Giveaway!! Upcycled Furniture & I Love Paint

Congrats to ReinvintageArts--winner of last week's giveaway with AmyKristineVintage!!

Many of you who have been reading along know I love vintage....and as attested to in early early posts (back when dinosaurs roamed this blog) I refinish furniture, and love refinished furniture.                  

You could paint just about anything cream and I would love it 

( well Almost--- probably not a litter box, or oatmeal).

In my mind, paint is the answer to almost any decorating dilemma.  Paint and Sticky back tile.  We once did a backsplash in a rental with sticky-back tile--you would not have believed how authentic and gorgeous it looked!  I have always wanted to try the ole paint your countertops to look like granite...haven't summoned the courage yet--but one day I will!!

Yes, this is a painted countertop below is the link for more...just finish reading Here first :)

http://kitchenbacksplashes.blogspot.com/2010/08/photos-of-painted-laminate-countertops.html

We still have a couch we painted brown to look like leather.  After we painted it with simple latex paint, we used several coats of paste wax, added some brads and boom!  Man Cave couch.  Here's some pictures... These were taken several years ago, without blogs in mind and in a parsonage --                       I had no control over the ugly paneling.

Before

After--Just Kidding...still Before!

Voila! After

Details

Told you--paint can fix anything...

This week's featured Etsy Shop is a Mother/Daughter team that can attest to that!!                                They are The Velvet Branch--and have some of the most drool-worthy furniture on the whole site...

This week they are giving away a 25.00 gift certificate to their shop so you can get some of that goodness for your dwelling!!  

Here's how to enter (you get one entry for each of these):

Comment on any post this week

Sign up to be a new blog follower

Follow me on Twitter, tweet your favorite Velvet Branch item, and let me know!

***A note here, I have some unclaimed prizes and have unfortunately had to draw new winners--please, please make sure I have your correct info so that you don't miss out!! :)***

Happy Entering to You!

Giveaway!!! Vintage Game!!!

My husband and I love a good board game.  Or video game.  Or baseball game.  And we aren't alone...America-heck, the world- is obsessed with playing games of all sorts, and has been for years and years and years.

The oldest game discovered thus far by the archaeological world dates from 3000BC.  It is a game of dice.  Evidently there was some sort of caveman version of Vegas replete with Dino Mafia and Tony Bennett.  He still looks the same....

I am a student of all things archaeological and Egyptian, I love the history of that culture and the way it is woven into so many other nations histories...and the ancient Egyptians had a sort of 'chess like' game some call Dogs and Jackals.  I like the name better than Chess.  You lost when someone took Caesar Millan off the board.

We have collected board games for years--registered for them for our wedding, even.  Jonathan's favorite is an old "Murder she Wrote" game.  I am not a huge fan, it always ends the same way...Jessica tricks you into confessing while the police chief hides in the closet.  Personally, I love Risk.  So maybe I have a slight Napoleonic complex.  Who doesn't?  I mean, seriously, if you could conquer the world and have great furniture, wouldn't you?!

This week's giveaway here on the Beteabon blog is from a terrific seller--Amy at AmyKristineVintage.  She has loads of fun items, but this is one of the ones that spoke to me personally...we played it when I was a kid, and we used the sticks for other games as well.

So could you--it would be amazing as part of an art piece, or as a funky home decor accent.  Make kabobs...poke people in the behind when their backs are turned, use it to illustrate to your children how to use a toothpick...Or you could bury it in the backyard for future generations to find, misname and marvel at. No matter What you do--it is a great prize, and a wonderful piece of vintage history. 

Here's what Amy's giving away this week!

To enter-

Comment on this interview, and any post this week

Sign up to follow this blog

Pop over to Amy's blog @ http://www.quixoticfox.com/ let me know you did, and it will get you an extra entry!!

Happy Entering!!

My Interview with Amy at Amy Kristine Vintage

Your banner graphic is Wonderful, did you design it yourself?

I wish! My artistic skills are pretty much nil. I worked with Solid Art Collective on my logo and banner design, and she was very helpful and patient. It was a fun process, and I am very happy with the result.

Does the little fox have special meaning?

In a way it does. My lovely boyfriend and I like to email each other cute pictures of red pandas and foxes, as a way to make each other smile, so it’s an animal that is close to my heart.

