a little of this... a little of that...

Recently I have had a few orders at the old white house from brides to make my flower brooches for them and their wedding parties.  I know it is just a small part of their wedding, but the idea that the bride has chosen something made by me for her big day is really quite an honor.  It has had me playing with the fabric and flower ideas quite a bit.  I have come up with a few new styles and am in the process of even more.



This photo answers the question...

Does Theresa wear the flowers that she makes?

why yes, I do! 

I actually wear them quite often.

They always make me feel happy, so even if I'm wearing a t shirt, jeans and my converse, I'm usually sporting a fluffy flower.  Also, I have been known to take off said flower and give it to the first person to compliment it.  That will almost always be an older woman, and it makes me so happy to gift it to her. 

They are usually so surprised and we both leave with a smile.

My little pay it forward so to speak.

For those of you who have shops... do you like special orders?

I'm torn, sometimes it can stress me out, wanting to get all of the colors and ideas just right, and then sometimes I take that challenge and run with it.

The easiest kind is when someone sees something in the shop and wants it personalized, like this altered trophy ribbon.

My pleasure!

This person saw one of the original trophy ribbons and wanted to tweek it a bit.

no problem!

This person saw my original felted heart garland and came up with the idea for me to make one using elephants and the color scheme you see here.

I loved the idea, she only wanted to use a little bit of the blush pink so I asked her what she thought about the hearts between the elephants in pink.

We had a few emails back and forth about this garland, and I loved every minute of the project.  I "stepped out of the box a bit" for it and am so glad I did.

(I tried to take a full view picture of the whole thing, but it was really too big to get a good one.)

 So here is the one she saw and then she envisioned the baby shower banner.

What a pleasure to take her vision and make it a reality!

I think the hardest kind of special orders are the kind where the person asks me to make a flower of a particular color... you know, the kind of color you would find in the big box of 360 crayons and not the kind you would find in a box of 24!

That stresses me out a bit... I mean we all know that the color you see on the screen and the color I see on my screen and then the color of the actual material itself don't always match up.

Plus what you call plum I might call brownish purpleish,

yes, I would probably call it that....

stress.

So I think I found a new way to eliminate stress...

roller derby!!!!!

These girls are crazy! 

Meet the Lansing Derby Vixens!

No they didn't let me join... they took a look at my drivers license and said

"Girrrrrrl you crazy"

LOL!!!

Seriously, I went to see this girl here.

Meet Amy...

She is my daughters long time friend and ever since I heard she was playing roller derby I have wanted to see her play.

You already know I am half way to 100 so I won't be divulging anything new here when I say I remember 'back in the day' watching Roller Derby on T.V.

I just thought it was so cool. 

and just a wee bit scary!

ok, I'm not kidding anybody here

it's a lot scary!

These girls are tough...

I am a wimp.

I should be ashamed to tell you that,

but one of the things my momma taught me was to be truthful.

that being said...

I am a BIG wimp.

So I didn't join the team, I just went to watch with this girl...

Thanks Sweetpea... I had so much fun!

to redeem myself and all of my wimpiness

I must tell you that we sat in the suicide section.

yup, right on the floor wear the action is!

and for that,

I might just make myself a badge!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

love,

Theresa xoxo

thank you...

Debra!

I was featured on Vintage Inspiration Friday and am beyond thrilled!

 There is so much to oogle over at this party, everyone has such fabulous ideas, I am honored. 

I always come away saying

"oh I want to do that" 

" I need one of those" 

"I have to make that"

It's  become a little song I'm putting together ever since I started blogging :O

If you haven't been to this party yet, which I doubt, but if you haven't, then get on over there and join in the fun!

****INSPIRATION GALORE****

I unfortunately can't join in the party today, as we have been out of town for a few days, but I will be checking out everyone's treasures!

Thanks for stopping by,

Theresa xoxo

vintage prize ribbons...

Isn't she a beauty?  I just fell in love with the pose this girl took for the camera, she looks shy, demure and has a graceful whimsy about her.  So ofcourse she must become part of a trophy ribbon...

(sold)

I still have a few of these ribbons left and after I cleaned my workroom this week, (YAY) I came across them and decided to get busy with them again.  I just love adding old seam binding, music paper and other ribbons and bits to them to turn them into something special.  Don't you just love going through all of your stash and bits and pieces to play with?  It's one of my favorite things to do!

