Ornament - new spin on an old fashion idea

I picked up big old cardboard box of craft supplies at a garage sale for a $1.00.  Near the top was a quart size baggy of mismatched earrings, vintage rhinestone pins and old 50's era broken necklaces!  OKAY, I can do stuff with that!

I continued digging through the box to find three jars of vintage glass glitter, numerous rickrack packages (original price marked $.05 from Target - how old was this box?), styrofoam balls, and a whole lot of beads, sequins, and beads.  I had not thought of my grandmother's sequin, bead and pin styrofoam ball ornaments in at least 30 years!

I tossed everything aside for a couple of hours and got sentimental as I remembered her making these when I was very, very little.  Of course they were always red and green sequins with red rickrack ribbons..these are a bit different.  See for yourself!

Pin, pearl, sequin...poke in to styrofoam ball.
These are 2 inch balls.

Garage Sale Chronicles - 4th Edition

I have been to numerous wonderful estate and garage sales in the last two weeks.  Here are some of my treasures.

These two quilts were $10 a piece.  I figure if I even used them as picnic blankets they were worth that much.

The jewelry supplies above were a great deal at $5.  Not shown is a ring stretcher retail priced at $60..  I purchased this stuff and after I got home I realized I had 18 weird metal disks in the bag with the ring sizer.  I figured that they had something to do with rings and forming or measuring so I searched the net for what they could possibly be for.  I landed on a ring stretcher and I vaguely remembered seeing it but not knowing what it was.  I stopped back a few days later to return the disks and the lady gifted me with the missing part.  SCORE!

Oh, the red beads on the necklace above are going to be transitioned into something really fine.  The Sarah Conventry earrings will be great on a necklace.

Rhinestones, Rhinestones!

A better shot of the necklace above. Cool blues and purple rhinestones.

Earrings, marked Weiss!

  I wonder how old this beauty is?

Support our Troops

While shopping at Twin Cities Bead Bazaar, I stopped at Green Girl Studios booth to pick up some more of their fabulous skulls.

My former Marine husband has been wearing a paracord bracelet with a Green Girl skull woven in for quite some time now.  After I made his, all his buddies wanted them as well.  It made me aware of something simple I could do to support and thank our troops.

I travel quite a bit for my "real job" and as I walk through airports and see a service man or woman I typically stop and thank them for their service.  About a year ago, I started clipping bracelets to my backpack and began offering them up as I shook hands.  I've never once had any soldier turn me down.  In fact, all seem to really appreciate the gesture.

I can't tell you how many of these soldiers tell me they are on their way to the  middle east, some really ugly hot spots.  I am so proud of them and I sincerely hope they all make it back to the US and their families safe and sound.

At the Green Girl booth, I told the gentleman there what I was doing.  It turned out to be Greg Ogden himself and he promptly contributed a handful of skulls to support my efforts.  Thanks, Greg and Green Girl!

Greg Ogden....of course I made him pose for a picture!

These bracelets are simple macramé square knots using 550 paracord with side release buckles.   Tyingitalltogether has posted a large number of video tutorials on YouTube if you need some instruction.
I purchase paracord in multiple colors from Supply Captain with great success.  I get side release buckles from Create Designworks.

Braided Embroidery Thread Bracelet

I finally found time to try to make a bracelet I saw at Miss Lovie Creations.  There is a beautiful tutorial to make this bracelet.  I deviated a bit and added a couple of re-purposed chains along side just to give the bracelet a bit more width.  I also added a small charm on the clasp to keep it heavier on that side so it stayed on the underside of my wrist.

These were tough pictures to take, I couldn't  quite capture the detail, but it turned out very pretty.

Garage Sale Chronicles - 3rd Edition

I got up early on Saturday and headed up to an Estate Sale up in Cold Spring, MN.  Once again I got a number of good jewelry pieces to repurpose.  Unfortunately or fortunately, when I got back to the studio and checked out the goods, many of the rhinestone pieces were signed by Weiss or Kramer.  I can't repurpose such lovely things.  Anyway, here's what I picked up....

A gorgeous gold beaded bag, tag inside says handmade in Hong Kong

Ah, some lovely vintage tags!

12 mini trays.  Funny, I picked up 6 identical ones at a sale a couple of weeks ago.  These are perfect in the studio for setting out beading projects.

Oh, the things I can do with these!

Weiss dangles!

Marked as very early Kramer.  These rhinestones really sparkle.

Beautiful!

I plan to use these as anchor pieces to some simple rosary necklaces.

Unmarked, but fun nevertheless.

Kramer at their finest!  

This beauty really, really sparkles.  The prong settings are so wonderful.  You can really tell this is really high end.  The necklace is really heavy. Really :-)

Unsigned, I think these may end up as rings.

Oh, these were the first things I repurposed. I'll be posting my necklace soon!

$10 Dresser - Before and After

I bought this dresser at an estate sale this weekend and came right home and gave it a new paint job.

A simple white pine dresser.

OHHHHH!  I'm lovin' that color! 

Nice new storage in the studio.

Garage Sale Chronicles - 2nd Edition

Bling. Bling. Bling. A girl's best friend.
Gotta Love it!

I typed in Vintage Jewelry on Craig's list and low and behold this lovely estate sale ad popped up!  How can you pass up calling on this one?  Read it and weep.  Sally was great to deal with and really didn't strain my budget too much.  It made me sad to hear her say she had already sold much of the estate's jewelry at a church garage sale, including signed vintage pins from the 30s through the 40s.   Wahhhhhh.....

"Bling on a budget = vintage jewelry! I am helping to liquidate the estates of 4 elderly women in my family...one of whom never married and worked at Donaldsons...where she used her employee discount to buy jewelry for herself and her sisters. I literally have suitcases full of jewelry-most of it costume, some real and much of it is BRAND NEW with the original tags! Some items go back to the Victorian and Flapper (roaring 20's) eras!!! Prices vary and range from $3-$50 with most items between 10-$20."


Here's just a quick glance at a few of thing I bought.  I hope to repurpose some of it.

Check out the large red stones in the ring in the box and the earrings at the top left!  

They sparkle and sparkle.  Gorgeous.

Aren't those two daisy flower pins just to die for?  

Beautiful rhinestone pieces.  I really love that spider!