Purple Perennials

Nah, I don't like purple! LOL!

Flowers Part II - Osteospermums

These are annuals that I cannot do without every year. I think I want to get nothing but perinnials but that never happens.

I love the above photo! You can see how colorful these are and they do come in many colors. Each flower itself has so many colors in them and even the underneath has another color!

I purchased this wonderful flower called Stock in vintage peach, made a hanging basket with the peach osteospermums, vintage peach stock and sunset wizard coleus, it looks awesome! Here's a photo of the vintage peach Stock:

More Osteospermums to follow! I purchased peach, purple and white!

Flowers Part I

I think this is one of the prettiest Iris I've ever seen! It's called Chasing Rainbows and the colors are so pretty.

This isn't the best photo, but it's my other Iris. Purple is my favorite color so of course, I needed a purple Iris!It's such a rich, deep purple!

Antique Spree - Part II

I got these little gems for .25 cents each! Not sure what I'll do with them, but I fell in love with them. They are acrylic buttons, maybe I can felt up a new purse and use them on that!

This is my favorite piece from the long weekend! I collect this pattern, it's called Rosette. It's becoming harder and harder to find, then when I do find a piece, it's sometimes very pricey. I held my breath and checked the tag, only $16.00 and then you get a 10% discount, so I was one very happy camper. This is a covered butter dish.

I don't know much about these but they remind me a lot of Jadite. I have two others along this line now. It's such a pretty little flower pot.

I am not sure why I got started on these! I have this size in yellow, blue and now pink! And I have the smaller size one in blue and pink, still need the yellow one in small. I think I like the rooster's puffed up chest.

Pressed glass creamer for only $3.00 and it sure washed up nicely!

A child's mug in Roman Rosette, for only $1.50!

Looks like I need to open a third shop on Etsy so I can sell some of my finds! I'm really running out of room.

Antique Spree - Part I

I went antique shopping for a long weekend and had a blast. I was able to come home with some pretty fun items this time!

I came across a shop with older Pez dispensers for only $1.00 each! Nothing really exciting but one of those dispensers is a Witch with stenciled stem!

See how the stem has a printed patent number instead of the regular embossed patent? That's known as a stenciled stem, the other side has the stencil of the country of origin. This is actually a 3.9 witch but has 4.9 stenciled on it.

It seemed to be a great weekend for my air fresheners and cotton ball holders! Three of them in all!

This is one I didn't have and is a cotton ball holder, most people say they are cactus planters.

This one is an Airwick air freshener, see the smaller hole? I had this color before but it's fun to get variations such as this one with the big glob of something under the glazing. It was cheap enough and down inside it, is an original wick that I have to get out of there.

Another air freshener and again, I had this color but this one has such a nice clean finish to it, my other one has a crack.

Found a bunch of plastic buckles.

I have more to report, but will continue you finds in another post. Does anyone else go antique shopping?

Easter Grass Paper Beads

I came across some leftover Easter grass at JoAnn's and wondered how it would work for beads. I loved it, no tracing or cutting! Just roll, glue and coat.

Before:

After:

Finally!!

After three attempts, I finally got a bag/purse that I'm happy with the results! Remember the market tote? That was just okay, but I made a major mistake that I couldn't fix because I didn't realize it until after it was felted and the seams gave me grief.

Then, there was the purse I attempted that I won't even show anyone. Again, the seams were hideous. But the yarn didn't felt like I had hoped.

FINALLY! I did yet another purse and got advice on how to do the seams. Success! It's a bit on the small size, but I still love it!

These are the before photos above. Just about 12 inches wide! Now, let's see it after it was felted:

Now, it's about 8 inches wide! Here's where I need some advice. I received these beautiful felted flowers from Valerie at http://www.valeriesgallery.etsy.com/ I'd like to add these to the purse but am not sure where or how many to add. Any suggestions?

There's four flowers to pick from, two purples, a yellow and deep yellow. Give me some thoughts!

And, this was strange, when I went to get the flowers that I keep in the bowl that Valerie sent me, I realized the bowl and purse are just about identical in color! Wonder if we used the same yarn!

May Shopping Extravaganza!

May Shopping Extravaganza Sponsored by Team ESST
We are a group who network with the goal of cooperative promotion of our Etsy Supply Shops. The goal of ESST is to not only to promote our supply shops to customers from Etsy (where our shops exist) but also to expand our customer base to encourage new customers who may not be aware of Etsy. Our team features shops that offer both commercial, handmade and vintage art supplies, a variety which are unique, and not available in big box shops. Many of us are also Artists with other Etsy shops that feature Handmade items, and have supply shops as a means of supporting income so we can be full time Artists.

The first full weekend of every month, we sponsor the Weekend Shopping Extravaganza! You do NOT have to be a member of the Etsy Supply Street Team (ESST) to participate! Any shop can join in by running some type of sale and then simply add something to your shop announcement to let everyone know you are participating. You can make it any type of sale you'd like. Free shipping, free gift with order, a percentage off, BOGO sale, anything you'd like!

Then, come to the ongoing forum thread and let us know you are joining in! http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6142977&page=1 Post often so it keeps the thread moving up and you get more exposure!

It's going on now and running through Sunday, May 10!

Fun, Funky, Retro Gems!!!

Good Etsy Week!

Just last night, I found out I was in four treasuries and an alternate in another one on Etsy! And if that's not cool enough, I had two friends/customers send me photos of items they made with paper beads!

Take a look at this! This came from Doris, who can be found at http://www.dorisrivera.etsy.com/. She made these beautiful necklaces!

And this is a second one she made with paper beads included!

Made with the green dot paper beads I made. Aren't they just beautiful? I'm so pleased with them!

Also, Jennie from http://www.sosorosey.etsy.com/ made gift tags using paper beads made just for her.

OMG, ladies! Absolutely wonderful jobs you both did! And thanks SO much for sharing them with me!

(Make sure you click on the photos to enlarge them!)