12 Tags of 2012 - May...

I really enjoyed working on this tag for the 12 Tags of 2012 challenge for May. I found so many ways to combine thrifted, vintage and repurposed items to complete this project.

Vintage Office In-Box

I was planning on using an old wire basket as my vintage office in-box but that almost seemed too predictable. I was inspired to use one of my vintage doll suitcases instead. It definitely has a lot more charm than anything else I could imagine.

Here is my new in-box and you can click through to read the story of the first item I found in there.

Serendipity Thrifting

We went to a very interesting estate sale today. I was excited to be among the first few to go inside. I found so many treasures but when it came time to get prices {nothing was marked} I found that I had gone way over my budget {Champagne taste on a tap water budget!}. I just didn't realize that this estate sale was going to be so expensive.

I had to put back a lot of things because there was just one thing that I absolutely HAD to have.

It is a vintage wooden surveyor's tripod by the Otto Engineering Co. I love it! I had to have it! But I spent almost my entire allowance on this one item. I plan to turn it into a lamp base.

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop – May

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop. This month's theme was either Jewelry or Flowers. I had an idea combining the two but ran into a bit of a time crunch at the last minute with some additional freelance work. So I moved on to plan B which is technically my plan A since I have been meaning to do this project for some time.

I have been slowly decorating my work area in the office. It is a typical "cubicle" with dull gray fabric partitions and boring office supplies. My first project was purchasing a painter's dropcloth from the hardware store to cover the dull gray fabric walls. I bought the lightest weight dropcloth, 8oz. and 4 ft x 15 ft worked for the size that I needed.

I trimmed the dropcloth and hemmed the edges. I didn't want to attach the material permanently to the cubicle walls so I used the odd clips that they supply to hold things to these walls. But these clips looked horrible so this is where my Flower project came in.

A Stress-free Thrifting Day

There were so many amazing estate sales that started mid-week so I thought everything good would be sold by this weekend. I did not have high expectations to find anything spectacular so it was a stress-free thrifting day.

Imagine my joy when I found that some of the treasures I wanted were now half-price and still available. My favorite find was this silverplated vase. I also found another vintage spice jar.