Toms Shoes, Part 3

As some of you know, I am slightly obsessed with Toms Shoes.  This tartan pair from my friend Judy is still my favorite:

Of course I'm always on the lookout for new ones.  I love these Madras Toms:

How cute are these green plaid with faux gold tassels?

I wrote a  post entitled Toms, Part 2 (here) about a pair of shabby chic Toms that Rachel Ashwell designed.  I was distraught because the shoes had sold out and I couldn't find a pair except on eBay, where the seller was price gouging!

But then I found a fabulous pair on Etsy (here) which I like even more than Rachel Ashwell's:

Today I was at Hobby Lobby when I stumbled across this pair of Toms knock-offs.  For $9.99 you can buy and decorate them yourself.  Not a bad idea!

But life happens...

After searching for my size all these years, I've changed my focus.  There's a new kid in town:

We have the baby....now we need the Baby Toms!

There's a New Blog in Town!

Garden Gate by Gigi

I must tell y'all about a wonderful blog that has recently made its debut in the blogging community.  

Trained as a graphic designer, Gigi has branched out into many other fields since college.  Interior design, custom-made lamps and finials, gardening, name branding, clothing design, artist extraordinaire...You name it, she can do it.  As you can tell from her painting Garden Gate above, she is extremely talented.  

Gigi's latest endeavor is a humorous and informative blog named The Girl with the Flying Stripeze.

Isn't her banner awesome?  Of course she designed it herself.  I'm telling you, this girl is GOOD!

I've known Gigi for quite a while, and I never cease to be amazed at the things she can do.  Replacing the heating element on her dryer, creating a beautiful mosaic tile design on an antique bird bath, remodeling her kitchen almost single-handedly (her husband "Paco" helped her with this one), re-tarring a leaking roof or preparing a gourmet meal - these are just a few of her many accomplishments.  Believe me, there are many more.  Not only will Gigi offer clever tips and ideas for amazing projects on her new blog, she will show you how to do them "on a shoestring budget."  What could be better than that?

So I hope all of you will follow and like The Girl with the Flying Stripeze, because not only is Gigi creative and funny...she's my little sis!

Everyone can always use a little lipstick!

Oh, It's Nothing....No, really, it's NOTHING!

A few days before Christmas, I came home to find this charming little package waiting for me:

I knew it had to be from someone who knew me well; the good thing about being obnoxious about my obsession with tartan is that no one forgets it.  

I looked at the card and saw that it was from 
my dear friend Deborah.  
Um........ should I wait until Christmas Day 
to open it?  Definitely not; I'm an instant gratification kind of girl.  So I tore into it.

Wow, it just kept getting better.  Was that a Neiman Marcus box peeking out at me?  Yes, please.

You just can't help but recognize the iconic logo of one of the world's most famous and luxurious department stores.  What could be in it?  A tasteful gold bracelet set with a few small  diamonds?
  


Maybe a small Herend piece in my favorite blue fishnet pattern; Deborah knows I collect that.  

A gift card so that I can finally buy those Chanel flats that I've been lusting over for years?

As I opened the box, I wondered why the tissue was a bit wrinkled.  Not quite up to Neiman's standards, but that was okay.  After all, it was Christmas and even Neiman's occasionally cuts corners.

Much to my chagrin delight, I saw that Deborah had gotten me something that was very near and dear to my heart:  a wonderful addition to my ever expanding tartan tin collection. This gift was much more thoughtful than a silly old bracelet or piece of china or pair of over-priced shoes.  This gift showed that Deborah really put some thought into my Christmas present:

So there it sits on top of my refrigerator in the laundry room.  Fits in perfectly, don't ya think?

 Thanks, Deborah!

Late to the Party

Due to unforeseen circumstances, i.e., a whole week went missing between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have only recently completed the Christmas 2013 decorating of my house.  Here are a few photos of what's been going on at Tartan Terrace lately.
  

I decided to use nutcrackers this year to decorate my Welsh dresser.   I've been working on a knock-off of a $395 MacKenzie-Childs nutcracker but didn't get it finished in time.  Here's the original:



Hopefully I'll have it finished by Christmas 2014.  Unfortunately I have the attention span of a goldfish, so who knows?  

This is looking into the foyer from the living room/study:

This is looking in the opposite direction towards the dining room:

We had a small dinner party and I decorated with tartan ad nauseum:

I put my Staffordshire dogs on the lower shelf of the Welsh dresser.  Can you tell which is the new one from Anthropologie that's a cookie jar? (Here's the link.)

Apparently felt stocking kits were popular back in the day.  This is mine; considering how old it is, it's in pretty good shape:

This is my Staffordshire snow village.  It's on a shelf above my computer:

My thanks to Alison over at The Polohouse for introducing me to beautiful, glittery snow here.  

