Busy week coming up....

This is my beginning stack of vintage jewelry boxes. I'd love to pack these with goodies and sell them on lollishops or even give them as gifts to friends. You may have seen this idea in one of the Somerset magazines, Melanie turned me on to it, so now the race is on to see who can collect the most of these fun boxes!
Check out this huge roll of burlap trim, found at St. Vinnies. This looks great wrapped around a glass candle holder.
This is a wallpaper ice skating ornament I made from a template I downloaded (sorry, can't remember where I found it.)
And lastly, this absolutely darling old cardboard trash can found for $5. Love it....
Well, this week will prove interesting, but fun! My bff, Melanie, is coming tomorrow and staying until Tuesday afternoon! We'll have a blast thrifting and creating. And I'm sure laughing until our stomachs hurt.
Wednesday is a half day for dd , Thursday the big turkey day, Friday a Christmas tree decorating party at dh's office. Saturday is the big Civil War football game in Corvallis, go Beavers!!!!!
Rose Bowl, here we come...
Friday is the huge opening of Lollishops, I woke up in a cold sweat at 5:30 this am feeling very unprepared for it, but it will all work out. I've been creating new things all day.
I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Thanksgiving, and are surrounded by people you love.
Hugs,
Gail

More generosity from someone sweet....

Well, I was surprised the other day....Lisa, from A Thing For Roses fame sent me this beautiful package of vintage wallpaper. She said she had hung on to it since the Coburg show...unfortunately I missed her. I did get to meet her bff, Isabel (Maison Deuce) but somehow missed meeting Lisa, she was away from the booth when Mel and I visited. Isabel was so nice, and I do love meeting people whose blogs I read, especially when they live so close.

Anyhoo, Lisa, can't thank you enough! These papers are absolutely gorgeous.....I'll do something fab with them, including something fun coming back your way.

Thanks for thinking of little ole me, I'm touched.....

Gail

Random thoughts, creations, thrift finds, & a pet peeve....

Well, sometimes I love ebay, and sometimes not so much. This time I love it! I found my little twin babies for .99. Can you believe no one else bid on them? I was floored, but oh so happy :).
This wallpapered carrier will go to Melanie's store, All My Favorite Things, in Portland......
Really bad photo of a new journal, sorry I uploaded the wrong one and am too lazy to change it.
I'll be making lots of these Christmasy journals, both for Melanie's store and my own on Lollishops....
Collage for lollishops....
Another collage for lollishops...don't you just love polka dots? There's just something so happy about them!
So here's my pet peeve (ok, it's only one of my many pet peeves).
Dh invites me to join him last week for a nice dinner (he's there on business but spouses were invited also). The location was a beautiful lodge up in Washington, and it was so peaceful and just gorgeous. The lobby was outstanding with a huge fireplace, lots of comfy chairs, free coffee, etc. (you get the idea). And the view out the windows, well, it was breathtaking.
So while dh is in his meeting Friday morning I take some mags to go sit in the lobby and just enjoy the ambiance, better than sitting in my room (or so I thought).
I find a comfy chair, pull out a magazine (where women create) and start to read, only the hear the idiot all the way across the lobby (and believe me, it's a big lobby) talking very loudly on his cell phone. Felt like I was sitting right next to him. Now I know it's a public space and all that, but come on people! Whatever happened to courtesy? Can someone please tell me where it's gone? What I did? Got up and walked outside (yes it was a bit chilly) because I was talking with my bff, Melanie, on my cell and didn't want the world to hear, or to disturb anyone.
What I wish I had done? Gotten up, walked over to said idiot, and just stood in front of him until he acknowledged me. Then I wish I would have said this: "I know this is a public space and you have as much right to be here as anyone else, but apparently I'm the only one here with enough guts to come up and ask you to please lower your voice so that everyone here isn't privvy to your conversation, which we really don't want to hear."
Man, I wish I would have done that.....next time I promise I will, and unfortunately I know there will be a next time.
What would you have done?

Flea market treasures....

Don't you love a good bargain? Who doesn't, right? I went to the local flea on Sunday and picked up the two beautiful cards above, along with a whole bag of dog-themed greeting cards for $4....
How cute is this doggie card?
I also bought this 1800's era autograph book for $5! Loving it....
Another vendor there had purchased the book above, took all the prints out of it, and was selling them each individually. They were lovely, but I snagged the empty book (front and back still attached to it's spine) for $1. I'll make some sort of art album or journal out of it.

I hope you all had a great Halloween, we did! We had so many trick-or-treaters this year that I could have used twice as much candy (had to start doling out dd's haul!) That didn't go over so well :).

Til next time......

Vintage wallpaper love......

