...one of 'those' days.

isn't it ironic...

450th post on my 45th.
THANK GOODNESS that shotglass is poised & ready!
(it's gonna be a tough one!!)

...wrap-up on 'THE' stockings!

Tweed, with his infamous love of 50's 'bling', has reminded me that I have yet to post on A.L.L. of the goodied that I got on BLACK FRIDAY!!

No, we didn't go anywhere near the malls, or retail in general!!  It was our annual stocking exchange. Just Mom, Dad, J & I.  The restrictions on our stockings are 'second-hand' or 'home-made', and none of my siblings have any kind of appreciation for Mom, Dad and mine's love of 'saling' ~ so this is just 'our' special exchange (J goes along with it good-naturedly).

M/D don't get out to many sales any more, but 'somehow' Mom still manages to come through on My stocking!!  Sooooo much goodness, I'm only going to show the SWEATER CLIPS today!
SIXTEEN!!!!!!

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE COOL WAY THAT SHE BOXES THEM UP?!

SWEATER CLIPS 2012 #21 - #26
Sweet Rhinestone at the top.
Pendant in the middle is a NYC souvenir with the Statue of Liberty.

SWEATER CLIPS 2012 #27 - 30

There was another little bag with a note on the outside 'NEED HELP'.  Mom would find sweater clips that were less~than~perfect and pick them up, thinking I could use the parts to repair others.  How right she was!  From those 'parts', and other 'parts' I've picked up along the way I was able to complete these FIVE clips by replacing chains, adding beads, etc...

SWEATER CLIPS 2012 #31- 35 

For all you other sweater clip afficionados out there (ha, ha) - I have others of these in my collection, but have had no luck in researching.... WHY THE THIRD CLIP IN THE CENTER???


While visiting Mom & Dad, I was also given an early Birthday present... the PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE....

ISN'T IT         THE.MOST.GORGEOUS?!!



SWEATER CLIP 2012 #36 from Mom & Dad



...promise - last wreath!

 STEP 1 in HOLIDAY DECORATING.... complete and PICK-UP unfinished projects - thus goes this F.I.N.A.L. Fall/Holiday Wreath, completed This Morning ((YEH)).  I PROMISE this is THE.LAST.ONE. - NO MORE.!!!

Tweed was NOT permanently adhered to it! though he is kinda 'loving' it and has definitely given it his stamp of approval since he lived in close quarters with many of those vintage ornaments on the wreath for a VERY LONG time, it is kind of like a 'family reunion' for him ~ but he was spared the hot glue burns!

...TWEED.

IT's BEEN A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING SEASON,

BUT NOW IT'S TIME TO

"STEP-ASIDE-TURKEY"

"THERE IS AN ELF IN 'BAD GOLD LAME' IN THE HOUSE", ready to take CENTER STAGE FOR THE NEXT MONTH!

...less than a week away...

Just completed and delivered a 'Fall-Wine' wreath as a 'THANK~You' to one of my major BARTENDING contributors to my cork sweater clip display board. 

Does anybody else find that these darn things are addicting to make?

...and of course shopping for the 'materials' is half the fun!!

I was doing a Serious Happy Dance when I found this little number ... HAEGER 2012 #4 .50¢ - but what makes it SO special and unique is on the other side - and in keeping with The Month, I can't show you until 11-28!

I can show you the beach glass that J & I picked up this past weekend during the Indian Summer weather...

...and I can show you this Great copper/bronze pin that I picked up yesterday for .50¢



and look what else I found yesterday!!
Well, this is actually an 'AFTER' shot,
or a 'COMPLETED PROJECT' shot!
I found one of those clear, glass lamp bases that I have long been stalking... and I knew JUST what I wanted to do with it!!
COME VISIT! IT WILL BE RESIDING IN OUR GUEST ROOM!!



What I didn't realize is that one of these lamps can hold almost a lifetime of glass!!!  Good excuse to hit the beach!

...Tiffany, Lucky and MINARDI??

Friday, a friend offered me the rare chance visit a local factory that produces high-end hair care products.  Since they are an employee, they were able to get me into their 'seconds' area, where a tote-FULL can be purchased for $5.



Let me give you some background info here so that you can fully appreciate this whole scenario...  (I'm NOT bragging, mind you, I'm just REALLY LUCKY!! and it's a good thing, because I'm REALLY LAZY when it comes to my hair!) *My hair tends to be on the long side (around shoulder to mid-back length) - short hair would require more than an annual or semi-annual trim to maintain a 'style', plus I wouldn't be able to just pull it back into a pony-tail or braid it on mornings when I was running late!  *Being almost 45 and of natural light-streaked hair I have never colored (okay, in the 80's I did do a neon orange thing with my rat tail, but we don't have to go there!) or highlighted my hair - and have only found (and promptly pulled!) one Grey.  *Through friends I found this Great Lady who cuts hair out of a salon in her house for.....  $5 !!!
Getting the picture??
LOW MAINTENANCE... NO FRILLS, What-so-Ever!!

