Changes

Over the last couple months, I've been back in my shop, starting over and building it again.

I've noticed a change.

I'm not feeling it anymore.

I used to be excited to hunt for things, give them a new life, and help them find a new home. After I graduated from school, I thought it would go right back to being how it was. But so far, it hasn't.

My perspective on life is that it is short. Too short, in fact, to force something that doesn't fit anymore.

So, I'm making some changes. Re-structuring.

I will close my shop as it is in its current location. In the future, I will offer amazing finds through my blog, online shop, and shows.

I'm hoping this will give me more flexibility to pursue the things that I really feel a passion for.

The good news is, I'll be having an amazing "Moving Sale"!

I need to clear out much of my current inventory.

So here's the plan:

July 20th & 21st- 15% off everything

July 27th & 28th- 20% off all smalls, 15% off furniture

August 3rd & 4th- 30% off all smalls, 20% off furniture

August 10th & 11th- 40% off all smalls, 25% off all furniture

August 17th & 18th- 50% off all smalls, 30% off all furniture

August 25th & 25th- 60% off all smalls, 35% off all furniture + GARAGE SALE

After that, I'll continue to mark things down until everything is gone!

*I won't be offering Layaway or Holds, so bring a truck!

*I'll be bring in new items from the basement and storage until everything is GONE.

I want to thank everyone for their support of my business throughout the years!

Melissa

Gosh, golly, geez this is seriously funny...

I'm always on the hunt for vintage items, some I sell in the shop and some I deconstruct, repurpose, or collage into something else.  I buy a lot of old books, and found one at a thrift shop in a small town close to where I live in Idaho.  It had yellowed pages, perfect to deconstruct and use for projects.  I was looking through the pages, and curiously, I found that throughout the book, certain words had been blotted out with White-Out.  It seemed like a young adults book from the 40's, I wondered which words could have been so naughty that someone had taken the time to go thorough the book and white-out every one.  I used my fingernail to scrape off some of the words: Gosh, gee, geez, and golly were all on the list of unacceptable.

I just laughed and thought of the small town with conservative values and pictured the previous owner of the book (or perhaps a well-meaning parent of the owner). Have any of you junkers ever encountered anything like this??

Black Dresser $189

I just finished this dresser: Check it out!

It is $189...I'm taking it to the Blackfoot Gift Bazaar on Wednesday, unless someone snatches it up first :) Let me know if you would like to take a look.

Black Solid Wood Dresser

7 Drawers

All drawers slide easily- super sturdy, solid and heavy

Distressed black paint

i finally made something from pinterest

I made this little mermaid for Ella.

I am working on several more mermaids for my Abigail and maybe some for the store.

I loved the free motion quilting aspect of this little project.

beloved chickens

last spring, I came home with 10 tiny baby chicks

they lived in the garage for a bit, and in the laundry room on cold nights, with a heat lamp

i wasn't sure how many of them would survive

three disappeared one day, but i found one in the bushes in the front yard

then the neighbor kids helped me chase it back in

so we ended up with EIGHT

two Orpington, and six Red Star (I think)

i didn't see one earwig last summer

they eat everything

BUT, they eat everything

so my garden was dug up

baby corn plants, peas, tiny cabbages, and other plants disappeared

oh, and they poop on everything

so i've been working on a design for a new chicken coop

LT wasn't as excited about my plans as I was

"flower pots? really?"

i would like to use mostly salvaged/vintage materials for this chicken coop

a little 6x6 chicken house, with a 6x6 run

compost bins in the front

a nesting box, with rusty corrugated metal roof!, and a place to roost

i feel a little guilty cooping them up, but we can always let them out

when it is safe for our garden



right now at this very moment

i heard this morning on the radio that Etta James died last friday...this is my favorite song, i love her confidence, i wish i could borrow some of it right now



right this very minute, i'm getting ready to present about Relational-Cultural Theory to the Idaho Counseling Association.... LT and the kids are watching TV, and everyone is full from a good dinner of frybread and roast beef (yeah, healthy, i know.)

