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.

Play Day!

Lisa and I spent the afternoon one day this last week working on some samples for spring workshops.

This fluffy goodness is a paper garland created from white and brown coffee filters, circles of paper from the white pages of the phone book, vintage sheet music, French book pages and patterns. The idea was inspired by Pam Garrison’s lovely creation on her blog. And in turn she was inspired by a garland she admired at Anthropologie. We’ll be adding some twists and turns of our own to this brilliant use of common coffee filters. And it’s a whole lotta fun to make!

A Happy Ending

The rattan set has found a home.
As many of you might remember, an adoption was pending but it wasn't in the cards.


Our customer friend Jodie visited the studio and decided to take it home with her. This girl is prepared for anything. She whipped out her blanket, rope and a tied the four chair frames on the top of her car. The 8 cushions were stuffed inside and away they went.

A happy ending.

Tiki Lanterns from Salvage

We met Joe last Saturday at the studio. He was interested in a roll of caning stuff we had. So being the curious (and also nosey) person I am, I asked him if he caned chairs. No, the caning reed was for tiki lanterns. Now he had my full attention! I asked Joe to send us some pictures, and he did. Along with a brief tutorial.

“I had a great time in your store today. Here are some photos of some tiki lanterns I made from salvage. I started by cutting up a matchstick blind I found at thrift store, and using the sticks to make cones. The top of the cone is a short piece of 1 inch bamboo to which I lashed the sticks. Then I lashed the bottom of the cone to a hoop of aluminum wire using jute. To do the wiring, I got extension cords from a dollar store and cut off the ends and then wired on a weatherproof socket. Around the socket is a plastic drinking tumbler that I wet sanded to make the bulb diffuse. The bulb is a 25w amber candelabra-style bulb. I made over a dozen lanterns at almost no cost and they were a huge hit at the company holiday party. " Joe


We really enjoy show and tells!