A Sense of RE-Purpose

As an avid collector, yard sale enthusiast and passionate decorator it is inevitable that I end up with bits and pieces of things just because they strike my fancy. I have said more times than I can count, "I can do something with this." As life has it, I don't always get around to doing that elusive "something." But recently a box of discarded mismatched glass candle holders caught my eye. They're the type that maybe once belonged to a decorative fixture and are somewhat useless on their own as the bottoms are not flat. I had a vision of adding chains, jump rings, beads and baubles to re-purpose them into hanging candle holders. Here is the first one, hanging from an iron stand. Voila! Reduce, Re-use RE-PURPOSE!

Memorial Day

May we always remember and be thankful.

Collage for Melissa

My most recent collage was received today by my childhood best friend, Melissa. She and I met shortly after we began first grade together. We lived close enough that we could walk to each other's houses and we spent endless days together making mud pies, riding bikes and walking to the corner store to buy candy. We laughed, we sang, we imagined.

As life would have it we gradually lost touch for many years. Babies were born, loved one's passed but there was never a time that I didn't think about my sweet best friend. Only recently have we reconnected and it feels so right to have her back in my life. Melissa had requested that I make a collage for her in an Asian theme. In honor of a friendship renewed here it is. Melissa, you're beautiful inside and out, you sing like an angel and I can't wait until we can "play together" again!

Gypsy Style

Treasures past and present. The cigar poster is from a trip to a Paris flea market (oh, to do that again!) the butterfly sequin top is a recent find, covered bottles from German flea markets and various framed prints from all over. Gypsy Style suits me just fine!

Week-end Treasures

Look how far thirty dollars can go when you hit the right yard sales. I had loads of fun racking up these terrific bargains over the week-end!

Busy Days

It seems as though there are never enough hours in the day! As warmer weather (finally) is upon us here in the Northwest my days are becoming busier. The Thrift Shop I run is at it's peak during the spring and fall seasons. Business increases to a very hectic pace and keeping up with customers, consignors and volunteers definitely takes it's toll! Warmer weather also means working hard to establish some sort of lawn on our rocky outcropping and adding to the flowers in my backyard border. Best of all, this time of year brings an abundance of tag sales, garage sales and flea markets. I can, without fail, be found perusing these sales every Saturday morning adding to my eclectic mix of home decor accents. All of this to say that I will most likely begin to rely more on photos and less on words during the coming months. I don't know if any of my photos are worth a thousand words but here is a lovely tulip that called out to me this morning.