Great News

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to share some great news :) I've got some of my things in Twist n Pout, a sweet little shop owned by Marie Friddle, that's just opened in Sanford and Son Antique Mall, located in downtown Tacoma. I'm so excited, it's my first forray into local 'brick & mortar' stores & there's more to come!

Twist n Pout flapper style store front: All sparkly & shiny (I love sparkly, shiny things)

My Silk Skinny Festival Scarves, on a repurposed embroidery hoop display. The scarves are made from repurposed remnants of the garment industry, hand crocheted  in all kinds of great colors.

Little samsstuff wallets & bags, in a repurposed teaa box display, hand crocheted & hand embroidered. The crocet wallets are made from natural yarns, repurposed silk, vintage, repurposed buttons & fully lined in repurposed & vintage fabrics. The embroidered bags are repurposed found bags & embroidered in my own designs.

I love the floor don't you?

A built in cabinet, inside the shop

A detail of the shop facade

Inside the shop (aren't the dress & the ladder amazing?)

Stop by & check out this wonderful little shop, quickly filling up with upcycled, recycled & repurposed goodies (some of them mine :) SAM

Shiny Newness :)

Lately I've been trying to get back to the balance that all us Librans strive for. (I'm  not sure about the accuracy or reliability of the whole astrology thing, but a little balance never hurt anything, right?) & have been making some new things, trying to preserve bits of the past that aren't up to their former glory & deserve to be admired once again & for the future, their beauty preserved for others to see:

This is part of a vintage napkin made into a little wall hanging. The napkin had little  dark spots, that I was unable to wash out & so was really unusable for its original purpose. I cut about a fourth of it off & hand sewed it (not easy to do on a circular frame, but it gives everything a sweet gathered effect & a bit of movement) onto a steel hoop that was in a bag of vintage embroidery hoops. This was just a little too plain, though it framed the piece nicely & looked better than just putting the whole thing (spots & all) into a frame, so I added the fleur des lis pendant & a black seed bead, that gave a bit of French country charm to the piece & highlighted (without taking away from) the wonderful yellow & black embroidery & the beautiful crochet trim quite nicely. For hanging purposes & to go with the yellow & black scheme, I hand stitched on a lovely bit of black velvet ribbon. I could add something around the edge, but I think it would detract from the embroidery & emphasize the frame, rather than the fabric. I think it would be great among a display of photos, paintings &/or little embroideries...

Key Fob: I picked up this great chartreuse green with dark red dots fabric awhile back at the local  Goodwill, not really knowing what I'd do with it (I still have plenty left. Maybe a nice summer top?) & this mini key fob project came up. The D-ring is from the 70's (not sure what it originally came from, possibly a belt...). The buttons are from a couple of old blouses that are no longer wearable & the lace was in a bag of vintage trims & craft stuff, also from Goodwill. I like how the top became gathered & a bit more girly when I put the fabric through the D-ring. The lace & the side are machine stitched & then everything was hand stitched together. I added a few cross stitches in red to just add to the girly appeal. It contrasts nicely with the fabric. The key ring is new.

Wrap Bracelet: Hand crocheted in pink alpaca & silk/mohair (chartreuse). Antique keyhole (architectural salvage), vintage crystal beads (architectural salvage) & vintage carved bone beads (from an old bracelet)  Available samsstuff Etsy

More nerdy envelopes (so fun): Vintage Band book pages. These are a little more difficult to come by & the pages are of a different type of paper than those of the math book. Available shellseye Etsy

It helps to be able to create something new, even when all is not right with the world, even when they are only appreciated by you & even when spring still seems to be avoiding us, for now anyway. How about you? have you been creating anything new? Has spring arrived where you are? Is it distracting you with its shiny newness? SAM

More Sweater Hackings :)

I bet you didn't think there were so many things you could make out of old sweaters! Sure, there's pillows or you could always make a vest or gloves, but beads? jewelry? Probably not the first things we think of when we think of sweaters. What about book covers? (I just received a nice one, in the mail) or I Pad covers? Ornaments & stuffed dolls? So many possibilities for something old, maybe ready to be discarded...

Since my old sweater was a polo, I had pieces that aren't on  regular crew or v necks, this is the placket piece, with some of the original buttons moved & a bit of added embroidery. 

A snap (vintage, of course) closure on vintage belting trim & little French knots, in teal

A bracelet could be made without a placket, from a rectangular piece of felt & some added buttons/beads

The collar piece makes a great Peter Pan style collar necklace. The pennies are from an inexpensive bracelet & can be detached from the collar, if desired. The teal piping is a vintage thrift store find. You could make a collar necklace from a collarless sweater by cutting out the collar piece from the body or sleeve...

So, have you been doing any sweater hacking recently? What have you made from your re-purposed gems in the rough? SAM

*Bracelet currently available in samsstuff Etsy Collar necklace, available soon.

Made by You Mondays: Button, Button Who's Got The Button

I've been busy making hand embroidered buttons. They're so much fun to make & the actual button part is so simple to put together. I've hand embroidered my own little designs on vintage & re-purposed fabrics, added a tiny bit of stuffing & assembled the metal button forms to create these, then sewed them onto cards with hand drawn designs. I hope you like them :)

Peace, Love & Flower Power

Flower Collection

Sunshine Collection

I sent some of these away (single cards) for swag at the Etsy Rain Pre Holiday show & have started listing these in my shop, in cards of three & soon, single cards. I've also used a few on my creations. They're great, of course, just as buttons on clothes or would look pretty cool for pillows or even as jewelry. Hmm...maybe soon!
Stop by Skip to my Lou to see other "Made by You" projects:


If you're in the area check out the Etsy Rain show:

Sam's Stuff Giveaway contest!

Hurray! I am hosting my very first give away! To enter, go to Sam's Stuff & select your favorite (or not so favorite) listing. Come back here & post your selection. The contest will be open through 6/15/09. on 6/17, I will randomly select a winner from all entries. To receive an extra entry, Tweet this giveaway or blog about it & let me know about the extra entry here, at "Random Stuff by SAM." This contest is open to all. The prize will be a Sam's Stuff headband. The winner can choose from any of the headbands on my site, all are hand crocheted, embroidered & hand stamped on repurposed fabric. This will come packaged with a free gift, just like the items from my shop! Make sure to leave contact info, so I can let you know if you're the winner!
Thanks for entering. I can't wait to hear from you! Have fun & good luck! SAM