Gathering Dust

They're Heeeeere....

It's fall, the leaves are changing, it's getting colder and night.  Little creatures are finding their way inside, looking for shelter.  You never know where you might find them lurking. 

What to do?  Don't be afraid- they're old Gurley candles.  Gather them all up and enjoy!

Craft Critique did a week long series on Kitchen Sink stamps.  I liked their samples so much that I had to order some- I got the Pretty Petals. Talk about fast shipping-  I ordered them on a Wed night and had them in my mail box on Friday.

Here are some little cards I did last night.  The possibilities with these stamps seem to be endless- I'm going to Hobby Lobby later today to pick up some new stamp pads- they're on sale this week!

And yet another use for vintage wallpaper. 

This waterfall nightstand has some veneer problems.  I painted it black but it was still kind of dull- then I added a vintage wallpaper border and it perked it right up and stayed true to the age of the piece.

Do you remember Ken Jennings from Jeopardy fame?  He's the guy that was on for about 6 months and won millions and millions.  He has a blog that's pretty funny in trivia nerd kind of way- but he's also an artist.  He's painted a border in his baby's nursery and it's REALLY CUTE.  Check it out here.

I usually put pictures of my crazy dog Milo in my blog- but this is my other dog, Maddie- she's a sweet old soul- about 11 years old and she loves to lay in the leaves.

Diary of an Estate Sale Junkie

For a successful day of estate saling-   start with  a full tank of gas, a checkbook, a Diet Coke and the classifieds.  I try to read check out the classifieds the night before and highlight the sales I want to go to.

I look for ads with descriptions like "packed", "40 year accumulation" "dealer says sell all", "diggers delite".  I tend to stay away from sales that say "like new" "clean" "do your Christmas shopping here".  I'm also aware of the addresses.  My favorite estate sales are homes where people have lived for a long time and haven't thrown much out.   

I used to favor neighborhoods where the homes were built in the 1920's & 30's, but those can be kind of a crap shoot now-in 2007, you're a least one owner away from the original owner, and probably two or three.  My favorites (but these are few and far between, too) are the original owner homes that were established right after WWII.  The homes the baby boomers grew up in- maybe that's cause I'm a boomer, too.

So first stop- it's a 1920's ish home in a nice picturesque neighborhood in Kansas City- the house is freshly painted and sweetly landscaped, and I spy kiddie toys- oh no....yuppies having a moving sale.  I step in, and never fear, these yuppies stayed true to the age of their home and  I find some goodies. 

Here's a pretty little vase, marked $7, but it's the second day of the sale, so it's half price.  Ohhhh, and it's signed on the bottom.  I can't quite make out the signature with my baby boomer (read: Aging) eyes, but I bet it's good- maybe Waterford!!!

NOTE:  Closer inspection reveals it is NOT Waterford- it's Rogaska, but I think that's good too!

Next find:  a Santa postcard and a little bag of jewelry- I think that might be a Victorian baby bracelet- that would probably mean the whole bag is Victorian jewelry- grab that quick before someone else does!

NOTE: Closer inspection reveals that this is not a Victorian baby bracelet, it's simply a tarnished curtain ring.

Oh, and a bag of buttons- wow, I think some of those are military- maybe even Civil War- this house is near the site of a Civil War battle- maybe the owners dug them up in their back yard!

Note:  Closer inspection reveals that these are nautical inspired buttons from some mall oriented woman's retail clothier  Maybe a closer look would have been smart.

If I'd noticed the plastic bags that said Ann Taylor, I'd probably have known they weren't mid 19th century buttons.

And look at this!  Perfectly good tap shoes- I've been thinking of taking lessons, you know...

On to the next sale- the ad says "50 years accumulation, must see to believe"- and oh yes, it's crowded- every surface is covered- towels stacked three feet high,  games stacked five deep, boxes and boxes of Tupperware- where would you put all those leftovers?  Every room is wall to wall shelves with knick knacks, pretties, figurines, statues, etc etc.  There HAS to be something here with my name on it- YES- there it is- in the basement.

Vintage wrapping paper calling "Beth, Beth, take us home".

and next to the paper, this box looks interesting.

What's inside?

Oh yeah, those are coming home with me.  And I leave the sale, having spent only $2.

Wow- what's this- there's ANOTHER estate sale across the street- BONUS estate sale!

And they have some cards for me too.

The next sale's ad is brief, but I like the address- a home built in a nice family neighborhood in the 1950's. 

Lots of lace.

A 1911 Butterick sewing book- the book isn't in very good shape, but how often to you find instruction on how to make a corset cover?

A school notebook  circa 1930 that's been used into a scrapbook .  The caption for this picture is "Anna Cory writing that last heartbreaking letter".

