Pansy Print

The latest acquisition for my growing collection gallery wall of vintage floral prints: $3 from the Restore.

Multifaceted Lady

I have a growing collection of intriguing lady portraits, and just acquired this print for $8 from Value Village. I adore the 1900 to 1930s styling of it, the beauty of the woman, the rich colours, and the faceted gold frame splashed with the colours of her dress.

Crafty Girl

I wake up to this fabulous framed print every day and chuckle with creative determination!

Watercolour Paradise

These framed vintage Nicolas Markovitch, a.k.a. Marc watercolour prints are likely from the 1920s to 1940s. They left their Value Village lodgings and now radiate summery paradise sitting on my shelf!

Chair-aphernalia

I found this sweet postcard of a little boy poised next to some furniture and swiftly adopted him, as well as this copper and wood chair block from a printing press, both from a local antique store. The chair on which they sit was made by my great-grandpa, who created scale repro Early American doll furniture as a lucrative hobby. 

Vintage Church Print

I found this gorgeous framed church print at Value Village for $6.99! 

It's godly, vintage, black and white, architectural, detailed, distressed, and French, therefore it will be prominently hanging on my walls for the rest of my life!

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:16-19

Yes, Mother Dear

Good things are always where they are meant to be, and leap out at me at the right time.  A couple of weeks ago I was at a church garage sale flipping through the frames when I found this print from 1923. Breathless and beaming with joy, I gave the saleswoman the $0.25 for it, thanked her while telling her my scheme, and covered the frame in a bag before my mom saw. 

My mom was totally oblivious, which is pretty astounding because she always has premonitions about gifts. Maybe that's a mom thing. Anyway, this vintage, found, faded, faithful, floral, framed, poetic, typographic gift is beautiful in so many ways--just like the wonderful lady who proudly propped it up on her mantel today. 

Uppercase #24 Scavenger Hunt

Exciting news! Remember my Paper Dress? It's going to be included in the Scavenger Hunt spread of Uppercase Magazine #24! The issue will be coming out in mid-January. In case you are interested in subscribing or renewing your subscription to the glorious magazine that it is, you can celebrate this event by taking $15 off your subscription with the "scavenger" code! The offer is valid until February 28th. Happy ordering!

Graceful Cards at Marie Antoinette & Co

Graceful Cards are now available at the lush and lovely Marie Antoinette & Co, adjoined to Tinseltown Christmas Emporium! You can snap up a shabby chic greeting card--either for Christmas or year-round giving--while basking in the cuteness of the shop.

Janet Hill

Just wow. These glamorous, fun, girly works of art were painted by the extremely talented Janet Hill. You can check out her shop here. She has an unfathomably extensive and thoroughly lovely portfolio. Her paintings are everything I love in one, which is a very rare and wonderful statement. 

Fall Outfits

I love the rustic colors, textures, and prints of fall! All that corduroy, velvet, knit, leather, floral, argyle, plaid...  

There's just so much natural inspiration and cozy outfit potential!

Scallop Fabric Winner

Oh my, what an unexpectedly wonderful surprise--an update for my previous post! My Scallop fabric won the contest! I am in a state of excited shock! Scallop is now up for sale by Spoonflower and is being turned into a collection of shoes, along with the three other winning fabric designs, by Milk and Honey. I will be sure to post a picture of the shoes when I get them in the mail. Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who voted!



Scallop Fabric Shoes

This week's Spoonflower contest theme is small scale geometric prints specifically for shoes, so my Scallop fabric is in the running. If you like it, you can vote right here! On Wednesday the 25th, the fabrics with the most votes will be narrowed down by Milk and Honey (a great company that facilitates custom shoe design), and four designs will be selected to create a collection of shoes. What a great idea and opportunity!

DIY Bok Choy Floral

Wait! Don't throw out the end of that bok choy head! Now your dinner can also fulfill your hunger for a DIY floral print.

As you can see, bok choy stalks are grouped on the head in a flower formation, and the bottom slice is the perfect stamp to use to make a large floral print. Celery works too, but bok choy has a much smoother looking result.

Materials:

A couple bok choy stubs

Some paper towel

A piece of blank paper

A paint brush

Acrylic paint in the color of your choice

A glass of water

The item you wish to transform with the floral print (I chose a canvas tote bag)

Step 1: Let the bok choy slice dry out on the counter for a day or so. This eliminates the risk of the bok choy juice causing the paint to bleed everywhere. It also creates a better separation between the petals, which will result in a nicer flower.

Step 2: Paint the petals of the stub and test stamp it on the paper. This will help you gauge the amount of paint you should put on, depending on your preferred look.

Step 3: Re-apply the paint on the bok choy and stamp it onto the item you're transforming.

Step 4: If you are switching the colors of your flowers, you will need to get the previous paint off the stamp to keep it from looking muddy. The best way to do this is to stamp off the excess paint as much as possible on the piece of test paper (bonus: you get an awesome piece of printed paper). Use the paintbrush to paint water onto the stamp, wiping it and the paint residue off with the paper towel, and then you'll be ready to paint a new color onto the stamp. 

Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have created a floral print that you are happy with!

Now you have a unique floral item all set to be put to use!

(And hey, in terms of putting the item to use, think of all the bok choy I could bring home in this bag!)