Vintage weekend...

Goodness this past weekend went fast- I feel like I've just turned around and it's Monday again! I worked a good chunk of the weekend, so that soaked up a lot of it, but I also had some time for two really fun things.

The first was the Quilt Trade Show, which was in Houston this past weekend. My friend, Kim, was gracious enough to share an exhibitor's pass that she got from a friend who owns a shop in Idaho Falls to attend the event which is closed to the public. OMG, I can't tell you how much sensory overload it was! There were so many designers, fabric manufacturers, ribbon, patterns and of course tons of beautiful quilts on display! I am not a quilter (yet-LOL!) but it was SO much fun to meet these people who came from all over the country to share their incredible talents and goods. Check out Amy's website, Kati Cupcake- she has great designs for quilts and kids' clothes, as well as a new fabric line.

Kim and I scored a bunch of great patterns, some for quilts and some for clothing- skirts, tops and the cutest quilted beanbag chair you have ever seen! I will definitely have to share pictures of that if I ever get it made... We also had a blast going through some vintage button/ribbon collections. For those of you who know me, I have a ribbon fetish, followed only by a vintage button fetish and this place was totally dangerous!

Aren't those ribbons fabulous?! We found some really cool buckles to go with them- I can see the brown/blue one with some jeans and a brown shirt I have now! When I saw the mother-of-pearl button, I knew I needed one (and at the price of $12 a button, one was all I was getting!). I am going to use the pastel ones to make fancy pony tail holders for Emily and the others for some special projects, so more to come!

So now onto my project for the weekend. I scored a real vintage find last week... test tubes! A colleague was cleaning out an old lab and was going to throw these beauties away (what a cretin- he clearly doesn't know a great vintage find when he sees one!) They are so awesome- vintage glass test tubes with beautiful, imprinted metal caps- these babies are 50 years old at least.

The minute I saw them, I had spooky Halloween treats swirling in my head! OK, before you get totally grossed out, I cleaned them and sanitized them to the point where nothing that was ever in them is even remotely lingering. So, if you are lucky enough to receive one, a) they are safe to eat the treats from and b) I want it back! Just kidding...

I had some Vintage Cuts and stickers from Crafty Secrets hanging about and I knew they would be perfect for the vintage feel I was going for. I cut out the cat image with my oval die on my Sizzix machine and layered it onto a Pumpkin Pie nested oval and Black scalloped oval.

Before assembling, I inked the edges of all the pieces with black ink, punched a hole in the top of the tag and tied the ribbon through. I used my heat tool to melt the sheer ribbon a bit and make it wavy- a cool look for Halloween projects and really easy to do!

For the second tube, I cut a scrap of Very Vanilla paper with my new "Labels 9" die on my Sizzix machine and sponged it with Close to Cocoa ink to make it look aged before I adhered the stickers (I love these vintage images!). I took some copper crafting wire and wound it around my piercing tool to make a little spring and attached it to the back of the tag with a strong dimensional glue dot. I nested the tag with another cut from Basic Black and adhered them together with dimensional dots to give it some texture. I used the same ribbon technique on this one with some sheer black dotted ribbon.

I filled them with some vintage licorice candies I found at Central Market (the best reason to live in Houston!) and voila'- cool Halloween treats!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my little corner- hope your Monday is painless!