Favors in a Flash

I am very excited to be a Grandma for the first time coming up in June!
Last Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my son Carlos and daughter-in-law Casey at our home. A good friend of theirs did the invitations and incorporated map paper into the design since they love to travel. I was short on time and long on good intentions when it came time for creating some party favors for our guests.

I am smitten with these unbleached wax bags from PCC (Puget Consumer Co-op).
This paper punch is one of my favorites. I used a few pages from an old atlas that is now an organ donor for craft projects. The packages of Jelly Belly candies came from Costco. A stapler made quick work of attaching the oval map pieces to the bags. 24 favors got made in about an hour. I had plenty of zip left for the important party stuff - enjoying our guests and ogling baby clothes! -- Beth

Sunday at the Sand Point Antique Market

Lisa and I always have the best time when we visit the Sand Point Antique Market. Of course it is fun to shop and find some new beauties to bring home. But the best part is seeing so many people we like a whole bunch - vendors, customers and friends.

Our first stop was Debi Ward Kennedy's Retreat booth. Boy oh boy, can she create a spiffy display. We loved it. And she and her husband, Bob, only decided three days before to do this particular show!

Our next jaw-dropping stop was the duplex booth for Barn House and Queen of Tarte. I had been stalking them on their blogs for the past several months. So I was really looking forward to seeing their wares in person. What stunning style! And they were a delight to meet.

Here's our friend Madonna giving me bunny ears while I try on this vintage coat.

Lisa and I plan to be vendors at this show later this year. We'll keep you posted when we add it to our calendar.

Flea Market Style

We are thrilled to be in the summer issue of Flea Market Style magazine, connected to Country Decorating Ideas. It’s a terrific article titled “What to Do with Old Plates, Games & Lamps”, featuring projects from our book, and other useful ideas of how to use these easy to find objects. And we’re mentioned in another article in this same issue: “17 Tag-Sale Solutions”. It’s a great magazine issue jam-packed with oodles of decorating ideas (not that I’m biased or anything!).

A big thank you to our publicist, Shanna Knowlton at Skipstone, for all her hard work spreading the word about our book.

Kristi's Lovely Lampshades

Kristi is a customer friend of ours, who visits the studio to rescue vintage fabrics for her lampshade business. After some nudging, she finally sent us some pictures of her work. Wow! They are impeccably made and charming as all get out. We love them!

Her Etsy sight: Sassy Shades is up, but still under construction. It should be up and running soon. In the meantime, you can contact Kristi Uvence at 425-712-3687 or at sassyshades08@aol.com. She plans to sell her lampshades at the Edmonds Market a few times this summer as well as the Fremont Market. Custom design for customers is available as well with a variety of fabrics. She even can incorporate your sentimental textiles. Her son’s sports t-shirts were used in this more contemporary shade.

Kristi is another Queen of Re-Use!

THANK YOU!

A very big THANK YOU to all who made our Good-Bye to Retail Sale a huge success. We appreciate you coming out, and if we didn't see your smiling face, we know you were there in spirit.

It is bittersweet for all of us, but just the beginning of many new adventures. Stay tuned to our website and blog for the latest additions to our calendar of sales, workshops and speaking events. More fun is on the way!

My "New" Kitchen Wall

I have been really picky about what goes back up on our freshly painted kitchen walls. It has taken me weeks to finally finish decorating this small wall. I made the chalkboard by giving this frame a very light coat of cream paint and a coat of Johnson's Paste Wax. Previously it was gold and held a Louis the Somethingth print. I used the Lowe's house brand, Valspar, chalkboard paint. Two coats went on a thin particle board sheet of wood I had out in the garage.

I was inspired to hang the beat up cream plates backwards by an article I remembered poring over in a Mary Engelbriet's Home Companion magazine years ago. The more crackles, stains and chips the better.

Then two days ago, I figured out how to hold some chalk and the eraser close by. I found this tin strainer thingy at a flea market in Paris last spring.

It held both things perfectly! It is hanging from a vintage piece of a locking mechanism. Hubba hubba - I grin every time I see this wall. -- Beth

Great Morning at PS Store

Lisa and I had a really good time this morning at the PS Store (formerly Packaging Specialties) in Seattle!

We were working on our samples and gathering supplies for an upcoming event we are doing there on April 25 - 5 Minute/$5 Gifts Go Green. It will be an action-packed demo showing quick and inexpensive gifts you can create using PS Stores' green and sustainable products, thrift store gems, and some secrets of our re-use philosophy. (To register, please call 206-762-0540.)

