The Unveiling of the Paint Chip Fun Project Submissions!

First, let me say, if you didn't participate this week, you've just gotta give it a go next week! We are going to make this an ongoing party, and it's going to be a blast!

I am not an artist, like so many of my wonderful blog buddies and contributors, but I love being creative. I'm even posting the "art" made by my two little daughters, just to show that ANYONE can have Fun With Paint Chips!!

I'm going to start with theirs, then mine (because it's only slightly more sophisticated), then we'll get on to the awesome works created by all my other friends and readers!!

Here is Miss May's (she's turning three this month): She just cut, glued, then rolled it all up in a tube.


Here is Miss June's (she's turning six in June): It has two sides.
She had it glued all nicely, then wanted to cover it in shiny cello tape. No dissuading her...she's got an artist's temperament!

Here is mine. It's called "Walking". I couldn't decide whether to post an image of the original item (the strips of paint chips are glued inside a small box), or the one I photgraphed and tweaked. I'm leaning towards the idea of making something by hand, but then photographing it and letting that image be the final product. Opinions?

And now with no further ado, and in no particular order, the gallery of submissions!

These next two were probably the biggest surprise to me - they are by Pam (aka My Retro Goddess) from RetroRenovation.com! I didn't even know she read my blog, so imagine how I felt to find these in my inbox! She has just started learning collage, and is incorporating vintage wallpaper (one of her favorite things) and vintage paint chips. I don't think she looks like a beginner at all!

"Mama Bird"

"Flower Pot"

Pam writes, "I am obsessed with collage right now. This is a work in progress. I actually had the 'flower pot' all pasted to a background but took it apart. Now I'm reworking it ... put those ladies there just for this scan - kind of like it! All made from my collection of vintage wallpaper, vintage paint chip, and found photography.... it's nice to be contributing to some one else's blog for a change!"

Next, Sylvie from The Butter Flying, or lepetitpapillon, is an artist with a blog and Etsy shop. She loves to create art from paint chips (she says she is "addicted"!), so she was a natural to join in this project! She submitted her photos to Veronica, too, so I'm going to feature a few different ones here:

Make sure you go look at the beautiful garlands and mobiles she makes!

My best friend Anthony, of Pop Circus fame, completely stressed out about the "deadlline" for submissions and emailed this to me at 2:00 am! Geez, people, I'm NOT that prompt, please do not worry! It's now 9:30 Friday morning and I'm still working on this post! (Short break - had a stinky diaper to attend to - see what I mean about not having the luxury to blog when I'd like to? BTW, have you seen the movie Bolt (animated, about a dog and his girl)? It's really charming, and it's been played at our house about, oh, a thousand times. Where was I? Oh, yeah, art.)

Anthony's piece is Fab-u-lous! Bright, fun, and very vintagey! I am sooooo impressed! The bright colors and the black-and-white vintage images make a vibrant combination. It's just such a happy piece! (Did you read Anthony's post 'Laughter IS the Best Medicine?') This piece is called "Vintage Rainbow":

Wow! Do I have talented friends, or what?!

And now, for the works created by my wonderful co-hosts, both very talented artists whose art I admire. If you have not checked out their blogs and their work, you must do so, right now!

Veronica's "Shelter". This is very evocative of all her work, where she uses various media, and always has a bit of the element of surprise, or happy accidents. She keeps promising to open her Etsy shop soon, and I will be the first to let you know!

Check out her PCFP post for her description of her work, and the works by her readers that she is featuring this week. This was all her idea, so be sure to go by and show her your support!

Veronica also posts a funny explanation for the following piece, by JEM 'n Tonic:

JEM's blog is Amidst Mod, and his piece is "A More Tonic Future". He says he only worked on it for about 20 minutes! I find that hard to believe. It's is very mod and swanky!

When I posted about PCFP on Monday, a lot of you said you didn't have time this week, but would like to participate. Well, here's your chance! Just send something in by next Thursday, and you will be featured! If there are any lurkers out there, come on out and join in the Party!!

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Sometimes it's fun to participate in these blog events and check out what everyone else has posted. Today I'm going to try out Vintage Thingies Thursday, which originated on Confessions of An Apron Queen (no longer actively blogging) and is now hosted by the lovely Suzanne of Colorado Lady. This week's theme is "What Was I Thinking?!" She's got a funny post up today about a daschund boot scraper that she bought - and didn't realize how truly scary looking it was until she got home! Check out her blog for links to all the other participant's blogs if you enjoy looking at vintage finds.

I knew what I was thinking when I made this purchase, but I bet my husband wondered! I picked up this very sad looking lamp at the Goodwill for $5.99 because I recognized the modern shape of the wood base. I was just hoping that the hideous purple fabric would come off and it would shine up nicely. Here are the photos that show the lamp from the way I found it in the store to the end result:



I had to basically take the lamp apart to remove that fabric! I was happy to see the brass underneath was in good condition.







I used Songbirdtiff's recipe for wood cleaning oil and it worked like a charm! I've been using that stuff for all the wooden objects I pick up at thrift stores, and for my wooden furniture. It's great - so easy to make with 2 ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen, cheap, and good for the environment. Thanks Tiff!

I had the lampshade on hand from a previous purchase for another lamp (awaiting rewiring) that it didn't fit. I love it when things work out that way!

In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room

My photos for this post are no great shakes, but I wanted to show off my tiki collection.

