Random Stuff

Sorry for the complete randomness of this post.
Our office got a new Xerox printer that is Eco friendly. The "ink" is wax instead of toner powder. The waste is just a small black wax block that could be melted into crayons. It will write on paper just like a crayon.
I printed off a few mini stained glass designs on overhead transparencies. The cool thing about the ink is it leaves a raised surface so I think this will work to my advantage for coloring. If I get a chance this weekend I'll paint a few with Gallery Glass and take pictures.

Gift

My boyfriend bought me this awesome birthday present.

I can't wait to try it out. I just have to buy the fuel for the torch and I'll be trying to create some beads.

Its my birthday!!!

I can't believe I'm 30. Yet I don't act like it. My friend at work brought me this mylar ballon so everyone would know its my birthday
and rainbow cake from the bakery (my favorite)

Weekends Thrift Finds

Since it was raining all day Saturday there weren't any yard sales.
I went to all the local thrift stores and only got a few things. I didn't take pictures of any of these because most are still in my car. I went in to Goodwill not expecting to find anything but found a few good deals.
I bought one of those puzzle roll up storage mats new in the box. I also found a pasta cookbook for my dad for his pasta machine. As I was standing in line to check out I spotted the best find of all for $7.67

I looked it up online it retails for $69.95. I love clip art. There are 29 Cds included in this set. All the cds are there and in perfect condition. The book has about 1,000 pages and its in great condition.
I got these beads and findings at another thrift store.



I stopped at the Dollar Tree and found these cool colors of super fine glitter.

I found this beading loom at Walmart so I finally used up the money left on my gift card from Christmas.

Beads

The lady selling the beads asked me how long I'd been beading I told her I didn't really bead but I wanted beads for making miniatures. She said she had another lady come in looking for beads to make lamps out of. She started picking out all the beads she thought looked like miniature lamps. I didn't even look for beads that size I was going for the smaller bottle sizes. Plus her 4 year old grand-daughter was sitting on the table showing me all the beads she thought were the best. (she was so cute) I spent a lot more money than I had planned. But I found perfect beads for perfume bottles. I will probably end up going back for some lamp size beads and to dig thru the large pan of beads that I completely overlooked (until I looked at the pictures).
These Czech glass beads are so beautiful




Grade A cats eye beads
12mm

6mm

Jade beads

I can't remember what these are...



Polymer clay cane beads

Cute little bird beads

Birthdays

Just thought I would share a picture from 25 years ago.
Today is my wonderful boyfriend Todd's birthday and tomorrow is my birthday. I will be the big 30. Oddly I'm kind of excited. Having birthdays in the middle of the work week is a drag because we still have to go to work. We don't really have any big plans. He got his birthday present early this year. He wanted a metal toolbox for his truck so thats what he got a few weeks ago. I don't know what he's gonna get me because he always waits until the last minute to buy anything.
His mom wants to take us out to dinner one night. And my mom wants to take me to the Goodwill or thrift stores for my birthday since thats about the only places I shop now. I need to find new stores to go to. Seems like everything is still the same stuff I've been looking at for weeks.
Happy Birthday Honey I love you!

Bead Sale

I went to the bead sale I found on Craigslist when I got off work on Friday since I wasn't sure what the weather would do on Saturday. I have never seen so many fancy beads. I think I spent almost 3 hours digging thru them.












Check back tomorrow for all the beads I bought.

What are these things?

They make great lids for nail polish bottles. But I don't know what they are called or used for. This is what the inside looks like.


I started painting them different colors last night using model car paint pens.

I'm going to a bead sale I found on Craigslist tomorrow.
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/art/1691034719.html
The lady is a retired store owner selling off her remaining stock. I'll be sure to post picture of my finds. I also plan on going yard sale shopping in Hiram & Dallas again (if the weather holds out). I hope I'll find better stuff than I did at the flea market last weekend.

Bottles from Beads

I put these together last night while watching Ghost Hunters. I plan on making more but I'm going to paint the little gold tops different colors. I need to dig thru my collection for small round beads to make fingernail polish bottles. A lot of these beads came from the swap I did with Carolyn at http://fabshabbyroses.blogspot.com/
Sorry if they are a little burry... my camera battery was about to die.



I used fake diamonds for the lids to these I thought it would look fancy.

I don't know what these little metal findings are but they make great lids. I have a lot of them. The hole doesn't go all the way thru so I think they are some sort of cap for straight pins or something. They have little clasps inside the tube that hold onto wire or pins.

West Avenue flea market

Finally it was after 10am and the SweetHomes Antique Mall and Flea Market on West Ave was open. I forgot to take pictures as I walked in but I've posted a link where you can see a vendors pictures of everything. The place used to be an old mill and there are metal shaving pressed into the wood floors. I had been to this one years ago too but the setup had changed. I wandered thru the open booths and came across a booth called the "Vintage Needle" owned by Debora McFearin. I found lots of craft supplies at great prices. As I went to pay for my finds I saw this beautiful display cabinet and asked if I could photograph it for my blog.

It's a 1909 German Simplex all original. I was amazed by all the vintage patterns that were still in perfect condition. She even opened the case to show me some of the stuff.

Please visit her photo album on her site to see pictures of the whole flea market http://vintageneedle.net/album/sweethomes/
Here is everything I bought from her...




And the only miniature related finding...