Catching Up

There are a few things I've wanted to share from the last few weeks. I potted a small piece of jade that I had been rooting. I used a short copper and brass goblet that I thrifted, but decided I couldn't part with.

Similarly, I planted some chicks in a pair of copper cups that I just had to keep.

The wall pot below is one of my most recent pieces to come home.

This metal stand is one of my best recent thrift finds. I actually found a pair of these black stands, and I knew immediately that they are exactly what I have been looking for. They are perfect for hanging my wall pots for pictures.

These photos feature my longest lasting air plant.

Even more exciting than my thrift finds is the purchase I made last week from solsticehome. It's one of my favorite vintage shops on Etsy. I couldn't get these vintage pots out of my head, so I finally ordered them. I love them even more in person - I plan to use them as models and inspiration for making vintage-inspired pots.

I use a spray of honeysuckle from my yard in these pictures.

This last photo is of two tea bowls I recently made using 266 clay. I've been practicing the organic form from the Kevin Crowe workshop I took in March. I threw these at home, and fired them at Manassas Clay. I glazed them with Smokey Brown, dipped the tops in Italian Straw, and dripped Opal glaze on them. I didn't expect the Italian Straw (typically yellow) to go blue-gray, but I love how it turned out. You just never know with those tricky kiln gods. (The t and B are for tea bowl.)

I also want to direct you to a lovely blog that featured one of my items - Random Occurances, written by a fellow Etsy shop owner. Check it out, and visit her shops, too if you get a chance - WantedCreatures and MDCardsandGifts.

Ingenuity On Display

Recently one of the blogs I follow did a few posts on decorating with Mason jars (here and here). I thought this was a happy coincidence, since I had just re-done our mantle with Mason jars. I sent the author the picture, and what do you know, she posted it. Yay! Go check out Ingenuity On Display, she has lots of great ideas.

More "New" Vintage

I am long overdue to share some of my favorite Etsy finds with you. Today I'm featuring three Etsy shops with new vintage items to tickle your fancy. ThreeOldKeys is a fairly new shop, though they already have a number of sales under their belt. The shop owners are near and dear to me, and their inventory is wonderful. I can't get enough of the copper flour shaker above. I never knew that these existed, but now that I know I need one. A Macon Detector. But what do they detect? Ah - watermarks. Of course!

The calorie counting pillbox is another item I didn't know about. Such technology! One of the best things about ThreeOldKeys is the witty descriptions of the items.

ThreeOldKeys also offers up this vintage wooden tray. As you know, I do so love things to put things in.

You may recall a recent post of mine about having sold some vintage jars to a well known blogger. I was pleased as punch to see the Audubon card I sent included in her Flickr stream and on her blog. Imagine how surprised I was to see it again with a vintage letterbox in her new shop! lepetiteflea is the new vintage destash shop of Victoria Smith. Check out this sweet diner mug from the lepetiteflea pantry.

And a little demitasse cup and saucer, poised and ready for tea.

I can't get enough of the turquoise in this vintage creamer, and the lepetiteflea succulent serving suggestion is just perfect.

The last (but not least!) shop I want to share today is enhabiten. She has been selling handmade on Etsy for some time, but just started selling vintage items today. She blogged about starting to sell vintage, and I started the countdown. I checked in a few times over the day to see what lovelies she had listed. These small glass jars were simply poetic.

I think the use of light in her pictures is extraordinary, as in this listing for a vintage colander.

She is also listing pillows made from vintage quilts.

I love old, anonymous paintings. There's something about wondering who the artist was, what they were like, and what inspired them. This watercolor painting is an excellent example of that intrigue. I hope you will visit ThreeOldKeys, lepetiteflea, and enhabiten, and see if there is anything that will help make your house a home.

Blog Kiss

One of my recent Etsy customers wrote a really lovely blog piece featuring her purchase from my shop (two vintage spice jars), and a Washington Post article I had read a few years ago. I am truly flattered to have my spice jars mentioned in the same piece as Gene Weingarten's thought-provoking story on appreciating the beauty in life. Check out Trishia's lovely blog, FrenchKissed, and if you have time, read the Weingarten piece, Pearls Before Breakfast. It was life changing for me, and Mr. Weingarten won a Pulitzer Prize.