You come from a line of 'treasure hunters' are you the first to open your own shop?

What prompted you to open on Etsy?

I am the first to open an online vintage/antique shop, although I do have an aunt that has a booth at an antique mall, which means I always have someone to go to garage sales with.

Opening a vintage store was something I had been thinking about for a while, but timing was the deciding factor. I finished up college, and decided to finally give it a shot. I hoped that it would be a great (and flexible) side job once I go to grad school for my PhD in history.

However, this is definitely my first choice for what I could do for the rest of my life, so if I am able to increase my sales in the next year, I may end up being an antique and vintage dealer forever (fingers crossed!).

We are going to need to see a picture of the 'even cuter dog', please.

I think everyone with a pet thinks theirs is the cutest! Our dog is a 5 year old Golden Retriever, his name is Hunter, and he is a total sweetheart.

Where are your favorite sort of places to find your vintage items?

My top choices for hunting wild vintage are definitely auctions, with estate sales and garage sales being a close second. Unfortunately, in Minnesota they tend to be pretty infrequent during our long winter. During those times, I have a few great thrift stores I frequent on a weekly basis. But, I try to check out any place that might have vintage items, such as occasional sales, antique malls, and rummage sales. 

What has been your favorite find recently?

It is pretty hard to pick! But I think the weather starting to turn has made the Schmidt picnic basket one of my new favorites, as I can’t wait until we can have picnics every weekend. It’s easily one of the things I love the most about spring and summer. It combines three of my favorite things; showing off my cute vintage baskets and linens, cooking and being outside!

Animal, vegetable, mineral.

While I am an animal lover and a veggie lover, I would have to say mineral. We got to visit some family in Washington DC this summer, and went to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum. The gem and mineral exhibit is amazing, and it rekindled a fascination with rocks I haven’t felt since I was 6!

How is your home renovation going?

It is going well, although it definitely slowed down a bit over the winter. Last year, we had refinished the floors, painted, replaced fixtures and fixed the fireplace. Painting, sawing, sanding or drilling I can do, but I am a bit clueless when it comes to plumbing and electricity, so it helps a lot that my boyfriend used to refinish houses! Everything that’s left to do is either outside or in the basement, and we have to wait until after the spring melt to start back up again. So this summer, I will probably be blogging about refinishing basements, landscaping and cement mixing. The house was built in 1929, so it has been a fun balancing act to make it cute and ours while maintaining the house’s style.

Your shop has been very successful, could you share with us some things you believe have helped it to become so?

I think selling what you love and always working towards improvement are important factors. I am constantly shopping, cleaning, listing, researching and promoting, and am always looking for ideas that may help my business. And I think it is important to sell items that you would buy for yourself or as a gift or your friends or family. I have also noticed that many successful shops either have a large quantity of lower priced items, or a small selection of carefully curated items. Mine is a bit in between, but having a large variety of items and a range of price points has helped me so far, and I hope to present a shop with colorful and fun vintage décor items at a decent price. That being said, there are many things I would still like to fix and improve in my shop, and sometimes being very self-critical can help you to step away from your shop and truly see what is and is not working.

All in all, sell what you love and show the customer why you love it, either through the description or how it is presented in the photographs. And kindness and generosity is a wonderful thing in business, don't be afraid to showcase or assist other sellers and artists, as that is what will make you feel good at the end of the day!

Thanks Amy for giving so Generously of your time!!

Here's what Amy's giving away this week!

An incredibly cool set of vintage pick up sticks!!  This could be your ticket to the look that is so in right now in home decor...unuasual vertical pieces that draw the eye...things like feathers, and vintage arrows are often used--but how cool would pick up sticks be?! 

To enter-

Comment on this interview, and any post this week

Sign up to follow this blog

Pop over to Amy's blog @ http://www.quixoticfox.com/ let me know you did, and it will get you an extra entry!!

Happy Entering!!

Longing for the Farmhouse

Several years ago, when my husband was pastoring in a Very small rural community, we lived in a farmhouse.  Sounds perfect doesn't it?

Well, it sorta was.

