Steampunk 1 Marci's Decor

 Had a chance to visit my friend Marci yesterday, and as always, I was amazed at all the changes she has made in her evolving Steampunk style.

This charming rolled paper Wreath greeted me at the front door.

 Then inside I noticed that the great male mannequin with the top hat had aquired a pair of goggles.

This industrial print was acquired while junking with her friend Carol.  Marci assumes it once hung in a front office of a factory.  What a fabulous find.  It is one of a pair, and the other one is in her kitchen, so you will have to wait to see it for phase two of Marci's Steampunking.

I love the little details Marci has added to some of her antiques, like the springs at the base of the face of this standing clock.

Probably the biggest change since my last visit is that her gold French cabinets have been ousted and replaced with these newly constructed, from factory salvage, cabinets.  Both are filled with clocks and other wonderful steampunk elements.

 Marci has even gotten into the structural fabrication of Steampunk, including this great clock, built onto a brass welding torch.

This lamp is another bit of her Steampunk art.  The coiled spring bouncing in response to people walking around gave it a moving machinery feel.  Very cool.

This miniature typewriter sits on the shelf with Marci's cover stripped books.  If you note that the 'bookend' next to it is a bathrub leg, that gives you an idea of just how diminuative it is.

And just to finish up, here are a few more details from her amazing living room.  In the middle is her antique lightbulb collection, all gathered locally.  The dressmakers form with the scissor collection hanging around the neck is just delightful.

Thanks for coming along on this tour, there will two more installments, so keep checking back.

As Spring Like as Rust Can Be

      This is the awesome stove door that I got last December as a part of the Junk Exchange sponsored by the magazine Flea Market Style.  It was truly the piece de resistance...I so loved it, I just didn't know what I would use it for, but, I did know that first my darling husband would need to reverse the door so that the front would show when the box was open.The other thing I needed was a back for the box.
Then my dh did the reversal this week AND I noticed this perfect, 8 by 8 ceiling tile in my garage ...

     With no more excuses, I've been gathering goodies all week to put together my "spring" theme shadow box.  I adore the heart shaped cookie cutter with the punched holes in the back, and now it is part of display. 

 I also used a rusty spring, 2 faucet handles, a small strainer, rick rack, old lace, glitter (yes, always glitter) great old graphics from Graphics Fairy, and even a great piece of scrap booking paper I have been saving for something special ...




Here are a couple of close up shots of favorite bits.  I made tiny eggs to put in a 'nest' at the point of the cookie cutter.  I also added a glittery 'joy' sign in the corner, as in, "What is more joyful than spring time?"

Thanks for stopping by for a visit ... and hope you have a fun and crafty spring time this year.

Trash to Treasure French Trays, Signs and Tables too

 I really love great old French signage.  This post includes pictures of great items I have for sale at the Antique Mall where I work. 

I have collected the designs for these projects at my favorite of

all graphic sources :The Graphics Fairy. The sign in the picture above is actually an antique transom window with a board inserted.  The old paint on it made it perfect for 'becoming' a bit of Antique French Signage.

I love finding antique items to 'Frenchize'.  The metal flower basket in the top picture is one of my favorites, though you cannot see the twisted metal handle because of the ostrich feathers.  Then there's the old army trunk above that manages to boost is dignity.

The wood tables, trunk, sign and tin flower basket are done by tracing and then detailing with a black paint and a lettering brush, with smaller lettering being done with a sharpie.

The tray and bread box above are done with decoupage, while the bench is upholstered with antique bleached flour sack that has been printed with the Citrasolve method.

Putting the Tropics Behind Me!

Yesterday, my third day post Hawaii, was the first day I really felt like I was back into the rythm of my life.  I won't bore you with the majority of the three hundred plus photos I took, but I thought I would share a few.

This is our entire group, including my dh, two of my sons, one of my daughters, a daughter-in-law and 1 and a 1/2 of my grandchildren at the Polyneisian Cultural Center on the north shore of Oahu, near where we rented a house.

 We spent a bit of time at BYU-Hawaii, twice. My d-i-l is an alumni, and was showing us the hot spots.  In front of the bookstore we found these colorful bikes racked. Inside a Farmer's Market was going on.

 It was fun to see the students loading up on fresh produce and other local product. Later I saw this girl getting ready to ride off with her groceries which included a flat of eggs.

She was nice enough to let me take her picture as she wheeled away. It made me smile.

My son Trevor, is also a BYU-H alumni, so we hold a special place in our heart for the school.

Well, since I know that 'other people's' vacation pictures are ALWAYS boring, I will fast forward to the end, and let my grandson Elias and his Dad, Davin say goodbye and ...

"Y'all come back now, hear?"

Festive Decorated Eggs!

 Just back from a tropical vacation, which got me thinking about warm weather ...

Of course that brought on thoughts of Spring ... 

I had fun visiting with my married daughter while she did some on line work at my dining room table and I put together these fun and crafty eggs.

