It's ICAD Time Again!

ICAD 2018 began on June 1. This is my second year participating in this art challenge done on index cards. It fits right in with my love of using office supplies for art, especially vintage ones! 

Last year I did my ICAD challenge on 3x5" Rolodex cards and displayed them in a vintage metal Rolodex card holder.

This year I'm using a vintage wooden card box that I received for Christmas from my friend Jean. 

I'm not going to do the daily prompts that are provided, but rather make art based on the weekly theme. I'm using these vintage index card dividers, with their lovely yellow tabs, as my weekly dividers. They are alphabet dividers, but I'm using the reverse side. The challenge can be done on 3x5 or 4x6 cards. I chose to use 3x5 again this year as that is the size that fits in my box.

Here are my cards for days 1-4. This week's theme is to use typography or words or found text.

A little typography geometric collage using vintage magazines.

Made my own painted typography paper for the background.

Found text...with a bird, of course!

Because I love vintage office supplies and using them in art, I buy them whenever I see them at estate sales and flea markets. I made a section of my shop specifically for this years ICAD challenge. It's full of vintage items  that can be used to display your index card art or other supplies, such as dividers.

I also carry themed paper packs and other ephemera that can be used in collage and art journaling. Check out my Etsy shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/foundonbrighton.

Completed September Tag Book

Last month I was inspired by a challenge Roben-Marie Smith to use shipping tags for art. I took this mini tag book I had found at a thrift store and decided to make an art journal about some of the things I like about the month of September. My completed book:

I really enjoy making books. Whether I fill them completely or not, the joy for me appears to be in the making! I made an accordion book for my next project and intend to fill it with things that connect to my soul for the Get Messy art community Season of Connections.

For most of the year I haven't felt like going thrifting, but I took some time last weekend and went to some estate sales and thrift stores and had a great time. I'm adding a few of my finds to my Etsy shop this week. Tomorrow my sister and I are taking a much needed and long overdue sisters adventure day. We'll see what we can find in Lansing, MI!

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!