Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Letters That Spell Love

Yep, its me, hanging more banners to celebrate the season of love!!
 

 As you know, I love German glass glitter, especially as it tarnishes.  At our last fleaology, my friend Steffi, shown to the right at a summer sale we did together, brought what she had left of the great 8 inch glittered letters she had once carried in her store, The Pink Door.  My friend Jennine and I picked through the remaining letters and spelled LOVE with an upside down F (short arm cut off) an O a V and a 3, turned backwards.  We thought we were pretty darn creative!!
(Note the eyelets on the bottom of the 'L', I had to insert new eyelets at the top.)

Then when I was checking out my friend Andrea's blog, I found that she had bought the same creative letters (Yes, she was also at flea.o.logy that day :-))  Now I can only assume that it was because great minds think alike! 
 
 
Now I just need to see what Jennine has done with 'love' letters.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Valentines Mantel

Yep, I have been busy crafting again.  I finished up two projects on Saturday and was able to finish my dining room mantel!  Huzzah!
 

The first project was dressing up an antique bride's basket from my collection.  I filled it with some red garland, and silver and red pics.  A pair of sweet glittery pink birds sit in the midst of the nest, with banners proclaiming 'love nest'.  I thought it was perfect for Valentines.
 

I have had these mercury glass finials for years, but have never been able to find a spot for them.  I thought with some sweet graphics from the source of all sources, Graphics Fairy, they would make the perfect centerpiece for my mantel.  I adore the little Valentine Clowns, and they were simple to decoupage into place.
 

 
 


 
I bought this sweet shadow box/rolling ball game at Treasures last week from Two Pits of a Pear.  I love their stuff, and did you notice that he used the same little Valentine clown that I included on my Mercury glass?  I would like to think that means I have good taste, because I know that Brandon certainly does! 
Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Trash to Treasure Valentines Candy Jars

 Just back from a comfortable evening at my book club ... Suzanne made everything lovely, with peach cookies, and peach spiced filled cookies and short bread, and something divine with anise flavoring ... oh and peach slush. Did you notice all mentions of peach? Well we read The Peach Keeper, and we all liked it too!!  Ah yes, good foods, good friends and a good read ...
 
 
So buoyed up by a lovely evening, I stopped to get candy for the Valentine's Candy Jars I had made for my dining room mantel. (Two of them had candle sticks added to match the third.) I found the great heart shaped boarder at Graphics Fairy, labeled them, printed them off and backed them with red and white polka dot paper then tied them on the jars with red and white baker's twine. The Valentine mantel isn't quite ready to share, but here are the jars on my piano for the time being. I think they look great with my red and white winter display.
 
 

 
 
I hope you are having some lovely snug evenings with friends as well, and if you would like a good read, may I suggest The Peach Keeper, by Sarah Addison Allen.  Not sure why I love books that are set in the American South so much, but I do.  How about you?

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Artists and Crafters at Flea.o.logy






Flea.o.logy started life as a straight up flea market ... lots of vintage and antique goodies, for which we are still famous.  But over the years we have attracted craft vendors as well.  I have loved it, and usually find at least one artist creation to add to my collection.  Just thought I would show you a sampling of the fine craft items available at flea.o.logy last weekend.  I am sure you noticed the colorful animals bottles above.  The cameo bib neclace was a favorite of mine.


We always have a lot of jewelry artists.  Assemblage art is also popular, such as the robots above and the valentines boxes below.


Decoupaged books.


Whimsical assemblage, like the cat angel above and the doll with faucet shoulders and a match box holder body always make me smile.  In fact I bought one of these assemlages and will share it when I share my personal collection of crafters art.   Perhaps my favorite of all the crafts at flea.o.logy this time were the sweet tiny tin boxes dressed up for Valentines, shown below.
 
 Shadow boxes like the two below are always favorite of mine.  The one with the baby theme is deeper and behind glass, while the Valentines themed box is much flatter and without glass.  I find both of them to be very charming.


Its always fun to see what the crafters will create and bring to the show.  I just know that I am always inspired, as I rub shoulders with these amazing folks!  

Monday, January 21, 2013

Flea.o.logy Junking Mid Winter!!

On Saturday we held our second indoor winter flea.o.logy sale and at the same time started our 8th year of flea.o.logy flea markets here in Payson, Utah where I live.  How many wonderful memories of fabulous finds, fine friendships and fleaing fun we have shared!!  Here are a few snippets of Saturday's sale.
 
 
I used a graphic from Karen's blog, Graphics Fairy to make the jewelry display card for this reinvented red and silver Valentine's bracelet ... it didn't last long ...
 
