Prize Drawing! Enter to WIN!

I started my etsy shop today! I think etsy is great! Cheers to all of you who are on etsy and to friends who encouraged me to give it a try!

To celebrate, I am giving away a handmade bag! First: Visit my etsy shop and leave a comment on this blog of your favorite bag along with the title of the bag! Second: Be a follower of my blog if you are not already! If you post your favorite bag and link it to my etsy site on your blog, there is a prize inside the bag! Please let me know if you have posted a bag on your blog! I will post sales and other promotions on this blog!

I will do a drawing on April 1st and it's no April Fool's joke! Thanks!

Enjoy! Fill your day with a Bag of JOY!
The prize drawing will close at 12 pm-- April 1st! Thanks for entering! Good Luck!

Terrific Toile!

Join the party
Here are three ideas for Toile! Enjoy!

Add fun flavor to a wire-framed ice cream parlor chair with toile in fuchsia and white. Add trim around the edges for a finished look.

Bon Appetit, Embellish glass plates with tinted toile patterns to create your own special dinnerware. First, make a color photocopy of a toile pattern in red. Then copy the toile design in mirror image onto transfer paper made for glass. Apply the transfer to the back of the plate, conforming it to the plate's curves with a hair dryer. Bake the plate in the oven to adhere the image to the glass. Remember to not submerge the finished plate in water and always was the front by hand.

Toile Tuffet, Fashion colorful furnishings for the feet by embellishing a do-it-yourself footstool kit with colorful toile. With a yellow background, this toile's accents of red, green, pink and blue add colorful country charm to your decor! Enhance the colors with a complementary checked skirt and upholstered button to create a warm harmony of hues. The following pictures are from Pretty Organized!You will love her blog!

Welcome Home!

Happy National Quilt Day!
As our country looks forward to 2009 with a new president and new hope for our country. The National Quilting Association thought it would be appropriate this year, to devote National Quilting Day, to the home. The housing market is in decline and foreclosures are on the rise, with greater numbers of homeless families to follow."
Check with your local Habitat for Humanity organization for their needs or homeless shelters to receive the completed quilts.

Welcome Home! Check it out!

Hippity Hop..It's Easter On it's Way!

Here is one of my favorite treats for Easter! treats

My little munchkins love to make seasonal treats, especially cupcakes and cakes! Today, as I was reading my email, I was greeted with these lovely little treats from my good friend Betty, you all know her well! Thank goodness for dear Betty!




The coconut cake has been around for many generations and it still brings a smile to my face! I love Betty's simple recipes and creative ideas! Thanks Betty, I can't wait to make these yummy treats! My girls are smiling big!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

Here is a fun little Easter Bunny to make for some yummy treats! Here is the tutorial on how to make it!

Creating Keepsakes

If you like old photos, charms, ribbons, lace, doilies, antique buttons, then you will enjoy creating this classy heirloom! These keepsakes were created by using a domed glass frame, velvet fabrics, or scrapbook paper for the background. The small frames were purchased at Michaels. The photos are reduced childhood pictures of my parents from "days gone by". I chose charms that portrayed their personalities and hobbies. (That was the fun part) Kids can enjoy this fun craft. I made one with my daughter.
My sister in law made these beautiful creations of my grandparents for a family reunion! I have cheirished and loved them! Her talents go far! (double click to see the detail of embroidery and the beautiful craftmanship with the ribbon!)

We have a family reunion every summer, between my brothers and sisters, we all take turns being in charge. We use to have a auction of handmade items to help cover the costs of the reunion. Often, my Mother would make a quilt that was always a big hit! Cheers to Family Reunions! Enjoy!

When Irish Eyes Are Searching ... for Christmas LPs

In March of 2007, I travelled to Chicago sans wife & kids to search through the bowels of Chicago thrift stores, flea markets, and rare record stores to search for Christmas LPs for my collection. This past weekend, I travelled again to Chicago sans wife & kids to do the exact same thing.

Upon learning the news, the Chicago River turned green with envy (keep reading).

My weekend trip began last Friday and I stopped at various flea markets and antique stores along the Lincoln Highway from Fort Wayne to Chicago. I walked away with two Christmas albums (both have been shared out by our friend Ernie (Not Bert) - keep reading).

After getting to Illinois, I went to a thrift store location that two years ago had just opened, had one entire corner of their store reserved for LPs, and yielded a good portion of the titles I shared out last year. Upon my return this year, their selection was reduced to an eight ft. folding table with about 10 milk crates full of LPs. Sadly, I walked away with nothing.

Such was the case at many of the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores that were once my salvation when it came to Christmas LPs. I pressed on to the next location, then then next, and the next only to discover little to nothing for my troubles.

These stores used to have teeming vinyl bins, so fully compact that you couldn't slide your fingers inbetween albums. They are now being replaced by two or three milk crates with a smattering of LPs and only when they are empty will the stores accept more donations of albums. One suburban Goodwill store has not only stopped carrying vinyl for resale - VHS and CDs are strictly forbidden as well.

I was getting majorly depressed. So I decided right then and there to head to the mecca of all Chicago vinyl stores - Beverly Records on Western Ave. I spent nearly 45 minutes going through their nine boxes of Christmas 45s then asked entrance to the backroom and its famous wall of Christmas LPs.

I wrote about this wall in July of 2007 when I posted "A Polka Christmas" by Li'l Wally. Then the wall measured eight feet in height, 12 feet in length. I'm happy to report it's still there and OVERFLOWING onto other temporary shelves. After spending two hours at the wall, I was euphoric and came away with a good pile of albums.

