Tagged: Mossy Cottage
Minimalism Game Days 16 Through 20
I am not going to lie, this is getting harder and harder. Not because I don’t want to get rid of anything, but rather that I just don’t have tons of stuff to get rid of. I’m not including my craft room because I will be doing this all over again there in January. Maybe more than once seeing the over abundance of craft supplies I have that I never use!
So here are the items leaving my house from this post.
If this isn’t an eclectic lot, I don’t know what is. Everything from a handbag to hair color to more cat toys.
You’ll be seeing a lot more Christmas ornaments once we put up our family tree.
Plastic tote bags of all sizes, wall decals, doilies a purse and some more holiday items.
I got into the linen closet here. Notice there are still more Christmas items!
All kinds of wrapping items and three random floral picks.
As you can see, I just pick up items as they catch my attention and add them to the pile. This stuff is all leaving my house so I don’t really care how it’s grouped.
I’d love to know if any of you are playing along or if you plan to do this in the new year.
Mixed Media Beach Book Marks
I’m going to be setting up at the Vintage Home Market show in Richmond, VA this Spring and decided to add some bookmarks to my handmade merchandise. My inspiration for making bookmarks came from some lovely wool I recently purchased at a thrift shop.
Doesn’t it just scream, “Use me for bookmark tassels?”.
Look at the wonderful textures and colors. So yummy!
Several people asked me to make beach themed junk journals for this show so I decided to add some beach themed book marks to my stock as well. Here is a quick step by step run through on how I made them along with the final results.
I cut some watercolor paper into strips.
Then I just scribbled on some blue watercolor paint.
I added some green and a darker shade of blue to completely cover the surfaces.
I added the bubbles by wiping away the paint with a baby wipe through a stencil. I painted on some seaweed fronds as well.
I cut out several seahorses with a Tim Holtz Bigz die and my Big Shot machine.
The seahorses were painted, sealed with glitter decoupage medium and dotted with a white Uniball pen. I made the eyes from gold sequins with a black paper dot for the pupil.
Some of the large bubbles got a glitter treatment and the seahorses were glued on to each bookmark. Captions were printed out, edged in blue ink and adhered to the base.
As I consider each piece a work of my own art I signed each one before slipping them into a plastic bookmark sleeve from Clear Bags. Some pieces of the inspiration wool was tied to the tops.
I also added decorative paper to the backs to finish them off. Here are the close-ups.
These bookmarks are really sturdy and well protected by the plastic sleeve so they will last a long time. They are perfect for taking on a cruise or beach vacation! I will be selling them at the Vintage Home Market in April.
Bookmarks are a lovely small way to create art that also serves a function. Cut some paper strips and let your own creativity flow while you make your own bookmarks!
My New Antique Mall
For the past two weeks I have been packing, schlepping, unpacking and arranging merchandise at the New Fredericksburg Antique Mall. The old Fredericksburg Antique Mall and the Antique Gallery finally have merged together at one location. We are now in the old Ben Franklin building where River Run Antiques was located. But this mall is so much different from River Run. My cousin, who owns the mall, has put in super new lighting, made beautiful spaces for all the dealers and had the floors cleaned up and polished. It is now so light and bright!
Here is the new sign on the front.
Here are some pictures of Moss Cottage Vintage’s new booth!
My showcase is still waiting for electricity. It will be nice and light when I get it hooked up!
Mantiques, sewing supplies and some cool odds and ends.
Moss Cottage Vintage is only one of many shops in the Fredericksburg Antique Mall. The entire main floor and downstairs are filled with booths. This is one antique mall you do not want to miss if you are visiting old town Fredericksburg, Virginia. Our new address is 925 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA 22401. The mall will be open every day 10-5 and Sundays 12-5. And if you are familiar with the old River Run mall, come and see the wonderful transformation!!!
After The Party Up-Cycle Tags
The Christmas holiday season is over and all the goodies are gone, including the 3 batches of Chex mix I made. So it’s time to say goodbye to the empty cereal boxes.
Some went the way of the recycling bin and others… well, they went the way of my craft room.
I cut a box into tag shaped pieces.
Then I covered one side with printed paper and the other side with plain white card stock.
I layered on pieces of different papers and sandwiched trims, pieces of paper doilies and snippets of tulle between the layers.
Here are the finished tags.
I didn’t buy anything for this project. I only used supplies from my stash. I think they turned out pretty well considering they started as waste.
I hope this inspires you to look in your recycling bin, pull something out, and use items in your stash to create something pretty and new!
A Little Up-cycled Project
I purchased this ugly metal match box holder a couple of weeks ago because I thought the shape was really nice. The flower cart picture on the front, not so much.
The bottom needed help too!
I decoupaged some scrapbook paper on the front and the bottom.
I attached an old piece of broken jewelry on the front to add some bling. Now it is worthy to sit on a desk and hold pens, pencils and “old lady eyes”.
