~FOLLOW YOUR SOUL...~

Today I'm killing myself diligently working in my studio trying to organize my work space.  I must say that it has gotten completely out of control.

Seriously.

Way too much STUFF and now that I no longer have a large retail booth I have no need for all the extra paraphernalia!  I've loaded up four huge bins worth of JUNQUE and off to the donation center I will go this afternoon!  And I have a lot more reorganizing to go before I'm finished!  I'm already excited about the final outcome!

It feels good to purge. And weed out...

To give away.

To share.

To toss.

I feel like I can breathe again...(well, almost!)...

I somewhat liken working within my studio walls to the life of an avid gardener.  Just like tending the earth's soil and making sure it's nutrients are rich and balanced by the Planter, so goes my life as a sewer of fine things.  If I'm not careful, weeds of workplace disorganization flourish (from a lack of "pruning"?) and I end up with an abundance of dormant supplies (barren seeds?) complicated by the mind-boggling awareness I've wasted a lot of hard-earned ca$h.  It's impossible for me to create anything in a space that is overgrown and full of weeds.  I end up standing around and asking myself "where do I begin?"...

The Silhouette Cutter I purchased nearly three years ago is a great example of what I'm talking about.

WEEDS!

 I swore I just had to have it...  I've used it ONCE and it's gathered a lot of dust  since dragging it home!  That EXPENSIVE piece of equipment was NOT necessary for me to design the things I'm passionate about creating.  That fancy gizmo may be fabulous for someone else, just not for me.  At least not now anyway.  Honestly,   I'd rather have my $275 back!!!!

Choices!

Sometimes I make really silly ones!

I have at least another full day of work ahead of me before I finish "tilling the piles of fabric" in hopes they will one day bloom into a garden of lovely keepsakes.

I've asked God to help me tend to the field before me and pay attention to the fleurs budding within my own hothouse instead of staring at the plantings in another's...  

I'm following my soul.  It knows the way.

"It was already planted in good soil and had plenty of water so it could grow into a splendid vine and produce rich leaves and luscious fruit."  Ezekiel 17:8 NLT

Love to you...

Rebecca

~VINTAGE FRENCH IMAGES FOR WHITE COTTON PILLOWS~

Long week in my rear view mirror~but an equally exciting one ahead for me!  Hope you are looking forward to a wonderful week as well. 

Just a quick post to share with you a trio of custom-ordered vintage French ephemera pillows finished up over the weekend.  The graphics were purchased by the customer from a seller on ETSY (Francine Paradela) and then reproduced/stamped onto soft white cotton fabric.  I love how the vintage images came out...

 I snagged a few sweet things this past weekend and also worked on refurbishing a cabinet I showed you several days ago...  With warmer weather making it's way to Oklahoma I'm more than happy to get back to doing what I love.

Happeeee Monday!

Love to you...

 

~IT WAS WHAT?~

 On Saturday I showed you some of the latest French themed pillows destined for my local booth space at Serendipity Market (Edmond, OK)...  Hope to have my wee little shoppe up and running and fully stocked in a couple of days.  Sooo much work to do...hauling of furniture, pricing/tagging and lots of arranging!

Today I'm sharing with you another pillow and I hope you'll be inspired to create something similar while re-purposing great used, vintage or second-hand clothes.  We all know our local thrift stores are filled up and over flowing with such things, right?

I love working with linen, flax and high quality cottons when making pillows.  The problem is the yardage is sooo expensive that once you purchase the fabric and either poly-filling or a feather insert the cost can truly get sky-high.

 Add some vintage buttons (or even new shell, etc.) the cost continues to climb...

Well...to help out my pocketbook and to keep my overall investment as low as possible (I resell most of what I make so I'm always thinking about profit) I scour the thrift stores for linen clothing for possible makeovers...

I found this great late 1990's Eddie Bauer dress for a few dollars and knew it would be fabulous made into a pillow.  It had shell buttons down the entire front and since it was made of 100% linen it had this wonderful color and texture to the cloth.

The entire skirt portion was used for the pillow...or about a yard (plus a little) of fabric!  To make this pillow out of new and comparable linen it would have cost me three or more times as much!  An added bonus was the front panel was perfect for the buttoned back!  LOVE THAT and no buttonholes to make or buttons to sew on!

I'm going to be in and out this week transforming my booth into what will hopefully be a sweet place to shop!

Hope your week is fabulous!

Love to you...

