2013 Journal Challenge

Maybe because it is New Year's Eve and one of my resolutions is to be more intentional in my thoughts, but I have decided to begin a 2013 journal. Since I am KayteeJane and love vintage, I wanted to do my journal a bit different...by using an old book and drawing or doodling directly over the type - an altered journal if you will.

How many of you remember these Reader's Digest Condensed Books? - The ones with the pretty patterened covers.

Well currently I am in possession of several (35+) of these books. I lucked into them when a nice lady at my local library gave them to me because she knows that I enjoy doing crafts with recycled items.  I have made many things out of these books - including paper flowers, hearts & gift tags from the pages.

Now one (or more) of these pretty books will be turned into a journal to record my thoughts, hopes, prayers, favorite scriptures or whatever is on my mind. This will be my way to quiet myself at the end of the day and reflect upon my blessings. I hope to use the journal to record my thoughts in written or picture form.

Here is a page that I did using a black marker and some colored pencils. I wanted to remember this quote so I jotted it down in my book.

It wasn't difficult. It didn't take me a whole lot of time. I just did what was on my heart.

Here is another page - this one was even easier. I just stapled a piece of paper right to the page. This is one of my favorite scriptures and now it is part of my journal. Easy. Wouldn't this be a great way to cherish those sweet notes your young child writes to you? Or keep a movie stub from a date night you want to remember? Just staple what you want to keep right into the journal.

 

The beauty of using an old book is I won't have to do anything or buy anything to begin - which suits me perfectly. All I will need to do is purposefully take time each day to journal; I will record things I am thankful for, creative ideas, prayers, scriptures, quotes, memories - whatever I want - into the journal. And if I do that I am hoping that by the end of the year I will have a beautiful book that I can look through and cherish for years to come - a snapshot of what I was thinking about in 2013.

Now that you know what this involves I would like to invite you to journal along with me. Will you take the 2013 Journal Challenge? You can use any old book that you have on hand. Or...I would be happy to send you one of my many RDC books. If you are interested you can email me at kayteejane@hotmail.com. I will happily mail you one of the books. All you will need to do is send me the postage.

This isn't meant to be intimidating or to add another chore to our many. It is meant to be what you want it to be - and nothing more.

Are you game? I hope so! I promise to post pictures of my journal pages from time to time.

Here's wishing you a Happy New Year!
KayteeJane

My favorite find of 2012

Because a new year is upon us, I got to thinking about the things that I found this past year while junk hunting. This year was definatly about Pyrex collecting for me. At every antique store, yard sale & flea market I was on the hunt for a piece of Pyrex to add to my collection.  This snowflake baker was my favorite Pyrex find of the year. I love it's petite size and aqua color. It is only about 1" deep, which makes it perfect to bake up fun appetizers like Hot Sausage Dip - (shown).

I actually owe this find to my friend Alexis. We were out antique shopping this past summer when I stumbled upon this baker for sale. I had it in my hand to buy it, but for some reason I questioned the purchase and almost put it back. I wasn't positive that I "needed" it. What do you really "need" at the antique store really? She convinced me to get it and I'm really glad that I did. I smile whenever I look at it and I think of her at the same time.

Reflecting on the past year has made me realize that I want to scale back my collections and only keep those things that I love and that make me happy. The rest is going to go. This baker - it stays!

Here is the recipe for Hot Sausage Dip in case you want to try it. It would make a great appetizer for New Years. Enjoy!

Hot Sausage Dip

Ingredients:
1 lb. bulk hot sausage
1 chopped onion
1 large or 2 small red or yellow peppers cut into small pieces
oil for pan
1 block cream cheese - softened
small jar of your favorite salsa
1 cup shredded parmesan or provolone cheese

In a skillet with oil cook onion, pepper and sausage. Once cooked allow to cool. Drain grease.
In a seperate bowl mix together cream cheese and salsa. Add cooled sausage, onion & peppers. Mix in cheese. Spread the mixture into a baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve hot on Ritz crackers.

 KayteeJane

Holiday Bling

When I used to work outside of the home I loved dressing for the last work day before the holiday. This is the day when everyone wears their festive holiday sweaters, hats, pins and ties. I sort of miss that. Today both of my daughter's went off to school wearing fun holiday hair bows, head bands and t-shirts.

In honor of those fun days of dressing up with holiday style - here is a tribute to some of the holiday bling of yesteryear...

Corsages....
These are really a throw back to the 1950's & 1960's. They are very much over the top! They are made in Japan. When I look at these I visualize a sweet older lady wearing one of these on her coat lapel.

