Market Report : Gathering up Greige

 Hello + Hello!

How has your Autumn been thus far?

Hopefully wonderful!

I just stopped in to share some outtakes

from my last

Market Report in Gatherings Magazine

 

Have you gotten a copy yet?

Oh, it's so lovely!

Don't wait....get it soon!

I loved the beautiful photography

&

sweet styling by each of the lovely contributors.

 

 In my report I speak mainly about the color trend of

"greige"

(grey mixed with beige)

as a perfect back drop for the

newer resurgence of

NEON.

 If you've noticed pops of intense color saturating the monochromatic

greige scheme

you're not alone...

 I'm seeing it too!

Honestly,

I kinda like it!

 It's a cool mix of neutral, industrial & pops of neon.

I like that it's exciting....I will always have a soft spot for bold color.

 It's a sort of

Rustic Romance...soft textures set against raw materials...

 ....natural materials....

 ...aged...

 ....and imperfect.

And you can find out more about it in my report.

 

 

Hope you can enjoy this season of harvest doing all that you love best.

One of the things I like best is looking out for new trends...

&

speaking of which...

I've just written my next report, and you can look for it soon over at

Gatherings Magazine!

Until then my friends....

cheers!

T.

xx

 

It's That Time Again: Hooray...it's Instasale Time!

Hello + Hello!

I know....I know....

Where have I been all month???

Well, frankly....

I've been trying to hold my life together by a thread....thank heavens it's a strong thread.

Life has been SO BUSY lately here in the Brink household!

We were off camping as a family for some R&R during the 4th of July weekend.

Immediately afterward I was off to

Atlanta's America's Mart buying for our shop

Grandiflora.

That alone has been MORE than enough to keep me busy.

&

most recently

I've been prepping for a rather big

"event"

which will be taking place later this year

(Exciting....but extremely stressful work has ensued for this event. It's turning out to be

a love/hate relationship; but more on that later....)

Couple all those things with the day to day living of a working wife & mommy....

& you have a delirious life!

I am not complaining one bit mind you....

just trying to excuse my profound lack of blogging this past month.

So,

now that I've got that explained away....

(wink, wink)

>>>>>--------------->

Well,

now the good Lord has given me a tiny little window of opportunity to do something that I enjoy doing so much!

Yay!

It's

INSTASALE TIME!

I am so excited to announce another instasale over at my IG feed called

Trisha Brink Design Shop

I hope you will join me over there if you have the time.

Until then....

I'm gonna head out and try to snatch up a few rays of sunshine while it's

still relatively easy to do!

Cheers my dears,

T.

xx

 

 



Play Your Vintage Cards Right; A Bunting DIY Tutorial

 Hello + Hello!

How are you all doing today?

I hope you are well?

Today I'm going to share a simple little tutorial with

old playing cards.

I seem to find these fun little sets of playing cards while I'm out thrifting.

Honestly, I don't play cards all that often,

but when I do it's pretty much

Go Fish, Old Maid or Uno with my sons.

Although my boys are learning new games that include regular

card playing....they have their own set of cards they like to use.

SO,

since I have no use for the cards in their original purpose....

I do like to purchase them for their fun design alone.

Now,

hmmmm.....what to do with these little cuties?

Well in order to enjoy the illustrations on a daily basis,

I SHOULD MAKE A BUNTING!

Want to know how? It's pretty simple, so here we go:

 

 HOW TO MAKE A PLAYING CARD BUNTING

 First: Gather your supplies.

- Assorted vintage playing cards

(You could also use scrap greeting cards; imagine a fun Christmas card bunting!)

-Thick string, bakers twine or yarn to match

-Piece of tape

-Scissors or cutting board

-Hole punch

-Ruler

-Pencil/Pen

 

 

 First,

measure to the center of the bottom on the face of the card.

From that measurement either free hand cut with a scissors or with the cutting board

out to each top corner. This will create your triangle.

 Then, hole punch the top two corners.

Next, wrap tape around the end of the string/yarn & begin to

thread your pennants on.

You can make your bunting as long as you like!