(sold)

Here she hangs on a favorite mirror of mine, and would look equally at home on a favorite mirror of yours  ;0

I have 3 wonderful sisters of my own and 3 fabulous sister-in-laws and I know many of you have that same sister/friend relationship that I do with mine and well, this picture of this family of sisters I think says it all...  They look like they have a fun loving time together!

We have our sisters that we hold so dear from our family and we have our sister/girlfriends

that we can always call and play with and shop with and such and then we have our sister/bloggirlfriends...

This one is for all of us sisters of the blogworld... this may sound silly, but as I was making this one I was thinking of all of the blog~sisterhood relationships I have formed here in blogland.  I have met so many wonderful people here and cherish all of the comments, and feedback and comaraderie and inspiration and...

you get the idea right?

I love you guys!!!

awww I know, sometimes I'm such a sap.

I found the definition for sister, which of course included sisterhood and well it just had to be added as a ribbon, I added some glass glitter for the sparkle effect ~ that was a must for me today...

yes, those are my 'advent' candles, I have to rename them because they are NOT getting put away any time soon, I love them in the rustic old toolbox.

See even your dressform would love one of these, just ask her!

So this is what I spent part of my day on today, and I have to tell you I enjoyed every minute of it!

Thank you again for all of you support, and encouragement and inspiration you have bestowed on me!

Theresa xoxo

I'm linking up with Debra over at Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

and Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday

and Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

I hope you'll join the parties! xoxo

ribbon #2 for vintage inspiration friday...

I am hooked!  I made 4 more of these today, all with a little twist! I think these would look wonderful on a lampshade or the corner of an old picture or mirror, but the dress form was all I had time for and unfortunately I could only get pics of was one of them because the sun set before I realized what time it was!  I also made some charms and other fun stuff that I didn't get pics of.  I hope I have time this weekend for a full photo shoot for etsy!

  I have added burlap strips to this one along with some of that fabulous vintage seam binding that we all love so much!

OHHHH there's the 800 number just in case you want some of your own!  I left the backs on all of them well, really because I didn't want to dismantle the whole thing, but I love the history of this stuff!

Behind the bee and crown button is a piece of paper doily that I aged and then ruffled a little bit for texture.  

I haven't started on the pink ones yet, but don't you worry my brain is working over time on ideas these days!

Thank you everyone for all of your sweet comments about the last one... you just fueled the fire! xoxo

I'm linking up to Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday soiree and to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday. It's the first time I've had my act together enough to join in the fun, but I always love to see what everyone else brings to the party!

Hannah has 5 girls coming over for a sleepover tomorrow... wish me luck!  If you don't hear from me for a while, call someone to check and make sure I survived the sleepover! (I'm just hoping I bought enough groceries and goodies for 6 12 year olds!) really IS there enough?  :0

...this is funny but as I previewed this I saw the numbers above for the # of girls and thought "why did I put our address in the post?"  THAT is how easily I lose my focus and forget things people! ugh.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Theresa xoxo

trophy ribbon redo...

So a friend reminded me of this great store near by that is a recycle/craft supply treasure trove!  They take donations from people of all kinds of craziness and then in turn sell them to those of us who NEED said craziness!
~ that would be me.
~ but you already know that about me don't you...

I know right?  One of the treasures that I went for specifically (because my friend is just that nice and told me about them - thanks Jill!)  were these old 4-H trophy ribbons!  SQUEALING WITH DELIGHT!!! They had bunches of them and my brain kicked into overdrive with all of the creations that I could make with them.

I took off the original button and covered it with vintage ledger paper and then took the same ledger paper and used my scallop punch, added some glitter,(why silver of course), and then one of my favorite old photos of the sweetest young woman, a little rhinestone and the word graceful.  I love that word, mostly because I wish I was, but alas I bump into everything, and really if I just slowed down a little and watch where I was going,  maybe I wouldn't. hmmmmm.

Then I topped the original ribbons with some music paper with the edges antiqued and then some vintage seam binding topped with shimmery ribbon. 
I'm a pretty neutral girl, in fact maybe mixed with the Ukranian, Cherokee, Scottish, and all the rest is a little Swiss waiting to come out!! :)

I have more of the ribbons so be prepared to see a few more of these in the near future!  Also I have been soldering a little bit and when I can make something that I don't shudder at, then I will share that too!

I'm going to get back into the White Wednesday party, I haven't been able to join in for so long I figured I'd dust off my invitation and head on over!  btw... there is a standing invitation for you too, Kathleen says the more the merrier... right Kathleen?   Thanks for the party!

Thanks for stopping by! Theresa xoxo