no matter how flat you make a pancake ....

I love my local brick and mortars

and believe me my love and support requires some effort on my part because I live in a very small town where stores sometimes sell ... well, a whole lot of crap actually.

And, I understand that these store owners are working with a limited budget these days and an even more limited customer base and they sometimes need some creative thinking to survive and sometimes that creative thinking requires a strange combination of the things my town needs (?) - we have an Irish Gift Shop/Electrical Supply Store (there was a psychic in there for a few months - not sure why she couldn't tell it wasn't going to work out for her there) - we used to have a video store/dry cleaner, an ice cream store/tanning salon and a print shop/dog food store.

Although my all-time favorite local combination store is in a surrounding town and called Crickets and Cream.

They sell - you guessed it- crickets (ie reptile food) and creams (handmade) - they also practice a little holistic medicine (ie witchcraft) and I was once talked into a chair in the middle of the store where the one sister waved some smoke around me to clear my aura for a better look while the other sister helped a little boy and his mother buy some breakfast for his pet lizard, Harry. It was wonderful.

Anyhoo, since I have spent money in all these stores and even shop in my local grocery store every other shopping trip

(if you could see this store and then see the amazing Trader Joe's that has gone up an hour away, you would totally feel my pain with this, but I know if the locals treat our local grocer as a Seven Eleven, it will close down and that’s all we will end up with)

I totally get and agree with the shop local movement … to an extent ...

I would love to support local gift shops … and do … when they sell the things I want to buy - I am not going to buy a China made something or other (which I just assume everything not handmade to be) just to purchase something at a local gift shop unless they can tell me the name of the woman who made that something or other and a bit about her wages and working conditions (and if she ever gets to see her children).

I am 100% behind shopping local when it comes to food and think all our food should be produced locally on small farms (large farms and in particular cattle farms are environmental disasters)

(and I do not throw the word disaster around lightly, believe me, well... except when it comes to my hair ... and my closets ... and my studio ...)

with minimal environmental transportation side effects and maximum freshness.

But on my recent trips to Portland and Asheville I have to admit that all the bombardment of shop local signs in the store windows made me feel, well, a little like heading back to my town’s Irish Gift Shop and spending my money there.

It feels a little less than welcoming to a visitor; like some exclusive club a girl from the suburbs like me doesn’t get to belong to- it sometimes felt a little like a place I didn’t want to give my money to.

(yes, I know I am dangling a participle here- we’ll just ignore my bad grammar, as always)

I may be a little jaded from stores who tell me they really want to carry my lines, but only buy from local artists and from Etsy’s push to promote shop local

(huh- isn’t it an internet as in "world wide web" shopping site)

I know 99% of my sales leave my home state and 28% leave the U.S., so shopping local is not something internet shoppers are looking for or why would they be on the internet in the first place, no one wants to pay shipping costs - if we could get it at our local mom and pop we would.

When shop local knocks heads with shop handmade I will be shopping handmade and whether those hands were working in Australia or one block from my house doesn‘t affect my buying.

Now mass produced goods are a whole other story.

We need a local manufacturing focus supported by a local buying focus which I truly believe will happen once big companies really understand through their bottom line that their jobless consumers can’t afford to consume without a paycheck (and realize China's business tax rates are going up).

I think there is room for everyone though, so I will shop local when they sell what I want and always when they sell what I need or love and can't live without

(please figure this out local store owner!)

but continue to spend my money supporting handmade makings everywhere.

I know that all of us and in particular people living in cities that they love tend to become very location-centric in their thinking and I really do get the pluses in this, but there may also be just a couple minuses to think about ... no matter how flat you make a pancake you're always gonna have two sides

(to quote my grandma)

tgif ....

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hubby and I are hijacking Kella and Chris's vacation to Asheville, NC -

(I've never been to North Carolina, only through North Carolina)

They kindly invited us down for a long weekend

(ie we begged and pleaded and sent Olive to their house with her sad face)

to a house they rented for the week on a lake (?) - I think a lake - are there lakes in North Carolina? I'm sure totally amazing lakes!