Miss Hardcastle from She Stoops to Conquer.

What great handwriting!  It should make some nice collage backgrounds.

Holy Butterick, Mccalls & Simplicity- look what I found Batman!

Vintage patterns- great illustrations!

My last stop was my booth at the antique mall- my friend Lucy had left me a present for me to take to  Silverbella.

Yards and yards of sequin and glittery trims.  And this:

These are some kind of kitchen strainer covered in velvet and lace....hmmm, maybe Lucy wants me to finish them up, so I can give her one for Christmas......

Twelve Birds A Glitterin'

As part of SilverBella, I signed up for an ornament swap.  Make twelve ornaments, exchange 11 and have 12 unique ornaments.  The only problem is....I get bored making more than one or two of the same thing.  I thought maybe it would be more fun if I took pictures as I went along.

I started with wooden bird cut outs and little snowflake ornaments from Michaels, some vintage Hallmark wrapping paper, Martha Stewart glitter and some ribbon.

My first step is to sand the edges of the cutouts just a little- sometimes they are fine, but sometimes, they're a little rough. 

I like to work on an old yellow pages- when I get a page inky or gluey, I just tear off the page and have a brand new work surface.

Next step- take off these price stickers- oh no, my fingernails aren't doing it- these buggers are really STUCK. They should use this glue to keep the space shuttle together!

Ok, well bring in the big guns- industrial Goof Off- this stuff works and seemingly just dissolves sticky gunk- but it does leave things smelling a little like a machine shop.

Now thats an interesting picture (not)- this is gluing the birds down to the wrapping paper.  I used Crafters Pick Ultimate Glue and a brayer to smooth things out.  Looks like I missed a price tag.....

Next step (another very interesting picture)- cut those birdies out.  This called for a NEW blade for the exacto knife.  Careful.....

Step six- lay out all your cut out birdies and admire your work, arrange them and then rearrange them.  Wish you were done.  (This is the part where I get bored)

Luckily, the next step is a fast one, with instant results.  I wanted to decorate the back of my birds in a simple way, so I decided use a stamp with a party streamer.  I started with a pink ink pad, but decided I needed more contrast so I stamped again with a sepia ink.

Now grab the wide silver paint marker and run it around the edges of each bird- yum, these look like they'd make good cookies!

Now- it's time for glitter- run a thin line around the edges of the bird- I started out using Martha Stewart glitter glue, but finished up with Diamond Glaze- I'm still on the look out for the perfect glitter glue.

Spend about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get the glitter out of the bottle- oh!  there's a little piece of plastic over the spout- that's a GOOD idea!  Dump glitter ALL OVER- and then shake it off.  Repeat for each bird.  You'll know you're done when your fingers are silver, the floor is sparkling, your clothes are shiny and you wonder if you really should wear a mask when glittering.

Step back and look your creations- oops!  We've got one odd bird in there, flying in a different direction.  Think again about how this is kind of boring- but soldier on, and finish one so you can show it on the blog.

Add a grommet for the ribbon, a rhinestone eye, a snowflake necklace and relax- you've only got 11 more to go!

Here are some other less intense craft things I've been making.

Cinderella Tag Book

This is the cover- each page is a tag with a scene from the Cinderella story.

 

Some Christmas Tags

Some sparkly tags with sweet sentiments. 

Sunday Morning Flea Market Oct 21 Edition

 

Good Sunday Morning- I'm having another Sunday Morning Flea Market.  Most of the items are listed in my Etsy Shop- SugarPinkMoon.  But I have a couple that really don't fit into the Art & Art Supplies Etsy venue- so they'll only be listed here on my blog.

Celluloid Dresser Box with Lady's Portrait

Price $12  SOLD

(Pictured above). Some damage to the finish on the top and the lining shows some wear- you can see this in the pictures.  Measures 5 3/8" square by 2 1/2" tall.   Shipping on this is $4.60- but shipping on anything else you might buy in my Etsy shop is free.

Pair of Boudoir Lamps with China Flowers & Crowns

Price $15

Really pretty china lamps with applied pink and blue china flowers on a crown design base.  They measure 16" tall and 4 5/8" wide at the base.  Here's the catch- they have cloth cords, so really should be rewired for safety reasons.  Shipping on these is $9.00- and if you buy anything else from me- it ships free.

If you're interested in either of these, please email me at the link at the upper left under the About Me heading. 

Here's a peek at some of the Sunday Morning Flea Market finds I added to my Etsy shop.  Thanks for looking!

I Love a Vacation.....

...but I hate that transition day when you unpack, read the mail, return the calls and feel like you're playing catching up.

But the post person was nice to me while I was gone.

