Gathering Dust

Still Can't Shoot or Sew Straight

Last week I decided that I was going to "take the week off".  I was still going to my big girl job, but when I got home, I was going to do whatever I wanted.

(That's not as provocative as it sounds, mostly it meant I did some sewing, crafting and organizing)

I finally finished the cover for my Remains of the Day journal.  I may be the last person on earth who hasn't already taken this on-line class, but I've heard nothing but good things about it, so after three years of pondering, I decided to jump right in.

It's great because not only do you NOT have to sew straight, you're encouraged to stitch crazy- like I did with my wandering seam on the piece of brown tapestry.

(picture borrowed from Mary Ann Moss, creator of the class)

My next step will be to make pages- stacks and stacks of pages like these, hopefully using up many of those little scraps of paper that are too cool or pretty or interesting to throw away but seem to take over.

What I love about this class is that about the only thing you need is a sewing machine and paper- any paper.  And I do have plenty of paper (and other stuff).

Last week, on my "vacation", I sorted some of my paper, housed it in cigar boxes and made labels.

I've done the same thing with this cubby that I filled with cigar boxes. The labels help enormously.

I've never believed in being super organized- I want to be able to find things, but time spent organizing is time NOT spent crafting.  But I keep looking at these cigar boxes and their pitiful handwritten tags and wondering if I should make all new matching labels or tags. 

All printed in the same font, on the same size tag, all with a string, or NO string, but all the same; or all with red Dennison style labels.  It would take some time, but the uniformity might stear me onto more creativity.

I don't know, what do you think?  I know, I know, such problems...storage, scraps and sewing.

Sew Somerset magazine apparently was able to overlook my lack of sewing skills and published a mini quilt I made.  I got my preview copy in the mail yesterday, I believe it will be at the craft and book stores on Jun 1. I didn't know it was going to be published, so it was a nice surprise.

 

What Did I Buy at the Auction?

So much of the time when I unpack my auction or estate sale finds, I realize that besides buying "stuff", I've also bought WORK.

It would be so much easier to be the kind of antique dealer that goes on a shopping trip, buys a vase, a plate, a figurine, a book, a candlestick etc etc and could just slap a price tag on it and call it ready to sell.

But I just seem to be drawn to projects- like this bundle of baby shoes- they'll have to be stuffed with tissue, laced and possibly cleaned before I can sell them.

A stash of beautiful baby clothes- but they need to be soaked, washed, starched and ironed.

I also have a habit of buying items that need "just a little tweak"- like these bank boxes.  One of them I can't open, and the other won't stay closed!

A box of old letters- actually any box of old paper- I can't resist.  But they'll take sorting and bundling to get them ready to sell.

Same with this box of old snapshots.  Great fun to look at, but time consuming.

But really- I'm not complaining.  I enjoy the "work" of getting things ready to sell, and get satisfaction in the cleaning, sorting, arranging and even ironing.

Can't you tell how happy I am?

A Necklace, A Sampler and A Close But No Cigar (Box)

I think if you talk to anyone who's been to an art event, or even just spent a productive craft day with creative friends, you leave feeling re-energized, full of ideas and plans for new projects.

That's been the effect Bird Song had on me.  I finished Karla's necklace project and I think her idea of using a crochet medallion as the focal point was such a beautiful and unique touch.

This is my finished project for Lisa's Faire Theater class. 

This was her example.

I does look like I strayed a little off track- but I couldn't find a cigar box to use for my project.  I know that not everyone travels with a bunch of cigar boxes, but if I'm crafting or antiquing, I usually have at least one or two filled with supplies or things I'm selling. 

So, I improvised- I used a book cover and foam core to make a theater in the round. 

Lisa had beeswax to make fairy wings, but I used it to cover the back of my stage.  I'd never used wax before, and it was fun...I'd love to try more encaustic art.

Another project I finished last week was this sampler.  I've been wanting to do a sampler for a while, and with Memorial Day and 4th of July coming up, I went with red and blue on an oatmeal colored cloth. 

I picked out the alphabet from a book, and the border from another book- but I think it needs something else.

- vines around the letters?

-some kind of filler figure between the letters and the borders?

-something 3-d like sewing on lace or buttons?

