Vintage Lace Lots

If you've read my blog for a while you know that I love vintage lace. I do use it occasionally for crafting and sewing, but mostly I just love having it and looking at it. 

Recently I was honored that the amazingly talented Suzy of Suziqusthreadworks found my Etsy shop and made a purchase. Today I was even more honored that she used some of that lace along with others she had on hand to make another beautiful creation, and included a link to my shop in her blog post. 

Most of my readers are familiar with Suzy. In fact, I found her via another blog that I follow. If you haven't read her most recent post, click here to see her latest work - just gorgeous!

Her blog followers have been quick to view my shop, but unfortunately I was unprepared (as I usually am!) and my lace listings are minimal. 

I'll be adding new listings to my shop beginning Friday. The photos in this post are a sneak peak at a few of the lace lots and shabby lace lots I'll have on offer, along with an inspiration kit or two.

Thank you for stopping by!

Friday Finds - Trim, Quilt Pieces and More

What's not to love about a big pile of plush vintage pom pom trim? I just wish I could have accurately captured the beautiful shades. The blue is a bit darker and richer, the green is a wonderful mossy shade, and the purple is deep and dark. The orchid is the closest to its actual color.

The green pom pom trim came from a sale this past Friday. The purples and blue are from a sale put on by the drama department of a local university last month. Thanks to Cindy at Paper Crown for giving me a heads up about this one. It was less than a block from where I work part time, but I hadn't seen any listings and would have missed it. 

This fun trim came from the same sale.

It coordinates perfectly with this trim that's in my Etsy shop now. Both would look great on any aquatic or mermaid themed project.

I also bought a few hats at the drama department sale - mainly for the flowers. I haven't been able to make myself disassemble this one yet. It's a bright (really bright!) spot of color in my craft room.

There were two batches of quilt pieces that I couldn't leave behind at last Friday's sale. The first set has a few pieces in various stages of completion, plus hundreds of little hexagons cut from old feed sacks and ready to sew.

I love how the original owner used a pickle jar label as her pattern.

The other quilt pieces are for a variation of the Sunbonnet Sue pattern. This one has an unusually-shaped bonnet with a flat crown. It also appears to be one of the simpler versions, with no apron. 

The hat, shoe and arm pieces are cut from solids, but I love all the feed sack fabrics she used for the dress pieces.

All of these items - except the hat - will be listed soon in my Etsy shop. 

I took one of Jackie's fun classes last week, and will be showing what we made in my next post. 

Cards and Gifts

My mom still sends cards. A LOT of cards - to family, friends, church family, and probably to strangers on occasion. Sometimes I can find nice cards at estate sales for her. A couple of weeks ago I was in a creating mood but wanted something quick and easy, so I made a few cards for her. It was a relaxing diversion.

The card themes are pretty random as I was using papers I had on hand. My favorite is the aqua and green stripe bird card. I made several more the following week but forgot to take pics.  

A friend sent me some lovely ribbon recently. Barbara started as a customer. She purchased some lace from my Etsy shop, and I then swapped more lace for a darling little bird pin (read about it at the end of this post.) We've continued to send each other bits of lace and ribbon. She uses lots of tiny lace to make her beautiful pins, and sends me some of the larger things she finds.

I love these wide vintage ribbons and pretty appliques. I'm not sure just yet what I'll make with them, but I have a few ideas. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy looking at them! Thanks, Barbara!

April and May Finds

There haven't been many good estate sales lately, but I did find a few things in April and May.

Small bird figurines are one of my favorites, as are the 1950s fancy paper napkins. The napkins don't sell well - apparently I'm the only one who loves them - but I can't resist them anyway. The chalkboard is two-sided and a nice size. The shakers are tiny with silverplate caps and would be great for some of the fun necklaces people are making. They're listed with some others in a lot on Etsy. The little spoon and forks are a bit tarnished but can be fun for crafts, and the plastic doily will be good for mixed media painting projects.

The sweet print, more ornate piece and rhinestone-studded compact have already been listed on Etsy. The compact is Avon, probably 1980s or 90s, but would be ideal for embellishing. All of these items came from the same estate sale, along with a shelf elf that I picked up for some unknown reason. It's not something I'd normally buy, but is fairly old and still has its Made in Japan label.

I keep telling myself to not buy any type of suitcases as I've not had much luck selling them. Obviously I'm not listening! The two patterns are fun, and the small jewelry box and jello mold will be good for altering. This is the second set of children's metal pans I've found lately, so they'll all be put on Etsy as a set. 

And of course I bought more lace. I'm always happy if there's at least one good piece of vintage lace at every sale, but at one April sale I scored a box full. These are just a few of the pieces.

