finally!

Finally got to the booth today and skipped the post office! I needed my junkin' fix, the heck with Christmas gifts arriving on time.
The first two photos are all vintagesue goodies that went in the booth today. Feast your eyes and run to get them first.









Just some of the tags from vintagesue priced so low that you can afford more than one!





This last photo is some really sparkly jewels of mine. These are priced a bit higher than my usual, but they are gorgeous and not missing any stones. LOVELY ear clips to oogle over.

There are now three more spaces set up at Nellie's. Two more of vintage and antique goodness and one that is high end used clothing. The owner said she used to buy from the hoity toity in San Antonio---people who could only be seen is their things once or twice and then passed them on. Good thing I don't live in that neighborhood!

what was I thinking?

Where did I get the idea that I have time to make and create and sell in my own booth space? Nellie's second floor isn't even open yet and I am feeling unable to keep up.
Sure I set up 90% last week on Wednesday...all excited to go back on Thursday with the forgotten shelves and finish setting up.
Well......instead I was home with a sick child. On Friday I had an obligation to speak at my daughter's high school to four classes. Of course the classes were spread out thru the day so that I didn't have time to get to the booth.
Saturday hubby had to work until the last second when it was time to go to the company Christmas party and our high school daughter was away at her basketball tourney. No child care, no booth primping.
Today, well, I dropped off hubby's car at the body shop, picked up the rental car, ran errands, picked up high school daughter after her finals and then got packages ready to mail but didn't make it to the post office in time before I had to pick up the grade school kids and somehow in the midst of all of that my booth space fell thru the cracks yet again. I WILL GET THERE TOMORROW with vintage sue goodies and finish setting up. I will, I will, I will!
OK, on to what you really want to know....more goodies for the booth. Above is a candle holder that I made by marrying melmac saucer and cup to a painted candle pedestal. Nothing real glamourous or unique, but cute. Hey, it has to be cute, it is pink!
This Christmas book is definitely not the flavor of Chipped to Perfection, but at the booth none the less. Years ago I sold rubber stamps and made this book in a swap. Because I made 5 pages for the books, I got 5 books. This is the last one I have. It is pages of Christmas word songs each illustrated with rubber stamps and embellishments.


Much more typical of Chipped goodness is this cannister set, missing one of the set of four, of course, because nothing is really perfect! It was a HIDEOUS orange with orange and yellow flowers

that was ick, ick, ick. NOT 50's/60's retro goodness, but
50's/60's yuck. Of course the longer it sat in my garage
awaiting booth opening the more the paint chipped so that now there are little bits of orange peeking thru the pink, but that is what makes it perfect, right?








Last, an idea I took from vintage sue and robo margo and made my own. Plates glued to a board with hankies inbetween and dripping with pearls. The three white plates are all from Germany and I had them laid out on the board with hankies when I went to a texas yard sale and found the pink and yellow plates and viola! A marriage of Texmany
(That is like TEX MEX but instead of Texas and Mexico it is Texas and Germany!) Some of my stuff is Texmany since I lived in Germany for four years and brought back lots of treasures but now live in central Texas where I continue to collect goodies and mix them all up.

NEW GOODIES COMING

Sorry I don't have pictures today, but I have some great news for followers of vintage sue, previously at Crafter's in Copperas Cove. I have some of her goodies to put in my booth. A collage, some tags, old purses, lace, all with Sue's special touch. So run, don't walk, RUN to the booth this week to see what Sue goodness is in Chipped to Perfection, second floor of Nellie's in Belton!

booth magic

it is here, the booth at Nellie's. Well at least I set it up today...mostly. Forgot the glass shelves to one shelf display and have a few more goodies to take in, but the bulk of the work is done. The upstairs is not officially open yet, but if you ask, they are supposed to let you up there to shop. So stop by and ASK!
This first picture is of the empty room. The building was built in 1887 and has limestone walls. That window in this picture has the most amazing view of the courthouse tower. The white wall was added by the owners to split the upstairs in half. Only half is open for vendors the other half is storage.
First, all the big display furniture went in. This space is 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep and that seems so much bigger in my mind and in the garage than when everything is scrunched in there. The display I made from hollow doors is on the right and one set of bifold doors is on the left with the other set across the top as a shelf.
The top of a hutch I got for $5, painted creamy white is in front of the bifold doors, Isn't it amazing that the hutch is almost exactly 4 feet long and that is the depth of my space. Nope, didn't plan it, didn't even realize it until i got it up there and started arranging things. The two white benches are handmade though not by me and are for sale. Large on $20, small one (on top of brown shelf) is $15.
More than 1/2 way completed. The pile of stuff on the floor in front of the brown shelf goes on the glass shelves that I left at home. My guest book and business cards will go on top of the kitchen cart. After I took this photo I found more stuff in the van and added some baskets and quilt tops on the shelf above the doors. (Sue, can I get any more vertical?)