Blog By The Bay

Last week I was beyond thrilled to find that I had sold two items to a well-known figure/blogger in the design world. The username rang a bell, but it wasn't until I was able to go look into the profile that I found out who would be receiving my little Ball glass jelly jars. This is her biographical snippet from her Etsy profile: "sfgirlbybay, aka victoria smith, is a san francisco based blogger, photographer, graphic designer and bonafide flea market queen. victoria smith is also the editor/writer of sfgirlbybay, one of the West Coast’s leading interior design blogs, featuring new product reviews, shopping tips, including art, photography and design resources, as well as home entertaining and lifestyle stories." Today, as I was checking my Google Analytics, I had a huge bump in site visits, and they were referred from her blog. I am so glad that she is happy with her Ball jelly jars, and I am thrilled to know they went to a home that will truly appreciate them. They are also so much more attractive in her photography than in mine. The rosemary sprig is perfect. The other items in the collage above are from an Etsy seller I'd be flattered to be next to any day - ethanollie's trampoline.

Above are the little vintage extras she received from trampoline and me. I sent the Audubon card, and it appears she received photos and one of those fortunes you received from a penny scale back in the day. They would all go straight to my inspiration board (that's where the Audubon card came from). I encourage you to lift your fortune (it doesn't cost a penny!) and visit sfgirlbybay; it's a fantastic read, and we know she has to be wonderful if she is one of my customers. And Victoria, I had never seen vintage jars like those, either!

Kreative Blog Love, With Raspberries On Top

I'm flattered to be able to say that I have been tagged with a kreative blog award from everyeskimo. The idea is to share seven bits of information about oneself, and then pass it on to seven other bloggers. I loved eskie's theme of raspberries so much I had to keep it. So without further ado, here are seven little tidbits about me, to be eaten alone, or on top of ice cream. * Once upon a time, I played boys soccer. * It seems that the less permission I have to get a dog, the better the dog turns out to be. * I am afraid of heights. Specifically, that not only could I fall to my death, but I might accidentally drop my purse/camera/wedding ring/shoe, never to be seen again. * I wrote the book on local government ethics. (Okay, I co-wrote and co-edited it.) * I work for an elected official, but find politics to be corrosive to the soul. * I only ever dated redheads, and I married one. (Which is less amazing with a fairly small n, but still highly unlikely.) * Growing up, I hated my thumbs. Bloggers to whom I am passing the raspberry torch, should they choose to accept the mission: enhabiten, Colorgirl, Diary of a Madd Weekly Painter, Glynt Pottery, I'm So Vintage, {me}longings, and funretro

{me}longings Love

I want to give a shout out and a hearty thank you to {me}longings. I recently noticed a certain Etsy username had favorited a number of my shop's items, and I found the blog associated with the username: {me}longings. I also found the Flickr account, and between the two sites, I was highly impressed with the aesthetic and the ecologically responsible theme. I bookmarked the sites for further exploration. Within a day, I checked back in, and to my surprise, I had been featured! This fantastic blogger wrote possibly the nicest words ever said about me. I couldn't believe the number of sources she pulled from to gather her profile of me. I like myself better in her words. I will definitely be keeping an eye on this blog and her associated Flickr album, and I encourage you to do so as well.

Experimental Banner

I'm experimenting with a few pictures in Google's Picasa. How's this shop banner? I'm trying it on in the shop for a while... if you have thoughts, feel free to be honest - I want to know if I look fat in these jeans!

Banner Monday

I've decided that I am in desperate need of a new shop and blog banner, and probably coordinating business cards and the rest of the works.  I've collected a few shop banners that I admire, and seem to capture the aesthetic of the shop.  I think I like banners that are primarily photographs, with overlaid text.  My current shop banner is birch bark with New Dominion Blues over it, but it isn't great quality.  And while it does capture my aesthetic, it isn't an image of anything I have made or sell in my shop.  Selling both handmade and vintage items complicates the matter a bit. 

(enhabiten)

Does anyone have any recommendations for a graphic artist who would "feel" what I'm going for?  I could try to do this myself, but I'm willing to pay a professional to get it right.

Re-Industry

Lately industrial decor has been catching my eye. There is something so heartwarming about pieces that once worked hard coming out of retirement to serve again. I pulled together an industrial collection to tickle your fancy.  This factory cart (above) has new life as a coffee table in the restored barn chronicled in the maya*made blog.

(chhowlett3)

 (HudsonGoods)

(ColoradoCustomWood)

(brandmojointeriors)

(jlsherman)

(HudsonGoods)

(TLSbyDesign)

(UrbanAccentHome)

(TopsyDesign)

(industrialrelic)

(sadieolive)

(dkgeneralstore)

(stevenhaverdesigns)

(mayamade)

(JodyDigger)

(threepotatofour)

 (threepotatofour)

(threepotatofour)

(UrbanAccentHome)

(phdconceptions)

(mikeyB81)