(Last) Friday Finds

Here are a few things I have found in the last few days:

Vintage Oil Painting in Antique Frame

A Mismatched Set of French Ivory Forks for the Fireball

Large English Ironstone Platter.  Love the Crazing!

Perfectly Paint Splattered Steppin' Stool

A tiny German Cuckoo Clock for the Fireball

A Vintage Tambourine

A Vintage Leather Wallet from the 1934 World's Fair

A Vintage Butterfly Napkin Holder for the Fireball

A Neat Old Photo

Three Holiday Reindeer

Two Swedish Enamel Dishes for the Fireball

Vintage Felt Snowman

Two Different Beeswax Candles.  Pinecone and Bunny

Transferware Egg Shaped Dish.  Lovely

Honey Pot

Bakelite and French Ivory Handled Knives and Server

Old Painty Brush

And a Glass Flask.  Very Important!

So that's a few of the items now lingering in my garage.  I have such a massive load of items to price and get down to M&M.  I will post a quick note when I take new items there and try to show pictures too. 

I did get my ETSY account initiated but I have a lot of tweaking, finishing and learning to do before you see items listed there for sale.  I will definatley publish a big grand opening post when it is up, running, and filled with items to purchase.  Hopefully this will happen in the next few weeks.  But until then I will continue to buy and make great stuff and you'll see it there soon. 

I also hope to get some regular features going on here at Smashing Rubbish.  Friday Finds will become a show and tell of new items bought or found during the past week.  I will continue to share crafts, repurposed and upcycled projects, art work, sewing projects and the like, as well.

Thanks to those of you who leave comments and feedback!  I appreciate it and I love reading what you say!  The only way I know to respond right now though is to post a comment back in the same post so check back if you are waiting on a response from me.

Off to finish getting my pickles lacto-fermented! 

Jennette's Kick-Ass Southwest Monroe Bucket Cukes

coming right up!

xox - Jennette

 

Oil Painting Tote Bag

Yep.  It was an oil painting.  Stretched canvas over a wooden frame.  This may not be everyones cup of tea and there may be varying degrees of opinion as to the appropriateness of cutting a painting off a frame and making a tote bag out of it.  But I really took to the idea after I was inspired by this article over at Design*Sponge.

Swarm, run by Leslie Oschmann in Amsterdam, looks amazing. 

I see these great, cheap, interesting, quirky, oil paintings at sales all the time.  They aren't master works but someone did take the time to make them.  When I can get them, especially this size, for $10 or less, I grab them up.  I have a handful more in the works.  I will show them to you as they are made.  I am trying different techniques with each to see what works best and highlights the painting.

Here is the pagoda oil painting after I cut it off the wood frame.  It was large but I decided to use the whole piece.

This is the vintage cotton toile I decided to use for the liner material.  I cut it out the exact same size as the painting.

This is the inside pocket, sewn right to the lining.

Here is the bag almost finished but needing a strap.

I still need to attach some kind of closure.  I am thinking of a magnetic snap on this one.  Then I want to try one with a zipper and then one with a drawstring or ties.

This is the painting, right sides together, side seam sewn up, adjusted so seam goes down the back of the tote, bottom sewn straight across, being turned right side out.

Oh, before turning right side out.

Close up of how I make the bag turn into more of a tall box, by giving it square corners.  You make the liner the exact same way, then attach them together.

I haven't got a close up of the strap but I choose a woven strap in blues.  It was just the right length to double it so I cut it in half to be able to have a tassel at each side and sewed the strap, doubled, to the edge of the bags.  I will try a few different strap methods in the next bags as well to see what works best, lasts, looks best.

Here is the back.  See how the side seams meet in the back.  I used the entire painting making the bag as I did.  And I am reusing the wooden frame the painting was stretched on in another project.

So the tote has already come in really handy for carrying all our towels, snacks, water, etc to the pool and the lake.  It is huge for a tote but it will be good for the library too.

I am testing this one out to see how durable it is and how long the painting lasts when in use like this.  I am now thinking I should have sprayed the painting with some kind of shellac, varnish, or top coat to help preserve the paint and make it more durable.  I need to go see what my options are at the hardware store tomorrow when I pick out paint for the Fireball.  I could spray it now but it may soak through to the liner fabric and be stinky or stain it. 

What do you think?

Off to drop Gus at his first day of work scooping icecream at The Fair,
xo-
Jennette

Vintage Suitcase Dog Bed

Looks like a vintage Samsonite suitcase....

And it was.  A big tall one.  Or extra long, I suppose.  Opens end to end, not on the side.

I forgot to have the family take pictures of me with my safety glasses on and saws-all in hand when I went to town on the hinges of this suitcase to get the two pieces to separate.  Oh well.  You can imagine it, right?!  It was easy work.  No one got hurt!

Here is a picture of what would have been the bottom on the suitcase.  It has all the latches and handles on the sides.  Instead of trying to pry or cut off all the latches, I kept this piece to use in an art project.  It will become a shadow box of sorts..... or more like a modern diorama, filled with interesting objects at varying degrees of depth and distance.  The result ends up being a sort of low-relief three-dimensionality.  But that's a whole 'nother project!!  Back to the repurposed vintage suitcase dog bed!

Here is the top half!  We had two old pillows that were going to the thrift store so instead I just relegated two older flannel pillow case to be the covers and now they belong to Shotzie!