~FRENCH EPHEMERA PILLOWS~

 Today is an exciting day as my little booth space at Serendipity Market (Edmond, OK) is 99% ready to move in.  Just a couple pieces of wood flooring are left to install and then we can begin the task of filling her up with lots and lots of goodies!  Hand painted signs and furniture, pillows, sachets and sweet vintage finds and so much more....  I'm so happy I'll be settled in before Easter and Spring!  If you're like me you're already craving warmer weather and sunshine...

I've been a busy bee sewing and painting up a storm.  Such fun! 

I've finally made use of the vintage images I've collected while visiting the ever popular Karen at GF!!!.  I love, love, love how her graphics look when used on simple white cotton and linen pillows!  Nothing complicated here...petite ruffles combined with the old ephemera and feather inserts make for French themed pillows that are easy on the eye.

I love all of the old images, but my favorite one was used on the first pillow at the top!

I also snagged another mid-century maple dresser and recently painted it out in my favorite soft white paint.  This piece is almost exactly like one I sold last year that I painted pink.  Love this one in white...simple paint techniques, gentle distressing and a quick sealer help to make her home-ready!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I made Chicken Spaghetti for my family and then we all played UNO until almost midnight.  Guess who one?  NOT ME!

Hope your Saturday is wonderful!

Love to you... 

~FRENCH MARKET PILLOW and OTHER FINDS~

  ~FRENCH MARKET PILLOW~

Are you lovin' the latest trends towards all things Farmhouse and French?  Gosh...it's everywhere!  I for one am LOVING IT!

I had a fabulous time shopping yesterday at my two favorite places in OKCity.  THE RINK and THE FEATHERED NEST MARKET!  French decor of some sort was in at least half the booths and I was completely taken back by all the amazing talent in my own city!

AMAZING DESIGNERS OUT THERE!

Wow!

 ~TIES AT THE BACK~

I'm back in my studio working on more new product for today!  Decided to give you a little sneak peek at the latest pillows that will soon be coming your way via my AGP website.

~MY GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER~

Marcus (Markus) Lafayette Martinique

Wish I could have known my GG-Grandfather!  From what I understand he was a real shyster of a man when he came to America in the mid 1800's.   My French lineage comes from my mother's side (maiden name MARTIN~long ago dropped the "ique" from their name).

~CORRECTED POCKET SPELLING~

After I returned home yesterday from running around I replaced the pocket on the French Farmhouse Apron from Thursday's post...  BOULANGERIE!  BOULANGERIE!  :)

 ~SWEET FINDS~

Lovin' this wire cloche!  I had one in the past painted soft pink... but I sold it! :(    Glad to finally snag another one!
(If I could find the wholesale source I'd sell them!!!!)

 ~VINTAGE MATCHSTICK HOLDER~

Found this sweet old match-thingy sometime back!  Finally got around to painting it and adding a sweet rose motif! 

~UP-CLOSE ROSES~

This applique is vinyl.  Can you believe that?  I love how it looks all painted up and distressed!  It was a garage sale find!  No clue where it came from!!! :(

Hope your Friday is wonderful.  I'm off to sew and paint!

Love to you...  

~VINTAGE LACE HEART and MANNEQUIN GIRL~ White Wednesday - Dress Form Ball

 ~VINTAGE LACE HEART PILLOW~

Today I'm linking up with
Kathleen from Faded Charm for
White Wednesday 
and Carol at The Polka Dot Closet for the
Dress Form Ball!
Pop on over to their amazing bloggies to see what's new!

(I never fail to be inspired!)

Fabulous shabby whites

and

lots of French themed pretties!

You're going to LOVE what you see!

PROMISE!

~HANGING SACHETS~

While my Mr. AGPMan has been busy ripping out out carpet and capping off old water pipes I've been tinkering around in my studio working on new product for my shoppe.  I'm having so much fun! 

~VINTAGE CROCHET POCKET PILLOW~

Over the weekend I did a little bit of tag sale shopping and found not only some amazing vintage lace but I also snagged a neat old clothespin bag!  I'm hoping to do some stenciling or burninshing on the front of it this week and promise to show it to you soon!

~SWEET STUDIO DRESS FORM~

I hope your day is going great!  I'm off to see all the new things uploaded for this week!

Love to you...

VINTAGE GRAPHICS...New Ways to Honor the Old

VINTAGE IMAGE PILLOW

Over the past few weeks I've received at least twenty emails regarding the use of vintage graphics and just how they are transferred onto fabrics and made into note cards, hang tags and computer images for Backgrounds, Blog Mastheads (Headers), Banners, etc.

