Farewell (for now...)

Well, we're off to spend a few days in the sand and a few days with Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

I even managed to make myself a journal so I can record everything as it happens instead of when I get back (especially since last years' spring break memories are shoved in a drawer in my studio still waiting to be glued into a book)

I hope you all have a fantastic Easter and a fun-filled spring break (if you haven't taken it yet!)

A special thanks to Papa for coming all the way to Texas to watch the dogs (I'm so glad our snow is melted and the weather has been somewhat warm...at least "warm" to us Minnesotans!)

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #6

This trash to treasure project was something that I've been planning to do for quite awhile now. We've got these two great big throw pillows that my kids (and my dogs) like to lay on...the only problem is that the covers aren't removable so they can't be washed. And, they're getting pretty beat up as you can see by the hole in the bottom pillow. I got some great spring looking fabric and zippers at my local fabric store and in about 30 minutes I whipped up some adorable (even if I have to say so myself) removable covers.

Now everytime I walk into the family room and see them laying there I say "aren't my pillows pretty?" to whomever is listening...funny thing is I never seem to get an answer. Oh well.

Happy 40-something-ish Birthday to my Big Sis!

My sister posts "happy birthday" messages to everyone in the family on her blog so I thought I'd return the favor (minus her actual age.) Hope you had a good one Lisa!

Over the (Mustard) Moon...

This morning I decided to try my hand at another occasional sale, I know, I know, I'm a sucker when it comes to possible treasures. Anyway, I'm fortunate enough to live in MN where Mustard Moon is located...you may have heard of this quaint little shop...it was mentioned in Flea Market Style magazine (I think Ki said it was one of her favorites) and today was the last day of their three day occasional sale. It really only takes me 10 seconds or so to decide if I like a shop once I step foot through the door and Mustard Moon was no exception. I literally couldn't grab goodies fast enough...good thing Tom was with me to hold all my loot. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been scouring flea markets and antique shops for a vintage sort of hat rack type thingy but everytime I find them they're either too expensive or not truly vintage...look what I found at Mustard Moon!!! Don't you just love how old and crusty it is? (It's really so much more pretty in person!) Tom and I hung it as soon as we got home and now I have somewhere to hang my old buggy wheel...oh happy me!
I found all sorts of old mismatched china, the neatest lamp I've ever seen (sorry I didn't take a picture of that), a banged up old screen window (that had the best price tag ever..."FREE") and all sorts of other to-die-for treasures! (sorry for all the exclamation marks but I'm SO HAPPY!!)

And, as if that wasn't good enough, Jane the shopkeeper is the sweetest person EVER. She and I got along fantastically (and she even let Tom borrow her drill to get things off the wall for me). I left a few things behind that now I wish I had purchased but her next sale is in April so I'll be back (plus the river in Carver is threatening to flood so she didn't bring as many treasures to the sale as she wanted for fear of them getting ruined). In closing, I would like to apologize to all the occasional sales I offended with my not-so-nice post last weekend...I take it all back and I hope you'll forgive me! Seriously...if you are ever in MN during one of Mustard Moon's sales you've got to check it out...SERIOUSLY! Ok...gotta go display all my new treasures, hope you have good luck treasure hunting this weekend too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #5

This week's trash to treasure item is a vintage notions organizer I picked up this weekend in Anoka, MN. It wasn't so bad 'as is' but notice anything amiss? Yep, that's right...the pins decal on the second drawer is upside-down. Oops...wonder who made that fatal error?

Here's a better look at that poor little pins drawer.

1. To begin the transformation I painted everything with a light coat of Apple Barrel acrylic paint in Victorian Green (love that color). After it dried I painted a light coat of crackle medium over the green areas. I used a light coat for smaller cracks...the heavier the coat the larger the cracks.2. After that dried I painted over the crackle medium with another coat of the same Apple Barrel paint.

3. I used little stamped scraps of ledger paper as drawer labels. I hammered little pronged bezels that I purchased from this Etsy store over the stamped labels. It reminds me of an old card catalog.My trash to treasure items are starting to pile up in my studio so I'll be putting this little goodie up for sale in my Etsy shop. If you're interested in purchasing it keep an eye out, I'll try to get it listed this week!

