Check this out...great new blog up and running.

I just wanted to give a shout out to a dear friend, Laura, whom just started her own blog. Please check it out. Very thrifty, creative and spiritual insight as well. Love it...  Won't you give her a moment of your time and encourage her with your visit and follow her journey as well.

http://renewmyhome.webs.com

The Rescue...

The Rescue Mission...

a fun day in the

life of a

jewelry

designer.

In October,

I met a new friend.

Somehow,

she seems like

someone I've always known.

 Joyce is beautiful

both

inside

and

out.

 We met up a couple of weeks ago...

in her haunt.

So that I could,
SEARCH, RESCUE and REUSE.

 We started here...

lots to see,

great things 

were found,

and great things

were rescued.

Wonderful old buildings

with natural patina

to

inspire...

 Case and cases of vintage items,

filled with once worn,

once loved,

and now somehow forgotten treasures.

Just waiting for someone like me...

that someone whom will take the time
to take the worn,

once loved,
now forgotten treasures

and

breathe new life into them.

My motto is to:

Search, Rescue and Reuse...

Lunch:

found us in the neighboring state,

at a lovely quaint,

coffee shop,

overlooking this gorgeous waterfall

and its beautiful surroundings.

(see picture at the top and bottom of this post)

As we made our way into yet another antique shop,

I marveled at the beauty

of this small town atmosphere.

This multi-dealer site once again,

with hours of searching,

and more rescuing,

provided this designer girl

with fun elements for her work
as a vintage
redesign
jewelry
designer...

Do you source out

your local

antique shops

for

your designs?

($22.00 each)

 Walls of

gorgeous

patinaed

hardware...

traces of old paint,

intricate details,

gorgeous metal hardware...

 ($12.00 each)

fabulous finds,

for

a

vintage redesign girl...

 While leaving this

quaint town,

so filled with beauty...

I came upon

this wonderful landmark,
and a photo opp
was born.

 Thank you Joyce,

for providing me

with a much needed day,

 filled with fun,

laughter,

work,

and play,

The heart to heart convos,

bonding us as

friends and soul sisters.

Take a peak at this link

which provides a view,
 of one of the design elements
(a single cowboy boot)

which I

bought on this jaunt,

and

made a redesigned necklace with it.

http://mimitoriasdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/12/cow-girl-necklace.html



Taking Some Time...

I'm

 to

 my

 into

creating

one-of-a-kind

jewelry.

After this week-end, I will be selling jewelry off of my blog, so that you my out of state customers and local as well will have access to purchase from me for yourselves and/or for Christmas gifts to loved ones.  I love what I do, and the uniquenesss I've been able to maintain with the one-of-a-kind pieces God gives me the vision to create.  All glory goes to Him, as he has given me any and all gifts that I may have.

Later next week, I hope to have items listed in an organized fashion to be purchased.  If you see something you like, just contact me via email at gretchen.schaumann@comcast.net , and communicate which number item you are interested in and we'll go from there.  I send you an invoice via email, you send me a check, and I will ship out to you.

A side note, is that I've been enjoying being a part of "Inspiration Studio" as a contributor over at Kim Klassen's blog site, and the above photos were edited with some of her layers that she creates for using with photos.  I just love what she does and wanted to share that she has great blogs ,  products and classes if anyone is interested in growing and furthuring your talents.  Take the time to check her out, you won't be sorry.  I just am so happy to have found her and her generoisty in sharing her talent and techniques with the public.  Her pricing is very reasonable as an Artisan for all of the hours and time she puts into creativing these wonderful textures and layers.  Love this stuff!

Thanks everyone for your comments that you leave for me.  I read each one, and am not always able to comment back, but please know that you my friends are often the hilite in the day of a designer that works way to many hours creating, and never has enough time to get everything else in their lives done.  God Bless each one of you for the joy and friendship you've provided to me over these past years I've actively been a part of this wonderful blogging world! 

Stay tuned for jewelry postings next week...

Gretchen



AA/JMS - At the Show - Part 4

 The Gala Affair

October 13

6-9 p.m.

 Photo above is of our family in my jewlery vendor space...  My hubby came down to see what the buzz was all about, and Emily, our daughter helped me selling in my space for the Wednesday night early bird shopping Gala Affair.

Me in my space...

