Changing a lump of coal into

 the diamond that is

Grace

Yesterday I included a picture of an old rocking chair. 

 I've had her for awhile;  

standing outside,  patiently awaiting my inspiration.  

Definitely a 'she'; petite and showing

 signs of her lingering grace that was abundant in her youth.

Hmmm...Grace seems the perfect name for her!

I knew from looking at Grace that she had once been 

beautiful as well as functional.

 Much of her construction is held with wood pegs. 

 I have to admit, that I didn't check out all her  nooks & crannies

(One doesn't look under all the folds of a ladies skirt)

 so can't make any statements to her overall construction.  

Either way, Grace was a glorious piece that had seen better days. 

 She had greyed with age,

her wood was cracked and she'd lost her caning..  

The ages had left Grace as little more than a frame;

a frame that wouldn't allow her to ever again hold someone in her lap. 

Grace definitely needed a day at the spa! 

A good scrub and a rub down with deep walnut stain 

remedied the dull grey color she had been reduced to wearing. 

A little chicken wire-n-burlap and her lap will

continue with bountiful purpose as she cradles petunia blooms,

the soft cascade of lobelia, 

 and the promise of future

that whispers from the little bird nest which snuggles under the foliage.

 

The jute lacing accentuates Grace's tall and regal back, 

giving support the the treasure she holds and nurtures. 

And she wears a flower on her lapel, 

reminding us of the beauty she once displayed in her very structure. 

Not all furniture remains furniture 

but if we look closely we may find

the beauty and 'Grace' they still have to share. 

PS~Remember to mark your calendar for:

 Vintage Faire,

Enumclaw, WA

 July 14th, 10A-eP

 

How does a date grow wings?

It seems that July 14th is flying toward me.

I'm excited about the things we have planned for the

 Vintage Faire.

Don (he'll always be Donny to me)

will be able to bring the Old Buckly Fire Truck,

so we will be able to take pictures of kids 

(or kids at heart).

It also reinforces the fact that a portion of the proceeds

will be for Lymphoma & Leukemia Research.

The other thing I've decided to do is 'sell'

 my 2 old wringer washers as 

Silent Auctions for the Charity.

One will finish at the end of Vintage Faire

 and the other will continue through 

the next Saturday and and end at the

Enumclaw Street Fair.

 I'm still working on furniture 

and will have pix of those items soon. 

Sometimes just getting the pictures edited

 and in the computer 

takes as long as making something for the sale.

I'm taking vacation the week before the Vintage Faire, 

so should have more time for both!

However, since I needed to get going on CL posts for the sale, I did get a few pix done for this post.

  

 

 I know it seems blurry...

it's really a special effect

 that loses something at this small size!

This is a very old rocking frame...

wood pegs securing the arms and caning. 

I stained it, threaded jute cord thru the caning holes 

and of course 

added a chicken wire flower basket in the seat.  

After planting, it needed something...

so I made the burlap flower.  

I just kinda fussed around and like how it turned out.  

(If I do a any more, I'll be sure and post some pix and directions.)

   

 It also needed a little something more 

down in the dirt when the petunias were small.   

Those are fema-eggs in the little nested flower pot. 

 The flowers have grown and about cover it now,  

but it will be there when they die back and 

leave the chair with a little something thru the winter. 

I moved those fencing pieces across my drive as a backdrop for setting out 'yard art'  I'll have at Vintage Faire....

but I'm liking it there...

Maybe it will become a permanent 'display'!

OK...

better get sanding and painting...

spread the word and hope to see you at the Vintage Faire! 

 Countdown: 25 days to    VINTAGE FAIRE!

OK, I'm still learning...

but I'm pretty satisfied with how our poster turned out!  

 Especially since I only use the most basic computer programs. 

After much fussing...
 I quit trying to 'fix' a couple of things that 'changed'
 when I put it in the blog:

The Darker margin on the right isn't on my original...

I actually like it but don't know why the 'blog' added it...

and why isn't it on the left?

The Darker sections are really just placed top, middle & bottom...

