MY Thrifting Weekend

It has been three long weeks since I've had a chance to go thrifting. One weekend I had to help a friend. The next weekend we were at a driving event for my son. So this weekend was MY weekend. I found some lovely treasures.

My favorite find was another silver champagne cooler. Oh how I love the shape of these. This is a little fancier than the other ones I've found.

I found a lot of sewing notions and even this lovely toy sewing machine called "Sister". I'm not sure if I like it more because it is called Sister or because I like toy sewing machines.

We scooped up some vintage buttons and notions. The babies on the "Gripper Snap Fasteners" are adorable and the "Jingle Bells" are sweet.

So happy to find several nice large, old jars with plenty of storage possibilities.

It was a fun day of thrifting although we are all still a little tired from my son's driving event last weekend. I created this panorama of the track.

Anyway, I will have some of these items listed in my Stuff to Treasure Store soon. Friend my store on Facebook to get updates when items become available. I hope everyone had a fun day of thrifting.

12 Tags of 2012 - May...

I really enjoyed working on this tag for the 12 Tags of 2012 challenge for May. I found so many ways to combine thrifted, vintage and repurposed items to complete this project.

I began with a manila folder that I die cut into a tag using the Tag and Bookplate die.

I borrowed the rubber stamps of the dress form, dress pattern and thread label. I first stamped the dress pattern on a piece of thrifted sewing pattern tissue using Stormy Sky {blue} Distress Ink. I crumbled it a bit and glued it onto the tag. Next I used black permanent ink and stamped the dress form. For added detail I used Barn Door {red} Distress ink and stamped the thread label.

I roughed up the edges of the tag and used an ink applicator to stain the edges and highlight the wrinkles.

I used a piece of an old, fabric measuring tape that I had left over from this previous tag project and stitched it across the tag.

I did a variation from Tim's tag where he used an old wooden spool with one side cut flat. Instead I used an old sewing needle packet and stitched around three edges to form a pocket. I inserted some vintage millinery poppy flowers that I thrifted here.

I did another variation with the paper clip on the left side of the tag. I put together a double spiral clip, two thrifted jump rings, an old red button and an old luggage key to create the detail charm on the side of the tag.

To finish off the tag I took a piece of vintage Rayon seam binding, scrunched it and applied some Distress Ink to highlight the wrinkles.

Everything used on this tag was either thrifted or borrowed except for the Distress inks. This has been a fun challenge to combine Thrifting, Sewing and Tim Holtz! Be sure and check out his inspiration tag.

This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, Between Naps on the Porch, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, French Country Cottage, I {heart} Naptime, Keeping It Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home, Simply Designing, The Shabby Nest, Thrifty Decorating, Tim Holtz, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style and Wildflowers and Whimsy

Vintage Office In-Box

I was planning on using an old wire basket as my vintage office in-box but that almost seemed too predictable. I was inspired to use one of my vintage doll suitcases instead. It definitely has a lot more charm than anything else I could imagine.

Here is my new in-box and you can read below for the story of the first item I found in there.

My dear friend Jen had found this abandoned kitten several weeks ago. She rescued it and has been bottle feeding it in the office because it needed to be fed every two hours. So Mr. Peabody {big name for such a little guy} has been bringing smiles to the office for the past few weeks. He decided to explore my new in-box which immediately caused a flurry of flashing paparazzi photos.

In Box

Out Box

Pending

Serendipity Thrifting

We went to a very interesting estate sale today. I was excited to be among the first few to go inside. I found so many treasures but when it came time to get prices {nothing was marked} I found that I had gone way over my budget {Champagne taste on a tap water budget!}. I just didn't realize that this estate sale was going to be so expensive.

I had to put back a lot of things because there was just one thing that I absolutely HAD to have.

It is a vintage wooden surveyor's tripod by the Otto Engineering Co. I love it! I had to have it! But I spent almost my entire allowance on this one item. I plan to turn it into a lamp base.

We stopped at only one other garage sale. I found a lovely working 1940s Telechron Minitmaster wall clock with timer.

I'm hoping that Dear Handyman can replace the cord then I will place it in my Stuff to Treasure store. You can use the Facebook link on the right or go to my Stuff to Treasure Facebook page and if you Like my store you will be notified when I post new items for sale.

The only other item I found was this pretty vintage glass candy dish. It has a silver overlay poppy pattern that was so pretty.

Normally I wouldn't spend so much on one item but sometimes, by sheer serendipity, you find a treasure that you just have to have. I didn't know that I would want an old wooden tripod until I found it. Isn't serendipity a glorious thing!

I hope everyone had a good day thrifting.

This is linked to:
Brambleberry Cottage, Common Ground and The Thrifty Groove

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop – May

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop. This month's theme was either Jewelry or Flowers. I had an idea combining the two but ran into a bit of a time crunch at the last minute with some additional freelance work. So I moved on to plan B which is technically my plan A since I have been meaning to do this project for some time.

I have been slowly decorating my work area in the office. It is a typical "cubicle" with dull gray fabric partitions and boring office supplies. My first project was purchasing a painter's dropcloth from the hardware store to cover the dull gray fabric walls. I bought the lightest weight dropcloth, 8oz. and 4 ft x 15 ft worked for the size that I needed.

I trimmed the dropcloth and hemmed the edges. I didn't want to attach the material permanently to the cubicle walls so I used the odd clips that they supply to hold things to these walls. But these clips looked horrible so this is where my Flower project came in.

If I have to use the clips to hold up the dropcloth walls then at least I can make them look interesting. I began by cutting some of the leftover dropcloth into 1 1/2" x 48" strips.

To make the rosettes, begin by folding a strip in half lengthwise and start tightly rolling until you have a center about the size of your fingernail. Apply a drop of hot glue to the side to hold in place. Continue rolling while twisting the fabric strip often to create "petals". Add hot glue to hold in place. This is not an exact art form so the goal is to keep it from unraveling but it does not need to be perfect.

I finished off my flowers by adding thrifted millinery leaves and gluing it on top of the clips.

I will post more office photos as I complete more thrifted and vintage decorating projects. You can see my first office decorating project here. This is what started me thinking about completely redecorating my cubicle.

To continue viewing other projects by some very talented designers, please use the Designers Craft Connection button on the right.

I am thrilled to be featured at

Very Merry Vintage Style

The Latest Find

This is linked to:
Brambleberry Cottage, Passionately Artistic, Rook No.17, Saved By Love Creations, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Much Ado, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, The 36th Avenue, The Thrifty Home, Thrifty Decorating, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Very Merry Vintage Style and Vintage Wannabee