Friday, February 27, 2009

I have a GREAT best friend!!!

She gave me this beautiful tin, just gave it to me, I think it's gorgeous!
Look at the pretty paper covering the bottom of this jewelry box. Love this....
Here's the inside of this beautiful jewelry box. Love the pink velvet interior, and check out what this box is covered in....you can't tell from the photo, but it's plastic and looks like pearls!
Lastly, check out the first of my latest collection. I adore these little bisque dollies, wish I had a hundred of them. As of right now, I have one and consider myself blessed! They're just so adorable I don't think I could ever have enough of them....we'll see how carried away I get with this new obsession....time will tell.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Gail

Monday, February 23, 2009

Inspired storage...........

A couple of weeks ago I went to a local estate sale that was advertised in the paper, sounded too good to miss. Now I'm not a big estate sale person, I don't know why, it's just not something I'm in the habit of doing, even though I thoroughly enjoy the "thrill of the hunt", and like most of you just love a great bargain. Anyway, this sale said it had tons of sewing items, patterns, notions, old books, fabric, etc. The rooms were very tiny and claustrophobic, but the room with the books was my favorite because I found these bins in there. They were filled with old 45 records and didn't have a price on them, so I asked the guy running the sale if I could buy them without the records, and he said, "Sure, they're not in very good shape (precisely why I loved them!), how about $2 each?" I said ok, wishing there were 10 more of them instead of just 3!

So home they came and got covered with old wallpaper. They're perfect for all my vintage images that I use which were multiplying daily and really getting out of hand!


Here's the old paper on the back of one of them, I just left this because it's so cool...
These hold a lot of stuff, and were such a fun project.
I also bought some vintage clothing patterns at this sale, the garage had about 10 6 ft. tables just covered with old patterns, this woman was obviously quite the seamstress.
So, what fun items have you found lately?

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Little Miss Muffet's chair.......

For awhile now I've been looking for a comfy chair for my studio....I have nowhere to sit in there. Now granted, when I'm working in there I rarely feel the need to sit, however I have thought how nice it would be to have a comfy chair to curl up in to read my favorite mags.
So bff Melanie calls one day, excitement in her voice saying, "I found you the perfect chair for your studio!".
Of course I was intrigued, so had her describe it etc. She knew it had to be fairly small because I have so much crammed into my studio that I just didn't have room for something bigish.
So we met in Salem, to do some thrifting, and when I pulled into the parking lot, she had the Miss Muffet chair up on the roof of her car, just so I wouldn't miss her, I guess!!! It looked hilarious, and I was so mad I forgot my camera that day. This chair used to have dark wood, and I wasn't sure I even liked it, but I brought it home, painted it, re-foofed the cushions after washing and repairing some of the fabric, and it looks just like a Miss Muffet chair, don't you think? And how about that fabric? It's the most beautiful barkcloth I've ever seen!!!! Wish I had bolts and bolts of it, don't you?
So after all the work I've put in, my thought is to sell this beauty at the Coburg show this Fall, if Melanie doesn't want it, that is :). The reason is, that the very spot where this chair is sitting is going to be the future home of my antique dress form, which I don't have yet, but look for every single day like a madwoman. BTW, my favorite brand is the Borchert-Hall forms, of course, pretty spendy usually......anyone have any leads for me? I'd sure love you for it......
Back on Monday with a new post, have a great weekend!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Do you like my hat?



Remember that from "Go Dog Go"? I love that book, and every other Dr. Seuss book for that matter, I think he was brilliant!!!!
I had some leftover children's party hats that I wanted to do something with, and I also needed a way to display my doll heads on my family room mantle. At least in a way that might make "some" kind of normal sense to dh. So I made these little valentine hats for them...what do you think, cute or just bizarre? Or both....
Oops, it looks like I need to make another so I'll have three, you know, for a collection...:)
Until next time......
Gail

Monday, February 2, 2009

Some new projects.....

My new favorite projects are working with these wonderful paper doll images. You can find the templates at Mirkwood Designs, I found this out through Scrapologie (she's one of my favorite bloggers, please go check her out!)
I decided to do a French series in honor of my best friend, Melanie, who loves all things French!

This is a wooden, 3 piece hinged stand that I made my first doll on. Once you get going on these it's hard to know when to stop, I found myself adding more and more!

This second paper doll is on a collage hanging (I haven't added the hanger yet), but she's also French and I used Making Memories "Sabrina" paper, so I guess her name is Sabrina.
She's Violet's sister....it was both of their dreams to perform on the stage in Paris, and I'm so happy they made it!

This little stash is from an Estate sale I went to on Friday, teeny tiny pop-up book, leather baby shoes, and my 8yo dd spied the oh-so-cute pink baby rattle! She's got a great eye!!!
This is a shelf make-0ver (she before pics below). It cost $7, and was a hideous "nautical" shelf.
Melanie made me buy it, I really didn't want to, but she had faith that I could transform it into something pretty. I like how it turned out so she'll get to sell it or use it in her antique shop.
This is the before shot, above, not too pretty, huh?
Here's another fun shaped tool caddy that I'll have Mel sell also, it's a great size for supplies in your studio.
And last but not least, here is a magazine holder that I refinished by painting it and wallpapering....these are great to hold either wallpaper rolls, or all your favorite magazines, sheet music, well you get the idea.
I've got more to show, but gotta run for now.
I hope you all have a fabulous week. I'll post again in a day or two.
Whew, I almost forgot! Go to Melanie's http://www.all-my-favorite-things.blogspot.com to enter a fabulous giveaway, you won't want to miss this one!
Cheers,
Gail