at 7 am with your husband. An expanded version of the garland can be seen over on my Craftyhomeschooler blog if you are interested.

Rock'n it at any size

Ok.. I admit I did blather on a bit about water weight and my cycle so please forgive me. It's really not a size thing.. with that much water it's a comfort thing but it's only for 2-3 days a month and it's why God invented elastic waist pants.

This whole thing with Nigella Lawson is a whole "nuther" plate of pancakes! WHO in their right mind would think that Nigella is "letting herself go" or ... a 'Porker". I can only bet it was a very bitter woman who said this since I would challenge you to find a man who at the first offer would not lick that woman from top toe and then work their way back in the other direction. Honestly I see very few men who actually consider weight when looking at a woman or if they find her sexual or exciting. Hell Queen Latifa is a size 18+ and she is gorgeous!.. or maybe Kathy Najimy, also a so called "plus size" person and once again.. hot hot hot.

It's not your body, it's your confidence. It's knowing that you are bright, funny, sexy and being willing to show that. Not hiding behind who you are "suppose" to be if you are wider than a pixie-stick. Rock those curves, you will be happier and so will everyone else in your life.

Warm and Cozy

Weather is back to balmy here in Tennessee but last week it was nice and nippy and the cats took some time from stealing yarn and nibbling on the Gingerbread house to take a sweet nap in my favorite chair. Granted, the chair is not much to look at but it's very comfortable. All the animals in our house must agree since if I ever want to sit in it I have to move over some sort of furry beast to find room!

Button news

Due to my dismal readership it's a neck and neck race between A Wee-bit-wonky and Coffee-mom for the button stash... so I have decided since both we so nice as to play that if they feel so inclided as to tell me where to send them I shall send them both some cool vintage buttons and a nice stash of the covered buttons!..

So write me ladies! maddie6@bellsouth.net

The Venus of Willendorf has nothing on me!

As I age the changes in my body and it's mechanics have been less than enjoyable. Over all I honestly don't mind aging and am looking forward to me 40th Birthday in a few weeks. What has not been so fun is the headaches, water weight gain and all the other details that have to do with "being a girl".

While it's commonly thought that the small statue known as The Venus of Wilendorf was a tribute to the feminine divine I personally hold the theory that this was a woman 2 day before her cycle. Two water logged cranky days. She is naked because not even her loin cloth fit since she was retaining more water than the Fertile Crescent during flood season and she just could not take it anymore. I feel for you sister!

Make Mine Warm!

Last night was "date night' here at Chez Kertay so that means that the Doc and I headed out for 2 hours of kid free eating. This means we are also free from poop jokes, nose harp playing and all the other joys of our usual family dinner time.

Normally we are not too adventurous and stick to a very nice local Thai place or a lovely restaurant down town. It's not that we don't like to eat, in fact we pick both of those places since the food is always good and it's QUIET. Most restaurants these days are so loud that you can't even hear yourself think. For this reason we avoid most chain restaurants. Last night was the exception. We had two hours within which to eat and to do two errands and make it back to pick up our fencer from practise. This meant that we needed to eat on the side of town where the errands were to be run.

This put us out in the mall area. Now anyone who knows me knows that I would rather chew off my left arm than to go into the mall, I will avoid it at all costs no matter the season and the holidays makes it ten times worse. Needless to say I held out little hope for the mall area restaurants but PF Changs did not look too busy. Now this was odd. Since the moment this massive restaurant opened it's been packed to the gills with 1-2 hour waits at a minimum. I will not wait that long to give birth so I sure an not going to wait that long for food not matter how they mix my "Chang sauce"

As blessings would have it is was awful out last night. Cold, wettish and windy. With just enough of all three to make you really want to stay home. So I guess that is what people did since there was NO wait. We walked in and were seated in less than 1 minute. This was my first time at "The Chang" as my teens call it. Yes, I know. I might be the last person on earth to have eaten there. Please refer back to my "mall issues" and "noisy restaurant issues" for further clarification on the matter.

Once seated a very nice waitress greeted us promptly, got our drink orders and was back in a proper amount of time. This was a nice change from my typical experience in a large chain restaurant ( insert horrid flashback to Cheescake Factory meal of two years ago). It was loud but honestly I will chalk that up to the dinners around us. WHY OH WHY people must you talk on your cell phone while eating dinner??.. I looked around and there was not a table where somebody was not conversing into a borg like appendage hooked to their ear or crooking their neck to pin their phone between ear and shoulder so that they could stuff their face at the same time. WHY ??????????????????

Anywhooooooo.. I was not overly hungry but the fried dumplings were calling my name so I got those with some nice brown rice. I had forgotten how much I love brown rice on a cold wet day. I mean it's fine on any day but a hot bowl of brown rice when it's cold and wet... heaven! Les got one of their flat breads stuffed and then grilled... Asian soft taco anyone?.. and some Calamari. Everything was hot, well presented and the night made for some interesting people watching and a bit of conversation when things died down to a a dull roar. The restaurant was only half full so I can't imagine how noisy it is on a full night and hope to never find out. But I do hope to go back some time soon. I will just have to watch for another miserable weather night to have my best shot at getting a seat!

Holiday porn... but only the best kind.

Oh my lawrd! ( I do live in the South you know!)... How cute are these??????????? march thy self straight over to THE SMALL OBJECT and ogle what she has created, download the pdf. and then leave her a wonderful thankyou note for the marvy download. Then run over and see what Jane's Apron said about them... swoon!The trees picutred are from Jane's blog... I am totally rockin on her color combos! Funny the trees totaly remind me of the little trees in THIS post. You wll now excuse me while I have to make a quick run to get some iron-on interfacing so I can make some of my own!

Button Button, I've got the Button(s)

And I want to share them with you!

Here is the deal. I would like to increase web traffic at both this site and my crafty Homeschooler site in preparation for some cool stuff that is getting ready to happen. ( uh yeh I am a big tease but i don't want to jinx it either!)

Last week I stumbled on the mother load of fabric covered buttons. Most are covered in white fabric but there are some in navy blue linen. I suspect that these were from a clothing mill of some sort and used for...ummm women's sailor type dresses? They are size 36 or 45's so between a nickle and a quarter in size. They are shank backed and quite nice to sew on. I sewed a small owl on one last night and have some other ideas for today. These are great for those who want to do embroidered buttons but don't like to futz with covering those little metal buttons to get the job done!

It will work this way. Each week I will take all the names from the comments and use them for a drawing at the end of each week. You can comment 1 time per day the if you refer someone to the blog and they leave a comment AND your name both of you will get double entries into the the draw of names. And on and on. The prize each week will be a small stash (10) of the covered buttons and a carded sampling of my other vintage buttons. Good luck!!!