Halloween Fun

Spooky fun with these two little girls!

This little girl must not have been happy about her sitting for a photograph.  I added the crow in her hand.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Next cowgirl tote bag and more

I finished the next cowgirl tote bag late yesterday.  I like this one very much, too!  Wish I could remember where I got the images from in order to give credit.  I think it was Jack and Cat Curio, but can't find it on their Flickr page.  Anyway here she is:

I created this one with more of a girlie flair to it.  Liked the lace and flowers, but kept the rusty stuff, too.

Here's the collage piece at the bottom of the tote bag.  If you click on the pictures you will get an enlargement so you can see more detail.  Still haven't decided if I want to sell them or not.  Of course, I can't use two of them. 

Hit a pretty good estate sale yesterday.  Here are a couple of the nice finds for my booth at Merchant Square.  I am posting an album on my Judy B's Shabby Chic page on Facebook shortly.  You can see all the finds I have that will be in the booth shortly.

This is such a pretty cocktail dress in burgundy.  Lacy top and just below the knee.  Size 9/10!!  Perfect for the holiday parties ahead!

You're going to think I have hit my head and lost my mind, but I couldn't pass up this rusty, crusty ammo box!  The wire baskets were a freebee from my neighbor who was cleaning out.  I see so much "industrial" stuff in magazines and blogs these days that I can't pass up a few good ones to incorporate with the girlie stuff in my booth.

And old, broken down books.  These two books and old photo album were great finds.  I love to stack the books up and put something wonderful on top to make a decorative setting.  And, if you are into altered books, what better kind of book than one that is ready to fall apart.

The old photo album on the top has never been used.  But it has a "book plate" inside typed by the owner that it was to be the third album of a trip to the Grand Canyon and the Southwest.  Wish there were photos in it!

Cowgirl Chic Tote Bag

I told you about the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop.  And I made a tote bag using that theme.  Of course, I had to try my hand at a cowgirl tote bag ala Collage Camp.  Here is the result:

Cowgirl Chic

 I originally thought I would make a canvas bag, but decided to use the flower print instead.  I pinned the "Cowgirl Chic" tag onto the bag in case someone would want to remove it.  There is also an old heart cut from a quilt piece and a small bow added to it.  Nice color, nice layers.

I like it better.  What do you think???

New additions to Vintage Recycled on Etsy

These two journals have been added to my Etsy shop, Vintage Recycled.  I am trying to do a variety of journal covers since not everyone likes cowgirls -- although I don't know why!  LOL!!! 

 This is Nora Wadeley.  You saw her in Sew Somerset, but on a larger scale!  Here she is with plenty of rhinestones and an old bit of a bracelet.

I call this journal Sister's Secrets.  I love this image.  It comes from Paper Whimsy.  They have so many beautiful collage sheets and downloads.  Take a look at their website.

Rainbows

Yesterday it rained in the afternoon, then cleared off some, but left the rainbows to be admired!

A double rainbow.

The whole rainbow.

You don't often see a whole rainbow like this!  Beautiful!!

Vintage Alphabet Party

This month in the Etsy Cottage Style Vintage Alphabet Party the letters are S, T and U.  Here are my vintage items for the Alphabet Party:

Vintage Sewing machine.

Old Stirrups.

 My grandmother's School bell.

 My collection of Steiff Teddy bears.

Finally, vintage Spools of Thread.

Something that begins with U and is vintage is a little tough around here.  Don't have any vintage umbrellas,   Couldn't find anything.  Even checked the dictionary for ideas.  Nada!

Check out these two vintage dresses

My BFF Joy and I went to Hollywood Regency about 10 days ago.  I managed to get several vintage dresses on sale.  Here they are:

This pretty formal is so retro!  It is the color of cafe au lait leaning towards pink.  I love this dress!  It is in fantastic condition -- no tears, no spots, no problems.  The zipper is metal which indicates that it was made in the 1950's or '60's. 

Here it is in full length.  Great full net skirt on this beautiful dress.  One-of-a-kind prom dress, don't you think?

Ready to salsa!  This pink confection would be perfect for a night in the club salsa dancing.  Lots of ruffles and the gentle folds of fabric across the hips!  Way cool.  And that old mink capelet from Alaska Furrier would be the perfect topper for this dress.

I have posted the entire album of pictures I took at Merchant Square today on my Judy B's Shabby Chic Facebook page here.  Check it all out along with the descriptions if you view the album.

Romantic Gothic Ghosts bag

Just finished my first project with the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop.  I am lovin' this bag!  It is very pretty and very romantic.  Used linen, vintage laces, vintage fabric, tatting, and a vintage earring.  Am lovin' this!!

I made the bag out of ecru linen.   Real easy to cut out and sew together following the instructions in the workshop.  Will be making more bags in the days to come.

I think you can see the tatting that surrounds the image if you click on the image to enlarge it.  I did add a bit of pink to her cheeks.  She looked a little pale without it.  LOL!!

My answer to music candles

On October 13 my blog featured the music pages I applied resin to as well as those music candles from the Pottery Barn catalog.  Well, here is my solution to otherwise expensive candles.

The candles are actually LED candles I bought at Costco a week ago.  With two AA batteries these candles look great and smell like vanilla when turned on.  They even flicker like real ones.  Also, they have a timer that lets them run for 5 hours then shuts off automatically.  How cool is that??!!  The candles were in a 4-pack for $20.  However, I noticed in the last coupon book from Costco there is a $4 off coupon for the candle pack.  I think these will do and give me the same effect!  And, I just taped them to the candle so the music can be changed or removed.

Here kitty, kitty. . .

