So today was one of my lucky days........

Last night was a hard one sleeping wise, you know the kind. You wake up around 4 a.m. with a headache and can't get back to sleep.....lets' toss, let's turn, let's really hurt our back in the process! Yep, that was early today....then the mail came.....:).

Then I was all smiles because I won Hope's fantastic giveaway with wonderful goodies added by Michelle....brace yourselves!

I don't think I've ever seen more wonderful business cards...front and back are so artistically thought out...hmmmm, I need a new business card...who to ask for help.....?

Please excuse this photo, I mucked it up completely....doesn't do these pretties justice!

I was thrilled that Hope wrote on this bundle that these were some of her favorite old papers to create with...good enough for Hope?
Yep, good enough for me! They're gorgeous, thank you Hope...

The coveted "little bits" bundle from Michelle's shop,
that's right, you can go get your own right now....all wrapped up in a beautiful Moleskine pocket organizer...what a wonder.

A glimpse inside, I was so excited at this point!

Thoughtful.....how nice is this? My name in old game pieces and tiny envelopes....sigh.....

Tons of beautiful cut-outs of pretty papers and wallpapers, old labels....

More pretties to create with....

Look at all this ticket wonder!

Hello, my name is Happy!

Wrapping up, I just love all of it and it has truly inspired me to pull out my old journal and incorporate lots of these bits and pieces into it.....and since we leave for vacation on Sunday for the beach my journal is definitely coming with me, along with all this wonder.....can't wait to show you what I do with it all!
(Now if I can just find those pens that Hope loves.....)
Thank you so very much to Hope and Michelle for such a great giveaway!

The office nerd strikes again....no office supply is safe from her!!

So my Goodwill was good to me today....I found yet another of these old office file boxes, an entire bag of old Boston clips which I adore and have been dying to acquire more of.

There are all kinds of sizes and even some really old ones in this bag...I love finding these clips, especially in bulk!

And then I turned around and saw these beauties! I may have gasped, I'm not sure....

And right next to the chippy wonderful doorknobs was an awesome galvanized two tier basket, and not one of the new ones..this one has some age on it and is going straight into my studio to hold either millinery or ribbons, heck, maybe both!
I did hit several other thrift stores today but came out empty handed so I'm glad I went to GW first and found some goods I can use...hope you're all having some luck out there with your thrifting!

New supplies, quick project, new member of the family.....

Good Monday morning! Hope you all had a great weekend...it was finally hot here! 90 degrees, our hottest day so far this year. I made a run to Michael's and found these great supplies from Tim Holtz...trinket pins (they have words on them!), reinforcers (those little round things that go around the hole punches in your journals), a big sticker book, and some very cute pockets (not by Tim) that are lined and scalloped and will be very cute in journals.

Now I'm not normally a girl who will buy new supplies, I always prefer the real vintage deal....however I can easily make an exception with these lovely items!

An oh-so-fun project are the tickets above, purchased on Etsy from ArtCult. I fell in love with these beautiful tickets and had to have them...they're a digital download. However, I wanted to make sure I could cut them out properly with the perforations but didn't have proper scissors, nor did I even know if there was such a product out there.

Well, I'm happy to report there is! They cost $1.49 at Michael's on sale....I bought two pair and was able to cut out my tickets.

And now, for the new member of our family. A "new" antique upright piano....our dd, 10, is learning piano and we've needed one for awhile now. Isn't she pretty? I always thought that we'd just have her use a keyboard, but she's got some real talent (according to her teacher, not me!) and we wanted her to be able to practice on a full piano.

So, do any of you have a piano in your home? Do you like having one? Is it hard to decorate around or is it an asset? Inquiring minds want to know....

A bonus is now I can take some lessons, I've always wanted to know how to play!
Have a wonderful week.....:).

A Cool and Rainy Weekend.....in July?!!!!!!

It's craziness, I tell ya! We've had so much cool weather so far this Summer....I know, I know, quit complaining because some poor souls are burning hot with tons of humidity!
I've been busy creating and adding to my Etsy shop...the french style album above is new today.....
~SOLD~

A lucky find, boxes of Dennison file folder labels...new today.
~SOLD~

An adorable, very old child's trivet, new in my shop.
~SOLD~

Very vintage wonderful old darning threads, new in my shop.

Shabby vintage wallpaper tags, new in my shop.
~SOLD~

A darling old arithmetic book (my 10yo dd had to ask me what "arithmetic" is!) Yep, they don't call it that anymore! New in my shop...just click on my Etsy on my sidebar to be whisked away to my shop.....more coming later today! I do hope you all have a creative and wonderful week!

Where Bloggers Create 2011~ how exciting is this?!"

Yes, I will be brave and invite the world inside....:)

Hello, and welcome to my studio at Little Beach Designs! This photo shows just a small sample of the types of art I love to create in my studio space....journals, collages using new and vintage elements, and some mixed media pieces also.

