The Annual Christmas Dog torture

So this time every year, we drag Boris around and try to get him to pose, so that we can get a photo of him for our Christmas card. First off, he gets upset because we move things around, including his blanket, which normally no one is allowed to touch. He never likes to set still, keeps trying to walk towards me, and always looks in the wrong direction. It takes many shots before I finally get a good one suitable for our card. We grab him when he's asleep, thinking that he'll be kind of groggy and set nice and still, but he's still very fidgety and fussy.
To the left is the 'Oh jeez, not another Christmas card, do I really have to do this?' look
Below is a moon doggie glowy eye shot with his bottom snaggletoof-ums sticking out. The photo on the right shows his enthusiam for the whole ordeal. All attitude, just like a supermodel. He won't throw a cellphone at you, but he will nip at you!



Finally we get lucky and get a few shots to choose from. He still doesn't look very happy though. He makes it look like a Grumpy Christmas!

Cute little crafty trees

Yes, I succumbed to the cuteness and simplicity of these little trees too! I spotted them on a few blogs and you can get a very simple pattern to make them yourself at littlebirds.typepad.com/. There is also a flickr photo group for these little trees too.
I made mine out of some very pretty cut velvet tapestry that came from the estate of Olga Schwenker a few years back. The background of the fabric is a matte gold satin with designs in rich colors of green and burgundy. I stitched some little faux pearls on it and a button on the top. It didn't take long and I did it by hand while I was watching Gilmore Girls (I don't know why I'm still watching it. The Christopher and Luke fight started out good with Luke getting in a great punch, but it ended up pretty pathetic, especially considering they were fighting over flakey Lorelei. And why is Rory crying because those two girls don't want to be her friend anymore? Hey Rory, remember your best friend Lane, the one who is pregnant with twins? Logan shows yet again what a spoiled brat DB he is, but I bet Rory will go back to him next week, saying it was all her fault, like she always does. I use to love this show, what happened?)

Next, I started an altered book of my own. The Vintage Clothing themed round robin that I was involved with is just about finished. We were suppose to run until March, but I should be getting my own book back next week. We had 1 gal drop out because of family illness and 2 girls were given the boot from the group, one because of lateness and one for loosing a members book.
The book that I'm doing on my own doesn't have a theme, just pretty stuff that I like. The first layout was made from copies of some vintage paperdolls that I found online, and a bit of some love-sick poetry that came in a load of vintage that I had bought.

The next two page layout was inspired by a photo from Victoria magazine of a very plush, vintage decorated livingroom. I added some old laces and buttons and trim.


Also, I am a knucklehead. I sent out my Christmas swap and forgot to include my name so that my gal knows who the present came from!

Vintage Fishies Give-Away (and some fabric for me!)

A Vintage Give-Away!
Here is a set of unused plaster fish and starfish by Miller Studio. They are from the late 1960s to early 70s, and are still kind-of in partial box. They are bright yellow and orange, one fish and the starfish are still attached in the box, the other fish is loose. I got these several years ago, I can't remember where though! I've never put them up for sale because one fish does have a line down the front of it that I wasn't sure what is was. But I've put pressure on it and it doesn't seem like a crack, just a mark on the surface, which is very faint. This is a great set for your vintage bathroom or vintage beach house. MAILTO:carol@dandelionvintage.com- to enter the drawing for these fun fishes. A winner will be chosen December 15th.

Next, One day I ran out to two shops to try to do a little Christmas shopping. I only bought 1 present, but I found some great vintage fabrics at an antique shop - for myself! I don't often buy at antique shops, well, because you know that I am cheap. But they were having a sale and I couldn't resist these great 1940s fabrics.
First is a dark blue and white tropical floral plisse. It's only 32 wide by 1-1/2 yards, but I'll make something out of it. Next was a blue, white and chartreuse challis, 4 yards! I'll get a dress and more out of that. Finally is a blue Bemberg rayon chiffon with white and lavender flowers, another 4 yards of that, which will be another cute dress for me! Now I have to track down a few cute 1940s patterns.


I also bought two large pieces of a grey print rayon and a 1950s Waverly hollyhock decorator fabric, which I will be reselling on the website in a few weeks.

On Thursday, the weather was really nice, so we took Boris over to the beach for a swim. He is more interested in walking around peeing and sniffing than swimming though. He'll go into the water a little bit, bite a few little waves, and then try to make a beeline to the dunes. I took a video of him at the beach, I'll have to put some of it online so that I can torture my blog readers!

Bye for now, Carol