 


My friend Wendy had to work,  but brought a few wonderful antique goodies and a some crafted items for me to sell in my booth.  I love these decorated coverless books!!
 
 
Here are a few other shots of goodies that were available at the sale ... these cute jars were a real hit!
 
Love the necklace above ... I am a nut about cameos, and thought it was just charming.  My friend Andrea donated her 'Be Mine' banner to help with a fund raiser we are doing in our church to help buy a man with advanced muscular dystrophy a special van ... it sold within 5 minutes!
 
Above is Steve, our local jewelry artisan ... he has boxes and boxes of old silver plate flatware, and you choose your pattern and tell him what jewelry piece you want him to make out of it... then you get to watch it happen!!  To the left is Penny's booth, she does junk construction art ... LOVE the star robot!!
 
We even had a booth with wooden sun glasses ... Everyone thought they were awesome .... and everyone looked like a movie star when they put them on!
 
The garden house cat didn't seem to intimidated by the crowds, he jumped up into my friend Kelli's 'work case' and snuggled in for a nap that lasted most of the day.  Kelli said she should have charge people to take pics!
 
Above  is Rhonna showing off her amazingly good deal.  The whole set of aqua canisters was ten dollars ... she was doing the happy dance!!  Rhonna brought along a whole crew of Instagramming friends ... they found lots of amazing shots, do a search on Instagram for fleaology and check them out!!  Thanks Rhonna and friends, it was so amazing to have you all come!
You can also check out Rhonna's amazing blog!
 
But the highlight of the show for me was meeting two of my local blog followers.  It so fun to get to put faces to my wonderful cyber sisters!! To the left is Jann Olson of Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson.  To the right is Tanya who read about flea.o.logy on my blog and drove down, through some serious fog, to join the fun!!  Thanks Jann and Tanya, I loved meeting you both!
 
And a special thanks to all my readers and blog followers, I just wish I could meet you all!!
 

Friday, January 18, 2013

Trash to Treasure - Valentines Door Hanger

Now that we have fun Valentines touches in the house to prepare us all for the season of love, I thought it was time for a sweet heart door decoration.  I found this red glittered and reticulated metal cone at a second hand store for a dollar.  The glittered hearts are picks from the dollar store.  The fairy and pink bird are unlikely clearanced Christmas ornaments, the ribbon is from stock on hand ... that left me to accordion fold old book pages to tuck into the 'nest' ...
 
... and a couple of great graphics  including the bird in a nest with an envelope from Graphics Fairy to fiddle with a bit in paint ... and voila - our love nest door decor is complete.  Now my guests will get to share a bit of whimsical Valentine sweetness before they even step inside!!  Hope you are feeling loved and that you are having fun with your Valentine additions as well!
Happy Valentines to one and all!!
 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Paper Bags Valentine Banner

 
 
Hi all!  I am just here to share a super simple craft banner that we did in our Church's women's group, which is called relief society.  My completed banner is above and  the example banner made by my good friend Andrea is to the right. 
 
Here Andrea shows the banner she is working on.  Most of the  rest of the group is to the left.  The banner is just paper bags, doilies, letters cut on a Krikut out of glittered paper, fun ribbons and adornments.  It was designed by Andrea, and we all had a lot of fun sharing the evening.
 
One nice thing about having red in my decor is that Christmas and Valentines decorations don't fight with the rest of the room!!
 
Thanks Andrea, you are so creative.  If you like you can check out her blog here.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Love Letter in a Bottle

Oh Valentines, what is not to love about this amazing mid-winter holiday?   And since I am getting ready for my mid-winter flea market this weekend, what could be more right than a Valentine's craft?
 
These fun 'Love Letter in a Bottle' crafts are fun and romantic.  Each decorated bottle includes a romantically decorated bottle, each with a selection of the following:   Old lace, bits of jewelry, pipe cleaners, ribbon, sheet music, print from old books and/or lovely old graphics I have gathered from favorite blogs including Graphics Fairy.  There is also a sheet of faux parchment to write the letter on, and a page of snippets from love letters by famous individuals, to help the writer do so.
     
 
I made this one to the right a little more masculine, in case there is a woman out there who wants to tuck a love letter inside for her sweetheart.
 
 
They were very fun and romantic to make, and I think they will make lovely Valentine's Gifts ...  Of course anyone can decorate their own bottle, and I found the list of snippets on the web, so you can too!!  Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest craft. If you are local, be sure to stop by Olson's Garden Shoppe here in Payson  for our flea.o.logy vintage market sale to check out the other goodies I am bringing, as well as the goodies of 30 other dealers!!