This, That and the other.

THIS:

Time for another STARS SALE!  Four full days: Friday, January 18 – Monday, January 21, 2019.  This sale is called their ‘Haggle Sale’.  Many vendors will be on hand to bargain with you on the price.  Everything in both of my booths is HALF OFF during the sale.

STARS IN OPEN 11AM – 6PM, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

THAT:

I am no longer selling my items at the Pink Door in Aurora, Oregon.

THE OTHER:

I finally have carpal tunnel surgery for my left hand scheduled for the end of this month, January 29th.  I’ve been ‘stuck in no crafting mode’ for months now because my left hand constantly goes numb, and my hand brace is no longer helping.   Since I need both hands to type, I will probably not be posting much in my blog or on Facebook for a couple of weeks afterward.

~::~

I took some additional inventory in for both of my booths this week, in preparation for the sale.  Here’s a peek:

I found some fabulous Jane Austen post cards, with very witty and surprisingly relevant quotes on them.  I’ve framed several of them (as shown above) for use as unique decorative pieces; and I also have ‘just the post cards’ available for purchase.

Several vintage cherubs have taken up residence in my booth for Valentine’s Day decor.

Both free-standing cherubs and ones that can hang on the wall.

I added some more hand stitched hearts.  Many are not ‘Valentine specific’ and could be used year round.  Coordinated sets of them in everyday colors are packaged and ready to fill your favorite little bowl.

Lots of glass cloches, wire cloches and glass containers make perfect displays for a few little hearts too.

Valentine banners and signs.  The one banner that is tied up in a bundle is 8′ long!!  Too long for me to hang for display in my booth; but perfect size for a party!

Happy shopping and SAVING!!

Time for Valentine Decor . . .

Yes, it’s still a little early to decorate for Valentine’s Day, but I hate that ’empty decor feeling’ between Christmas and Valentine’s Day.  So I stock my Valentine goods in my booth right after I take down all the Christmas.

Here’s a peek of what I’ve added to my booths at Stars so far.

I haven’t done PINK for some years, and admittedly I went a little overboard on the pink.  Pink felt hearts.  Little pink chairs.  Pink LOVE banners.  Pink mini mannequin.  Pink Love potion bottles . . .

These aqua hearts were hand made using a vintage chenille bedspread.

  Tea stained muslin cudid dolls with vintage sheet music wings.

Rustic wood hinged hearts and shutters.  Grubby ‘nekkid’ dolls.

Hand stitched red felt hearts with muslin ‘words of love’.

Lots of ‘smalls’; heart ornaments and Valentine cards made using vintage images.

~::~

Stars is open 7 days a week.

11am – 6pm.

My booth at Stars Antique Mall

I know I’ve been posting a LOT about the upcoming Rebel Junk Marketplace in Hillsboro, Oregon; and seemingly doing nothing BUT prepare for the show.  But I have still been adding new inventory to my booth at Stars every week, as I always do.  Here’s a little peek at some of the recent additions:

LOVE these little Valentine gift ‘bags’ that I upcycled.

I’m really not certain if ‘gift bags’ is the right thing to call them.  They are more like little ‘boxes’ made out of lightweight cardboard.  I have no idea what I originally intended to do with them when I bought them; or even when or where I bought them in the first place.  But they were in my Valentine supply box and I decided it was time to ‘use them or lose (donate) them’.  I’m in serious paring down mode so that I don’t need to rent a storage unit anymore.

In the top left picture you can see what they originally looked like.  I only covered them with the old dictionary page on 3 sides.  (trying to keep it a ‘quick and easy’ project!)  Then I glued a strip of pink ribbon along the top and tied it in a knot.  Then I added some little scrapbook embellishments . . . just whatever I had on hand.  I was going to add a piece of tissue paper to give them some ‘oomph’ and keep them looking nicely fluffed up; but thought I see if paper doilies would work.  Just the perfect little extra touch.  These are available in my booth at Stars for $1.00 each.

These red cones were leftover Christmas trees from LONG ago.  (I think clear back when we had our shop!)  I had filled them with cello bags of wrapped candies in the past and added a chenille handle.  I had a package of ‘hearts on a stick’ and put two in each cone along with some paper shred (I ‘blend’ my own paper shred) then tied on a tag that I printed with some bakers twine.  The tag reads “Forever, for always and no matter what.”  I only had three of these, so I displayed them on the little black wire shelf along with the little gift bags.

I had bought some of these ‘honeycomb’ hearts a while back to use for display, but decided to go ahead and sell them this year.  I opened up one of them, and left the other two ‘flattened’ for easier transport.