This is the view when you come up the steps. I am the first booth at the top of the stairs, really. There will also be a booth that backs up to mine and another one that sits on the opposite side, but this side is extra bonus space for me to hand things. I only had 2 hangers with me, so I hung the matching set of wall scones/mirrors/tea cups. The window (from previous post) and other stuff on the floor will get hung tomorrow when I go back with glass shelves, hammer, nails etc.
View from the other side. OOOOH it is all so pink and creamy white and girl-y.
I do have a few Christmas things for those lucky shoppers that get to go upstairs this month still. And I am loving the pink and silver Christmas balls on top of the pedestal I would leave them out througth St Valentine's Day and maybe even until Easter!

dreaming

What are you dreaming of.....
a white Christmas
a booth at Nellie's
obedient children
a football/basketball/hockey/water polo strike so that there are no more sports on TV
oh wait, those are MY dreams today.
I copied an idea that I saved from a magazine a gazillion years ago. The magazine's letters were all made from organic materials with little tags that named the leaf or seeds. Mine are made of whatever was in my craft bin. A "D" ring from a belt, white buttons, pink glitter, aqua ribbon, and some Christmas ornament beads. When hung the letters are more spread out, but for photo purposes, I scrunched them altogether.
Maybe what you are really dreaming of is BLING. Well, I got it! I made a solo road trip recently to visit family and friends and to do some shopping. I scored big at an auction in a little farming community and got a ton on linens and jewels. These are just 1/10th of what I got. They are priced at $5 each, no matter the content or condition! When I buy cheap, I sell cheap.
Cheap cheap cheap! Maybe my blog should be called "cheaped to perfection"!




This is a mail sorter that I got at my favorite secret source. it was a dark olive green with nothing to make it stand out. Guess you could find it in a crowd now, huh? Painted it pink (is there any other color of paint?) and then blinged and decoupaged away. Part of a pearl barette (from above mentioned trip) broken strnd of pearls, pins and earrings that I broke on purpose and a cool flower button from Germany that my friend Sue gave to me--then later saw in my collection and said "hey, I have some like that too". Pink, roses and bling. Does it get any better? Can it make even the electric bill seem less painful when it is sorted into this beauty?

still waiting

Well, another day goes by with all my goodies hanging out in my nearly freezing garage and nothing moves to Nellie's. A few things (not any of the ones pictured on the blog) did make their way to Hosanna House this week. Button bouquets, Santa mugs, 2 vintage Avon bottles for men---with boxes!

These flowers are made from doilies. I stole the idea from some magazine and then tweaked it to be "all mine". They used three different doilies in each large bloom. Mine are one doily a piece and more like buds. I have even been known to cut the doilies into pieces and make several roses out of one doily and just let the ragged edges hang out. That is what Chipped to Perfection is all about. The less than perfect being beautiful, unique, and even desirable. Anything I sell that is not hand made is either chipped, cracked, or out of style. But you can be sure that someone loved it very much along the way. Kind of like Velveteen Rabbit....loved until all the velvet rubbed off but still adored and more desirable in that shape than brand new. I HATE it when someone looks at anything old and then complains about the cracks, chips and imperfections. If it was in mint condition then nobody wanted it back then and nobody would want it now, either. I rather prefer the well loved, lived in look. Things that have a million stories to tell about who used it, how they used it, who they passes it along to. And since things can't talk, I get to daydream and imagine the stories behind it all.
From the not so old at all, are these adorable paper cuttings.
I would like you to believe that while I watched hours and hours of Cake Boss or Say Yes to the Dress, or Decorating Cents, I cut each of these lovelies with my own nimble fingers. Instead you can believe that on my Sept trip to visit my mom, I cut them all on her cricut, drove them back to TX and then matted and framed them in used, spray painted frames. See, even my new stuff has stories to tell!
I adore these cutouts from the A Child's Year cartrdige for Cricut. And I love the way they turned out framed like this. More to come since I cut at least one of every shape when I was at mom's house and now own my very own Cricut and share cartridges with mom so that I can cut more.
Lately I have been cutting for the school. Just tonight I cut out 35+ snowflakes on the Cricut for the 3rd grade teacher. Much faster and less mess than cutting folded paper by hand and even though they aren't all unique, they are made with love. Since it is supposed to snow as much as 2" tomorrow and/or Saturday here in central Texas, I guess she better get them in the window tomorrow. Then again, being central Texas, those cut otu snowflakes coudl be as close as we get to 2" of snow!

