Picture this!

Lately, I've been on a photo display kick. This afternoon, I found a frame that I had left in the workshop and decided to do something with it. My husband says it is HIS shop. Whatever. I would rather that he claim the kitchen.

Since I have a suitcase full of doileys and laces, I sorted through them until I found one that was a suitable size. I draped it over the wire on the frame, fanned it out and stapled it to the frame. I like the look. I will most likely make more of these.
Before my shopping trip to Warrrenton, I saw a door mortise used as a little shelf on Becky's blog so I added them to my mental shopping list. This one was bigger and a little different than the others. It looked like a great place to attach a photo. I love shopping up there. I wish that I lived closer. If I did, I would be there every day it's open. (except when it is killer hot)

Happy New Year

Jill of beanlennon has rung in the New Year with this Etsy treasury that she titled, "happy.new.years.day!". She included my brass stencil letter Y. (mine is the Y in the word year) Jill lives in Mississippi and her shop is full of necklaces, earrings, and other items. You should check it out.

For some reason, I'm not quite ready to be done with 2010. It doesn't seem like we've had 2010 for a whole year yet. I guess that is what happens when you get older. The years start zipping by like you are standing next to the highway as the cars zoom past. My calendar is already starting to fill up.

I am wishing each one of you a wonderful 2011. You mean a lot to me. God bless!

Heidi and Tricia

These girls travel in style and they drove all the way from Arizona to participate in the Fall Show at Warrenton. It was quite an adventure to get to Texas. They took some wrong turns, drove for hours, got stopped by the border patrol, pulled over by the Fredericksburg police, and even ran over a poor little raccoon that was jaywalking.

Meet Heidi Martincic of Paris Montana. She makes gorgeous vintage eclectic salvage jewelry that she sells out of her adorable little vintage Airstream.

My hat is off to any girl who can pull her own trailer! The Houston Chronicle did a nice article featuring Heidi.

You can visit her beautiful blog here.

This is Tricia of Vintage Bliss. She has been published in Somerset Home and Somerset Studio magazines. Tricia teaches classes on scrapbooking, stamping and mixed media art.

You can visit Tricia's blog here.

The Reading Room

This afternoon, I received a convo from Denise at World Vintage Books that my brass door plates had been included in her Vintage Market Team treasury entitled The Reading Room. It is always nice to be included in the treasuries. It is super nice if it ends up on the Etsy home page. :D

Etsy Vintage Market Team

I just joined the Etsy Vintage Market Team. The team has a wonderful blog with all kinds of wonderful links and tips. If you look on the sidebar, you will see a clickable button. Be sure to check it often. You will thank me later.

Theresa and Teresa

My trip to Warrenton would not be complete without a nice visit to see Theresa of Garden Antiques Vintage. She is a sweetheart and she throws a magnificent blog party. I wasn't able to get up there in time for the party. I'm still bummed about THAT!
You can find Theresa right outside of Zapp Hall in Warrenton. She's just around the corner from Mindy, Debbie, and Anne.
Theresa has an amazing sense of style and helps you see how you can decorate with the unique items that she carries in her booth.

Mindy & Robelyn

The three of us could have so much fun together! Wouldn't we make a fun group out on the town? You betcha! It was so nice to see Mindy again. I met her in person in September. This time, I also got to meet Robelyn. She has joined forces with Mindy and is creating one-of-a-kind handbags. Robelyn is known around these parts as Red Neck Chic. She makes her beautiful purses in the style of Primitiques 'n Poetry. It is a great pairing. Kind of like chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. Goes very well together. I hope to have more time next time. In fact, I MUST be on hand for the next Blog Party hosted by Theresa. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can schedule it.

Nest building

My sister is starting to scout cool things out for me now. She says "WWTD" - what would Teresa do? She found some big, chunky wooden picture frames and wondered what I would come up with for them. I'm glad that she snagged them for me. It's funny how easily I am excited over old stuff. I jumped up and down when she handed them to me. I know; it's pathetic.

I had been warned not to put bleach on vintage linens but they were all stained and thought it would be fine. No, it wasn't. The bleach ate the delicate stitching on some family linens. Since they were no longer going to be family heirlooms, I decided that I would just need to create something with them. They told me that they would love to be backdrops for my next project. They were the first things that went into my Feather Your Nest piece. I fixed up the nest while the sweet little bird looked on.

Year-end analysis

While it is true that I've only been in my shop since September, I decided to do an analysis last night to see how my sales break down. Thanks to having everything on a spreadsheet already, it didn't take but a few minutes.