-maybe a straight stitch border around the letters and another around the outside border?

Suggestions?

Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? 

(A not so obscure reference to the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)

 

On the Road to Paper Cowgirls

Tomorrow, Karla and I are on our way to Paper Cowgirls in Texas.  This will be the first time in years that I've been in Texas when the temperature is under 80 degrees.  I'm hoping we can see some blue bonnets.

Karla and I are both teaching classes.  It's my first time teaching a craft class and my first time putting together a craft kit.  It doesn't sound hard, counting buttons, cutting ribbon, but it is.  I mean, it's not hard work like mining coal or pouring concrete, but I didn't realize how much went into it.

I followed Karla's advice and made extra kits.  She said "It's just as easy to make thirty as it is twenty".   When I get home from Texas, I'll be listing the extras in my Etsy shop.

Thank goodness BOTH Karlas helped me put my kits together.  Karla the artist figured out my presentation- tieing the papers and cloth together, and Karla the accountant meticulously cut ribbon and counted buttons.

And what did I do?  Mostly I whined "this is hard......"

One think I've learned about craft classes from both Karla and Lisa is that it's fun to have extras supplies so everyone in the class has a chance to customize their project.

I was planning on packing my supplies in a vintage suitcase- something I usually have "in stock"- but I sold my last suitcase a couple weeks ago, so  I decided to substitute this artist's case.  It's kind of like a wooden brief case- made to hold an artist's paints, brushes and canvases.  But it was UGLY plywood, so I did a little decoupage on it, using some of my favorite old papers- dictionary pages, old magazine, catalog and ledger pages.

Inside, I have lace, scraps from a stained Quaker tablecloth, ribbon and buttons.

Underneath, I've stored my class samples, extra background papers and vintage wallpaper.

The last time I was at Karla's she had her class kits stacked all together and they were so pretty- I had to get a picture.  That is some vintage goodness!

 

Etsy Shop Update- Selling Still Gives Me A Thrill

I like to set goals- I don't always meet them, but I if set a goal, and make it "official", either by writing it down or fixing it in my head, I accomplish a lot more than if I just have some vague ideas about doing "stuff".  Writing it down makes me accountable to myself.

But enough Oprahsizing- this weekend I said my goal was to get the total number of items in my Etsy shops- Gathering Dust and SugarPinkMoon up to 100. 

When I started yesterday, I had a total of 30.  Now I have a total of 70- but along the way people are BUYING things, so the count goes down.  Geez....

Ok,you know I'm kidding.  I LOVE it when you buy things from me.  Even though I've been selling antiques for almost 14 years, I still get a thrill when someone wants to buy something I picked out.

When I got my first booth at the antique mall, my rent was $250 a month, and I had a 6 mos lease.  I remember talking it over with my husband, and realizing that I was committing myself to spending $1500.

But I really wanted to try it, so we decided I should risk the $1500. I moved in and went back the next day and realized that I had sold two pieces that I had brought in on the first day - for a total of $18. I was SO THRILLED.  I remember thinking "Now, the most I can lose is $1482"- always the accountant with the financial statement running through my head.

So, I haven't quite met my goal yet- but I still have a few hours.  In the meantime, here's a look at some of what I have listed so far- including a bunch of funky plastic stuff- buttons, jewelry, even a clothespin. 

I'm going to take a listing break and read some of Tina Fey's book BossyPants.  Tina is my new hero ever since I started watching 30 Rock a few months ago.  I relate to Liz Lemon because she wears clothes with food on them and sometimes has lettuce in her hair, and sometimes, I do too.

Book Stuff and Spooky Stuff and Spooky Book Stuff

 
Sorting through some boxes of old photos for the flea market next week and  I found some cool pictures where the image had "ghosted" over onto the opposite page.  I could understand how there could be a mirror image- but I think its strange that there are two images on the "ghost side" mirrored horizontally.

 
Here's another one with a mother and her children.

 
The outside folders are nice, too.  The heart shaped box is a candy box I decorated with pale laces and trims and and a picture of a pixie looking baby.

 
 Another spooky find- this German book that translates to "The Horse Book".  The German font gives it a real gothic feel.

 
I think this book would be great as part of a Halloween vignette. All these "spooky" goodies are available in my Etsy Shop.