I've been seeing these in magazines lately and online .  All the rage, upcycling suitcases, pampering your pet!  Lots of times the top is left opened and propped back against the wall, and holds doggie objects, like brush, toy, etc.  Or even a photo or piece of art!  Since this one opened end to end, I didn't have the room to leave the bottom on.  Shotzie's bed sits under a full size, old-school free standing chalk board that takes up a lot of space.  You cant really see it here, but it also limits the size and dimension of his dog bed.

Here is shaggy Shotzie, in all his glory, getting comfy in his new bed!  He needs his eyebrows trimmed!  But he loves his bed! 

I may make one more of these, with the top and bottom left intact, to use as a travel bed for him.  I found this particular case back in early summer when Jasper was going to Circus Camp in Georgetown.  Some girls pulled up in front of The Foundry, their car full of vintage cases, trying to sell them to the shop owner.  He didn't want them but my smart friend Natasha suggested that they let us take a look and they did!  They had some cool cases that looked like leather but when we opened one a dust cloud of mold and mildew spores plumed out so big and stinky it was all we could do to close it up and throw it back in the car!  It was gross!  And I deal with a lot of old gross stuff but some of the cases these girls had were nasty!  But not this one.  Not the blue Samsonite.  And it was an unusual size.  Long and tall, opening end to end.  I offered her $10 and it was mine.  You just never know what you'll find on the side of a road!

Off to pick paint colors for Ms. Fireball.

Have a lovely little day,

Jennette

1961 Fireball

We bought our 1961 Fireball Travel Trailer back from my brother!

 A couple years ago we got some crazy wild hair up our hiney and decided to sell our sweet little travel trailer to my brother.  Why we did, I am still not sure!  But he got some use out of it after hauling it all the way back to Jackson Hole and then back here to Leavenworth where he lives now.  He is getting ready to be a dad for the first time and is selling everything he doesn't absolutely need.  Lucky us because I had been telling him for a while that I wasn't sure why I ever gave the Fireball up in the first place and that I wanted first dibs on buying it back.  Low and behold a few weeks later he found out he was going to be a dad by next spring and we were on our way to buying our "baby" back!  

We bought this sweet little vintage trailer way back in 2001 or so.  It has served us so well as an extra room for guests!  When we bought it we didn't even have a way to haul it to our house.  No truck, no trailer hitch.  My dad moved it to our house for us.  And that's when I went hog wild with paint and fabric!  Now when I look inside, I ask myself, what was I thinking?!  It looks like a carnival exploded in there!  Every surface is a different color.  I think I just went and bought all the miss matched $1 paint colors from the hardware store and went to town!  Also, I used some really great vintage fabric to recover all the cushions and make curtains, back then.  On this front too, I wonder what the heck I was thinking.  More the merrier, maybe?  Every surface is a different pattern, colorway and design.  Way to busy for my taste now! 

Anyhow, this time around will be a little more civilized!  I am repainting and recovering every surface and hanging new curtains.  This time I will take a cue from the sweet vintage table top pattern and the color of the original tiles and oven, to create a nice, calming, blissful, little vintage travel trailer to call our home away from home.  I bet it still mostly gets used as a guest room but it will be nice to have just perfectly cute when we do get to haul it across state lines, to the beach, or near a river.  I will share some photos below of its current condition and then as I begin to work on it, I will post more of its progress.  Onward Ho!

 

Yellow stove top and oven.  One of my favorite features.  Jasper said, "Yes!  Now we can make scones in the middle of the woods when we are camping!"  You said it son!

The pattern on the table top and counters.  Love me some spirals!

I was so happy to see that the turquoise dish drain was still with it!  The couch slides out to make a double bed and the over head bunk slides out to make a single.  Also, the table breaks down into a bed as well.

Original paperwork in the cabinet.

State of California, Division of Housing!  Did they sell these for people to live in?!

So I have a lot to do!  As if all my sewing, crafting, antique mall space, Etsy set-up, and busy life were not enough already!  Now I've added this little project in the mix!  I cant wait to show you a photo with the banner canopy I made for it a few years ago.  I didn't give that piece to my brother and just found it the other day!  I will have more photos soon and until then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

Happy trails and travels,

Jennette

Studio Fort

There is a fort set up in my studio space.  Jasper has slept here the past two nights.  The first night he fell asleep watching Secret of Roan Inish and the second night he fell asleep watching Whale Rider.  Two of our favorite movies.  The fort has to come down today so I can get some work done.  Lots of sewing needs to happen.  I have 27 new/old patterns I have picked up in the last few weeks of zigzagging across the state.  Love me some vintage patterns.  And I have scored a ton of new/old fabric.  Projects galore coming up, folks.  Lots in the pipe line.  Be on the lookout!

Off to pick our late blueberries and check the bees.  Wish me luck!

xo-Jennette

Ticking

In between loads of laundry, dishes, repacking camping gear, and general frenzy of coming and going, I was able to take a moment to document all my ticking pillows.  Most of the striped ticking was packed away in our camping gear and I had mostly forgotten about how much ticking I have.  

 

Having all this ticking out makes me want to leave it all out.  To drool over.  To smile at. 

Here is the floral ticking below.  

Love some floral ticking!

Now to figure out what to do with all this ticking.  As if there is really anywhere left in my house for it to fit.  I guess I could stack pillows around like I stack books around.  Yep.  That's what I'll do!

Off to water the deck plants before hitting the beach,

xo,

Jennette