Christmas in July

It's been "Hot, Hot, Hot!" up here in the High Desert of Southern California.  Yet our summer here has been nothing short of mild compared to the rest of the country which has dealt with humidity on top of recording breaking temperatures.  Makes a girl swoon, unless she loosens the string on her corset and breaks out an ice cold lemonade and her feather fan.

Speaking of cold....think winter...welllll, maybe not.  How about just Christmas then? Maybe that's a challenge too,  with our economy being so tough right now.  It's hit all of us hard.  I've got an adult child that just moved back home due to job loss so I understand what it is to hunker down and pinch pennies.

Good news though, for those of you wishing to not only get a head start on the holiday cheer...c'mon now.....not drudge.....CHEER!  There's always someone who needs that cheer and probably has it worse than you or I do.   So my good news is this:  It's Etsy's annual Christmas in July sale and it is going on site wide until July 25th!  

Never heard of Etsy, neither had I until about 3 years ago.  It's a great site that has many vendor/artists, vintage sellers and craft suppliers offering their wears and services.  Link to Etsy HERE:    Once there type in Christmas in July in the search bar and all shop listings participating in the sale will come up.  You can search Handmade, Vintage, Supplies or All.  You can also just type the initial CIJ and get the same results.  Discounted items are to be found aplenty here and other incentives such as free shipping should help you out as well.

Another tidbit that I'd like to tell you about if you are passionate about vintage is a place on the Ning network called The Vintage Village . Do you sell vintage or antiques of any kind?  We are a clearinghouse, educational and promotional site for you.  Basic membership if FREE(such a deal!!)  and allows you to have your own page where you can post links to your shop, a bio, widgets and much more.  We are a vibrant and exciting community that loves to share knowledge and have fun around our passion.  Check us out, we are 1200 strong and growing.

Do you love collecting costume jewelry like I do?  Among my favorites are the pieces designed and produced by the Pennino Bros.  They were made to look like the real thing.  The craftsmenship is so inspiring!  Remember, costume jewelry was considered throwaway jewelry so it is amazing that there are many examples still around today to tickle our fashion sense.  Many of the early costume jewelry outfits employed immigrants from all over Europe.  While working within their home countries many of these skill artisans designed and produced FINE jewelry.  So, it's no small wonder that those skills permeated the craftmanship and artistic merit of these pieces that have withstood the test and environs of time.

A great resource for love of costume jewelry aside from the many book available from Krause and other publication houses is the Costume Jewelry Collectors International, or CJCI.  Pamela Wiggins and Melinda Laird have teamed up with their staff to produce a quarterly magazine for their members.  The mag itself is a collector's item.  Each month has a feature story usually highlighting a company or artist great from the world of costume jewelry past.  Posted in the back is a list of members and their contact info.  Advertising is being accepted and is reasonably priced; as little as 25.00 USD.  The magazine is beautiful with lots of photos, each page is glossy from cover to cover a truly professional effort by these two fabulous and kind ladies.  Vist them on FACEBOOK: just type in CJCI in the FB searchbar.  There is where you will obtain further information on becoming a member and will then have access to the forums posted within their own NING network.

Well, I am about to venture out into the heat and check on tomatoes and squash.  Hope that you've found today's post helpful and that you'll stop by to visit me either on Etsy or ArtFire.

wishing you joy and contentment in what you already have,
HDRose