If you'd like some other Gothic decorating and craft ideas, the Romantic Gothic Ghosts on-line class that Karla and I put together last year is still available.  Information is here.  Lots of low color fall and Halloween ideas that  last past Oct 31.

 
 On the subject of books, here's another kind I've been playing with.  It's a pocket diary from the 1960's.  I've made simple collages on some pages, and on some pages, just glued a single image, photo or card.  It's kind of a gluebook, but I'm using a bit of ink too.

 

This one is for sale in my Etsy shop.

 
If you'd like to make your own, I have some "undecorated" datebooks for sale here.

 

Speaking of gluebooks, my friend Mary Green of Green Paper Packages is hosting a glue book swap, and all the players will end up with their own gluebook with swap pages, a vintage cover and a set of ephemera pages from Mary's collection.  You can check the details here.

 
One last "book" topic.  Even though I usually lean towards whites, creams, tans & pale colors, I couldn't resist these vintage images of children's clothes patterns from an old magazine.  I used some vintage wallpaper as a background, index cards and a ring binder to make a simple book that I called "Mother, Make Me a Frock".  It's available here.

 

Books: Bundled, Best Sellers, Handmade & Collaborations

 BUNDLED BOOKS
The other day I saw a picture of a bundle of books on Dawn's blog and thought "I love old books, but they look even better when you bundle them together"- so I got out a little bit of twine and there you go....I don't know why crumbling, tattered old books tickle me so much, but I know I'm not the only one.  These books are for sale (seperately) in my Etsy Shop- Gathering Dust.

 
COLLABORATIVE BOOKS

About a year ago Lisa and I talked about making a fabric book together.  We've finally got organized and decided to make the book a round robin with a theme of woman, sewing, fashion, handicrafts etc etc.  Karla and Sandra are our other collaborators.  Each of us is making a cover and an inside page, and then mailing them on to another person, who will make a page and mail the whole package onto the next person and so on- the plan is to do it for a year...so you won't get your own book back for a year.

 
We really debated the format back and forth- was a year too long a commitment?  Wouldn't it be easier just to make three pages for everybody at once and swap them all at once? 

 
We ended up deciding that since we all like to make things, making one page a month for a year is not that big a deal.  The reason we're passing the books around for a year is because we realized how much our styles and techniques can change in a year- and seeing someone else's pages in a book you've already worked in could give you new inspiration. 

 
We're hoping that the books will kind of "build" on what's been done before- but no matter what, we want it to be fun, and I'm really excited to be working with people who's work I enjoy so much.

The page with the cross stitched alphabet is my cover. My other page has images from a rescued 1864 Arthurs Home Companion.  I love the detail on the children's clothing.

HANDMADE BOOKS

 
 
A couple of months ago, I bought this book-Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms.  I've always been interesting in making books, but most of mine have been the hole punch and string binding variety.

I had no idea there were so many different ways to make a book- and in two months, I've made TWO books- two books that turned out- several that ended up in the garbage. 

 
I started with simple folded books- well, I THOUGHT they'd be simple, but folding paper isn't as easy as it looks- I really appreciate why you need a bone folder. 

 
After a simple folded book, I graduated to a folded book with pockets. 

 
It was fun to fill the pockets on this one.  Both are available in my Etsy Shop.

Two books down, 98 to go.

BEST SELLING BOOKS

 

Have you read The Help  ?  Great book and great movie.  I was so shocked/surprised about the relationship of the women in the book to their "Help" that I almost forgot that the book is funny, too- in that warm Fanny Flagg way.  My surprise at the book is that it happened in my lifetime, and even though I think of myself as well informed, I really only know the high level history of the South- and I'd never thought about the day to day lives of "The Help".

Besides enjoying the movie plot- I couldn't keep my eyes off the wallpaper.  Beautiful stuff- and patterns I recognized and have used.

In a nice little coincidence, I scored some wallpaper at an estate sale this weekend.  Half used rolls of vintage wallpaper are scarce as hen's teeth at estate sales, so I had to pick them up, even though I don't need any more wallpaper.  I cut off  a few feet as souvenirs and put the rolls in my other Etsy shop- SugarPinkMoon.