For some reason I had the ‘lid only’ of this old heart shaped box.  I added some embellishments and made it into a wall hanging.  The ‘arrow’ on the box was made from the one extra ‘heart on a stick’ leftover from the cones.  (there were 7 hearts in a package) I glued some cardboard on for the tip of the arrow and glittered it to match the heart end.  Used some leftover red Christmas ribbon to glue all around the edge of the box and tied it into a bow at the top.

Then I tied on a little ‘True Love” tag, which I printed myself; with baker’s twine.  really trying to keep my upcycles ‘simple and quick’ so I can price them lower; so they will hopefully SELL faster!

A couple of upcycled mini Valentine themed mini mannequins.

Vintage Ironstone bunny covered casserole dish, and an English gravy boat with attached liner.  I especially like the ones that have the liners attached like this one does.

Some ‘Love Potion No.9’ upcycled bottles.

Some cool newly found hobnail Milk Glass containers.  (and a few more that I am taking in tomorrow!  I’ve been finding a lot of the hobnail Milk Glass lately.)

Upcycled jar lantern with tea stained lace and rusty tin heart.  A big ole tub of letters to spell out just about anything your heart desires!

Upcycled apothecary jars and vintage and upcycled medicine bottles.

PLENTY of hand stitched and stuffed felt hearts still.  (there will be some of each of these colors/styles at the Rebel Junk Market too!)

Stars in open 7 days a week; 11am – 6pm.

Time for another great SALE at Stars Antique Mall!

They call this one their ‘Haggle Sale’.  Many dealers are on site during the sale dates, and welcome haggling for better prices on the items in their booth.  I am not personally able to be there during the sale, so I just offer 50% off EVERYTHING IN MY BOOTH during the sale.  It’s a great time to grab that piece you’ve had your eye on for a while now!

THE SALE RUNS FRIDAY, 1/12 – MONDAY, 1/15, 2017.  HOURS 11AM – 6PM

I just stocked lots of new inventory, including Valentine gifts and decor.  

LOTS of different colors and styles of hand stitched felt hearts, in various sizes.  Prices start at $3.00 and go up to $29.00, with a median price of $5.00.  Most of them with little ‘words of love’ added to them; but also some ‘not Valentine specific’ hearts that could be used year round with vintage buttons or just simple embroidered designs.

Other vintage and upcycled Valentine items too.  ALL 50% off during the sale.

LOTS of furniture too; mostly white and aqua / turquoise.  ALL 50% 0FF during the sale.

And, as always; lots of vintage Ironstone dishes, vintage Milk glass dishes and vases and frames.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

HAPPY SAVINGS!

One last Valentine craft!

I thought this flat back ‘half bottle’ was interesting and would led itself to an interesting alteration.

My initial thought was to decorate the flat side; then I had this idea!

I glued some paper to the flat side with the design facing toward the INSIDE of the bottle.

It’s quite IMpossible to photograph it well because the flash glares on the glass in the front.  You’ll just have to trust me that it looks pretty cool when you see it in person.

I really did try taking pictures from EVERY angle!  You can at least SEE the paper in this one (it just has some scribbled writing on it.)

Still trying to get the ‘perfect picture’!  To no avail!

I did the flat glass things on top of this one.  BUT I had to use three of them, because the neck on this one was very concave, so I glued (e6000) the first one curved side down.  Then the second one ‘flat side to flat side’, then a small one on top.

Tied on a little key with some sheer white ribbon.  Made this one all white, so I can leave it out AFTER Valentine’s day.  Would make a cute little wedding or anniversary gift, no?

You can see the topper better in this picture.

And that is the last of the Valentine themed items for me.  My Valentine craft supplies have been packed up and taken to the storage garage!

Time to start on spring the Easter things!

LOVE and Bliss banners

Time for some ‘Valentine’ themed banners.

~::~

~::~

I just learned that these are called ‘swallow tail’ shaped banners.  Backing of vintage sheet music, vintage dictionary page rosette, black paper with gold dots scalloped edge circle and gold letters with bling!

~::~

~::~

I just happened to find these letters in a single package, as opposed to having to dig out the letters I need from an alphabet set then try to figure out what to do with all the leftovers!

Decided to try a super simple one.

Just the sheet music triangle banner and letter.

What do you think?  Too plain?  Other ones too much?

Fancier bliss.

~::~

Pink bliss!

Hand folded crepe paper for the pink.

Pink love banner.

Pink crepe paper rosette topped with small dictionary page rosette.

~::~

Swallow tail banner of vintage sheet music, tea stained paper doily, dictionary page rosette, kraft paper oval then letter.

And a PARIS banner, just for fun!

