Honey, I'm home...

Oh it is so good to be home.. but what a fabulous time we had on our trip. Just a few quick photos.. here I am at the penny slots but for some reason we didn't read the 75cent minimum so we only got 1 turn!! What's up with that?? The whole time I was looking for my "John Gage".. the character in Indecent Proposal played by Robert Redford. In the movie he offers a million dollars to sleep with the married woman. I joked with my husband that the only guy that got fresh with me was SpongeBob Squarepants.
We stayed at Bally's which was right next to the Paris hotel. Oui Oui.. the next time I will be staying there instead.
Our favorite destination every night was the bar at Bill's.. 99cent Margaritas baby!
Here I am with Jenni.. notice the drinks!! I did say 99 cents right?Okay I did get serious during the day and took some amazing classes. First off I took a sculpture class from Ty & Marcia Shultz. They have a movie prop company in Canada where they have made props for many television series including the XFiles. I loved that show!! Here they have taught us how to make crows out of t-shirts, tape, aluminum foil, wire and the secret ingredient, Paverpol. Paverpol is a dutch product which will make any absorbent material rock hard in a few short days. I can't wait to use this product on other applications... wait and see!
Here is my crow.. sweet baby.

My next class was taught by the lovely Stephanie Rubiano. I do not have my pictures from that project because I am saving it as a gift for my mother. Since she reads this blog (Hi Mommy), I don't want to spoil the surprise. Lets just say my daughter exclaimed OH MY GOD when she saw it and it is by far her favorite of them all.

Finally My last class was with Stephanie Lee, author of Semiprecious Salvage. This was the class that I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. Since it was a technique based class, I don't have any finished pieces to show you.

But I can tell you that I now know how to make beautiful jewelry bezels and boxes. My head is spinning with all the possibilities out there.

This is a close up of my house bezel. I made this nest a long time ago and was thrilled to be able to incorporate it into my house. This will eventually get turned into a necklace.

And my new favorite technique is metal etching. My friend Barbara from Perch had asked me to bring back something that I could teach and this is definitely it.

So that's all Folks!! While I was gone we got in several boxes of new spring merchandise. I'll be posting pictures very soon of those and of our upcoming events.

Sin City

The day has finally come.. I am off to Sin City for a little Art Retreat known as

Art & Soul. This year I will be taking some interesting classes.. here is a sneak peek at a few of my classes.

Crow sculptures using old t-shirts

Butterfly boxes using old photographs

And Metalsmith techniques using old jewelry parts.

Have a great weekend!

Winter Break

This week the Coweta County schools are having their Winter Break which means I have to pay lots and lots of payroll!! Ha Ha. I haven't been to the shop in a few days and am missing it terribly. Sally is working her magic with getting in some fabulous new vendors for our upstairs consignment area. Sherry Cook will be bringing in some of her encaustic pieces and folk art pieces, Kelly Farris will be bringing in some vintage linens and aprons, and Betsy Burnette is looking into an area for her wonderful collections. You may remember Betsy from Paper Appointments, a stationary shop across the street from us which closed last year.

So while the store is being taken care of very well, I decided to use my new Valentine's Day gift from my sweet husband and venture down to one of my favorite Antique Malls in Alabama.

Even though I knew where I was going, Tom Tom talked me right to the front door. Angel's Antiques is located South on Hwy 85, exit 62. (just pass the Alabama line). This place is huge, I believe it was a Wal-Mart at one time and has over 350 booths.

I was searching out jewelry pieces to use in my Junk Drawer Metalsmithing class that I'll be taking out in Vegas next week. More on that later. Also worth mentioning is Ressurect Antiques which is right next door to Angel's. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to go in and say hello to Michelle, the owner, and be tempted by her wonderful displays. Man that girl knows how to showcase a product. You can see some of her shop pictures online at her website. And speaking of websites.. I have changed my etsy blog banner and have added some artwork online. Hope you stop by and take a look.

Have a great week!

Happy Valentine's Day

This incredible picture came from The Cloud Appreciation Society.

(yes there is such a thing)

Have a Happy Day!!

The "Doghouse" Coupon

Okay guys.. just trying to keep you out of the Doghouse this Valentine's day!! Print this coupon off and bring it into The Vintage-Flea to receive 20% off one Flea item. Coupon is only good from Friday, Feb. 12th to Saturday, Feb. 13th and is only good for Flea items. (Does not include consignment items or sale items)

New Flea items in the shop include these gorgeous jewelry pieces which are hand crafted using natural stones, freshwater pearls, sterling silver, silk thread and crystals.

Simply stunning!

Weekly Wrap

This week was a slow UPS week for The Vintage-Flea. About 2 weeks ago I lost my wallet and have had to put all ordering on hold until the new cards came in the mail. Luckily my wonderful consignors brought in new goodies for you to drool over.. for example now we will give you even more reason to say "It smells so good in here"... yes my friends we are now tempting you with divine chocolates and candy. Legacy II is now offering gourmet truffles, malt balls, taffy, fudge, and hard candy at The Vintage-Flea. What does your Valentine like??

Jennifer Candler is offering a special incentive to all The Vintage-Flea customers. Proceeds from every piece of jewelry bought from her in the month of February will go to Haiti. What a perfect Valentine gift to give.. one that does 2x the good!

We did get a box of new wonderful jewelry that I will be putting out on Monday. Most of it will be just $12!!

And although we had an uneventful week.. our weekend was filled with action. Olivia, my 11 year old, won 3rd place in the 4H District Competition in Rome, Georgia. Her project was "How to Make a Magnificent Wax Painting". Wonder where she got that idea from?

And over the weekend, The Vintage-Flea participated in the "Paint The Town Red" event at Serenbe. Natalie, our fashion guru, helped man the booth on Saturday while I was at the 4H competition and on Sunday I had both my little helpers with me.

For those of you who guessed Belt Buckles in my last post.. you were right. These beauties will be heading to the store tomorrow.

Hope to see you at The Flea soon!

Clue... Bling

Can you guess what I have been up to???

Coming soon to The Vintage-Flea.