she flew the coop again, in style...

We were lucky to have had Danielle home all summer.  

Her move to Atlanta was not all it was cracked up to be, 

and now she has moved to Charleston.

(lucky girl)

I won't be jealous, I won't be jealous...

aaaanyway,

the reason for this update is to show you some of the things she did to get herself prepared.

She created herself a laundry basket full of cleaning supplies,

mamma's cleaning supplies ofcourse!

Not just mamma's but some ideas and recipe's of her own for 

me to borrow ;)

She even made her basket a little sign!

she made these cleaning mitts out of a vintage towel and then stamped on the 

reverse side, how cute is that?

She put her soap in a container she found in the work room, filled a jar with

our organic lavender sachets and made her own

all purpose cleaner and window cleaner and then

recycled bottles to put them in.

(with hand stamped labels ofcourse!)

All summer she came up with new idea's for The Old White House and worked at markets for us,

I really appreciate all of her hard work!

After she made herself a basket full of pretty supplies,

she got busy making a few pillows for her bedroom,

this one is a vintage sheet, love the ruffle...

I put in my order for the "I like you & naps" pillow...

she also created a canopy using a vintage frame and some sheets,

she promised to send pics as soon as she gets it hung up.

I can't wait to see it!

I love the jar of dryer sachets!

So why make your laundry supplies look so pretty,

you ask?

cuz, when you go to the laundromat looking like this,

your supplies gotta keep up!

(I borrowed this photo from a vintage style pin-up photo shoot that she did with a friend)

Wishing you only the very best Sweetpea!

i miss you already.

She has me inspired to make something around here just

a little more special...

how about you? 

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa/mom

xoxoxooxo

linking to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

tiny soldered bottle charms...

I had the soldering iron plugged in again, 

and boy did it feel good!

I was rummaging in my work room for something

and came upon these tiny bottles that I had been saving

for a special project...

special project complete!

now I need to find more tiny bottles,

because these were so fun to make!

Can you see the tiniest Christmas tree in this one?

Some have fairy dust, some have music paper scrap,

and a couple are for Christmas,

I have 3 of the amber ones with a 

little 'love potion no. 9 in them;

my own concoction ofcourse!

I missed last weeks barn show, I was still hanging on to my

"whatever the crud is that is going around here" illness,

and it was going to be 42 degrees and rain all

day so I had to stay home.

I really missed being there, and seeing all of my friends.

Today is a new day though,

and I am feeling better and hopefully the weather will cooperate!

because...

I am headed to Everlasting Blooms in Grand Rapids

for their Vintage Flea Market...

I got a peek at some of the treasures that the other

vendors are bringing and oh my gosh is it full of fabulous goodies!

All inside their huge greenhouses,

the set up is pretty cool and the shop is fabulous!

If you are in the area you won't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

fall has arrived...

The proof is in the chillier nights and mornings.

The colors haven't changed yet,

but mind you,

 fall has arrived!

I would like to tell you that my home is all decorated for the season,

like in years past, but that would be a fib.

Upon looking for a photo, I came across some from that last couple

of years and thought I would make a collage so that I would

get my butt in gear and maybe add some pumpkins to the porch,

maybe take the scarecrows out of the barn and put them in the front yard.

maybe...

I will take a cue from this pumpkin that I made yesterday

and keep it simple this year.

maybe.

Today will be more pandora;

Etta James, Ray Charles, Adelle, Norah Jones, Ingrid Michaelson,

James Taylor, Cat Stevens, anything old and bluesy.

A little chai tea, 

blueberry cake from a sweet friend,

and more pumpkin making.

(oh and throw in some grocery getting too.)

,

This is what happens after a day full of the above,

I go into creative overload

and before you know it

I am adding old photos and charms to a simple gray pumpkin.

(tell me you understand, o.k.?)

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa

xoxxoxoxo

linking to:

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

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barn door meets desk drawers...

You know that cleaning isn't really cleaning to me unless I can rearrange something ~ 

or even better... 

make something!

meet my new favorite piece in the whole house!

it's barn door meets desk drawers!

I have had the barn door all summer, 

I got it from Nancy's sale,

Thank you Nancy!!

it's huge, 7 1/2 feet long

(sadly, mostly leaned up against a tree in the back yard)

and then a few weeks ago while running errands,

I popped into a garage sale and found the two desk pieces.

