What I am finding

First week in March has come and gone. February flew by. So much going on and no time to blog. I have been on a trip down south (Southern California) and a trip to the Oregon Coast and during and in between there is always shopping.

I made a big decision at the end of last year to take some time off from doing shows. After five years of doing the fabulous Farm Chicks in Spokane, WA, I decided it was time for a break. I love doing shows, getting to sell my goods and meet fabulous people, but as I’ve said before, it is a lot of work. That said, I have really been focusing my efforts on my booths and it has been paying off. My sales have been great and life is good.

If you’ve been following my Facebook page you have seen a bit of what I’ve been finding out there. Here are some things I have found just in the last couple weeks.

This cutie just needed some sanding and new glass knobs and will be off to Stars this weekend.

Two little dirty white dressers. Have already been cleaned up and I sold the one on the right to my Mom to use in her sewing room.

These goodies were found on one of my trips to Eugene to see my daughter at U of O.

I found this lovely tablecloth at the flea market last weekend.

Found these goodies and the flea market too.

You know I always love finding blingy bits.

Love this yard long landscape painting.

Vintage aprons are always fun to find.

I had to chase down the dealer of this pretty floral watercolor.

And finally, my favorite recent find (and a keeper for now) is this

I thought it was a print, but my husband thinks it’s a painting. The back has a neat old Meier & Frank label on it so I don’t want to take it apart. I love it now matter what.

So, there you have it. Just some of the things I have been finding lately. There’s more, but some have escaped my camera and have gone directly to my booths.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned my decision to take a break from doing shows. Well, I have some exciting news. I have been asked, along with my good friend Mitzi, to do a space at the Monticello Spring Home and Garden show which starts in April and runs all through May! I am super excited to be collaborating with Mitzi. She always has great style and finds the best stuff. As we get closer, I’ll be giving updates and posting some sneak peeks. TTFN!

Playing with Paper

Vintage wallpaper, that is. Having collected vintage wallpaper over that last several years, I always like to find new uses for it. There is just something about it that adds a little something special to a crafty project. If you’ve been with me awhile here, on my blog, you may remember this post where I made some cute tags out of vintage wallpaper. I have covered clipboards, cabinet panels, lined sewing drawers, covered vintage jewelry boxes, and much more, but one of my favorite projects has to be this one.

A few years ago, I bought a plain and boring folding screen on Craigslist for next to nothing and covered it with a patchwork of vintage wallpaper, primarily wallpaper with roses, of course. This cutie has long gone to a new home where I hope the owner is enjoying it.
Recently I found a not so cute, vintage suitcase and decided it needed a little help. So, I dug into my stash and came up with this.

I did both sides. This one is a keeper as I’m going to use it to store old photos/negatives.
I was so happy with how this project turned out, I just kept on going. I had this plain two small drawers, over two bigger drawers dresser that I had picked up at the thrift store. I didn’t want to do my usual shabby chic paint treatment on it so I just decided on a distressed finish on the body and a patchwork of wallpaper on the drawer fronts. Changed the knobs to some cute glass ones and voila! Instant cute! Okay, maybe not so instant, but it really didn’t take me very long at all.

Here it is fitting in nicely in my Monticello booth. In case you’re wondering, I used plain old wallpaper paste that you get at Home Depot to adhere the pieces to the drawer front. To make it a little more durable, I applied a coat of matte Modge Podge to the top and that was it. I didn’t spend a lot of time planning where each piece would go, just kind of put them together so they overlapped a bit.
So, other than playing with paper, I have just been doing the usual trying to keep my booths stocked, going to exercise classes, (I’m loving the Barre Fusion class I’m taking at the local yoga studio) and hanging with my family. Haven’t been finding any really amazing things out there. I think it’s harder to find stuff this time of year, so I  continue to purge my collections at home to keep my booths well stocked. I have some plans to make some things too. Oh, and I also have a fun trip coming up next month that I’m really excited about.
Since I haven’t said it here yet, Happy New Year! I know I’m a bit late, but better late than never. Until next time, TTFN rose loving friends!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

French basket/Early Christmas Gift to Me

I have been a big fan of Corey Amaro’s blog Tongue in Cheek for several years. Her take on French life, photos and stories just fascinate me. I have been living vicariously through her on her Brocante (French flea market) adventures and periodically check her online store to see if there is anything I simply can’t live without.

So, when a few weeks ago I spotted a sweet little French basket she found at the Brocante, I just knew that I had to have it.

I loved it’s simplicity, but what really sold me on it was this.

it was lined with the most lovely French roses ticking fabric.

When I received it in the mail yesterday, I was so tickled to have this sweet little item from France. I quickly remembered some vintage millinery flowers that I have been saving for just the right thing.

And voila! My sweet little French basket all prettied up. Here’s another shot.

Hope you are all having a lovely 12/12/12. Just did Pilates and am getting ready to go see Anna Karenina with Isabel. Good times! Will be back soon hopefully with pictures of our Holiday Home! TTFN!

Long time, no blog

Hello. Not sure anyone is still checking my blog as it has been so neglected lately. I have been periodically posting on my A Thing for Roses Facebook page, so if you haven’t already, and want to, go on over and like me.

