How The Other Half Lives

Barry has been busy, too! One of the things that attracted me to Barry was his frugality. He'd get up early on the weekends to go tag sale-ing. Little did I know that it REALLY meant he's a closet hoarder! LOL!

After years of collecting junk at tag sales, flea markets and auctions, he began tinkering with the stuff and was inspired when he read an article about a similar artist in my latest issue of Flea Market Style magazine. Suddenly all that "junk" lying around the basement and on his work bench in the back yard looks charming!

I set up an Etsy shop for him today. Check out his first listing: "iHeart BYBot."

You can check it out here: www.bybots.etsy.com

BYBots: Back yard robots. Made from found objects, JB weld, soldering techniques. What Barry does when not driving school buses or selling ads for Metro Woman Directory. (In fact, as I write this, he is in the back yard fusing together an old tea kettle and vintage welders goggles.)

Confessions of a Francophile

Phew...I've been busy these past few days! First, we've been asked to participate in a craft fair at a retirement community. Yes, it's a small deal, but it's kind of a big deal for us considering the craft fair is a Christmas in July event and I have no real Christmas inventory to speak of! So, I've been cranking out things like cards, gift tags and (hopefully soon!) prettily-scented pine cone fire starters.

Second, I've been scratching my Franco Itch. While it's true I can trace my roots back to the mother-land, it's not so much that I'm a Francophile. Seriously. (No, really!)

It's just over the years, I've seemed to amass quite a few French-inspired home decor items; an Eiffel Tower lamp and a wine rack, a set of Frenchie stamps, a good french recipe book, rustic french-country prints, etc... Either I like the way they look, or people give them to me as gifts. (It must be the vibes I'm sending out the Universe.)

And I look around on Etsy and other crafter's sites and see that French country is very popular right now. It is such a great look, I have to admit. Which makes it easy for me to indulge in this stuff.

I've been real excited about this weekend's Lavender Festival at Lakeside Lavender Farm here in Nampa. I've been talking about going for weeks now, and I've even driven by just to get a sneak peak of what we are in for. In the meantime, I've been busy sewing these pretty little sachets to fill with the flowers once I get them home and can dry them!


These sachets are made of muslin and are hand-stamped with said Frenchie stamp and different colored inks. Each one is unique. Some have liberty print muslin backs, others are plain muslin backs. Some have twine ribbon closures, others have fancy wire ribbon ties.


I wanted to share some photographs of what I've completed so far, just as a preview. I'll list them on Etsy when the time is right. But for now, I must get back to the sewing machine!

Burlap

I'm not giving up my sources, but man...did they come through today in a big way! I am now the proud owner of 12 burlap coffee sacks, and I just need to figure out what I can do with them...other than sell them on my Etsy shop. I was thinking of reupholstering my dining chairs--yes, the ones I just reupholstered less than one month ago with a very lovely chrysanthemum fabric.


The big trend I've been seeing with burlap is pillows. While I think they are cute and all, I just want to be more creative than that. I'll search the web and see what inspires me. Besides, burlap doesn't strike me as a very comfy fabric to rest my head against. At any rate, the burlap is great to have because it is so very trendy right now.

Pretty Memo Board

Ugh...it's so hot outside today. I've only stuck my head out the door, but I'm feeling the heat inside. I haven't turned on the air, yet, either. I've been playing a game with myself this summer to see how long I can hold out until I absolutely can't stand it any more. Thank God Idaho has cool nights--it gives me something to look forward to!

Anyhow, I saw a very cute idea for a memo board yesterday when I was out and about. Very simple, very functional and very, very cute! It's just a photo frame with pretty paper. The memo area is the glass and you use a dry erase marker to take messages and leave notes. See:


Isn't it adorable?? I'm thinking I can make a few for Christmas presents, birthdays, bridal showers, baby showers, etc...

Aw shucks! Now you know what you are getting for a gift, regardless the occasion! :) Enjoy!

