Lovely May Days

Sweet 3 piece dining set friend & artist Carol Rea helped us paint and distress with Annie Sloan French Linen Chalk Paint

Close up of distressed chair; cream base coat with French Linen top coat allowed to dry,
then wiped off in areas with damp cloth

With Denise feeling better and slowly getting back into the swing of spring, we've been busy painting, cleaning & creating!

Our Vignette's Booth

The window display for April; a little vintage mixed in with a little new

The vintage iron patio furniture we painted in Annie Sloan Aubusson - a beautiful blue. The vintage mirror on the chair is updated with a coat of Annie Sloan Paris Grey. Also in the window, vintage Italian tole ware, new stone birds & crown, and a great pair of wings Denise painted with Annie Sloan Old White

This square birdcage is a great size & happens to fit nicely on this high wooden pedestal

A whimsical addition to old silver pots & tea sets- a nest & egg

Tea Anyone?
This Vintage Meriden tea set is unique in that it features two tea pots

This weekend, Vignette's is hosting a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed event for a special group of customers, so Denise and I added vintage ashtrays, a pair of crystal lamps, black gloves, and little bling to our space.
We found this great large print of Audrey Hepburn from a scene in the movie which helped to tie it all together nicely

Our Rustic Sparrow Booth

This old wheelbarrow sold this past week, it has great patina and will make a great piece for any garden

Love this pair of heavy wrought iron petite vintage patio chairs,  the old green vinyl seat cushions were a little too distressed so we covered them in burlap, an easy 10 minute project with charming results

I finally found another baby Jesus to put in this old altar from Mexico City, the original baby Jesus sold to a doll collector and I had to wait until my latest trip to find another one. The St. Francis statue is a newer resin statue that I painted with rust paint, I like the faux age and wear

Old Escondido Clean-Up Day

We've loved getting to know the town of Escondido, home of the Rustic Sparrow and many other wonderful shops, restaurants & historic sites. I wanted the girls to experience the importance of helping out in a community so last month our friends and fellow vendors Carol & Doug, graciously allowed the kids and I to ride along and help clean up the beautiful Historic District of Old Escondido. It's an annual event they do each year where they rent large dumpsters for neighbors to come by and throw out any items. It's wonderful because those things that still have a little life left in them are saved and sold in the Old Escondido Rummage Sale. 

It's a great community project and we had tons of fun!



The Clean-Up Crew doing an Awesome Job



One stop shop; the Rummage Sale was conveniently held right next to the dumpsters, neighbors were able to unload unwanted items & shop for new treasures all in the same spot

Hopefully this chair found a nice new home in someone's yard,
it would look great with a big potted plant on the seat

 Denise is still working on a new dress form for spring/summer. Vignette's is hosting an event in June to kick off summer, it's a beach themed party so we'll be on the look out for ships & seashells.

Thanks to Everyone for their warm thoughts for Denise, she's doing Amazing and is outside working in her garden as I type this, so she's a happy camper!



Rustic Sparrow in April



Vintage Woodard Patio Chairs

The weather's been Beautiful this past week and we've been able to get a couple of vintage patio sets in our Rustic Sparrow space. Denise is feeling great and working on a new dress form as well as several bircages - I'll post pics next week!

Vintage Swivel Patio Chairs with Great Patina



Time to come check out the Rustic Sparrow!

I found this old Mariachi doll on my last trip to Mexico City

I sold this sweet swan of Denise's at the Granny's Attic Faire in March

Denise has not only been able to work on her artwork but her gardening too! 

 

 

Taking a Break...



Display of Vintage Toys in a fun Toy Museum in Mexico City

With Denise not feeling so great lately we've been on a bit of a break. I took a mini trip to Mexico City a couple of weeks ago and discovered this fun little museum with vintage toys dating back over 100 years, one collector had collected all of these pieces and they really did a fabulous job arranging and displaying the collection. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera out and start taking photos until the last exhibit room, but here's a sample of some of the unique displays....

A large scale Mexico Taxi Bus with a Trolley Train running through it

Spaceship with mid 19th century robots

These beautiful horse heads were placed all along a wheel - maybe as part of an old carnival game?

Even though we've been taking it easy this month creating works, we still love finding unique vintage items for our Rustic Sparrow & Vignette's spaces. I'll be taking a few pieces to Temecula this Saturday for the Granny's Attic Outdoor Flea Market- March 24th from 8am-3pm.

 Several vendors from the Rustic Sparrow will be there with their fun & fabulous pieces too!

Our Rustic Sparrow space this week - Aye-Aye Captain!

I love the artist's use of light in this vintage painting -
it still has it's original label on the back - all written in Italian

I don't know what this old homemade box would have originally been used for, but the age and images are really wonderful

There are so many pieces of furniture and what-knots waiting patiently in Denise's garage hoping to one day soon turn into a fabulous find for one of our customers! We wish to not keep the furniture or the customers waiting too much longer and hope to be back in the swing of things soon!

