"A Baked Potato Likes to Dance".....

Ha! Bet that got your attention.....I love old children's music books because look at the titles!

They're just hilarious....these aren't songs I grew up with, that's for sure......:)
But they're very sweet and will look so great in some artwork, if I can just get going on that!

In my next post I'll show pics of my finds from the birthday beach bash that Mel and I went on.......too fun!

This is how thrifting makes me feel....

O.K., well maybe not the bunny face, but you get the idea...I went out today and found a fun stash of goodies for dirt cheap that I can use in my work, and that's always a bonus!

I've obviously fallen for these cute, plastic little craft doll faces and keep running across them, but buried in one of the packages was the Easter Bunny! I'll have fun with that one, I was hoping there was more than one of him (her?) in the package but no such luck.....too cute.

Hope you're all having a crafty day.........

Gail

"I meant to do my work today....

But a brown bird sang in the apple-tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

     And all the leaves were calling me.

And the wind went sighing over the land,

             Tossing the grasses to and fro,

And a rainbow held out its shining hand-

       So what could I do but laugh and go?

                             -Richard Le Gallienne

Oh, how I love this quote! Years ago I was a huge Elton John fan and this poem was on one of his album jackets (tells you a bit about how old I am!)

Then a few years back I found it again in a magazine and clipped it out, and it just hung around my bedroom for quite a while. It's a miracle I found it again when I fixed up my studio because I really wanted to have this quote hanging in my studio.

Anyway, I thought it appropriate to post now, that Spring is almost here, even though it's cold and rainy in the Willamette Valley right now.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!

My stolen quote for the week..........

So this is a very busy week for dh and I, as we are the chairs for our dd's school auction......

life is very busy at times, but here is a lovely quote I came upon...........

"The greatest part of our happiness and misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances."-Martha Washington

I hope you all have a lovely week, and stop to enjoy the important things!

Ta Da!!!!!!! I finally have a dress form to love.....

Isn't she pretty? I took my dd to the flea market yesterday and we got there late (around 3:00) and people were packing up! Yikes, we had to hurry.....so I found some great old books that I'll show in another post, a cute little jewelry box for $2, then we hurried into the other big room

and I saw her from a distance and made a beeline for her!

Her price tag said $48.....I thought that was cheap and reasonable, but still asked if he would take less for her. "How about $30?" He got her at an estate sale and believes she's probably from the 40's. I think he's right about that, even though there aren't any vendor marks on her.

Love the fabric covering her too, it very aged and has a lovely pattern, you probably can't tell from my less-than-great photos.

As I was carrying her to my car a lady saw me with her and shouted, "Wow, how much did you get her for?" I told her and she asked if I was a seamstress (not so much) or an artist? I said the latter, and she wanted to know if there were any more forms in there. Told her this was the only one I saw....I feel like I got so lucky!

I brought her home and cleaned the cobwebs off her and now am clearing a space in my studio to proudly display her. And she'll need a name, of course, so any ideas?

I'll post again soon with some other finds..........

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

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?

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!

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

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

Wow, I won the same award from two people!!!!

. I feel so honored to have won these honors, thanks so much to Kathy from Colby Cottage and Jill from Jillzwhimzy1!

You both are so inspirational, and it's so much fun to get to know other bloggers, especially ones from my same city (Colby Cottage).

I will nominate 5 others:

1. Melanie from All-My-Favorite-Things.blogspot.com

2. Karoline from cherishedvintage.blogspot.com

3. Lisa from scrapper4sure.blogspot.com

4. Kathy from vintagesnapsandscraps.blogspot.com

5. Jamie from readarteology.blogspot.com

Sorry my computer skills are so rusty, otherwise I could provide links for you :).

Thanks gals!!!!

Have a great Monday!

Gail

Peek-a-boo, it's almost Valentine's Day!!!!

Don't know about you, but I just love Valentine's Day! And this year it's even more special because I plan on making lots of fun art around this holiday...I'm thinking of selling these little goodies I made...I really had fun making this little shadowbox with the happy doll face peeking out of it.

These little trinket boxes were fun too. They're the perfect size to put candy, truffles, or an engagement ring in....how romantic. The new Somerset in Love magazine is certainly inspiring me these days. I'll also be putting some new goods in my Lollishop very soon, maybe even some of these.....:).

I hope you all have a great week, thanks for stopping by!!!

Happy New Year!