So, that is me.  J is 'hair-challenged'... need I say more?  Yet, he is pickier (sp? word?) about his shampoo than I am!  My main splurge is on 'Leave in conditioners'.  SO - I filled a bag with each 8-) !!  There were names there that I had never heard of (Ion? Joico? Kpak?), but an aisle over was a Factory Sales Rep doing their thing for a 'potential customer', so I eavesdropped, and learned more about hair products than I EVER needed to know!!!
I DID make sure to go find some of these MINARDI line that they were talking about ;-)

The next morning after I got out of the shower, with all of the NEW hair care smells in the air, I put on my LUCKY jeans that I got this summer at the Maine outlets, and the TIFFANY bracelets that I have been picking up while saleing.  I took a look in the mirror, and I almost wasn't sure who that girl was looking back at me.  Time for reflections and housekeeping of a different sort - maybe time for a little 'soul keeping'... perhaps.  All I know is that  one song kept going through my head...

You may find yourself in another part of the world
You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?

Can any of you name or relate to that song?



...of Foam ...and Fabric!

A few photos to get you in the ELEVENTH month frame of mind!

Not an ABUNDANCE of Thanksgiving Decorating has taken place around the 'Chateau',   as my 'hoardes' are rather limited for this occasion!
Yes, I'll give you all a minute, as I'm sure you have all fainted at the thought that MY 'hoardes' were lacking in ANY department!!

I guess that it is one Holiday that has always slid in/slid out so quickly, that it is hard to go Over-the-Top about!

I did have an old work buddy and her new baby coming to visit on Thursday though, so I figured if decorating was going to happen, it should be N.O.W.!!!

Is it just me, or after company has left... does anybody else out there feel at a loss?  The house is clean.  The fridge is stocked.  Baking done.  ...and here I sit.   Ten a.m.   By myself. 
NOW WHAT???

 

Decide that I can look at the Summer 'Garbage Picked' Costco step-stool in the 'someday' cueing line on the back porch NO LONGER (after all, Winter Snow will be here SOON)!!

It had GREAT bones, just needed cleaning (somebody had used it for a LOT of painting!!), some tightening of it's bolts, polishing of the chrome, and, OH what to do with the seat?!!

While I had A.L.L. the stuff out... there were these two stools that we had bought while out saling s-e-v-e-r-a-l years ago... (and I quote) "Oh, those will be easy to recover!"
I always forget, it isn't a 'difficulty' thing, it's a 'motivation' thing!!
(we have been using these inside - they have NOT been on the back porch!!)

Off to the Attic studio to dig out those two big boxes of fabric that I had been packratting away...
(You know I much prefer being called a 'Packrat' to a 'Hoarder'..., don't really know why,  just sayin'...)

Foam - check!  I picked out six fabrics that would be do-able and gave J the final picks during his lunch break.
Fabric - check!

Ta ~ Da !

This isn't the prettiest...
 yeh, it is better ~ that much is definitely true.
It is The.Comfiest.Evah!!
The Best part?
done.

and....

sweaterclip 2012 #20 .50¢
Most BORING clip award for 2012.  I'm thinking it may become the base for a
SEAGLASS SWEATERCLIP!



HAPPY FALL!

...XXXmas free zone?

Recently, while browsing through my 'usual blog-reads' I realized that it was like a switch had been flipped and things had gone from Halloween directly ALL CHRISTMAS with no thought what-so-ever to that little month in between

 ~ NOVEMBER~ !!

November.  Thanksgiving.  My Birthday.  The end of Autumn.

Not a month to be taken lightly in MY book.  So, I decided that I would make svelteSTUFF an XMAS free zone until 11-27-12! (well, aside from what might appear in the ETSY photo in the side bar...).  BUT, then it happened!

I stopped by a local thrift in search of some PURPLE (or Fall colored) ornaments for a project I have brewing...   WHAT should I find all mashed up flat down in the depths?!?  Oh, it's NOT MY TASTE by any means - but I KNOW that there are a LOT of Pink Tree lovers out there ~ (YOU know who you are ;-)   ,  So I figured I should grab it quick (and if it isn't good for resale I've got a sister-inlaw that I will score SERIOUS brownie points with!! - so one way or another, this THING is Out of MY house!)

Well, anyways, just has to share the PINK, FOO-FOO tree as a parting farewell to XMAS... until we rejoin our regularly scheduled program!!

(OH, and to add insult to injury - I got home and plugged it in - it is a FIBER OPTIC tree none-the-less! 

 'EXTRA SPESHUL'!!)

...twenty-two nickels.

The weekend in review

FRIDAY: ten nickels...

2012 SWEATER CLIP #17 .50¢

 SATURDAY: two nickels...

2012 SWEATER CLIP #18 .10¢

 SUNDAY: ten nickels...

2012 SWEATER CLIP #19 (TRIFARI) .50¢

Sweater clips are not the only 'bling' that I have been bringing home of late... Yes.  It is a sickness.  Sometimes I think that I need to go through a 12-step program, a detox of sorts.  Then I rethink it. WHY? I ask myself.  Most of the baubles in this photo cost .10¢ - .15¢, the most expensive was STERLING and that was $1.00!  I enjoy them. I wear them. I re-create with them.  They don't take up much room to store. It's a win~win... RIGHT?!?!?!!