I'm not really even sure where I bought these. I think they might have come inside a bag of miscellaneous vintage Christmas ornaments that I picked up at a house sale once. I bought them thinking that I might tear them apart to use in craft projects. I also think they would make cute package toppers.

Up Close...

Here are some fun vintage pins that I've collected over the years. I love pinning these to coats and hats at Christmas time.

Vintage Hankies..
I love vintage hankies and have been fortunate to score a few Christmas ones over the years. I love to put these in my purse to use during Christmas Eve church service - where I usually shed a tear or two.

May you enjoy dressing up in your own style this holiday!
KayteeJane

Crafty Christmas

Here are some crafty projects that I've made this year for Christmas. A few of these are repeats, but good enough to show again in case you missed them the first time.

Burlap Trees

This year I made several things out of burlap. I love it. I know it is incredibly popular right now and I am not immune to all of the great ideas using burlap floating out there in cyber space. This idea was one that I came up with on my own. I love how they turned out. I used tan burlap & red burlap for the trees and decorated them with vintage buttons and laces. The trunk of each tree is a wooden thread spool.

I also experimented with making these out of vintage fabric. Of course I made one in chenille - my favorite! But I also made some out of green tapestry fabric that I bought at a yard sale for 50 cents.

I didn't take any pictures showing these being made but I can give you some simple directions if you want to try making these on your own.

You will need:
Fabric of choice
12" piece of 20 gauge wire
1 wooden thread spool
small piece of felt
Hot Glue
Laces, buttons & trims for decorating

To begin I drew a triange/tree shape - on a piece of paper and used that as my pattern. Make it as small/large as you like. I traced the pattern onto the material. Cut two pieces of material for each tree. Sew the two pieces together - leaving an opening for stuffing the tree later. For the burlap I sewed the pieces together WRONG sides together and just trimmed the material close to the seem when finished - leaving a raw edge. For the other materials I sewed the trees RIGHT sides together and then turned them right side out when sewn. Stuff the trees with fiber fill. I then inserted a wire into the center of each tree - sort of like a trunk. The wire should stick out about an inch from the bottom of the tree. Sew material closed - keep the wire sticking out.

Now, take your wooden spool and cut a piece of felt to cover the bottom of the spool. Attach with glue. Now fill the hole in the spool with hot glue. Insert the wire from the tree into the hot glue - this keeps the tree stable enough to stand on it's own. Let dry. You can now decorate the tree with trims, ribbons & buttons as you wish. I also decorated my wooden spools with paper, twine & ribbons.

These will be given as Christmas gifts this year. I also kept 4 for myself in the tan burlap. I absolutely love these and will enjoy them year after year as part of my Christmas decorations.

Candy Cane Pin

This is a repeat from a very early blog post I did right after I began my blog. Click HERE to see instructions for making this easy craft.

Holly Pins

I made these Holly Pins out of the same material that I used on the trees. To make these just trace the shape of a holly leaf onto your fabric. (The fabric I used is very thick and sturdy - thick enough to be pinned to something and stay firm.) Cut your material. Attach vintage buttons for the holly berries with hot glue. I also attached petite white rick rack around the edge of the holly shape using fabric glue. Attach a pin to the back using hot glue. I stuck this onto a vintage playing card to give as a gift.

Cookie Cutter Garland

This is another repeat. I showed this project last Christmas. I don't know about you but I have collected so many great vintage cookie cutters over the years but could never figure out a good way to display them. I came up with this idea a few years back and I still love looking at it. Instructions are shown HERE if you want to make your own!

Christmas Hair Bows

I whipped up a few fun hair bows for my daughters this year. I was able to buy several spools of Christmas ribbon on sale at Michaels after Thanksgiving for a great price. Here is what I came up with. I then hot glued the ribbons onto a hair clip. The finished bow looks cute hanging from a vintage flash card. These make great gifts for little girls (or big girls too). Use bells or small Christmas balls to add some pizazz.

Bingo Card Birds

I made these ornaments using vintage bingo/game cards. I was lucky to find a large box of vintage bingo cards at a yard sale this summer for $1.00. A very lucky find indeed. The tails are made of a book page.

I feel that I have been blessed with so many creative ideas this year. I have had great fun making the projects I have shown this year on the blog  - many using vintage or recycled materials that I have bought at yard sales and flea markets. If you want to see some of my craft projects that were done earlier this year, check out my Pinterest album "My Crafts" by clicking HERE. Follow it to keep up with all of my projects.

KayteeJane

Figgy Pudding

Continuing on into the kitchen....

 

Until next time....

KayteeJane

Merry and Bright

On with our tour...

Let us stop here...maybe sing a carol or two?....Much more to see & do!

(until next time)

KayteeJane