Christmas Wreath Start to Finish

The after pics have already been posted, but I thought I would post a few more of how I started.  To tell the truth, I was very nervous to start this.  I thought some of the vintage bulbs would shatter with all the hot glue, but all was well.  Again, I got some simple instructions from Georgia Peachez on this website, but it was just text, no pictures. Here's how mine started:

I started by wrapping tinsel garland around an extruded styrofoam wreath.  The extruded ones are the ones that are completely round, not flat on the back.  Wrapping the garland provides a good background as well as making the back of the wreath look nice.  In hindsight, I should have used more garland, but all turned out fine.  I started by hot gluing the ornaments around the outside like the tutorial suggests.  These wreaths take quite a bit of glue (which will probably result in burning hot glue on your fingers) and quite a bit of time.  This isn't a quick project, but they are so beautiful, they're worth it.

Sorry for the blurry iphone photo.  Keep filling in with more ornaments.  You'll need more than you think.  Definitely get some extra small ornaments too to fill in the gaps.  Here it is again, the finished project:

Don't be afraid; try it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful holiday; will post pics of all the projects I've been working on next week.

image found here

Happy Veterans Day

Take time to honor those who serve and sacrifice...

Election Day

Make sure you get out and vote today; it's one of the most important rights we have.

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Vintage Ornament Wreaths

Busy weekend making vintage ornament wreaths; I followed the basic tutorial I found from Georgia Peachez and here is my slightly different version:

I really love this pink one and the pictures just don't do it justice:

I am terrified that these are going to fall or get dropped which of course would mean total destruction.  I can't wait to get these to BAYarts so they're off my hands and hopefully into the hands of a buyer!

Linking to:

Jennifer Rizzo

Under The Table and Dreaming Sunday Showcase

Bad Blogger

I get annoyed when my favorite bloggers don't update on a regular basis and...then I take a month off blogging.  So hypocritical.  I haven't been sitting around, though.  Life is busy. Even though it's fall, which means the end of summer, which means I should have finished/sold most of my big pieces, here is my garage:

I really don't think I'm a hoarder.  I just like furniture.  I like refinishing it and making it beautiful again. Mr. Vintage Novella disagrees.  Not with the fact that I make it beautiful.  He disagrees with the hoarding label. ;-)  Some of this though will be for sale for the holiday season at one of my favorite organizations.

So, to get ready for the holiday season, I need to start making my scrabble ornaments.  Luckily my favorite aunt is helping me sort all of these tiles:

Yes, these are all iphone photos since I've been too busy to get the big girl camera out.  In addition to starting to make items for BAYarts, I've had to fluff my space at the antique store.  Christmas always starts early:

This pretty pink tree sold to a good friend's daughter two days after I put it up! A good problem to have.

Speaking of trees, I've been bleaching bottle brush trees (ignore the cluttered countertop in the background):

Today I started working on this gorgeous dresser which is going to BAYarts next month.  It's in rough shape, but it's so gorgeous I am determined to save it:

I mean, check out these legs:

She's going to get a coat of Annie Sloan chalk paint in Antoinette, a pretty pink color.

In addition to all of these projects, I've had tons of papers to grade (but it's more bearable with my favorite pens):

And if that weren't enough, my furry child demands that I sit with him every night:

It's exhausting just thinking about all this. Time for bed.

Etsy Love

I've done very well with Etsy since opening my shop.  I made three sales this week alone! I also have the Etsy app on my phone and when I make a sale it makes a cash register sound, which is the best sound in the world.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, making money is very nice, but it's also a wonderful feeling to know that these lovely items that I have found are going to homes where they will be loved.  In fact one of the items I sold was on someone's wedding registry.  WEDDING REGISTRY ON ETSY?!  How cool is that?


Here are a few beauties that I just listed:

Gorgeous, shabby pink mugs and saucers from Japan...

Also from Japan this quaint rooster spice set:

And a favorite with the Etsy shoppers, ironstone.  Two sweet soup bowls with handles:

Another bonus to selling:  more shopping! :-)

I'm A Winner!

I am so excited that I won enrollment in this course:

I have taken two other e-courses from Jeanne Oliver.  There are so many amazing artists teaching this course and I can't wait to begin next month!  Thank you, Jennifer Rizzo, for this great giveaway!

Etsy Shop Items

I finally opened my Etsy shop a few weeks ago.  Now that school has started it has been difficult to keep up with everything.  There are not enough hours in the day to complete everything I want to do!  But it's a labor of love.  Some of these pretty items will be hard to let go of, but they need a good home.

A beautiful serving bowl that could serve a multitude of functions other than serving food:

This vintage herb vinegar bottle would look darling with a single flower:

I adore this cow creamer; I love transferware:

And if this cute little pink frame doesn't sell soon, I may need to keep it:

I can't wait for my first sale!

The Big Show - The Summer Market

I think most people have NO idea how much work it is to get ready for a show and to sell at a show.  I never did until I actually did it.  That being said, The Summer Market was by far my most successful show, and one that I will look forward to doing again.  The founders of the show, Erin and Kristen, are amazingly talented artists who are also incredibly organized (what an oxymoron, right?) and I am so proud to be affiliated with The Summer Market.  It's no surprise that this show was written up in Flea Market Style magazine as the best in Ohio! Despite huge thunderstorms Friday evening, there were tons of customers on both days. I could also count one hand the number of customers who asked for a better price.  THIS IS UNHEARD OF.

