Reinvinting ME!!

Ok, this is not what you think.  This is not about changing my hair color, or makeup styling or even about losing all that dratted weight, nope ... Its about my changing attitudes over the years.  You see there was time when I thought that people who were big into Broadway plays were just snobs.... yes, I am sorry to have to admit I was once that small minded ... but there it is.  Of course those of you who know me realized that this changed about twenty years ago when we fell in with some serious 'groupie types', and we have never looked back.  

This week we had a chance to go and see Legally Blonde, the traveling version of the Broadway play.  It was fun to find out that our groupie friends happen to have a neighbor who just graduated from BYU's drama program.  She tried out for a part in Legally Blonde and got the LEAD!!

  We drove to Reno this weekend just to see the play, and were well rewarded!  The play was amazing, but the tour the star of the show gave us before the show was fabulous!

This is Nikki in front of some of the wigs for the show.  She wears two different wigs.  Oh, you may have noticed she is not blonde!  She told us that she is the first actress to play Elle who is not blonde, even though all have worn wigs made especially for them.  I guess in this business you can't risk a 'bad hair day'!!

                      Nikki showed us her 'finale dress' which cost $5,000.  Whoa, its definitely pink!!

 These are our friends Randy and Barb Moe, and their daughter Trina with her husband, Ryan. (Nikki, the star of Legally blonde is second from the right)

This picture is of friends, Robin and Jeff Heuer who are next door neighbors to Nikki's family in Highland.

We had a great time, and found Nikki to be a very gracious hostess.

Reinvinting the Antique Mall .... and how Polly is sadly reduced to stripping!

Its a time of change and upgrading around here. Treasures Antique Mall is looking better and better, AND so is my granddaughter room.  It must be that renewal you feel in January taking over.  I am shown to the left in Cathie's new booth at the antique mall.

 And opps ... we  got caught stripping.  I am working with my twelve year old granddaughter Kim remodeling her room, unfortunately it involved a lot of 'fingernail destroying' wallpaper stripping.  The wallpaper above the border zipped off in full sheets .... the bottom half, not so much! (Kim and I had a contest to see who could pull off the largest piece ... I held the record for three days, and kept bettering myself until Kim was finishing off the last corner and came up with the largest piece yet!! )  I am just lucky that Kim is an amazing worker, she even worked on it when I was not there!!
                                                  
                                     Here is the work-o-maniac in person ... still smiling anyway.

And when I was not busy stripping wallpaper, I spent much of my week at the antique mall.  We have recently welcomed a new dealer to our Mall, Cathie Cox.  Cathie has been a great addition to the mall.  She seems to have a sixth sense for the business, and has been doing amazingly well.  Cathie has a lot of experience, having been in an antique mall before, as well as having done flea markets, antique shows and street fairs.  Here she is in her cute new booth!

   She has lots of fun fifties stuff, as well as vintage clothes, books, cards, and kitchen stuff!  Even those that don't buy from her make comments on how well put together her booth is. 

 Then, our common friend Jennifer stopped by to pick up a chair that Cathie had found for her at an estate sale last weekend!  Look at these buff women!  Being in the antiques business is better for building biceps than weight training, and there are no gym membership fees!!

 Well, here's the three of us, Jennifer Reid in the middle trying out the new chair, with me on the left and Cathie on the right.  Good times!
                                    

And its back to real, post holiday, life!!

It finally happened.  All of my Christmas decor has been tucked away for another year.  Of course taking down holiday decor is not just something I have to do at home, it also happens at the antique store where I work, Treasures Antiques in Springville.

I am including a few pictures of the display I had the opportunity to redo this week, after taking down the Christmas display with a coworker.  My coworker had redone another display and gave me the opportunity to put this one together, with her helping with gathering.  It is all done in red and white, and is very cheerful when its cold and frosty outside,  (and sometimes in the store as we have the front heater on the blink at the moment, burrr!)   We added some Valentines elements and it feels quite festive.

   This display includes a vintage window, and I found a cute red dotted trimmed sheer curtain to which I shirred onto a yard stick to complete the look.  The curtains, that had been in the store for 6 months, sold within an hour.  Fortunately I was able to talk the dealer who bought them into letting us leave them in place for a week!  :-)  When she apologized I reminded her that the point of these displays is to sell the items in them!