Some aren't in perfect condition - like the collar above - but are still beautiful.

The sheer and delicate Battenburg-style lace is one of my favorites from this lot. The two other pieces in this photo coordinate and each piece is two yards long. It's not often that I find larger pieces of vintage lace. All three pieces above are listed on Etsy. 

I hope to be back soon with more finds to share, and some gifts from artsy friends.

Glitter Retreat 2015 - Day Three

On my way to Paper Crown for the final day of Glitter Retreat, I just had to make a quick stop at an estate sale. More on that in a later post!

I arrived at Paper Crown in time for a yummy breakfast before our first class with Angie. We made a fun little spring decor piece and learned quite a few techniques in the process. This was my first class with Angie. She was bursting with energy, smart, and funny. 

This little bloomin' wagon has a chipboard piece on the front that, after following Angie's instruction, looks just like leather. The "bloom" is under distressed beveled glass. The flowers are made from marbled foil-backed paper that Angie pre-cut and we layered and shaped to create 3-D blossoms. The little banner reads "everything is blooming most recklessly." Fun! Wish I had a better photo of it, but this was the best I've been able to do.

We had lunch upstairs in the Paper Attic. We were again treated to wonderful decorations throughout the room. Each table had a cute rubber boot filled with flowers and greenery.

At each place there were personalized flower buckets filled with lots of crafting goodies and flower seeds.

Here are just some of the treats packed in my bucket.

On the wall was another gigantic floral creation - this time in bright glittery colors. I can't decide if I loved the white one from Day Two or this one more.

After lunch we had our final swap - the Altered Spoon swap. I used a spoon I'd made earlier and added a bit more rhinestone bling. I also made a gift bag for this swap using a vintage napkin, lace applique and a tiny spoon charm someone had gifted me from an earlier swap. Perfect!

I received a beautiful spoon from Michelle, who flew in from California for the Glitter Retreat. She used a very pretty sterling silver spoon from her collection, adding a tiny little bird (I love anything with birds) sitting in a leafy nest. Pearls dangle from one side, and there's a curly hook for hanging. Thank you, Michelle! I love it!

After lunch we had our final class with the adorable Lesa Dailey. Lesa was at Paper Crown in November and I so wanted to take her class then but was preparing for Glitter Market the following day and knew I'd be rushed. I'm so glad she and her sweet daughter returned. 

Our class kits for this darling Bon Bon bunny came in cute burlap bags that Lesa made. 

Isn't she precious? She has lots of vintage elements and a little secret - her top lifts off to reveal a little cache for candy or what have you. Such a fun class!

Following this last class we had the chance to shop in the Paper Attic. Jackie and Lesa both had some of their creations available to purchase - a little sneak peak for this fall's Glitter Market. 

I truly enjoyed my first Glitter Retreat. A big thank you to Cindy, Amy, Jackie, Medeah, Angie and Lesa for such a wonderful event! 

If you'd like to see more photos of Day Three, visit Jackie's blog here and here. My two previous posts were also about Glitter Retreat.

Glitter Retreat 2015 - Day Two

I'm being my usual slow self completing my Glitter Retreat posts, but hopefully you'll hang with me for this and one more.

We started Day 2 with a mixed media class with Medeah. At each place was a class kit, a personalized metal pitcher holding more supplies, and a Glitter Retreat apron. I tied on my cute apron first thing so it's not in the photo.

I've taken a couple of classes with Medeah before and loved them, and this one was great, too. You leave her classes with not only a wonderful creation, but lots of techniques you can use for other projects. Here's my final piece.

Lunch was going to be a picnic in a nearby park but the weather didn't cooperate, so we moved to a space next door for a picnic on the floor, complete with blankets and decorations. The food was wonderful! It definitely made us look forward to the rest of the retreat meals prepared by Val, a friend of one of the instructors.

After lunch we took a field trip to Jan's Jewelry Supplies. They do a lot of online business so you can shop with them no matter where you are. They have an amazing selection of beads, charms, chain, and more. I managed to work in a quick stop at a nearby estate sale on the way. It wouldn't be the weekend without an estate sale!

Jackie's Sacred Heart class was on the afternoon schedule. I was so looking forward to this class and it didn't disappoint. Jackie had pretty kits on the tables for us along with her always awesome name tags. 

This looked like a truly complicated project, but Jackie had things well prepared and helped us through all the steps. I truly enjoyed it.

She also showed us ways to display our pieces - in covered cigar boxes, on clipboards, and more. I haven't decided yet just how I want to display mine.

We had dinner upstairs in the Paper Attic - more delicious food! I'll give a link below so you can see more photos, but here are the few I took.

