Frivolous flea frenzy

No dandier way to dally away a placid sun-baked afternoontidethan to sift and scour for charm-oozing time-honored knick knacksto further spiff up the LAbode.

Handcrafting sessions are lovelier together

I fancy lolling about in the LAbode on resplendent weekend morns, particularly whence a chummy gal pal pops in to mollify a crafting itch.'Tis a legit blessing to have chanced upon an LAbode with a nifty nook primed for crafty endeavors as I was a tad disheartened at the formidable prospect of bidding adieu to my playground. More snapshots of the new homey home coming to a post near you.Byproducts of a handmade session: raw-edged vintage button topped fabric florato doll up the dear friend's 'doand her arm, inspired by the loveliest and craftiest mama ever.

Evocatively European

I've still yet to capture snapshots of the new LAbode's entirety, but behold, a lackadaisical glimpse at one of my most favored pieces: a crinkled pictorial plan of Paris. Dolled it up reminiscent of a then-classroom map by sewing on a felt top border and hung up with brown and white baker's twine. Finished it off by attaching brown kraft string to dangle from the bottom with a bow-tied vintage skeleton key.Whensoever mine eyes fall upon it, my memory stirs of the perfectly peachy Parisian stopover during the EuropEpic those many moons ago.Now I've the hankering for some macarons. Preferably pistachio-flavored.

Our stories

'Tis been lovely to be able to craft a bit of late. I haven't whipped up bitty notebooks since Christmastide, so for a lovely chum's birthday last week, a handmade notebook entitled "Our stories of your story" materialized, featuring a vintage linen cover sewn onto recycled cardstock liningwith a hand-stamped title alongside a cheery fabric heart.The inside front cover encases a bounteous bulk of graph paper pagesand a sewn mini calendar with her birthdate subtly highlighted adjacent to a cross cutout to symbolize the gift of another year of life granted by He who is the giver of all good gifts.Compiled upon the graph paper surfaces are our stories of her story (of how He has used her friendship with us for good),finished off by a superimposed teeny manila envelopewith a salutation penciled within. If only there were more hours in the day to allocate to crafting...it'd be grand to resurrect the shop!