Sigh…I LOVE vintage clothes…so much so that I thought I would share this love with the world.

I started out a few years ago buying vintage clothes for myself. a couple of 1960s jackets and a few tops…even a dress here and there.

Then I started collecting small things, things like porcelain or chalk wear.

Then came a couple of postcards and playing cards.

Then I had so much I had no idea what to do with everything so I decided to open up another shop on Etsy and I called it Gardenofbella. That is where I turn old greeting cards,playing cards,postcards and you name it into usable blank journals. OH what fun I have turning something old into something new again and with a purpose!

So back on to the clothes part….did I mention that I LOVE vintage clothes…of course I have my own style ,I kinda lean to the 60’s era of clothing. but I will consider other eras as well.

So again this love for vintage got out of hand and once again I had to share it with the world!! I love when I can take something off the shelf that nobody wants and find a new home for it!

I am not alone on Etsy, there are MANY vintage shops to be found there. and some offer the most gorgeous clothing you have ever seen. Prices can vary too from shop to shop.

So If you have a love for vintage clothing, like I do…go on over and see Etsy’s Vintage section…you wont be disappointed…;)

And dont forget to take a peek at mine while you are there…;)

70s 3 piece set

Mod 60s 2 piece dress set

Smiles,

Tina

Have you ever gone to a thrift store and look at all the books they have??

Well I have and let me tell you, there are tons of old vintage children’s books that have the best illustrations ever!!

But they are old and tatterd and know one wants them anymore, so I have given them a second chance at life!

While I was out the other day at one of my favorite thrift stores I found a GOLD mine of Vintage Little Golden books. I had to have them, all of the pages were still intact and no markings anywhere..these will do I told myself and off I went to pay.

Meanwhile, rewind a few days before, I bought a really cool Bind-It-All machine…the best investment I have made in awhile!! I just LOVE this little machine.It punches holes in your paper,chipboard,cardboard..anything really…and then binds them with metal coils….love the metal coils, they are so much better than the plastic ones.

So here is where I give an old vintage book a chance at a new life…new purpose perhaps?

I start by taking the book apart,cover,and then one page at a time….until the book is completely apart. then I cut ALOT of paper to fit inside the book, straiten out the pages from the book by cutting them nice and neat. Then I start punching…and punching…and punching…the pages…with the bind-it-all…and then comes the fun part…binding!!

When I am all done, I now have a awesume NEW Vintage upcycled repurposed blank journal/notebook.

I keep the original story in the front of the book and then load it with tons of blank paper.

What a great gift this would be for any fan of vintage paper ephemera.

Take a peek at my other shop here to see what I have listed so far!! More to come…along with more great treasures.

Repurposed Vintage Book Journal/Notebook

Smiles,

Tina

So I was shopping at one of my many thrift stores that I go to, and came accross a chair. a chair that I need for my sewing room.

This chair was ugly,used and…did I say ugly.

But wait the price says $1.99 on sale from $3.99…now thats a deal!

Thrifted Chair

I new I could do something with this chair, so I took it home for a brand new start at life!!

This is what the cushion looked like..dirty and all…it maybe even smelled but I was NOT putting MY nose there…;)

Funny the picture does not show its true color…it is really a dark green.

yucky chair cushion

Now its time to take off the old yucky fabric…YUCK!!

And now this is what I am left with.

Base of Chair

Lets compare the old yucky fabric next to the new fabric I had left over from another project…WAIT…I cant find it…hmmm..lets use this one.

Old fabric-New fabric

What I did was use the base of the chair as an outline for my fabric,only I made sure the fabric was larger than the base. I added new foam to the seat base and after MANY staples it was done…lets take a peek!

Fabric Covered Chair Base

Now I have to put it back together…ok done!! here is the finished project that cost me around 5.00 to make…;)

Recovered Chair

Recovered Chair

I see that the chair cover looks blueish in the pictures..it really is not, it is more of a green color.
Now to put it in my sewing room…;)

Smiles,

Tina

I might be ahead of myself by..oh…a month or two, but hey I have Spring fever!

