Zazazu

In all the swaps I’ve hosted, I’ve NEVER had a cool logo button for one… until NOW!  The super-talented and super-sweet Monica took it upon herself to create one for us.  I, for one, think that is uber-cool!

As I was telling Monica, I am technologically illiterate so I don’t know how to make this neat button “link” back to the post.  However, if you know how to do it and want to link it back to the original post, please feel free to do that.

Here is the button (THANK YOU, MONICA!!!)

[If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment on the original post as that is where I will be taking sign-ups from.  Thank you!]

I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to announce that I’m running a sale at my Etsy store.  I’ve just put a TON of things from my store into my SALE section… Craft supplies, destash stuff, vintage fabric, vintage linens, vintage jewelry, books, something for EVERYONE!

Also, I’m running BOGO in my $6 Vintage Jewelry Section! Buy one $6 piece and get the second for half-price! That’s $9 (pre-shipping) for two pieces of great vintage jewelry!

This will run through the weekend at least… Don’t miss out!

Happy weekend!

I’m feeling rather sparky today so I thought I would do a couple of fun things here on my blog.

Firstly, the lovely Miss StilettoHeights has inspired me to write up a list of things that provide inspiration to me lately. What a fun exercise, no?

What inspires you lately? For me, it includes…

• Vintage shoes – I have found so many wonderful ones lately! I get the extra-fab ones to list in my store as I love to have a good vintage shoe selection there. So many fabulous and unique vintage shoes out there… great quality too.

• Colored tights / leggings – Crazy, yes, but they go with so many things and really give an added flair! Besides, they fashionably cover my stark white legs.
• Lame – A fabulous gold lame tank literally jumped off the rack at me the other day and I’ve been smitten since. Everyone needs to sparkle.
• Belts, belts, BELTS! Need I say more?
• My new store banner… so pretty and so wonderfully done! Thanks, PixelCafe!

• Vintage artwork, especially crewel-work.
• Homemade iced coffee.
• Ruffles and Scarlett O’Hara.

• Sex and the City re-runs… until I get finally get out to see the new movie!
• Russian architecture

• Anything at all to do with Paris… specifically living there someday.
• Tomatoes… fresh with a bit of pepper. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…
• Vintage bedding… LOTS of it!
• A gorgeous white gauze babydoll top that I bought when I was sixteen. I found it again the other day and have been wearing it with skinnies and my flats. Scavenging in my own closet is very fun!
• Yard sales… ’tis the season. It makes Saturday mornings SUCH fun! I look forward to them all week!

Speaking of yard sales…

How about a swap? As all of you know and can tell from my list above, I’m terribly inspired by things that I find at thrift stores and yard sales. I love things that others cast-off that I can make good use of. It is the ultimate recycling and such fun too!

I also know that many of my readers here are thrift store / yard sale mavens, also loving the hunt for what they can re-use and give another life to.

So, since it is the prime thrifting / yard sale season… how about a “Thrift Shop Thrift Swap“? Here is how I propose for it to work:

1. Leave a comment on this post that you want to participate. Right after you leave your comment, please contact me at msred5@yahoo.com with your contact information, i.e. name, address, blog and email address. Sign-up will close on June 15.
2. On June 16, I will pair those who have signed up with a partner and send each of you their information. In order to get to know new people better – as that, I believe, is part of the fun of a swap – this will be a one-on-one swap.
3. After being in touch with your swap partner, compile a package of things you think they would like. Here is the catch… ALL items that you send MUST be from a thrift store / garage sale / yard sale / porch sale / estate sale / tag sale / etc… you get the idea. Of course, make sure they are nice items and not junk but I think we all know how to do this… how to find the treasures out there! Bonus points if your packaging comes from thrifting too. (Not that there will be a winner or anything but.. that would be cool, huh?) Spend between $10 – 15 on your package, not including shipping.
4. Send your packages out by July 1. If you can’t make it by then, let me AND your partner know of the delay.

(International participants welcome. Please be willing to ship Internationally if you decide to participate. If you leave comment on this post, I will assume that you wish to participate. Please realize when signing up that sometimes there are bum swappers.  I can’t control this.)

Sound fun?

Join us!

Tell your friends!

Any questions?  Feel free to contact me!

::::::::::::::::::::::: Happy scavenging! ::::::::::::::::::::::

Psst… Want to join my Etsy store mailing list? Email me at msred5@yahoo.com to join. Repeat customers who are on my mailing list get 10% off every purchase (the subtotal).

I had talked about hosting a postcard swap here and I might do that at some point this Spring so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, I found a neat Postcard Swap that is going on right now – sign up quick – that you can participate in. I know that a few of you expressed interest in one so this might be a good opportunity for you. Trust me… they are FUN! I might even do this one myself.

If you have any trouble figuring out how to sign up, just email your mailing address and “Postcard Swap 2008: The Love Edition” in the subject line to {{{chookooloonksATgmailDOTcom}}}.

As I mentioned, I recently participated in a fun handmade postcard swap. I had to make eight postcards with a holiday theme and send them out to the people who had been assigned to me. I got eight in return.

