Dime Store Chic

Take Me Out to the Outlet!

Whew! What a delightfully FUN and very busy weekend!  If you've read previous posts on my blog you'll recognize this FAB place! I went there on saturday with my dear friends Karen, Kathy, and Lisa.

Karen had never been to one of my favorite places, the Offray Ribbon Outlet in Hagerstown, Maryland! She had a grand time rummaging through the bins and bins of ribbon. Her shopping basket was brimming over as much as her excitement at being here!

Kathy's lovely manicure and bling matched the wonderful jewel tones and brilliant hues of the ribbon in the grosgrain bins! Just imagine, 25 yards for $5.00!

Lisa, an avid scrapbooker, filled TWO baskets with lots of bows and ribbons she'll use for gifts. She also bought shopping bags crammed with spools of ribbon for her daughters to play with for 25 cents A BAG!

And then there's my basket. Since I have quite a few spools of grosgrain ribbon from my previous trips to the Offray Ribbon Outlet, I took swatches and taped them to a card. I didn't want to get the same colors when I already have yards and yards! It was a great day with good friends!

On Sunday, I went with hubby, son, and father-in-law to a VERY special event in Washington, DC. Now, the event itself may not be of intrest to you all, my blogland friends, but I decided to look at it in an artful way. See if you can guess where we were on Sunday, March 30th. I'll give you a few visual and verbal hints:

Yummy colors! But this was pretty much the only pink and baby blue at this event.

Are you getting any ideas yet?

"W" stands for "where could they be?"

We were outside in a chilly 47 degrees, as my son's gloved hands attest.

These friendly fellows made me the BEST turkey burger I ever had! When they aren't working at this event, you can find them here at this Washington, DC institution.

This piece of a mural should help you come close if you haven't guessed already.

Such an event like this needs to be on national television!

Mrs. Bodell was a very inspired songtress back in the day. This event, which had a lot more attendees than in this print, would've caused her to write something with more of a contemporary beat.

You must know by now...

...That we attended a very special baseball game...

It was so special that the rather blurry gent on the pitcher's mound throwing out the first pitch just happens to be the President of The United States. (This pic was taken by hubby who was so excited to be at the opening day game he was shaking.)

So here you see, Washington, DC has a brand new ballpark called Nationals Park (until some corporation decides to ante up a lot o' cash to have it named after them). This new stadium is beautiful! I am certain I'll be going back with hubby who is a huge baseball fan.  BTW, The Nationals won by a grand slam homerun. I understand that is a very good thing. But what do I know? I just came to take pictures of cotton candy--yum!

Have a lovely monday!~~~XXOO, Beth 

Spring Cleaning Treasures from Jenny

Today I found a lovely "sunny" package on my doorstep! The talented and just plain fabulous Jenny Fillius was doing some spring cleaning of her own! This Seattle sweetheart thought of little ol' me and packed up a box crammed full of goodies for me to use in my creations!

Just take a look:

Figurines, rick rack, ribbon, pom pom fringe, vintage Christmas, costume jewelry bits, and so much more! I am a lucky girl!

Lots of posies and plastic leaves! So many!

Jenny is just too good to me! Do yourself a huge favor and pop on over to Jenny's LadyBugCircus Etsy Shop. Her recycled metal work is so colorful and full of whimsical FUN! I adore it!

Thanks so much, Jenny!~~~XXOO, Beth

Spring Cleaning

The first spring cleaning I did on this very first day of Spring is to contact the talented Susan Tuttle and request an update on my blog banner. Susan created my previous lovely banner, and I was thrilled to ask her to give me a new one as I begin my second year in blogland. She did a FABULOUS job! I hope you all agree! Now, on the more difficult spring cleaning...

Sometimes I just can't take the clutter anymore! I usually keep things picked up in my studio-office, but lately the materials I use have piled up and been shoved into every nook and cranny. Space is no longer available and some things have got to go. Once I set my mind at it, purging is easy. We have a neighborhood yard sale coming up on May 3rd so the things I purged will go there. Easy peasy. Well...almost.

I decided the cabinets needed to clear out and allow room for things I use everyday.