RollingHills Vintage

We had been renting a home in town, and I use the term loosely...there was a bank, a grain elevator and a hardware store...when someone bought the rental out from under us. We still owned and were trying to sell a home in another part of the state--we couldn't buy a house, couldn't find a house to rent and had a narrow timeframe of less than three weeks to be out of the rental we were in.

Normally in situations less stressful than this one I panic.  Full blown get the bag she's hyperventilating, sing Hakuna Matata over and over to her, smack her in the face and call her Shirley panic.  This time, not so much.  I knew we would find a place. 





OpenDoorStudio

  

So we drove. And drove.  And drove around the area.  Nothing...

Til we drove out in the country and passed (about a mile and a half from 'town') an old farmhouse that no one was living in.  I'd call it abandoned except a family still owned it, they lived two towns away and had rented it out but the renters who had lived there for years finally moved six months prior.  It was perfect for us.  We contacted the family, rolled up our sleeves and dove in.

When I say perfect it's easy to picture a whitewashed home, with a front porch and gigham curtains, isn't it?  This wasn't that farmhouse.  This was a paint is badly peeling, someone didn't care for this properly sort of farmhouse.  We removed, with the help of some friends, layers of wallpaper...more than a wedding cake--we took up cat urine soaked carpets to reveal the hardwood underneath.  Windows were replaced, holes in the basement were patched, floors were joisted up and then....

Post Road Vintage

There I was, sitting in a kitchen with creamy white cabinets, sunlight filtering through old lace curtains given to me from a farmwife down the road...and I realized I was as close to Glory as I ever was on this earth.  We had to leave that farmhouse when my husband got a post in a different church over a year later, and I think in a way I always hope underneath everything to recapture that moment in my life.

ProsperosBookshelf

I know it's just a place, but I think some places speak to us--they might be different for each person--but they sing a tune that we know too and make us feel at home somehow.

AmyKristineVintage

Sometimes I catch myself in a melancholy state, and wonder where in the world my mind is, and why I am not 'feeling' like my sunny self.  Then I remember, and I think somehow--I am longing for that farmhouse...for the way that morning felt when it came a mile and a half from town, for open windows and quiet thoughts, for entire days spent mowing acres and acres of sweet green grass and clover.  No phone ringing one house over, only a few cars passing...alone with my thoughts and a chorus of birds that only sing country songs.

I am longing for a farmhouse.

My Interview with Jonathan from Mantiquities

You are fairly new to being an Etsy shop owner. How long have you been familiar to Etsy?

Everything I know about Etsy I know from my wife! She started her fabulous shop in November 2010 after we started putting things on Ebay to sell.

You know a lot about shipping- could you give us some tips?

Wow! Thanks for the compliment. :) Sure.

Don’t be afraid of international shipping. I find the United States Postal Service the most reasonable. The online tools are really helpful to knowing how much something will cost to ship. Customs forms are not hard to fill out and it really expands your customer base.

Also, learning how to make your own boxes really saves on shipping, especially for medium-sized and larger items. It's a process to learn, but it is totally worth it. It saves on shipping costs (dimensional weight can be a killer for shipping!) and it saves on not having to use extra packing material to make up the space inside the box.  All that being said, if you have a perfectly sized box from something else already, you probably should use it!

What's the story behind the Mantiquities Shop name?

Well, my wife and I first toyed with the idea of opening my own shop because whenever we go treasure hunting I tend to find more unusual and more man appealing stuff (you know like an old antique razor kinda beats out a lovely Monet Brooch in my book). We thought of the name Mantiques at first, but alas that was taken. Every name we came up with seemed lame. Somehow "Mantiquities" came into mind maybe because I was ruing that our original idea was taken. I felt like it still had that essence of Man who enjoys Vintage and Antique things.

You have a ton of vintage comic books- who is your favorite superhero?

I have always loved Spider-Man. I like that he is not perfect and that he has a life outside of his daily crime fighting adventures. But... Batman is a real close second. He has no super powers and he rocks.

You have an incredibly amazing wife- how did manage that?

I am very fortunate and blessed. I thank God for her everyday!

(So sorry everyone...I Had to ask that, and he gave such a sweet response, I thought--well That's going in for sure!!)

What has been your favorite find?

Hmm. That's a tough one!  I would have to say that my favorite find was the "Bunco Card Game" that we had in the Beteabon Shop. It just had that classic early 1900's look, and the fact that it was authentic made me love it even more.

