"Trash to Treasure for my Neck" by Mimi-Toria's

Welcome to another "Nifty Thrifty Tuesday" gathering of friends.  I am going to show some recent photos of jewelry I've created with "found elements", thrifted treasures and antique shop scores.  Enjoy!

This piece shown is one of my more intricate and time consuming creations.  These elements were garnered over years of thrifting, scrounging and shopping for various one-of-a-kind treasures that resulted in this design.  The bakelite yellow bird was purchased at an antique shop recently with a mix of other elements for $1.00.  Yes, it was a fabulous find and really pulled it together.  The amber crystal element was found at another antique shop last week, for a very fair price as well.  The vintage paste bracelet and focal paste piece were from yet another antique shop.  

So the moral of my blog post, is that not only can you thrift at "Thrift Stores", but if you get lucky, you can thrift at your local antique shop, occasional sale store, and/or Flea Market as well. 

Thanks for taking the time to view my post today.  I'd love to hear a comment from you if you have the time.

  Gretchen

 

Join Me for a Jewelry Layering Party

  

Jewelry shown in my photo is from my personal collection and is not for sale.

Notice the above photo of me and how it demonstrates the use of layering my jewelry.  I've been told the t-shirt should of been black to accent the jewelry, but this is t-shirt is a favorite of mine and I wasn't thinking of just accenting my jewelry when these photos were taken.  They are going to be used for an upcoming artisian event I'm partaking in and my dear husband took them.  I wasn't about to make him redo them all, plus carry these heavy door backdrops back into our livingroom, just because my t-shirt doesn't show off my jewels.  lol 

 Jewelry Layering Mini Seminar 

Who: Gretchen Schaumann, Vintage Jewelry Redesigner

Where:  French Flea, downtown Anoka, MN

When:  March 11th; Thursday night

Time:  5-8 p.m.

Event:  "Girls Night Out"

Featuring: Jewelry Layering Party with Gretchen

Wine Tasting w/Cheese & Crackers

sponsored by Pumpkin Liquors of Anoka and the French Fleabags

Come on out and join me as I teach my customers how to get the layered look and feel confident wearing the layered jewelry look that is currently so fashionable.

Example 1:

Enameled Floral Mimi-Toria's Necklace

(available at the French Flea upcoming sale)

Detail photo of a new design for the French Flea sale is shown above all alone.

Full view shot on small mannequin with just this Mimi-Toria's Design necklace.

Here I've brought in some different necklaces into the mix with the original Mimi-Toria necklace.  The choker style necklace is a vintage leaf necklace (available at the French Flea), as well as a more simple Mimi-Toria necklace of the Eiffel Tower (available for $14.00 at the French Flea).

This is the final example with 3 different necklaces layered for this look.

Example 2:

Patinaed Paris Mimi-Toria's Necklace

(available at the French Flea upcoming sale)

Detail photo of a new design for the French Flea sale is shown above all alone.

 

Full view shot on small mannequin with just this Mimi-Toria's Design necklace.

 

In this photo I've added one vintage multi-layered silvertone necklace to the Patinaed Paris Mimi-Toria necklace and it gives it a totally new look.  It still passes for a casual look with this additional piece layered to it.

 

In this photo I've added one more vintage necklace that is a double strand of faux glass pearls as well as the vintage multi-layered silvertone necklace.  The addition of the pearls to the Patinaed Paris Mimi-Toria necklace now gives it a more dressy vibe or can still be worn casual with jeans and a t-shirt.

 

Again, I'm going to through one more necklace into the mix, which is a simple ball chain Eiffel Tower necklace sold at the French Flea for $14.00.  This now mimics the tiny Eiffel Tower in the focal element of the Mimi-Toria's necklace.

Here is another mix of two vintage necklaces a person may have at home, added into the mix of a hand created Mimi-Toria's one-of-a-kind design.

Example 3:

Parisian Style Mixed Metal Filigree Necklace

(available at the French Flea)

Detail photo of a new design for the French Flea sale is shown above all alone.

Full view shot on small mannequin with just this Mimi-Toria's Design necklace.

Once again I grabbed the vintage multi-layered silvertone choker necklace to layer with this Parisian Style Mixed Metal Filigree Necklace to give it an altogether different look.

This simple photo tutorial is just to entice you to join us at the French Flea on Thursday night, March 10th from 5-8 p.m. to learn more about how to layer your jewelry for new and fun looks. 

1.  Your goal should to have fun, be fashionable and trendy without looking gaudy. 

2.  Be sure to pair vintage jewelry with modern pieces for a funky unique look like I've shown in the three examples above.

3.  Now is the time to break old-fashioned rules.  Mix silver with gold, metals with gemstones, and fun with it.

  I hope to see you at the party...

Gretchen

Jewlery shown in the above photos with mannequin are available next week at the French Flea Monthly Occasional sale only.  If they are not sold after the four day event, I will then list them on my blog to be purchased by blogging customers.

Sorry for the inconvience, but I have to have inventory for this monthly sale.

I will post a  follow-up and in depth tutorial  on my blog after the French Flea event is held, so that all of my friends in blogland that live out of state can share in what we do next week at the French Flea event.  I will also try to have someone take photos of the party and post them as well.

My First "Vintage Black Friday"

I am thrilled to be playing along with "Vintage Black Friday" today.  It is my first time partaking and I'd love to share a few of my favorite treasures that are black, and/or very close to black.  These are some of my favorite things I have in my home.

I adore this lady statue.  I've been told she if French, but I really don't have a clue.  It was my maternal Grandma's and she was gifted it from a 90 year old friend, about 45 years ago.  That is all I know about it.  She is one of my favorite things in my home, and in case of a fire I would try to rescue her.  Notice the fabulous detailing in the basket of flowers, the babies in the bird nest and the bird on her finger.  I love it!

