My Weblog

House Cleaning

2008-10-05T16:28:31-07:00

House Cleaning

I'm trying to make room for the Holidays by doing a little housecleaning. I also have an exciting opportunity coming up and I'm going to really have to scale back a little. Don't worry, it's just a little. I want to combine my etsy stores back in to one and will be cleaning out some of my vintage items over the next few weeks. I listed a few on ebay today just to get the ball rolling.... Vintage chenille, Owens Illinois Hoosier canister, Antique Bavarian plates, Fun with Dick and Jane, and a darling Frankoma tea pot are just a few of the items listed. If you see anything in my vintage store that interest you, contact me so we can talk my best price...

2008-10-02T19:26:33-07:00

Friday Flea Market

I'm so happy to be participating in the Friday Flea Market. Today I'm offering a free set of handmade magnets for my Friday Flea Market gals. This offer is good for any purchase in my vintage and handmade store. Just put Friday Flea Market in the notes at check out and I'll slip a darling set of handmade vintage tablecloth magnets in with your purchase.

Also, you can see on the right hand side of my blog I was able to get our link in place but, for the life of me, I can't get the widget right. I have it copied and downloaded in to my blog file but the code is not working. If anyone can provide me with some help, please leave a comment. Thanks so much everyone and have a wonderful Friday Flea Market day.

2008-09-30T20:34:29-07:00

I've wanted a mannequin for some time now, for my photo shoots. Of course, what I would really love to have is a vintage Wolf mannequin. But since I don't have a pile of cash laying around, with nothing to spend it on, I've had to go to plan B. Hey, maybe I could ask the American taxpayer to buy me a vintage Wolf mannequin. I'll have to contact my local reps about that.... Back to plan B. I purchased an old but nothing too exciting mannequin at a garage sale. It was an old singer that was covered in cheap poly fabric and it was purple. But it was only $30 so I had to snatch it up and get creative. I covered it with masking tape to give it a surface to decoupage on and I started decoupaging newspaper to it. It was ok but still not looking like I wanted. So then I got the idea to decoupage it with vintage sheet music. It's still not quite right but it's good enough to photograph with for this week because I really really need to add some inventory to Back Home Again.

Next week, I'm going to cut some old sheet music in to some very narrow strips and add them just to the back, the chest and the lower front... I think it needs some more layering. I'm not happy with the abrupt edges of the music. I'm also going to brush it with a tea or coffee stain for a more uniform patina. The bottom half is lighter than the top and that bugs me. I'm really interested in getting your feedback so please leave your comments. I really could use some input from you talented collage artists. Maybe you all have a better idea for layering...

Until next time, be inspired to create, collect and use vintage!

Estate Sale Fun: Vintage Posters

2008-09-14T14:33:45-07:00

Back Home Again Tip of the Day: When you decide to create your blog, write up and take pictures for 4 postings before you even begin. I started a few weeks ago but then got caught up in the Olympics, political conventions and back to school activities. So I've neglected my blog a little!

I went to an estate sale last week and had such a great time. It was the sale of a retired school teacher and her daughter was managing the sale, which is so much more fun than having the professionals there. I found a bunch of old classroom posters and bulletin board fodder from the 1970s. I also found, you're not going to believe this, a box of love letters dated back to WWII. I took them upstairs and handed them to the daughter. I told her I didn't think she would want to sell these... she starts crying, I start crying, it was such a scene. They were love letters her parents had written to one another and she thought she had lost them. I was so happy to have found them. They were setting up on a shelf in a brown box and I just had to see what was in that box. I know a lot of you can relate to that feeling! I can't help but wonder if a divine hand wasn't involved. It really was a special moment.

I also found some unique vintage posters dated 1971 and I need your help. I know there is someone out there that can tell me more about these posters. There is a set of five: High Diddle Diddle, Jack and Jill, Jack Be Nimble, Humpty Dumpty and Little Miss Muffet.

*I found them at an estate sale of a retired teacher. She had several classroom posters and I found these among them.

*They appear to be black light psychedelic.

*Mike Boehret 1971 is printed on all of them.

*Robin Enterprise P.O. Box 830 burbank, calif. 91503 is printed on all of them

*They are in excellent condition with not pin holes or tears. There are some “smudge” marks on a couple of them but nothing significant.

*They have not been folded but rolled for storage and came from a smoke free home

If anyone could give me any info, I would forever be grateful... If not, I hope you enjoy seeing them. They are pretty unique! Also be sure to leave a comment about your favorite estate sale experience. I know there's a lot of great stories out there. In the mean time, be inspired to create, collect and use vintage!

Sally and Gus, Black and White Photos

2008-08-22T13:15:56-07:00

I know, I know I should be sewing up the items I cut from my vintage tablecloth this week but sometimes you just need to have a little fun. I love Amy Butler's design book Midwest Modern. One of the things that has stuck in my mind, since I read it (over and over) , was the way she used a picture of her cat in her home. So I've been playing around with my favorite pictures of Sally and Gus. I'd love your opinion, especially you Pam. I want to have them printed a poster size and hung side by side...

