The Red, White and Blue

My friend Joan is such a firecracker! Her blog, Anything Goes Here, is the best of the best. Joan is throwing a party in honor of 4th of July, so I brought out some vintage goodies to show you....

(The 4th of July has always been a special day for me...not because I'm particulary patriotic, but because it's my dad's birthday. This year he will be 85!)

I found the vintage "Be Proud" mini-poster at an estate sale...love the saturated color! The sailor flash card is also a nod to my dad; he was a radar technician on the U.S.S. Essex during WW II. I discovered the decal at the top right among a large stash of old floral decals at Fun Junk in Olympia, Washington. This 4th of July, we will be in Rockaway Beach, and our beverages will be chilled in this...a huge and very patriotic galvanized tub.

Here's to a Happy 4th of July!

A spooky peek at my space at Found on Fremont

Saturday night was a swell event..we had the grand opening party at our newly named store! My space ~ at the top of the stairs ~ is all dressed up and ready for ghosts and ghouls on All Hallows' Eve...



Have you ever seen a plastic pumpkin lamp shade? I didn't think so.

There were turkeys at the party too!

Vintage candles and a picture frame created by yours truly, One Gal's Trash.

For more photos of the party, link over to Found on Fremont's Facebook page....

A cartload of fun and family dysfunction!

While driving yesterday afternoon, I saw a sign for a yard sale and instinctively started to slow down. Emma was with me and she saw the sign too. "Please Mom, no! Anything but a yard sale!" My response: "I promise, I'll only stay 5 minutes." Here's what I grabbed: The white chippy flower cart, of course,

Handknit bunnies and tiny vintage Easter chicks (who will join the rest of the collection on our mantel next spring),

Handknit chickens and a shell night light for the hut,

A bunch of resin flowers (for repurposing),

Gurley candles for Easter (the one on the left combines the religious with the pagan ~ a cross, an angel and a bunny ~ in a really tasteful way, dontcha think?),

and more vintage gems: The Santa and the pink umbrella dogs are old celluloid. I've never seen the Gurley church candle before. These will all be in my Etsy shop at Christmas.

Star reflectors for Christmas lights (also for repurposing),

and a church made out of wood by the (now adult) brother of the gal running the sale. As I added it to my pile of purchases, she says to me, "Make sure Craig doesn't see you taking this out of the party room!" Apparently, Craig ~ who at the time was slurping his Big Gulp in the garage ~ made the church when he was a kid and will be furious when he realizes that his sister put a 25 cent price tag on it. I'm all like, "Oh no, I am not going to be the cause of a family feud on NE Shaver Street!" But then, I couldn't help it. I had to know. "You actually called it 'the party room'? I wish I grew up in a house like this!" Sadly, she didn't have much of a sense of humor.

Anywho, I was very careful to not make eye contact with Craig. He must have given her the stinkeye, because while I was busy maniacally looking for more stuff, I heard her snap at him, "I'm selling it for a quarter; no one else wants it!" So, if you ever run into Craig, tell him his church will be on our mantel, every Christmas, until doomsday.

He even decorated the cut out windows with Christmas cards!

And finally, a pig cutting board that I can actually use. It was also a quarter.

Not bad for 5 minutes! What's the fastest time you have ever clocked at a sale?

If you don't ask, you'll never know

So I went back to the sale where I got this stuff to see if they brought out any more goodies. Uh, yeah. As I was checking out, I asked my new best friend Diana if she had any old wrapping paper. "Yeeesss..." she responds, not really understanding what particular form of insanity would prompt such a question. Down she takes me, into the basement, to the gift wrapping room. I'm like, who the hell are you, Candy Spelling?
Anywho, here's what I got:

Large stack of fab paper...mostly baby and kid genre.

Vintage stickers. Stacks of them.

Old velvet ribbon (black!) and a little plastic prison....

incarcerating these:

I love Diana. So then I ask: "Do you have any old greeting cards from the same era, I don't even care if they are signed..." She says: "Oh, I threw all those away." I hate Diana.

Friday's Junk

Gail and I hit two dud estate sales on Friday morning. Just when we were about to throw in the towel, we saw a sale at a big ol' 4 story house that belonged to someone who clearly never threw anything away...Ahhh, heaven!