Truth is,I am getting pretty darn upset with this COLD COLD weather…enough is enough all ready.

Mother nature PLEASE bring some warm weather my way…please…;)

I love spring, the smell is so much more inviting than that harsh cold air.

But it does have its draw back…like the potent smell of melting dog crap..I could go without that!

I can see little buds on my tree out front of my house and every morning like clockwork I hear the birds chirping away.

How nice it will be to lose a layer or two of clothing. You will see people walking their dogs and moms pushing their baby’s in strollers…of course you might want to pick up a blanket or two as it still might be a little chilly.

Smiles,

Tina

I just might have out done myself this time.

I went on an Etsy shopping spree…and it was GREAT…;)

Take a look at all the great stuff I got…and you never know, you might come to like one of the shops for your own little shopping pleasures!

Garden Gnomes…how cute are these?? They are actually note cards but I intend to frame them and hang them on my wall above my computer desk.

For more wonderful pictures this Etsy seller has take a peek here

Garden Gnome Note Card

Garden Gnome Note Card

Garden Gnome Note Card

I love Vintage and of course flashing back to the 80’s I went with this cozy warm sweater…this will be great for the upcoming spring days when it is still cold out and I wont have to worry about the bulk of wearing a jacket. this will look great with a pair of skinny jeans…once I can fit into them…;)  For more wonderful Vintage items this seller has take a peek here

Vintage sweater dress

A PIF item, pif means ( PAY IT FORWARD) in other words…Karma, do something nice for someone else! I just found out that Etsy has some wonderful people that have PIF items in there shops! I have taken a liking to this and have had some PIF at my shop as well…;)

Homemade Diaper Cream….now those that know me, know that I don’t have any baby’s in the house…BUT I do have three big baby’s aged 34,12,8!! and they all play hockey…and that can lead to jock itch!…so when I came across this site that not only had a diaper cream it turned out to be a PIF item..AND a link to the site for the recipe that she made the cream from.OH by the way…diaper cream is JUST as good as the expensive jock itch cream!!

Homemade Diaper Cream

My oldest son in the black jersey...looking tuff at the face-off

Now of course I had to get some more super cute flannel to make washcloths with…take a peek here at this Etsy shop for some great items!

And that’s it….for now…;)

Smiles,

Tina

I thought I would take a go at making those Scrabble tile pendants that seem to be sooo popular right now.

I must say they are rather fun to make and easy peasy too!

I have only made ones with a black image so far, I think they look pretty sharp against the light oak color of the tile.

I was going to add a silver bail to them and a silver chain , but for some reason I did not like the way it looked…to me it kinda looked fake…does that make any sense??

Instead I went for the  natural feeling of  hemp. Drilled a hole just big enough to fit the hemp cording into.

I really like the way these turned out…to me a feeling of natural…maybe kinda plain..and not so busy looking..but I like them…now lets see if the buying world does!

For more necklaces take a peek over here

Smiles,

Tina

OK…I have been having sew much fun on Etsy with my bellaflower shop, That I went ahead and opened another shop…yeah I know crazy…but sew much fun….notice the pun??

Anyways…its all about the FLOWER! I love flowers,almost any kind really, just not dead ones.

I want flowers sooo bad in my house…but my cats WONT have it…I mean, sure they love them…TO DEATH!! They always seem to eat them…and get to them no matter where I put them.

So I have to wait till summer to tend to my garden…oh and by the eay I live in MANITOBA…and it is a LOOOONG time to wait for summer to get here.

No biggie, I just had to get creative and come up with my own flowers, Ones that would last forever and not be tempting for my cats to kill.

Well along that route of flower creating I guess my OCD kicked in and I decided to GROW a batch of flowers…flower key-chains,flower brooch’s,flower magnets…flower…you get the point!