We had a couple weeks of really rainy weather up here in the PNW. I don’t do much when that happens, with maybe the exception of catching up on all my tv shows and movies I’ve wanted to watch. I have done a little crafting.

Inspired by my good friend Mitzi, who made the most adorable vintage bling Christmas trees (two of which I had to buy, aren’t they so cute?)

here are a couple I made.

Also, after making several (I lost count how many) vintage bling button bracelets to sell, I finally made one to keep for me.

I used all my favorite buttons. Love that it is super blingy and am looking forward to wearing it during the holidays.

I also spent a little time putting together some new/vintage earrings. Love this super simple craft.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my girl home from college and I haven’t even begun to think much about decorating for Christmas yet, but I just couldn’t resist bringing this little cutie home from my last visit to Monticello.

So that’s about it. Heading over to Monticello tomorrow to help Mitzi move into the front window and fluff my space a bit. I’m super excited to see what she comes up with.

Vintage Halloween

I had been planning on doing a post about my good friend, Mitzi’s booth at Stars, but Stars beat me to it.

A few weeks ago I took some pictures of Mitzi’s booth all decorated in vintage Halloween. It is awesome. Here is one shot I got.

To see more of Mitzi’s goodies check out the Stars blog.

Mitzi has two great spaces at Stars and is getting ready to bring in her Vintage Christmas goodies soon! And let me tell you, Mitzi is one of the best Vintage Christmas gals I know. She will also be the featured guest vendor in the window at Monticello in December. So excited to see her magic!

Not a lot going on with me right now, which is why I haven’t blogged in awhile. Getting used to not having my #1 girl home, although we recently had a very brief visit from her. She seems to be adapting well to college life. A lot better than I am adapting to not having her around.  Will hopefully get back to posting about my vintage junk and projects again soon. Don’t give up on me yet!

TTFN!

What the Blog I’ve Been Up To

I think this just may be the longest blogging break I have taken since I started this thing called A Thing for Roses blog. Since the Barn House show, I have been a very busy girl. I have been posting more on Facebook and will probably continue to do so as it is so much simpler than putting together a blog post. So, if you want more frequent updates on my junking shenanigans, you can go to www.facebook.com/athingforroses and “like” me. Thanks so much for all the new “likes” I’ve gotten lately. It’s fun to see the numbers grow.

Since Barn House was my last show of the year, I’ve been taking it easy and haven’t been working on many projects. Don’t get me wrong, I still have two booths to keep stocked so I have been hunting and gathering some good stuff this summer. Speaking of booths, this is what my Monticello booth is looking like this week.

I took the big white table out and did a major rearrange in preparation for the Fall Premier Sale which is going on right now. If you haven’t been yet and are nearby, I highly recommend you stop by. Our dealers are amazing and have brought some awesome merchandise.

Don’t want to leave my Stars booth out so here’s a peak at it.

As you can see, both my booths are very well stocked right now. In fact, I probably have enough stuff in my garage/house to fill another booth, but managing two booths is as much as I can handle right now.

In August, the kids and I took a trip to Southern California to visit family. Let me tell you that it was hot. Upper 90’s the whole week. This Oregon gal is not used to those temps, but we had a great time anyway, visiting with family, going to the beach and taking my #1 girl to Soak City for a day of water park fun. My lovely step-sisters even took me to a couple vintage shops I had never been to before.

The first one was Magnolia and Willow. I had just seen them on facebook and liked them. They have a great eclectic mix of vintage. I bought a sweet antique petite point purse which I accidentally left in my sister’s car, so I can’t show it just yet.

The second place we went was Orange Ave. Estate, Salvage and Garden. Now this was a store meant for me. I found so many great things and if I had more time, I would have probably found more. Here is just a sampling.

Lovely roses painting.

Beautiful landscape painting. A little blurry, sorry, but the funny thing is that I had this exact print hanging right here and I swapped it out for this painting.

Vintage chippy wall clock and shabby, ornate drawer pulls.

Great vintage watch and rhinestone earrings.

I’m sad to say that I was all geared up to hit the Long Beach Flea Market in search of more goodies, but I just didn’t have it in me. It was simply just too hot. I guess I’m not the bad a** junker I thought I was.

Since we’ve been back from our trip, I have been busy getting my girl ready to head off to college and spending every possible minute I can with her. We took a family boat cruise on the Willamette in Portland last weekend.

It was a beautiful and much cooler day out. Snapped this picture of the Willamette Falls.

We also went on a hike last week to Triple Falls in the Columbia Gorge.

I love how the sun in this picture makes her glow.

The hike up to the falls was intense (for out of shape me), but we were rewarded with beautiful scenery and cooling off by wading in the pools at the top of the falls. The hike back down was much easier and in all, it was a great day spending quality time with my favorite girl.

Well, I think that brings you up to speed with just a bit of what I’ve been doing. In the next couple weeks we will be taking our first born to college, and I’ll be having a big clean out garage sale with my good friend Mitzi. Speaking of Mitzi, I wish I had taken some pictures of her Stars booth. She has it all decked out in Vintage Halloween. It’s super cool. I guess I know what I’ll be posting next.

Have a great day and I’ll hopefully be back here soon!