I had originally planned on coming to Beverly on Sunday before I left for home but overheard one of the employees talking about the South Side St. Patrick's Day Parade. This was a March 17th Chicago tradition that I had forgotten about. "You won't even get near the store" was the direct quote.

Indeed, Irish eyes were smiling on my decision to head to Beverly Records that day - still the best place in Chicago for vinyl (thank you Dreznes family!).

On Saturday, I headed into Chicago to visit even more thrift stores and ran into the phenomenon known as the St. Patrick's Day parade and traditional dying the Chicago River green for the day:



This made travelling by car through Chicago miserable thanks to the many streets closed for parade prep and the parade itself. Thankfully, I stayed north of the river and searched through thrift stores there. Again, not much luck of the Irish in the way of LPs or Christmas albums.

I then headed to Laurie's Planet Of Sound in the Lincoln Square section of town. The owner of the store was a former acquaintance of my brother John and I and it was good reconnecting with him again. He did manage to have a good selection of Christmas LPs (including a mono copy of the Three Suns "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas!" for $2) and I walked away with a short stack of LPs.

By now, I was getting tired of driving the streets of Chicago. I needed a pick me up. So I headed over to Nuts on Clark, several blocks from Wrigley Field, and home to the best caramel & cheese corn on the planet. I picked up some gift bags for the wife & kiddies (and a small taste o' my own), and kept driving south on Clark Street.

There are some places in the world that are truly heaven on earth. One such place for me is 1060 W. Addison Street. I have spent many days there with my family and friends. I have encountered joy, heartbreak, misery, anger, hysteria, nausea, and ever-flowing optimism from this corner on the North Side. It's a landmark, it's Valhalla, it's a ballpark. Its name is Wrigley Field:


On this day, Wrigleyville was alive thanks to the hoards of returning residents and tourists fresh off the "L" from the parade, wearing leprechaun derbies and green beads, heading to various bars for more alcohol consumption and mating rituals. Wrigley sleeps knowing that more of the same is coming in under a month when the Cubs return for another season.

I headed west on Addison to a little curio store 3/4 of a block from the ballpark called Yesterday's. It continues to sell old LIFE magazines, movie stills, film posters, vintage memorabilia, and baseball collectibles - a nod to its famous neighbor up the street. I picked up a few magazines that contain vintage Christmas ads that will continue to be a feature here.

After spending a full morning and afternoon in the city, I headed back to my hotel room to nap and get ready for another trip. That night, I spent an evening with Groucho at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, Illinois.



Frank Ferrante is perhaps the greatest Groucho Marx interpreter / impersonator this planet has known since the original Groucho was still smoking cigars. His recent tour brought him to Joliet and I couldn't pass up the chance to take in his wonderful show and laugh again and again at the genius of the one, the only...

I got a great front row seat (thanks Frank!) and watched as Jim Furmston, his pianist, played a rickety, badly out of tune grand piano to perfection. Frank hit the stage, transformed into Groucho, and explained that he was sharing the same stage Groucho, Chico, and Harpo used back in 1935 to fine tune their upcoming movie "A Night At The Opera".

The audience and I had a great time and it was great catching up with Frank and Jim after the show. We exchanged gifts (two vintage Marx Brothers stills from Yesterday's went to Frank - Jim gave me a copy of a children's book he did the music for), more laughs, and danced until the cows came home.

Yesterday morning, I awoke late and went to my final two thrift stores that were on the road to Indiana and home. I came away with nothing thanks to the minuscule selection of LPs both carried.

I stopped at one flea market and found a copy of Spike Jones' "Let's Sing A Song Of Christmas" in fair condition. I asked the elderly vendor for a price and he quoted $15. "Nope, too much money" I thought out loud. The vendor was a wee bit miffed - "That is the book price for that album."

Certain flea marketers strictly go by the book - anything Elvis is always $10 to $15 more expensive than anything else on his ship shod table of treasures. My weekend of trying to find Christmas albums was ending in an argument over a Spike Jones record. It was time to call it quits. Later that evening, I arrived home to many hugs from my family.

Overall, I came home with about 20 albums in total - half of which have already been posted along the sharity network:

(Click on image to enlarge)

Albums pictured from top to bottom (my reviews where applicable):

The Three Suns - A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas (MONO)

Eddie Dunstedter - Christmas Candy (review)

Jan Garber - Christmas Dance Party (STEREO) (review)

Robert John Carwithen - The Bells On Christmas Morn

Lorne Greene - Have A Happy Holiday (review)

The King Family - Christmas With

Thurlow Spurr & The Spurrlows - Christmas: Time For Song (review)

Peter Wood Singers - Jolly Christmas Songs (review)

Andre Kostelanetz - Wonderland Of Christmas (review)

The Holiday Bells - Ring The Bells On Christmas Day


One moment - that "Holiday Bells" album of mine is different than the one I just linked. Hmmm... And my King Family album is in stereo while the linked copy is mono... differences, differences.

So I have several new albums to add to the share stack - which all depends on my schedule with my family, two special projects that are beginning to see the light of day (details will be released when I'm officially able to), and the production of my annual Christmas CD. Wait and see.

I didn't find as many new Christmas LPs like I hoped but the wild Irish ride was well worth it. Thanks you wife and kids for allowing me a few days of R & R - back to the regularly scheduled life already in progress.


Capt