Gathering Dust

Karla's Romantic Gothic Cottage

Earlier in the week I went to Karla's Cottage to do a practice run through of  our classes for the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop next weekend. I was just blown away by the way she had decorated her studio for a romantic Halloween.

Karla said all the decorating started when she was suppose to be cleaning up her studio- but she wasn't really in the mood to clean, so anytime she got a decorating idea, she stopped cleaning and made something, draped something, arranged something etc etc.

And who's going to notice if the windows are washed and the floor is swept when you've got all this fun stuff to look at?

These pictures are just a small part of the decor, everywhere I looked there was a fun "gothic" touch.

I love these drapes- especially since I know what they looked like before Karla got ahold of them.  Originally they were a peach colored velour from the $1 table at the flea market.  Karla tea dyed them and they look spooky, romantic and rich all at the same time.

Little ghostly details are everywhere- slipped into this grouping of tiny bottles, under the bird cage and inside the spider web box.

These are Karla and my projects from her Ravishing Raven class. 

I believe there are still one or two spots open for the workshop next weekend- we'd love to get spooky with you.

And how's this for a class bonus- Twinkle's nine puppies will be six weeks old and available for petting, holding and snuggling.

What's New In My Antique Booth

Ok, so the title of this post really should be "what was new at my booth on Tuesday" because that's when I took these pictures.

I went back to the antique mall today, to restock and "verve"- and well, I must say, it looks about 100 times better than these pictures- you'll just have to run over there to see what I mean- kidding....

It's kind of busy, hopefully that makes people want to dig in and look for hidden treasures. 

I'm still sticking with the burgandy books, and still not reading them. I've added some gold for a kind of rich look.

And more pink- it doesn't look little girly when you mix it with burgandy and gold..

Not that there's anything wrong with pink and girly- I love to do a display (or even my guest room) in pinks and pastels, but its not a look I seem to be able to sell.  I guess that part of the "shabby chic" look is over- at least in Kansas.

Wouldn't it be awesome to toss on all these pearls.  More is more!

Well, if you can't make it to my booth, you might want to check out the new junk, quality merchandise in my Etsy shops.

SugarPinkMoon

and Gathering Dust

Fall Country Antique Show Favorites: Pattern Texture and Socks

You can bet that if I sell at an antique show on Saturday, I'm going to have pictures to share by Tues or Wed. I can't buy everything that I like, but I can take home a picture.

I'm kind of predictable in what catches my eye.  Collections, patterns, texture and graphics.  With the cooler weather and the start of fall, I like to see bits of nature, too.  Not the pretty sweet smelling flowers of summer- I'm looking for things like twigs, berries and these gnarly gourds.

Hedge apples.

Collections of buttons.

Well worn but beautifully patterned marbleized book covers.

String, yarn and cord in a twisted basket- lots of texture.

Just a still life that caught my eye.

More beautiful books.

I was talking to my Mom; she asked what I had been buying for my booth at the antique mall.  I told her books.  She said "oh, but how do you know what books to buy?"  (I think she was imagining me trying to decide between John Grisham or Danielle Steele).  I told her I bought "pretty books and handsome books". 

My mom is a retired English teacher, I think she was a little disappointed.  She said "Oh... I remember when you used to buy books to READ".

Basket of roving with a jar of berries.

Believe it or not, somebody really did have a Mack truck for sale- well, at least part of one.

Love old sewing displays.

...and graphics.

...and collections.

and men's socks- that's a new one for me!

Crafting: It's the Process

Every so often, I have to write a blog post to remind myself why I craft.

(I guess I could just talk to myself, but since I have a blog, I might as well share what I'm thinking, I'm sure you are all waiting with bait on your breath to hear what I have to say.)

I craft because I enjoy it...I enjoy the time I spend making things.  It's great to actually FINISH a project, but really, it's the DOING that keeps me crafting. 

A good example of this is my experience with learning to crochet.  I wrote about it here.  It took me a long time to learn, but eventually I did- but then I realized that I didn't know how to read a crochet pattern- so my crochet career was put on hold.

A couple months ago, I saw some cute crocheted flowers in Mollie Makes.  The directions didn't look TOO complicated- at least I knew what the abbreviations meant even if I wasn't sure how to execute them.

So, to get back in the "loop of things" (ha ha, silly crochet pun), I grabbed some white cotton yarn, a crochet hook and thought I'd just make a wash cloth using just a dc (double crochet). 

I really enjoyed the repetition, moving the hook in and out, seeing  my progress.  Before I'd go to work in the morning and before I'd go to bed, I'd turn the TV off and just do a few minutes of quiet crochet. 

I'm not sure if I'm using the word correctly, but I believe the experience was very "zen".

Then I grabbed a different skein of yarn and tried a different stitch.  It was still very zen.  And then I grabbed another- and after awhile I realized that I had lots of rectangular pieces of crochet with no apparent purpose.