Here's the rundown: A vintage Dolly~Gram, an old stuffed lion made in Austria, vintage party stuff including Hallmark shamrock doilies, drinking straws, Christmas nut cups, a fab miniature mold set and an old box of ornament hangers.

2 vintage pitchers (pink inside!), an old photo of gorgeous gals, a hammered aluminium jug, a never used baby dresser set, a dotty clown and a lavender floral collar.

And vintage greeting cards. You know how I feel about vintage greeting cards!
The following 4 are FLOCKED! (Try saying that 4 times fast!)

SCORE!

A Perfect Birthday...

I'm turning 49 today. There. I said it. I've heard from friends and family and have had a swell day, puttering and creating while listening to Lily Allen. Really loud. My family has spent the afternoon getting dinner organized and wrapping packages (!) while I have been working in my studio...

Making Easter friends like this:

Dinner will consist of red wine, red meat and chocolate cake. What could be better? The Versailles cake is made by Petite Provence bakery. It is the best thing in the whole wild world. Maybe I'll save the chocolate Eiffel Tower. Maybe not.

How much stuff does one gal need?

Last estate sale day, I found such swell stuff, including the vintage train case which I told you about here. Want to see the rest of the stash?

Old millinery fruit....

Box stuffed with vintage sewing patterns....(bound for eBay)

Buttons, vintage tags and stickers, Christmas cut outs.....

Wooden alphabet blocks....

[Hazel wanted to help with the photo shoot...]

Old postage stamps of all types and colors. These are for my friend Joan (ssshhh, it's a surprise!) who uses them to create amazing collages. I'm keeping the old b/w photo of the tent campground to make a card for my husband and the friendly ruler that cost a whole dime...

Grand total: less than $10...not including the dog.

A clean studio is a happy studio

Remember the state of my studio? Well, grab yourself an egg nog latte, sit down, and check this out:

The Work Table...

The Green (!) French Provincial Desk & Hutch...

The Storage!....

The Floor!!!.....
Now its all ready for Valentine's Day projects...the space will soon be a riot of vintage hearts, red glitter and cupids!

A Snowy Village on Grandma Millie's Cake Plate

I love these little vintage Mica ornaments. They remind me of my grandparents. Millie and Otto had a small white feather tree in their kitchen every Christmas when I was a kid. Gems like these were always placed lovingly in the branches by my grandma. The ornaments pictured above were not theirs, (not sure what happened to them...a landfill perhaps...sad!) but I have been lucky enough to find these at various estate sales. Usually for a dime.

I placed them on Millie's glass pedestal cake plate. Then, I made my own little snow storm in the dining room. With this:

That's right; REAL PLASTIC SNOW!

The part where a vintage picture frame gets a new look

Okay, I know you have at least one old picture frame in your garage that you found at an estate sale for 50 cents. Me? I have a truckload of them.

Let's get to re-purposing, shall we?

Here is my before: 3 dorky boys in an old wood frame (Triplets? But only one wears glasses? or 3 shots of the same dorky boy and for one he tried out his Peter Sellers impersonation?)....But I digress.

Here is my after:


My friend Maria at Collage gave me a box of delicious vintage greeting cards awhile back and these happy people were in there, just waiting to be loved again. I found the dotty and festive background paper at Collage. So there you go...dusty, neglected picture frame gets a new life! Recycled and Fabulous!

This is one HOT Santa!

My friend Linda stopped by the other day to bring a bag of holiday goodies for me. I love it when that happens! Included in the booty was this vintage light up plastic Santa. Linda said she almost didn't get it for me since it had a burn spot. I looked more closely and sure enough, there it was, just below his belt. Sometime in his past, someone put Santa's lightbulb in too far. And it burned a hole right in his...well, ahem, see for yourself.

Hey Santa, is that a lightbulb in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

A Christmas Par-Tay ~ Includes Gifts!

This is my space at Vestiges Storefront in Portand. This Saturday we are having a shindig, so if you are in or near PDX, come on by! We will provide wine, food, live music and gifts for everyone on your list! We are a collective of local gals who have a flair for homemade, collectible and vintage treasures!

Saturday, December 6, 2008~ 5pm-8pm
Vestiges Storefront ~ 4743 NE Fremont St ~ Portland

My space is stocked with festive stuff like this:

Just ask for One Gal's Trash!
P.S. The tartlette tin ornaments were crafted by yours truly. But you probably knew that....