Groovy Vintage Ben Franklin Fabric

I bet you've never before seen "Ben Franklin" and "groovy" in the same sentence -- but that's the only way I could think of to describe this neat fabric. I found it over Memorial Day weekend (perfect timing!) at an estate sale. I love its 1970's Bicentennial vibe. I wish I had the perfect use for it in my house, but I don't. So, even though it's hard to part with it, look for it in the etsy shop soon -- just in time for 4th of July projects!

Ballet Inspired Mixed Media Collage -- the Sequel

I'm officially finished with teacher's gifts tonight! Hooray! Here's the second ballet collage I made -- this one is for Clara's ballet teacher. I'm pretty excited about it, so I hope that she likes it! I'm ready for summer -- how about you???

Cupcakes!

I think I'm in love!!!!!!! These supplies arrived today, and I am so excited! Cupcakes! Polka dots! Chocolate labels! Love it all! This wonderful line is by Collage Press -- it's their Sweet Shoppe line. This is the first time I've bought anything by this company, but it won't be the last! The cardstock is very heavy and high quality, and all of the papers and embellishments are perfectly coordinated and so cute! Can't wait to start creating with this wonderful line.

Let's Make the Laundry Room Pretty!

With a vintage linens business, and a busy family, I spend a lot of time in my laundry room. When we moved into this house a year ago, I picked a pretty, soothing blue for the walls. Since then, I've slowly been adding little touches to the room to make it more to my liking. I figure: if I've got to spend so much time in here, I might as well enjoy the view!

This week I hung a curtain over the window. This neat curtain is a vintage piece that I found at an estate sale. I'm not sure what it was meant for -- and it's not perfect (it's got a few missing stitches and a couple of holes), but when I saw it, with all of the hand stitching and darling fabric appliques, I knew I couldn't leave it behind. I wanted to use it as a curtain, but wasn't sure how. It was my friend Kari's idea to hang it with my favorite tiny clothes pins (from Ikea, long ago). Eureka! It couldn't have been more simple -- I screwed 2 cup hooks into the wall, close to the ceiling line. Then I tied a bright pink ribbon between the hooks, and hung the curtain with the pins. It turns out that it's the perfect size, and it has a lot of "cute" factor!

Other things I've added to the room include a tiny painting from a thift store,

and new knobs that look like pink roses (thanks, Anthropologie!). It's become a pretty girly room, but let's face it, the one man in this house rarely darkens the door of the laundry room. So, might as well girl it up! Hope you like it!

Mixed Media Ballet Collage

This is a ballet-inspired sign that I made last night as a gift for one of my daughter's ballet teachers. I used a handy MDF board (made for making banners) -- these work really well for sign-making! This is the first time that I've tried using all of these different materials on one piece; in particular, I usually don't use this much lace. It took me a lot of time to piece this one together. When I was finally ready to start gluing all the parts down, I was so excited that I forgot to ink the edges -- and, of course, once it's glued down it's too late for that. Oh well! I'm still not exactly sure about the composition of it, but in general, I'm really happy with how this one came out.

I need to make one more ballet teacher gift. This time, I think I'll focus on blues and pinks. Stay tuned!

Found Treasure

Found this cute little cross-stitched sign while I was at the thift store yesterday. I like the sentiment (something to keep in mind, I guess) but I admit that it was the roses that really got me. And the price tag -- $5! I scooped it up, and promptly hung it on the side of the armoire in my office (I added the bow to cover the hook, but otherwise it's just like I found it). You just never know what you're going to find at the thrift store!

Vintage Sheet Music Star

I wanted to delve back into my vintage sheet music stash for some new projects. This is the first one I've finished. Start with a plain paper mache star (I got mine at Michael's):

Decoupage sheet music onto star in sections, using adhesive (I used Mod Podge). I found this step to be more difficult than I expected. I was working with very old paper, which tore easily. Also, making the sheet music work on the different surfaces of the star was a challenge. For my first effort, I thought it came out okay, but I would probably apply the paper differently if I did another one. Then I inked the edges, and used a glue gun to apply vintage millinery flowers and an old sparkly button. And here's the result!