When did your love affair with vintage begin?

My whole life I've been a collector I guess- even when I was young. I remember playing outside when I was in 2nd grade and finding a Mercury Dime in some dirt I was playing in the front yard. It was so cool to be holding a piece of history- like I just traveled to the past. I think that is the thing that I love about vintage items.

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Definitely Animal. I love dogs.

Someone hands you the title to your classic dream vehicle- what is it?

I would say the "1931 Ford 'Model A' Tudor". 

Any advice to the rest of us about what a guy might be drawn to on Etsy?

Not every guy likes the same thing, but I think you have two kinds of shopping interest for guys. For himself and for his lady.

For himself - the stereotypical things work! Cars, Sports, Mechanical things, or Geeky Stuff (video games, comic books, and old school sci-fi) for the brainy guy... which I must admit is probab- er... definitely where I fall!)

For his lady, most guys are clueless!

 If he saw in the description "for the lady who loves __________" that would be awesome!

Thanks Jonathan, for 'pinch hitting' and for the wonderful interview!!

New Giveaway!...A Little Nepotism Never Hurt Anyone...

Congrats to the winners of Last Week's Giveaway!!

Jinx won the giveaway from Shadowjewels!

The Chief Strumpet won the giveaway for a gift certificate to Beteabon or Mantiquities!

It is my firm belief that into everyone's life a little nepotism must flow...especially when you forgot that March had an extra week, and didn't schedule a featured seller....

(Don't worry I have some Amazing featured sellers for April and May already lined up!)

So this week we are featuring a giveaway and an interview from Mantiquities on Etsy.  The proprietor of that shop happens to be my husband, Jonathan.  Thus the nepotism.  The whole idea of interviewing my own husband is hilarious to me, and secretly makes me wish I had a truth serum like in the movies.  Then I'd ask questions like--you didn't forget to take out that trash, did you...you just didn't want to...  Or did you just check her out?  Or who's Really right most of the time?!  Of course, I would never be able to get another featured seller on this blog, lol!!

Actually Jonathan and I have a great deal of fun together searching for treasures, he's really the one that got me involved in it.  He has helped me immensely with the shipping end of things, and then decided to try his hand at having a 'man shop' of his own.  We are still light on 'man items'...because when we go out, I still buy like crazy for Beteabon...but we will be listing all week this week on Mantiquities instead!! 
This accidental interview and giveaway has provided me with a motive like no other!

This week we are giving away a Kodak Brownie Camera, a deck of advertising playing cards--Mad Men era, and your choice of vintage shirt, with tie.  It's a bit more on the 'guy' side as a giveaway...but remember Father's Day is not long off and a tie is always the perfect impersonal gift...lol..

To win just--

Comment on any post this week

Follow the Beteabon Blog

Follow Jonathan on Twitter...Twitter @Mantiquities

I think this week's going to be lots of fun even without the truth serum.

Miss Emily

This week we have the privilege of having ShadowJewels as our featured seller here on the Beteabon Blog. 

Make sure to read her interview and comment to win some amazing Victorian inspired jewelry!

One of her favorite poets is Emily Dickinson, who is also a favorite of mine.  Rhonda at ShadowJewels refers to her as the quintessential peculiar woman, I like the reference. 

 Truly Emily Dickinson was odd and rather wonderful.  There was something 'otherworldly' about the way Emily Dickinson saw life, something a bit Charming and Childlike, Prim and Clear.  She was all at once very young, and very old.

If you are not familiar with her poetry, I encourage you to read a bit about her life, and delve into her poems.  She had a rare gift.  Today I am sharing with you some of her poems that have been honored in the work of several very talented Artists on Etsy. 

To visit the listings themselves, simply click on the pictures...

     



From Below14th, lovely "Hope is a thing with feathers" necklace



Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.




