~FARMHOUSE STYLE SOAP MAKEOVER and LOVELY VINTAGE FINDS~

Beautiful aging laces, old ribbons, trims and delicate millinery florals have always been my weakness!  Many years ago when my Mr. AGP Man and I married we began tag sale shopping and even now we favor both the planned and unexpected road trips in order to hunt down the best aging finds. I do buy some things online~  But, I'm one of those people who love to see things in person I'm afraid!

While my studio is filled with lots of lovely old treasures I'm always on the hunt for more.  Especially hard to find velvet millinery roses and flowers in soft creams, whites and the lightest of blush pink...

Seems like everyone is using them to create their own specialties these days or they purchase them for their own private collection.

 

So, when I do stumble upon a sale where there are piles of laces, embroidered cottons, linens or even the best vintage sewing materials, it's almost impossible to drag me away.  When my Miss K was still living in Oklahoma she would often go with me just to "guard" my stash while I continued to shop around...  Now that she lives far away (more about this later!) my guy and I are on our own.

Over the Memorial Day weekend we traveled to Dallas and returned home with some wonderful finds.  Mostly architectural elements and reclaimed wood pieces that will be used for sign making in my business.

  But, I did snag some old laces and the millinery flowers you see at the top.  Now that I'm officially back working from home (and loving it!) I'll be putting it all to good use.

 

 Wrapping these Italian Soaps in soft linen was so easy to do!  You should try making some for your own home...they make great gifts, too.  All I did was wrap a purchased bar of Italian Soap in fabric, secure and tie up with tattered linen before adding a stamped label to the front.  I offer the Soaps in my booth at Serendipity Market in Edmond, Oklahoma!

Perfect for the Farmhouse Style Bath and they make my booth smell sooo good!

Yesterday was the first Tuesday I haven't worked outside my home in almost four years.  It felt so strange to get up, brew a pot of tea and make a slew of different choices for my day! 

All is well.

Blessings~

Rebecca

~ALL LATHERED UP - REPACKAGING PERFUMED SOAPS~

About 2 1/2 years ago I shared with you a tutorial about repackaging perfumed soaps.  If you missed the post or would like to revisit it you can find it HERE.

I love using beautiful soaps and I love displaying them in our baths as well.  Problem is they are often very expensive and just like I told you a few years ago, many lack display-worthy packaging.  Beautiful soaps in truly UGLY boxes and wraps!  No wonder it's possible for graphic designers to make so much money... :)

 

I find Soaps on clearance all the time.  Usually the paper wrappings have been torn open or the boxes have been ripped apart.  Whatever the reason for the extra discounts, I swoop them up because I know when the holidays come they will be perfect for welcoming guests to our home and also for gift giving/stocking stuffers for family and friends.

 

Although I still love Soaps packaged like the photos shown in the tutorial, I'm understanding more and more (locally in my booth and also online) the popular look these days is one of simple refinement with less frou frou.  Yeah...I kicked and screamed about it for a bit...but things change and as a business woman I can either grow and change with the times or deal with unsold offerings that have become dated and stale. Vintage ephemera is the rage...it's reproduced onto signs, pillows, scarves, t-shirts, caps, dishes and more...

I truly believe that customers speak loud and clear about what they want and these days the things that sell best for me are generally fashioned in natural tones. 

Today I'm showing you some of the repacked soaps I finished a few days ago for my Booth.  All the soaps were manufactured in Italy and smell divine.  There is Tuscan Raspberry, Camilla and Holly Berry.  The Holly Berry Soap I wrapped with a reproduced vintage SEARS Christmas Ad from 1916.  I used a reproduced perfume ad for the Camilla Soap and for the Tuscan Raspberry Soap I used two reproduced vintage poems/letters and an ad showcasing different kinds of fonts.

For the labels I used Paint Shop Pro.  A simple and easy to read front for the front and for the back label I just copied what came off the original packaging and colorized it.

I hope you're inspired to do something similar for those you love this year.  Fast, fun and you can certainly save some money in the process.

More soon.

Love to you...