If you end up having a poker party....you can simply flip the bunting around

and enjoy your cards at face value!

I think this is a fun little tutorial,

and can be used for many different applications.

Imagine this in a child's room with vintage

old maid cards or memory cards....

birthday parties with vintage birthday cards...

in a classroom with vintage flash cards.

You can go on and on!

I hope this little project will inspire you to come up with your own

little buntings.

Remember, they are fun for celebrations....

but in my opinion, bunting is for everyday enjoyment.

Celebrate life, make and hang some bunting!

Cheers!

T.

xx



A Rainy Memorial Day Weekend...Time to Fire up the Tacky Lights!

 Hello + Hello!

I hope your Memorial Day weekend was lovely?

We had a very relaxing weekend, working on this and that....

but sadly...it rained. the. whole. weekend. long.

Boo-hoo.

Oh well, I got to spend a little time admiring the drippity drops

from the front porch.

 I decided to fire up the fun little find I got out thrifting the other day......

 Yes that's right....tacky trailer lights!

(this one's for you mom! ha ha ha!!!)

My dad always thought these little party lantern lights were the tackiest thing around

when we were kids in the 70's.

We had a trailer in a campground we used to visit, &

dad always made fun of people who had them.

My mom and I are of the less "worried what people think of us" version of folks.

SO.....

my hubby and I hung them up last night to give it a try.

We laughed pretty hard....but left them up for the night.

 We'll see if I'm brave enough to leave them lit in our respectable neighborhood....

Hey... a little granny/grampy trailer park chic never hurt anyone....right?

Now....

where are my lawn flamingoes?

 

>>>>>---------------->

 

T.

xx

The 32 Things I've Been Doing Since We Last Spoke

 

 Hello + Hello!

How have you all been lately?

Long time no speak...

yeah, I know....my bad.

Quite honestly I needed a little break from the internet/blogging,

but...just for a bit.

I guess I should've given a warning...but you know...it just didn't happen.

WHAT DID HAPPEN HOWEVER

was a bunch of stuff!

Whew...have I been a busy little bee.

In addition to my normal everyday job at

Grandiflora

this is what I've been up to while not

mothering...or wifey-ing

(is that a word?)

Ha ha ha!

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

Anyway...here goes:

Above you'll see that I painted a dresser for my son's room.
I also did a bit of fun painting for Etsy & Grandiflora items.

Next, I ripped up a neat old butterfly book and went a little

crazy with the gold and white washi tape!

I love how it turned out!

Then I started on some projects I can't reveal yet....at least not fully.

Isn't blanket stitching just the most relaxing thing?

I tried my hand at making a grocery tote from vintage sheeting....

it was actually going quite well

( I don't sew....no....frankly....I don't like to sew...not enough patience.)

until the machine decided to be stupid and I almost

threw it through a window!

(Well not really....but I thought it sounded like a good idea at the time.)

Needless to say,

I may be calling up one of my seamstress friends to finish it for me?

 I feel that I've been surrounded by books and magazines lately as well.

Truly I've not had the chance to really enjoy all of these lookers yet...

but everyday I savor a page or two!

I have been out picking and thrifting for finds lately.

Most of them go to one of my Etsy shops....but a few I either keep,

or send into Grandiflora.

I love shipping out orders from Etsy

&

washing and caring for the sweet vintage items.

A couple of other things I've been up to in my silly life are:

taking care of the t-shirt ninjas that seem to have invaded my life...

they demand fresh Asian food...mainly Spring Rolls.

I roll my eyes every time they get their swords out!

 

Our Chickens seem to have forgotten what a nesting box is....

or maybe they are practicing for Easter?

Again,

more photography for Etsy of this lovely vintage wallpaper.

Found a funny old photo strip pic of

hubby and I in 1992!

( Buah ha ha!)

Another chair that needs a little help...son picked it out for me.

(Frankly was pretty impressed with his selection!)

And....last but not least,

the new glasses arrived.

It's been mostly rainy lately....so it seems all I've been up to is

using the front of my shirt as a windshield wiper.

