Gather and Hunt Feature

Today I'm so thrilled to be sharing my vintage pyrex collection on Gather and Hunt's blog today! I met Danae at Alt and we immediately hit it off! She picks for her own booth at the Fremont Antique Mall in Seattle. I'm anxious to check it out some time soon! 

Pop over and check out Danae's beautiful blog, my post on her new series: A Curated Life! 

DIY // Sweater Pillow

A couple of months ago, I picked up this stripy sweater at a flea market for one dollar. I couldn't resist turning it into a pillow. It's really easy to do, you could do this with any type of sweater.

Step 1: Cut off any ribbing from the bottom, sleeves, and neckline. I used a rotary cutter and a straight edge quilting ruler. This sweater squared up to be 18"x 18". Square up to the best measurement based on the sweater that you use.

Step Two: Pin right sides of the sweater together. Be careful to line up the stripes. Sew right sides together, make sure to leave an opening of at least 6 inches. 

Step 3: Trim corners, turn pillow right side out, put insert inside, pin opening, sewing opening shut using slip stitch. 

Step four: Enjoy! 

Encaustic Painting

Things have been a little quiet around here lately. Over the weekend, Chris had a booth at the Antique & Collectibles Expo. Between working at Collage and Expo, I didn't have any time for me and my blog, as to be expected. It's now Tuesday and I'm on my "weekend"! I'm very excited to continue working on some projects that are in the works and to get together with a good friend, Courtney, this afternoon. Happy Weekend to me! Plus, the sun is out! Hooray! I'm going to try drenching myself in Vitamin D and shake out any gloomy feelings I've had these past few weeks. :)

One of the things that breaks me out of any gloom is being creative, trying something new, and playing with bright colors! Have you heard of encaustic painting? It's basically painting with wax. I had never really heard of it before Collage, so I took one of the classes we offer. Here's a glimpse into the process:

The wax medium is a mixture of beeswax and damar resin. The colors are a mixture of the medium and  wax sticks. The process consists of painting the hardboard panels with wax and then fusing the layers of wax with this hand iron or a heat tool. It's a very fluid process as the layers meld and change as you fuse them. The first piece consisted of collage, I couldn't resist and not use this cut out from a 1950's Better Homes and Garden magazine. 

For my second piece, I wanted something much more graphic. First I applied many coats of white wax, then taped off a pattern, and applied colors. I ended up not fusing this piece together in the end as that would have eliminated the straight lines. I really like how this piece turned out in the end! 

Encaustic painting was really fun to learn, and there are so many techniques that you can use and explore with it. Truth be told, I didn't fall in love with the process, as it was very time and material intensive, but I'm glad that I tried it and am now more knowledgeable about the process. 

Have you tried encaustic painting? 

Flea Market Finds >> 13

This week's items came from a few shopping trips over the last few weeks. This weekend, I holed up and practiced watercolor...more about that later this week. 

Vintage camera's were never something I'd look at before, but now I like having a few around to remind myself of how we use to take photos (and how some still are). These are just for props and interesting pieces on a bookshelf, but I enjoy them all the same. 

The coffee carafe is brilliant, Chris and I were thinking we'd serve coffee in it for customers at our next booth, may be difficult to pull off, but it would be fun to try at least once! 

The antlers are Chris' find, to be honest I don't get the whole antler/taxidermy trend, but so many people seem to be into this...at least in Portland! ;) He's selling them (more info on his blog: PDX Picker)

Happy Thrifting! 

I'm linking up with Her Library Adventures and Apron Thrift Girl, hop over there to see other vintage treasures. :) 

Flea Market Finds >> 12

Last Thursday, Chris and I headed out again to another estate sale. This one was right up my alley. Yes, there was a line of over 100 people, but it wasn't as competitve for specific peieces. In fact, everyone was really friendly! It was a huge three-story home, we were in the first wave of people to be let in and I headed straight upstairs. To my delight, I found a huge linen closet with some amazing vintage sheets! I just love these patterns! ;)

Underneath everything I found four of these Vera cloth napkins. 

I'm excited to use some of these pillowcases and to cut into them and make another vintage sheet quilt. 

On our way home, we swung by our booth at Antique Alley, to drop off a few new items. However, every time I go in there, I always find something I can't live without: 

Lately, I've been really drawn to vintage games. This one was too good to pass up! I think I've stumbled onto something new to collect. 

Happy Thrifting! 

I'm linking up to Her Library Adventures - Flea Market Finds.