The white paper flowers were huge, and so pretty! 

Each place setting had a tiny glittered trophy and beautiful hydrangeas and roses were displayed in vintage silver loving cups.





















The final event for Day Two was the Junque in the Trunk swap. Each participant completed a survey ahead of time to give their partner some clues about things they wanted or needed. I used a vintage basket to hold the junque for my partner Tami but, sadly, I was stuffing things in up until the night before and forgot to take a photo of the basket and much of the contents. The next two photos show some of the items I had gathered early on.

The napkin is wrapped around some vintage fabrics, and the paper roll underneath is full of various chains and necklaces for her to use in her jewelry creations.

I included some random found metal objects, vintage beads, vintage ribbon, and a good selection of vintage papers.

Tami made a beautiful box to contain the junque she gifted me. This box is really lovely and is now displayed in my craft room. Wish you could see it in person!

In my survey I indicated I could use some purple items for a journal project, and talked about my obsession with washi tape. Tami found lots of fun purple items, including unusual fabrics and three rolls of purple patterned washi tape, that I can incorporate. She put in vintage trims, some of her beautiful handmade flowers, ribbon, lace, and more - lots of everything I love!

I'll try to get Day Three posted in the next few days. For more photos from Day Two, visit Jackie's blog here.

Glitter Retreat 2015 - Day 1

Various things kept me from signing up for any out-of-state retreats this year, but that allowed me to attend Paper Crown's Glitter Retreat April 23-25. It was a perfect weekend, with talented teachers and great classes, shopping, eating and art swapping. 

We started on Thursday evening with a group dinner at a new restaurant, Pizzeria Gusto, in OKC. Great pizza! The DH and I will be going there in the near future.  After dinner we headed to Cindy's beautiful home (Cindy is the owner of Paper Crown) for dessert, a group painting project, and the first swap of the weekend - The Flower Pin Swap. This was my first ever swap to host, and although there were only a few of us, everyone did a great job. I made little flower-themed treat bags for the participants.

Here's the pin I received from Suzy. Love it, and it's perfect for me as my wardrobe is at least 75% gray and I love anything with a watch face and bling. It came in a really cute bag Suzy decorated, but I forgot to take a pic of the bag. I'll add it in when the sun comes out.

The pin I made went to Debbie. 

I made it convertible as I didn't know who the recipient would be and some people don't like to wear pins with all the streamers. There's a pin on the back of the smaller flower, but also Velcro so you can attach it to the larger backing and streamers. There's a pin back on the larger piece, too, so it can be worn either way. 

Part of the swap was presentation, so I made a little bag for the pin. This was something I'd wanted to try since Tami gave me a pretty bag at Birdsong last year. The cross stitch dresser scarf was purchased at an estate sale last fall. I stitched the two ends together, sewed the bottom seam, added embellishments...and now I'm addicted! 

You can see the swappers and more photos of the Day One action on Jackie's blog here. I'm always thankful for Jackie as she takes great photos and lots of them - certainly not MY strong suit!

Hope you'll check back later for more Glitter Retreat fun!

Sweet Gifts

Recently I had the pleasure of sending Laurie something I found that she had been seeking for some time. It was a cross stitch piece found at an estate sale. I didn't have any real plans for it, but purchased it because it had birds on it and birds = cute! You can see a bit of it in this photo.

Laurie saw it on my blog and wanted to buy it. Another of her friends had a similar piece that she loved and she had wanted one ever since she saw it. Laurie has shared so much with me in the past that I wanted to give her this piece. Of course - being the sweet person she is - she sent me more lovely things as a thank you. 

She made the pretty box, which is covered in vintage wallpaper and millinery flowers. She also made the very clever envelope with scrapbook paper and organza. The paper she used for the envelope just happens to be one of my favorite patterns ever - you can see a bit more of it to the left in the photos below - so I'm excited to have this keepsake made from it.

Inside the envelope she put vintage wallpapers, cute vintage cards (can't believe she found one with an adorable Basset Hound!) and some of the new IKEA stickers. Our closest IKEA is about four hours away and I've not made it there yet to see all the fun new paper products. These stickers will keep me happy until I can make that trip.

The box was packed with lots of fun things for spring creating - sweet chick fabric, a beautiful lavender millinery flower, trims, tiny birds, chicks and eggs, and more.

There were also tags and stickers, flowers and charms, a vintage decal, more cute birds, and a fun honeycomb strawberry. 

Thank you, Laurie, for sharing your creativity and vintage finds. I love it all, and hope the bird cross stitch brings you lots of happiness! 

Laurie has recently reopened her Etsy shop with some pretty handcrafted items and ephemera. You can see it here.