Plunder and Bling

 On Sunday my son and I visited Rejuvination Hardware to buy a fancy light bulb for a project I'm planning.  If you live in the area this is a very fun store to visit.  They sell reproduction vintage hardware as well as the real thing.  If you are like me and old escutcheons and vintage doorknobs take your breath away this this place is a must see!
On our way home we swung by Antique Alley.  He was searching for vintage woodworking tools and I am always game to walk through an antique mall.

 I came away with this little armful of lace, bling and another satin dresser box.  Seriously, can you really have too many of those??  Honestly, I do have a plan for them.  Another story for another day.

 I made my weekly trip to the VOA on Saturday.  I have been having excellent luck on finding buttons lately but the plastic flowers and corsage were my favorite finds for the day.  The candle ring near the center of the picture is a thicker plastic, almost like Lucite only flexible.  This might just have to hang around my house for awhile!

The buttons were nothing special but still... they are buttons!  A co-worker told me today that he watched an episode of The Hoarders last night and they opened a box and the poor woman screamed "my buttons!".  A hoarder I am NOT, but I sure hope they let her keep those. 
I didn't take a very good picture of the little bowl.  It is vintage porcelain enamel with two little birds.  I am not bothered by the chip on the edge.  Too sweet to leave behind.
I hope your weekend picking was good!

Celluloid Tight Tops and Glow Bubbles

 LOL - say THAT title three times fast!  These vintage buttons are made of celluloid, which was an early plastic.  "Tight Top" refers to the way this group is made.  They are a celluloid top that is "tightly" wrapped under and attached to a metal back.

 There are a few "Glow-Bubbles" in this lot.  They are made in the same way but the dome is semi-transparent and the inside of the metal base has a shiny foil or tin coating that gives it a little "glow". 

 Since my buttons are all collected from estate sale button tins and poke sacks, a lot of them are pretty scuffed with not so much glow surviving.

 Celluloid actually dates back to the late 1800 so it truly was a VERY early plastic.  It was not very durable and the ones we find in button boxes today are often kind of "rotted" looking and responsible for some of that funky smell you sometimes encounter in old button boxes.

Celluloid is also very flammable.  If you touched it with a hot iron it might just go POOF, up in smoke.  Luckily, I don't iron my buttons.  8+)

Altered Book Pages and Thankful Thursday

These pages seem appropriate to what I am feeling tonight.  I don't talk much about the "big girl" job but I had a breakthrough today on a project I'm working on and left the office on a high note.
I am thankful for good conversation at the end of a good day.
I am thankful for cold beers with good people.
I am thankful for 55 degrees in January!!!
I am linking up today with Annette at Sew Many Memories for Thankful Thursday.  Please hop on over and remember that there is almost always something to be thankful for, even when it is a lesson learned.

Oops, Sorry Carol!

I made one of my photo Altoids tins and a card for my sweet friend, Carol, and gave it to her last week.  Her real birthday was Sunday and I forgot to post this.  Happy Birthday, Carol, I love you!
She loves everything poodle so I searched the Internet for a vintage poodle photo that "whispered" a caption to me.  That is how I make my photo mint tins.  The original photo was so sweet that I made it into a card.
You might also notice I made an alternate background to use when I take pictures on top of my workbench.  I love the one covered with the bright yellow wallpaper but sometimes it is a little too busy.  This one is covered with dictionary pages and I have Carol to thank.  My little background screens are made from scrabble boards.  I only had one complete one and needed two.  She needed more "B" scrabble tiles for her project.  A perfect trade with a perfect friend!

Weekend Finds

 I went to two estate sales this weekend and two thrift stores.  I had to shop hard for my little pile of treasures!  Most of these goodies came from the first estate sale. Three, count 'em, three blue satin dresser boxes, sweet vintage baby shoes, white lawn hankies, a pretty piece of vintage fabric and buttons.  The only thing I bought at the second estate sale was four old-school Altoids tins.

 I can't believe how lucky I have been with buttons lately.  I got this tin full plus a big hand full of carded buttons plus half a dozen corsage pins.  That reminds me of something funny that happened the other day.  My younger son came over the other night and said he brought me something.  He reached in his back pocket and pulled out two vintage folders of Happy Home and Bestmaid needles.  Huh?  What?  He has my mother's old sewing machine because he sews outdoor gear and he found them in the seat of the sewing machine table.  How did I miss those?

 This cute little kitty curled up in her bed lifts off and it is a lint brush.  So sweet!  This will end up over in my Etsy shop for someone to enjoy.  It is heavy plastic but it has sort of an art nouveau look.