Confessions of a Reality TV Junkie (Or, What I Wouldn't Give to Decorate Holly Madison's House)

I admit it. I'm a reality tv junkie! My current addiction is Real Housewives of New Jersey (followed by RHONY.) When I'm not watching the shows, I'm reading the cast members' blogs.

And tonight, while I'm supposed to be working on my school work, I'm actually watching the preview of Holly's World on E!. In case you are unaware, this is Holly Madison's show that follows her exploits in Las Vegas, after she left the Playboy Mansion. I <3 Holly! Especially after I learned two things about her tonight: 1) she has a love for vintage things; and 2) judging by the footage, her house is in desperate need of a decorator! Seriously, it's as bare and ugly as a frat house!

So I'm gonna' just throw it out to the Universe and ask, "Please pick me to decorate Holly Madison's house in Las Vegas!"

I'd come in with some vintage, Hollywood Regency glam style! I saw the little chickadee figurines she had, and I'd incorporate some of that whimsy into the design/ decor as well!

Now that the words are spoken, let's see what the Universe cooks up for me! :)

In other news, my Bicyclette Coasters sold today. I was happy they did, but also a little sad because I wanted to enjoy them for myself a little longer. Not that I was using them. I just liked to look at them...they brought a smile to my face.

And today had me working on other coaster designs, too, like my "Golden Age of Boxing" Coasters. Stay tuned for the vintage camera series, Gray's Anatomy series, and vintage "household items" series. Oh, and in honor of today's visit to the National Old Time Fiddler Festival in Weiser, I want to create a bluegrass series, too!

Anyhow, that's all for now!

Reflections and Fuckery

I don't know why it bothered me so much, but I recently saw a pair of shoes on Etsy that were being passed off as "vintage" when they clearly were not. I dropped a friendly convo to the seller of said shoes, to let her know that she may have been bamboozled.

I got a rather terse response back from her. I wasn't trying to start anything. I just wanted to point out that the average Etsy shopper is very savvy and knows their history. I didn't want her to have any trouble from a potential shopper who would see that her description was false.

Silly me for trying to be nice.

But here's the deal...Etsy is not Ebay. You can post anything on Ebay and auction it off for whatever someone is willing to pay. Etsy is a forum for artists, crafters and collectors. Etsy caters to a different audience, an audience who knows and appreciates the artist's way. I guess I was just trying to protect our little place on the web. That's all. I'm learning, at 37 years old, that I just need to let go of things like this and not to take it too personally. Crazy that I haven't figured it out yet. Oh well.

This is a nice segue into my latest project idea, though. I'm going to upcycle a bunch of mirrors I found at a thrift store. I must get to work on the sketches, and I'll post them here later. Ta for now.

POST SCRIPT: I have recently been turned onto to www.regretsy.com and can't stop Belgian ROFL!

Take a look at this category; Things that clearly are not vintage

Bicyclette Coasters

Today I made a set of four coasters, each sporting a different vintage bicycle image. They're perfect for the bicycle enthusiast, and have a versatile look to enhance just about any decor theme.


They were relatively easy to make, since I had everything I needed right in my possession. It did require a few extra steps that I was unprepared for, but I managed and they turned out great!

In case you haven't noticed, many of my craft projects are upcycled items.

• Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upcycling
• The repurposing of a material into a product of higher quality. An example would be a purse made out of woven candy wrappers.
  mslk.com/reactions/green-fashion-glossary/

So here's the thing. I am engaged to a man who built the house in which we live. With recycled materials. And items from Craig's List. We often joke that this is the house craigslist.com built. Needless to say, there are plenty of building materials left over that I can upcycle. I can't say what catches my fancy, but I'm sure that if I treated our house like a rummage sale, (especially the basement!) I could find enough materials to keep me going for some time now!

Anyhow, I have some smaller travertine tiles left over that we decided not to use on our bathroom. I'm thinking they'll make great refrigerator magnets.

But for now, my ADD is kicking in. I think I will go bake some cupcakes to show off the new cupcake wrappers I made last night out of Mexican bingo cards. :)