Spice Tins Looking Vintage!

Yep, its Thrifty Thursday once more, and time to share another thrifty project.  When I first saw this spice set at a garage sale last summer, I knew it had possibilities. 

However this is what it looked like when I found it.  The dark outdated colors were sort of dreary.  I longed to lighten it up and give it softer touches.

I used spray paint I had on hand and painted them white.  I then brushed the wood holder in two colors of blue and then went in search of a great label design.  I found this sweet wreath on Graphics Fairy, and it even came in assorted colors, so of course I choose the blue.

This photo shows the hand brushed details on the rack and on the lids of the individual spice canisters.  I had  a lot of fun with that.

When I was photographing them, I noticed this antique flat basket, and wondered how they would look displayed on it.  I liked seeing one more color in the ocean spectrum added in.  Of course the lace would be impractical in the kitchen, but it still looks sweet.

Thanks for coming along on my thrifty tour. 

Spice Set (Garage Sale) -   $2

paints from stock on hand  -  0

paper and ink from stock on hand.  - 0

Mod Podge from stock on hand - 0

Dear Lizzie; THE Place to Wander

For my Wednesday's Wanderings today, I am going to take you to a local shop that is a favorite of anyone who has ever been inside.

Dear Lizzie was started by Laura Jarman, one of our customers at Treasures Antiques where I work.  She is amazingly talented, and the atmosphere she has created at her shoppe and bistro are wonderfully charming.

Its on the other end of the county from me, but I try to drop by often, especially when I receive notice of an event like I did the beginning of May.  I called my friend Robin, who amazingly, had never been in the store, though she lives less than a mile away.

 Being the shopping maven that she is she agreed to accompany me.  She too was charmed as we wandered among the wonderfully ethereal goods.  We both marveled at the fun clothing, and I took home the sweet lace top that is shown on the mannequin above.... I just wish I could get away with yards and yards of tulle ...

One of my favorite customers, Shirley, who is also a blog follower recently said that my booths in the antique mall remind her of Dear Lizzie.  I can think of no higher praise ...  blush,  though I must admit I am definitely a devotee of this store, and I sing its praises everywhere I go.

The products that Dear Lizzie carries, from hand crafted to antique to the  commercially made, come together to create such a romantic haven. 

After some very fruitful hunting and gathering, alas it was time to complete our transactions and get glitter stars stamped onto our checks!  I guess all good things must come to an end.

But it was just a few weeks later that Robin and I and some other friends went to lunch for my birthday.  Imagine my delight when I dug into a nest of curlicued ribbons and aqua dotted tissue paper to find one of these amazing glitter encrusted crown wands inside ...  I knew that once Robin went to Dear Lizzie, she would find herself there again, and again ... and I even have the evidence to prove it.

Last of all, below is a picture of Robin with the first of my homemade paper mache mannequins, which Laura purchased for her store at Treasures a couple of years ago.  Thanks for coming along on this ethereally glittered tour, I just wish that each of your could spend an afternoon at Dear Lizzie some time.

50's Metal Hamper Make Over!

Today's Tuesday Tale is going to be about a plain vintage metal hamper with great 'bones' and how it became a great beauty and found a new home where it was wanted and loved.  When I found this hamper it was a little plain, even boring, as seen in the before picture to the right.  The touch up paint had left it randomly mottled, and not very attractive.

I found it at the Acorn Antique show a couple of weeks ago for a mere $20, and admired its roomy size.  The hamper I have been using in my bathroom, was anything but roomy.  Of course I was also charmed by its wonderful metal mesh design.

Now all it needed was a good coat of paint, which was accomplished while watching a romantic DVD with my DH.  And then, since I have roses as an accent in my aqua bathroom, I thought roses decoupaged on top would be perfect.

And speaking of perfect, the perfect place to find such a bit of art, is at Graphics Fairy.  (You can see the graphic I used, before trimming, at the bottom of this post)  After decoupaging the roses in the center of the lid, I drew a line around the edge with a ruler and a pink permanent marker.  In the fifties, when this hamper was likely made, this sort of 'pin striping' was very common, and after seeing it completed, I thought it looked very fifties.  A coat of spray varnish is all it needed to make it water proof for a happy life in the bathroom.

Here it is as an element of my bathroom.  I was charmed with how it turned out.  Thank you for coming along and sharing my little project.

Antique Sun and Moon Stools.

Yep, its makeover Monday once more.  I'm still on a quest to up cycle old goodies, and today I wanted to share this pair of somewhat boring old stools.  Both with their original old hard white paint and just a little chippy, all they wanted was a little personality.

I loved the antique astrological look of this pair of antique drawings of the moon and sun.  I thought the resulting stools would look great in a teenager's room.  One with astrological and solar system charts on the walls, don't you think?  The nice thing about doing art on top of stools, is that we don't place things on stools, other than when we sit on them, so they are fun and decorative most of the time.

Of course I found these two at Graphics Fairy, and they just made me smile.  After one attempt at my favorite reverse modpodge method where you rub away the excess paper that went badly, I gave up, reprinted them and just applied them in the traditional modpodge or decoupage manner.  They are charming, and the detail is much better this way anyway.  Hope you like them and thanks for checking our my makeover Monday selection this week.

Nell's Wall Alphabet

For Saturday Style, I am going to share my dil's style.  I had planned to do a mixed alphabet like this, then got sidetracked ... (nothing new there.)

