Silver Bella Pics

I didn't take as many pics as usual but I did snap a few with the iPhone. Instead, I had a great time and was caught up in actually enjoying the festivities forgetting to take my camera out of the bag!

Almost done

More Marie pages that I sent out Pre-Silver Bella. I've got some pics to post from Silver Bella and a bunch of new stuff to share but I had a minor injury with my new ceramic knife today - cut a very nice gash across the middle finger of my right hand - and I'm finding it slightly challenging to type and work on the computer. Hopefully these pretties can suffice until the weekend.







Note: I am taking this opportunity to clean up my blog though! I finally figured out the tag thing so that should be a lot less messy in the future.

Silver Bella Day 3

Ok, I skipped day two since I was swept away in the awesomeness that was vendor's night. I've had the most amazing time. It was the perfect weekend to get away, create and recharge. I promise pics and links in the next post. For now, I'm heading to bed early and making my way back to Big D on the early flight out. Ready to be home with hubby and puppies.

Hope everyone's weekend is also greatness.

Silver Bella day 1

I'm loving Omaha & Silver Bella. We had our reception, dinner & group project tonight which was greatness. Stephanie Haliman (?) from Fiskars led our group project and we ended up with a lot of goodies. I've also managed an initial trip to Second Chance antiques so lots of super cool stuff purchased. I'm slightly worried about getting it all home but I refuse to get bogged downin pesky logistics! Now, book & bed since tommorrow is a big day of Gorky goodness including the Vendor Faire. See not worried a bit.

I get to go to Silver Bella ...

And this is what Rolland will be doing while I'm gone.




I figured if I get to have a girly weekend he should be able to have some weekend fun as well. This meant the new Call of Duty game, including night vision goggles, and getting to sleep late.

Happily, I've also got most of my projects wrapped up so I can head off to Omaha guilt free. These are the 12 Days gifts all wrapped up and heading out across the globe.

Brand Spanking new nephew!

Our new nephew was born this am and we're super excited! I can't wait to see pics and see him.

Pie Class

This is me during class. I'd like to say that I, at no point, floured my butt. Instead, I kept getting patted by the instructor who was covered in flour. Also, the instructor never actually read the recipes we were making in class. I found this incredibly uncomforting for successful pie making. The other instructor, who did know how to cook, wore a bat wing top that kept promising to catch on fire at any second. Regardless, Bo (the girl) and I had an awesome time and we both went away with tons of new ideas and cookware. Why waste a 15% off coupon and a le creuset sale?!

More and More Marie Pages

I knew the Marie swap had the potential to get out of control so I've been mailing my pages all along. I did take advantage of a couple of extended deadlines to squeeze in a fewer other projects but now they're almost done! These are two that have been in progress and I've got a couple more in different stages of drying. It's been super fun to spread out and try new things. I feel a little conflicted since I think the idea was to be super romantic and frilly but I've been loving Teesha Moore's stuff more and more so some of these pages just seemed like the perfect place to try some of the graphical elements that are so prevelant in her journals. If you like her work, follow her blog to see some of her awesome videos of her how tos.

I hope everyone's having an awesome weekend and getting in some outside time with this gorgeous fall. In a couple of hours I'll be lunching on the patio with Bo and then hitting Sur la Table for pies & tarts class. Next week is Omaha and Silver Bella! Woo hooo!

Last Weekend's Antique Outing

Apparently, there is a twice yearly antique sale in the design and antique district in Dallas. This was the first my friend Jen and I had heard of it so we promptly scratched other plans and made this our new destination. We've also added a new partner in crime, Bo, not to be confused with Bo, My husband has taken to referring to her as Bo the Girl and since she is delightful and charming she did not smack him. Bo, not the girl and I, are heading here for lunch on Tuesday but I digress.

The other shopping fiends and I met for breakfast here. It's incredibly tasty. In fact, the husband and I are planning to head there for breakfast in a couple of hours. 1. it's super tasty 2. It's my bribe for swinging by the antique store for more Christmas ornaments like these.



Sorry, I digressed. Again. Anyway, after breakfast we headed towards the design district thinking this was where all the sale goodness was happening but not so much. We were not deterred and headed down to Industrial where, in fact, all of the actual sales were happening. I have found a few new places to love like this, and this, and this one. Here are some pics that I didn't take because I was caught up in a vintage ornament/biscuit and gravy coma.

These are some of my other super great finds.




