~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

~RIBBONS ~ RIBBONS ~ RIBBONS~ Vintage Ribbon Finery

~ALICE BLUE RIBBON~

Last week I spent some time hours rummaging around on eBay.  Even though I don't spend a lot of time on the site anymore I still will occasionally peek in to see if any of the things I've been watching now for EONS and EONS actually gets listed!

 ~OLD RAYON and COTTON~

Sometimes I hit the jackpot and sometimes I don't.  Yesterday I did manage to snag a Vintage Train Case (YIPEEEE!) and I'm always excited when I find the RIGHT KIND at a truly fabulous price!

I'm always hunting for the same-old same-old...

Old lace (be still my heart!).

1940's Cookbooks (for me and my girl)

Old Books and Sheet Music

Antique and Vintage Postcards

Aging Trims

and...

VINTAGE RIBBON

~CORSET ACCESSORIES COMPANY, INC.

~

Several years ago I bid on an auction for 7 or 8 rolls of vintage pink ribbon from the 1940's.  My bid was sooo high that I was shaking.  I was half hoping I'd win and half hoping I'd lose!  When I won the lot for only a few bucks I was speechless (and that nevahhhhh happens!)...  

~TWO SIZES of BLUE~

Even with as much as I've used I still have about five rolls of that ribbon left.  Each of the new-old-stock rolls had 50 yards.  Takes a long time to go through that much ribbon when you basically use it to tie small accent bows.

~ONE FULL ROLL of CREAM/50 Yards~

Anyway...back to eBay.  

I somehow stumbled upon an eBay auction for some ribbon last week honestly thinking it was junk (not good junque but JUNK!).  Sometimes descriptions are extremely vague and the photos are poor.   Lots of times it's hard to tell WHAT someone is offering because quite frankly they don't know!  I see it all the time.  That little saying about 'one man's junk is another man's treasure' is very, very true when it comes to eBay (or any Tag Sale I suppose!)

~SATIN SIDE and FAILLE SIDE~

(that means grosgrain)

So I watched the auction for several days, eventually bid and ultimately ended up winning the listing for $12.50 (plus $8 or so shipping).  Not really knowing WHAT I was going to get I figured I'd take a chance on the ribbons given the fact almost all the colors in the lot I would use...

I mean aside from selling online I must remind you my Miss K is EIGHT and loves to craft and glue and sew and paint and...and...and...

That means I must have good 'kid stuff' on hand for her to play and experiment with!

(Have I told you lately I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE being a Nana????  God's biggest blessing in my life!)...

~UPCLOSE VIEW~

OK...back to eBay again...

The ribbon came in the mail today and WHOAAAAA DOGGIES was I in for a real shocker!

 

 ~TWO ROLLS of ICY PINK~

I opened up the box to find seven almost full rolls (50 yards each) of fabulous ribbon from the 1940's. 

~TWO WIDTHS of PINK RIBBON~

I actually wasn't sure of the made-date but it was fairly easy to whittle down when it was manufactured by the telephone number from Gramercy, NY.  A little bit of searching on Google and I discovered a few old phone books from about 1944 when the same exchange name was being used.  So, even though my guess on the age of the ribbons would have been the 1940's-1950's I'm glad to know for sure the approximate date the ribbons were actually made.

 ~TWO ROLLS DEEP ECRU RIBBON~

This ribbon is wonderful even though it does have a bit of a peachy cast to it.  I'm going to do some experimenting and try my hand at custom dying a bit of it!

~SIMPLY DIVINE~

Now...want to know what really made me SMILE BIG about getting this ribbon (aside from the price I paid for it!)?

Can you guess?

~MADE IN THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA~

Yep!  That's it!  Made in the good old U. S. A!

Sweet find, huh?

Our old factories and mills made the best stuff!

(What happened???)

~~*~~

I will be uploading my Christmas Category to my A Gathering Place website this evening sometimes (have no idea what time yet) and will be adding more to it every day until everything I have already made is photographed and descriptions are written.  Then I'll be back to the grind until Christmas!

(Did I say that?)

Now...on Saturday I will start a brand new GIVEAWAY so I hope you'll come back to see what's new!

(Nope...I'm not sharing my ribbon...Sorreee!  Feeling totally selfish lately!)  :) :) :)

Love to you...