Tea stained paper doily topped with white crepe paper rosette with tea stained edges, dictionary page round, small scalloped edge round, letter.

All of these have gone to my booth at Stars.

***  Forgot to mention that all the banner bases have been mounted to cardboard backing for stability.

Love potion No. 9 bottles

Time to get the Valentine goodies into my booth st Stars.  

Needed some new “Love Potion No.9” bottles.

Just rifled through my bottle stash and selected assorted shapes and sizes.

Used some vintage sheet music in the background and labels hand stamped on tea stained paper.

None of these particular bottles had lids or corks.  In the past I have covered the tops with paper or cheesecloth, then wrapped string around the necks.  Wanted to do something different this year, so I glued on round clear flat mosaic pieces. (they look like flattened marbles!)

Used my trusty e6000 to glues the glass tops on, and tacky glue for the paper labels.

Wrapped the necks with whatever scraps of paper I had that coordinated and tied some just around it and added a little key charm.

I really tried to make each bottle unique; did some labels vertically.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but the label backing on this one is a half round as the bottle flares out a bit.

This ended up being my LEAST favorite!!  And initially it was my favorite bottle; such a pretty shape!  But that pretty shape made it very difficult to glue a label on!  Live and learn!  Save the shapely bottles for a different project!

Another vertical label.

On some of the necks I added a lot of string, just a little on others.

After letting my e6000 cure overnight, I decided to add another smaller piece on top!

All of these have gone to my booth at Stars.

Sheet music leaf wreaths – TUTORIAL.

I’ve been in the mood to work with vintage sheet music a lot lately I guess.  I’ve done the banners with it, covered the reindeer with it . . and made these new wreaths with it.

I actually keep boxes of leaf shapes that I have pre-cut ‘on hand’, so when inspiration strikes I can start creating right away.  I like to have something to do in the evenings when I watch TV.

Cutting out the leaf shapes is one of those somethings. I also ‘tea stain’ them ahead of time.  (I use my own recipe for staining; it does NOT contain actual tea or coffee or vanilla.  Those make it too sticky!)

I cut my wreath rings out of triple layer scrap cardboard.  (just glue three layers together with tacky glue)  I also use tacky glue to glue the leaves to the wreath.  This picture shows how I place the leaves; along the inside and outside rim first.

It can be quite labor intensive, gluing on one leaf at a time.  To speed up the process I lay out a couple dozen leaves; then dot them ALL with tacky glue (just a small amount on one end of the leaf shape).  Then place them on the wreath form.

This is what the leaf placement looks like close up when finished.

This is a really BIG one!

On this one I used non tea-stained leaves, which do lay nice and flat; but a little TOO flat once I got it all put together.  (tea staining the leaves causes them to curl up and wrinkle a little bit as they dry; giving them a more natural look)

I didn’t want to try to tea-stain these leaves after they were already in place, bit I thought maybe spritzing them with water might curl up the leaves a tad; giving a more natural feel it it.

It worked like a charm!  Exactly the look I was hoping to achieve.  A few of the leaves did curl up a bit too much, to where the cardboard base showed underneath.  I just put a dot of tacky glue under them and glued them down a bit more.

NOW I just have to figure out how I want to ’embellish’ this one.  It feels a bit too BIG to leave plain.

My first thought for dressing it up was to hang a small banner across it, but that just looked too busy.  I stared at this thing for WEEKS trying to figure out ‘what else it needed’?!?!?

I finally settled upon some ‘bling berries’!

I had found a packet of these amber colored crystals at Dollar Tree, and decided to use them on the big wreath.

I just glued them on with tacky glue in little clusters of three.

I don’t think I’ll make them THIS big anymore!  SO many more options for ‘styling’ smaller ones; like this next one:

 I made this one using my pre-tea stained book pages instead of sheet music.

Added this little laser cut wood ‘love’ to the top left.

And a couple of tea stained felt birds and a little read heart to the lower right side.

Here you can see what I was talking about with the tea stained leaves curling up a bit and looking more natural.

Perfect little wreath for Valentine decorating.

Outdated gold wall cherubs ~ shabby cottage chic updates

If you’ve EVER gone to a thrift store or rummage sale, you’ve seen them!  The old gaudy GOLD cherubs that were apparently VERY popular at one time.  They have a hook or a hole on the back so you can hang them on the wall.

They come in all kinds of poses and sizes and different shades of gold.

Some are plaster,  some are plastic, some are holding instruments.  But the one thing they ALL have in common is that they have LOST their  appeal.  Or so you’d think.

It’s amazing what some white paint and antiquing glaze can do!  It’s not the cherubs themselves that have lost their appeal; it’s just the outdated GOLD color!