The little storage box on top will go to Melanie's store (one of them), the one on the bottom may need to stay with me....I think I need more storage, along with another hole in my head :)!
This cool box has the neatest dovetailed corners, other than that it was boring so I put four of my favorite vintage wallpapers on it.....now I'm loving it.
This is a little vingnette in my living room, I found the silver footed tray at Value Village for $14.99! Didn't buy it at first but Melanie convinced me it was a good price so I went back for it. It's my first "footed" tray and I love it.
I made a new set of BOO letters because I gave the old set to my good friend Brandy, who came over and was gushing over them.....I told her she needed them. Then I kept looking at my mantle and it just looked empty, I was so used to seeing BOO up there. Went back to the store and of course they didn't have those letters anymore, so I bought a bigger set and made these.
New tags I made for Mel's store.......I like the black and white aspect of these.
Well, I'm off to decorate dd's school for her Pumpkin Carnival tonight...hope you all have a great weekend.....go carve a pumpkin!

Is it wrong to love her so much?????

Meet my lovely dress form, made completely out of cardboard! Isn't she to die for? I found her this summer on vacation at the Oregon coast. She was almost out of sight, high up in a corner, when I spied her.....nonchalantly asked the shopkeeper how much she was. She said "I think I have $55 on her but that sounds like too much. How about $35?" Hmmm, I'll have to give that one some thought, ok, thought about it, I'll take her!!!!!" 

She's in pristine condition too, like she was never "used".

Do any of you have a cardboard dress form? I'm getting the impression they're quite rare.....

Of course I'd love to have a vintage Wolf dress form, but where to put her?

I love them all.....

Tagged, tagged, tagged!!!!!!

Melissa at adoredbefore.blogspot.com tagged me (thanks Melissa!) so here goes, seven wierd, random things about moi!

1. I hate getting my hands wet.

2. The sight of blood doesn't bother me at all.

3. I'd rather be shot than stabbed.

4. I haven't bought new underwear in 2 years (yikes!).

5. I've lived in 17 different abodes in my lifetime (so far).

6. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

7. I can count to 10 in Mandarin.

So, now I tag seven friends:

Mel, all-my-favorite-things

Chelsea Ann, ittybittybirdy

Alisa, lifeisabeautifulplacetobe

Dale, dalemclain

couturedepapier

Julie, piecefulbits

Marth, vintagetrifles

Have fun with it girls!!!

Overwhelming generosity....

On a previous post I had told you of an item I ordered from Kris Hurst's etsy shop, and here it is, this lovely Halloween collage.........but she didn't stop there....
check out these gorgeous tags....
and all these bundles of goodies....
great pieces of sheet music and some beautiful orange leaves.....
and, (please excuse the bad flash picture), something I've been coveting for quite some time....one of her Halloween image CD's!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes, and because I've been nursing a horrific cold and have been housebound, this was such a delightful gift!
Thanks again Kris......

Velvet album love....

So I'm a big fan of the Victorian-era velvet photo albums, I think they are beautiful works of art. This one I found on ebay for a good price (shocking, I know!) so I bought it. The pages inside are just beautiful, I love the artwork that surrounds each photo opening...and how about this clasp? Gorgeous, no?
I just love the birds and flowers on the surround on the left page above, and the lighthouse on the right page.....just incredibly lovely.
And here is the front of the album, the velvet (which on most of these is very worn off) is so plush on this one, and the inscription inside the front cover says, "To Carrie

Christmas 1889, from Hugh.

Do any of you have pictures to share of your lovely velvet albums? I'd love to see them.....

Just a few new Halloween goodies....

I love making these paper mache "books". They're pretty much a blank canvas with the bonus of inside storage. Sorry I don't have any pics of the inside, forgot all about it. I like to keep the current Halloween photos inside...
A picture of the spine...

This little guy was a new venture for me and it was so fun putting him together. It did take me a while though because I basically had to feel my way around this type of 3-D project. I'll do more of these for sure!
This one is my favorite. I found this really cool old frame (w/o glass) at a thrift store for 95 cents. It's large too, about 11x14. The witches image is from Kris Hurst at Blissful Elements she's one of my favorites! I love everything she does, in fact I just bought something off of her Etsy site. If you're not familiar with her work, do yourself a favor and go check out her website!
This last item is a pocket organizer made with some old and some new elements. I love making these too! I'll have lots of these in my Lollishops shop....


Just a short update, hope everyone stays warm and has a great weekend!
Go Beavers!!!!!!!!!!!

The Case of the Broken Vase......

