Crowny

I love this little guy! Our friend/customer/workshop attendee extraordinare Katie brought Crowny in to meet us last week. She constructed him from Crown Royal bags. He was so soft and comfy and his little face is so cute...and don't get me started about the tufts of hair coming out of his ears!

Katie was trying to describe him to us after she saw we had a large tin can of donated Crown Royal bags in our ephemera area waiting to be used for something great. But she decided we needed to meet him in person. He really made us smile. Thanks, Katie! -- Lisa

Look What I Made Today & I'm Pleased as Punch

I fired up my “big girl” drill press this morning and drilled holes in the handles of a bunch of silver-plated salad forks. I added the Lisa Loop (Lisa creates her fork pendants with this brilliant technique) to one tine end, and added a crystal. Some more wire work to attach the fork to a glass punch cup, and I have a nifty little sun catcher garden decoration. -- Beth

Porch Perfection!

I got a bee in my bonnet to revamp my porch yesterday because I’ve recently added some fine red gems to my junk collection. I’m also a 4th of July fan. My suburban porch is gigantic, so one picture of the whole ensemble doesn’t work so hot.



Here’s my new red bike. A contractor friend buys old houses to fix up, and saves treasures he unearths in them for me. The bike needs a spiffy basket. Maybe I should go back to Provence to find just the right one?! The red metal box holding the flags says arc welding and has a great dial on it. To keep the flags from flopping around, I put them in a flower vase and stuffed the small poles in place with a rag.

I like this shot because it also shows how I organize stuff in big clear glass jars inside the house in my studio.

Here’s a close up the red gear – a perfect red star for the 4th of July.

And my favorite acquisition of the moment – a red gumball machine now holding a croquet ball.

We’d love to see how you have junked up your porches. Please share your pictures with us, and we’ll post them on a future blog. -- Beth

Praise for the Garden

At one of our Goodwill presentations, I discovered the wonders of discarded trophies. I had gathered a few together to make a vignette for our talk, admiring the outstretched arms of Lady Victory. As I was returning them to the shelf, one of the customers was unscrewing the top from the base of a trophy – it was at that moment that I had an epiphany! If the base of the trophy was a threaded screw, there could be no limit to what could be attached as a base. And thus, the idea for Garden Goddesses was born. Using the trophy topper, any number of interesting metal doodads, discs and domes can be combined as the body and the base of a finished piece of garden art.

This past Saturday, I held a workshop at the studio on making your own Garden Goddess. Two lovely sisters, Jennifer and Carolyn joined me as we puzzled our way to find the most pleasing and satisfying arrangement of parts for a final masterpiece. Here they are pictured with their final creations. Jennifer engineered an old fan blade to rotate on her goddess and embellished the blades with salvage bling attached with old earring clips. Carolyn suspended a large brass spring in the center of her goddess and spelled out the beginning of her favorite garden poem, “Inch by Inch” on the enamelware colander which was her base.

Want to try your hand at making these goddesses? Instructions for these Garden Goddesses (and 34 other salvage studio projects) are included in our book- The Salvage Studio – Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain, and Inspire. Due out in October 2008, you can preorder your copy now at Amazon.com (see link at right) -- Amy

Our Magnetic Personalities!

Now that the "book" is written and at the printers (whew!) we are in full swing of the sales and marketing process. Beth made her glorious wire work hangers on twelve metal film reel canisters Amy and I prepared. Then she added bottle cap magnets that say "the" "salvage" "studio". These lovelies are going into press kits for key contacts at our favorite magazines. Here is our Skipstone Editor, Kate along with Beth showing off the message boards in front of the studio this week.

Fresh Air, Fresh Food, Fresh Ideas

This darling homemade sign greeted us at the Farmer's Market. Good job on our logo!

Tuesday night found us at the Carnation Farmers’ Market in conjunction with the Carnation Library speaking on “Garden Art from Found Objects, Salvage and Really Good Junk”. We had a really fun group, a well behaved dog in the audience, and live music just feet away from us. It was our first presentation with background singers!

We love working with the King County Library system, and are looking forward to our next event at the Vashon Island Library on July 20 at 1 p.m. Driving directions are available at www.kcls.org. -- Beth & Lisa

Luscious pesticide-free tomatoes from Kittitas Valley Greenhouse in Ellensburg. Don't they look like summer? Check out their website for all the local Farmer's Markets where you can find these tomatoes at.

A fantastic chalk artist was decorating the sidewalk with some help from friends.

Go Green!