Why did the picture print in the middle of it on the blog?

Maybe I should have just let you all believe
 this is exactly as I designed it.
Oh well, now you all know that I'm techno-challenged!

But as I said...feeling satisfied.

I also have a little handout (minus picture) for the local shops.

Next step...The Print Shop!

If you're local, hope to see you there! 

Vintage Faire 2012

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 14^th,    10A – 3P

1750 Pioneer Street,  Enumclaw

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vintage Sale:  Treasure for Everyone

Vintage, Antiques, Home Décor with Vintage Flair,

Collectables, Shabby, Chippy, Rustic, Primitive,

Rusty, Retro,

 Refinished, Repurposed, Refurbished, Rehabbed

Portion of the proceeds going to support

Firefighter Stair Climb,  for Lymphoma Leukemia Foundation

(Bring bags, boxes, trucks, trailers…you’re sure to need it for all your treasure!)

 

Vintage Flaire at Vintage Faire

As promised, I'm back to share plans for Vintage Faire.

Denice (Wonderful SIL3) has agreed to host a 

Vintage Sale in their darling yard.

We will have vintage and vintage like items, furniture, antiques, 

shabby chique, chippy, home decor, collectables 

re-habbed, re-purposed, renewed, re-cycled.  

Treasure for everyone.

You can see the posts on Craigslist, Seattle, Garage Sales.  

Enter  Enumclaw, Vintage  in the search line and  

Wah-Lah...There we are!

I will be updating posts with new pictures as pieces are finished.  

Denice has whipped out 3 pieces already...she's amazing! 

 Miss Mustard Seed has someone who helps her called Mini-me. 

 I suppose I would be able to call Denise Mini-D. 

(She is very petite.)

However, I'm not sure what she'd think of this idea.  

As a matter of fact, 

she's going to hear of the idea when she reads this post.

 (giggle-giggle, surprise, giggle-giggle). 

I also have a fantabuolous-tastic friend named Dee.

 (similar to supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) 

 Her artful creative eye is amazing...and she's agreed to help. 

 How blessed I am!

Did you know my middle name is Dee.  

This is after my Aunt Dee 

(Dehlia, the quintessential crafter...

hmmm is there some causal relationship to my interests?)

Now, do you see what I do?

Mini-D, Dee & Me (Middle Dee).

It's a 3D sale!

A portion of the proceeds will go toward my Brother Don's 

fundraiser for the Firefighter Stair Climb.

Every March he they climb the stairs of the Columbia Tower

about a kabillion stairs...in full firefighter gear!

 It's a Lymphoma & Leukemia fundraiser.

These are pictures of the "Simply Arlyce" 

vintage sale Denice held in 2010.

  It was part of the fundraiser for her Breast Cancer walk.   

We were all honored that she chose to focus on our Mom 

as she worked toward her goal. 

 This one is particularly rewarding for me 

because I've since lost about 65 pounds,

  I may share about that in another post but if you have questions, 

send me an email.

Here are some of the 'goodies' we had in 2010.  

We have similar treasures waiting for you!

 I will post the address on CL closer to the sale.

We'll have more lovely 'garden seating' for you to take home too!

  Hoping you'll come-by & say Hi. 

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses...

none of them good!

 

Instead of trying to give lame excuses for not posting since March.

I'll just tell you about my most recent adventure. 

I took a Jeneric vacation for the first 2 weeks in May.

I spent it with my brother & his wife in NC & Florida.  

  Jene + Eric = Jeneric!

(They also have Jeneric children.)

Jene & Eric had scoped out a couple of antique shops

 and they knew I'd love them...

and of course I wanted to check them out...

and of course I did love them...

and of course I bought some stuff...

and of course I wish I could have bought more!

(Why do those flights have to have baggage limits anyway?)

Eric had to work those first few shopping days in NC 

but when he was done with work on Thursday 

we headed east to the beach.

We arrived in Myrtle Beach well after dark
 so couldn't really see anything.

However, we woke on Friday to a glorious, sunny morning.

The beach was beautiful and the 'crowds' really non-existent.