 Gretchen (me), Sue Whitney of Junk Market Style, Lannette of Cottage Elements, and Laurel Putman of  Chipping With Charm after the event had ended on Wednesday night.  Lannette, Laurel and I are all contributors on Sue's website called Junk Market Style, which is a junkers haven of ideas.

Loyalist friend, Carolyn, came to support me.  Her daughter is in the below photo with Sue.  Thanks ladies for attending and supporting the charity at the Junk Gala Affair.

Sue Whitney with my friend, Michelle.

 The best part about shows like these is meeting all of the wonderful customers I had the privilege to sell to, and here is Joyce a new customer, and now a new friend...

I will have to do another post with the rest of my pictures, as my blogger isn't cooperating right now and won't let me add into it any other pics.  Stay tuned...

Guest Post - Dreaming Big and Open Doors

Good evening my blogging friends...

I've something to share with you all.

Exciting things have been happening

and I'm bursting at the seams.

As is often said,

when one door closes,

or in my case when we

 choose to close a door...

another one opens.

I am so thrilled...
to share this with you today.

Today, I am a guest writer
on an Inspiration Blog.
Thank you Kim,
for this wonderful opportunity
to be a part of such a great
community.

Please pop on over to:
http://www.theinspiration-studio.com/
to read my first post,
which went up this afternoon.

Turns out I will be sharing
bi-monthly on this site.

I love how Kim, a talented gal,
so freely shares her
extensive knowlege of
photoshop
 and
the many other things
shared through this wonderful
blog.

These ladies are truly talented,
and my hope is that I can
somehow inspire others,
as these ladies have been
inspiring me.

I will have the opportunity
to share my hopes, dreams,
and inner workings
as a jewelry
designer.

What a gift!

Being Kind and Meeting New Friends

I love meeting kindred spirits.

It makes my soul grow and that is something I love.

Kind of strange how one comes full circle.

As the youngest of seven children, yes 7.

I was often told what to do

 how to do it

 and when to do it by 9 other people in my life.

Oh, my family may beg to differ,

but as a young girl this is what I remember.

My family consisted of parents,

 six siblings

and a faternal Grandmother that lived with us.

So you must be figuring out from this post,

that I would of been a weeee bit shy back then.

Try picturing a five year old hiding behind a parents leg,
and holding on to that leg to hide.

Since I was used to everyone doing/saying/thinking for me,

I didn't have to do to much talking when I was young.

Those that know me now,

would say I've been making up for this in my adult life.

:)

I do love to talk,

to meet new people,

and to share in their journey,

whatever that may be.

So I'm embarrassed now to say that the story goes like this...

as a young child I could not stand how my parents would talk to everyone they met.

Complete strangers...

people standing in line at the grocery store,

people visiting our church...

even inviting visitors home from church for Sunday dinner with our family.

Now, we lived in a town of 356 people,

so strangers did stand out in our community.

But, my parents were friendly wherever they went.
This is who they were...

So the point in this post is this...

I have become like my parents.

Yep, you read this right.

However, I take this a step further than I believe they did.

They were just being who they were.

Sometimes, I make an effort to be more out going then I naturally would.

To be friendlier than what I may feel like it a given day.

To make a point to hold the door for the elderly,

just because they're used to us youngin's disrespecting by walking in first.

And do you notice the sad and unhappy people around you?

Why not make the world a better place?

I call what I do...

"Sprinkling a little Sugar and Cream on people".

Try it for yourself.

See what happens.

You might be surprised.

I love to sprinkle extra doses on the saddest people I run into.

With amazing results most of the time.

Here's how to do it...

Strike up a conversation  with someone,

while standing in line,

just because.

Hand out a sincere compliment,

instead of just thinking it in your head.

(if it's an insult, best to keep ones mouth shut)

Carry something for an overburdened Mom with children,

the elderly gentleman walking with a cane,

or the harried business woman trying to do it all.

Hold the door open for someone and let them go first,

and show elderly people respect like we were raised to do.

It's rather fun to see how doing acts of kindness,

being friendly,

visiting with strangers,

passing out sincere compliments

and

just plain being thoughtful

can make someone's day!

You can be the reason the crabby

person turns into a cheeful person

on any given day.

We each can make a difference!

Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching me,

the fine art of

making a postive difference

in others lives.