I was pretty sure I was the only person in the world who hadn't ordered something from Cerri at Little Pink Studio, so I ordered one of her wallpaper samplers, some darling tags and her sweet collage sheets- can't wait to play with those.

Speaking of wallpaper, the addiction continues.  I picked up a few more wallpaper books on Ebay. 

This one is new- but still so pretty.

And I got a couple of old wallpaper sample books circa 1935.

This is the ad on the back of one of the sample book pages- "Isn't This Paper Marvelous?  Sure, but I'll Bet It Costs about $1.00 a Roll".

Betty  of She Sews Pretty and I did a swap- I sent her fabric, and then by some magical process, she turned it into this great tote bag.  I'm going to use it as a knitting bag- it even has a pocket inside.

Angela of Miss Molly Cottage sent me a great package of books and bookmarks for the Vintage Storybook Swap.

AND- the first issue of the NEW Victoria:

My Mom took my brother & his family and me & DH on a  5 day  cruise- San Diego/Ensenada/Cabo San Lucas.  Fun, fun, lots of good stuff to eat, and beautiful views in Cabo- we took a boat tour around the tip of Baja- that's the picture above.

Fun stuff to do on the ship:

Pretend your napkin is a hat.

Towel animal class.

Bird Watching.

Wondering if the ocean is in their front yard or back yard.

I got a new suitcase for the trip-doesn't look like it, does it?  Traveling is HARD on a suitcase. 

While we were gone, we had a dog sitter stay with my dogs-  I thought I had "dog proofed" everything- but Milo has a thirst for knowledge- and ate at least 3 books while we were gone- all from different rooms, and all pulled off the book shelf.  Maybe that was his way of letting us know he wasn't happy we were gone.

On the Needles

Did you think you made a wrong turn and ended up at a knitting blog?  No, you're at  Beth's blog- Gathering Dust.   I've got a lot of knitting projects going on and I thought I'd share.  I love STARTING new knitting projects, but I get bored easily, so I knit a few rows, then start something else, then go back to the first project, get an idea for anther project and so on and so on until I now have five or six different projects in the works.  I guess you could call that ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) knitting.

Above is a pink basket weave scarf- its pretty and fun to knit but you have to COUNT so you know when to change from a knit to a purl- so I usually only do about 8 or 16 rows at a time- but I should have it done in time for the snow to fall.

This is a big ball of cotton fabric that's been cut into a narrow knittable strip.  Potentially, this is going to be a cotton bath mat- but honestly, it's not that much fun to knit- and I don't need another bath mat....but I've got a whole CONE of the stuff..

This is a strip from an afghan- I've got 2 strips knit, and only have to do about 9 or 10 more and I'll have enough to cover a monk's bed in a monastic cell.

Last week, I read in Alicia Paulsen's Posie Gets Cozy how she was making some fancy cable swatches, and I thought- I should try that- so I did- my cables are pretty basic, but I was pleased that I tried something new.  By the way, my favorite book for knitting is Knitting for Dummies by Pam Allen- it has clear instructions, lots and lots of ideas for what to knit and lots of different stitches and has basic primers on everything from socks to clothes.

This is my auction knitting scarf- I like to bring a knitting project to play while I sit at auctions- this one will keep me busy for a long time- its small needles and fine yarn.  It's my own variation of mistake stitch ribbing- and I only have to count to two to knit it.

The soft mauve scarf above is the closest to finished- I think the stitch is called the garter slip stitch.

Thanks to everyone who came to my impromptu Sunday Morning flea market.  It was so much fun that I'm going to try it again another Sunday Morning- but not NEXT Sunday.  My Mom is taking my brother & his family and DH & me on a Carnival Cruise- ain't we got fun!  I better figure out which knitting project I should take along- I'm afraid there isn't room for all of them! 

Sunday Morning Flea Market Art Doo Dad Destashing

 

You know how the squirrels gather nuts in the fall to save for winter- well, I'm doing the opposite- I want to "destash" some stuff.  I'm going to add it my Etsy Shop- SugarPinkMoon, but first I'm showing it here.  If you're interested in something, send me an email and I'll send you a Paypal invoice.   Shipping isn't included in the price- but I can ship as many packages as you want for $3, as long as you pay for everything all at once.  Yes, the $3 shipping for as much as you want is definitely to encourage multiple purchases!

THE SPARKLE  SOLD

PRICE $8  ( and it's the most expensive thing I've got!)

Pictured above- highlights- nice rhinestone button, rhinestone necklace- not quite a sparkly as some but wearable- LISNER rhinestone earrings- each missing a stone, a chandelier prism, two soldered charms, and some other bits and piece for adding sparkle to art projects or jewelry making.