I also found these great dice and pics which are perfect for our guest bathroom. After our major bathroom re-model I was not discouraged (for long) or put off (much) about redoing the guest bathroom. It's mostly Rolland's, and where the puppies get baths, but I really want to do a vintage black and white bathroom even though it's incredibly over and done to death but still, I want my white subway tile! I decided it would help my cause to find some great old items that even he would love.
How could anyone say no to a b&w pic of a fighter pilot and over size vintage dice from Vegas?

Tomorrow, lunch then Pies and Tarts class at Sur la Table. I'll try to be a better blogger and take pics. Even if I am covered in flour with hand prints on my butt, not that this is something that occurs regularly when I'm in the kitchen or anything!

Phoenix

I'm incredibly behind in posting but wanted to share all the goodies from my trip to visit the amazing and lovely Maija in Phoenix. She graciously invited me to stay with her while we went to Terri Brush's class hosted by Melrose Vintage. This is a pic of their gorgeous sign. I love the mix of retro/vintage and shabby chic.


The classes were held in the courtyard of a fabulous house in a lovely neighbor not too far from the Melrose area. All of the houses looked like they were from the 1920's-1940's with lots of character, stained glass with streets lined with palm trees. If I didn't know it could be up to 117 in the summer this neighbor could convince me to relocate. Alas, I'm scared of melting in the summer sun! I'm sticking with lots of visits.


A great pic of me and Maija taken by the lovely Tricia. She had a super cool printer that printed out these amazing pics in different styles including calendars. I've got my eye on a new toy!

The immensely talented Terri Brush, and a weird pic of me. Terri's class was one of my best classes ever. She does a great job of gearing it towards all levels so that beginners and more experienced artists all learned new techniques with everyone taking home awesome finished pieces. Terri and the Melrose ladies also went above and beyond in terms of supplying everyone with anything they might need including finished necklaces from Terri, sweet treats and all the sparkly goodies one might need to finish a piece. If you get an opportunity to attend a class, I can't recommend it enough.

One of my finished pieces - shield bracelet that I've worn 3 times since coming home!

Previously mentioned sparkly goodies!


p.s. For any foodie nerds out there, Maija also took me to the Trader Joe's where I wanted to take home one of everything! I settled on peanut butter, assorted chocolate and some recyclable bags since I can't resist a graphic bag!

p.s.s. Next post, I'll catch you up on this weekend and some of my new favorite shopping haunts. Plus, tomorrow is the premiere of V and I'm super excited as well as a giant geek!

Phoenix

I'm staying with the fabulous Maija and her family while we take a couple of classes hosted by Melrose Vintage. Today was awesome. I learned a few new things, including how to play with the torch! Tomorrow is a bracelet that looks gorgeous! We've even sqeezed in a little shopping. Shocking!
I'll include pics and links in a later post since there are limits to what I can do with my phone! I've added a few pics via Twitter (www.Twitter.com\amyhuff).

Weekend fun

My family came down for the weekend and we had an awesome time. It finally stopped raining and was gorgeous weather with beautiful cloudless blue skies and still chilly at night for a fire on the back patio. We managed to squeeze in some great flea market shopping at third Monday, lunch at Jimmy's, shopping on the square and some tasty goodness from the farmer's market. Weekend greatness.

Spooky Charm Swap

I had a terrific weekend with my family in town. We hit all the fun McKinney has to offer and then some! I'm still working on getting those pics off the card. In the meantime, I've posted some timely pics of my Spooky Charm swap. The idea was to create a charm around our favorite Halloween story or trick or treating experience. For me, I'm a classicist and it's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow all the way. I used a cabinet card that looked the most like a nerdy scarredy cat but kind of sweet - my idea of what Ichabod might look like. Add in a little photoshop help, some vintage wall paper with some fun details like the date the story was first published and you've got yourself a new take on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I love the vintage/retro feel off this one, if I do say so myself! :)

More Creepy Doll Heads

Latest project to get said creepy doll head attached. I love them but the husband is starting to get a little wigged out about where the might show up next. This one is going into the bedroom, or maybe on the bathroom vanity, for extra jewelry storage.

He's advocating that I make some for the etsy shop. He's sure they'll be incredibly popular and I'm betting it doesn't have anything to do with his hope that they'll live somewhere else. :)

Recipe Box

This is a sneak peek of our baby dining room remodel. It was mostly a paint job with some furniture rearranging and some desperately needed accessories updating. But, you can get a glimpse of my old plastic recipe box that I've had for about 14 years. I was on the hunt for a new one and after a week of searching online I finally realized I was crafty and could take care of this myself. After a quick trip to Michael's with my 40% off coupon (Rolland's new nightmare since I make him go through the line with my other goodies) and a bunch paint - throw in some rhinestones and a doll head - then viola my new recipe box. I think she's going to look great on the book case.