It was a White Christmas

Well~~~sort of

I took a couple of days off after Christmas to work on some items for my shop.  Here's a look at what I got finished. 

First up is a bench that I've been wanting to get done. I just polished up the frame and left it the way I found it, I had three of these Bakers Economalt bags, I sold two and kept this one for a future project.  I really like how it turned out.





 

A trio of Angels~~~gold frame, gold angels~~~Oohlala~~~Now they are white!!! 

The smaller ornate frame was made in Holland I just gave it and the large frame a wash of white and a bit of a rub off to show a little gold.  All I had to do to the chalkboard was to tape it off and paint the chalkboard paint on to it and add a couple of hangers to the back.



And again white, white, white. The Lyre magazine/book holder is cast iron and was gold. The little victorian looking vase was brass...so much cuter in white. The heart and star box was a maroon red...Much better in romantic white. Two small oil on canvas of Blue Roses, the roses really bloom with these white frames.


And the little bird? Didn't do a thing except give him a bath, found him at the thrift store and he asked me tweetly if I would take him to live at my shop. He's a soft translucent yellow with hand painted roses in a soft peach.

These two lovlies have been hanging out in my living room on the waiting list to be transformed.  They have springs in the seats and I had to figure out how to replace one side.  It was a challenge strength wise but a great skill to learn~~~I'll never pass up one that needs repaired again. I went traditional on the covering and used a harlequin decor fabric that I had. And again I just polished up the frames and left as is, they were in fantastic shape.  And a few darker toned pieces with all that white makes a nice balance.

And finally this adorable little magazine/night stand. I just applied the plaster roses from this post here. And distressed just the tiniest bit.

 

 This was one of the stars of the Marathon Trilogy series that I only completed two segments of, here is the one where I painted everything white.  I found that I could marathon sand, marathon paint, but not marathon finish all the pieces at once.  You need to concentrate on each individual item...or all the fun is gone out of it. 

~~~Happy Hunting and Gathering~~~

Joyeux Noel

Wishing all of you a very Joyeux Noel

May your day be filled with love, peace & joy

Hanging the SIGN

WARNING; this is a long post with lots of pictures.

I would like to start by explaining my absence. I've been in the doldrums, I've been creative (you should of seen what I did for Halloween to stock my booth...sorry no pics),I would search my heart and know what I wanted to do...but felt I couldn't or shouldn't, I closed my booth space at Coos Bay Antiques the end of October...Anella, Diana, and Sue~~~I miss you guys so much.

I searched my heart some more and talked with my daughter, Christy about opening another shop~~~she thought it was a most excellent idea.

I talked with Diane and Stacey at Mossy Rose anther vintage shop in the area that is absolutely fantastic (check out there wonderful ETSY store of the same name!!!).  And both of these gals said "DO IT, there's a space available next to where we are moving to. Go check it out". 

So today I'm posting from my newly re-opened shop...
PARIS FLEA MARKET, 769 Virginia Avenue, North Bend, Oregon 97459.  I have even re-opened my ETSY store as well, A Paris Flea Market.Please note that I use an A in front for this shop name. 

It's been a whrilwind month!!! I signed the lease on November 15th and opened for business December 6th. And yes we took time to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. I left my shared booth space at Black Cat just a few days later, and I miss Johnny and "Q" also.
I have been with them since January of 2010.

My wonderful son-in-law, Trae (husband to Christy) of Bayshore Paints, Coos Bay, Oregon, painted the interior for me. The custom color is called Natural Wicker by Benjamin Moore, it's an excellent backdrop for my ever changing displays.

Trae, Christy, Taylor, MaKenna, and Ciara, all pulled together and helped me get moved in and ready for business in record time.I'm a very lucky mother and grandmother!!!

I'm ever so thankful that my sign and merchandise bags didn't sell, remember my post here.

Because I think they look so much nicer in my very own petite shop, my display area is only about 400 square feet. The whole space is only 770 sq. ft.  I have a nice storage area that already had built in shelving. I even have a space to create in. The rent is extremely reasonable and the landlord pays for heat.  I'm so out of the doldrums!!!

Lots of my customers from my old location have found me...all because my sign is very viewable from Virginia Avenue a thoroughfare for the city.

And this is the wall that greets them when they come in.

And here's a quick pictorial tour of my new VINTAGE STUFF & ALTERED ARTIFACTSshop.

The  violin and the mandolin
were a modge podge project!

This white wicker piece folds together and takes up no space at all. I was told when I bought it that it was a Victorian Era sewing chest.

It has the cutest basket and roses swags adorning the front of each drawer!!!



I have two of these display shelves. They sort of remind me of a bird cage.

See the pillow? That is a Belgium tapestry that I worked up into a pillow with a down insert. There is actually two rows of lace the black you see and behind that a cotton crochet border. 

I have a pair of these cute little farm chairs. This one is holding a chicken pillow (with a down insert) and a couple of aqua blue Ball pint canning jars with zinc lids.  I added some jute string and number tags and popped them into the metal carrier!!! 

And finally a foot stool that I used the Crazy Quilt style of piecing on.  I love toile and I have a ton of scraps that I have kept...you just don't throw away toile! Later...someday I will do a tutorial on how I did this.  I'll be listing the stool on Etsy.  No, that isn't a scrap of toile~~~it's Lillie, my 10 month old Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix... I will not be listing her...at least not this week.

Thank you for your time~~~Happy Hunting and Gathering

Swap Meet Finds

ALWAYS TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

Stopped in at the Green Spot, a local swap meet. It's inside at an old re-purposed department store so they have room for about two dozen vendors, but it's probably closer to 50 different vendors that sell . You never know which vendors will show up and be selling. So it's a lot of fun to go in and look around. The Green Spot itself even has a little cafe and this week they were serving Philly Beef & Cheese sandwiches. YUM! 

  

So without further ado here are the lovelies I brought home with me.

Isn't this little porcelain tea set the most darling thing you ever seen~~~A tea pot, creamer, covered sugar, 5 cups and 4 saucers. Made in Bavaria, W. Germany by Eberthal. I paid $10.00 for the set. It is so pretty with the dainty little flowers and it's petite size.   I knew the granddaughters would love this for our tea parties.  In fact Ciara, my youngest granddaughter has already laid claim to it. Someday she will sit down to tea with her grand children and another child will lay claim to the set.

 This little reverse painted picture on convex glass was actually my first purchase at $4.00. This one has a colored scene background. I usually re-sale these, but I'm quite taken with this one so I think It's a keeper.

 

 My last find was this metal clad suitcase in perfect condition inside and out and no musty smell!!!  When I spotted it the vendor had a bunch of knit hats displayed in it, so I asked her if it was for sale, she said "yes, it's $13.00" and took the hats out so I could get a better look. I hadn't  realized when I first saw it that it was metal, in fact this is a first for me.  It's the perfect size to hold my crafting supplies at 10" X 18" X 6 1/2" deep.  When I first spotted this I had assumed it was a knock-off , these little suitcases were imported and sold by the gazillions a few years back. So always take a second, closer look, and like me you might just find a little jem.

The vendor told me that she remembered her grandmother using this case all the time when she traveled. She must have taken great care with it.

 

Happy Hunting and Gathering~~~

And I Sprayed Everything White

Part Two of the Marathon Trilogy

I'm in love ~ with my new paint sprayer.

I was able to quickly prime, sand and get the first coat of finish paint on in one afternoon. And since were having such inclimate weather here that is a very good thing.  You gotta love them power tools.  You also might notice a few more pieces to the stack.  I had already brush primed once, I do two coats, the two drawer night stand and picture frame.  And here are the pieces with there first coat of finish paint.

 

A lot of white huh?

I used Benjamin Moore Fresh Start Primer and Benjamin Moore Premimum Flat White in my Command Max sprayer.  It took a few times to get the consistency right, but went smoothly after that.

This went so fast that I was able to brush prime my deck table and the legs of this little round table. The deck table has an old cast iron Singer sewing machine base and to move it where I could use my sprayer would of been kind of difficult, then you got to move it back. Those little round legs would of been a challenge to use the sprayer on also.  So I'm not throwing away my brushes just yet!!!

I primed and painted 10 pieces of furniture and 1 picture frame!!! Ahhh, the sun was shinning, the birds were singing...It was a beautiful day! 

 Comming soon ... "How I Finished and Embellished" ... Part III of the Marathon Trilogy

