Gifts of Caterina's Holiday Swap 2011

Caterina just published all of the photos from the Holiday Swap 2011. Now I can show you what I made and sent AND what I received--yay!

I was a little nervous about making minis for the swap, since I'd never made any before, but I decided that challenging myself with this swap would be a good idea. I was right, because it helped me to overcome my fear and just do it.

Most of my supplies came from thrift stores, which is how I prefer to buy things. When I can, I buy used and vintage, to save the earth's resources. I also considered my partner, Stacy from Texas, and what I thought she might like. So I tried to learn about her from her blog.

Here's what I ended up making:

They are items for a little visit to the beach. There's a bamboo roll-up mat, a beach towel, a red polka-dot bikini, flipflops, a beach bag, a sun hat, and a book to read while wearing the bikini. The book is called How to Lose Weight, and it is vintage from the 1970s, from the second dollhouse I recently bought. I also included a couple of tiny shells from my great-grandmother's beads. They are at least 25 years old, and probably older.

Now here are the gifts I received from my partner Erika in Italy:

She made a platter of stuffed tomatoes and a second platter of sliced watermelon with a cut watermelon bowl filled with colorful melon balls. How cute! Erika also included a beautiful hand-written note in Italian with a recipe for making her homemade stuffed tomatoes. How thoughtful! Thank you again, Erika! A big thanks, too, to my friend Savina. Her family is originally from Italy, and she visited my home and translated Erika's letter for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the swap and will look for other opportunities to participate in miniature swaps in the future. I received so many different "gifts" as a result of the swap that I feel it was a big success all around! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Cute Vintage Plush Critter Finds

As many of you know, I love going to thrift stores, estate sales, and flea markets to search for craft supplies, dollhouse miniatures, and fun vintage items. Yesterday I went to my favorite all-purpose thrift store, and look what I found:

It's a cute little plush house with matching plush furniture and a bear family to go with it! I just love the blue and white gingham! The bears look very kawaii (Japanese for cute), don't you think?

Then, a few weeks back, I found this vintage Fisher-Price Toys 1979 squirrel family with an adorable plush log to live in. It even came with the "wood" chair (but not the table, which I found later). What a find! Are they the cutest ever?

"Who are these for?" you might ask. "Are they for a child in your life?" Why yes, they are for my inner child, the little girl inside of me. She squeals with delight when I find these treats. Now I keep them in my craft room, where I can see them and be inspired by them. I hope seeing them does the same for you, my friends. :-) Fun! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Miniature Finds in Cannon Beach, Oregon

Yesterday the weather in Portland was incredible! It was sunny and beautiful and in the mid-60 degrees F. Hubby and I decided it was a perfect day to drive to the coast. It took a little over an hour and a half to get to Cannon Beach (it would have been shorter, but there was some road construction). And again, the weather was glorious!

This photo of Cannon Beach is from the front cover of the Cannon Beach Visitor Map (www.cannonbeach.org). Can you believe I forgot my camera yesterday?! First, we went down to the beach to walk and collect driftwood for a  miniature driftwood bed project I saw on A Little More Minis. Then the only thing on my mind was finding some miniatures!

First, a little background on Cannon Beach. It is a beach town that is close to Portland, Oregon's largest city, and it is known for being a little bit upscale. Higher-end shopping is a big part of the experience in Cannon Beach. So the prices aren't as low as it can be in other beach towns. But still, when I found the shop I was looking for, I was thrilled!

The shop is called The Butler Did It Antiques. That's where I found some lovely vintage miniatures. I walked around the whole shop, until finally, in a basket on the floor, I found some vintage miniature dollhouse accessories. First, a mini set of baby books:

These came with an adorable mini calendar with some Beatrix Potter images. Here's one of Peter Rabbit:

It is printed with the year "1900" on it. Very cute! I've saved the best for last. I found this in a glass case on the check-out table. It's a miniature ironing board, hand made, and signed by the artist!

The iron is mine, also vintage now, since I've had it since childhood (!). Here, the underside of the ironing board is signed Tohill and 10-80 (made October, 1980, I figure).

I don't know anything about this artist. If anyone does, please comment here to let me know! I spent $15 for all these things plus a mini rolling pin for the kitchen. What fun!

As always, I love to hear from you, my dear readers. And I love to have blog friends! I noticed today that I have 40 friends or followers of my blog. I'm so grateful to you all! I've decided that when that number reaches 50 followers, I will announce a giveaway drawing on this blog. So, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this blog can reach 50 followers very soon! :-)

For those who are new to blogs, to become a follower, just look for the picture of the two cute kitties at the top of my blog. Just under the picture, it says "I love new friends!" Click the "follow" button just under that, and follow the instructions. Thanks a bunch! And we'll have a giveaway drawing on Plushpussycat very soon! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

Fun Outing!

There's no doubt about it: spring is in the air! This is a view from my livingroom window. The neighbor's plum tree is in full bloom.

Whenever it's this time of year (first spring flowers, green everywhere, birds singing, rays of sunshine peaking through the clouds), I get the urge to get in the car and go on a fun outing. Yesterday all of my original plans fell through, so I had some time on my hands. I decided to go out to Beaverton, just a few minutes from my home in Portland, Oregon, and hit a few fun places. Hey! My birthday is just around the corner, so birthday money is burning a hole in my pocket too, OK?!

So first I picked up a used book on blogging at Powell's. While there, I came across the cutest section full of Japanese cute kawaii items. You know, things like notebooks, stickers, AND this cute kawaii lunch bag I found! It is woven from 95% post-consumer material (used grain sacks) by BlueQ.

Actually, I'm going to use it as a craft bag that I'll take with me when I attend craft circles around town. Thrill!

OK, next I went over to the Beaverton Goodwill and picked up a 1980's craft book, this surfboard (shown here with one of my handmade frog plushies) for one of my vignettes,

and this ceramic car for another vignette. Check out the fun license plate on this baby! And watch Houndstooth Puppy behind the wheel!

Finally, I stopped over at the Kinokuniya Bookstores (the one inside the Uwajimaya in Beaverton). I looked at so many cute things but finally settled on these fun erasers to add to my collection. I'll use these in upcoming plushy vignettes too!

It ended up being an awesome few hours, and I spent only $21 on the items I show here. Not bad! This spring fever thing only lasts a couple of weeks, so I might as well enjoy it while I can. :-) Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer