If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?





This past weekend we rebelled against the natural order of things and went to the beach. Sure it was 30 degrees and the sand cracked like ice under my feet, but tyranny like Mother Nature's need to be stood up to. I will not submit to this winter any longer, I am summoning Spring.

The Bears and the Bees

A hive of bees and a sleuth of bears hungry for honey...doesn't look as if it's going to end very well for the bears. The 1970s came out with some great graphic sweaters and I've had the good fortune of finding quite a bit of them lately.  This particular one coming to the shop soon.

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty.

The above quote is what came to mind when I thought about writing this entry.  But for the sake of keeping the content fresh here, I present my 2011 resolutions/goals(12 days in):

1. Stop selling my vintage....no clue how I am going to do this, I might have to win the lottery.
2. Actually keep track of my deductible mileage(along w/ other business expenses)
3. Get the twins potty trained...we are so far behind on this.
4. Give http://www.thechurchofvintage.com/ a face.
5. Get my European passport, I'm eligible because I have relations in Greece. So why not right?
6. Take a vacation this year, a week at the beach an hour away would work.
7. Finish the house! But I will settle for a kitchen that has a refrigerator on the same floor.
8. Go to the longest yard sale in the world. As well as a few other rather large out of state flea markets.
9. Take the house back from the vintage....almost every single room has a work station that includes a pile a vintage....people don't live here, vintage does.
10. Be a good person.  Seems trite but it's actually something I am conscious of daily. I want to be a positive person and only emit positive ideas and energy as much as I can. Which is rather hard because I do have a rather cynical outlook on society accompanied by a biting anger that hits me in the gut from time to time, but I am working hard not to succumb to it,  afterall my children are watching and learning from me.

I'm humming it right now

New Year's means more than just resolutions and Twilight Zone marathons at my house. It also means that the lottery opens up for Antique Roadshow Tickets!!!

Every year it's marked on my calendar and every New Year's Eve while Dick Clark is on and for the next week I'm humming that familiar Roadshow theme song.....heck I'm doing it right now as I type.   The hubs and I went two years ago when they came to Atlantic City, stood in line for hours waiting to have our things appraised but really you go just to take in and oggle at everyone elses stuff and of course try and get lucky with a Keno brother.....I think it's the novelty of them being antique appraising twins is what does it for me really.



Twins!

 Tickets are free, but  given out randomly. The closest city to us this year is Pittsburgh so we are shooting for that one.

In other news,  after just over two years and two Mike's Hard Lemonades later I am proud to declare The Church of Vintage on Etsy FINALLY has a banner....well sort of, the name is missing from it (knew I should have had third bottle of Mike's), but it is better than nothing. Sort of gives the feel of looking through a window or maybe more like the slats of a mini blind, still sort of pretty. If anyone asks though I meant it to look that way;)

This was Christmas.....



Xmas morning,running towards the tree






Playing w/ the first and LAST present he opened





.....And now it's done, and I couldn't be happier.  The holidays brought many things, a house tour, a busy store, baking parties,Santa and even a blizzard .  Now just need to get over the New Year's Eve hump and I can come back from my trip from the Brink of Insanity, along with everyone else....evidently Crazy Town is a very popluar destination for a lot of people this time of year.

Last Minute Gift Idea: The Anthropologie Necklace

Anthropologie , the store, the myth, the legend. Seeing how everyone wants what they are selling and with almost everything vintage inspired, but not everyone able to afford it sure makes it easier for me to make a living as most Etsy vintage dealers and  artisans are already selling what they have at a fraction of the cost.

This post I initially intended as a rant, demanding an "anthro-apology" for insulting my good sense by trying to hock THIS necklace onto people for a crazy amount of money, you clicked the link, you saw the price right? In case you forgot your glasses it's $168!!!  If it hasn't occured to you yet what the big deal is, it's because it's a paperclip necklace wrapped in electrical tape PEOPLE!  I'll quote what one poor fool wrote in the review,"Not sure if it was worth the price but it is an interesting necklace." Well duh.

But since Anthropologie is selling something like this it means you can totally get away with giving this as a Christmas gifts to all your Anthropologie loving friends. But since the original version is $168 we will just be making our own. All you need is:

1. common sense
2. electrical tape, any color, preferably scotch brand.
3. paperclips
4. a clasp of some sort, you can also use ribbon

One episode of Martha and 75 cents worth of materials later this is what ended up with:





And I'm not even crafty. Here is a side by side of the Anthropologie one and mine:







$168  left...75 cents right

Not too shabby, even though when it comes down to it, it is still a paperclip necklace. At least this version won't give you sticker shock and for the cost you could afford to give one to all your friends. And since you will have saved yourself a bundle for your savviness do not forget to reward yourselves by buying yourself something pretty from  here ;)







Before and Almost After

Just a little update since this post. The House Tour came and we, meaning the house and I survived.  I didn't manage to get everything on my list done, but that I guess would be expected...I mean who did I think I was Martha Stewart(okay maybe for a second).  I did get a lot of the eyesores remedied though, like painting over all the battleship grey paint that was on the floor and the woodwork.  After awhile it starts to make you feel like you're living in a submarine.


There had been a momentary lapse in judgement the day before the tour when I painted the hall the color of poop or "Sell this House" brown, I feel like it's an HGTV color if you know what I mean. And I really have no clue how it happened, all I recall is I had a different can of safe, pale, light friendly paint named 'Rice Paper' that I had used in the stairwell and 3rd floor hallway stirred and ready to go up , next thing I know I am being seduced by a can of mistint I bought on an impulse from Lowes the night before with no intention to even use in the house and before I know it THAT color is on my wall instead of the 'Rice paper'.  So for now I'm living with it, because the thought of painting it over is worse than the color itself at the moment, no  more home renovation until after Christmas.

before

after

                       
The hallway....we changed out the lighting, extensive plaster repair to wall and ceiling, painted EVERYTHING including floor, which is only a temorary solution until we can refinish them as we have in the rest of the house.  The wall with the wreath in the "landing" area is still a work in progress.

before





after

                                                                                                                    

The staiway aka big pain in my tush....refinished the banister, painted, caulked and puttied the spindles, risers, windows, moldings and wall. Sanded and stripped treads which use to be cobered in a brown thick paint, they still need to be sanded even and sealed.