I love the colors in this piece of vintage fabric.  It is square and has a handkerchief hem on all four sides so I think it was a small card-table cloth.  There were a lot of linens and I stuck to my guns and didn't buy anything except this one piece that I just couldn't resist. I pretended it was fabric and not a tablecloth to make it okay - LOL!
The two old painting books are kind of a blast from the past and, who knows, maybe they will get me painting again.  I got them out of the 25 cent bin at one of the thrift stores.  The other thrift had everything on half price and, even then, I couldn't find a single thing I wanted.  Slim thrift pickings, indeed, but you have to kiss a lot of frogs....

The Rest Of The Story - Hang On

 This is the project I teased about in my last post - covered hangers.  I have such an accumulation of vintage linens that resisted my chemical assault or were just broken beyond repair that I finally decided I needed to destash by doing something with some of them.  These are the front sides.  At least they are if you happen to be right-handed like me.

 I decorated the back sides, too, just in case my right hand is tired and I decide to use my left hand.  I don't do that very often.  My left hand isn't very smart.

 Even though they are called "cutters" when they are this condition, I still have a hard time actually cutting them up.  Recent posts and comments from Laurie and Renee convinced me I needed to get past that in order to give them a new life.  I am glad I did.  Each one became a fabric collage of bits and pieces harvested from different pieces.

 The picture swatches are vintage postcards I used my printer to copy onto fabric.  This is something I love to do.  They are printed on the printer fabric that is made especially for that purpose.  I happened to score of huge stack of packages at the thrift a while back.  The words printed on pink are made by ironing the fabric onto the shiny side of freezer paper and running it through the printer.  I actually prefer that method because the fabric is easier to peel off the backing.

I haven't submitted anything in a while so I think I will send these off to SEW Somerset.  Check back in a year or so - LOL!
I am linking up with Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home today.  Thanks to Cindy for hosting.  There are always a huge number of participants so be sure to check it out for some inspiration.

Sneak Peek

 I haven't posted in a couple days because I am up to my ironing board in a new project.  In fact, I spent a long, lovely day in the art room on Sunday, just puttering with this project and waiting for the snow that never materialized.  Or at least not so you'd know it.

 No, I'm not saying what I'm making just yet.  Just a little sneak peek and you can wonder about for another day or two.  There has been a lot of inspiration out there in blog land lately and I needed to do something with it before it exploded my head.

 A little of this, a little of that...

 I made quite a mess getting started and it's even worse now.  I will worry about that some other day.

 Because I'm busy right now.  Making something.

Nope, you'll just have to wonder for a couple more days.  I'll be back soon.  8+)

Birdies and Tiny Treasures

 I got out to one estate sale today, my first one of the year.  When I spotted this robin figurine at about one-quarter the price I would have expected, I swooped it right up.  A sign from the picking gods that this will be a good year for junk??  I hope so!  And you can never have too many birdies, that's what I say.  8+)

 This is the rest of the loot.  You can click the picture bigger to get a better look at the buttons.  There were all the usual suspects including some carved mother-of-pearl, iridescent glass, rhinestones and a pretty little cut steel.  I have resolved to try my best to NOT rescue every vintage linen I run across.  I make a lot of work for myself with the cleaning and ironing and they really don't sell very well.  I couldn't resist this one little heart-shaped one since it is so  near Valentines Day.  Machine made and no stains.  No worries.

 These were my favorite buttons in the lot.  I have never seen glass rhinestones this tiny. Glass rhinestones set in teeny, tiny glass buttons.  Amazing!

So why did I buy this, you might be wondering??  My younger son collects vintage woodworking tools and he has been wanting an old hand-crank bench grinder.  Last weekend he and I spent the afternoon going through the antique malls in the Sellwood neighborhood.  He was able to point out a few things so I would know what to watch for.  My back ached for two days after all that standing on the concrete but an afternoon with my boy - priceless!  I hope this was a score.

Eye Candy

 These transparent glass buttons look just like a handful of yummy candy.  Eye candy in cherry, peach, blueberry, rootbeer, sour apple, red hot and minty fresh.   

 Delish as it sounds, this candy is just for looking.  I store this category in an apothecary jar but they look even prettier displayed in a candy dish - as long as someone doesn't mistake it for the real thing!

I am linking up with Annette at So Many Memories for Thankful Thursday today.  Annette reminds us that no matter what is going on in life, there are always things to be thankful for.

