Showing posts with label Vintage Elements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage Elements. Show all posts

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Weekly Thrift Feed: 9 October 2011



(Libra bank found in Alabama-so meant to be!)


Well, another year came and went for me on the 5th. I had a fabulous night: a Louisville friend took me to a restaurant 16 stories above the city and we watched a sunset from the terrace. Everywhere, I could see the explosion of crimson, yellow and burgundy of trees. Louisville is such a gorgeous city!

I splurged and bought myself this cross-stitch deer and fawn. I love them and it is huge (3' x 2') and framed in a great vintage frame. My photograph does not do it justice at all (I will post again once I get it up on a wall). It is signed Geo. Gahn and, I suppose, Geo. could be Georgina or Georgia, but I like to think it is actually George (note to self: Google later). It was an expensive purchase from one of those fabulous KY flea markets. Yeah, it set me back $11. :) I bought another item the same day, but I am saving it for WTF?! Tuesday.

(Temp gauge, wooden Cuban cigar box and a weird metal horse)


I found this cool Honeywell temp gauge for a buck. This was a new to me thrift store in Louisville and it is one of those really junky ones. The employees were so sweet and one of them told me a great story about how her adult son has a way with animals and sends her messages to tell her he's thinking about her via a flock of birds or some other creature. It was a fun day!



(Cute Charlotte Becker lithograph print)



(MiJ collie wall art, ceramic bird, and chemistry ring on top of a red chipped folding chair)




All of the above I snagged at a flea market. everything was less than $2 each (the bird and chemistry ring were around $1). The chairs I bought at an estate sale. I bought three for $10. I love how they look all chippy (despise that word) and old. The (cute) guy who helped me carry them to my car was saying over and over how much he loved the chairs.

Well, that's it for Flea Market Finds and Thrift Share this week. Check out the other wonderful discoveries out there this week! Thanks for all your comments last week!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Mopey Shade of Blue

(Love this dresser created by Flea Market Trixie using old map)




It is nearly 11 am and I have done nothing today (laundry loads and dishes aside) except mope around in bed. I am feeling quite grey-blue, despondent and just plain tired. I really need to put up a list of things to be happy about like a favorite blogger does, but I also have a hard time focusing when I am feeling this way.

I came home this week for a funeral (my late father's older brother); to meet with the police regarding my wrongful ticket and employee misconduct; and, apparently, be a maid. The house is wrecked. I do not see ever getting it to look pretty. I started a painting project two weekends ago and the color of blue (a vintage map color) looks gorgeous, especially with the religionalia. However, I stalled at the edges because I cannot find the paint tape in all the mess this house has become since I went to KY.

Tomorrow I have a hair appointment (one I have needed for months, but couldn't find the time for...my grey is popping out of my dark hair like fireworks). I also need to attend a wedding reception of a (in-law) niece I don't care for to be honest. I really just want to go back to KY. I really despise Indiana.


I am also certain 'justice' is a figment of our imagination. Should you ever get pulled over when you were not committing a crime (or moving violation). Let it go and accept they will ALWAYS be right. They can drag you out of the vehicle for whatever reason they deem fit and they do not have to show you any proof of your crime. Oh, they also do not have to identify themselves (hear that police impostors!!) Don't bother filing a complaint; they will have an excuse for everything. I get so tired of hearing I should have said, "Sir this, Sir that..." and not questioned why I was being pulled over. I was not speeding, I did not earn the citation, yet I will be punished for it anyway. Know this, however, should I ever be the officer you deal with, you can not only ask for my identification (and should), but I will tell you specifically why I am visiting you and show you the codes and information I have. I will not leave you in the dark to fight a battle you did not deserve. I do still believe that I work for citizens and I believe in the oath I took for my badge.

My husband is also on my shit list. He made a despairing comment about my body. Why do men do that shit? Really! Society is hard enough on us. Turning 40 is hard enough on us. Why make it worse? He has been back peddling from his slip, but it hurts. It will continue to nag at me because it is something hard to fix. I feel ugly.

I really want to go yard saling just to get my brain off these cycles of self-pity, but I know that bringing home more junk when I am piled over with projects is just stupid. I have garden stuff to contend with, laundry (you have no idea), decluttering, painting, fixing, and planning. I hate that sun has gone away (I never complain about sunshine even if it is bloody hot!) I really want to create something beautiful like that dresser above. My mother recently gave me an old world map that belonged to my father, but she tore it into pieces to throw it in the garbage (until learning I wanted it*). It is these lovely vintage shades of color. I tried taping it back together (it is a velum like material), but it looks awful. This would be a great way to rescue it.




OK, maybe this is something to be happy about today.