Here is the mess I saw when opening the cabinets:

Argh! And this is only one-third of it! Where shall I start? I pulled everything out!

The cat liked the cabinets empty, thank you very much!

I had to consolidate and sort throughts LOTS of boxes and baggies. I didn't think I'd ever get these buttons sorted from the bits of metal trash in this box. But after many tedious minutes, I got the buttons sorted and into an old jar.

I purchased a stack of clear plastic boxes on half-off this morning.

I filled them quickly with lots of this, that, and the other...

Do I really need all of this stuff???? Well, yes, I do. I really do!

Will these vintage millinery flowers fit into the box?

With a little luck, whew! They fit!

Am I even close to done? I've been at it for two hours.

I'm getting there! Slowly...slowly...and finally after three hours, two very dirty hands, and one large glass of iced tea, I was done!

My coloring books, boxes of flowers, tins of paint, and corsage boxes, have a home.

Boxes of plastic flower beads, plastics bits and bobs, jewelry pieces, vintage dishes, and my sweet collection of vintage dogs and one chipmunk, all happy and content.

My vintage skunk stands guard over a basket of buckles, several boxes of vintage millinery flowers, bolts of thousands of yards of twine, lavender, buttons...is there anything else I need? Yes! I need to get to work on making more things!

Have a very happy First Day of Spring!~~~XXOO, Beth

And the Winner Is...

I put everyone's name in my favorite ice cream bowl and got hubby to draw the name between bites of his breakfast.

The winner of my First Blog-A-Versary pin cushion is...Cheryl from Periwinkle Vintage! Congrats Cheryl! AND a huge thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered the drawing! To all of you who asked about my pin cushions, I am listing new ones on Ebay this evening AND I list new ones weekly on Etsy (but they go pretty fast there). If you would like to know exactly what time I list the pin cushions on Etsy, please look to the right of this post and SIGN-UP for my Yahoo Messages. I send out about one (or two) messages a week letting you know when I'll be listing my pin cushions and other creations on Etsy and Ebay.

Again, Thanks for entering and come by again! There's always something crafty or flea-thrifty going on! I'd love to see you here!~~~XXOO, Beth

Come Celebrate My First Blog-A-Versary and You May Win A Pin Cushion!

On March 18th I'll be celebrating my first year in blogland! It has been a thrilling first year of posts and pictures, of making new friends, of being inspired and amazed by the creativity you all bring to blogland every day! I am proud to be a part of such a delightful community!

So, please join me in celebrating my first year Blog-A-Versary by submitting a comment to THIS post! You will be entered to win this one-of-a-kind pin cushion sachet. I made this one especially for the occasion :)

A vintage Josef Originals First Birthday Girl tops this pin cushion made from vintage fabrics in pink, blue, and green...

As with all of my pin cushions, I embellished this cutie with lots of vintage buttons, flower beads, glass beads, and vintage millinery flowers! A cute vintage brooch rests at the seam of the trim surrounding the pin cushion!

So please enter! I'll be drawing a name the afternoon of tuesday, March 18th--my first Blog-A-Versary date! Good Luck and Thanks, As Always, For Stopping By!~~~XXOO, Beth

Proud of My New Purchases & My Easter Display

I love birdhouses. I really do. I wish my yard was a forest of birdhouses on tall poles. I have a few out there, and they actually need some maintenance. I'll show you those later. For now, I'd like to share my most recent acquisition...

I bought this vintage cutie from a lovely seller on Ebay. This sweet house travelled 3000 miles to my house. It has a seed tray on the side (where the long perch is) that comes out. Hubby liked it, but he wondered why I want to keep it indoors. I just don't want the weather to get to it yet. If this birdhouse is used to southern California, it will have a shock when I expose it to the extremes of northern Virginia weather. So, I'll keep it inside with another Ebay birdhouse purchase...

I also got from Ebay this adorable wall pocket...

I'm looking for the perfect place to hang this.

I wanted to share with you a recent purchase from a craft fair yesterday.