It can also hang on a wall. There are many things (including a match box) that you can corral in this up-cycled holder!
It was a quick and easy re-do that saved this vintage piece from going to the junk yard! It is now available at Moss Cottage Vintage in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Ready For The Vintage Home Market
Here’s a quickie post because I am busy with The Vintage Home Market this weekend. I just wanted to show you how great the booth turned out. A great big thank you goes out to my sweet hubby Martin for helping me get it all there and arranged. So just sit back and enjoy the photos.
If you are in the Central Virginia area, please come to the show and see us. The show information is at the bottom of this post. There are lots of dealers with really cute vintage items to see and buy!
I really hope I get to see some of my dear readers at the Market!
What’s Up?
I’ve been missing in action on my blog lately because I’ve been busy getting ready for two upcoming vintage shows. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what I’ve been doing.
Five Cooking Themed Junk Journals. The Charms I Found Are Absolutely Adorable!
I have made several themed junk journals. There will be cooking, travel, garden and general themed junk journals.
Lots of Wood Pieces Getting A White Wash!
Both furniture and decorative items are getting gussied up with white paint. Funnily enough, some of the smaller pieces where then painted aqua instead!
The Beginnings Of My Show “Pile” Being Stored In The Sun Room.
This photo was taken a couple weeks ago. This pile has grown considerably since then!
The next two weeks are going to be my crunch time so I’ll be even busier. I’ll try to remember to pick up my camera and take some pictures along the way to show you.
Information about the Vintage Home Market and Foxwood Barn Sale can be found on my “Up Coming Events” page.
More Makings
As my last post showed, I have been very busy making items for two upcoming shows. Here is just a quick little post showing some more things I have made. Enjoy!
Up-Cycled Child’s Skates
Up-cycled men’s skates. The blades had marks on them so I covered them with snowtex to hide the flaw.
Snowmen “Merry Christmas” plaques from some blank wood plaques that were languishing in our garage.
A wreath made from a metal ringy thing I found while out junking one day.
As you can see, at least 90% of everything Moss Cottage Vintage makes is made with recycled elements. It is good for the environment and let’s me create one-of-a-kind items my customers can cherish!
What’s Up?
It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote a post but that doesn’t mean nothing has been going on here. In fact, it is because so much has been going on here I haven’t had a chance to blog.
Moss Cottage Vintage was supposed to participate in our very first barn sale, however, six straight days of rain changed our plans. We had a little problem with all that rain outside deciding it needed to come inside.
This is not good!
Across the ceiling and down this wall too.
We are still not sure where this water in the laundry room came from!!!
We have had the outside situation taken care of and now we are waiting on some bids to redo the ceiling and drywall. Like they say, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another”.
After taking all the merchandise that was supposed to go to the barn sale to our shop in Fredericksburg, that freed up some space in our sun room for me Martin to drag out all the boxes and totes containing stuff to make my Christmas arrangements. The problem was that I boxed up the stuff as I bought it and not in any particular order. Last week I spent half a day sorting through every box and re-packing them by category so when I actually start making the arrangements everything will be easy to find. The sorting and re-packing process made quite a big mess.
A great big mess.
More of the great big mess!
All sorted and ready to be used!
I have also been working on making some cards for another YouTube challenge. These cards are going to be distributed to women who are in the hospital battling breast cancer. It took me forever to come up with these because I really am not a good card maker.
Cards for a YouTube challenge.
The worst part about making the cards for this challenge is that each had to have a message written inside! I came up with a pretty good message and then printed it for each card. That way I could be sure the person was able to read it. My chicken scratch writing can be a little iffy. I did personally sign each card though.
Other than that I have also been working on a few little secret Halloween crafts that I cannot show because some of the recipients read my blog.
Forgive me for not writing sooner, but this time of year is super hectic for those of us who “make”. I will try to have my camera at the ready so you can participate in my next adventures!
My First Barn Sale!
I am so excited. My dear friend Barbara Hall from LR Fox Antiques and Design invited me to be a vendor at her first annual Foxwood Barn Sale. It will be held on October 3, 2015 at 3483 Spring Run Road, Mechanicsville, VA 23111. The link for the sale’s Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/foxwoodbarnsale. Check it out to see the beautiful barn and grounds where the sale will take place as well as great merchandise from the other vendors.
Some goodies Moss Cottage Vintage will have at the Barn Sale.
Old Shenandoah Vinegar Crate. Sorry, Louie is not included!
Up-cycled notebooks made by Moss Cottage Vintage.
Up-cycled corrugated owl tags made by Moss Cottage Vintage.
One-of-a-kind collage plaques made by Moss Cottage Vintage.
Needless to say, in the next two weeks I will be furiously cleaning, pricing and making other goodies to stock my booth at this wonderful event. Please come to the sale and support Moss Cottage Vintage and all the other wonderful vendors!
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