Just when I thought I could put 'Christmas' away!!

We have some really good friends, with whom we exchange gifts at Christmas, but this year, due to one of my friends having surgery two weeks before Christmas our gift exchange just didn't happen.  So guess what?  We are getting together this weekend and going out for Sushi, then we are gathering at our home for our exchange and game playing.  Of course, though we had planned to take down our decor Saturday, we need to have that Christmas atmosphere, so we are leaving it up another week.  Thank heavens artificial trees don't drop needles, eh?  So here are a few more pictures of our decor.

This is our main Christmas tree, it is decorated with antique and reproduction mercury glass figural ornaments.  I have also included some "reinvinted" ornaments made from antique and vintage elements in the Victorian style.  The one just below is one of my favorites.

 This is a close up of my "reinvinted" wreath!

 This is my white decorated fireplace mantel.  It started collecting white Christmas stuff after I saw a centerpiece done all in white in a Mary Engelbreit Home Companion magazine (I miss them) a few years ago.  Below is a close up of the my main mantel shelf. This display just makes me smile!!

This is the shelf in my kitchen with my funky collection of vintage trees and houses.

Putting Christmas Decor Away for Another Year... and "Reinvinted" Wreath

So, last weekend would have been our normal 'put Christmas stuff away' weekend, except that my husband Scott (the official tote and fetch person) was busy doing a '2 day kitchen and bath' remodel on our daughter's bathroom.  So this weekend has been officially appointed for the 'Christmas Clean-up' slot.  I did, however want to post some pictures of my decor this year, as it is becoming closer and closer to being everlastingly too late .... I know, sane people would point out that it IS already too late .... but what do we care for what sane people do and say?  What has it to do with us?

So this is some of the pink decor in my dining room. I made the pink wreath after collecting antique pink ornaments for about five years.  It is a year old this Christmas .... and is obviously a bit of Reinvintage!!

This is my 'fourth of July' tree as my son-in-law Sam termed it.  I have had some incarnation of this tree for almost ten years, and its still makes the cut.  The Uncle Sam on the base is a celluloid guy, rather rare and lots of fun!!

 

More pics to come in my next post!!

Reinventing with vintage elements = Reinvintage Jewelry!!

2010 was the year it finally happened.  I have collected items of 'junque' jewelry for several years with an eye towards putting them together to make fun, funky and sometimes chunky necklaces and bracelets.  Then last year I decided it was really THE time to do it.

It seems  things had gotten to the point that when I bought more jewelry lots, whether at second hand store, estate sales or even at the antique store where I work, my friends and work associates were beginning to roll their eyes.  You see, I had talked about making these one of a kind, uniquely designed pieces from all my gathered finding for as many years as I had been collecting the elements. I loved the idea and could see the completed items so clearly in my minds eye, but I just kept collecting.

Sadly it took the near contempt of people, whom I love and respect, to get me going.   That, along with knowing that I could use the upcoming Walter Larsen Antique Show in Salt Lake City as an alternate venue, actually made it happen.

Surprisingly, after several days spent organizing my work room, I actually jumped in and found that putting together new creations from bits and pieces of charming old jewelry was every bit as satisfying as I had known it would be.  Here are some of the pieces that I made.

 This one was made in Halloween colors and I actually kept it for myself !

 This one became a gift for an elegant dancer, who is a friend in my church group. She is a beautiful blue eyed blond who dresses in her own unique and charming style, I thought it would be perfect for her.

 The top bracelet sold at Treasures Antiques where I work to a woman who way buying all manner of 'bling', as she phrased it.   The one on the bottom became a Christmas gift for a dear friend who had admired it and who loves all things pink!! I fortunately drew her name in gift exchange in which we participate.

 This necklace was a Christmas gift for another dear friend who had admired it.

 This necklace sold at a Christmas boutique, along with four others!

Because I sold all of the chunky charm bracelets that I had taken to the Walter Larsen show I decided to try another, and have placed this Hawaiian Theme bracelet for sale at Treasures Antiques in Springville.