Just a Little Catch Up

We have been in full-blown get-ready mode for the past month leading up to the KalamazooKitty Marketplace Vintage Show which takes place tomorrow! Yikes! We are tired but we have a bunch of great stuff! We have spent months in "the thrill of the vintage hunt" and now are ready to share it all with a bunch of people! If you are in the Kalamazoo, MI area tomorrow don't let a little rain keep you away. Find our family, The Re-Mod Squad, in booth B12 & 13. Stop in and say hello! Here's a little sneak peak at what we've been working on:

A few before and after shots:

The chairs and table legs are charcoal, though the photo makes them look black.

O love the little detail on the back of this bench.

The newest member of our family really liked this next piece. Turquoise must be his favorite color!

Again the photo does not do justice to the color of this paint.

New to our line of altered book journals: travel journals! These are heading to the show tomorrow but will also be in my Etsy shop soon.

So, back to the newest member of our family peaking out in the picture above. Two weeks ago we ended up adopting a kitten from our 10 year old neighbor girl. After five years of being pet-free and saying no every time we had the "we should get another cat" discussion, this little guy worked his way into my heart in less than an hour. He is so loving and loves to cuddle. The neighbor kids named him Gizmo. Keeping him close so the neighbor girl can visit helped my decision also! He immediately has made himself at home and it feels like he has always been a part of our family. It really is great watching my hubby enjoy having a cat again. :)

I'll let Gizmo end this post with his irresistible cuteness.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

You know how the saying goes: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life is full of bumps and bruises along the way, it's just a fact of life. How we respond to those bumps and bruises is up to us. Do we take the lemons we are handed and just let them sit on the counter and rot from unuse, or do we make a pitcher of refreshing lemonade and enjoy the outcome?

If you have been following my blog this year, you know that we stepped out and decided to turn our love of hunting vintage items into a business, selling on Etsy and at vintage market events. (If you haven't been following along you can get a brief overview in this post.) We have been on "the thrill of the hunt" for vintage finds this summer and along the way we have visited a few vintage market events. Our first event we visited was the KalamazooKitty Marketplace in May. It was a jammed pack event with great vendors and huge crowds. 

We then visited the Everlasting Blooms Vintage Market in June and we loved this show. It was somewhat smaller than the KalamazooKitty Marketplace but it had great vendors and a wonderful intimate atmosphere on the grounds of the Everlasting Blooms Greenhouse. 

We were so excited last month when we applied to enter the Everlasting Blooms Fall Vintage Market and were accepted! But then just three short weeks later we learned that the Everlasting Blooms event had been cancelled due to some unresolved issues they were having with the township. We immediately began looking for another event to enter for the same weekend as I had already purchased a plane ticket for my daughter to join us at the event. Lo and behold, as we searched we remembered that the KalamazooKitty Fall Marketplace was the same weekend. We were sure it would be full and, if not, we doubted we had enough experience to do a show of this magnitude. But within 24 hours we received a response that we had been accepted into the event! We are so excited to announce that we are a:

We spent the first half of our vacation earlier this month at my sister's house on the lake. While we were there my sister, niece and I spent a day of vintage hunting. We decided we needed a collective name for our family venture at vintage markets. After much brainstorming and laughing we came up with "The Re-Mod Squad". This will be the name we use when we do shows collectively. Now, you won't find us if you hunt for that name but you can find me here, and please visit my sister at Simply B.E. and my niece at The Chevron Rose and check out their works of art!

What I love best about this venture is that I share it with my family. My hubby is partnering with me in Found on Brighton Vintage. We have been busy hunting and will continue to hunt and paint and repurpose in the weeks ahead. We'll even sneak some before and after shots of our projects as the show date draws near!

If you are in the southwest Michigan area on October 16 stop by the KalamazooKitty Marketplace and visit our booth. You never know, we may even have some lemonade available!

July Manifesto

In the One Little Word group I belong to our challenge for July is to come up with a manifesto that aligns with our intentions for the year and encourages us in our goals. My manifesto came to me easily because I immediately thought of a little saying my sister and I have been using for the past few months - "You don;t know until you try".