It's nowhere near as impressive or vintage as lots of collectors', but it's still a fun space in our house. I hope to actually start serving drinks from the bar at parties soon! Like most things in our house (we've lived here less than a year), it's a work in progress.



Nets and seashells deco from Big Lots (!)
Glass fishing globes from a Hawaiiana seller at the County Fair years ago.


Some of my framed art. The two little figures are made by Grandma Bee.
I think they are actually supposed to be Indian, but they look cute here anyway.
The curtains were made by my mom for our first house, and I'm glad I still have a place to use them! They have a palm tree and flamingo print.


My Derek Yaniger tiki mug set.


The mini tiki mugs I mentioned getting from RetroPlanet - I've already moved these to another room (pix to follow).


Fu Manchu tiki mug and two Hawaiian nene birds my parents brought back as souvenirs.


Masks and netting and more shells.


Big bamboo shelf unit I scored for free while we were living in Yucca Valley.
Lots of silk flowers, tiki party lights, and more shell necklaces.


I've got various Hawaiiana, such as this Arthur Lyman record, and vintage souvenir tin plate that I'd like to display better, but right now the rest of the room belongs to the kids, so here they stay.


My tiki books. I "loaned" my Book of Tiki by Sven Kirsten to a friend-of-a-friend. Never saw it again. Waaaaaahhhh!! They go for around $100 online now, so my only hope is to find one abandoned in a thrift store or library sale someday.


Miscellaneous mugs, wooden tikis and shark.


One of my latest thrift store tikis, and the amazing box given to me by my sister and her family for my 40th birthday. It's from Disneyland, and is a recreation of the tikis from the Tiki Room. It is really solid, heavy, well-made and beautiful. Hard to do it justice in a photo.


This light was a gift from my other sister many years ago. We like to put red lightbulbs in it - makes it look like a sunset on the beach.


Are there giraffes and elephants in Hawaii? No? Oh well, I just like the way they look with all my other stuff and don't really have another place in the house where they would "go".


Most of my mugs were from Target or some such place. I really don't have any true vintage collectible ones yet, but since I just like my tiki stuff for fun, and since I've got young kids running around, I really don't mind.


Stop by for a Mai Tai any time you'd like! Aloha!

Fun With Paint Chips!

This is my Home Depot paint chip book, and I LOVE this thing - I've used it countless times.

My good blog-buddy Veronica Diago has come up with a super-fun idea for us all to try out!

The Paint Chip Fun Project! (The PCFP)

We are each posting, encouraging all our followers and visitors to get creative with paint chips. You can create anything you like, and you don't have to be an "artist" to give it a go. Just let your imagination take over - pretend you're a kid again! You could make a 2-D or 3-D art project, take a photograph, do a craft, whatever comes to mind.

The best part is, paint chips are FREE! And if you're anything like me, you've already got a stash of them lying around in a drawer somewhere....

It's going to be very interesting to see what different ideas we all come up with. I'm going to post a picture of all the creations this Friday with a link to your blog, website, etc. Submissions are due this Thursday, as late as you want as long as it's still Thursday, May 7 th. You can send your submissions to: elisafolino@gmail.com

Are you excited already?

Go run to your closest hardware store and grab a few!

Don't forget to check out Veronica's blog on Friday, too, to see more paint-chip fun!

See you soon paint chip addicts !

It's a Retro Planet (.com)!

**Update 5/4/09 - I'm a Retro Planet affiliate now, so visit their site by clicking on the button in the left sidebar, and I'll get a little discount when I buy something. Whoot!****

Quite a while ago, it must have been almost 2 years now, I ordered from this online company and had a really good experience. I hope they are still doing business now the same way they were then, because I was impressed by their customer service. How often can you say that nowadays?

Basically, what happened was this: I ordered this cute set of small tiki mugs and some cool reproduction vintage travel posters.



When my package arrived, everything was in fine condition, but it was the wrong set of mugs - ones I already owned! (MoonDoggie is now the proud owner of those!) Well, I'm Queen Procrastinator, so it took me at least a month to get around to contacting them about the mistake. By that point, I figured I was stuck with them, but emailed their customer service anyway.

They replied promptly and courteously, saying they would take the wrong ones back and send the correct ones. Great, I thought! Well, in the next email, the rep says it will cost them more than it was worth to ship the wrong ones back, so I could just keep them at no charge. I was quite pleased with that solution, of course, and let them know that I would tell people how happy I was with their company. Well, now that I've got a blog to do such things, I'm finally making good on that promise.

They've got LOTS of stuff on their site, ranging from the truly kitschy/tacky to the very expensive (check out their home bars!). Thought I'd highlight a couple of products real quick, and then leave it up to you to browse their site at your leisure!

They've got lots of reproduction vintage tin signs. I think this one would be fun to hang by the front door, much more so than those boring "No Solicitors" signs.

Of course, I love this one. Can't believe it's not already hanging in my Tiki Lounge.


An example of the cool mid-century repro travel posters (you can buy these framed or not). I got four of these and hung them on my wall in the heavy plastic sleeves they came in. Do I have a picture? I'll look and get back to you....


JEM - the South America one is for you!

They've got fun repro vintage toys, too. Posting these especially for Anthony!


Don't know if these are a newer item, but I know I didn't see them before. They are glass platters, that you can use for food, but they also sell lighted stands for display. I think they are purty!