Fashion Show!

I'm pleased to announce that I'll have outfits made from recycled clothing in the ONE Fashion Event at Higher Ground on January 23rd. If you're in the Burlington area, come see my creations!

Fun with Crafts!

The new items in my etsy store are flying off the virtual shelves! Thanks so much to all of you who have supported Found Beauty Studio and remember that I'm always thrilled to do custom work, so if you have any materials you'd like to see reused or reworked, drop me a line!

Small Works

As the cold of winter sets in, I've been in the mood for a little fine art instead of my usual craft. Note, I haven't done much in the way of fine art in a few years, so these represent a bit of a rusty hand. But regardless of my own inner critic, I'm entering them in the "Small Works" show at the S.P.A.C.E gallery tomorrow!

"Magpie's Roost"



"Tiny Dreams for Tiny People"



"No Heart is an Empty Room"




I can't wait to turn these in tomorrow so I can stop scrutinizing them...

So many projects, so little time!

Well, I admit it. I've been in communication breakdown with this blog. It's not that I haven't been working, it's that between my day job as a fundraiser and event planner for nonprofits and my every other time job of creating for Found Beauty Studio, my blogging fell by the wayside. So what's been going on? Totes out of vintage tea towels, of course!






I've adored making these. And luckily, I've scored many more towels waiting for their transformation. But in the mean time, I'm now obsessed over the idea of crocheting a rug for my bedroom. The issue? I don't know how to crochet. But I'll figure it out...

DIY String Lamp Shade

Ever since my boyfriend and I bought an old house with no overhead lighting, we've been desperate to install ceiling lights. This has led us on a frenzied search for the coolest fixtures we can find without costing an arm and a leg. When I first came upon the idea of making a lamp out of string, it reminded me of the old papier mache balloon projects we all did as kids, but this had so much more elegance. I think I'm going to try my hand at it. Here's a great tutorial from the Naughty Secretary Club if you want to give it a shot yourself, and here's the look I'm going for:

For the record, this stunning lamp is from Design Without Regard and costs a whopping $980. Looks like it's yarn and fabric stiffener for me!

Projects for the Day

Thanks to thunderstorms and hungry cats, I've been up since the wee early hours of the morn and have started my projects for the day, which are all laid on on my rocking chair:

Yay! This is my favorite way to spend a rainy Sunday.

Too Hot to Work, so Here's a Link Instead

It hit 90 degrees here in Burlington, VT yesterday which I'm sure is nothing to most of you, but I am not built to be functional in anything above 80 which is one of the reasons I live here. And our air conditioner is conveniently buried at the bottom of our big closet, which is also full of 5lb buckets of joint compound from remodeling, excess artwork of ours we haven't hung, all of my planting supplies, and most of my home brewing equipment. Needless to say, it wasn't coming out for the few hot days of the season. So too hot to work on the dress I was going to make with my new dress form Lula that I made an epic excursion across the state to retrieve (long, kind of fun story I'll post later).


Which brings me back to the point, because when it's too hot to create, I read about other people's creations and look what I found on Design Sponge! Two people decided to write letters to everyone in a small Irish village. Best Idea Ever: http://www.mysteriousletters.blogspot.com/

Blog Fame

I'm psyched to have been featured in two blogs in the last two days! It's always nice (really, really nice) to get positive feedback for all my crazy creations. So check out my train case on Design*Sponge and my coffee sack tote bag on Floribelle! And for those of you who may be checking out my blog for the first time, please sign up to follow it or get the RSS feed for updates if you feel so inclined.

Yay blog fame!

Behind the Scenes of the Studio

I've been full speed ahead lately and wanted to share a few of my latest acquisitions.
Exhibit A: A very old, very beat up Samsonite suitcase I found at an apartment sale:


So far it has a fresh coat of paint but still as a long way to go, poor thing:


And if you're wondering what that is next to the suitcase in the last picture, it's a trash can chair. That's right, a trash can chair (in the making). There's a great charity auction that will take place during the annual South End Art Hop in September and I'm throwing my hat in the ring. I'll post when it's finished!

The original trash can:
And here it is in progress...

I also had an obsessive creative night on Monday and you can see the wine cork coasters, mason jar pin cushion, and completed upcycled blue train case on my etsy site, as always.