Hmm, what a mystery I had to solve on Tuesday. On Monday, first day of Autumn I went out to purchase a vase and fall-scented candle. Got my goodies home, made my display, lit my candle, was good to go.
Speed ahead to Tuesday, I'm talking to bff on the phone, wander into living room, glance down at my lovely display and much to my dismay, the vase is askew (aka broken!). What could have happened? Did my cute puppy wander in, wag her tail, and knock it over? I thought that must be it, because if my dd (8yo) had broken it, surely she would have told me right?
So here's the convo in the car on the way home from school:
Me: "Katherine, were you playing in the living room yesterday?"
K: "Yes, I was in there for awhile."
Me: "You didn't happen to break anything, did you?"
K: "Oh no, Mommy, nothing glass got broken in there."
Guess I had my answer......

HAPPY AUTUMN!!!!!!!!!!

More Halloween goodies heading north to All-My-Favorite-Things, my bff store. BTW, she has the most incredible hand-made halloween house, constructed by her dh and foofed up by Melanie. You must go check it out.
I love the expression on the little witches face above, she looks so forlorn....
The goblin collage I may need to keep, it's looking pretty good in my hall....
This is the back, and below is the front, or vice versa. I like making them 2-sided, you can change them with your mood....
not that I'm moody, oh no, not me.......
Cleaned out my studio last night, yes that's right, cleaned it out again! What's up with that?
It's in a perpetual state of messy, but I guess that's a good sign right? If it never got messy that means I wouldn't be working in there at all. And I really need to be working to get ready for the grand opening of Lollishops, hopefully in November.
So excited about that venture, so many nice people over there.
Well, I'm off to go work on my photography skills, worked a bit on that today.
I hope you all had a great first day of Autumn....
Gail

Getting my "freak" on for Halloween.....

I don't know, is she scary? My bff thinks she is, so I thought I'd put a halloween party hat on her and let her greet everyone who comes over. Hope they don't think I'm too wierd, would you be afraid?
True to form I've already made some changes to this mantle, like putting black crows on top of the cat shadow box (they add just the right touch of eeriness. I'm all about the spooky this year.
The BOO letters are by Making Memories, I got them last year and covered them with the vintage looking Daisy d's halloween paper, then embellished.
I'll try to post more tomorrow, I've got so many projects in the works that I'm worn out mentally. Do any of you do that, kind of overload yourself?
I also need to learn how to take better photos, maybe I need to take a class.....
TTFN.

New vintage Halloween finds and a gift........

So I went to St. Vinnie's, and was so happy to find the 80, that's right, 80 treat bags, can't wait to use these somehow. Also in the same bin were two large bags of vintage halloween cupcake picks. I showed the different styles there, but can't wait to make cupcakes and put these on the top!
Then there was this very cool Halloween "book" that is supposed to hold candy, but I'll think of a different use for it, it's very cool inside and out.
This last item is for my SIL, (sure hope she's not reading this post!). It's her birthday today and I made her this collage because she loves Halloween (who doesn't?). Love you Heather and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!
Hope you're all creating something wonderful!
Have a great weekend!
Gail

Coburg or bust!!!!!

One more journal, thanks for looking...sorry for the disjointed post, I'm trying to hurry so I can take my dd to Tae Kwon Do. At the end of this post you'll see some of my buys from the Coburg show, although I forgot to show the 4 pairs of leather baby shoes that I got such a great deal on!
I have big plans for those, so stay tuned........
I've been a journal-making fool, knowing Melanie was coming to visit and wanting her to have lots of goodies to take back to sell in her store.
Two of my journals that I made for Melanie's shop....
Check out this old album page, it actually has cobwebs on it!!! How cool will this be for a Halloween collage?
First batch of Halloween tags going to All-My-Favorite-Things in Portland (thanks Mel!)
Halloween tag making it's way to Melanie's shop....
Love the beautiful amethyst colored bottle (thanks Mel for spotting that for me), she also spotted the little talcum bottle that I'll probably put glitter in. The clothespins are in such a cute old box, I'll cover those with wallpaper....
I love this tiny basket, it's like a mini version of my larger Harry & David baskets, but it's the perfect size to hold my vintage calling cards.
This lotto game had a price of $1 on it! Had to look twice at that one, thought the box must empty, but look what was inside.....so exciting.....



So my bff, Melanie of All-My-Favorite-Things fame came down Saturday night so we could go to Coburg Antique Faire on Sunday. We got up at 6am so we could grab a good parking spot and start shopping early (also to beat the heat).
We had a blast and here is some of my haul (don't know that you could really call it a haul, however, I was extremely frugal).
Love what I did buy though:
The red box of envelopes. Not too many people would get excited about these, but I sure did! I use a lot of old envelopes in my work, and I got this entire box for $10! The box itself is awesome too, with the really cool metal scallops all around the edges.