This blog post was inspired by email conversations with a new kindred spirit I recently met through blogland.  Thank you Kim for believing in me, and here's to our new friendship and partnering together through blogging in the future. 

I do hope to meet many of you followers at the upcoming Junk Bonanza event in just 1 1/2 weeks now.  Do stop in my booth, introduce yourself and join in with me by helping me spread a little "Sugar and Cream" around the world.
*Just trying some new techniques with blogging styles and editing photographs. The above photographs are some of the results.  The last picture is the natural color for all of the previous photos, so its interesting what one can do.  What do you think? 

Oronoco Gold Rush Days 2010 - Part 3

2nd Annual Junkologie Blog Party

August 20, 2010

4:30-6:30 p.m.

Oronoco Park Campgrounds

220 5th St NW

Oronoco, MN

 

This sign greeted each of us as we entered the Pfarkel Sisters camping area.  Amy of Junkologie created the original idea and asked the Pfarkel Sisters to work together with her this year in sponsoring it.  Anywhere the Pfarkel Sisters are, there will be fun times. They are just an awesome group of ladies.

These vintage drapes were strung between two trees and created an entry into the junked up table which had information for the upcoming JUNK shows Junk Bonanza and the AA/JMS events, business cards, and entry forms for the attendance prizes for the blogging party.

Close up of the cool table set up.

Purpose of a Blogging Party:

1) to meet fellow bloggers

2)Junk up your culinary skills in the 2nd annual blogging potluck. 

Bring your food served in a junked up display, and potentially win a prize.

3)Win Junkologie gear and other prizes just for attending.

Amy of Junkologie explaining the hows and whys of the entries for the potluck.

Part of the potluck tables.

Cold drinks and yummy food was shared by all.  Next year, I will participate.  This year I didn't know if I was able to attend or not, until right before it started.

Amy had a helper with picking the winners for the prizes. Sophie, a junk extrodonaire in training of the Pfarkel clan was more than willing to help Amy out with this fun task.

Amy giving Sophie directions as to who the lucky winner was.

Some of the lucky winners with their prizes.

Never a shortage of words when you get this many ladies in a group.  Lots of visiting and fun.

Note the retro cool furniture some of the ladies are sitting on.  Amy found these pieces at the Flea Market the day before and was nice enough to let people use them during the blogging party.

The ladies from Iowa come up to Oronoco and Junk Bonanza each year to hunt for treasures.

Mary and Amy in a conversation while others visit behind them.

See, I was really at Oronoco...Jenny and I visiting.

Jenni, is my new 20 something jewelry friend I met at the show and than she came over to the blogging party.  It was fun to meet and visit with her, as we both have a passion for vintage redesigning jewelry.

This segment of my blog post is about a California film crew that was attending the Oronoco Gold Rush Days and filming on site for a pilot show for this upcoming Fall on the History Channel, when they heard about the blogging party and wanted to come and see what it was all about and film it.  How fun is this...  Come along with me for a behind the scenes look at a TV crew filming in Minnesota.

BB Entertainment

Manhattan Beach, CA

Producers Nick and Deborah with their Film Crew

The gentlemen meeting the Pfarkel sisters in this photo is the gentlemen that is interviewing the people they are filming through out the US this summer for this TV series.  He is a Vietanam Vet, and was a very interesting gentlemen filled with wisdom and life experiences.

Meeting and visiting with Ki, owner of Junk Bonanza.

Crew in action.

As I look on the interview/filming from behind the crew.

Amy has done studies on the health and wellness benefits of junking, antiquing and such and is explaining her thesis she's working on.  I was then asked to share a bit as I had an earlier conversation with this gentlemen that he wanted filmed.  Who knows what will be kept or tossed, but it was interesting, fun and another fun life experience now called a "memory".

They loved the retro campers the Pfarkel Sisters and families own and use, so they even filmed a bit of history about their cool campers.  Filming the cool retro camper above.

An inside shot of the Pfarkel sisters cozy vintage camper that  they've dolled up.  They even travel with this cutie pie little poodle.

I hope you enjoyed this little 3 part mini tour via my blog posts about Oronoco Gold Rush Days, and some of the great vendors one meets, the fabulous people to hang with, the fun blogging party each year, the great food, the hot weather, and the fabulous treasures one can leave with.