The man sold them for both, the top was no where to be found,

but that was o.k. I already knew that I had the PERFECT top!

are you ready for this?

The whole piece was only $30.00 to make!

Doing something nice for my house felt sooooo good,

that I decided to continue and actually clean it!

Oh my gosh, it has been ignored all summer but you know how it goes,

as soon as inspiration hits, you grab it!

I love the new shelves in the kitchen also,

they add that industrial look that I love.

I'm hoping that the sun will cooperate soon and I can take some non-blurry pics.

but I couldn't wait...

I was just too excited to show all of you my new barn door counter!

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

White Wednesday

Primp Your Stuff Wednesday

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

a new kind of art school...

I signed up for Jeanne Oliver's Creatively Made e-course

awhile ago, but with everything going on over here I didn't 

really have time to do more than glance at it.

Until the last couple of weeks when I realized that my time was about up 

and I better get busy!

I am so glad that I didn't miss my chance.

From the art lessons to the guest artist videos

and mostly the heartfelt conversations from Jeanne.

I felt like I could relate to so much of the insight from all of them.

The main idea that Jeanne shared in the course,

 is something that I have said to anyone that would listen...

in times that I could not create art, I felt that I was not complete.

I was not using one of the most important gifts that I was blessed with.

my creativity defines me in many ways.

(thankfully it trumps my ditziness!)

Thankfully those times of a lack of creating art in my life did not last long!

I didn't do this art lesson exactly the way it was taught, I have a difficult time not 

incorporating a vintage photo in my work.

That is the beauty of a class like this, nobody was expected to create

the same piece of work as their 'neighbor'.

Mine started with a layering of vintage papers, just as we were shown,

much like this bigger piece that I will be working on next...

but it was smaller and quite a bit of it was covered up with the photo.

As I searched the workroom for a frame that would work,

my eye was drawn to the stack of grain sack scraps, and I had

recently dug up this vintage metal embroidery hoop for Danielle and she didn't use it,

so there is sat on the table begging to be brought back to life!

add a rusty key and  what you see here is the end result of digging through the workroom!

Now what will I find to add to this one?

Stay tuned...

I would take this course all over again.

If you want to be inspired,

feel the freedom to find your voice,

learn a good many incredible tips, tricks, tools, and the many

ways for you explore new techniques for your art,

then the next time you see Jeanne offer an art class

jump right in!

Thank you Jeanne and all of the amazing artists who shared

themselves with us in this course!

love,

Theresa 

xoxoxooxoxo

linking to:

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

around the house...

Soooo, maybe spring really is here?

The sunshine we are getting is wonderful, and it has given me to push that I

needed to do some spring cleaning...

(and what's cleaning really, if you're not moving things around?)

I finally brought in the players bench that I bought 2 years ago.

It's way longer than the table but when we need it in a pinch, we move

the chairs to the other side and pull it up to the table.

(I love it so much that I may just need to find a bigger table!)

but honestly, the room is too small for that so I will just

have to keep it against the wall for now.

chalkboard love and the daffodil's that Hannah and Max have picked for me!

Of course, in my favorite new vase!  

I can't wait until the rest of the flowers bloom and they

bring in some peonies for these jars!

It seems time to put these away for now,

they feel too dark for all of the sunshine that's coming through the windows today.

I have been putting off raking the leaves from the gardens,

but this sunshine and 80 degree temps. has me rethinking that!

I'm just hoping that in typical Michigan fashion,

we don't get anymore snow!

Hope you are enjoying the same kind of sunshine that I am! 

love,

Theresa

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

 Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

inspired...

I played with another bracelet design yesterday,

the first one is always the prototype.

This is not my original design...

I was inspired by a feature in 

Jewelry Affaire Magazine

my take on it includes grey fresh water pearls, a few vintage costume beads

from an old bracelet, a disco ball and a St. Therese medal

along with some bling on the silver fork handle.

The extra chain is something a local and very talented friend taught me during one of our play dates,

it rests snug on my wrist so that the pearls can dangle a bit.

She is also the girl responsible for teaching me her technique for rosary beading!

Thank you Jill!