tempting you with more goodies

OK, so the upstairs in Nellie's isn't ready yet as expected, so all my goodies sit and wait for retail space. Sure hope something happens before too long so all my Christmas goods don't have to wait another year.
My friend, Sue, who is my inspiration in the junk world, gave me a ton of pierced earrings when she moved. Not cool vintage ones, just a bunch of random earrings. When Sue gives you earrings, make an earring tree!
The angel at the top is actually a pin that I bought way back when, thinking Sue would use it in a collage but she wasn't feeling it at the time, so I used it. There is a similar angel on the other side of this tree so that it is 360 degrees of goodness.

Fan pillows. Years ago, and I mean YEARS, I made a quilt for a doubled bed with these fans. I collected different creams and white fabrics, both new and vintage and tons of trims and buttons. I sewed too many fans so I made two of them into fan shaped pillows for you! Do we use the quilt? Not on the bed as we now sleep in the luxury of a queen bed. Right now the fan quilt is acting as a headboard for said luxurious bed. If you like these and they are gone when you get there, let me know. I have more fans and can always create more pillows. However, pillows haven't sold at all at my other space in Hosanna House, so I hesitate to make too many until I see them move out of Nellie's.
And my latest creation of junk goofiness...
A pink rose tea cup on a pink rose saucer...they don't match mind you... filled with three white wrought iron thingys that look like flower picks with stems and leaves, but have taper candle cups at the top. The tea cup is filled with pink lace scraps. What to fill the candle cups with? Well taper candles would be the obvious. If I could find the battery ones that would be better since they are at weird angles and lit candles would drip wax. But how about one single rose in each cup? Real or silk, with the stem cut very very short. I think the canlde cups will even hold a few drops of water to make real ones last longer. Or how about using metal clips to clip photos or postcards to each cup?
While we all wait for the second floor of Nellie's to open, keep checking back to wet your appetite for "Chipped to Perfection" updates.

One of the many treasures I have been working on to put in my new retail space. This window frame I found at a yard sale. It looks like something made from paint stirrers. It wasn't, but the construction reminds me of that. I added lace to be the valance in the window and then tried to decide what to plant in the planter box in front. Loving old plates and tarnished silver as I do, I thought, hey, why not plant some dishes and silverware. No watering necessary! Won't wilt, fade or die! I even bent a few pieces to resemble trailing ivy. OK does this mean too many summers in Germany seeing all their full, lush window boxes and knowing I can never get mine to grow like that so I substitute what I can get?













Here it is, the official logo of Chipped to Perfection, my booth space at Nellie's. I wish I could say that I designed it all myself. But alas, I pasted and copied and altered a ready made image in Print Artist. Now if only I could get my blog logo to look like this too!














OK, not the most interesting photo, but I wanted to show off my carpentry skills. I built the display corner shelf out of 2 free doors (from craigslist), nuts, bolts, and screws I had lying around the garage, shelf brackets I picked up at a yard sale sometime ago and scrap wood from the trash at a building site. ZERO spent. Finished product PRICELESS. Well, OK, not priceless, but sturdy enough to hold the low priced treasures I will be selling.

I can't believe what a learning curve this whole blogland thing is for me. Be patient. One day I will get it figured out and have real posts with real stuff worth reading.
I did learn to post photos, thanks to my little brother who is a computer genius. This photo has nothing to do with my blog or my stuff that I sell, but it is my newest favorite rose. I bought a few of these when we lived in Germany. Having worked in florists in B.C. (before children) I had to know how this is done. The florist explained to me that they cut the main stem of the rose bush vertically and put each section into a different color water. That is why the different color petals are wrapped into each other. AMAZING BEAUTY!

new to blog land

Well, "everyone" kept telling me that I have to get a blog. So now I have one. But what do I do with it? I hope to use this blog to showcase my junking style and show off my creations available for sale at Hosanna House in Belton TX and soon coming to Nellie's, also in Belton.