This Post won't be a tutorial because I don't know enough about what I am doing yet to tell you step by step what I've PAINSTAKINGLY figured out! But, I will share with you some ideas that will hopefully inspire you to dig deep into information out there on the world-wide-web! If my technically-challenged mind can figure things out then so can yours! Besides, I can't explain things nearly as well as the Instructive Tutorials on the Internet can.

Printing on fabric is not complicated. If you have only a basic home printer then it might be more of a challenge for you to get your colors clear and your images sharp. My Mr. AGPMan is a Computer Analyst for a MAJOR Copier Company so I fortunately have access to a premium printer if I need one. Still, I print MOST of my fabric images at home on my Color Printer and I've been VERY happy with the results.

I love vintage graphics and as I've shared with you before I've collected them for many years. I've spent the months since Christmas learning several different computer programs which in turn have helped me manipulate my favorite graphics. It seems once I learn how to do something in Photo Shop or Paint Shop Pro then a newer (and better) version comes out! I'm always yelling out for my guy to come and help me...if he's not around I call my son (he's a Programmer!).

I scanned in a single image of this beautiful vintage lady from an old picture book and I've already used her in LOTS of creative ways for both business and pleasure!

CANDY WRAPPER FRONT

The Pillow at the top showcases this same lovely painting which I printed directed onto pure white cotton. Above you can see the front of a chocolate candy bar wrapper I made as Thank You gifts for my non-summer customers. Below is the same graphic (re-colored and made a bit softer) used for the new LINK BANNER to my website.

LINK BANNER

I learn something new everyday and it's been so much fun and the possibilities to create works of art are endless! I especially love using vintage graphics of Victorian women because many of the copyrights have expired!

BUSINESS THANK YOU CARDS

If I rework this graphic just a bit I can make regular note cards, hang tags, greeting cards, birth and wedding announcements, etc. Not to mention special pillows, fragrant sachets and more...

I hope you are inspired to learn more about your computer and the many programs and tutorials you can find FREE by just clicking away! Also...my son bought me one of those yellow and black books "Photo Shop for DUMMIES" and it really helped me learn some faster and easier ways of doing things!

Blessings to you as you get your creative juices flowing...Rebecca

~VINTAGE MILLINERY BLOOMS~ SOFTLY FADING

FRESHLY MADE MILLINERY SACHET HANGERS

One of the greatest joys I have comes from the making of handmade pretties. Aside from my love of painting PINK ROSES, I simply love working with fine old laces, linens, charming vintage ribbons, buttons and the ever lovely, (and getting harder to find), vintage millinery flowers and blooms. Creating new works of art from snippets of the past just seems to call out to me… Repurposing old finds has easily become my passion. I just can’t resist the allure of an old keepsake I know was once dearly loved.

I do a lot of shopping, but I spend a lot of time looking, too! Boy am I picky and more often than not I’ve found one must wade through a lot of JUNQUE before uncovering the perfect treasure! If I stumble upon vintage goodies, such as these, at estate sales, tag sales, thrift stores (yeah, I’m dreaming here!) or even antique shoppes, more than likely most of the highly sought after Lots come home with me...

PART OF MY VINTAGE FLOWER COLLECTION

With Easter and Mother’s Day on the horizon I’ve spent many hours making Sachet Pillows and decorative Hangers for gift giving. I’ve included a picture of the latest pretties that will be listed on my website later today…

Why not try your hand at fashioning a Sachet for your own Momma (don’t forget that loving MIL), sister or friend? They aren’t nearly as difficult as they may seem and are gifts that will last for years and years to come. Those you love will greatly appreciate the effort and time spent creating something with your own hands!

Blessings to you as you seek to uncover your own passion…Rebecca

WEBSITE OPENING SOON

Just a quick note today for all of you who are waiting for the GRAND :) Re-Opening of my Website~ http://www.gatheryeroses.com/.

I've been working feverishly on new pretties for your buying enjoyment! Lots and lots of hand painted Signs (new for the Site), painted Accent Pieces, Fragrant Sachets, Lined Baskets, charming Decorator Pillows and so much more! Everything for your Romantic Cottage and Shabby Chic style home! Can't wait for you to see...

I'm shooting for the 10th of February as OPENING DAY! I promise to post updated news later this week and share more about the fabuloso FREE GIFTS I'll be offering to celebrate! Stay tuned...pretty finds that are sure to pull at your HEARTSTRINGS!

Thank you for stopping by...

Blessings...Rebecca