A Retro Remedy Is Now on Etsy!!

It's finally up and running!  A Retro Remedy on Etsy!  I've spent the day taking photos and uploading items. 

  So far I've started loading into my Wearable Accessories category - including beaded broaches and Button Broaches made from up-cycled vintage buttons. 

 

They'll be much more to come! I'll keep you all updated - but for now 

check out the Shop!

what happened to August?

Holy cow!  It's August 30th already!  Where did the entire month go?

I guess it passed by while I was at a couple of weddings...

(my adorable friends at their ceremony on the beach)

(My darlin' Megs looking awfully nice in a kilt)

...the ongoing battle with Kinsey's (our other dog) seasonal allergies...

(tube socks = a fantastic anti-itching device)

...a couple of art festivals, and finally a relaxing (and much needed) weekend away at a camp on Peabody Pond.  

Even the pups relaxed and enjoyed the sun. 

Of course it wasn't all sunbathing, swimming, and friends - I handed out new business cards, did some self-promoting, and brought projects to work on at camp.  There are many more pics waiting to be edited, so for now - sneak peeks:

I also got a chance to not only buy a book I'd been wanting, The Handmade Marketplace, but also got to meet the author, Kari Chapin,  and chat a bit  at Picnic - a local arts, crafts, and music festival. 

 It was a quick read and incredibly helpful for starting up your own handmade business.  Her information on legalities and forms and her advice on marketing and promoting included things I would have never thought of myself.  Not only does Kari offer up her own advice and experiences in selling your handmade goods, but also advice from fellow artisans, bloggers and even a accountant.  It's definitely a resource I'll be going back to again and again.  

Well I've got plenty more to get done on this really beautiful (and really distracting) sunny day.  Until next time - enjoy the weather!

A Retro Remedy Got Hitched!

Well... technically M and I got hitched back in December - we ran off and eloped at a BEAUTIFUL B&B in Wallingford, VT called the White Rock Inn.  But yesterday we made it official with family and friends by having a Mustache Garden Party at the historic garden at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's House here in Portland.

  

We couldn't have asked for better weather, all the planning and hard work that had me runnin ragged for the last few weeks paid off - everything went as planned.  

Megs (under my close supervision) and I made all the food, the sangria and the iced tea.  And my craftiness was everywhere.  

Mustaches 

Some were on sticks (like opera glasses), while others were self-adhesive for a more "genuine" effect.

(my Dad and I - )

I also made all the table cloths out of this fantastic yellow and white checked vintage fabric that I had been given by a friend. 

M also helped me make our Rice Krispie "cake" and I decorated it with blue gingham ribbon, green polka dot  ribbon, and fake flowers (good thing too - real flowers would have melted in minutes in the heat!)

And the toppers were our little handmade love birds - complete with mustaches of their own :)

After a couple hours of food and mingling my favorite part arrived - Over A Cardboard Sea - a local Portland band played for the last couple hours.  They're kitchy, cute, talented, and vintage - complete with ukuleles, singing saws, banjos, and melodic hand farts.  

It was an amazing day filled with family, friends, fun, and fancy outfits!   Too bad we can't get hitched every year!

A little inspiration to hold me over.

Holy cow!  I can't believe it's already been two weeks since my last blog post!  Though it has been pretty busy around here.  The biggest time sucker right now is all the prep for M's and my belated "reception" (we ran off and got hitched in Vermont this past December) that's coming up this weekend.  A busy summer schedule that seems we always need to be in 100 places at once.   And the kicker that  is the pulled back muscle I acquired at work last week - which really put me in slow down.  So while M took care of the pups, the apartment, the errands, and all the other things that she does (being the amazing wifey that she is;)   I tried to be kind to my muscles and relax as much as possible - which, inevitably, threw me even further behind.

So unable to work on anything not party or relaxation related I took the chance to catch up on blog reading, exploring the reading lists of others, and finding endless sources of inspiration.  So why not share my finds? And show some blog love while I'm at it.


Crafters and their creations:

Ann Wood

Bloesem

Cafe Cartolina

Inside A Black Apple

Studio Violet

My Paper Crane

Beautiful Environments, Beautiful Objects:

Parcel Post

Making It Lovely

Midwest Modern Girl

Bryn Alexandra

Beach Bungalow 8

Retro love:

Welcome to Deluxeville

1950's Atomic Ranch House

RetroRenovation

Miss Wink

Modish

They're all good reads, chock full of beautiful pictures and can bring inspiration to any blank canvas.

Have a good week!  

A break from fabric.

Between projects I decided my finished good could use some organizing.  Left over from last falls craft fairs I had a box of finished cards and gift tags - none photographed (as that is my constant downfall) or organized in anyway.

The cards are all made of found imagery, collaged paper remnants, and (one of my FAVORITE materials) wallpaper samples.

Tossed aside wallpaper samples are also my most used materials - especially the vintage remakes.  The textures are much more of the appeal, I think, though the patterns are hard to beat.  

 

The outfits of the ladies in this Burly-Q painting are also all wallpaper.  

I think that the tactile nature of these patterned and textured papers work well on the cards - as something handheld (briefly) cherished.  

The problem now becomes that because I used found images and paper samples, they are one of a kind and once they're sold and gone - I have a hard time giving them up.  But selling them is the point - especially since I never give cards.  So my pictures of them will just have to do.  Or maybe I'll hold on to one or two...

These aren't all!  There's more on Flickr!