Latest Adventures!!

Just wanted to share a few pictures with you on what I've been working on! Let me know what you think!

 

 At University Pickers, we're all anxiously awaiting the new addition.  I only have a few shelves there now, but I plan to have an entire booth once everything is finished. Hopefully this will be no later than April. In anticipation of this, I've created a "sign" for the booth. I LOVE burlap and linen with cream! 

 

Before I go any further, I have to give my granddaughter Isabel special credit here. She and I were at Hobby Lobby, looking for the letters for the sign, and I found all of them but one -  the "U"!!!!  Aaarrrrggggghhhhhh!!!  Isabel heard me grumbling and asked what was wrong. When I told her what the problem was, she double-checked to make sure I just hadn't missed seeing it.  As luck would have it, there was only the one "U", and I needed two "U's".  Isabel looked at the letters I had already picked out, then she picked up the "H" and says, "Why don't you just cut off the top part of this "H", turn it upside down, and make it into a "U"?  At first, I couldn't see what she was talking about.  Then all of a sudden I saw what she meant!  Now is this cool, or what?!?  I'm SO PROUD of her!!  So check out both "U" letters above and see if you can spot the very slight difference!

 

Here's a "tired old stool", which had a very "blah" looking cushion on it.  But with a little paint and new fabric, it's got a new lease on life!

 Ta Da!!  What do you think?
 

I LOVE it! This will be put up for sale in the booth, once I have the booth, that is!  Patience is not one of my better virtues!!

 

I've been trying my hand at collage, and this "cake" is what I came up with! I was inspired by a greeting card I saw about a year or so ago, and I loved the "cake" theme. So I gathered antique, vintage and new laces, pearl beads, vintage leaves salvaged from an old corsage, and a few other "bits and bobs" and.....Voila!  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with this one.  I made another one about a year ago for a very dear friend of mine.  But instead of gluing it onto a canvas, I sewed hers onto a tea cozy I made. So let me know  if you have any new ideas for it!

 

Did someone say chocolate? That's strange! I could have sworn I heard somebody say chocolate.  Oh well......CHOCOLATE!!! There!! I said it!  Only these little darlings are NOT chocolate!! Can you believe it? And even though I'm creating Easter items for sale, I'm not sure I can let these two go. They look so yummy, I may just keep them for myself!! Oh darn!!

 Speaking of Easter rabbits, what do you think of these?  I had SO MUCH FUN making them!!  And yes, these are for sale, although admittedly, I'm keeping one set for myself!!  I love to decorate for the holidays!!

Quiz time!  So.....I had two of these candle sticks and they were both "weathered brass", but I decided to give at least one of them a face lift.  And now I think I prefer the white one.  So let me know what you think.....should I paint the other one white, or keep one of each for the booth?  Decisions! Decisions!

 Do any of you remember my Santos, Lucia?  I first posted about her in August 2012, when I bought her from a local antique shop.  But I've never been one for somber colors.

So I painted her as you see above with the robin's egg blue.  But never one to leave things in one place too long, I decided to put her wings back on and give her another update - this time in cream - which is FAST becoming my favorite color!!

 She looks MUCH happier now, even if I say so myself!!
 

 And here she is, in full regalia, including the crown I made for her!
 

Isn't this cool?  Daughter Laura gave it to me! It had been sitting outside on her deck for a year or so, and had been covered with what looked like.....well, for lack of a better word.....NASTY!!  Well, I just couldn't let it remain in that dreadful state, so the first thing I did was remove the six glass panels (not shown in this photo).  And then we had a very thorough cleaning with bleach!  And here it is.....all nice and clean and ready for remodeling!!  So I'll have to remember to show the "end result" in another post.  Cause this is all I have for you now!

 

Oh...Yes, I had noticed that I have two different sized fonts in this post, but for some odd reason, it isn't letting me change it to all one size.  Oh well.....:-)



I hope you're all having a lovely week!

May God bless! Jan

RE-juvenating, RE-purposing, RE-vitalizing.......RE-TIREMENT!!!!

Yes, I've FINALLY retired!!!  Two weeks ago and I still don't have a new blog post out, so today is the day!! 

The biggest news - in addition to retiring of course - is that an article of mine was published in one of my favorite magazines - Stampington and Company's Altered Couture!!!!!   I can hardly believe it!! Check out the badge on the right and it should take you there.  I'm SO excited.  It's my first publication in a national magazine!  And the best part about it was that it featured a lace tablecloth my Gran made years and years ago which I "repurposed" into a lace shawl!  So in a very real sense, Gran got published too!  Just click on the badge to the right. When you get to the link, my article is the sixth picture shown underneath the main magazine cover!  EXCITED!!!!!

Goodness, so many things have changed in the past few months.  I no longer have a booth at Hartlex Antique Mall.  It just wasn't a good "fit" for me because I want to do more creative things, rather than just have antiques and vintage items. Having said that, it's a wonderful place to shop for antiques in  Huntsville! Many thanks to Leslie and Mark for all their help!

I still have my Etsy shop, which has been doing really well the past several months.  Tea cozies have been selling like crazy!!  My badge for this is on the right also.  And now I'm at University Pickers!!! I only have a few shelves right now, but we're expanding (almost doubling in space!) so within two months or so, I should have a booth there.  If anyone is interested in being a vendor, just go to their Facebook page (University Pickers) and it will give you information about this.  Here are pictures of my current shelves:

 Some rejuvenated. Some vintage.  Some hand-made.

LOTS of fun!!

Yes, I love angels too! And needlepoint!

 

In the meantime, I've been creating and repurposing new items the past couple of days for Easter.  Here are some of my Easter Cloches:

See what you think of this little guy! 

Isn't he precious!!  And here are a few other items:

Can you tell there's a surprise inside?  I have several of these chicken dishes at home

 and they're just as sweet as they can be!!

 This little darling bird and nest used to be terrifically boring until I revitalized him into his current sweet state!

 

I LOVE rabbits, and Easter eggs, and pastel shades too!

Can you tell?   

 

Another re-do.  This was once a very tired looking silver plate

basket that I spray painted

 and added a little Easter whimsy! 

Peter Rabbit himself.  Eggs anyone?

Well, that's it for now.  I have to get tags written up for these, and then into University Pickers they go on Monday!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

May God Bless, Jan