Sneak Peek on March 29th Listings

I'll keep this short and sweet....

Here are a few pictures of two refurbished jewelry boxes that will be listed, on HDV, on the 29th of March.  Depending on my schedule, one or two others (obviously not shown in this post) will hopefully be listed on the 29th as well - but no promises.

Btw... both of these boxes are musical boxes.  The pink princess jewelry box plays The Carpenters "Close to You" and the Yellow Chevron plays a popular 70's song but for the life of me I don't know what it is, sorry. 

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Upcycled Thursdays - Chairs

When I see an unloved vintage chair my first thought is to strip, prime and paint giving it a second life as a....well, chair. But now I have a whole new outlook on the possibles behind a single chair.

Sources

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Saturday - Behind the Scenes of HDV

Starting at the end of April a beautiful thing happens....while most call it trash day I call it treasure day! One day a year our town allows each house to put all their unwanted trash, no matter what it is, on the corner to be picked up by the city.  What ends up happening is people drive around with their trailers, rummaging through others trash and taking what they want.  The entire ritual is kinda weird and slightly uncomfortable.  

In between breakfast, cleaning the house, rotating loads of laundry, taking the dog out, kids bath time, working on jewelry boxes, etc... the kids and I took a quick drive through town to see what we could find in the trash piles along the streets. 

I admit, it was weird going through others trash but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Here's a picture of one trash pile:

  

And here's what I walked away with:

And here's a little video of our adventure. It's short and sweet and I'm looking super fly in my pilates hair and outfit (and by super fly I mean not so fabulous)

 You will see these drawers again as I've already started refurbishing them.

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Upcycled Thursdays - Bird Cages

A vintage bird cage in itself is a thing of beauty.  Today's blog post provides a few ideas on how to upcycle and make your vintage birdcage a functional work of art.

 Picture from Better Homes and Gardens

 Picture from Better Homes and Gardens

  Picture from zuzupetals

Here are a few great bird cages for sale on Vintage Etsy:

Top Left:Vintage Bird Cage Tweedle Dee $17.00

Top Right:British Genykage ...vintage gold birdcage $42.00

Middle:Vintage Bird Cage Shabby $30.00

Bottom Left:Vintage Bird Cage - Hendryx $115.00

Bottom Right:Atomic Birdcage, Aqua Turquoise with Gold Splatters, Made in Japan $62.00

Before I sign off I leave you with the below pic. This picture made me giggle. I'm posting it in hopes it does the same for you.

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Work-it-Wednesdays - Aging Terra Cotta Pots

Spring is right around the corner, or at that's what I tell myself. I've been planning my spring garden and flowers and thought you may be doing the same?  If you're looking to add some vintage charm and dimension to your yard and/or garden you may consider aging clay pots.  It's Work-it-Wednesday and HDV is aging terra cotta pots. 

Getting Started: 

• Take a walk and collect mosses from around your yard and neighborhood.  Note: Pay close attention to shady, damp and cool areas where moss is more likely to grow
• Finely chop the moss up and allow the moss bits to dry for a couple of days

Mix together in a large bowl:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-1 1/2 cups dried, crumbled moss

Once the above is mixed together, put the bowl in full sun for three days.

When the mixture is good and smelly, brush it generously on the outsides of your clay pots. Then wrap the pots in plastic wrap and put them in the full sun.

In two weeks the pots will start to grow mold, and by eight weeks the pots will be nice and furry with moss, and looking very antique and old. 

For those of you not willing to invest 8 weeks into creating aged terra-cotta, check out the already aged terra-cotta pots from Enhabitan

 Vintage Terra-Cotta Pots $5.00

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Work it Wednesdays - Cheap Vintage Inspired Art

I found this great project on Better Homes and Gardens.  I took the liberty of giving some additional vintage inspired ideas for this project. 

Materials:

• Vintage Frames

• A can of Spray Paint

• Paper

• Small but heavy everyday items (see Etsy examples below)

Directions: 
Lay your small but heavy items on the paper
Spray the paper covering the entire page as well as the items
Gently remove your small items.  A silhouette should remain.
Let dry and frame your art in a vintage frame.
Voila!

Great Materials found on Vintage Etsy:

Frames: Set of six unique gold frames $48.00

Great Inspiration for art

Upper Left: Vintage Collection of three skeleton Keys $10.00

Upper Right: Colorful Weathered tool set $26.00

Middle:Vintage Children's Scissors $4.00

Lower Left: Two Vintage Primitive Fancy Oval Skeleton Key Hole Cover Escutcheons $10.00

Lower Right:Ornate Distressed Hardware Flat $14.00

Note: If you're like me you're not wanting to throw away the now spray painted ornate vintage item that was just used to make the silhouette.  Here's an idea... Frame the colorful item and hang it next to your silhouette art creating a unique vintage inspired collection! 

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Have a Happy Day!