Do you think there is too much contrast in the lightness? The one of Gus is pretty dark and Sally's is pretty light. Does it even matter? Here they are on my flickr account...

Cut and ready to sew!

2008-08-20T10:16:14-07:00

Today's Back Home Again Tip: Before you start cutting, hold your tablecloth up to the light and look for stains and holes. I then mark the damage with a piece of blue tape or marker. This way I have an idea of how much usable fabric I have before I start cutting away!

I spent several hours yesterday cutting on this vintage tablecloth and was very pleased with the results. With all of the holes, I wasn't sure just how much fabric there was going to be. With this tablecloth, I'll be able to create a tote bag, 2 sets of magnets, 2 sets of lavender sachets, a pouch and a set of coasters.

I do have some scraps left over. I'll either patch them together or put them in a scrap pile to be sold as supplies later. I'm going to spend the next few days sewing up these items and I'll have pictures next week. I'm also working on a tutorial that I think you'll enjoy. Until then create, collect and use vintage everyone!

This is the perfect vintage tablecloth for sewing and crafts!

2008-08-18T09:40:20-07:00

You'll know you have the perfect vintage tablecloth to cut on when there is no doubt in your mind about doing so.... This tablecloth has several holes similar to the ones you see in the picture, the hem is coming undone and there are minimal stains. I might not be able to create as many items with this as I would like but we'll see what we get. This tablecloth is the perfect cutter for sewing and crafting!

Finding the "perfect" vintage tablecloth cutter.....

2008-08-13T09:53:04-07:00

Finding the perfect tablecloth cutter can be a real challenge. If a tablecloth has enough damage to qualify it as a cutter, chances are the entire piece may have weakened fibers, which can be a real disaster. This is why I never use vintage tablecloth cutters to make handles on large bags. Trust me when I tell you, that handle is not going to hold up to use. When looking for a cutter, there are 3 things I'm always looking for... Holes that are bigger than just a little pin hole, there must be plenty of fabric left to create with and it must have minimal stains. I don't like to spend a lot of time removing stains. There are some great soaking solutions that you can use to remove stains but, if I can't remove them with a simple washing, I just cut around them. I bring my cloths home, throw them in the washing machine with Tide and Biz. If there is a stain that looks like it hasn't been washed yet, I'll spray it with some stain remover. But I don't do anything special to remove stains. I do love to hang my tablecloths out on the line in our beautiful Colorado sunshine!

When I'm saying that there must be enough fabric to use, I really talking about the positioning of the holes and stains. If the damage is in the wrong spot, you may be purchasing a "cutter" that you're not really going to be able to use much. I can usually create several items from one tablecloth but it all depends on the positioning of the holes and stains. So hold that cloth up to light and imagine what you can do with every little section that you see.

I'm assuming, although I know I shouldn't, that most of you know where to find your cutter tablecloths: estate sales, garage sales, thrift stores, antique stores/malls, on line etc.... You can find some scraps in my store. Purchasing your cloths on e-bay can be great because you can usually purchase a “lot” for a better price per cloth than you can a single tablecloth. The biggest problem with purchasing on e-bay is that you can't actually see and feel what you're purchasing. The person you're purchasing from is probably not an artisan and doesn't really understand what you're looking for. So please “travel at your own risk” when you purchase your cutters on line. With experience, you'll be able to have a better understanding of what you're looking at and will make fewer mistakes in purchasing. Many of the tablecloths you see here were purchased on e-bay. I got them at a great price and they were perfect cutters.

Of course, the best place to find your vintage tablecloth cutters is your grandma's closet or other older women. I passed a garage sale the other day and had no interest in stopping. Then I saw that it was an older woman so I just had to stop. Sure enough, there was a really large, really beautiful Wilendur tablecloth with holes and some stains. She was so happy to sell it to me and I was so happy to find it.... If you want to find some tablecloths, hustle in to your local senior center and poke around. They'll probably even let you put up a flyer!

In my next post, I'm going to take a closer look at the perfect cutter and show you how to actually start cutting on one. If you have any questions, just leave them as comments and I'll follow up. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. I hope you're inspired to create, collect and use vintage. Have a great day!

2008-08-08T11:48:12-07:00

I'm Blogging

Is it true what they say about teaching an old dog new tricks? At the ripe old age of 48, I am starting a blog. I didn't even see a computer until I was 21 years old. I'm not even going to address how old I was when I started using one. And if you read my “about me page”, you'll see that I hate trying new things. So starting a blog has been a little daunting for me. But “they” tell me I need to blog in order to promote myself and my work. So here it goes!

A big thanks to Sarah at Sadie Olive for designing my blog. Can you imagine how frustrating it must be to work with someone that has little to no knowledge about graphic design and html coding? I am pretty clueless. But she was very patient and I love the final product. Also a big thanks to Rene at Thompsondesigns (talk about patience) for her original design work on my store banners and some of the blog images you see. She is so talented and just great to work with. Thanks ladies. You make it look so easy!

My goal for my Back Home Again blog is to inspire you to create, collect and use all things vintage. All those things that remind us of the joy and comfort of being Back Home Again. Thanks so much for your visit and feel free to leave a comment!