But there was a day or two when I was able to pull out the

new prescription sunglasses!

Whoo hooo!

 

>>>>>--------------->

 

Well,

I hope you're all enjoying your early Spring?

And....

that you're going to have an excellent weekend!

I hope to see you back again sooner rather than later...

but here is to a much needed break.

Cheers my friends!

T.

xx

Make Happy Hearts to Warm Your Winter Weary Soul DIY

Hello + Hello!

How have you been over the weekend?

I hope you are well?

I've been better than I was this past week...but still not great.

I tell you the stomach flu is really hanging on in our family...icky!

I was only gone from home for 2 hours but I was physically exhausted when I came home!!

The bad part was that I was mentally

WIDE AWAKE!

SO.....

I got some craft on!

If you are itching to make a little something fun this dreary winter, may I suggest these?

Here's the scoop.....they are super easy & you'll love it!

1. Grab some collapsed scrap cereal, pizza or granola bar boxes or similar light weight cardboard from the recycle bin.

2. Fold a piece in half and cut out "half" a heart on the fold. Unfold and lay flat.

3. Glue the heart to a piece of decorative vintage wallpaper with Mod Pod or watered down white school glue. ( Some of these wallpapers can be found at my shops on Etsy, at either Ollie Bollen or Wesley Asher by the yard if you are interested.)

4. If you plan to hang the hearts so you see both sides (like in a window etc.) just cover the backside the same way and allow to dry.

5. Last, punch holes in the top of the hearts and string with yarn or ribbons & hang...it's that easy!

 I'm thinking of making more to give away....these just turned out too cute!

I must be gettin' my craft mojo back after this long flu.

YAY!!!!

Until next time my friends, 

.....lot's of love!!!

T.

xx



Vintage Ornament Love!

 Hello + Hello!

Well...in between work days & time spent making

Grandiflora & GrandifloraHOME.com

function as a Christmas Winter Wonderland....

I've been decorating my home for the holidays!

We have our tree in the house,

I've donned it with 1200 twinkling lights,

&

am feverishly working on getting these sweet little ornaments

up on each and every branch!

 

 I'm keeping it simple this year

&

going with ONLY vintage ornaments on the tree!

I've never had enough to decorate an 8' tree before....

but I've been collecting all year to insure the fact that I will most certainly have

ENOUGH!!!!

LOL!

 There are only a couple of ornaments in my collection that are new-ish.

Most of the ornaments are 40-70 years old and a couple that are older than that!

I have been collecting vintage ornaments for about 15 years or so;

I've never paid more than $3.50 for one...but that is the extreeeeeme.

Most of the boxes of ornaments were either gifted to me by my sister, my mother or friends.

I've also enjoyed finding many of them at junk shops for just a few dollars for a whole box!

I'm sort of addicted.

Why would I collect tons of vintage ornaments when I have all the best the season has to offer

 at my shop?

I guess it's because I know I won't see or find this collection of ornaments

anywhere else.

Vintage ornaments are getting more and more difficult to find!

I LOVE the different "looks" that we sell at our shop...and because I'm the main buyer,

I get to have the thrill of purchasing all those items at market.

I get to enjoy them all day at work, and I love them!

BUT,

it's nice for me to come home and look at something I haven't been looking at all day at work.

I'm sure you can imagine.

There is one other fairly obvious reason why I love the vintage look....

it fits the style of my home:

OLD.

My 1913 Craftsman Bungalow begs for vintage!

I'm here to tell you...it's pretty awesome to have this cozy cottage filled with

my happy Christmas Decor.

 

Well,

how about you?

Are you enjoying your decorating yet?

What is your "look"?

Vintage, mod, woodsy, red and white, kids' ornaments?

I'd love to hear about it!

At the shop we've got so many looks it might make your head spin!

It's pretty difficult to decide on "styles" of Christmas decorations when we're at market in

January doing our buying for the next season ahead.

We love decorating for Christmas though....so it's never a bad thing!!!

LOL!

Happy Weekend my Friends!

T.

xx

P.S.

I'll be back with more photos before long...