My "Wallpaper for the Home" Wishlist

I recently received my Country Living magazine in the mail, and that along with all the little things I have found to sell at the upcoming Vintage Bazaar have got me thinking about how I want my new apartment to feel and look.  We I still have boxes to unpack, and I feel totally overwhelmed by the blank canvas that is currently my home.

So I am making a wishlist of more things I would like to help pull it together...

Sheila Bridges Wallpaper

Please Mr. Knickity Knack, can I have this?

Grow House Grow Wallpaper has some cute patterns as well:

Do you see a theme?  I love these animal prints!

Osborne & Little...

Foxgloves are so pretty!

Thrift Share: Things are Pretty out of Context

This week's post is about using thrifted treasures in new ways...

I love how these thrifted knitting needles brighten up the window.  You can see the gloomy gray we Chicagoans have been dealing with for weeks now.  I haven't been doing enough knitting this winter, as I have overwhelmed myself with other projects, and it is sad to think of these needles tucked away, with no purpose.  Not any more!  I actually have a huge lot of them - in all different colors.  I have about 30 size 6 double pointed needles, and even more tiny tiny metal double points.  I'm not really sure what you could knit with them...

I also have these blocks sitting on my coffee table.  They are in the Etsy shop but I am enjoying them until some one else gives them a home.  Their unexpectedness as a centerpiece in the little Glasbake dish is charming, I think.  I like giving things a fresh purpose.

These swizzle sticks have served one purpose in a cocktail, and are now brightening up my plants!  I love the little whistle.  I have a bunch more I have yet to stick in my plants, and am thinking about putting my knitting needles that have lost their match in my plants as well.

What thrifted treasures have you reinvented?

Linking up at Apron Thrift Girl!

Thrift Share Monday: Odd Uses for Jello Molds!

I found a bunch of little Jello molds at the thrift recently, and I used them as part of a pink and red Valentine's Day themed mantel display.  This little idea was pretty much the only thing that kept me from weeping as I took down my Christmas display.   I always feel so bummed when it's time to take down the holiday decorations - without them, there is no more whimsy and magic in the house, I feel.  I am trying to change that.  I put red candles and fake snow in little glass mason jars on the mantel, and tied ribbons around the necks of the jars.

Jack loves them too!

Linking up at Apron Thrift Girl!

Whimsical Erphila Porcelain

I love just about anything shiny and red, and I found this little Erphila creamer the other day:

I think it is charming - I might keep it around the house for flowers.  I was looking into the company a little bit, but was unable to find a definitive answer as to when it was made.  While I was looking, however, I found this! 

Found Here

Isn't it charming!  I just love how the little kitty is peeking over the edge.  My cat does that to me whenever I take a bath...

I really love little animal knick knacks... I especially love this little green Erphila elephant:

This little guy is for sale at Twice Studios Etsy Shop

Apparently, Erphila company imported a lot of inexpensive and whimsical figural porcelain and pottery from Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe during the first half of the 1900's.   I'll be on the lookout for more!

All I have to say is pincushion.

Hi.

I made a pincushion.  It was super easy.

"Hello!" from my owl friends...

To make this pincushion, follow along with this Martha tutorial...  I found the fact about pincushions being placed on the mantels of new homes to bring prosperity to be very interesting.  

I am planning to make some for my home.  I think it may help me feel less sad about taking down the Christmas decorations.  I love the whimsy and lights so much.

Christmas Mantel Wonderland

The holidays have arrived!  I finally managed to find some time this weekend - and spent lots of it around the house finishing the Christmas tree, baking, and decorating.  For reasons I can't explain, Christmas is the only time of year where I get crabby if I don't have time to craft.  There is no explanation for it - although I guess I just can't stand to be away from tinsel and glitter for more than a few hours.  What can I say, shiny things delight me.

I decided to spend this time finishing my Christmas mantel, after being inspired by many great ideas online, notably this one at Mod Vintage Life.  Although I have been collecting little things for a while now, I needed to pick up some supplies.  Too bad I went out in a blizzard (anyone see the Bears game today?) to discover that every craft store in the city of Chicago was out of fake snow spray and ornament hooks. Oh well.

I love my little glitter covered deer...

 and glitter covered trees...

I started out with a collection of magazine trees I've been making in my spare time at work, as well as little trees I've been finding at thrift stores and my little glass insulators.  I wondered, "how do I make these all look like they are from the same world?"

I decided the answer was glitter and Snow Tex.  Lots of it. 

I'm not entirely satisfied with it yet, I think the trees could be more glittery.  It's hard to get a feeling for it with these pictures... I am also not done with the wreath above...next time I have some daylight I'll try to get some better pictures...

Stay Warm*

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Linking up at...

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design...

Christmas Time Will Be Here Soon, Thrift Share

Hi! This is my first Thrift Share Monday!  I am linking with Apron Thrift Girl.  I had a great day Monday scavenging through Unique Thrift on Half Off Day.  In addition to some embroidery hoops and yarn, as well as an amazing state plate for my state plate collection (pics soon), here is what I found! 