Thanks goes out to the French Cupboard for hosting this fun sharing theme.

I love this bird, and have had it for about 40 years or so.  It was my paternal Grandmothers, and was found in my parents attic when I was just a wee young child.  It was destiny that I should become a jewelry designer even back then.  I always found cool vintage beads to collect and make things out of even when I was 7 or 8 years old.  If you've never been to my blog before, spend some time and check out some of my jewelry designs I create out of vintage and found elements.  Designing jewelry is my passion.

Jewelry I Design

Some black examples of jewelry I create out of vintage elements.

I love old clocks. 

I try to pick them up when they're really cheap. 

 Love the patina of these neglected time pieces.

 This poor Big Ben has seen its better day.  However I love the patina, the broken hand and the discoloration of this poor clock.

Our mascot.  No real puppies at our home, so instead I have this little Scotty Dog statue guarding our home.

 

These are my ultimate choices to represent my very Vintage Black Friday.

Welcome to my blog thanks for joining me!

Gretchen

Vintage White Bits and Baubles - by Mimi-Toria's Designs

Thank you to Kathleen at "Faded Charm" for the opportunity to play along on another "White Wednesday" blogging party.  Since white is one of my favorite colors, I so enjoy this fun gathering of new found friends through blogging and this event.  I hope you enjoy my choice of whites for this weeks theme.

A lovely vintage advertising piece with a white rose.

I love vintage silver patinaed pieces, shades of white threads and these little letters that spell out my business name, that someone so pain stakingly created.

A little sampling of some of my vintage redesign jewelry elements that I used when designing my jewelry.  I just love baroque pearls of all shapes and tones of neturals, crystals and vintage rhinestone rondeles.

I search all over the US to find unique vintage watch faces to redesign my one-of-a-kind vintage redesigned jewelry creations.

 

  Some of vintage pearls, rhinestone disco ball and watch face re purposed into wearable art.

Even these vintage penny dolls don't escape my re purposing.

Here is the "Clara" doll in her entire glory.

Love the white patina and numbers these cash register tags provide.

 Thanks for joining me once again on this fun filled "White Wednesday" blogging party event. 

Gretchen

Bed Springs to Spring Vases

I just came across another fun blogging party and will link it to "Transformation Tuesdays", as this was definitley what I call re purposing, and this new blog party calls "transformation".   Thank you Gina at the Shabby Chic Cottage for yet another wonderful blogging party to join.

Thank you Linda from Coastal Charm for hosting this fun new event each Tuesday.  I am starting this blog party with a very thrifty idea that I came up with last Fall.  Let the fun begin.

Example #1 is:  A natural rusty bed spring (sprayed with poly) combined with a re purposed glass as a vase with fresh Spring violets.

Example #2:  Silver spray painted bed spring w/a glass flued vase and fresh cedar.  Think Holidays.

Example #4: is a bed spring with vase that I added vintage pale pink rayon bias tape with vintage crystal to it for Valentine's Day theme at the French Flea shop I sell in and then I had fresh flowers in them.

This is another style of springs you may come across that are cool re purposed with fun little bird nests.

You may be wondering, so how is this post about thriftiness anyways.  It all started with this box spring mattress that we needed to get rid of.  It had been my Grandma's and it needed to be gone...  It would cost us to get it recycled, so I came up with the brilliant idea to recycle it ourselves and use the bed springs in various projects. lol

I enlisted help from my husband, Jon, and we took it out on our back deck last Fall.  We had to remove all of the coverings on it and the batting.  Jon took care of removing the wood surrounding form of the box spring for me.

With the use of heavy duty pliers, a bolt cutter, hammer and other various tools we were able to get the coiled springs loose from the frame.  Using a painters mask, it surely helped keep down the dust mite issues. Quite old, so a smart thing to do.  Good to be safe now, than sorry later on.  This mattress had been incased in a heavy duty plastic cover for years, but its 1960's origins made it very old by now.

Tah dah!  42 springs available for re purposing projects.

Some have been spray  painted black, some have been painted ivory, some were painted platinum, some were painted silver, and yet some have been left with their original metal patina.  A variety for each persons taste.  I've been selling these re purposed projects for $9.00 each at the shop I sell at, and also gave 6 away to my siblings as keepsakes of our Grandma at Christmas time.  I've sold about 25 of them at the shop, so its turned this "Nifty Thrifty" project into a money making project as well as a recycling one. 25 x $9 = $175.00 in sold springs vs. $25 fee to have it hauled away. 

Some have been left rusty.

What is fun, is that with a few little twists here and there, one can easily change the look of this for any season or holiday.  A vintage small skeleton key, a crystal prism, or any little doo dad, just gives it the embellishment that makes it turn from trash to a treasure.  If you liked this idea, than you might like a sight I'm a contributor on called, Junk Market Style.  You can see a whole community of cool projects at this website here.  See you on the Junk pile.

Thanks again, Linda for hosting this fabulous new blogging party.  To see more of Linda's blog as well as her Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Party Participants, check out her site here.

Update:  3/4/2010  I'm so excited to share that Linda, the hostess from Coastal Charm, has shared this post as one of her 4 top favorites to share for a follow-up to her Nifty Thrifty Tuesday blogger party this week.  I got in by the seat of my pants at about 10:30 on Tuesday evening, so many of you may not of even had the chance to see my post.  I guess better late than never, but next time I'll be more timely. I was out of town for the day, and hadn't had time to prepare ahead of the party.  Thanks Linda for this wonderful opportunity!  To see Linda's feature of 4 party participants check it out here.