Occasional Sale Debut (and Finale)

I've been hearing a lot of talk about occasional sales and how fantastic they are so I knew I had to check a few of them out. This weekend was the one in particular that everyone was ranting and raving about. It was in Anoka., MN (the Halloween Capital of the World)...one of my favorite cities for junking so the 45 minute drive from our house didn't bother me at all, I was ready for a whole morning of treasure hunting. Tom and I found the "market" and headed in...I knew as soon as we were two steps inside the door that I would be disappointed. We looked around for a minute then exchanged the old "really? this-is-it?" look and left without finding anything we were remotely interested in, it's not that they were selling garbage, it was just household "decorations" you can really find anywhere. Oh well, at least we had four more antique shops to pick through. Shelby and I visited a different occasional sale in Hudson last weekend and found the same disappointment...alas, no more occasional sales for this junkaholic!

The excursion wasn't a complete loss however...Tom found some goodies (I swear he's turning into Frank from American Pickers...seems he's REALLY into tobacco tins lately) and here's my haul (I even found my next Trash to Treasure item!)


The pictures aren't as nice as I had hoped...I'm going to blame it on the gray and gloomy weather we've had the past few days.


I can never seem to have quite enough buttons, especially the ones with rhinestones in the center. All but one of the shops we visted were having big sales, anywhere from 15% - 50% off unless the item was marked "firm".

We got this adorable Googy glass for Matthew who has taken to collecting vintage disney memorabilia.
I couldn't pass up this photograph...the caption reads "Refugees In Line For Red Cross Food." It's apparently from 1928.

I got the cute little jewelry box to hold all my vintage rhinestone jewelry...one of these days I'm going to try my hand at turning some of it into a rejuvenated necklace or perhaps even a bracelet. If any of you have frequented the occasional sale in your area I sure hope you had better luck I did!

Trash to Treasure Tuesday #4

Today's trash to treasure involves this nifty mahogany hinged box I found at....where else?.....Goodwill! The lid has glass one one side with a botanical print tucked underneath. The underside of the lid has a great old mirror and there are two little compartments for treasures inside. The bottom of the box is a piece of glass with a plain old piece of cardboard underneath so it's not very pretty to look at.
I started by cleaning the top glass, the mirror and the bottom glass (it was really dirty!)
Unfortunately there was no way to disassemble the lid without totalling ruining it so all I could do was cover it with floral paper (it slid under the wooden frame rather easily).

Next I tucked some floral trim into the groved frame and added an old photo of my Great-Grandmother Alice...isn't she beautiful? Love this picture...she even made the wonderful feathered hat she's wearing (I hear she was quite the seamstress)

I added a vintage velvet flower and some blue ribbon as a final touch.

Lastly, I took the cardboard off the bottom (it was held on with a few old nails so I removed a few from one side and slid the cardboard out from under the remaining nails.) I tucked a piece of blue patterned paper under the nails then replaced the cardboard bottom and replaced the nails.

And that's it!

Another trash to treasure goodie.

Etsy Store Update

I made a very large photo album titled 18 Birthdays for my daughter, Shelby, as she was turning 18 showcasing a picture from each of her birthdays. The ablum was featured in the Winter 2010 edition of Sew Somerset and since then I've been asked by quite a few readers to custom make one for them. Unfortunately the book was so large, so full of time consuming details and vintage bits and baubles that it took me many many hours to create. Unfortunatley a recreation would have a very undesireable price tag because of all the time and materials involved and frankly, the thought of mass producing them just doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.


So, I came up with an alternative (not sure how warmly it'll be received but)...I've made similar albums with less pages (like ten less) so the materials and time involved were greatly reduced as well. I didn't have enough space on Etsy to show all the pictures I wanted so here are a few more for those interested...

Celebration Paper Bag Album















Shabby Vintage Cardstock Album
















Please feel free to email me if you have any questions!