American Restoration

American Restoration is a show on the History channel that takes old rusty, beat up items that have been discarded for whatever crazy reason and restores them to their original state. LUV the show! I love seeing beautiful vintage pieces get new life breathed back into them.

The show features Rick Dale and his crew of fun guys including his son located in Las Vegas, Nevada. They can restore anything from a giant gas pump from the 1940s or a vintage Harley the 1950s.

One of the things that was brought to the guys was an old US Mailbox. I had actually forgotten that they used to be red and blue! WOW, it is funny how seeing things from yester-year....it brings back memories.

I hope I am lucky enough to find more great treasures...I am stepping up my thrifting game this weekend scouring the city for lost treasures.

Ciao~

Vintage Room

I have not blogged in so long! I have lost interest and desire until I came across a FABULOUS blog Vintage Vixen It is a great blog about vintage, car jumbles and it is just packed full of awesomeness!


Inspiration and encouragement is everywhere. You just have to be open to it.


I have a spare bedroom that is used as a guest room/craft room. I love vintage pins. I collect them! I have some displayed on a fabric picture board (also a thrift store find). This is not a real good picture, but for some reason my camera would not cooperate! I have many black and white photos of 1950's - 1960's women my uncle use to take back in the day. He was an avid photographer of just everday life. I am glad I have them. I have some of them displayed around this room. It just adds to the vintage feel!

I recently re-vamped this room! It was to cluttered. I scored a amour that has about 8 drawers on the inside and above the drawers is a space where you can put a TV. I use that as a workspace. This room also holds my vintage dressing table! I LOVE them!! This room doubles as and a great place for guests to stay and a place for me to create jewelry pieces. The amour helps store all my tools, beads, metal etc. I also have a vintage day bed on the other side!! I will post more pics soon!

Skeleton Keys & Things I love

I started working on a skeleton key necklace. I used black and gray beads I had laying around and made a necklace. I love it. I never get rid of beads. Even if I think I never will use them, because you never know when creativity will strike and you could come up with a fan-dam-taskic design with beads you never thought you would use again. OH, and the blob of fur around me? A black and gray 60's style vest I bought on sale for a steal....$10...marked down from $58...SCORE!

I am not sure what it is about skeleton keys that I love so much, but I do. I love the vintage look of them, the idea of that back in the day they opened many doors in old style houses or farm houses....that I would love to own one day. Who owned them? What story lies behind those old doors? I am going to create a line of key necklaces and add them to my Etsy shop.. I should have some up in a few weeks.

Nicole Atkins..............



LOVE her! Not only is she from Jersey, like me....grew up in a Sicilian family like me! Her music ROCKS!! The first song I heard from her was a song called Neptune City, homage to her hometown in NJ. The video is awesome. She is on the boardwalk in a pink vintage dress and the back ground is gray scale...very nostalgia.

I just bought her latest cd, Mondo Amore. Her sound is different; she has a bluesy, soulful....just fabulous sound. If you like artists like Neko Case you will love Nicole Atkins.


As for this picture.......



I saw this on the internet as someone's background. When I first looked at it, I liked it....the colors the dress...then when I really looked at it I was like WOW, she is shooting herself. Kind of morbid........The more I looked at it the more I liked it. I guess it is called "butterfly suicide" It is different....I like different.

On other notes, I decided to go back to school. I want to take a few art classes, psychology, graphic design and English/writing classes. I am not going for a particular degree...I just want to take these classes. I want to continue my education and keep my mind active. I consider myself an ongoing student of life, but it is fun and beneficial to be in a classroom. The hard part is deciding what I want to take first.

I think ongoing education is very important, I think what is also very important is having a skill; such as welding, mechanics, contracting etc.. You never know when you need to be self-sufficient. It never hurts to be able to fall back on an old fashion skill. I don't believe you should rely the corporate 9-5 gig. Drive, ambition and the key to wanting to learn is the best desire you can have.

Have a fabulous week!!

Ciao~

I am taking over the webs design for our bead society. I am real syked about that. I can't wait to get back into that. I will be designing our new page!I am also scouring the world for vintage items to fill my other Etsy shop I will be opening soon. I am also trying to work on a facial scrub and candle line.....and learning Italian on my own. Yes, my plate is full and I love it!!

Creative Ways

This gun used to be a key chain. I had this forever. It is metal and the trigger works, like a pop gun. The gun is black and the trigger and accents are antique copper.

I added two skull beads and attached an antique copper over sized clasp all on a black chain.

Luv it!!

Another Great Thrifty Find!

I have a vintage dressing table. The one with a big mirror in the middle and three drawers on each side. It is soo cool. My husband found it up in NY and gave it to me for Christmas.

It did not have a bench so I have been using a wicker chair that I had. Normally these things have a cute little bench. I have been trying to find one......old vintage style, not modern and never could find anything I liked.

Today, during my thrift store browsing there it was! It is solid metal. I got this for $15 and with a discount I ended up paying $12!!! SO HAPPY! These usually run anywhere between $40 - $80 if not more new.

I am thinking of recovering it with a vintage fabric to go with my dressing table and spray painting the metal the color to match. For now, I will leave it until I settle on one idea! I am just happy I finally found somthing.

I soooo love thrift stores and finding a great deal!!

CIAO!
XOXOX

These boots are made for walking!

Do you LOVE them?! I found these at a thrift store today! They are pretty cool! I soo love thrift stores, specially when you can find something wild like this. I originally went thrifting today to find a jean skirt, which I did for $3.99! I am going to wear that and these boots tomorrow! So excited. I got a lot of compliments on the boots already, just holding them in my hand. Pretty snazzy!! They are blue with animal print and all man made material! The brand is BeeFly. They zip up on the side and come just below the knee. I looked these up online and used some start at $20 - $65 used! I got these for $10. CIAO!

Reboot Yourself

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." — Andy Warhol

The year is coming to an end and another one is going to start. The New Year brings to people a reason to make the ever so famous "New Years Resolutions" I am going to exercise more, eat right and travel more are usually on the top 10

This coming year I will be turning 40. I guess I am OK with that. I don't look 40 and don't really feel it. That is due to the good Sicilian blood flowing in my veins ;) The only list I plan on making is "What I want to accomplish in my 40's" list. I will post that one in a couple of months. It will be something I plan on adding to here and there, but ultimately it is the list of things I want to accomplish during that decade.

As for the title of this post, reboot yourself. There are always things you don't like about yourself. Bad habits, weight, diet, your hair, clothes....whatever. If you don't like something, don't wait to start on the New Year, reboot yourself and do it now! Your computer is slow or freezes, you don't wait to reboot it.....and you should not wait to reboot yourself. Keep a little calendar or a notebook and jot down your milestones along the way.......if you quit smoking mark the 5th day, 6th day or 30th day that you have gone without.

There is no time like the present to update, change or "reboot" yourself. Are you waiting for that career change? Do it. Take charge and reboot it!

Ciao!

"Do one thing everyday that scares you"
~Elleanor Roosevelt