BABY STUFF

PRICE $5

   

Highlights include a kewpie looking doll, a Gerber baby spoon and a darling china doll.

ENAMEL JEWELRY (and more) SOLD

PRICE $5

Ready to wear EXCEPT- funky orange floral pin in center is missing some petals & the 1940's wooden and bead brooch is missing a pin back.

By the Numbers

Price $2

Old brass house address number '0' makes a great frame, bingo & scrabble pieces, mini dice etc.

Halloween Honeycomb Cats  SOLD

Price $3

These are about 3" tall- I think they look like place cards or party favors.  For the life of me, I could not figure out how the honeycomb pumpkin was supposed to attach.  A couple of the stems on the pumpkins have bends, but otherwise good condition.

STAMPED DOMINO JEWELRY  SOLD

PRICE $3

Once upon  a time, I stamped on dominos and made jewelry- here's a pin, a couple of drilled pendants, a decoupaged dog and two tea dyed dominos.

Sweet & Romantic Floral Lot  SOLD

Price $4

Some sweet swatches of great floral cloth, pretty pink & violet beads and buttons,  a BIG pink barrette, two tiny little birds, a blue sequin hair comb and a cute little wrought iron chair.

The Great Frame Up  SOLD

Price $3

The pressed brass piece is 2" x 2 1/4"- the oval piece in the upper left is actually a celluloid advertising mirror, but the reverse side isn't in great shape.

HEAVY METAL SOLD

Price $3

A domino charm, a soldered charm, a tiny lipstick, a pretty brass corner, and a lot of metal buttons.

THE NATURE LOVER   SOLD

Price $5

Highlights:  Leather butterflies, suede flower, cool brass piece, lots of fall colored buttons.

COOL OLD PAPER  SOLD

Price $3

Highlights:  Brass plate for engraving calling cards, Dry Goods Store advertiser, old business card, little playing cards, metal chicken bands.

Got Religion?  SOLD

Price $4

Highlights: Prayer cards, plastic rosary, soldered angel charm.

The Girls SOLD

Price $3

Highlights: Stamped and decorated dominos and tiles, a soldered charm, a bisque flapper face pin.

Pink Linens for Travel  SOLD

Price $3

Highlights:  Pink Satin jewelry/lingerie roll, blue vinyl jewelry/lingerie roll (trimmed in pink) two satin type pillows & a pretty doily.  Some of these pieces do have water stains, but I still think they are sweet and could be great in a craft project.

Imagine making a soft sided book with the pink satin lingerie roll.

Thanks for stopping by my Sunday Morning Flea Market- if you have any questions, just let me know!

This 'n That Deux

Just a short post this evening... then tomorrow, I'm going to have a Sunday morning flea market post- I'm trying to do some serious destashing of arts & crafts doodads, and I'm planning on putting them in my Etsy shop- but I'll show them here first.  I've tried to put together some fun lots at a very fair price- hopefully a price you can't say "no" to.

Above is a new picture of baby Grace in her pink velour lounging and crawling outfit.

Here's  a great use for Karla's handpainted wallpaper ovals- keychains- you can pick up clear acrylic key chains at Michaels- add an oval and instant pretty for your purse.  You can get Karla's florals in her Etsy Shop.

A few tags I've made with vintage wallpaper as the background.

These have images of paper dolls and clothes to color from a vintage magazine.

And, just in case you think all I do is glue & paste & buy old stuff- you're wrong...sometimes I style my dog's hair.

   

Milo has WILD hair- like Einstein- that would be the only thing remotely similiar between Einstein and Milo- sometimes I like to restyle it.

Milo as Eddie Munster.

Milo with a mohawk- or trying to look like Dale on Top Chef.  Thanks for indulging me with my silly dog pictures.

Beyond Broken Mosaics

If any of you crafters have tried mosaicing, you know its not as easy as it looks-maybe it doesn't even look easy to you!  The basics- gluing and grouting aren't too bad, but the getting the right shaped piece for the right place and the overall arrangement are a real challenge.  I have a friend, Dee Dee Walters, who's mosaics are incredibly detailed collages of pottery, statuary, beads, jewelry, and dolls.

Check out this mailbox, complete with its own little birdie and souvenir state plates- and if you look closely, you can see the letters in the middle that spell "You've Got Mail".

Here's a mosaic wedding cake next to a matching mosaic frame- wouldn't that be a great shower centerpiece!  Look at the middle tier towards the left- there's a piece of a calendar plate.  It's clever little details like that that keep me enthralled with her work.

Here's a piece she made for my bedroom- personalized with our names.

Dee Dee's business is called Beyond Broken Mosaics.  If you'd like to get ahold of her for a custom order, let me know, and I'll get you in touch with her.