It is going to be a long drive tonight and tomorrow and then straight back on Tuesday, but worth it for 2 days of a mini-vacation.

I hope everyone else's weekend is just as wonderful and that Olive & I survive the car trip (hubby has packed his AC/DC's and Black Sabbath - ugh!)

*lilly in asheville notecard by Jen Obata (I am re-titling it cat in asheville for this weekend Jen, I hope you don't mind!)

xo all

Upcycled Tutorial - Vintage Children's Block Initial Necklace - Xmas Gift Countdown Begins!

I thought I would begin my annual upcycled holiday gift tutorial guide

(whoa say that 3 times, I dare ya')

early this year so I might actually finish it!

Everyone loves personalized gifts with their inital - and this is an easy, peasy one to make!

(the only kind of tutorial I do, because let's face it folks those long, complicated tutorials may look amazing, but are you ever really going to make them?!)


you will need:

vintage blocks (new blocks will just look cheesy- we need some vintage wabi-sabi for this one), chain or necklace cording, washers, eyehooks, slip rings, charms, beads, doodads

you may need a drill for your eyehook starter holes, I didn't, but I do lift a 20 lb terrier/beagle 482 times a day, so have one handy just in case

determine which block letter you want visible for the wearer, measure and mark your center, drill starter hole, add eyehook and washer, tighten with pliers, add chain or cording to top, repeat on bottom andding charm or doodad to the bottom

(note - if your name starts with a V and you get a Christmas present from me, please close your eyes at this point)

I added an amazing and gigantic lobster clasp to this one! My block is approx 1.25" with a 30" chain- smaller block/smaller chain- if you want to make one of these and need a 30" ballchain pop me an email and I will pop one in the mail to you.

To find some amazing vintage blocks to make these gifts check out these Etsy sellers:

1. agentobsolete
2. vintagebyalexkeller
3. brooklynretro

I have another tutorial using a child's block you may want to try HERE

GIVEAWAY Pawtisserie Dog Bakery $25.00 Gift Certificate! CLOSED

AND THE WINNER IS:
True Random Number Generator

Min: 1
Max: 182
Result:
109
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

= Cstironkat
- I hope Kouga and Milele like their goodies!

Pawtisserie Dog Bakery is the amazing shop of  Erin- a Jersey girl (yay!) with a big love of dogs (double yay!).

Her love for baking organic dog treats came about once Erin and her hubby adopted their dog, Ruby. They wanted her to have high quality, human grade ingredients in what she ate. Erin began baking treats for her, then for pets of family and friends, and then poof! Into an online store!

We are so lucky to have a gift certificate to Erin's amazing shop for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive a $25.00 Gift Certificate at Pawtisserie!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight on Sunday 10/9! Good Luck!

maybe we're not lazy, maybe we're not unorganized (well maybe we're a little unorganized) - maybe we're just trying to do too much

a short rant - at a certain point even the master juggler

(that guy in the Guinness World Record Book with the 47 flaming plates on a stick, who may or may not be missing an ear)

piles on one too many plates and finds his maximum juggling capacity

(hopefully before losing that second ear).

And this maximum juggling capacity is a personal thing.

Your maximum and my maximum are probably two different maximums.

(and now that I have just typed the word maximum so many times, the spelling just looks ... wrong - I hate when that happens)

* wastes 2 minutes googling maximum *

And yes, I get that these lessons are all about setting priorities and asking for help and saying no and

... I guess we had better figure it out before those flaming plates hit us over the head.

(there are some kick-ass earrings out there - it would be a sad thing if we never get to wear them ....)

