God Supplies Antiques Too

This morning I basically rolled out of bed and combed my hair before heading over to Good Sam's. It is a local thrift store that I do most of my picking to supply my antiques booths. I was not going to go today as I had bought a bunch of stuff  two days ago. I went anyway hoping to find a little shelf I had left behind the other day. Upon entering I zoomed straight back to the furniture section and found it.  Well, it really wasn't what I needed because it wouldn't fit the ribbon spools that I use. But there was this wonderful antique sitting room set that had a couch, two hefty chairs and  two ottomans. The wood work on them is amazing; probably mahogany. The whole set was marked at $225.00 and so I stood thinking about it; too scared about buying it because this would be the single largest purchase I had made for my antique booth. Plus, I don't know how to reupholster big furniture. Sucking wind I prayed to God. "Please God, if I'm not supposed to get this will you put up a wall so I don't make a poor decision". Well, Shirly, the lady that runs the store said she would sell the set to me for $150.00 plus a $25.00 delivery to my house. That was all it took. Now I am the proud, temporary owner of a beautiful set that needs a little love before it goes out again. A little steam cleaning and maybe some new foam for the cushions and it will be good to go.  As is, before any work is done I think it could go for $500.00. I am happy. I have been frustrated that up until now, all I had was small stuff for my booth.

Well I'm not done because while I was buying the sitting room set, I spotted an entire cart full of antique lace doilies. Shirly sold them all to me for $25.00. After they are cleaned up, they will fetch around 4 times that much.

OK, so what? Well just as I was leaving, a guy from one of the local antiques stores walks in and asks me how I'm doing. Well this old guy is a bit of a lecher and he leers at me whenever I run into him. He has a reputation among other antiquing ladies for being this way too. I told him about the couch and chairs and ottomans. I mentioned how I was a little nervous about it. Well you could see this guys brain just clicking away. Like: Darn! Why didn't I get here sooner! Indeed, I was lucky, (blessed) that I beat him to it. But it was more than that.  When I brought my cart back inside after unloading my doilies, I saw him trying to cut to the front of a very long line. A redneck in a plaid shirt and ball cap called him out. "Hey sir the back of the line is over there". And nasty lecher man said,"Well, I don't know about that! Maybe I can't see that far! Yeah, I know where the back of the line is!" and he then ignored the justly ticked off redneck. It was like he was saying to all the people in line that he was so much more important then they were.

I left thinking about all of this. God blessed me instead of the other antiques guy.  Sometimes He just likes to give me a love letter and then He lets me get enjoyment from seeing how badly this guy behaved.  That old guy said "I should be careful, there might be bedbugs in it".(The Couch). Sounds like the fox and the grapes from Aesop's Fables to me. Y'know. The grapes must be sour because he couldn't reach them.

I loved telling my kids about all of this because I wanted to show them (and myself) that God is at work in my life even when it comes to finding the good stuff for my business. So on the days when work is hard and unrewarding I can look up this post to my blog and get encouragement.

Thanks God.

Tutorial On Making Glass Salt/Pepper Shaker Rosebud

In the last post I showed a bunch of glass rosebuds in a silver teapot. Today I'm going to let you in on the secret of how to make them for yourselves. They are so unique and I have never seen anything like them.

The first thing to do is find some very tiny salt or pepper shakers. I got mine at Goodwill for 50 cents apiece, but I think they are a dollar store item.

Assemble all the parts that you will need. Salt and pepper shakers, check.  Heavy gauge wire, wooden skewers, floral tape, coffee filters, white paint, and tools to complete the craft. You will need wire snips, scissors and a stiff bristle paintbrush.

I got some of the heavy gauge wire, cut it to the same length as the wooden skewer and fed it through the holes in the pepper shaker. For the one hole salt shaker, I made a tiny loop at the end of the wire just big enough so the loop would not slip through the hole in the silver lid.

Next, attach the glass body to the lid. After you have secured the lid to the glass body, take a wood skewer with the blunt end at the silver lid. Wrap the wire around the wooden skewer just a couple of times down the length of the skewer.  Now pinching the salt or pepper shaker in one hand; use the other to start wrapping the floral tape around the silver lid and especially below it.  It will take a bunch of floral tape to build up a thick enough stem to keep the heavy glass part from wobbling.

Once the salt/pepper shaker is secure, wrap the rest of the skewer in the floral tape down the length of the stem.  Now grab your coffee filter and fold it up into 1/8th's.  This is just like you used to cut out snowflakes when you were a kid.

Please excuse my chipped nail polish.  Often I get so caught up in my crafts, I forget to take care of myself!

Cut the wide end to look like a pointy leaf while making sure the bottom is all completely attached. If you want you can give the bottom a little twist.

 

Fan out your leaf and then attach it to the skewer stem with more floral tape. Make sure it is secure and then break out your white acrylic craft paint and dry brush the entire stem; taking care to not get paint on the glass rosebud.

This is how it looks completed, but I dressed mine up with lace and pink ribbons and tiny pearl trim.

This is a really fun and unusual use for salt and pepper shakers. If you want to wrap them individually to give as a gift just get some celophane wrapping and copy what the florists do. Add a bow and a gift tag and just wait to see how impressed your friend will be at your crafty talent!

Pretty Things

I thought I would share some of the lovely things that I am about to put in my antiques booth. My little place is at a backwoods store called Bear Ridge Antiques in Crocker Mo. It is not fancy. The owner does not even have a website, but it is a great place. I love to put together items which look good together, and these fancy things satisfy my girlie girl longings.

The rose buds are made from small salt and pepper shakers which I wired to skewers. I then covered the stems in floral tape and dry brushed white paint to cover. Adding a little bit of ribbon and bling completed each flower and I will sell each rose for $6.25. They took a while to make but I really think that glass rosebuds are unique.

I love these little quail eggs. I bought them at a Chinese grocery about a year ago and let them dry out. Can you imagine how awful it would have been if one had broken before they were dry? Luckily that never happened!

Hats are great for decorating with and it is fun to think up new ways to dress up a plain one to make it an object of desire. This gardeners hat got a crocheted collar as a hat band and the big rose was sewn from the end of a plain white pillow case. The little pearls on the edge were sewn on and it really looks expensive, but it is not.

Tarnished silver and pink feathers make this photo scape frothy and fun.  So much of life can be gritty and grey.  I like to escape from the reality of it when I create a photo shoot.  It is like reading home decor magazines and craft magazines.  For a short while, life is simple and pretty.  I used to feel so guilty for this kind of escapism in my brain. But the older I get I realize that it is so important to take a little time and set aside a place in my life for creativity.

Using Vintage Tablecloths

This lovely purse was crafted  from a sunny 1950's tablecloth and a 1990's shower curtain. Added in is a rather normal lace panel from some draperies. The tattered flowers were strips of a white sheet. The centers of the flowers are vintage bling from a flea market store. The only new thing on this creation is the thread!

Tatters

This is my newest purse.  I make them out of sheets, shower curtains, pillow cases; all found at my local thrift store. Ninety percent or more of anything that I craft with is sourced this way. It is really affordable, green in it's philosophy and just downright wonderful to take something ugly and turn it into something useful and beautiful.

A New Voice In A New Place

Hello world! Well actually I have been on the web for quite some time at tribe of stinson.com, but I have been wanting to share another side of my life. Much of what was written on my other space was related to a specific time and place. This blog is more about a way of living. Living creatively is healing and provides not only me with happiness, but hopefully my readers will enjoy lovely pictures and fun crafts, I will also tell small stories about life in the mid west and how lovely it is here. So welcome to The Glitter Dragonfly.