We're into Domes...

My favorite new piece, this antique angel head with wings from the 17th-18th century

This Antique Angel Head with Wings dates from the 17th-18th century
I love his eyes - I think they are made of glass, his head and wings are wood
The lady I bought it from said it came from a European Theater

I think this Antique Angel's face - is one of the prettiest ones I've seen

It was a Vignette's Wednesday today, we headed down to Ocean Beach to rework our space.

I didn't realize until I uploaded the pictures for this post that we are apparently on a dome roll!

It's funny how you get into different phases. We're finding the large glass domes and having fun arranging unique items to fit inside.

We took this Marie Antoinette bust and blinged her up a bit and she happen to fit perfectly
in a vintage silverplate dish - we thought the tray and dome finished off the look



Denies painted this vintage desk - it's a great size and color that could fit just about any space



I bought this great collection of Vintage pipes from my favorite vendor at the Rustic Sparrow - Barbe
I don't know if it's the fact that the pipes remind me of my Grandpa or that I think they look really cool
in assembled pieces that draws me to them
This dome was fun to make and luckily I purchased these smaller early 20th century books from Barbe too
because they fit perfectly!





Speaking of the Rustic Sparrow, Heather - another one of my favorite ladies who happens to also
be the owner, sold us this Amazing Vintage Display Cabinet!
It features a light, 3 glass shelves, a mirrored back and appears to have it's original cream and gold paint
Thanks  Heather - it's a great addition to our space!

This vintage,ornate, carved wood mirror was a find!
It's obviously been painted white, but the original gold paint is starting
to show throughin several places.
I love the large size and the detailing - we are displaying it on an easel - which I think would
also be a great way to display it in a room!



I love this frame. Denise has had it in her own collection for several years, it's hand-made
with fun metal embellishments. I found the old photo during my last trip to Mexico- she's a cutie



We're currently collecting and photographing pieces to sell online which is great and probably long overdue!

We're loving Pinterest, there are so many great ideas - not just for decorating - but just things that can make your day go a little happier and easier - so definitely check it out if your not pinning already!

Our New Year's Resolution- Selling Online!

What a face!
 I love this vintage portrait I found in it's original oval frame

We hope everyone is happily ringing in the New Year this evening- Denise spent her New Year's Eve day cleaning out the garage- which was much needed and will make cranking out fun / funky / fabulous pieces all the more easier!

We hope to spend all of next week reworking our two store spaces.

Our resolution for this year - selling our artwork and vintage finds online. We opened up an etsy store about a year ago and have yet to list one item! We hope to learn from friends/vendors how to network more on facebook too, so a much needed push into the 21st century is coming our way!

I took some photos of our Rustic Sparrow booth today, we've added a few more finds.

Denise came across this vintage blanket chest circa 1919 a few days ago - it's great because it still has it's pullout shelf

Denise hand painted this face vase a few years back,
it's really fun and whimsical

It wasn't until I hung this metal soldier head on the wall
that I noticed the great horse on his helmet

Our Rustic Sparrow space this month

We will be sure and post when we begin our online selling venture!

We had a great 2011 and look forward to even more fabulous finds and creative endeavors in the New Year! - Best Wishes for a Great 2012!

December Vintage Marketplace

Our Booth at the December Vintage Marketplace in Rainbow, Ca

We survived another Vintage Marketplace this weekend - barely! It was a ton of work getting ready for this event this time around - I think we just spread ourselves a little too thin! I'm posting several photos from our booth. Denise did another fantastic mannequin, he's definitely one of my favorites!



The Hunter
An Assembled 'Man'nequin by Denise Chafin using vintage & new embellishments



A side view



Close up of The Hunter with vintage eye glasses, an old cigarette case and pipe



Assembled Santos Doll atop a Birdcage all on an assembed pedestal



Denise finally got to set up this old iron bed, she's been wanting to do this idea in our Rustic Sparrow booth space but we just haven't had the time or the room





Denise found this great set of pink vintage dishes



Several people liked our TeaTree - we thought it was a fun way to display a place setting for 8

A few distressed furniture pieces

This was a neat assembled piece with a vintage pipe, stamp & feathers in a nest under a dome



Denise picked up this old plant stand with cane sides last week and did a fabulous job giving it new life with the Annie Sloan Chalk paint 





I did some new paper figure designs for the show and thought they looked fun displayed on old silverware in creamer and sugar pots



Rita Reade & Christie Repasy once again did an amazing job as creators/organizers of this event and it's always great to see familiar faces and catch up with such sweet, fun people!

We won't be returning as vendors to the March 2012 Vintage Marketplace, but we look forward to returning as shoppers and as friends supporting a wonderful group of women artists!