And finally, here's the little Windsor child's chair that I bought at an estate sale a few years ago.  It's awaiting the appearance of our first little grandbaby, due any day now.  So excited!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a 
good-night!

Decorating for Christmas: Lots of Tartan in the House!

When I learned recently that Alison at The Polohouse was featuring Christmas decorating with plaids and tartans at her  "Favorites on the First" linky party, I knew that I just had to join in.  While these images are from Christmases past, we all know that tartans and plaids are timeless.  

The above image of the deer is on my Welsh dresser.  I have several posts on acquiring my dresser, but I'm having trouble with broken links.  Will try to fix it later.  Here are a few more photos of my dresser, all ready for Christmas:

 The following is a knock-off of Alison's SNOW GLOBE:

My front door is ready to go:

While not specifically tartan, here are the Christmas stockings that I spent YEARS making!

I'm so happy that I'm going to be starting a new one soon for our first precious little GRANDBABY!

Here's a wonderful nutcracker from MacKenzie-Childs that I'm getting ready to attempt to knock-off.  Because the M-C nutcracker is priced at $395.00, I'm hoping I can save a few pennies if I do my own:

I've been adding to my tartan ware collection and know it will fit in perfectly somewhere in my house:

And lastly, since I've gotten slightly off-track anyway, I'd like to show you my latest pair of tartan shoes:

Thanks to Sarah at HYACINTHS FOR THE SOUL for giving me a heads up about these shows on the Saks website.  Love 'em!

A Great Find

I was recently at a thrift store donating some things that my husband and I no longer needed.  Of course, after my donations I had to do a little shopping.  That's my motto:  Get rid of some junk wonderful items and replace them with more junk wonderful items.  

I really wasn't expecting to find anything amongst all of the 1970s avocado green crockpots and the eight-track tape decks.  

So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I came across this little baby:

I couldn't believe it.  Then I did a "double take" when I saw what was inside:

I've been needing a bowling ball all of these years, and now I had the chance to own one.  The best part:  Priced at $5.99 for both the bag and the ball, the store was having a 30% off sale.  So I bought it all for only $4.19.  Wowza!

After I sent Sis a photo of my extremely exciting purchase, she sent me a pic of this:  

Who knew that there's a cleaner made specifically for bowling bags and balls?  It just keeps getting better!

Toms Shoes, Part 2

Woven Giraffe Tiny Toms Shoes


Some of you might remember a post I did about a year ago on Toms Shoes HERE.  (I don't know why this happens, but if you click on the link and view my old post, most of my photos of Toms have disappeared and the little icon that shows a question mark "?" in a blue box has taken their place.  Can someone please explain why this happens?)

ANYWAYS (as my daughter used to say), I discovered how comfortable, inexpensive and cool Toms were and have been buying them ever since, a pair here and a pair there.  The post mentioned above debuted my absolutely awesome pair of tartan Toms, which my friend Judy brought back to me from Costa Rica:

While this tartan pair is still my favorite, I've come across a few more that I'm trying to convince myself that I can't live without.

When I saw this madras pair of Toms on their website, I became weak in the knees:

Toms are so chic that even Neiman Marcus carries them.  This pair is an N-M exclusive:

Neimans also has Toms in a sequined camo number:

They're not really my taste, but interesting nonetheless.

Of course the haute couture designers had to jump on the bandwagon and do their knock-offs.  Chanel calls these their "Espadrilles," but they sure look like Toms to me:

For $900.00, you, too, can have your own pair of Toms knock-offs by Chanel!

But here is where my Toms story takes a dark turn.  As I was mindlessly perusing the internet the other day, I happened to run across this pair of Toms.  I knew instantly that I MUST have them:

Toms Shoes collaborated with Rachel Ashwell of Shabby Chic fame and came up with this adorable design.

Unfortunately, it was a limited edition and they sold out almost immediately.  This was back in February, 2013.  I was dismayed that I hadn't heard about them at the time.   

Remembering that almost anything can be found on eBay, I immediately started looking there.  And yes, I found them:

There they are.  Just what I wanted.  I was so excited.  I had found them.  

But wait!  Remember when I said above that one of the attractive things about Toms was their inexpensive price tag, usually between $45.00 and $55.00? 

Well, this eBay seller has set the starting bid at $189.00.  Price gouger!  Blood sucker!  Greedy rapscallion!  It's unconscionable….  How can they live with themselves?

So unless I happen to run across a pair of these Shabby Chic Toms at an estate sale (highly unlikely), I guess I'll just have to dream on about them and their stellar cuteness.  

In the meantime, if you stumble upon a pair in size 7.5, let me know ASAP.  I'll write a feature post about you and how you saved Miss Tartan Terrace from years of despair about the Toms that got away.