* stacey had big plans print by happytownusa

you can't handle the truth .... or if the lawyers really looked like Matthew McConaughey this would be a whole other thing

... so I just rented out my couch

(not my actual couch, that we sit on and lie on and Olive sheds so much hair on that before we purchased it we asked the guy in the store if we could throw a little dog hair on it so we could visualize it in our actual livingroom ... but a vintage couch that is part of my vintage rental business - did I tell you I started a vintage rental business? no? well, I will just keep you all guessing about what the hell I am talking about then)

and checked my mailbox on the way back in the house and find a little white notice that says (cue the Jaws music here) JURY DUTY ... AGAIN, I thought I got out of it!

Now, I have been called to jury duty many times and the last time - I got on a case, was named foreman forewoman, found the guy guilty in less than 45 minutes and was home in 3 days.

But, I was a little more decisive in those days - things a little more black and white to me when I was younger - now that things are a little more grey it may be harder.

(yes, I like to spell it with an "e", the British way, makes me feel special and a little more refined - I have also stopped cursing .. sort of . .mostly .. sometimes. My brother stopped cursing last year when he started teaching music to children and I thought if he can do it, I can too, but it is a hard habit to unlearn)

When we were kids and my sister and I used bad words

(which we did as fast as we could learn them)

my grandmother would say "stop - say it another way" and make us take the curse word out of the sentence, so my sister's favorite 4th grade zinger would end up something like "your 'rearend' is grass", then my grandmother would nod her approval and go back to watching her stories.

Anyhoo - back to JURY DUTY ...

since I have been making more and more questionable (ie bad) decisions lately. I have begun to doubt myself. I can't even make a decision about where to go to lunch without it turning into the most trying ordeal anyone around me has ever experienced.

If someone asks - "what do you want to go eat?" - I brainfreeze. I will not decide. Hubby, unfortunately, has taken the brunt of this indecisiveness so when I told him I pulled jury duty, he said:

"If you make it on a jury it will end up being a hung jury ... because everyone else will hang themselves while you decide."

This from the ace decision-maker who went to Barnes and Noble before our trip to get magazines for both of us; proceeded to spend an hour picking out such bone-chilling, can't put it down reading material for himself as the Farmer's Almanac 2012 (I'm sure he almost had a coronary when he saw this baby was finally available), Dirtbike Digest, The Small Farmer's Guide to Livestock (Olive did not like the looks of this one) and The Model Car Builder (he wants to get 'back into them' - I do not like the looks of this one) - then grabbed the first thing he could lay his hands on for me - something with pirates on the cover - because

"I know you like pirates"

(I like pirates?!)

"No, I was saying 'talk like a pirate day' is coming up and I am going to give away some pirate jewelry. I didn't say I like pirates."

hubby *crickets*

(lost in article on the best model car glue for 2012)

Anyhoo, will let everyone know what is decided with jury duty - I am going to try again to get it postponed until January when I am slow

(and there is some potential for a snowday)

Also if you follow me on Twitter- watch for my pirate tweets tomorrow to win some pirate jewelry!

Upcycled Tutorial - Hanging Chair Bookrack

Now, I know this isn't really a tutorial, but I haven't posted a tutorial in awhile

(saving the best ones for my annual Xmas countdown series which starts next month)

but thought I would throw up a couple pics of this amazing old chair I bought at a local flea for $5.00.

I hung it on some bicycle hanging hardware from Ikea and now have an adorable mini-bookcase for some of my vintage Trixie Belden books.

I have 3 of these chairs (all different) that I am going to hang in the stairwell (which is pretty high) and will post pics of this when I get a chance to get them up there

(I have to do this when hubby isn't around because he hates the idea - he will love it once it is up though ... as long as - a. he doesn't have to hang it, b. it isn't in "the way" - and c. it doesn't fall on anyone's head - all possibly do-able - of course, I can't really guarantee that last one)

I have seen people make towel racks and things by dismantling this type of chair, but I couldn't bear to make any permanent changes to this one - it is just too perfect!