This was a fun swap. Not only did I get to do eight tiny pieces of art but I got to give them flight to fun places like France, Australia, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Kansas. I had a lot of fun with this one.

These were my creations:

(The lighting on some of them is horrible… sorry.)

These were made with the typical materials that I use for collage: pinking shears, the sewing machine, lots of thread, scrapbooking letter stickers, double-stick tape, rubber stamps, ink, sharpie, gift tags, etc. And trust me… MANY magazines were harmed in the making of these cards!

If any of you are interested in some sort of similar postcard swap here, just let me know. I might be willing to pull something together. This was by far one of the most fun swaps I’ve done. I loved the things I made and had fun making them and I got some super-fab and beautiful things in return.

Don’t we all just {::: love :::} fun mail?

As I mentioned sometime ago, I’m going to be sure to post some of my craftiness, whether I post much else or not. As I also mentioned sometime ago, I got out of doing random swaps.

However, I’ve done a couple of swaps with creative, artsy people that I know, people I know to be good on their word for sending things and people I know who will uphold their end of the deal just as I will mine.

I recently did a swap with Jason of TOTEdesigns, aka. Art Box Diary, aka. KokeshiLove (Jason supplies at least 95% of my Kokeshi dolls and I love him for that.) You can also catch Jason’s blog – andnotapoundmore.

I met Jason through Etsy, through buying Kokeshi dolls from him and just conversing back-and-forth. He is so wonderfully kind and very creative. After some conversing, we agreed to do a swap: he would make me a beautiful collage pouch and I would make him a collage picture, something I can do and love to do but have not done in a while. I was more than certain of Jason’s ability to send me something beautiful but I was a bit uncertain of my ability to really uphold my end of the deal and send him something worth having. To say the least, I was nervous. (I tried to not let Jason know this.)

Jason’s collage pouches are amazing works of art. They are made from deconstructed kimonos (Jason is currently living in Japan) and he quilts / patchworks them together. They are truly amazing. Be sure and check them out here.

Here is a photo of one very similar to the one that I swapped for:

So, as you can see, I had every right to be nervous.

But, after much thought, much procrastinating, much pouring over images, much going through supplies that I had, I came up with a piece that I was fairly proud to send to him.

Jason wanted something with a Southern feel to it. I, being from the South, tried to give him just that.

I created a collage using images I have collected over the years, including abstract-design magazine pages, Tiffany paper, sushi grass, and a hand-created 3-D flower that was sewn onto the piece through a shiney red bead. This was all put together in various ways, including being sewn around the edges and in other various places to give it some variety.

Luckily, just days before I started the piece, I found the most wonderful vintage (read: old, old, old) frame at the Salvation Army. This frame was black and had a red and white polka dot mat in it. The mat was poorly put together and falling apart pretty badly as was the frame. But, it only cost 30-cents and just needed some TLC.

It got just that and totally completed the piece, I think. I don’t think the piece would have looked nearly as good without it. I wish I could find one-hundred of those frames!!!

Anyway, here is my end of the swap. I hope you – and most of all Jason – like it.

I also recently participated in a fun handmade postcard swap. I had such a blast doing those and will post my pics of them very soon. Do I feel a swap here coming up soon?

And, by all means, treat yourself and visit Jason’s blog and stores!!! You will NOT be disappointed!

What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner. ~ Colette

I’ve been tagged by the lovely and talented Melissa of Just Me. The game is to name six random things about myself and then tag six others. Very out of character for me, I do plan to tag six others because many people that I know are needing ideas for the last couple of days of NaBloPoMo. So, this is my gift to you. And, just to keep up with Melissa, I’m posting some pictures along with my six items of interest as well. Here goes:

No. 1 … This is my favorite tree on the whole property. I think this tree is the perfect shape, height and overhangs on the yard just amazingly. Of course, being a fallish girl, I like it when it turns the beautiful hues of fall the best but I really do like it all the time.

No. 2 … For some odd reason, even though they are the epitome of messiness, I love my bookshelves. They represent the very odd, eclectic, cluttered-yet-spirited side of me. I like them just as they are.

::: The cool “KBM” initials were a swap gift. :::

No. 3 … These are my two favorite people right now – Mr. and Mrs. Rice Farmer.

No. 4 … I get UBER-COOL swap packages. It almost makes me wonder why I’m getting OUT of swapping. Check out these neato things…

::: And this is only a sampling of the cool things I’ve gotten!!! :::

::: NOEL garland was a swap gift too… can you spot it? :::

No. 5 … My favorite Christmas decoration of all is a large ceramic Santa that I got once at Big Lots for 7$. I almost didn’t buy it but I did and have loved it so much ever since.

No. 6 … As if you couldn’t tell from all these pictures, I love the Eiffel Tower and all things associated with it. I’m a bonafide Francophile! I aspire to someday have a Christmas tree decorated only with Eiffel Tower ornaments, although I’ve found that they are somewhat hard to come by. Le malheur à moi…

So, while not very interesting at all, there are a few things that you might not have previously known. Now, onto the tagging. I bestow the honor onto Colette, Kristen, Leah, Rebecca, Polly, and Kelly.

Have at it girls!