I'm not sure why, but lately I'm really into this color combination -- this bright blue mixed with vintage paper. Love it!

Here's the star hanging in my foyer:

Not bad for a first attempt..... What else can I cover with sheet music???? Hmmmm.

New Banner -- Imagine!

I made the girls a new banner for the playroom. They got to choose whether it said "create" or "imagine." As you can see, "imagine" was the big winner. I think it's appropriate for the playroom where they do so much art work, dress-up and imaginary play.

This banner was fun because it is so super-girly! I can't make things for the rest of the house that are quite this girly, so for the playroom or for the girls' rooms, I go all-out! Bring on the glitter and the pink paper!

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the mothers out there: I hope you have a great day, and feel appreciated and valued. You deserve it!

My day started with chocolate croissants and handmade gifts -- a watercolor from my oldest daughter and a decorated jelly jar from my preschooler. It's going to be a long day, full of ballet recital rehearsals and performances, but this was truly a perfect beginning.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I just love it when an estate sale exceeds my expectations! The one I went to today was definitely worth the trip -- I came home with lots of treasures, including 2 vintage baby sheets (very hard to find), some pretty hand towels and other assorted embroidered pretties, and a vintage felt Christmas tree skirt (not pictured). Hooray!

Is it something?

I love these crochet flower thingees. I'm amazed when I think about how long each one must have taken to crochet. It reminds me of my grandmother and great-grandmother, both of whom crocheted madly. (They turned out great quantities of multi-colored, chunky-yarn blankets.)

But I'm not sure what these are. Is it something? Or is it nothing?

Regardless, I bet crafty types could think of lots of clever ways to use these.

Junking Fun

Kari and I got to do a little junking today -- very fun! We had more success than I expected. We found lots of wonderful vintage trims: velvets, satins and rickrack. I scored an old Bingo game with good vivid cards. We found some fabulous vintage cocktail napkins, and a number of other treasures.

But my two absolute favorite finds are below. First, the vintage Alphabet Land game. The game board is so bright and fun -- and that spinner! I'm not sure yet how I'm going to use it (maybe hang it up in the playroom?), but I love it. I also love the small cards that go with the game -- imagine how cute these will be on school-related scrapbooking pages?

Next is a great book that Kari found: it's an old music texbook. So many interesting pages in this book! So many crafting possibilities. Look for many of these vintage finds in the etsy store soon!

Time to part with some of the stash....

I found this stash of fantastic vintage beads a long time ago, and ever since I've been hoarding them. I put a few up for sale in crafting kits on etsy, but by and large, I've kept most of the stash close to me. I was sure that someday I'd find the perfect project.... Well, I still haven't found that project. So, I decided it was time to part with some beads. A few vials are going up on etsy today. We'll see if I have the strength to part with all of them -- not likely! :)

Trim-apalooza!

I finally found time to go through the vintage trim stash, and get some great trims ready for the store. These are some of the trim sets that will be hitting the etsy store today. It's always hard for me to part with trim (especially the tatting, which is getting harder and harder to find), but my loss can be your gain!

Sassafras, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

I've always loved Sassafras, but this new vintage yummy collection has me over the moon. Where to begin? The girl on the trike (who looks so much like my youngest daughter)? The papers that look like linen? The amazing "remember me" paper with the frames full of vintage whimsies? I can't wait to get busy with this stuff!

When one blog is not enough

A long time ago I had a little blog called Dishy Vintage. I rarely posted to it, and found that mostly I wanted to post pics of my kiddos, which didn't really fit with the crafts/business orientation of the blog. So, I shut down that blog and started a new one, our family blog, which I enjoy very much! But lately, crafts and projects seem to be taking over the family blog, so I decided it was time to start a second blog. And, just like that, Dishy Vintage (the blog) was reborn!

This news was not universally cheered. My sweet husband actually rolled his eyes. He thinks I spend enough time on the computer already (and I think he's right), but I think the time has come to separate out the family fun from the other stuff.

So, if you've happened onto this little blog, welcome!

More fun signs!

I made a few more fun signs today for the etsy shop. Now I'm working on a few that use pages from old books -- I'm excited about these! Pics soon....