*My mother is not a sentimental person and has thrown most of my father's things out (or sold them in ys without asking his four children if they want anything. He told me on his deathbed that he had a box of letters out in the garage for me (he was to a point he could not leave a bed); he told me out of all of his children we shared a lot. I was in the dark as to what he could mean.


A couple of weeks ago, my mom mentions she found a box of love letters from my father's time in England (he met and married my mother at 30). She said they were just a bunch of garbage. I was (and am still) pissed at this action! I just know these letters were the ones my father meant and now I will never be able to read them. I also met and married my current husband in my 30's and, I too, lived somewhere else in my youth. I also loved and lost love during those years. I returned to IN due to a heartbreak that was real and momumental to who I am now. I think my father "related" to this heartbreak in his daughter.


OK, enough already. If you are reading still...thanks.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Feeling Lucky?

I have been having great luck with give-aways of late. I won a gorgeous Pyrex casserole dish (will blog separately about it) recently and it arrived this week (thanks Brittany-I love it)! Since I was a high school girl, I have worn and loved vintage clothing, jewelry, shoes and such. I used to love to dress up and go out on the town wearing my lovely dresses and skirts. Now that I am a 'grownup' and life is busy with kids and work and home and all the things you didn't realize would fill your life in your 30s/40s (like weight gain!!!), I have fewer opportunities to dress up and show off my brilliant, thrifted finds. I have purged many of my vintage clothing, but I kept many of the favorites too. I follow this blog. I love her Pretty Little Things and she has an awesome Etsy shop as well (I looove the owl and mushroom basket purse-I left one like it behind at a thrift once and have never forgotten). Well, if you like vintage Pretty Little Things, you are going to love her giveaway (ends tomorrow so hurry!). Check out these lovelies:


Be sure to visit her blog and check out the individual photos of the items. Gorgeous with a BIG capital G! Good luck! If I win, I promise to post a picture-a Glam one!! ;)

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Get Crafty

More snow fell today. We have so much up north here in the Great Lakes region it is hard to tell how much was added to the mess. I am so tired of being cooped up, tired of cold bones. I have been surrounded by papers. Ugh, tax season...goes so well with cold and grey.


I did manage to get some of my "to-do's" done this weekend (some started last weekend). One of the big ones was to finish my Valentine Swap project. I need to make 5 handmade Valentines using thrifted and/or items around the house. I thought this would be easy seeing I am a "hoarder", but the project turned out to be challenging. This is mainly due to my unpracticed craft skills. I haven't had time to be arty nor crafty in many months (maybe even years!


OK, if you are swapping with me (I have no idea if you read this blog), stop here if you want to be surprised. The photos will follow the text to hide them from eyes which do not wish to see. I am putting them up here for advice (but respond quickly because they need to go out Monday!)
The items I used are almost all thrifted (the exception is some scrapbooking elements I had from a project I did in 2009). Even the thread was thrifted (and the sewing machine I used was a display model I bought over a year ago and have never used).

Originally, I planned to make something like these organic fabric beauties. I love how each one is unique and imperfect (like the crafter says: just like the human heart). I found my stash of vintage quilt blocks and scraps and quickly sewed up 5 hearts. I then glued old music sheets to some postcards I found in a dumpster (old, but not cool vintage). I sewed a heart onto each postcard. This is where I lost my confidence. I am a horrible sewer and one of the hearts turned out horribly. I didn't have time to redo it (I had planned on finishing them in KY and mailing them last week, but travel got in the way as usual).

Later in the week I was surfing the 'net and found these cute things that I now cannot find the link to show you. Picture little handmade Valentine people with vintage photograph faces. I thought about scrapping my fabric heart cards and making something similar inspired by this art. However, I just couldn't let the heartcards go. I came home and looked around my junk. I found some extra vintage baby photos I had from the same scrapbooking project aforementioned (a cookbook/scrapbook for my MIL a couple of holidays ago). All of sudden I knew what to do!

Now I am not saying these are great. I know they are lacking something (and I may never get to participate in another swap! ;) However, I like them a little and hope they are not too amateurish for the other participants (fortunately we are swapping to five total not just one or otherwise I would feel really sorry for my partner!) The best part, if the recipient dislikes it, she can tear it apart and use the elements in other projects! Do you have any suggestions on how I can improve it? It is definitely rough looking! The funny thing is the one I sewed all wonky turned out to be my favorite of the five (the one with the baby with the red heart on his chest).

I hope to be more arty/crafty again. I used to be years ago and over time just lost the priority to be crafty and play. I love paper arts especially and made several collages and mixed media works at one time or other in the past. I miss it! I also collect paper ephemera and have boxes of items to be used as such.

Maybe participating in this Valentine Swap was just the spark I needed!

(Forgive the glare on some of the photos...)