my bags are packed, but i'm working on my powerpoint, making changes, doubting myself and the audacity of a student presenting to a group of people who have more experience and more letters after their names

i'm worried about my size....about judgement, disconnection, and my ability to convey my message: a message that is, after all, so close to my heart and has a good chance of being dismissed by people afraid of change

i keep going over a quote by Audre Lorde's in Sister Outsider:

"...it is not those differences
between us that are separating us. It is
rather our refusal to recognize those dif­ferences, and to examine the
distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human
behavior and expectation."

today I took down my tree

this year, my tree didn't stay decorated.

My little E and J spent weeks deconstructing the decorated tree

breaking ornaments, losing pieces, and adding their own

taking it down today made me think...

about new starts, decisions, and the future.

I've been hanging on to the past, using the same ornaments every year, even though I've changed.

losing control helped me let go

of things I didn't love

but thought I had to hold on to

and decide which things I really love: it forced me to choose

today, I kept what I really love, threw out what was tired, and created a new start.

I bought this lovely a few years ago, after Christmas sale at Joann's.  She still makes my heart sing :)

I wasn't going to do any resolutions, but taking down the tree got me thinking.

In 2012 I will...

have fun

be bold

sing

be me

rock the boat

be grateful

giggle

love

have a voice

CHANGE THE WORLD

Vintage Glider

I'm so pleased with how this turned out, I just have to share :)

I have had this old glider sitting on the porch at Abigail's all summer. I found it at an estate sale a while ago, and have been using it for summer days on the porch.

Yesterday, I decided to paint it. I didn't have many good colors in my paint stash, so I made my own color.  I had a pretty ugly light moss green.  You know, the color that was hot about 10 years ago, but now, not so much.  I also found a really painfully bright turquoise.  I mixed the two....using the lighter green as a base, and added the turquoise a bit at a time.

  At first, it looked a little brown....I kept adding and it turned out so pretty.

The pictures don't capture the color as well as I had hoped, it is gorgeous in person.

Check out a sneek peek of a new project I'm working on here.



Pinterest

"That's a neat idea.."

"I like that one.."
"Me too!"
"I digg that one."
"I'll tweet that."
"Hmm.. where did I find that website?"
"Gosh..I wish I knew..."

These are all comments that many of us have had made a million times. Now, thanks to the wonderful world of PINTEREST we are all having {endless-gasps} of pinning our finds and sharing our ideas while we log everything!

I'm sure you've seen it, but if you haven't, you don't know what you're missing. Come follow me :)

Some of my favorite pins:

My favorite find of the summer...

This carved wood face which is a fragment off of something, a mirror? a column?

I'm not sure, but I found her at a yard sale this summer for $2

It's my favorite find of the summer :) And I'm going to keep it for a while, at least.

New Furniture at the Shop

SOLD Cute 4 Drawer Desk with Lion Head pulls

This sofa table is beautiful, the picture doesn't do it justice :)

 SOLD Black painted drop-leaf vintage table

Three different vintage nightstands: The cream/gold one is on hold.

UPDATE: THE WHITE IS SOLD, PINK IS STILL AVAILABLE, AND GOLD IS SOLD

Seven metal outdoor chairs. Rustic, chippy paint.

I priced over 100 new items today, this table was FULL by the end of the day!

These blue chairs are back.



Uptown Photography

So, I've been needing a new photo of myself.

Taking pictures isn't my favorite thing, but I needed one for the Idaho State Journal "At Home" column that I write.  I asked Jessamyn from Uptown Photography

to help me out.

I've been using a picture from about 5 years and 2 babies ago :) Lots can change between 5 years and 2 babies. You know what I mean, right?

So, I just wanted to say how much I love how the photo shoot turned out.