I divided my sales into smalls, furniture, and my vintage-inspired art. Smalls, which by far is the easiest to deal with in the booth only accounted for 15% of my total sales. I like smalls because they really do not entail much work out of me. Buy it, price it, place it.

Next in line is the furniture. This includes the furniture that I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase and place as well as those pieces that I have cleaned up, painted, and put my touch to. The furniture, which you would think would be my bread and butter, only accounted for 20% of total sales.

The largest catagory is my vintage-inspired art which is a whopping 65% of my sales. As an artist, this really charges the ego. Good for the ego, but it DOES keep me busy!

The Junk Fairy blew me kisses

I didn't want to get out of bed yesterday. It was Saturday; my bed was so, so soft and warm. I stretched and stretched and finally made my feet hit the floor. I wasn't moving fast by any stretch of the imagination. My goal today was to get more of my Christmas shopping done and didn't feel like I wanted to rush into the madness.On the way to the mall, I stopped at an estate sale here in town. I didn't expect to find anything because it was already an hour into "half-price day". I made a bee line to the garage. Forget the furniture and household - my first order of business is usually the garage, shed, and outbuildings. I like the boxes of "treasures". You never know what you will find and I love the "thrill of the hunt". I don't even always take time to see what all is in the box. If it looks interesting at first glance, I pick it up and keep hunting. Let's just say that the Junk Fairy blew me kisses. I am a sucker for old door knobs, keys and the like. Can't seem to pass them up.
I also couldn't pass up a plastic bag full of plastic bags, full of Barbie accessories. They didn't have a price on them so I guess that is why they were still there. The assistant took the bag to the guy in charge and when she brought it back to me with the price, it was all I could do not to start grinning ear to ear in fear that he would change his mind.

Let's just say that I got all of this and more for less than the price of a large pizza and a drink. Yes, the Junk Fairy definitely blew me sweet kisses.

Gotta love "free"

Joy called me and she said she had some items that I would probably like. She also told me that she would make me an offer that I couldn't refuse. She knows I couldn't possible turn down "free"!

The darling little yellow table was built way back in 1941! I know because its builder signed and dated it. It has a neat little pullout section and a nice drawer. I think I may put a crystal knob on the drawer. I haven't quite decided yet.

I'm pretty sure that the doll beds are going to get a nice coat of pink paint. The other day, I mixed up a nice, soft shade of pink and it is now my color of choice (at least until it runs out)

The ceiling tin may find its way on top of a birdhouse. Not sure yet. It seems almost too precious to cut up. Almost.

The wire chair is just screaming to become a planter chair. Wouldn't it be great with a foxtail fern sprouting out of the seat?

There are 4 nice pieces of gingerbread but a couple of them are broken. I think that I may salvage parts from the most damaged one to make 3 complete pieces.

Oh, and do you want to guess how many wads of gum are under that black desk?

Working at the desk

If it is necessary to have lunch at your desk, you might as well treat yourself. This lunchbox that I found at my favorite antique store in Sinton has lots of character. I love the little push button closure. I wonder how many lunches it has carried in its lifetime?

Featured on Etsy!

How cool is that? One of the buyers on Etsy, bdpayne, featured my little baby shoes on her Etsy Treasury! Wasn't that sweet of her? Thanks, Dianna!!

Sinton score

She shopped. She scored! I met my friend, Betty in Sinton yesterday for lunch and shopping. We had a lovely lunch at Odom's. Jean serves a wonderful chicken salad. YUMM! After lunch,we hit 3 wonderful antique shops. I love small towns!

Featured on Vintage Indie

I am honored to be featured on Vintage Indie! Gabreial has kindly included my kitchen scales in their feature today. I found these wonderful scales while visiting the beautiful State of Arkansas this summer. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find items that do not contain plastic. This one is all metal.

Enid Collins

I was so excited when I spotted this wonderful Enid Collins purse today. I think the only reason that it was still there was because it wasn't marked. Yeah for me!!

How much does that thing weigh?

I guess I'll be able to figure out how much it weighs just as long as it doesn't weigh more than 25 pounds. If it weighs more than that, I don't want to pick it up anyway! I love the patina this scale has. It is painted silver and it reminds me of something that my grandparents had. I just can't reach that far back to remember exactly what that was!

Welcome to Attic Rat

Welcome to Attic Rat. Here is where you will find vintage, flea market, and wonderful attic finds. I get dust in my whiskers, but I find some cool stuff! This cabinet card is Billy Smith, a handsome Texan. He presented his photo to his niece, Molly. I am guessing that he was her favorite uncle because she kept such great care of his picture. He looks like the kind of uncle that would never show up empty-handed, but always had candy or some other treat for his nieces and nephews.