Lace Ditty Bags Update

 
Several people have asked me to let them know when I made more lace ditty bags.  I've added some to my Gathering Dust Etsy Shop.

 
I've also added some journals that are full of different papers.

 
New paper, old paper, scrapbook book, magazine pages, hand written music, vintage and newer wallpaper.

 
I think it would be fun to use the books as the base of your own altered book, or glue book. Or you could  pull out the papers you want to use for another art project, and add whatever papers, collages or journal pages you might already have. 
This is probably more pictures of paper than you needed to see- but you know how I love my paper....

 

Crafting on a Long Weekend

 
 
Besides having an extra day this weekend, we've had the "bonus" of incredibly hot weather- too hot to go anywhere - so I decided to act like I was snowed in, and spend the whole weekend crafting.

My first project was  tags for Karla's  Birdsong Tag Swap.  I love the Audubon and nature study type bird images, but I've used them a lot lately, so I went with something different and used a simple image from an old elementary school reader.

 
While I was working in my craft room this morning, my husband came down the hall to ask "What's that noise?" I was sewing the background for the tags- he's not used to the sound of a sewing machine.

 
My next project was Mary's July Collage Challenge.  I resized some of the images and tinted an image on her collage sheet and printed it twice- once on card stock and once on vellum. 

 
The brown ticket and floral background are on vellum.

 
I added the collage to this book that I've been working on since March- actually, I haven't been working on it since March- I started it in March, and just needed  one more page to finish it off.  Karla gave me a bunch of trims she had made- the rhinestone silk and tulle at the bottom is one she made.

 
Here are a few more pages.

 
The classic Bingo card page...

 
Some more of Mary's images, and a bird I printed on a book page.

 
The book is in my Etsy shop Gathering Dust.

 
I found another "Pink Lady" estate sale this weekend and added some pretties to my other Etsy shop SugarPinkMoon.

 

The sale had lots of florals, Florentine, tole and pretty linens.
 
And I've got a soft spot for vintage baby books- the illustrations are so cute.

I've also been doing some destashing, so if you're looking for lots of buttons, lots of valentines, lots of sewing notions with great graphics or lots of vintage needlebooks, check out the links.

 
One more day of crafting on this long weekend, and I'm going to spend it playing with Mary's new catalog image collection.  Mary gave me some pages from the collection that she'd had printed on extra heavy paper and I don't think I can cut them, I think I should frame them.

 
I might not cut the large prints, but you can bet I'm going to play with some of the millinery pages- love those hats. 

 
This is just a tiny sample of the collection- it's not just great images, it's a peek into everyday life (and prices) in 1914. 

Paper Cowgirls Miscellanea

 
I haven't been able to figure out how to tell the "Paper Cowgirls Chronicles" in an organized way- should it be divided by category- crafts, parties, sightseeing, antiquing etc?  Or should it be chronological?  I don't know, so I just picked some random pictures I thought were fun.

First, I had to show one of the MOST amazing creations I've ever seen- Ann Denise Anderson's luscious frothy concoction of crepe paper, coffee filters, tissue paper, butcher paper and a lot of time.  Several times during Paper Cowgirls, I found myself just staring at it in amazement.

 
Dawn's shadow box collage and Dorthe's doll (all the way from Denmark) were raffle prizes.

 
Karla dressed up for the Paper Cowgirl's Prom.

 
Lisa, not dressed up for prom.  ( I didn't dress up either, we both dressed for shopping.)  In the background you can see other Paper Cowgirls shopping the streets of Waxahachie- what a darling town- and a lot of the stores stayed open late for so the Paper Cowgirls could shop.

 
There were a lot of great prom dresses, but Kristi's has to be one of my favorites- the skirt has cabinent cards under the tulle- kind of like a walking portrait gallery.

 
My two roomies, on their way to the prom- if only we'd had a fairy godmother to turn that luggage rack into a coach.

 
Lisa's shoe collection- not counting the ones she was wearing, because everyone knows that you need at least five pair of black shoes for a two night stay in Waxahachie.

(I hope that pictures doesn't put me on the banned for life roommate list.)

More pictures to come- of classes, crafts, swaps and the vendor night.  Can you tell I had fun?