 So what else would we do but go Para-sailing!

 It was a first for all 3 of us.

It was a thrill.

It was great to share this experience.

 It was a good day.

 I know this picture is small..,
but given the amount of non-tan skin hanging out,
 it's actually the perfect size!

  Friday evening we headed south,

arriving in Disneyworld Saturday morning.

 We had a week long Jeneric Celebration.

in honor of their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

I feel very fortunate to have had this time to spend with them 

and appreciate being included in this great trip. 

As Eric & Jene were celebrating their 25years,
 Cory & Teri were just beginning their 25year adventure...

And along with all of this celebration
 we also had time for plain ol'silly-n-fun!

After years of reading and sharing many Star Wars books
Nick & I finally got a chance to visit one of our favorite
lands far far away...and...

I have to thank Nick for being so obliging with

 his ol'Auntie's request for this picture!

I have a lot of pictures in my camera and

many more in my memory but more importantly, 

I came home with a heart full of love & joy.

Aren't we lucky 

to have hearts with an endless capacity for both...

 I can't wait for the next time we can get together.

Will it be when there are Wedding Bells Ringing?

Hope you'll keep checking back for my next post

when I'll share about plans for our upcoming Vintage Faire!
...and I promise it will be soon!

About Angelina's Legs

Angelina Jolie's legs don't have anything over on this little lady.

Actually, this Little Angelina's got 4 great legs.

I found her at a garage sale.  As I mentioned before, 

I frequently under estimate how long

 projects will take me to finish.  

Well, there's also the raccoon effect. 

That's when the next shiny object (interesting project) 

totally distracts me from what I've already started

Hence, there are a several UFO's at my house. 

 [Un-Finishished-Objects]

These flaws in my focus resulted in Little Angelina

spending several months in my driveway.  

Sometimes covered, at others let's just say, 

she was working on her patina!  

Having endured most of the summer & fall outside,

she came in this winter and received a thorough 'massage'.  

She was cleaned & hinges oiled.  I didn't repaint her.  

Her bluey-green chips revealed a previous brick red coating 

 I liked the combo 

so I stopped sanding once the loose bits were lifted 

 and she was pretty smooth. 

 Then I finished her up with a hand rubbed wax finish 

to maintain her well deserved patina.

All her little parts fold and lock nicely and

 her lovely long legs are still straight and firmly in place.  

 She's a lovely little drop leaf table. 

Vintage or Shabby, whatever you wish to call it, she's chippy. 

And now she's gone to the shop.  

I told you I would explain a little more about Angelina's legs!

Hmmm, who shall we talk about next?

Forging Ahead

So here I am again and I know it's been a long time. 

 Let me think, what's happened since I last blogged. 

1)  I got my new camera.  

Oh how things have changed since the days I worked with film.

I haven't gotten much past 'auto' shoot mode, 

but I have learned to play in 'Picnik' from Picasa.

2)  I moved my booth.

'Again!'  you say, with an exclamatory tone! 

 I think I mentioned that I was moving over a spot.  

Now that's been accomplished.

  It sounds like it wouldn't be that big a deal, 

right...just move over one spot.  

Holy Schnikey, it took me a lot longer than I imagined.  

Well I guess I have to admit that a lot of my 'undertakings' seem to take longer than I expect,

but it's ~done. 

 Of course it will never be 'done' and I've 'remodeled' a couple times already.  

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday.

3)  The latest remodel was because I sold my Barney Miller desk. 

 I named 'him'  Barney because  that was the first time I noticed that the props had been aged with what I assumed was paint.

 (For those of you who don't remember, Barney Miller was a sit-com about NYC detectives.)  

Anyway, that's what I thought of as I worked on this desk. 

 It was done with ASCP  Old White & her Dark Wax.    

  

 He and I have a lot in common...Lots of rolls!

But, they are diminishing (mine, not his).

I think these columnar corners gave this waterfall piece a 

stately charm. 

Wait until I tell you more about Angelina's legs!

More about that next time.

Thanks for visiting and hope you stop by again.

Coreen