Inspiration Kit in Vintage Hershey Tin

Another inspiration kit is available in my Etsy shop. This one is held in a vintage collectible Hershey tin and includes crafty goodies in red, blue and yellow. Visit ArtfulLivingOTB for this and other kits to inspire creativity.

(Click on any photo to go directly to the listing)

Spring themed Inspiration Kit for a COLD day!

I don't know what the weather is where you are but here in Iowa it's COLD!!! 2 degrees Fahrenheit and falling... *brrrrr* So, while I love to have snow and hot chocolate for the holidays, I'm thinking a little dose of Spring might be good right about now.

Here is a new Inspiration Kit to warm you up! Lots of goodies tucked into a collectible Paas tin from 1991. the litho art is by Norman Rockwell. Here are few shots for you to enjoy!

(Click on any photo to be taken directly to the listing)

Even MORE Vintage Christmas Jewelry!

OK... I know... I'm a little behind the ball on this but I have added even MORE cool vintage Christmas-y jewelry to my Etsy shop - ArtfulLivingOTB

See anything you like? Just click on the pic to go to the listing! Happy Holidays! :)

A treasure trove of Vintage Christmas jewelry!

Woo hoo! I finally got some Christmas jewelry posted in my Etsy shop: ArtfulLivingOTB! Get 'em while they're hot!!

Here are some of the beauties to choose from:
(Click on the photo to be taken directly to the listing)

Thrift Store Booty!

I have been pretty busy this holiday season (as, I'm certain, most of you have). I work at a local independent book store which, thankfully, has been incredibly busy with sales and orders so extra hours are on everyone's schedule. I also work as a Production Runner for the local performing arts arena and have had more work than usual which is always good!

This all means that I spend fewer hours in the studio doing the thing I like best - creating! It also means that household stuff gets forgotten about most days. Well, yesterday I finally HAD to go shopping for the necessities like, you know, toilet paper and food. Little things like that... Lucky for me, the grocery stores are in the same part of town as my favorite thrift stores! Yay! Nothing makes going food shopping during the holiday season more pleasant than to stop off at the local charity shops to see what treasures might be hiding there.

Anyway, I scored some really fun Christmas items - some I love just as they are and others I plan to dismantle and salvage the pieces or use in some Christmas themed crafts. It's probably a little too late this year for me to actually sell anything Christmas-y but it will be good practice for next year!

The first are these awesome, wooden reindeer! Obviously vintage or, at the least, inspired by mid-century design. I think I will be adding these to my growing personal collection of vintage Christmas decorations.

Next were these vintage floral picks - not sure what to do with these yet but aren't they cool?

Then I found this wall hanging with brass bells, fabulous millinery stems and chenille cording. These will be dismantled and the pieces added to my stash of stuff to use in the future.

We have a little charity shop which seems to be the only one in town that truly honors craft supplies. They put EVERYTHING out for sale and you get a great deal if you have the patience (and enough money in the parking meter) to dig around for a while. Here are some sweet bits and pieces unearthed yesterday. I love the little trinket dish - so pretty!

And this stack of Christmas cards!! Woo hoo! These are not for sending out - I'm going to use the graphics as inspiration or for backgrounds to other projects.

I also made a quick stop at Dollar Tree. Not only did I discover that they sell Coconut Milk (a staple in our house for those nights when curry is on the dinner menu) but I did pick up a few sparkly supplies along the way.

And, finally, a little something just for me! This scarf is a beautiful shade of orange (my favorite color!) mixed with a purple shade I can only call Mulberry. It's HUGE and square-shaped making it incredibly versatile. I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to wear it soon!

So, that's the booty I picked up for just not very dang much money yesterday. Now, it's time for a quick lunch, a shower and off to work! Have a great day!

Buttons and an extra surprise!

I love it when I find a great jar of buttons. Really, who doesn't? I also love it when you get it home, dump it out and find other treasures tucked inside! I may sort some of these out and sell them in sets on Etsy - let me know if you see some you especially like. The thimbles will definitely go up tomorrow or early next week. Enjoy!

Woo hoo! Even the jar is vintage!

What a great selection of vintage buttons!

Thimbles!! and pretty ones, at that...

Can't wait to investigate these beauties further!

Smoking Pipe Dolls

My friend Mary and I often go to Mineral Point, WI for a day of shopping, browsing and eating. In one our favorite antique shops was a small basket filled with old smoking pipes. This was during a time when I was trying to figure out what my next "thing" would be and, though I hadn't quite committed, I was leaning heavily toward making art dolls (which is a bit odd since I never really played with dolls as a child). The only way to describe what I had then was "a vision"! I saw myself making dolls using these pipes!

I bought 12 pipes that day - some just the bowls and others full pipes. Here's a small selection of what I have:

They do require some cleaning! There's an old trick of filling the bowl with sea salt and then wetting the salt with alcohol. I believe vodka or Everclear works best but since we are fresh out of vodka, I simply use rubbing alcohol. It pulls some of the tar out of the wood (don't use this method on meerschaum pipes - it will make the bowl crack. Been there... done that...). The smoky smell never quite leaves the pipe but I think that's OK. Sometimes the pipe is full of creosote, which forms a thick hard layer inside the bowl. That's when I need to get out my Dremel and grind it out. It's SOOOO messy and requires wearing a face mask - yuck.

Now, I know some people will say, "Oh, you shouldn't do that to old pipes! They might be valuable!" Not the pipes I'm using. Most are cracked or so caked with creosote, they are simply unsmokable. I love vintage as much as the next person (probably more!) but these are not collectible pipes.

So, anyway, back to my doll idea...
With a group exhibition looming and no new work to speak of, it was time to actually try making one of these dolls and, Voila! here are some photos of the first pipe doll I made. She is not free-standing but can be leaned against something or, with the aid of a small loop on the back, hung for display. She was finished in time to be part of the art show and the first item to sell! A woman who collects folk dolls bought her to add to her growing collection. The quick sale was a pleasant surprise but not completely unexpected - she is lovely...

After the opening, I received a call from the gallery manager saying she had requests for more pipe dolls. I guess I'm on to something here! A second doll had already been started. This time I wanted the doll to be free standing so I decided on a stump doll. Wrapped in some of my weaving and trimmed with rabbit fur salvaged from a scarf, she looks quite regal to me.

 

 

 

I already have the bowl picked out for the third doll - this meerschaum pipe. Notice the cracks? This bowl was already in bad shape when it came to me but it cracked completely in two when I tried the alcohol method on it. It's fixed and ready to go! Maybe something in a palette of winter white? Please feel free to comment - I would love to hear your opinion! Thanks!