Announcing the Spear of Summer Grass book giveaway winners

Happy Monday evening greetings, my dears, can you believe that we're already into the last week of May? Where on earth did this month zoom off to at the speed of light and then some?

Though there were some long moments for me, overall it was pretty darn speedy, very much including the last week, which included a giveaway post that offered up two copies of author Deanna Raybourn's captivating new novel A Spear of Summer Grass.





This giveaway was a touch different that most that we've held here before, because it involved having two prizes (copies of the same book) to bestow on two lucky winners: one from Canada or America, the other from anywhere else in the world.

The North American winner will receive their copy directly from the publisher, the international winner will receive their from me (the publisher will be mailing it out to me very soon, and I in turn will send it to you as soon as it reaches me - that book will definitely be logging some major frequent flyer miles! :)).

Using a random number generator (separating the North American commenters from the international ones and drawing from the total number of comments in each of those two groups), the following two winning comments were selected.


North American winner: Jill from Tea with the Vintage Baroness

International winner: Erika from Swingin' it in vintage


Happiest congrats, ladies! I'm thrilled for you both and hope that you enjoy this lovely page turner that's set in 1920s Africa as much as I did. Please email me anytime with your mailing address so that I can pass it along to the publisher (for Jill) and post out the other copy (to Erika).

I really appreciate all of the comments that poured in for this fun giveaway - which, interestingly, was the first one we've held in more than four years of this blog's life for a book (I highly suspect it won't be the last though).

Fear not if your number was drawn this time around, I have (at least) three more giveaways slated for the coming summer months, so there will plenty of other chances for you to potentially land a great vintage related prize of your own in the coming weeks.

How I store my stud earrings

A place for everything and everything in its place has always been a guiding motto in my life. I love - one might even go so far as to say "crave" - organization and delight in finding storage solutions that range from plain and practical to fun and creative for all of my collections. I like to think that the approach outlined in this post falls into both of those categories.

Like approximately 10% of the population, I'm allergic to nickel (highly allergic), which means that all of the earrings I make or buy, have to be nickel-free. At various times in my life, these have been easier to find then others, but over the years I've amassed a wonderful little collection of earrings that I can safely pop in any time, anywhere without the slightest worry of a bad case of contact dermatitis breaking out.

As my collection of stud earrings in particular grew, I began to feel like I needed a better way to store them than the perforated metal earring storage hanger I'd bought several years back from Claire's (it's very cute, don't get me wrong, and I still use it to house some of my hoop and dangle earrings, it just wasn't the most convenient method of storing multiple pairs of studs).

At first I tried stringing them onto a long strip of twill, which looked cute, but wasn't overly practical (and eventually the twill began to break down and get little holes in it and removed and replaced the earrings time and time again).

Next I tried miniature ice cube trays - an idea I recalled reading on a beauty forum some years back - the only problem was, the wee ice cube compartments were so tiny, that (even having fairly small fingers) it wasn't always easy to fish the earrings out, or to see them all at once glance (unless they'd all been arranged facing upwards).

It was while I was cross stitching one afternoon last year that the idea struck me, why not use a tightly woven cross stitch cloth or similar fabric to house my stud earrings. Scurrying to the linen closet, I found just what I was looking for in the form of a cute pale blue woven cotton napkin I'd picked up for something like a dollar at a Fabric Land clearance sale a few years back.





A couple pairs in, and I instantly knew this was the stud earring storage method I'd been searching for!

As you may recall from posts such as this one, I've always been keen on organizing things in a rainbow pattern, which I did with some of the types of stud earrings that I have here. All of them were grouped like with like, regardless of colour, and are instantly visible (and super easily accessible) at a glance.





This woven napkin measures about 14 inches x 10 inches and even with quite a few pairs of earrings on it, still still plenty of room for my collection to grow and expand, as  you can see (and should it ever blossom beyond this napkin, I'll just start a second one).

When not in use, I fold the napkin into quarters (it could just as easily be rolled as well) and tuck into a tiny drawer in the counter of our en suite bathroom, where it takes up about the same about of space as a small stack of folded handkerchiefs at most (it's also super lightweight, which makes it an ideal way to take my stud earring collection with me while traveling).





I know that many of you love to collect and wear stud earrings as well, so I thought it was high time I shared this wildly easy, incredibly inexpensive, and massively quick (you can't beat that trio!) method of storing smaller sized earrings.

You could also use a woven fabric like this for dangly earrings as well, just be careful to space them out so that they aren't as prone to tangling, if you're planning on folding or rolling your napkin or piece of cross stitch fabric up.




As mentioned above, I still use my perforated metal earring storage hanger (pictured above), these days, however I reserve it for dangly and hoop earrings, as well as a a few necklaces and one of my favourite floral brooch/hair clips (which you may recall from this spring 2012 apple orchard outfit post).

If you've been trying to find the ideal approach to storing your stud and smaller sized earrings, I encourage you try this woven cloth method out. You could always take things a step further and attach some pretty ribbon, lace, sturdy rickrack, or seam bidding to the top of your fabric as well and then hang it as a decorative (and highly functional) way of displaying your earrings on a wall or the inside of a wardrobe/closet door as well.

So at long last my collection finally has a proper place when it can be seen and utilized in a glance, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Here’s to the hope that you enjoy many years of happy earring collecting and well organized storage now, too!

Flickr Favourites: May 24, 2013

{Elizabeth Arden 1948 ~ Captain Geoffrey Spaulding}

{Vintage button bouquet ~ whimsylove}

{1950s blush pink mohair cardigan with flower applique ~ Small Earth Vintage}

{1940s Ads - The Pink Bathroom ~ DominusVobiscum}

{Woolies in Wyoming: Hasselblad study #4 ~ manyfires}

{Rolls of pastel washi tape ~ Holly Pickering}

{1959 pink coral underwear ~ april-mo}

{Vintage Flower Pin Lot ~ Picnic by Ellie}

{Vintage Lot of Pastel Tea Cups and Saucers ~ By SwirlingO}

{1930...beauties in pastels ~ x-ray delta one}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on its title to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}



Warmth and light surround us once more. For most, the days of shiver-inducing winds and unendingly long feeling hours of winter darkness are fading into a distant memory. Summer is starting to round the bend, coming into sight like an endurance marathon running breaking across the horizon. It's a joyful time, a light-hearted period between the rains of early spring and the parched dog days of summer that makes one's soul gleeful and where the promise of many months of sunlight ahead is all one needs to smile.

A long-winded spring is not something that Canada is famous for. It often arrives late and surrenders to summer just a touch to easily. These days, where flowers bloom by the millions, breezes take on a toasty twinge once more, and the weather isn't quite so warm yet that you feel like you're on the cusp of melting, are amongst my very favourtite of the whole year. They're the springtime equivalent to that magic period of golden light and in-between temperatures that (if you're lucky) befalls one in late September and early October.

This is the season for full-skirted sundresses, mountains of strawberry shortcake, camping trips, first daring plunges into the lake (where the waters still feel far more arctic than Caribbean), barbeque feasts, and yard sale after gloriously fun yard sales. These enchantingly lovely days will not last long, and I'm well aware of that fact, which only makes me adorn, and yearn to get the most out of them, all the more.

Hard as it is to believe, there's only one more little week left in May. By this time next week, we will have already unshed in June, which - with any luck - will still be balmy and gentle for at least a little while longer.

Cherish these late spring days, delight in their jovial spirit, and run - don't walk - to some of those aforementioned yard sales this weekend! :)