I don't know how she made extra chins and wrinkles disappear....magic? Possibly...

And I wanted to give you all a heads up about her work <3 .

Trailer Trash...

Some regular customers of mine belong to Sisters on the Fly.

I've read about the Sisters in Mary Jane's Farm magazine, on their website, and other blogs.

I've been wanting a vintage trailer for so long. I have lusted and hunted and finally, one practically fell into my lap.

I love her.

So, I'm thinking she needs a name. I need some ideas...

Memphis County Jail Blues...

I just finished this mixed media canvas and hung it in my bedroom.

It is so good to be out of school :)

This canvas started out as an ugly painting.  I pick them up when I see them for cheap. If I can buy it for $1 or $2 it's cheaper than buying a new canvas. Plus it's recycling.

I used yellowed vintage sheet music, old book pages, ledger paper, and a cancelled 1950s check from the Idaho-Utah Sugar Co. Any ephemera would do, as long as it looks old.

I was going for a theme, so I chose sheet music with songs like "Memphis County Jail Blues" and other related songs. Although it is subtle, and most people probably wouldn't notice, I like adding details like that.

I used Mod Podge with a matte finish to cover the canvas with the vintage ephemera. I did this a few weeks ago.  I printed a bird photo from The Graphics Fairy (you didn't know about the Graphics Fairy??)

Here's where things got a little tricky.

I drew a freehand birdcage with a Sharpie.

I hated it. I was sad. I thought I would have to throw this away. See?

The lines were too dark, too bold, (not to mention shiny) and every flaw stood out in my drawing.

So I set it aside for a couple days, and last night I dreamed about it.

I took a fine grit sandpaper and sanded the Sharpie lines. Because they were drawn on top of Mod Podge, it didn't mess up the paper.  Then, I used acrylic paint and float (mixed a little brown and a little white) and glazed over the whole canvas to give it a faded out look.

I'm in love with it now! It's hanging in my bedroom.

New Stuff Thursday, May 11th 2011



Metal/wire wall pocket $22 painted white 18" long, 9" deep, 11" wide.

Vintage embroidery on 100% linen. $8 slightly yellowed with age, but good condition.

Vintage Owl figurine. $4 Excellent conditon, no chips or cracks. About 5" tall.

Vintage green homestead plate $4. Measures



Junkalicious finds, pricing and putting in the shop...

I found some of the coolest things yesterday when I was out and about...

I can't wait to put them in the shop. If you can't wait until the weekend, let me know and we'll work something out. 

Click on the pictures for a closer look.

Skeleton keys, reproduction, but still so perfect $12.

7 1/2 inches total length from top of ring to bottom of longest key.

Chippy French hanging enamel ware planter with 3 removable pots $18. UPDATE: THIS IS SOLD.

15 1/2" long at the longest. Pots are 4" diameter at the top.

MidCentury Suitcase Organizer $14I'm thinking photo prop or in your mod office as an organizer. Constructed of wood and silvery paper/linen. Great vintage condition, a few small scuffs & tears in the paper. 16" x 10" x 13"

Vintage Globe $18

I've been spotting these all over Etsy and blog-land, they look perfect by themselves or even better grouped up. I've got one more (different color) already priced over at the shop. Measures about 18" high from base to top.

SOLD Delicious Cotton lace tablecloth. $16 This tablecloth is vintage, yellowed, with no holes.  There are a few faded stains (nothing noticable). I love to use these to hang up as curtains. They also look great repurposed as a layer of bedding on top of a comforter. Oh yeah, I guess you could use it as a tablecloth too. But repurposing is so much fun...

eek, this isn't stained, just how it photographed with the shadow.

This tablecloth measures 70" x 88". An instant heirloom, on the cheap.

I have a bunch more things that I found, some I'm tinkering with or painting, some I still need to photograph :)

Oh. And my little blue cupboard isn't for sale, just using it as a photo prop, sorry.