Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 - February

As most of you who Follow my blog have realized by now, I have been in a creative slump. Blame it on being busy at work or freelance design jobs or life in general but I just haven't had the inspiration to create anything in a while.

Well leave it to the every-inspiring Tim Holtz to come along with the perfect kick start to get the creative juices flowing. He has started the 12 Tags of 2012. Check it out and join along if you are so inspired.

Starting with his tags as the inspiration, my goal will be to create all of these tags using thrifted and vintage elements as much as possible although I have a ton of his product to include as well.

The February Tag:

I began with pink cardstock that I embossed with the Valentine Background Texture Fade. I rubbed wax over the raised words then sprayed it with Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist. The wax acted as a resist to the Glimmer Mist. I wanted to highlight the letters a little more so I used a brayer and rolled on white acrylic paint in some areas.

I die cut the cupid out of Grunge Paper using the Love Struck die by Sizzix. I painted it with red acrylic and added some thrifted glitter.

Tim used two strips of the Vintage Lace Decorative Strip die cut but because I used real Scrabble Tiles for the words I didn't have enough room to place two strips on my tag. So I added one strip along the bottom as a decorative edge.

I made this Vintage Lace decorative edge by using a sheet of thrifted vintage music. It was too fragile to be used alone so I applied some Tissue Tape along the back to add stability before I die cut it. I further "aged" the sheet music with Tea Dyed Distress Ink.

Because the Heart was the focal point of the tag and I didn't have the honeycomb paper that he used I had to dig through my thrifted stash. I found a silver heart and hand-gathered some old lace into a ruffle to go around the heart.

I had the Trinket Pin and the Philosophy Tag in my stash. Among my thrifted treasures I found a vintage earring that added the perfect finishing sparkle to the piece.

I attached the Scrabble tiles in a crooked manner because I liked the playful appearance. The cupid is attached using glue dots that raise it above the card surface for a little dimension.

This has been a great inspiration to get back into the art of creating something everyday. Thanks Tim!

This is linked to:
Craft Envy, Home Savvy A to Z, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Marvelously Messy,  Sew Can Do, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, The Girl Creative and The Southern Institute

Opposite Day at Estate Sales

We went to two very different estate sales today. The first one was in a large old house. We signed up and waited. The estate sale company opened the door and let everyone rush in. It was chaotic but the worst part was that there was absolutely nothing worth buying in the house. The best part was seeing the inside of this house. It even had a basement which is rare in Southern California.

The second sale was almost the exact opposite. It was held in a small, old bungalow. We were allowed in according to the sign up sheet in an orderly fashion. The house was packed with goodies at great prices.

My favorite find was another ceramic glove mold. The new find is on the left. The one on the right is from the sale in Hollywood.

Keeping with the "hand" theme, we found these glass hand trinket dishes.

I didn't know what this mechanical metal woodpecker was at first until someone told me that it was a toothpick grabber. The bird tips down and grabs a toothpick in its beak.

We also found more sewing supplies. I found a sewing basket filled with spools as well as several different vintage advertising sewing kits. Plus I found this button jar that I haven't had a chance to sort through yet.

The last item is this decorative, chippy cast iron garden lantern. It was originally a pale blue but is now chippy and rusty and oh so lovely. I will be putting this and some of the other items into my Stuff To Treasure store soon so please check it out if you're interested.

The other part of the Opposite Day was in the people we met at these sales. We met a nice man while waiting for the first sale. We saw him again at the second sale and even left the sale at about the same time. When Dear Handyman and I got to the car we couldn't find the key. The nice man asked what was wrong so we told him. He actually remembered seeing Dear Handyman drop something in the garage area so he ran back inside and found the key for us. Wishing you good karma dear sir!

At this same second sale there was a woman who stood in a doorway looking at jewelry and blocking all passage. As I stood there asking her if she would please let me pass, another man, who obviously knew her from previous sales, said "Oh she won't move for anybody" then he shoved her aside to pass and the woman didn't even acknowledge him. I would no sooner intentionally block a doorway, ignore a polite request nor shove someone aside which meant I had to move a small table and squeeze by. What a strange encounter.

Karma rocks! I hope everyone had a great thrifting day.

This is linked to:

Apron Thrift Girl, Cherished Treasures, Coastal Charm, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom? and It's a Very Cherry World

I've Been Under The Weather But Still Thrifting

Last weekend found me feeling under the weather with a cold. I'm feeling better but not quite at the top of my "thrifting" game. This weekend we only went to two sales and both of them were second day sales.

My favorite find was a Bottlebrush Tree still in the 1960s original box. The box is printed with fluorescent colors. The tree originally came with electric lights but are missing on mine. I never realized that old bottlebrush trees might have come in boxes and with electric lights {especially considering the center of the tree is metal}. It is also interesting that the fluorescent inks on the package have stayed bright and yet the tree seems to have faded to a mellow tan color.

My other favorite find was this egg crate found inside a barn. I just couldn't resist this with the metal label from a California egg farm.  

I have a fondness for vintage hankies and especially for souvenir State hankies.  

Panama

Americana "Good night"

We found this small shaker jar. It has larger slits in the top so I'm not sure what it dispensed originally. I plan to fill it with glitter.

I found this nice Westclock alarm clock. I liked the dark face which made it stand out.

The last goodie we found was a stash of vintage honeycomb decorations. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these just yet. One piece is marked "Made in Denmark" {Hello again Lisbet!}

I hope everyone had a wonderful thrifting weekend.

This is linked to:
Apron Thrift Girl, Brambleberry Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Common Ground, Her Library Adventures, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, Junker Newbie, Mod Vintage Life, Tales From Bloggeritaville and The Thrifty Groove

Decorating with Dominoes

This is a knock-off decorating idea from PB. I saw this in the background of a catalog photo and thought it was a perfect way to use vintage, thrifted dominoes.

These are heavy, plastic dominoes lined up on the windowsill. It is a very subtle display but just right for an out-of-the-way window.

The old dominoes were actually a very pristine creamy white so I wanted them to look a little more distressed. I lightly applied Alcohol Ink in the Latte color to give them a more aged character.

The two on the left are in their original state and the three on the right have the Alcohol ink applied. 

Taking Care of Business {and a bit of thrifting}

We had some "grown-up" business to take care of today which meant very little time for thrifting. We did sneak in one sale and found a couple of fun items.

My favorite find were Pushcards from around the 1940s. These were a type of lottery game card where the cardboard spots were punched out. What a great piece of ephemera to use in some projects.

We also found an unused paper garland with butterflies and flowers. This will probably go in my store so I won't open it but I thought it looked cheerful and bright.

This is a souvenir glass from Arizona. I can tell it is old because it is politically incorrect by today's standards. The glass is frosted with touristy scenes of Arizona around the cup.

The last item is a glass flower frog. It has a wide glass bowl that holds the frog tightly in place. This would be a unique way to hold make up brushes, art supplies or even flowers.

I'll try to post some of these items in my Stuff to Treasure store tomorrow. I hope everyone had a nice thrifty day.