I’ll confess, I watch about two hours of television most evenings. Last year we added the DVR service through our cable company, which has really streamlined what I watch. (A normal hour long show only takes 45 minutes to watch when you can zip through the commercials.) In the last couple of weeks, I have started watching a few programs on the new Planet Green station. I live in Snohomish County and have Comcast, so it’s channel 201 for me. My two favorites so far are Greenovate and Renovation Nation. If you have a chance, check them out. If you find any other green television gems, please feel free to share them with us. -- Beth

Bridal Bliss

At our age, there aren't many invitations to bridal showers for your peers. But leave it to our friend Lois to break all the rules.

She is a long-time garden club/crafting friend who is getting married in July. Today, our friend Pam hosted a bridal shower in her infamous garden of boisterous roses, sturdy hostas and perennials galore. Pam also loves quirky garden art (of course!) and I took a few photos of what caught my eye today...

A chair Pam bought at the studio. This blue is terrific in the garden. Those roses aren't too shabby either.

Planted pots of sedum in vintage drink holders. See the tryke peeking out from behind the poppy heads?

A rusty metal floral medallion tucked behind a lovely orange rose.

Some of the attendees admiring gifts.

Enjoy your garden...and your friends! -- Lisa

Mon Dieu! Look at this Garage Sale!

I received some fun pictures from my friend Jill of LeTrip this morning. Vide grenier season in Provence is in full swing! (A vide grenier is a community garage sale.) During our March visit to France, we only had a chance to visit one, and it was a sorry one. These photos were taken in Aix en Provence – just a block from the hotel we stayed in. I’d like to look through that basket of white linens and bring that basket back here while I’m at it!

If it’s any consolation, Jill reports that “a lot of the sales have been happening in hurricane type rains, but once in a while it gets dry here.” Sounds familiar! -- Beth

Sunday at Sandpoint

Hope your Sunday morning was as fun as mine was! Four of us did the early morning admission at the Sand Point Antique & Design Market in Seattle. It wasn’t as crowded as the last time I attended, and there were fewer vendors. But we enjoyed the extra elbow room and found plenty of good loot. Plus we ran into a bunch of customer friends and had a great time visiting with everyone.

Of course, a moving dolly had to be borrowed to get the biggest finds to the car. Here’s Judy, Colleen, Jena' and Lisa with two beautiful chairs headed to Colleen’s house. Jena' owns Barfield’s, (206) 226-1962. Her perfect tag line on her business card is “If you’re looking for ‘pots and pans’ don’t come to me. I have what you want, not what you need.”



Next up, is Lisa, Colleen, Virginia, Judy and Beth with the addition of a pretty blue shelf (hiding), Lisa holding her new plant stand (that she is turning into a table base), and a box of pink Christmas decorations extraordinaire found in Virginia and Frank’s booth, Home Shop.



A picture of all my loot assembled on a modest tray. In the spirit of “less abundance”, I bonded with small items. May I also add I was able to carry said less abundance to the car in one hand!

A close up of some very swell drawer pulls. I’m keeping my fingers crossed they are Bakelite. To the right of them a nice pile of watch bands with a future as components in bracelets and necklaces.

Vintage millinery flowers, several handmade.

And splendid small photos for some future soldered charms with an assortment of leaves and stamens in their original packages.

The next Sand Point shows are August 24, Oct. 12 and Dec. 7th. -- Beth

Button, Button, Who's got the Button?

What a delightful group we had on Saturday at the salvage studio for our Button Bracelet workshop. I love teaching this project; although teaching is a misnomer. I provide piles of buttons; a needle and thread, brief instructions and the attendees do the rest. The beautiful creations speak for themselves. -- Lisa

Thank you kindly!

Here’s one of a couple of thank you gifts I wrapped for two friends of ours. The gift inside the glassine bag (wax paper bags would work equally well) are a small variety of vintage French millinery leaves, with one doing double duty on the outside of the gift. Just fold the top of the bag over and punch two small holes sort of in the center or wherever the mood strikes you. One section of ribbon gets threaded thru the holes, and ties the other pieces of ribbon, lace, leaf and gift card together. I save small segments of ribbons in plastic bags, separated by color. These bags live side by side stored in a big (boring) plastic box in my studio closet. Right on top of the heap. Easy access and a system that works for me. When I receive special ribbons, it is easy to “file” them away – all I have to do is jam them in their color’s bag. I really like the look of crinkled ribbons. I’ve noticed some vendors on Etsy selling ribbons they have crinkled on purpose! The gift tag is a vintage bridge tally card – love those muted colors. -- Beth