Below are some pics of what I sold, but first a warning that these are not the best pictures; I only had time to do some iphone shots and I was so busy with customers that I didn't even have time to take any full shots of my booth set up.  This is a good problem to have, and next year I know I will be more prepared and will probably hire some help.  I unfortunately didn't even have time to really visit any other booths, and believe me, there were incredible vendors everywhere.

No surprise that I sold my second Union Jack, which is proving to be a great seller:

I also finally sold my blue milk paint dresser to a friend of mine who loved it:

If I didn't sell this buffet, I would have kept it; it was so beautiful! But, it was the first piece I sold.  A lovely elderly woman bought it and I didn't even mind delivering it.  Although it was in good condition when I bought it, a little Annie Sloan chalk paint makes everything better:

I also sold a desk (and a chair that I didn't get a pic of) to an old friend I used to work with.  She was looking for a vintage desk and this was a good fit:

I don't have a pic of the glass topped patio table that went with these chairs, but I am in love with the Waverly fabric I chose to recover the chairs:

I knew this child bistro set would sell and it did to a lovely couple that came in a convertible and therefore couldn't buy anything much bigger than it:

...And many more small items I didn't get a picture of.  It was great to sell and make money, but even more importantly, I love knowing that these items that I have worked on are going to great homes.

Getting Ready for the Big Show

The last show of the summer is probably the biggest as far as foot traffic, publicity, etc.  I've been feverishly working on several items, most of which are still in progress, but here are a few items that are ready to go:

Darling nesting tables that don't really nest anymore since I adorned them with vintage yardsticks:

A sweet little bed tray along with vintage dishes and flatware:

I'll post more items once they're ready.

Linking up to:
Jennifer Rizzo
Miss Mustard Seed

Sliding Barn Door

I used to have a horrible, outdated bi-fold door on the bathroom at my cottage.  It's a tiny cottage and a regular door would never work because there was no room for it to swing open or out.  These are mediocre iphone pics since I don't have my nice camera, but you'll get the idea:

I've lived with it for two years, desperately wanting a sliding barn door, but knowing that the hardware for it is outrageously expensive.  Thankfully, I have a handy husband who used garage door pulleys, aluminum flatstock, and a hollow core door all available from Home Depot.  We decorated the front of the door with pieces of wood trim to simulate an actual barn door as well as some bead board.  Here is it below and I couldn't be happier:

It definitely helps to have a handy husband! :-)

Happy Independence Day!

Have a safe and happy 4th.  On vacation now and back to full work mode next week, working on dressers, tables, etc.  It's been a busy summer so far!

Mid-Century Modern Union Jack with Tutorial

I'm a little late for the Queen's jubilee, but my latest project could be a nice little tribute; it was a labor of love, for sure!

This spring I was curbside shopping (love that term) and found this mid-century modern dresser.  It's not exactly my style, but if it's real wood AND vintage, I won't pass it up.  Here's a terrible before shot; cut me some slack, when I'm curbside shopping I don't hang around too long.

This is such a masculine dresser and it needed a masculine finish.  Most Union Jack dressers I have seen are more of a lower, rectangular dresser, as the flag is more rectangular.  But I've long admired Miss Mustard Seed's take on the Union Jack and wanted to try it.

The first step was to sand off the veneer so the paint would adhere.  Make sure you wear your goggles and respiratory mask; no I am not naked in this picture.  I had on a tank top because I chose to sand in 90 degree weather.  I don't recommend this.  Sanding in 90 degree weather that is.  You need to sand.

Here is a shot of the drawers and dresser sanded and prior to painting:

After reading advice from other bloggers, I decided to paint the entire dresser blue; I had read about other bloggers who painted the entire body in all white and then had to paint multiple coats of blue to cover.  Whether you paint it all blue or all white first doesn't really matter in my opinion.

What does matter, however, is that this project is MUCH easier if you have a projector to project the Union Jack onto the dresser.  Find an image of the Union Jack that works for your dresser.  Here is a great link for correctly reproducing the flag.

Be careful not to bump into the projector; you need to get the image onto the dresser exactly as you want it:

Now we're ready to tape off.  This is where it comes in handy to have a husband who's an engineer.  I have very little patience for measuring and math, which you will definitely need for this project.  Mr. Vintage Novella was a HUGE help in the entire process.

We painted the red on and let it dry overnight.  The next day I painted on the white.  A very important tip when painting on the next color is to make sure you leave a little of the red left as below:

If you don't leave just a hair of the red showing, then you risk an extra stripe, which you DON'T want. When first painting the white. start out on the tape and lightly brush out, which will prevent the white from bleeding under the tape:

Here is more of the white on the dresser.  The taped Xs are there for me as a reminder that this section is blue, and to not paint there.  I need all the reminders I can get:

Then, it's time to take off the tape; it's very nerve-wracking.  I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out:

Not bad!  You can see a few boo boos that needed to be touched up.  I touched these up with a very fine tipped artist's brush.  Then, I went to the Depot for hardware.  I didn't feel glass knobs would look right because of the period of the dresser.  But I did want something simple that wouldn't distract from the flag:

And, we have a winner.  Something simple, fits the time period, and not outrageously expensive.  Here's an 11:00 at night post when finally finished:

This was a labor intensive project, but the outcome is so worth it.  It's a really dramatic dresser and it would be perfect for a little boy's room.  Or a college student who loves everything British.  I'll definitely do another one some day.  For now, I'm going to rest a little ;-)

Linking up to:

Shabby Creek Cottage
Miss Mustard Seed
Jennifer Rizzo
413 Sparrow Lane