From CathyKiffneyStudio an amazing clay bird





From LisaHopkinsDesign a ring to keep you Hopeful



A bird perched atop a fencepost at Arlington National Cemetary
from MKC Photography



Stunning artpiece from RCBArtdesign

 I'll tell you how the Sun rose --
A Ribbon at a time --
The Steeples swam in Amethyst --
The news, like Squirrels, ran --
The Hills untied their Bonnets --
The Bobolinks -- begun --
Then I said softly to myself --
"That must have been the Sun"!
But how he set -- I know not --
There seemed a purple stile
That little Yellow boys and girls
Were climbing all the while --
Till when they reached the other side,
A Dominie in Gray --
Put gently up the evening Bars --
And led the flock away --

A journal for your own poems from The Curio Studio by Sparkplug 95



A Word made Flesh is seldom
And tremblingly partook
Nor then perhaps reported
But have I not mistook
Each one of us has tasted
With ecstasies of stealth
The very food debated
To our specific strength --

A Word that breathes distinctly
Has not the power to die
Cohesive as the Spirit
It may expire if He --
"Made Flesh and dwelt among us"
Could condescension be
Like this consent of Language
This loved Philology.

Beautiful Mixed Media by Mizkatie

I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors--

Of Chambers as the Cedars--
Impregnable of Eye--
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky--

Of Visitors--the fairest--
For Occupation--This--
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise--

My Interview with Rhonda at ShadowJewels



Rhonda with Coob



When did you start Shadowjewels? How long have you been creating your own jewelry?  Was there a particular event that sparked it?



ShadowJewels is entirely the fault of the internet. About 12 years ago, I got a new computer. Once I got online, unfortunately I discovered cybershopping. I started collecting Victorian jewelry, but that was frustrating for me because the pieces I really wanted were too expensive. Then one day I bought a necklace with a broken clasp~ a bargain! And decided to learn how to fix it. When I found you could buy vintage beads and jewelry parts online, that was the end of my normal life.

 Zowie!

'This will be much cheaper', I thought. Sure! Now I have a whole room full of the stuff. It has not been cheaper than buying the Victorian jewelry, but it sure has been more fun.

What drew you to Etsy?

Finding Etsy was like coming home for me. I love handmade, of course....and when I saw how vintage was taking off, that was wonderful!

The community here is just so creative, and positive, and eco conscious.

I'd absolutely love it if you could tell everyone about Coob. (Your avi buddy)

Oh Cooby. He's a character. When my husband moved here from France, he brought Coob with him. At first we really didn't click, because he couldn't understand me! Coob didn't speak English. "Come here boy!", "Cooby get out of there!", and "Coob, dinner!" were all met with the same puzzled, blank stare. He must have thought I was stupid ("look at thees seely woman, she does not speak a zee francais"). He learned fast though, and it didn't take long for him to become part of the family.

Now if somebody is speaking French to him, it's because he's in trouble. LOL!

You are the Queen of the Treasuries (in my humble opinion)...How do you find inspiration for your wonderful collections?

For me, making a treasury is a similar process to making my jewelry. Sometimes I'm inspired by a special item, a color, a season, mood, song, story, or poem....lately I find I am drawn more and more to Emily Dickinson, that quintessential peculiar woman. I'm right there with you Emily, getting stranger by the day!

What season of the year do you find most peaceful?

Love them all, except summer. I melt.

You create gorgeous vintage-inspired jewelry...do you ever go 'treasure hunting' for other vintage things?

Yes but I'm more of an online shopper!

What are the top three songs on your Playlist right now?

Sixties! Blind Faith~ Can't Find my way Home, Jefferson Airplane~ Somebody to Love, and Jimi Hendrix~ Machine Gun.

 Animal, vegetable, mineral.

Giraffe, artichoke, quartz. Ametrine, tourmaline, garnet, aquamarine, kyanite, labradorite.... wait a minute, what was the question?

If you could spend a day with a picnic lunch, your favorite book, and a beautiful place--what would be in the lunch basket, what book would you bring, and where would you go?

A simple lunch, some brie and fruit; the Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss ( just started it); in Sequoia National Park. I love exploring the high Sierra, and sequoia forests are my most favorite places of all. Nothing else comes close to that feeling of sheer joy, peace, and contentment. My husband and I go out camping every chance we get. You can see his beautiful nature photography on my flickr page

www.flickr.com/photos/sierrashadow/

Any advice or encouragement for fellow artists or Etsyians?

Find what inspires you, hold on tight, and then follow your dreams. Remember to stay positive.

Instant Karma's gonna get you!

Thanks Rhonda!  For the positively wonderful interview!