But I was enjoying myself- because sometimes crafting is the process, not the product.

I ended up crocheting the rectangles together and I'm going to use them as a throw for myself- and hopefully the throw, as unattractive as it is, will remind me that I enjoyed the time I spent making it.

My other "on the needles" project is this scrappy afghan.  It's just made by using all the little leftover bits and pieces of yarn from other projects.  I've made them before,and I never know what they're going to end up looking like but I think I enjoy them as much as a planned project.

Oh, and the crocheted flowers?  I hope I can still find the pattern....

Back to School Collaborative Journal Part II

I've got more pages from Back to School Journal project.

On the left is the back of  Michelle Geller's page, the page on the right was made by Jan LaFollette.

These were tucked into the pocket of Jan's page. 

Did you notice that this project is called a "journal" and not just a "book"?  The idea of a journal is that you would also use it to write in.  That's why many of the pages have blank tags, cards etc- places to write.

I just don't think I can bring myself to write on any of these pages, I'm just too afraid I'd screw them up!

The front of Michelle's page- love the colors and the Washi tape.

This is the back of my page and the front of Rachel McGough's page.  The class picture on Rachel's page is actually a pocket.

The back of Rachel's page just tickled me- it's one of her real schoolwork pages,  complete with her grade school picture.  I've met Rachel, and knew that was her right away- she's changed her hairstyle, but still looks like her school picture- I love that personal touch.

Mollie Morrison's page is a mini file folder- see the red label on the right side? 

Inside the file folder- a class picture.

The back of Mollie's page- this cool alphabet collection.  This isn't a photocopy- Mollie actually made all of those squares and glued them together. 

That gets about half way through the book.  I have pics of all of the pages, so I'll post more next week.

 

Pink Country: Setting Up for the Old Summit Antique Show

Thanks for all the positive feedback on my last post on the Back to School collaborative journal.  When I was going through my pictures, it occured to me that one of the coolest things about a journal like that is that no one could make one by themselves.  It takes so many different styles, skills and points of view to get a journal that interesting.   I have more pictures that I'll post later in the week. 

This post is a peek at some of the goodies I'll be bringing to the Old Summit Antique Show.  It's a show I've posted about many times before because I love the show.  It's easy to set up,the dealers, promoter (Sandee Millett) and merchandise are top notch, everyone is so friendly and they have great barbeque available for lunch.  Oh, and they have a before the show breakfast for dealers with biscuits and gravy- pretty sweet.

The show's theme is "country", so I look for merchandise with chippy paint, natural wood, folk art, stoneware, crockery, transferware, old textiles etc.  My colors are usually white accented with shades of green and mustard and if I can find it, vintage red white & blue.

This show is going to be a little different- this has been a tough shopping summer for me.  It seems like so many of the estate sales advertised have been newer homes with newer items.  The heat has made the auction calendar kind of thin, and I've never had very good luck at rummage sales.

So this show is going to be "Pink Country"- with some burgundy thrown in. I have some pretty framed pictures- the small print in my first picture is called "The Dancing Lesson".  My second picture has a framed photo of a young ballerina- I'd guess it's from the 1920's.

One of my favorite finds is this wash pitcher.  I love the aesthetic style design, but I've never seen it in shades of pink.

I always like to have plenty of books- they are great for decorating- a stack makes a good "stage" for other things. 

This book is just plain pretty, with nice illustrations.

Of course, it's not all pink...

I always try to have some fun paper like these flash cards.

And of course I'll have the usual suspects like vintage office supplies, bowls of lace, and whatever else I can dig between now and then.

The show is Saturday Sept 15- that means I have one more weekend to shop! (You can get the rest of the details at the link above.)

If you come out to the show, stop by and say "Hi".   I'll be the girl reflecting in the pink glow.

Back to School Collaborative Journal

Earlier this summer I showed you my pages for Michelle Geller's Back to School swap.  The finished book came in the mail last week, and it is just fun and fabulous, and all the little details are amazing.  I've looked through my book ten or twelve times, but I keep finding new things.

Michelle made the covers, assembled the books and added little surprises through out.

Like the packaging.  The books were wrapped in old fashioned tablet paper with the pale blue lines, ruled numbered tape and personalized flash cards.

The artist list was inside the front cover, library card style.

This is the first page, made by Jan Clem.  It's mechanical!  Pull the yellow ruler tab and the page opens TWICE!

Sheila Earhart's page- all about the Grand March, complete with medal.

The back of Sheila's page and the front of Cynthia Fawcett's page.

Another cute detail- the back of Cynthia's page uses a clear triangular ruler as a pocket- and folds out to reveal a tag underneath.

There were 14 swappers, so I've got a lot more idea filled pages I could share on my blog...let me know if you like to see more.