Farewell December, Letting Go of Christmas and Decorating Wintery

paper deer craft by lindsey brackeen

I'm a little tormented. I was so busy moving and catching up on orders, I didn't post many Christmas ideas this year. Even though Christmas is over, I use this blog as a springboard for myself to reference for later, and I need to file these great ideas somewhere! So, this week will be catch up for me, then I'll get down to new stuff, mmkay? For now though, many of these can still be implemented as "winter" decor.

This little montage of Lindsey Brackeen's holiday mantle, my jaw dropped a little. I love the bright white, a bit of style and sparkle, without being too dark and heavy feeling for the holidays. I love how she hand tied the wreath with torn fabric scraps with her little boy. So sweet. The natural elements are wonderful as well.

Lindsey also made these adorable little gift tags you can use next year. I love here idea to use them as a garland as well. Visit here to download them.

Parasol Magazine

The wonderful Yasmine of A Print a Day has outdone herself with another online magazine. Past issues of her amazing mags are here. This issue's theme is Fairy Tales & Mist, based in tea-stained cream, reds and navy blues with polka dots, roses and gingham. (ps, my shop, Jeweled Ambrosia has a little 3 page interview with photos too, so check it out!) Yasmine describes it best:

"I'm super pleased to announce the debut of Parasol•Craft! It's an online/pdf magazine dedicated to Handmade, Inspiration and lots of Downloads. It's a spin-off of Parasol Magazine in that Craft is the primary focus and the objective is to promote and inspire creativity."

The magazine is 111 pages and includes the following:
Featured crafters, artists and photographers
Desktop Design Tutorial: Make an Illustrator Brush--with downloadable vector files to practice on
Make Your Own Snow White & Rose Red Dolls--with tutorial and downloadable templates
Digital/Hybrid Scrapbook Kit:
3 12"x12" papers
2 Note pads
1 Scalloped journaling block
1 Fancy roses journaling block
1 Framed journaling block
1 Rose icon
2 Heart ribbons
2 Fancy borders
4 Sets of Embroidery Templates
And other features and resources!

There is also a GIVEAWAY! To make the dolls in the tutorial, you will need some these components:
12 Heat transfer papers
1 Yard of red grosgrain ribbon
1 Yard of cream grosgrain ribbon
1 Yard of cream fabric
15 Patterned tags to match

Download all 111 pages + all files mentioned above for only $2.50 (what a steal for all the work she has put into this) You can purchase it right HERE! Be sure to leave your email address in the checkout so she can email you the mag within 24 hours of payment."

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this issue, I can't wait to see the next one!

Feed Your Soul [through free art]

Indie Fixx has a new little feed your soul art collective. She explains it all HERE and you can download your free (personal use only) art HERE. If you are an artist, you can contribute and if not, you can spread the word! Here's a sampling:







There are some seriously gorgeous works here from some of my favorite artists... I intend to get a whole slew of them and hang them on my new "art gallery wall". Don't worry, my little folks, I will update with pics soon enough. I gotta get some frames and such first!

For all of you that like vintage epherma, labels, gypsies, cards, children, babies, angels, mermaids, beauties, holidays, Marie, cherubs, horses, Strawberry Shortcake and more... then check out Suzee Que's free to use (personal) flickr stream!! Here's a sampling:







At Vintage Printable, you will find hundreds of vintage prints, namely from vintage books of science, medical, animals, nature, mustaches, wigs, fantasy and mythological, poster art, political, gnomes, steampunk... Here's a sampling:


The Virgins Whistler



humor, high society, poking your nose into others business
i love this one



For lovers of antique maps and sea charts, you MUST visit Helminks. They are dealers of the real genuine article not reproductions or scans, but the high quality images of them are breathtaking! Here is a sampling:


Antique map of Holland


Antique Anemographica map by Lotter


Antique Map of West Africa by Linschoten