Go check out the shop and her awesome creations.  I love my little robot brooch! 

(Pic graciously shared by the seller)

I love reading Jeanette’s blog!  I have been privileged to participate in a swap with her, but not lucky enough to be her partner.  I love her junking style. 

When I saw these necklaces on her blog post with a link to her Etsy shop, I flew!  I was able to score the necklace on the right with the black hair.  YEAH!!!!!  She is now mine, all mine!

(Pic borrowed from Jeanette’s blog)

If you have not been to Etsy, what are you waiting for?  It is awesome! 

This week’s random act of kindness was to give one of my winter coats that I have collected, but never wear very much at all to a lady collecting change at the street corner near my office. 

I don’t often believe the people that collect chain at street corners.  I look at their spotless white tennis shoes, their clean clothes and just doubt them. 

This lady, though, has been on my mind since I saw her a week ago.  There was something about her eyes that were so empty.  I put the coat in my car and then looked for her each day as I went to lunch.  I finally saw her and then rolled down the window and fed the coat to her.  She thanked me and I went on my way as the light turned green. 

I have seen her a few more times since then collecting change on the street wearing the coat.  It makes me happy I helped!

Remember when I told you that the number one rule of thrifting is to OPEN stuff?  Well, when I opened the drawers in this little cabinet this is what I found. 

Greek alphabet letters along with a table that tells you which is which.

Some other American alphabet letters, but the very best tray was the very last tray…

some lovely script letters and the entire alphabet!

The Kingsley Imprinting Machine was manufactured in 1940 and used for printing on ribbons, embossing bibles with names, and imprinting napkins.  It was manufactured in Hollywood, CA. 

I plan to use them to stamp metal tags.  So I bet you are wondering what I paid  for this gem?  It was not marked and when I asked what the price was they asked another fellow at the thrift shop.  He said $19.95!  I said, “Really???”  He said, “Yes.”  I told the man ringing me up to ring them up before he changed his mind!  Then I skipped out the door! 

Score, indeed! 

I have had spools on the brain lately.  For several months, I have been collecting wooden spools to use in jewelry makings, but until this past weekend, I had not done anything with them.

I took a vintage spool with some lovely wood coloring and Mod Podged layers of pattern pieces to it. 

I tried to pick the pieces with text and sewing instructions on them.  Then I added a vintage pic of a Victorian lady that I printed onto typewriter paper.  The first one smeared terribly, so I slowly built up the layers on the second pic. 

I like how the pic is a bit distressed which kind of fits the spool and the “feel” of the design.  I also used Mod Podge to glue town the ric rac.  The ric rac I used is from an estate sale that had some water damage to it so tea stained it a bit. 

On the top of the spool, I affixed a tissue sheet that I stamped using a Tim Holtz stamp.  As I was coating the stamped image it smeared, so I wiped it off and then re-stamped it onto the top of the spool.  I also stamped it on the bottom of the spool. 

I am now thinking on how to finish it.  I know I will hang it from some vintage seam binding, but I also want to hang some danglies from it.  Maybe some sewing items, maybe some beads, I am not sure.  It will be a necklace when I am finished, but for now I need to think it through a bit more.

What do you think? 

This week’s random act of kindness was to purchase a $20 Goodwill gift certificate for an elderly shopper.  When I went to my local Goodwill, I saw a very elderly lady shopping whose clothes looked somewhat threadbare.  She also got out of a very old car.

I had the cashier that rang me up take the gift certificate to her for me.  (I like to give anonymously.)  He was to tell her that a fellow shopper asked that he give it to her and nothing more.

I then left the store.  The cashier told me the next day that he thought she might be homeless as she comes in and looks around, but never buys anything.  He said when he gave it to her and she saw what it was she hugged him and said “thank you, thank you, thank you!”  He said she then bought herself a coat and some pants with the gift certificate. 

I felt like a million bucks when he told me! 

I started by Mod Podging down some French dictionary pages with some of my favorite images (sewing and eyeglasses).  The pages were very white as the very large dictionary is kind of new.  I sponged on some tan colored acrylic paints and then watered it down a bit to make it a wash.  Then on top of that I added a terra cotta color and then watered it down a bit.  After the color was as I wanted it, I used rubber stamps for the images.  I stamped the images using brown ink onto sewing pattern tissue and then adhered it to the book with more Mod Podge. 

The card in the bottom right is from an Operation game that I thought fit the cover.  I inked the edges of the card and the top to age it a bit.  I used Mod Podge to seal it to the cover. 

Lastly, I used the same process to stamp the image for the back cover. 

I then sealed the entire journal with another layer of Mod Podge. 

I love it antique look and funky images.  How about you?

I have often said that crafty peeps have a 6th sense.  Over the last couple of weeks I have found some random items that I knew that two of my friends would enjoy. 

For a friend in high school, I found a couple of Ziggy items at the thrift shop.  I remembered that in school she LOVED Ziggy, but was not sure she still did.  Well, I bought them and mailed them to her and surprise they arrived on her birthday which I completely forget every year.  For the longest time, I thought her birthday was Groundhog Day and would be a month late every year!  She received them and loves them and was so touched that I remembered she loved Ziggy.  She also thought it was awesome that I got them there for her birthday!  LOL! 

The second package was for a bloggy friend that I have not met, but feel like I know from her blog.  She has a Granddaughter that she loves very much that loves faeries.  I collected a tooth fairy cloth book (which was identical to a pillow I sent a month or so back at a different Goodwill).  To the book I added some Disney Fairy headbands and a Tinkerbell wallet.  I mailed them this week and then reading her blog found out that the week had been a really bad one for both her and the Grandbaby.  The Grandbaby broke her elbow in a fall at a party, her husband got cut with a chainsaw, and one of her beloved doggies passed away. 

She has not mentioned that it arrived, but she has a lot going on, but I am sure that the Grandbaby will love it! 

I felt the urge to buy the items and then the urge to get them in the mail this week to both.  I guess that 6th sense was guiding me again. 

Random acts of kindness! 

I love brooches and I love birds, so when I spied this one in the shop of Red Stitch Lab, I had to have it.  I contacted the seller as it had been sold and she graciously offered to make me another. 

It arrived in the mail today and I just love it!  I love the grey color, the lovely image, the sparse quality to it. 

Go check out her shop, she makes the loveliest items. 

P.S. I borrowed her pic of the brooch to do it the most justice! 

It is a lot smaller then the original location, but the goodness is primo.  While checking it out, I found this 1960s Fire King mug with an image of the Esso Gasoline tiger. 

It was $2!

I also found this Sterling Mexican Silver cuff which I cleaned to make it shine like new for $5. 

I also found this sterling silver gecko with real pearl charm on an Italian Sterling Silver chain for $5!

I also picked up a vintage bowling game for 50 cents to use the small game pieces for jewelry. 

I would recommend checking it out on your next visit to that area.  It is located across the street from Sticky Rice. 

I was struggling with a random act of this week when I saw on the news a story about a little girl that died from her peanut allergy at school.  They are still investigating how it happened and trying to figure out how she got access to the peanuts that killed her. 

The story was so sad as the parents were trying to get the money together to bury their 7 year old daughter who they hoped to lay to rest on Friday.  They mentioned that a fund had been set up at a local bank in her memory and donations could be made at the bank.  I hurried over to the bank and made a donation to her fund. 

In case you are moved to donate and are near a Wells Fargo Bank, you can get the details here.