Then I dragged my collected letters to the flea.o.logy in January.  Nell (dil) saw them and mentioned she wanted to do a random alphabet wall .... see why I love this girl?  I told her she could have them all, though I was still missing a few.

She added those she already had, painted them up, and used pages from an alphabet book for the ones that were missing.  She is just too clever, don't you think?  I LOVE it with the mixed in frames ... I would have NEVER thought of that, don't you think she did an amazing job!!  She doesn't blog, so she gave me permission to post about them here!

... and in case you are interested, her daughter graduated from Preschool today.  Here she is shown with her paternal grandparents (me and the DH if you didn't already gather that.)

When I called her a 'gradgitate' (a family inside joke as my son Davin, after his Graduation from high school used to jokingly say "You cannot tell me what to do now, I am Gradgitated!)  Anyway, Eva said "No, Grandma, I am a graduate girl"  So here's to our dear little graduate girl.

Oh and a special thanks to her mother, Nell, for allowing me to share a bit of her vast talent!

Milk Glass For Weddings!

For my Friday's Favorite, I thought I would focus on the 'Milk Glass for Weddings' display I just finished today.  You may have noticed that I took part of the bride and groom display from the store to the Acorn Show last weekend.  One baker stopped by and wanted to know where my store is, as she wanted to send brides in who want an antique wedding cake topper.

So here we are on the brink of June, and I had a lovely display of milk glass in the front of one of my booths.  I also came armed with two new pieces of milk glass from my foraging this week.  A nice pedestal milk glass punch bowl, with a record 17 punch cups and ....

a milk glass cake stand.  Armed with these, and my entire stock of antique brides and grooms, I set out to create a wedding and milk glass display.

 I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I also found another bottomless birdcage and thought "Wire Cloche".  You may recall the one that I sold at the Acorn Show last weekend.

Other wire 'cloches'  join in the fun and add some symmetry, and the display almost built itself.  I am charmed by the fact that so many brides today are choosing Milk Glass for their weddings.  It is so crisp and clean looking.  I have stacks of milk glass plates and vases, enough for a small army of brides .... which is good, because that seems to be what we are getting at Treasures Antiques there days, happily.

Thanks for coming by to check out my favorite display of the week. 

My First Hang Tag!

Today for Thrifty Thursday I am going to share how you can increase the impact of your small, but sincere, gift.

 My friend Teri and I have birthdays within a week of each other, so we often celebrate together with our common friends, as we did today at Mimi's Cafe! The thrify part of this presentation was the recycled box and tissue paper, as well as the home made hang tag.

Selling antiques always puts you in a good spot when it comes to gifting.  I chose this pink reinvented necklace set from my store inventory.  Teri loves pink and is a huge fan of necklaces that come with matching earrings.  Voila' !  Wanting the presentation to be extra nice, I searched Graphics Fairy and printed off this sweet  little girl to serve as my jewelry card.

I put it in a nest of pink tissue paper then went in search of wrapping paper.  The box was small so I wanted a small print and came up with this sweet sprigged paper that happened to be scented!

A length of my favorite ribbon and some pink and white baker's twine and it was 'almost' ready.  I found this sweet little girl on Graphics Fairy as well and thought she would be the perfect greeter for my hang tag.  Antique lace, a lace edge punch, an old pink file label stamped with 'birthday joy' and the tag was complete.

I also wanted to share some handcrafted tags I found recently.  These great tags were made by a fellow flea.o.logy dealer, though I purchased them from her at the Beehive Bazaar.  Good Job Vicki!!

 In case you were wondering, lunch was delightful, and the food was good too.  I think we would have chatted all afternoon if not for the fact that Teri and Barb had to get back to work. 

So this is the official end of my birthday celebration.  It started on May 10th and lasted until today, May 22, so it was more of a birthday season than a birthday, and I loved it. Thanks to my dear family and friends who made it so enjoyable.

Steampunk Decor Ideas

Wow, its Wednesday again?  Time to record more of my recent wanderings.  If you read my blog about the Acorn Antique Show last Saturday, then you have probably been looking forward to seeing Marci's Amazing Steampunk booth for yourself!!

As you see, I have not been stingy with pictures.  Everything was so amazing I just kept taking more and more pictures.

As you can see she has really outdone herself with old clocks, gears, machinery bits, and antique reinventions.

The eye examine chart to the left is typical of the celebration of a period of time when inventions and innovations grew exponentially.

The charming antique books stripped of their covers and tied up with hand printed and hand died ribbons, each with a gear or other element added, were just charming.

Other inventions from the time of invention, like the phonograph and typewriter are of necessity included in any Steampunk display.

This little typewriter may be later than the Victorian period Steampunkists extol but it is charming none the less.

In addition to Marci's talents, others from Vine Street Antiques in Salt Lake City, were also represented.  The lamp to the left was made by another talented dealer.

There were also amazingly handcrafted jewelry and photo frames compliments of our favorite Steam Punk Diva.

And what SP display would be complete without a huge antique toolbox full of old gears and wheels.

I told Marci that I am thinking about Steampunking my library.  I can't think of another room in any Victorian house that more closely abides by the loosely woven tenants that are Steampunk. She even said she would come down and help!

I hope you enjoyed steaming along on our Steampunk adventure.  I am not sure it will ever be mainstream, but Marci has a way of making it just delightful!!  Thanks Marci for sharing your talents with all of us!!  You are definitely the Jules Vern of Decorating!!