I found these matching enamelware bowls (pictured above), which I thought were totally charming.  Does anyone know anything about the safety of Tokyo - made enamelware?  I read that most modern enamelware made in the States is free of heavy metals, but some others may have lead or other toxic chemicals that can leach into food.

I have been looking forward to making some sort of granny star Christmas bunting this winter, and what luck- somebody made them for me and put them in the thrift store just for me!  I think I will make some slightly larger ones to go with them.  This will allow me to actually finish some of the other projects I have started (more on that in an upcoming post).

 

Am I in the Christmas mood or what! Isn't this little apron darling?  There was another one in the shop that was a little fancier (organza), but I have enough of those I never wear.  This is more practical in that I can easily wash it.  I can't wait to wear it!

How neat is this lamp? I found it at the Sal Army a few weeks ago, but didn't have any batteries in my camera until now (sorry the picture is so dark, this room only gets direct sunlight for an hour every afternoon, a total bummer).  I scored the base of the lamp for $5, and the shade for $2.98.  I'm not totally sold on the shade, but it was really hard to try out all the shades while carrying a bunch of other items in a crowded Chicago thrift store on sale day.

More treats to share with you soon!

Where Have You Been Missy?

I've been taking a little break from blogging this summer because I feel like I am really busy with my job.  I think I have too many things on my plate.

I did want to share something I found today with you, however...

 Found these really awesome orange plastic coconut cups at the dollar store today... Came home and put water in them for Boyfriend and I.  Drinking water has never been so fun!

Prop Shopping: Jewerly Wholesale Edition

Went on a fun prop run last weekend for my friend again.  Thrilling: I'm not one for shopping (it isn't really fun when you're broke), but give me an objective, an unexplored part of town, and a time limit and I'll be off to the races.  After a tip from my friend, and some research on Yelp, I headed off to Clark Street between Montrose and Wilson in Chicago where there is a stretch of jewelry wholesalers open to the public on Saturdays.  And oh boy, what a sight to behold!  Store after store of crappy inexpensive jewelry from China (or perhaps some other country from which we import gobs and gobs of bling).  And oh, the BLING!  Fake engagement rings, fake diamonds, fake gold, fake silver, and no store was without a good ole healthy sampling of chince! 

The hunt for the rings was quick, but involved scouring the counters of almost all the stores on the block to find the best deal.  I was very proud of myself for not stopping to look at all the pretty stuff (sparkly objects lure me like a moth to a flame; the feathered headbands were especially intriguing - "I could make these," I thought).  I went in and got down to business; the shopkeepers were especially helpful and if they didn't have what I needed, I moved on.  I was on a mission!

I finally found perfect little wedding bands for $10 each at this one shop, only to discover they were missing one size I needed.  On my way outside to call my friend to see what I should do, I wandered into a few more shops and sifted through the boxes behind the counters with no luck.   I was about to give up my little hunt when I entered the last store on the street, and to my delight found the exact same rings (!) in the exact sizes I needed (!) for only $3 dollars each!  And this is when I felt my first shopping high.  Oh the thrill of the bargain (now I understand how those ladies on the T. J. Maxx commercials feel)!  I simply cannot believe I found them for so cheap.

I heard the stores are only open to the public on Saturdays, but I am not sure if that is true.  If you are in Chicago on a Saturday, here is the Yelp link with some information concerning the wholesale district.  Some of the stores are nicer and easier to navigate and sift through than others, and you can find a variety of jewelry, some of it actually quite nice looking, as well as scarves, hair accessories and knock - off designer bags.  I might check it out one day when I have a little more time and cash to spend.

Stormy Weather...

It's been so gloomy lately.  Here are some bobbles from Mexico City I keep on my windowsill to brighten my day.

Tuesday, Spaghetti

This weekend I went on a prop scavenger hunt of sorts with my friend, who is currently in charge of props for the Building Stage's new show The Ring Cycle, adapted from Wagner's opera Der Ring Des Nibelungen.  Over a quick lunch (Thai - curry, yum) she informed me of some items we needed to find that day; among these were a metal pail, sequins, a muslin doll, potion bottles, a ladder back chair, an old fashioned leather camera case, a megaphone and a frog lawn ornament.  We were not so lucky on our search, our only thrift store find for the show being the metal pail.  We did however find this:

AND one for everyday of the week!  They're large too, so they stood out among the pots and pans they were nestled between at the back of the store.  We laughed so hard when we found these, in part because of their idiosyncratic nature, but also as a result of their random placement in the kitchen section of the thrift store.  When I unveiled them to my boyfriend however, he was nonplussed, much to my chagrin.

Here is a link to a picture of all of them together.  The illustrator is Eric Carle, whom I love; one of my favorite books as a kid was The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which he also illustrated.