Welcome inside my studio...aka "my happy place".
My name is Gail and I'm lucky to have had my own space for creating for about 3 years now. I'm a self-taught artist who adores working with old paper and vintage finds. I  love altering items and assemblage art, and I collect tons of things some of which I sell in my Etsy shop. 

I adore old wallpaper lingerie chests of all kinds! I also adore old trunk inserts (thanks to my best friend Melanie for gifting me some of these!)

She also gifted me this awesome old luggage piece with a floral lining...

I feel blessed to have an entire room of my own to create in...I've filled it with thrifted goods and boxes of all kinds to hold my old things..

This room didn't used to have any cabinets, they all came from my dh's old office....can you say lucky? Tons of storage in here..however I did feel the need to take the doors off, just makes it easier to access things down below. These are Simply Shabby Chic curtains found at Value Village for a song and re-purposed to fit where the doors used to be...I sewed on some vintage glass buttons for interest.

I always buy old spools of string when I find them...I re-purposed the newer craft box by covering it with my favorite old wallpaper and then putting a spool of string inside...pretty and practical.

I love finding old cigar boxes with pretty graphics for storage, you'll see a lot of them in my studio.

Some of the paper ephemera I love to collect.

I also took the doors off the space right above part of my workspace, I find it helps me a ton to be able to see what I'm searching for, either in labeled boxes or see through vintage lockers...you can also glimpse some small vintage jewelry boxes on the bottom that are all labeled with more supplies that I use frequently.

I was lucky to find all these charming ladies at a thrift store!
I re-covered the old wooden organizer with vintage wallpaper.

These items are in my window, all my cabinet cards and some buttons (the storage drawers are yet another thrift find that I covered with wallpaper).

A shot of my work desk and thrifted footstool that i found for $10. I usually stand while I work, but sometimes I need to take a break!

Yet another fabulous gift from my best friend Melanie! This is a great old barrel covered with gorgeous old wallpaper that I store my wallpaper in (at least some of it)! I've acquired a ton of old wallpaper, it's my favorite medium to create with.

A little vignette on my dresser....doll heads and old leather doll bodies...I know, not everyone's cup o' tea, but I love them! These are being displayed in another trunk insert that I found at Monticello in Portland.

I added lots of old photos of my mom, whose been gone for a few years now...it's comforting to me to have her presence in my studio.

This window has always been a problem for me! Although I love it because in the afternoon the sun streams in here like crazy (lucky, I know!), the window itself is not pretty and it's surrounded by brown paint! Some day I'll paint it, but for now it's covered in old paper pages......:).

This wall right behind my wallpaper stash is covered with old ledger pages from an old Mason's ledger...just taped up for now.

My newer small dress form is all dressed for the party! My sweet friend Amy made the paper crown for me and I love it!!
The necklace is a treasured piece that I won (did I mention I was lucky?) from Shari Replogle, a fabulous artist! 

This is the other side of my room, again I've removed some of the doors so I can see my supplies. Tons of paper and books...

This awesome metal cabinet came from my best friends store (it used to be green) and it holds a TON of supplies for me, mostly paper. As you can see, I'm also a sucker to floral wallpaper storage boxes of all kinds.

Lots of old sewing machine drawers hold all kinds of items that I need to finish labeling.....

This is a notions corner, it's where I keep a lot of crochet trims and bakers twine (can you tell I love it?) The blue chest on the right is one I found at a garage sale and it was covered in some ugly 80's wallpaper....I wondered what was underneath...glad I looked!

I found this great old barkcloth shoe bag years ago, it holds a ton of ribbons and trims...I also love the old floral knitting bags, I only have two so far.

My "VINTAGE" pennant that I made using old wallpaper and sparkle letters...

I try to use each and every inch of my studio, behind the door I've stored more stamped ribbon and vintage trims..

One of my inspiration boards....unfortunately it has to go behind the door because I literally have no wall space in here because of all the cabinets (no, I'm not complaining!)

A further off shot of my workspace, I love to decorate the doors with old photos and postcards, etc....

I was lucky to find this chippy mint green dresser at a local vintage mall for a good price, it holds tons of supplies.

Some of my cabinet doors with old ledger pages, put where I can enjoy them every day!

My closet doors used to be louvered bi-fold doors that were a pain to open....now they're history and I've added some Simply Shabby Chic shower curtains for easier access. I'm lucky to have two dress forms, the small one was my first found at the flea, the second came via ebay from the east coast...

Love these old children's cases for small paper goods...

Lots of white buttons....

I found this tiny pink mesh wire 3-tiered hanger at the thrift store.

This old wooden cash register drawer is a recent find and I love to have it on my work desk holding different items I like to use...

This box is one of my favorite finds ever!  It combines all my favorites...tattered silk ribbon, red and white paper, a gorgeous print, and some fabulous trim.

And last but not least, I found this stunner at Goodwill, glad I checked out the inside, otherwise I would have kept on walking!
I'll be using this beauty to store all my "Where Women Create" magazines....:). Thank you so very much for coming to visit my space. And thank you so much Karen for hosting this fabulous party once again! It's just the kick in the pants I need to get my space organized!!!!