First Coffee Sack Project Complete

I've been playing around the bundle of coffee sacks I mentioned last post and just finished a tote with my favorite pattern from one of the bags:


I really like this project. No surprise since I'm addicted to tote bags. They're my constant companions for grocery shopping, running around town, bringing heaps of things to meetings (yep - I'm that person. The one who carries files in a tote bag. Hey, it's Vermont!)... And this particular one is fun and sturdy. You can see more pics on my etsy page. If anyone has suggestions on what to do with the others, I'd love to hear them!

Coffee Sack Grocery Bags

I just received 25 coffee sacks from a local coffee company and am so excited to make all sorts of bags and other burlap treats out of them! Besides the joy my cats get out of sitting on them, they're also good for making my home smell like green coffee beans...

Train Case Completed!

I finally finished refurbishing the train case today! Here's a quick view:



I absolutely love it. More views are up on my etsy page.

Off to cook dinner for friends now - tomorrow I start on a neat blue train case that a friend sent me. Yay upcycling!

Train Case Update

I let my mind wander over all the possibilities for the grey train case I posted earlier this month and I finally figured out what transformation it was fated to take. I'm only part-way through the process, but it's now a lovely shade of white!

Wine Cork Trivet

UPDATE: This made it into an Etsy treasury!

A fabulous wine store in town, Dedalus Wine, was kind enough to give me a ton of wine corks for my various projects. This is the first one I've used them in:


What fun! Not only do I desperately need a trivet in my kitchen since Josh and I installed a butcher block counter next to our stove, but I also love the texture and color of the corks side by side. A little more practice and I'll have this one down (and a few less burns from my glue gun).

Before & Afters

As I finally went through some of my pictures stored in the recesses of my hard drive, I thought it might be fun to show some of my before and after projects from the last year. Here you go!

Tip of the Day, Month and Year!

My brother is getting married in an hour and 15 minutes. I just finished getting ready, which included pulling a silver ring I made 5 years ago from my make up bag to wear with my dress. What do I find after pulling it from its hibernation? A boat load of tarnish. Poop! In a fit of desperation I tried cleaning it with everything in the hotel room. No luck. But wait, a common product I had tucked in my bag magically took the tarnish off in seconds. What cheap and extremely prevalent product made my day? TOOTHPASTE! Keep it everywhere, friends. I rubbed in on the silver and in seconds it looked like new. I've been making jewelry for years and never new this worked. Yay! Toothpaste saved the day!!!

New Project on the Horizon

As I frequented my favorite thrift store on Tuesday, I was thrilled to find a vintage train case:


Since the finish is pretty rough, I'm going to paint and reface the whole thing. God I love projects like this!

New Bags on Etsy

I've been gleefully sewing all weekend and have two of my bags up for sale on my etsy site:



More to come...

Studio Assistant Down!

Sadly, my trusty studio assistant Oscar is under the weather after surgery last week:

The First Step To Recovery is Admitting You Have a Problem

I admit it, I'm addicted to fabric. It's been a problem of mine for years that has resulted in a giant cedar chest, four large plastic bins, and 5 large cardboard boxes full of fabulous fabric backstock tucked away in my 800 square foot apartment. My boyfriend is, thankfully, very understanding. While sorting through some of the cedar chest contents, I found these old friends:



I think next week will find me making a few purses...

Coming Soon to a Store Near You... or my Etsy Store At Least

One of my very favorite things is to rifle through local thrift stores and yard sales and see what overlooked gems are out there. Last Monday on just such a journey I came up with a couple fantastic copper kitchen molds and vintage wallpaper. The molds are on sale at my etsy store and this is the fabulously 60's wallpaper:


One of my other very favorite things is to refinish furniture that has seen better days. My current project is this sweet little Collignon style folding rocking chair:



I'm not going to give away my vision for her future, but I can divulge that she's already been primed and painted, and the remaining broken cane backing has been removed...

I've entered 2009!

Thanks to peer encouragement and an innate desire to connect with the world while holed up in my workshop, Found Beauty Studio now has a blog! Stay tuned for more info. And if you ever want to buy what you see or read about, check out my etsy site:

http://fbstudiovt.etsy.com/