I have seen this orange kitty hanging around my yard for over a week now.  He must belong to someone because he is wearing a red collar.  He won't let me get close enough to find out if he is lost or not.  He runs away at the first hint of anyone getting near him. 

Must be cool out there on the ledge of my window.  Here kitty, kitty!!

Romantic Gothic Ghosts

I have joined the Romantic Gothic Ghosts workshop/tutorial that Karla Nathan and Beth Lientz have put online.  There is a badge on the right side of my blog that will take you right to the sign up page of the workshop.  There's more information and photos there for you to see what the workshop is all about.

I have been working a bit on some of the treasures in this workshop.  But most are in progress and not done yet.  However, I can share this one with you.

I had cut this little lady out for another project, but she was too small.  This size, however, was perfect for this vintage flower frog that was on my desk.  So I added "It was a dark and stormy night.." to it and it is finished.  I think these flower frogs are a cool way to display pictures, tags, or whatever!!  Great idea for a place card at a garden party.

Here's another one I did with a flower frog:

I took apart an old altered book I did years ago in beeswax.  It was drying out anyway.  So I stuck the image of these two Indian women in the flower frog along with the saying "The Earth is our Mother.  She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us...."  I like that!

Cleaning out the stash!!  I have had these spools of trims for quite some time.  The only new addition is the ecru lace, second from the right (thanks to Kim Thomas of Sweet Sage Vintage).  I have used some of these trims, but now feel it is time to let it all go.  The three on the left are stiff netting with fuzzy flowers or dots (like dotted swiss).  The one on the right is lavender tulle.  All are going into my booth at Merchant Square in a few days -- including the decorated flower frogs.

Have also spent some time in the garage today putting resin on sheet music and old letters (learned in my class with Ruth Rae at Art Unraveled last August).  Going to use these in future projects.  However, until they dry (sometime tomorrow) I don't know if I will be happy with the results.  Awfully shiny right now!  But it is still tacky.  Will share with you soon what I hope to do with the sheet music.  Here's a hint!

Pottery Barn catalog picture

November 2010 catalog

"Give Thanks"

I LOVE Pottery Barn!  I devour their catalog every time it arrives in the mail box.  Every time I walk in their store at the Chandler Mall, I want to toss out all my old furniture and replace every bit with items in the store!  But, who can afford to do that??  Really!!??  Anyway, the sheet music I put resin on today is in preparation for a project that jumped to mind after studying these candles.  You'll have to check back in a few days to see the outcome!!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This is very important to each and every woman out there.

Thanks to Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage  for this badge.

Many of you aren't aware that I am a 10 year survivor of breast cancer.  I was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), stage zero, after a routine mammogram.  I was very fortunate that it was caught very early.  I subsequently had two lumpectomies, 6 weeks of radiation therapy, and 5 years of taking Tamoxifen daily.  I cannot tell you how important it is to get a regular mammogram and also check yourself once a month.  My DCIS could not have been detected by checking myself.  Only a mammogram could have found it at that early stage.  Just 15 minutes of my time once a year and it saved my life.

In the past few days

As many of you may already know, Arizona got a LOT of rain last week.  Even had tornadoes touch down near Flagstaff and destroy a number of homes.  Here is what was going on in my yard last week during one of many downpours that day.

You can see it was really coming down and the wind was blowing.  However, a few seconds before I took this shot, you couldn't see the pink bush in the background at all it was raining that hard.  The drip system for the landscaping will remain off for a couple of weeks.  The ground is pretty wet.

Yesterday my BFF Joy and I took a ride over to 7th Avenue and Indian School in Phoenix to wander through our favorite shops over there.  We first visited Zinnias on Melrose and Hollywood Regency.  The owner of Hollywood Regency recently passed away.  There were several people working in the shop clearing out the inventory.  Everything was 50% off!!  Hollywood Regency was packed full of vintage clothing.  Although it was pretty well picked over, I did manage to grab a few bargains.  Here's one:

That great pony jacket!  How cool!  It is Liz Wear and a size medium.  In beautiful condition!  How cool with a lace skirt and cowgirl boots.  The jacket looks big and it is big on that tiny dress form.  Also wanted you to see the great white petticoats I got at an estate sale several weeks ago and that fur capelet -- it is marked Alaskan Fur.

Next we visited Rust and Roses.  Joy and I love to look through there!  So many wonderful things to see!  As we walked in, here was this great torso form wrapped in some gauzy fabric and sporting a rhinestone heart on a chain!  And, note the owl on the top of the form.  I asked about that gauzy thing and was told it was tea dyed cheesecloth.  I loved it!

So today I visited Wal Mart, bought some cheesecloth and set out dyeing it.  Check out the two colors I did today:

You can see the original color of white in the center.  On the left I used Easter egg dye in red.  Had to be sure I rinsed out some of the color because it was pretty strong even though I used a lot of water to dissolve the dye tablet.  On the right I used tea.  It takes a lot of tea bags to do this nice color.  Think it is time for a trip to the dollar store to see if they sell tea bags!!  Next up is to see if I can get the cheesecloth to look like that wrap in the picture above!!

Lastly I leave you with this pic of great black boots and cloth pumpkins on top of a shabby dresser in Rust and Roses.

Do any of you watch "Teach: Tony Danza" on A&E??  I watched it yesterday and found it very powerful.  I used to teach grade school but would never take on 10th grade like Tony has.  Anyone who tells you teaching is easy has NEVER set foot in a classroom as an adult and tried to teach.  It's a tough job!!  I admire Tony for doing this program and taking the viewers along to see just what a tough job it is.  Especially for someone who cares, like Tony.  Tony's my hero!!