~~~Happy Hunting and Gathering~~~

Booth Space for Rent

PACKING IT UP

Today I cleaned out my booth at Black Cat Antique Mall. I have been there for 2 1/2 years and before that I had my own small vintage shop for 2 years.  I live in an area that has been hit very hard by the economic downturn of the last 4 years.  I can no longer afford to subsidize this venture. Being in the vintage business was something I had wanted to do for a very long time. And I tried so very hard to hang on - but I just couldn't seem to catch a break from this wretched economy.

I will miss my big booth it was about 12 x 12 space and I had it "filled to the gills".  I had all the shabby chic, and girly fufu I could find and put in one space! I do so like looking for those wonderful shabby finds. It was a lot of fun organizing and decorating the space, I have become quite knowledgeable in "Fluffing" a space.

I will be moving a few things into the owners booth as she has offered to share space with me.  She has been working on a black and white booth. So we pulled out anything from my space that fit this color scheme.  From my space we moved  two very nice, tall black wire shelving units that resemble bird cages and are wonderful to display on and two black wire mannequin's for dressing up. I had already started refinishing my furniture pieces in white and the ones in my booth moved to the shared space.  And as you know from my post "I Sanded all Day" that I am working on a lot more white pieces.

It's a new direction for me but I'm game for the challenge. It will be fun buying for the space for I'll know exactly what to look for. Almost anything will go - just as long as it's black or white. We had our "1st" sale today, a pair of cross stitched silhouette's that I had contributed to the space. So hopefully were off and running!

I will still have my tiny little space (4' by about 11') a four shelf display cabinet and the wall space above it, at Antiques and Collectibles of Coos Bay.  I will still do my beloved shabby chic here along with the sewing and craft items (I have been so inspired to create reading all your blogs).  I can squeeze in a couple of pieces of small furniture items on one side. I have already downsized considerably here. And now I fear this one is in danger of having to go also!  The theory that you should not have all your eggs in one basket isn't really working for me. My sales are very low here also.  But this space is fairly reasonable for we all take turns working a couple days of the month and that helps offset the space rent. We'll see how June goes.

I have met some very wonderful people at both these malls and my own shop. The experience has brought new knowledge to my life. I understand more thoroughly what it takes to run a business and what I would have done differently if I had started over. I support and appreciate the small businesses in my community.
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And lastly- I contacted a business in a neighboring county that has recently started up and shares the same name as mine to see if they would like to purchase my business sign. I have come to the realization that I will not be going back into my own business and it's time to let certain things go.

If she decides to buy it I shall go and visit often. 

I'm sad and a bit depressed-but I shall pick up my skirts, fluff them out and carry on, for new adventures await on the 'morrow!!!  Thank you for letting me share my thoughts from this day.