A lovely array of goodies we will be using.

Lots of terrific papers.

Ribbon streamers with tissue paper flowers create a wallop of a display.

Cheerful flowers greet the industrial traffic on the busy street outside their business.


A sample 5 minute/$5 gift.

Actually it was bj's birthday gift I was delivering! But after I wrapped it, I was darn tickled with the result - a French newspaper sheet gathered up with a bright polka dot ribbon. I'll be making another one of these to include in our show and tell.

Hostess Gift Bonanza

Raoul and I recently made our tacos for a small dinner party. We all laughed as much as we ate! Wowie – it was a heap-o-fun evening.

And the hostess gifts were supremely fab. I recently developed a thing for meat grinders. (Stay tuned for how we plan to repurpose them.) This is a shot of all my loot.

Three new grinders!

One was wrapped in a man’s bow tie. One arrived in the la dee dah Chanel bag with pretty ribbons, and the third was filled with hydrangeas and Easter lovelies. Lisa didn’t receive the memo that it was meat grinder day. Her tasty gift is a tube of handy tomato paste – just the best thing to have on hand in your fridge.

Lucky and grateful us – for our friends who make us laugh and who bring us good junk. -- Beth

Bathroom Bliss

Our bathroom hasn't been updated, upscaled or upped anything since we moved in. I couldn't take it anymore!

Micah and I (mostly Micah!) installed beadboard and painted the upper walls and ceiling a lovely shade of red called Cordial.

My friend Nancy gave me this old metal scrollwork piece. Love it against the new wall.

I turned an old floor lamp into our towel rack and a fireplace tool holder into a toilet paper dispenser.

I have always wanted a converted dresser as my vanity. Doug made it work! And I collaged some old sheet music behind an old mirror that was losing its silver. Hi Delilah; one of our calico kitties reflected in the mirror. -- Lisa

Photos and Friends

Friends, Kathy and Jason, visited the studio on Saturday. Jason is an excellent photographer and snapped a few shots he said we could share with you.

Kathy took this darling photo of Beth and I...doing what we do best.

Thanks for visiting!

Stitched Paper Collages Workshop

We had a guest instructor, Cindy Pestka, teach the most wonderful workshop this last weekend - Stitched Paper Collages. With a full house and four sewing machines going, creativity was abundant.

Concentration too.

Everyone was having a great time, but my pictures of them seem to show how much they were focused on the task at hand as well.

Sue gave me a big smile as she was stitching her masterpiece.

Please check out Cindy's blog, Artgirl-Island to get more of a glimpse of her artistic endeavors.

Ideal Bite

photo by Kate Baldwin

Our Rake Wall Organizer project was the Seattle Ideal Bite of the day. Beth and I get our daily dose of Ideal Bite in our email...that is where we found out the phone book tip we shared with you awhile back.

You can vote for this tip and share with a friend. Help share the salvage studio love. We would be much obliged!

Charm Swap

Last Saturday was Charm Swap day at the salvage studio. We had two groups of customer friends – each group had 25 traders – one group in the morning and one in the afternoon. Everyone made 25 charms and traded with everyone else in each group.


Oh my lucky stars, as Sheree’s mom would say! What a fun time. And what a haul of terrific charms. One of my favorite parts is after we have all received a charm from everyone, we go around the table hearing each person’s story – what was their inspiration, where did they find their components, which drill really worked or didn’t and so on.




There were even cookies and cupcakes. Thanks Yvonne and Laura!


If you’d like to play in the next swap, August 29, it never hurts to get your name on the waiting list. Peoples’ plans change, and spots do open up. One of our swapping friends, Melinda, took dozens of splendid pictures and has shared them with us.

Sue F.

Lisa R.

Yvonne

Tracie

Happy swappers: Sheree, Judy and Caroline

Sandy

Rebecca

Pam

Nan

Melinda

Mary

Madonna

Lisa H.

Linda F.

Laura

Kate

Top notch presentation!

Karen C.

Karen H.

Karen W.

Julie

Julia

Joanne

Jenifer's packaging

Debra and her charm

Debbie W.

Cindy

Cathy

Cat

Debbie S.

Caroline

Beth
Deb J.
Nancy D.Lisa T.

Afternoon swappers ready to go!

You can see more photos on Linda F's blog Lambsworld.