(you really need a blog so everyone can see how talented you are. xoxo)

I looked for this magazine when it first came out because it featured

my good friend

Melinda of Alabaster Rose Designs

and her feature is AMAZING!!!

She is such a gifted artist and her jewelry in this feature is gorgeous as always!

but alas, I did not buy it I just oogled it in the store.

(again, hoping that security camera did not catch the crazy lady

getting all giddy for her friends success!)

I figured I would go back when I had a little extra money,

then when I went back they were sold out!

I went to all of the bookstores and craft stores in the area and no luck :(

So I turned to ebay and thankfully I was able to get a copy

at a discount so with shipping it cost the same as in the store.

This is the one of the many pages from the magazine that  inspired me.

Thank you Susan Chesley for the tutorial and the inspiration!

A special medal for mine...

The dremel is still out and ready for more action today!

The silverware drawer needs to be lightened up a little anyway :)

If you haven't entered my snippets of life giveaway, 

click on the photo below to take you to the post...

ht

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Happy Friday!

Gotta get ready for "a day in the life..."

but I didn't want to miss Debra's party

so here is one of my latest projects recently listed in the shop

If I was given this trophy pin, then I don't 

think I would have minded 2nd place!

To find and wear something that made someone

so happy over a hundred years ago...

priceless.

Have a fabulous weekend,

I hope to be stopping by with more to share!

love,

Theresa 

xoxoxoxo

linking to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

vintage inspiration friday...

Let the weekend begin! 

I have many projects on the horizon and

like always, time has gotten away from me again.

I don't know how it happens but I could really use a few more numbers

on the dial!

Have a wonderful weekend!

love,

Theresa xooxoxoxox

linking to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

weekend plans...

I'm thinking more of this...

I'm sorry for the grainy pictures, I was losing daylight quickly as I tried to snap a few for you!

I'm still investigating but I think that i got this altered photo from 

Gaby Cajubrasil

she has some really fantastic freebies for us!

vintage bark cloth under glass.

still beading...

I've combined my love of collage and soldering into new necklaces.

I am loving the process, picking vintage costume jewels to add to new

glass seed beads.  My brain is spinning!

We are supposed to get some snow tonight,

so that means more beading tomorrow too!

Picture me cozied up on the couch surrounded by beads with a fire going in the fireplace,

and movies on the t.v.

sounds like a pretty good Saturday so far!

I'm thinking beef stew for dinner for the carnivores and vegie stew for us herbivores,

yup that's a good Saturday!

Have a wonderful weekend!

love, 

Theresa xoxoxoxo

linking up to:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Thanks Debra!

Pin It

what to do, what to do...

I love to visit pinterest and all of my favorite blogs for inspiration, but recently I decided to

check out my own pics for a jolt of inspiration

 (like a walk down memory lane)

and I think it's time to plug in the soldering iron again...

could my kids recent moves be what draws me to this one?

and then I came across this bag, and now I want to plug in my sewing machine...

I have more sweaters...

and more skirts for more pillows...

but I also have a few more of these vintage trophy ribbons in my stash...

is this starting to sound like one of Deb's squirrel alerts?

and then Santa brought me a dremel for Christmas...

(we are now eating with plastic silverware!)

At the moment, I am making a few special orders with special phrases

of this Valentine heart...

Is it a bad thing to want to create with so many different mediums?

I didn't even bring up the collage work and assemblage that I want to do...

At times I question my direction as an artist and small business owner.

Am I really doing myself any favors by going in so many different directions?

When I have tried to concentrate on only one or two things,

I find myself feeling antsy, 

or feeling maybe a bit more squirrely than antsy actually.

There is that one thing that always comes into play when I make something,

making something new from something old, creating something it was never intended to be.

Did you know that when you type in repurposed it comes up as misspelled?

It's not recognized as a word except with those of us

who can't help but look at something

and think...

what if I did this to that, and then put this here, and cut this off...

you get the picture, right?

I knew that you did :)

you get me... thank you for that!

so be it upcycled, repurposed, recycled, or whatever the spell check will accept,

I will surely be doing more of it starting next week!

Gotta get my head back in the game so to speak.

til next time,

love,

Theresa xoxoxoox

linking up to:

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Thanks for the parties girls!

Pin It