• I am thankful for tiny collectibles that don't take up much space.
• I am thankful for my snug little house on this cold, windy night.
• I am thankful Blogger is working again so I can post.
• I am thankful it wasn't my job to fix Blogger! 8+)

Still Goofing Off... And My Word

I actually made these pages a couple months ago but never posted them (I hope!).  I am still in the after-the-holidays-puttering frame of mind.  I usually jump into January with a determination to edit my house of things I don't use/need/find beautiful but even that seems a little delayed this year.  My resolution this year is to try to SLOW DOWN and not push myself so hard, so for now I'm just going with the puttering.  My word for the year is "tranquil".  That is what I want to feel, tranquil.  I want to take my time with things and spend more time in the moment and less time thinking forward to the next thing.  Easy to say, hard to remember!

Thankful Thursday - Play Time

 I am linking up with the lovely Annette at So Many Memories for Thankful Thursday today.

 I love the holidays but now that it is all over I am feeling very thankful to have some time to play and make something for no other reason than enjoying the experience.

These pages started off with inspiration from "The Art of Vintage Journaling and Collage" by MaryJo Koch and Sunny Koch.  I adore they way they alter vintage postcards but once I got started one thing lead to another and you know how that goes.  My result bares no resemblance to the inspiration pieces in the book.  Art journaling my way in my altered quote book.  Good for the soul.
Be sure to stop over at Thankful Thursday and count your blessings!

The Party's Over...

 ... and tomorrow it's back to work and the real world.  The cold Winter weather is perfectly cozy for the Christmas holiday but once it's over I am immediately ready for some warmer weather so I will start off this long post with some pretty plastic sunshine.  These were "picked" this week.

 Oh yes, I did some picking this week.  You can click the pictures to get a closer look and my tiny treasures.

Oops, there's that plastic sunshine again!  I bought one poke-sack of ugly ornaments just to get the red one in the center of this picture.

  I don't know if I have ever mentioned that I have a thing for keys. It all started a few years ago when we went to Las Vegas and there was a fabulous bench sitting outside one of the clubs. It was covered in old license plates and the the bottom of the seat was decorated with "fringe" made of keys. That started my fascination with keys. I eventually made a mosaic patio table with key fringe but the obsession didn't end there and I buy them any time I find them. Wacky, huh.

 One day I even donned my dust mask and rubber gloves and headed over to the bins.  I squinted my eyes at the clothing bins and tried not to come home with a ton of washing and ironing for myself.  I was pretty successful and just a few crochet pieces made the cut.  Love that 1964 copy of "Barbie's Secret".  My first thought when I saw the title was, gee I hope she isn't pregnant.  LOL - it sure isn't 1964 anymore!

 On my way home I stopped at a Goodwill that is off my regular route and found this wonderful paper doll.  She went straight to Etsy and is already on the way to her new home. 

 To the left you can just see the corner of a 1955 copy of The American Home magazine.  More about the magazine below.  The ads are a hoot!

 I got a Wilton's cake decorating booklet that looks like 1960s.  I would say mid to late '60s since one of the cakes is called "Mop Top Music Makers".  The figures have Beattles haircuts but one is playing an accordion so I don't think Wilton's was exactly getting it, but they were trying.  I should have taken a picture of that one.

 This pink and white ornament is pretty tattered but I bought it for the idea.  Planning ahead for crafting!  Will definitely be keeping my eye out for those satin balls in the coming year.

 Neat biscuit cutter.  This is the first one I have seen with such a big handle.

 Flash bulbs - ha!  They are sparkly inside - 'nuf said.

 Back to that magazine.  Love these old advertisements.  1955 is the year I was born.  I don't know what my folks were driving but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a swanky new Chevrolet with wide white walls.  The first new car I remember them having was in 1960 and it was a pink Rambler.

 This woman was apparently the editor of the magazine and they were showcasing her home.  I don't know what her name is but apparently she was so famous back then that she had to wear shades to go out to the kitchen.

 Pink and aqua.  I wonder what the women 50 years from now will think when they find an old magazine from 2011.  What we are living today will be retro then. 

 WHOOSH!  That's just how 2011 sounded when it flew by.  I hope 2012 will be a slower one!

 I want that refrigerator!

 And this wallpaper!

 But I do NOT want to wear ballet slippers to sweep my floor!

The last junk trip yielded another poke sack of buttons and another biscuit cutter.  That poke sack included the creep-out find of the week, as well.  I full sized adult molar.  No kidding.  I have found baby teeth but this was the first adult tooth.  There is a first time for everything.  I spared you the picture.
Sorry this post is so long.  If you're still with me, thanks for stopping by.  I am looking forward to returning to the regularly scheduled blog reading this week and will see you there!