I started by decoupaging real eggs that I had blown out* with light weight book page bits.  Then added bits of paper lace, jewelry fittings, buttons, real lace, glitter, of course, and fun vintage bird art that I collected from Karen at Graphics Fairy.  She has a delightful supply of vintage art, which keeps me coming back.

I am going to be doing some fun 'spring baskets' later and will add a couple of these eggs, but for now I have tucked them into my vintage 3 minute egg rack, complete with an tiny glass timer. 

Hope your day is Egg-sactly right!

* The Greeley girls have asked me to tell how I blow out eggs.  I use a thin long nail or an extra large needle and tap it lightly and repeatedly until I have made a tiny crack/indent/hole in the end of the egg.  I keep working at it until the hole is about 1/16 to an 1/8 of in inch in diameter.  Then I do the same to the other end.  I then put my nail/needle into the egg and stir it to break up the yolk.  Next I put my mouth against the smallest hole and blow out the inside yolk and white into a bowl.  (I later use these for scrambled eggs or baking so they are not wasted).  Now I put the empty egg into a bowl of water and suck so that the egg is filled with water, I swish it around to rinse the egg out then blow out the water.  I do this three or four time to make sure its clean inside.  Let it dry and its ready to use in arranged in a bowl or basket as is, or it can be dyed, or decoupaged, whatever you like. Good luck!

Another Fast and Furious Girls' Night Out!

 Many, many moons ago we all lived in the same Orem neighborhood.  Now none of us live there.  We have parted ways, but not hearts, so to touch the past occasionally we have a girls night out.  Last Wednesday there were five of us.

 Ann suggested Applebees and when we got there we found out it was Bingo night .... what the heck?  Here we see Kim, Sherry and Jenn.

Kim said she hadn't played for like 20 years, but I guess its like riding a bike  ....

Look what a fine job she is doing with that red crayon.

Ann was master of the green crayon, but despite our best combined efforts not one of us managed to win. Fortunately the bubbly young woman who was doing the calling kept telling us 'not to despair', so we didn't, we just laughed, and laughed, and well, laughed.

Jenn managed to get out of the stress of us all being two time losers for a bit when one of her patients recognized her and she went over and did some 'baby time'.

And you can see how futile were my efforts!!  Thanks girls for another fabulous Girl's night out!! (Do they have Bingo on cruise ships do you think? One can always hope!)

Its a Small World After All!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

So the last day I worked  at the antique mall before my vacation, it was an amazing day  Besides the fact that I had two really good friends dropped by to shop and work, my husband's cousin Karen also came in, on an important errand.

As it turns out, she and her husband, during one of their only visits to the antique mall Saturday, ran across this portrait.  The woman looked familiar and it bugged Karen all weekend.  It finally struck her that it was an ancestor of hers (and my husband, Scott's).  She brought in a picture of this several generations removed great grandmother Elizabeth Partidge Tillotson Whiting, and we compared them and concluded the following.

Background: In the late 1800's cabinet cards were common.  They were those photographs that came on a cardboard back board with the photographers advertising info on them.  So people who wanted larger portraits to hang in their homes would take their cabinet cards to a charcoal artist who would do a rendering from the picture and then frame them in elaborate frames.  It is my opinion that these are two charcoal drawings by two different charcoal artists of the same cabinet card. Notice that the dress collar, scarf inside the dress collar and the bar pin across the button placket are all the same. The artist on the left (the photo in the book that Karen owns) was clearly the better artist and included the details of her neck rather than just drawing her clothing to her chin, but I feel confident that they are from the same cabinet card. So honestly what are the chances that Karen would find an 'original' ancestral portrait at a local antique store.  Pretty cool eh?  And furthermore, what are the chances that I would be working the same day that she came in to buy it?

Of course it was fun to see Karen and get a chance to chat, that wasn't at a funeral, which seems to be the norm anymore.  Enjoy that portrait Karen!

52 Things I Love about Him!

My friend Jenn told us ahead of time that we would be making these cute card books at her Valentine Cookie Exchange.

When I started thinking about the 52 things I love about my dear boy, I realized that 52 is 2 times 26, and 26 is how many letters are in alphabet.  Of course this was only of interest to me because I LOVE alphabet books.  So I decided to make mine an alphabet book with two traits per letter.

  When we got to the party, Jenn provided each of her guests with kits for their little books.  The design on the back (above) and 52 glue ons were part of the kit, along with the drilled deck of cards, the rings, stickers, jewels, ribbons, sequins, patterned papers, etc.

I decided to take mine home because I had some great designs I had downloaded from Graphics Fairy that I thought would look amazing.  I also had some cute Valentine Tickets I had downloaded from another blogger who posted on Graphics Fairy's brag Monday. Then I made some sweet tiny BINGO cards that said HEART instead of Bingo.

I love how it turned out and I hope that my Valentine will too.  One thing that was very cool about this project is that after spending the wee hours for a couple of nights putting together my list (I think the alphabet set up makes it easier) I realized how really wonderful the man I am married to really is, and I think he helped me appreciate him even more.