Thrifting and Mall Lunch and Floating the River

Yesterday I do believe I made good use of my day off. I did do some laundry, bought a few groceries and did a teeny bit of cooking, but otherwise I just had fun.

Sam came with me and we met up with Maria and Elise for some thrifting.  Cordelia was having a play date with her preschool teacher, Teacher Gwen. She was sooooo excited and felt so special to be invited to the teacher's house (or maybe she invited herself...not sure)! 

Anyway, Elise found a hat she needed.

FYI, she is wearing clothes that Maria wore as a baby.

Sam was a good sport and tried on

some fun things. I had his photo here but decided maybe

he would not appreciate that.

I will definitely save the photo, though, in case

I need to blackmail him someday.

Cordelia was back with us in time for mall lunch.

She had some fun at the little indoor playground there.

Actually, one little girl was kind of rude to her.

Cordelia is baffled by such behavior.

She went right up to an adult man and asked him why his

daughter was being mean to her!

He very kindly told her that girl wasn't his daughter so Cordelia

headed toward an adult woman to ask the same question.

Maria and I intervened. 

Elise doesn't know that she is smaller than Cordy.

She just takes off and plays like the big kids now!

 When Grandpa arrived, both girls wanted him!

By lunch, Cordelia was beat.

She was sad.

She said she missed Teacher Gwen.

After the mall, Mike and I had a river date.

It was our first float of the season!

 We have a new raft!

I think Mike missed the old way we rafted

but I think we looked cooler in this new raft.

It was a good day.

Up-Scaling a Plain Orange Vest = Heroism

It's like I told you, up-scaling really is a form of heroism.  Think about it.  We go out on a search and rescue mission, looking for pieces that deserve a second chance.  We take them home, in essence, saving them.  Recently, one such piece caught my eye, a plain rusty orange corduroy vest.  I took it home and loved it up.

I found vintage lace and fashioned it into an accent bow.  I enhanced the bow by centering a coppery button on it.  Do you like it?

 I took off the dull, ordinary buttons and replaced them all with the fun, coppery ones.  I think they give rather a western look to it all.

I like the snappy, fresh look now.

But wait!

There's more!

The real party is happening on the back side!  We also have been doing a search and rescue for vintage, maybe even antique doilies.  Among our findings was a large one in great condition.

It fit perfectly AND it had a pretty coordinating peachy edging on it!  I was so excited when I paired them together!  It was as though I were a talented match-maker!  Here, just take a look...

This vest is a size large and it is for sale now at Wyoming Rose Boutique!

Have a great day and remember to live creatively!

Up-Scaling Makes Me Feel Like a Hero!

There's something new going on at our Wyoming Rose Boutique.  Yes, we're still crocheting and crafting but we've added up-scaling to the mix as well.  Have you done any up-scaling that you'd recommend?

If you don't know what I am talking about, let me break it down to two simple steps.

1)     SHOP!  Maria and I aren't too excited to shop the usual way.  We aren't big on going to department stores to find our treasures.  What is the most fun is to shop thrift stores, keeping our eyes (and minds) open.  We really try to see items through our creative vision glasses.  OK, we don't have special glasses.  But we are developing an eye for potential.  We don't always know what we are searching for until we see it.  Things that catch my attention are classic styles or delicate remnants from the past.  Sometimes it is just a unique color or texture that I want to enhance.

2)     LET YOUR IMAGINATION RUN WILD!  This is the part that takes the most time.  I take one of our treasures back to my Rose Room and start experimenting.  I can't tell you how many different ideas I worked through on this golden purse, for example.  What I ended up doing is cutting out this piece of vintage lace and appliqueing it to the front of the purse.  The lace itself has some history.  My mother-in-law gave me some of her sewing things years ago (more than 30 years) and I still have some of it.  (Carol, do you recognize it?) This lace is one of my favorites as you just can't find any like it now.  Isn't it pretty?  It took this purse to a new level of of awesome.  But, I still felt like it needed something more.  I cut and twirled and tied and imagined for quite awhile before I realized this purse just needed some bling, so I made a bracelet for it.  I was really quite pleased with the result.  I like the mixture of antique and glamour, don't you?  We have it listed on our Wyoming Rose Boutique on Etsy.

I went kind of a different way with this classic red purse.  I wanted to keep it youthful and fun but it needed some personality.  I pawed through a lot of fabric before seeing how this bright apple print wanted to bring out the best of the red purse.  I put a lot of time into the process but the result was a cheerful, unique and spunky looking up-scaled bag.  What do you think of it?

I am pretty proud of this next one.  We found this chocolatey blazer and I knew right away that it was a candidate for up-scaling.  It was in excellent condition, soft and cozy - perfect for chilly days.  It already had some interesting lines.  Some of the vertical seams actually had encased elastic that gathered it up just enough to give it some drama, but it still wasn't really living up to its potential.  I took  it home and loved it up.  It had perfectly nice covered buttons but the brown on brown just went flat.  I replaced all the buttons with cool white ones that celebrated the fun of shape.  No more round boring buttons!  Then, I started experimenting with color.  I settled on a peachy cotton thread that had kind of a special smooth finish to it.  I hand-crocheted a lace that could peek out at the bottom of the sleeves.  I did not want to over do it but I still felt it needed a bit more.  I then used more of the fun thread to crochet a flower.  I centered the flower on a cut-out of more antique lace (thanks again to my mother-in-law) that was already a daisy-like design.  I centered another of the funky buttons for the center and sewed it all together.  When I attached it to the blazer, a star was born!  To see more detailed photos just click here.  

So, there you have it.  Go shopping and see if you get any fun ideas to upscale something.  I know that it made me feel rather heroic, as though I'd rescued something from boredom.  Have fun!

p.s.  Anyone who orders from Wyoming Rose Boutique can enter the secret code at check-out to receive a 10% discount.  The secret code is:  DISCOUNT