This is a TINY pair (about 2″ tall) from an old post.  They were mounted on dark turquoise velvet in the oval frames.  JUST.  UGLY.

Look how beautiful they turned out!!!

The moral of this post is never avoid buying something ONLY because you do not like the color.  The color can (ALMOST) always be changed.

This one was ugly gold when I bought it too.

I wanted to try something different on this set, and see if I could make the make-over process a little simpler.  I spray painted them VERY lightly, so as to not get the paint down into all the creases.

This would save me from having to do the antiquing process.  And I quite like how this pair turned out.

But you have to be sure that you start with cherubs that HAVE a lot of detail to them and sharp lines for this to work.  It can’t hurt to at least give it a try.  If it doesn’t look like you’d hoped, you can still always do the antiquing glaze step.

You really can’t see the gold undercoat, but it still looks a bit ‘shaded’.

Those two cherubs have gone to my booth at Curiosities.  A perfect little Valentine or Christmas decoration; but not SO holiday specific that they can’t be used year round.  They’d make cute wedding decorations too!

The rest of the cherubs got the old ‘antiquing treatment’.

This very small one I mounted on a 5″ plaque with attached easel.

Vintage looking sheet music scrapbook paper background; and a hand stamped ‘bliss’ tag.

This one is also at Curiosities.

The rest of them were made into plaques.

I’m finding that I prefer to wipe away as much of the antique glaze as possible these days; as opposed to leaving more of it on in the past, which gave it a ‘grubbier’ look.

Old dictionary page, tea stained paper doily then a red paper doily for the background on this pair.

The ‘hope’ and ‘love’ cut outs came from the craft store; and I backed them with pieces of tea stained paper.  This pair and the next set are still sitting here at home!  Will be going to one of the booths next week.

Went with a simpler background on these three, pretty much out of necessity!  The bigger cherubs took up most of the plaque.  These plaques came WITH the black scrolls on the top.

And of course, the ALWAYS get a crown!

If you love the tiny crowns but don’t think you want to be bothered to make your own; (there IS a tutorial for them in my blog)  I do sell them in my etsy shop HERE.

The word tags on these are ones that I hand stamped on tea stained paper.

You can buy my tea stain recipe in my etsy shop too.  (if you make your own tea stain with actual tea, coffee or vanilla; you NEED my recipe.  That other stuff gets REALLY stinky if you make it really dark and/or leave it sit for a while.  My stuff keeps ‘forever’ and can be made scented or unscented.  End of shameless plug for my etsy shop)

Here’s what’s new in my booth at Curiosities . .

I now have Valentine goods stocked in my booth at Curiosities also.

Little shelf filled with assorted Valentine-y stuff.

Pink glitter owls with hearts and keys.

Itty bitty gumball machine filled with candy conversation hearts.

Pretty Valentine gift boxes.

With metal charms attached to the bows.  (and paper shred inside of course!)

Little red birdcage with stamped pillow inside.  Tag on the side says ‘prisoner of love’.

Paper love crown.

More of a ‘spring thing’ than Valentine; bird and nest on urn.

Paris chic burlap pillows.

Child size rocking chair.

Shabby chic picnic basket.

HUGE vintage cheese box.

BIG black footed tray.  I didn’t measure it, but it’s at least 4′ long.  Perfect for a big farmhouse table.  I filled it with assorted gold stuff.  Gold finials, little crown baskets, cloches and framed picture.

Pair of rusty wire cloches with bird toppers; a red glitter love crown placed atop the larger cloche.

I completely ‘flip flopped’ the left side wall of my booth this last time.  Actually this side has NO wall.  The booth only has 2 walls and 2 open sides.  But to make the best use of the space, I ‘build a wall’ of product along one of the empty sides.  this is the side that faces OUT to the aisle.  (All of this stuff was previously INSIDE the booth. )

These three aqua shelf units were previously on that outward facing wall.  Now they face inside; backed up to what’s in the previous picture.  (kind of difficult to explain!)

A sign display as an ‘end cap’ (sort of!) of the two previous back to back displays.

Rustic wood hearts with keys.

Barnwood heart with old hinge and shutter.

Spring-ish whites.

Hand crafted ‘cranberry’ (wood bead!) hearts.

Altered heart shaped candy boxes filled with chocolate CANDLES. (yes candLes, not candies!)

Shabby white bird cage filled with dried hydrangea.

Moved the antique enamel table further into the booth against the wall; with the two shabby end tables tucked underneath.

Lots of fun new stuff for Valentine and spring decorating.  Come by and check it out.

Curiosities is open Tuesdays – Sundays; 10am – 6pm  (closed Mondays)