Let's Play a Game!

After such a successful and fun Christmas crafting season and a little down time celebrating the holidays with my family, I am excited to work on some Valentine's Day and Easter "junque". I love starting the New Year off fresh and neat and tidy. Despite the Christmas tree and ornaments and Santa collection being safely packed away for another eleven months and the house back into a resemblance of order, I am still struggling to tap into my creative mojo in MY STUDIO! It's a jumbled mess of beautiful goodies and my brain is overfilling with new ideas. The process for organizing and creating is painfully slow right now...

Can you believe these working conditions??? I tease My Big Guy that I am a Creative Genius
and cannot be bothered with such lowly tasks as keeping my work space neat and tidy!!!

Let's play a little game! The first person that leaves a comment giving specific details about the location of the Barbie head receives a $10.00 discount at MichelleLovesJunque! (I will give you a secret code to use at check out!)

This messy studio may be intimating to some, but it looks like a little slice of heaven to me! Unfortunately, without the much needed order and neatness, efficiency is completely unattainable. Under these conditions, it took me OVER A WEEK to tweak perfection into this little cutie!

A vintage heart-shaped tart tin has been decorated with thee neatest cherub image, seam
binding ruffles, a paper rose, pearls from a Grandmother's old necklace, vintage red glitter,
a paper banner "With Love" and a ruby red crystal!

I hope you love what you see. And as soon as I can carve out some much needed organization... MORE WILL COME so stay posted!

What to do? What to do?

UGH! Huge dilemma... I have an opportunity to do a small local craft show that benefits my son's school. The entrance fee is cheap, cheap, cheap so I wouldn't be out a WHOLE lot of money if it didn't work out and I couldn't participate...

I've started to make these adorable little ornaments to offer
customers affordable and unique gift ideas or home decor.

 The problem is my damn body! I've been enduring a wicked flare for the last month or so. Some days I'm great and others are hell. I'm dealing with more pain than usual and it's really wrecking my plans! LOL I've got too much to do fun to be had! I haven't done a craft show in over six long years and I MISS IT! I miss having a one-on-one connection with my customers and the public. I miss the adrenaline rush of setting up my display and anticipating the day. I miss going over the checklist a million times... cash box and change? Glue, tape and scissors? Cute bags and packing material? Business cards and free candies and hand-outs?

I love to see how people react to my creations. I love the challenging
customers who say that they "could make it themselves". Killing people
with kindness and a sense of humor is FUN for me and God-willing,
I seem to easily rise to the occasion.

With this particular show, I am able to set up my booth the night before. My merchandise can't be displayed until the morning, but WOW! Setting up the night before would really break up the hard, physical labor for me. I could have all the difficult tasks done, go home, get to bed early, sleep well and start fresh the day of the show. Could it work? Will my body cooperate?

I am having so much fun using up all kinds of vintage finds that I've
been collecting hoarding over the years... light reflectors, floral picks with snowman
(like the one in this photo), wonderful old flocked ornaments that I'm dressing
up with shiny sequins and ribbons and bells, vintage garland and Santas...

you should SEE my studio with all of these chotchkies everywhere...

it looks like Santa's workshop!!! LOL

I guess this is what I should do... I should pay the entrance fee and register. If I can do it, I CAN DO IT! If I can't... all the fruits of my labor will NOT be lost. I will list all the fun "junque" that I've made in my Etsy Shop, right? But can I handle the disappointment if my body fails me? How could I turn it into a positive? Could I handle the anger and resentment of my diagnosis? You'd think that after four years of sharing my body with Multiple Sclerosis this should be getting easier. Most days it is... some days it's just not!

I like JUNK!

I like love junk! I love buttons, old toys, dolls, rusty nuts & bolts, rocks, tarnished silverware, china, old cooking utensils, suitcases, fabrics, homemade wooden boxes, sea shells, jewelry, etc. I hope you get where I'm coming from. I LOVE IT ALL!

When I pick up something that's caught my eye, I try to imagine who owned it first. What did they look like? I can almost feel the young woman who choosing her silverware pattern to match her china or the beloved grandmother who used the sifter to make a favorite chocolate cake batter. I'm not sure if it's a weird E.S.P. kinda thing or simply my extraordinary imagination but here's a link to an article that I found VERY interesting regarding previously owned items. 

For the most part, I find it soothing and comforting to bring second-hand items into my home. It teaches my kids that something does not have to be fresh-out-of the-box or pristine to be loved and valuable and purposeful. It also gives character and history to our otherwise lacking new home.

The old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" has saved my butt many times when rescuing garbage from the side of the road. It's how I maintain dignity and respect when The Big Guy and my boys give me eye rolls and heavy sighs when I INSIST on turning the car around to inspect a roadside item with the simple letters F-R-E-E taped onto it. But what makes something trash vs. treasure? Is it as easy as "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"?

A very dear friend of mine was tickled when she inherited something very similar to this monkey (see pic) from her grandfather. A monkey playing golf??? It's brazenly displayed in her dining room in her beautiful Victorian home. REALLY? Really? Anyone else would think she lost her mind, but I know what this monkey means to her and I get it.

This is one of my favorite pieces of junk junque. My grandparents had this in their home while I was a little girl. I remember admiring it and thinking that it would be PERFECT for my Barbie dolls! My grandmother gave it to me when I moved into my first apartment. I sobbed when it accidently fell and broke. Many years later I found an identical one on ebay. I scarfed it up and proudly display it on my desk as a gently reminder of my childhood with my grandparents whom I miss terribly.

So tell me... what's your favorite piece of junk and why? Send me a picture. I don't care if it's crappy quality or from your phone. Be brave and put it out there for all of us to see!