This year my word for the year is rest and right from the start of the year

Around Here Lately

Lately I have been doing art journaling on a small scale - 3 x 5 to be exact. I started working on smaller art when I started my Rolodex art journal (see the start here). Lately small has been quick and easy. I stumbled on the Index Card a Day (ICAD) art challenge and 30 Days of Bible Lettering. These two challenges have been running at the same time and I am "loosely" following them when I need a creative spark.

To Market, To Market...

It only seems natural that the next step in our vintage journey is to enter a vintage market show. I am excited to announce that we will be participating in the Funky Junk in the Country Vintage Market on July 23 in Monclova, which is just outside of Toledo.

My sister and I have spent the past few months on "the thrill of the vintage hunt" acquiring all kinds of vintage finds. My hubby and I have been refreshing and repurposing a variety of these findings. The vintage items are stacking up as we get ready for the market!

The Thrill of the (Vintage) Hunt

Oh, the weekend we had! My sister and I spent Saturday hunting down vintage shops and finding great deals at thrift and resale stores from Caledonia to Hudsonville, MI. Today we went to a vintage marketplace with 150 vendors held at the Kalamazoo Speedway. The rain held out and we saw so many great ideas.

Painted Farmgirl ended up being our favorite shop.

We have both followed The Found Cottage on Instagram for quite a while, so it was fun visiting in person.

Some of my vintage finds:

I'm looking forward to working some of these items into my Etsy shop and, of course, playing in my art journal with some of these finds. We are planning our summer to make time for weekend sister's road trips and the thrill of the (vintage) hunt.

Follow our adventures and see what we find at facebook.com/groups/FoundonBrightonVintage

My niece, Lizzie, went along with us and got inspired to create a new addition to her shop of hand-painted signs, The Chevron Rose.

May your week be full of finding things that make you smile. :)

Introducing...

Found on Brighton Vintage

For as long as I can remember I have always had a love for vintage – historic architecture, antique and vintage decorating, and now incorporating vintage into my art by making altered book art journals and using ephemera and vintage office supplies. It has long been a favorite pastime for my sister and me to drive through historic districts, take detours just to drive by an old house, and, of course, we have always combed antique stores, thrift stores and flea markets – and now our daughters enjoy it too! I have always used vintage items in my home decorating and renovating. For me, half of the fun is the thrill of the hunt! I’ll get an idea of an item or style I want and will hunt and hunt until I find it at a price I’m willing to spend, because I’m thrifty and budget conscious also. 

Back in the day we called vintage “country” or “primitive”. Now it’s shabby chic, urban or modern farmhouse, rustic, industrial, or flea market style. The latest revival of these styles combined with the trend for re-purposing, reusing and altering vintage items, I find my love of the hunt and collecting has been reignited. But what can one person do with all the bargains one might find? I only have room for so much and have really reduced the clutter over the years to a simpler style. But the thrill of the hunt remains! So I have decided to add vintage items to my current Etsy store, Found on Brighton,  which sells altered book art journals and vintage paper packs and ephemera. I am also starting a group on Facebook – Found on Brighton Vintage – where I will share the vintage items I list in my Etsy shop as well as sell them directly from the group to those who live in my area. In addition to a place to showcase what I find and sell I have a desire to share vintage resources - other online vintage sellers, vintage markets and shops in the Michigan and Ohio area, ideas for how to use vintage items in decorating and art, and a way to connect with others who enjoy vintage. You can also find ideas for how to use vintage décor on my Vintage Décor Inspiration Pinterest board and how to incorporate vintage items in art journaling or mixed media on my Found on Brighton Ideas Pinterest board. 

My sister and I recently took a road trip to Charleston, SC to visit my daughter. We have dreamed of taking a road trip for close to 25 years but were never able to get past day trips or weekend trips due to the demands of life with kids and jobs. But now we find ourselves in a new season of life and our Charleston road trip sparked in us plans to visit flea markets and vintage markets and meet up for day trips and weekends pursuing our love of all things vintage. Our finds and reviews and sharing resources along the way will be another feature, both on my blog and in the Facebook group. And my husband will also be a part of our adventure from time to time as he likes to dabble in re-purposing furniture and other items occasionally. (He also likes vintage architecture, décor and especially classic – aka vintage- cars.) So if you enjoy things that are vintage in your home decorating or art why not join the Facebook group and join the conversation.

I just listed the first batch of vintage home decor items in my Etsy shop.!

Vintage enamelware.