Fun with shells

Oh my, I've been away far too long! In a nutshell, been busy updating a beach house to get it ready for the rental market. Creating in a different way ... painting old furniture, making headboards from plywood, batting and canvas, putting together IKEA furniture! Lots of work, but lots of fun.

The piece I'm most excited about is this fireplace surround. It originally had pink tile that was falling off. I convinced my contractor that I wanted to do a shell surround and he arranged to have the metal mesh and substrate applied. My good friend and mosaic artist, Karen, helped me. With the placement of each shell we ooohed and ahhhhed. When we ran out of shells, we just went down to the beach and got more supplies!

I can't even express how thrilled I am with the way it turned out!

Barn Sale in Northern Virginia!

Been busy all week helping two friends set up for their premier barn sale! The sale starts today and runs through Sunday. If you live in the Northern Virgina area (Oakton, specifically) it's well-worth the drive even if it *is* raining (what's with this weather?!)

Click here for all the dets: http://thebarnonsweetwood.blogspot.com/

Just added to the store...

Beautiful old photo or postcard album.

This is a FABULOUS old box filled with photo-oil colors.

Vintage metal First Aid Autokit...filled with supplies. Ooh, wouldn't it be fun to keep a traveling art kit in here? You know, a first aid kit for creative emergencies?

Cool box of paper stencils. Got this in two sizes.

You're a winner with these poufy, flouncy ribbons!

See all these and more at www.thepaperfleamarket.com

Pajama Party

Starting to post finds from last week's treasure trove of goodies ... this is just the very tippy-top of the iceberg. These Pajama Party paper dolls for instance ... http://www.thepaperfleamarket.com/pajama-party-paper-dolls.html And what's a pajama party without doing each other's hair with vintage metal hair clips! http://www.thepaperfleamarket.com/metal-hair-clip.html

Then of course you'll need a cabinet card album page to put the photos in ... http://www.thepaperfleamarket.com/cabinet-card-album-page.html See all these and much more as I post more throughout the weekend at http://www.thepaperfleamarket.com/

3 Sales in 3 Days!

Oh my gosh, I was in HEAVEN last weekend ... estate sale at an old house way out in the country Thursday (found a bunch of BINGO items), estate sale at a 100-year old dairy farm on Friday (that's it above) and one of my favorite outdoor once-a-month flea markets on Saturday! Got me thinking maybe it wasn't so bad my basement flooded so I had to clean out *old* old stuff 'cause now I have room for *new* old stuff.

Inside the barn. Where'd my middle go? (ah, if it were only that easy).

Holes in the barn floor were patched with pieces of old license plates! (no, I didn't pry them off the floor ... but I sure thought about it)

Bought 'em!

Got it!

This too ... it's metal edging for around a garden ... just had to have it!

Cabinet card albums, anyone? At the outdoor flea market, I passed a booth on the way out that I'd passed on the way in, but my radar had failed to go off earlier ... there was a HUGE box of these! No photos, but gorgeous with lots of potential! He wanted $1000 for the lot(gulp), so I settled for only 20 of them. Will be posting soon. (I already posted a few a la carte cabinet card pages that had fallen out of larger albums). www.thepaperfleamarket.com