Oh and by the way…don’t think I am taking a stab at people that have OCD…don’t even go there with me….I might just start obsessing over you obsessing over me!!

Where were we…oh yeah the flowers, I think they look pretty fancy smancy but I will let you be the judge of that!

Please feel free to comment…about the flowers…not the OCD…oh here I go again…..

Smiles,

Tina

OK so I forgot….forgot about Valentines day, and kinda jumped right into spring!

Maybe the fact that every store now has bathing suites and shorts and sandals for sale might be the reason why I forgot. I mean it is only minus 36 here in Manitoba.

Oh how I long for Spring…WAIT…OH how I long for Summer…this time I will try my best not to blink, that is what happened to me last year. I was just getting used to the hot summer days and BANG…I blinked and it was over!

There I go again rambling about Spring and Summer and forgetting about Valentines Day.

Why such the big hype anyways? When you are little, in school they MAKE you give out Valentines to your class mates, Praying that you get more than two cards and one of them ends up being from the teacher!

Now they send you home a class list and tell you, you have to give to all of your class mates or don’t give at all…I can see why. Oh such a great feeling of love knowing that your classmates were forced in giving you those cards.

Oh and dont forget the little cupcakes!! Well this part I can handle, I dont mind doing this and the kids love to help.

But when do you draw the line….My oldest is in grade 7…and praying he does not have to give out cards this year..last year in grade six he did. how embarrassing, being twelve years old and having to give one of your guy buddies a “will you be mine” card….poor kids!

As for adults and Valentines Day…just give me the dam chocolate and everything will be OK.

Man I sound like a prude…I just think it is sooo over rated, and yes  before you ask, I am married and have a wonderful relationship….BUT I don’t need a special day to tell my hubby that I love him!

I am however looking forward to Valentines Day…when it is all over, I get to go out and buy all the yummy discounted chocolate the very next day…mmmm, I can hardly wait!

And to get you all in the mood here is a lasting flower bouquet I made out of buttons…to me this is worth more than dying flowers on Valentines Day.

I did not really want to touch on this subject but I cant seem to help it.

This new law that goes into affect on February 10-2009 is going to affect MILLIONS of small bussinesss around the world.

The quick low down on this:

On Feb.10th 2009, New requirements of the (CPSIA) will take effect. Manufactures,importers and retailers are expected to comply with the new Congressionally-mandated laws.

Beginning Feb.10th 2009, Childrens products cannot be sold if they contain more than 600 parts per million (ppm) total lead.

Certain Childrens products manufactured on or after Feb.10th 2009 cannot be sold if they contain more than 0.1% of certain specific phthalates or if they fail to meet new mandatory standards for toys.

The new law requires that domestic manufactures and importers certify that childrens products made after Feb.10 .2009 meet all the new safety standards and the lead ban.

I am an artist that would be impacted by this proposed legislation if it is enacted.

I am fearful that as a sole proprietor I will not be able to afford the stricter regulations of the act,the cost of testing and certification is likely well beyond my means and I will be forced to close shop.

An idea of what I would have to charge a customer for the cost of  material, labor , testing and shipping this two piece bib set would be around $4000.00 ( any takers)???

Further  info on the Act is available at the CPSC website HERE

Please Vote to save handmade on my side bar——>

Smiles,

Tina

I did it!!

And it really was super easy…too easy..;)

I went to the local coffee shop and asked for a  paper coffee sleeve , That my friend is my pattern!!

Two pieces of scrap fabric, some fleece batting to help insulate the cuff…some Velcro to close it up,thread and with the help of my sewing machine I think it took all of five mins to finish…;)

When I do decide to make some more I will however add to the pattern length.

They should fit Sm,med,lrg to go cups, as well as some mason jars.

Keeps your hands from getting to hot and also great for using with cold drinks to keep your hands from getting frosty!!

If you look at the cook book on the left hand side it is a recipe for a Canadian BLT…when I was done shooting these pictures I was craving one…lol, maybe for supper???