This robot brooch is made from vintage bakelite and a little bit of aluminum. This is one of many wonderful robots designed and made by Gus Constantine of Timeless Objects. The booth run by Gus and his wife, Lynne, is a delightful swirling, blinking, and beeping array of robots of all sizes and styles. I choose a brooch, because I wanted to take my robot with me! What a clever use for bakelite! Gus has such artistry and skill with his creations. And what is wonderful about his creations is that he uses recycled bits and bobs to make them!

I thought you might like to see my somewhat unusual Easter display.

This velveteen bunny with a basket on his slick back is sitting amongst a pile of eggs--darning eggs! They were owned by my grandmothers and some from estate sales. I also have these...

These sweet chicks, a gift from my dear friend Debbie, and I put them in a wee basket with some vintage wax paper Easter grass. I just hope the cat doesn't get them...~~~~~~Take Care, My Friends!~~~XXOO, Beth

Time To Spring Forward

Did you remember to set your clocks one hour ahead today? I thought I'd post a little reminder.

How do you feel about springing forward?

I have no problem with it. I like the daylight lasting later into the evening. I stay up a little later and still get up about the same time in the morning. My body clock is one of the few things that works just great!

I got some really nice things in the mail yesterday AND I went to a fab craft show. When the daylight actually shows itself, I'll take some pics to share with you! But in the meantime, set your clocks forward and please change the batteries in your smoke detectors today!~~~XXOO, Beth

Extreme Pin Cushions and Easter Whimsy

I think I have made over 500 pin cushions since 2003. They are a delight to make and I love seeing what I can do with a figurine that might otherwise gather dust on a "what-not" shelf. I make them into pin cushions that can gather dust on a sewing shelf ;)  Well, I hope they are used and have become a fun accessory to many a sewing room over the years! Sometimes I like to shake things up a bit and make what I call "Extreme Pin Cushions." Here are two that I'll be listing on Ebay this evening.

This TALL Geisha just called to me at the antique store. Love her colors and the bird in her dainty hand. I had to make her into a pin cushion. To keep her from being too top heavy, I made a stack of two "flatish" cushions and tufted them together.

This wee froggie just needed some height! I stacked three graduated sized pin cushion "balls" on top of each other and tucked in vintage millinery flowers here and there. He looks quite proud, doesn't he?

Last year, at an outdoor flea market, I found two very vintage and very kitschy Easter baskets at the flea market. I tucked them away in my craft cabinet. Last week I re-discovered them and just wanted to use them in some sort of fun, whimsical and COLORFUL creation! Here is what I came up with:

I used scraps of vintage feedsack fabrics in spring colors, stuffed the round bundles with lavender buds, and tufted them with a button on the bottom. THEN I embellished the tops with a lush mix of vintage flower beads, vintage wooden spring and Easter figures, buttons, and beads! The six bundles are nestled in the basket on vintage wax paper green Easter grass too! Here is another one, a little bit different:

And here are a few close ups so you can see the details:

The boxes once were musical, but alas are no longer so. I still think they look nice as an Easter display. Did I tell you the date on them is 1950?

It is a balmy day today. Yay! Can spring be too far away? We don't have anything blooming in our yard yet. Can't wait to see some outdoor color! UNtill then I'll work on indoor color.~~~XXOO, Beth

Mo' Stuff from The Big Flea!

Do I REALLY need more stuff to use in my creations? Probably not, but after hemming and hawing about whether I should go to the Big Flea today, I decided to go. With 1100 dealers, I fgured there had to be something I could use, yes?  Of course!

Hubby and son were out doing their respective things this morning, and I actually got back before they did, so it was win win for all.

Here is my haul...Buy and brag? You betcha!

Buttons! I always find buttons! I always use buttons so this was a good day!

White buttons especially come in handy!

Today was an exceptionally good day to find vintage millinery flowers! Spring is in the air!

I'll find a use for these pretty beaded butterflies!

I couldn't resist these perky flocked birds to use in a corsage or corsage wreath!

More birds and other critters too! One guess as to what these are destined for :)

And I just love STUFF! Vintage trim, bits of rhinestone jewelry, plastic this n' that. Well, the next 1100 dealer Big Flea is in mid-July. Until then it's getting to feel like yard sale season! But I don't need any more stuff---not this week, anyway ;)~~~~Happy March! XXOO, Beth