It's done! (opera ladies are singing in the background)

I finished the chair for my sister.  

Now the dilemna.... I love it! I want it!  

Any ideas on what I should do?

furniture restoration...Goodwill style

One of my favorite things to do is go to a Goodwill.  

Crazy.  I know it.  

But the treasures that await, well, COULD await is the exciting part.  When I find a piece of furniture that has possibilities, for LESS than $10, I feel as if I've found gold!  Over the last year I have fixed up a lot of these pieces, and will post some of the photos below.

Most recently, my sister Shanon over at Vintage Sparkle Chic has been on the hunt for a shabby chic chair with cushioned top and bottom, wooden arms and legs and small cushion material on arms.  She found one she loved at the Paris Street Market but it was almost $200!  For someone like me who now makes that sort of thing, it would be painful to see her spend that when we can make it... well I can make it!  She could too, but always said she'd rather just BUY it.  And if you have seen her blog lately she has been spending enough time painting to do any sort of projects.  

Like the amazing sister I am (!) I have been scouring Goodwills looking for her perfect chair.  I finally found one last week... maybe it's not perfect but for $34 it will do.  It has been a lot of time tearing apart, and  am not in the fun part of painting and reupholstering.  It;s not finished, but here is my progress so far:

Goodwill shape and current state, as well as what Shanon wants:

I bought four legs at Goodwill for 50 cents each and painted them white.  

I bought 2 square boards at Michaels and screwed them together, then screwed the legs on.  

After that it was just padding, adding material, and a hand-stamped strip of fabric across the middle.

Love it!!

One more example is another Goodwill chair I bought for about $10.  

That's it for today!  I'm going to try and finish my sisters chair and can't wait to post the final result!!

Have a fabulous week!

Grab my button!

Finally have made a button for the Etsy shop 

I share with my sister Shanon, who blogs at Vintage Sparkle Chic.

Trying to figure out how to put the code on my sidebar now!

photography, cats, and more...

I have been working on my Etsy shop items that photography, my true love, has taken a backseat.  I snapped a few pictures of my friends 3 year old while hanging at our house the other day.  She is such a beautiful girl and I am dying to do a real shoot with props and sweet clothes.  I also need to update my photography website with a bunch of shoots that happened over the last 3 months but haven't had the time.

Here is the sweet Cailynn:

And then, one of my favorite subjects, my mini-persian Princey.  We have had him for 2 years now and he wins over anyone who spends time with him.  He was also a good subject for my nieces birthday card.  She is my sisters oldest daughter, who has a blog over at Vintage Sparkle Chic.

Princey has starred in other print items... I'm still thinking calendar!!

A 10-minute project for my daughter to bring to her dads for the weekend... a modge-podge "treasure box" with little surprises in it : )

And, I finally made drapes for my living room!  They are muslin, burlap, and Rachel Ashwell shabby-chic material at the top that I found at GOODWILL!  That place always surprises me with what you can find...

I need to post what I had before and also a shot with them closed.

Have a great Monday and week everyone!

Featured on Etsy!!

I have been working like mad on adding items to my Etsy shop.  I have dressers, recovered chairs, new purses, crystal lamps, and many other items that are all currently being worked on/re-salvaged and about to be posted.  It has been so fun and soooo much work.... I love it!

I was recently featured in an "English Cottage" collection with a cake platter I had made!  

So exciting to be recognized!!

My sister, who has the Vintage Sparkle Chic blog has been working on making our own ribbons to use in handbags, on lamps, etc and she has really made some beautiful creations.  All are hand-ripped and made with muslin and permanent dye.  They are now posted for you to buy yourself!

Etsy shop!

hello everyone!
I have been so busy with building an Etsy shop with my sister! We are so excited to have an actual excuse now to create the things we love to buy.  I've also done some reupholstering of little stools for my neighbor, and learned during the process what works best : )  A little different than just sewing!  So here are a few pictures of the stools, along with some items from our shop.  Go and check it out!

Etsy shop items:

reupholstery before and afters:

before

after

before

after

no "befores" for these, just afters : )