Crafty beginnings

This weekend was full of crafty beginnings. Friday and Saturday were the starts to a variety of projects:

Three new cupcake/dessert stands

A new skirt for South Beach

What was the inspiration for all of these projects? Red White & Blue in Hamilton, of course! After a long awaited gym session with Stephanie, she took me to the nearby thrifter's mecca. It had been at least six years since I last scoured through the previously loved treasures of this store. Not much had changed. We began our junket (yes, that was an intentional pun) in glassware. My friend Tricia referred me to a DIY cakestand project on designspongeonline.com a few monthes before. I immediately thought of the stands when I spotted two cute flower pattern plates. A few shelves over, a lovely shade of pink caught my eye. It turned out to be a really beautiful plate made in Portugal. For the stands, I picked out two bud vases and a candlestick.

While I'm on the subject of glassware, I need to bring up a beautiful pair of lilac colored glass candlesticks that I doubt anyone will buy. Why? Because whoever brought them to RW&B wrote a "suggested price" on the bottoms in black permanent marker. Outrageous. These candlesticks were gorgeous, too. If you ever have a yard sale or a garage sale, please don't write on your wares with anything, especially permanent marker. Scratch and scrub as you may, this will not come off.

After glassware, we perused the racks of women's clothing. Flower patterns were catching my eye all throughout the store. I found a pink, floral, short-sleeve, women's camp shirt. It's way too big, but I'm going to attempt to take it in, make it sleeveless, and use the extra fabric for a bow collar.

We gave the store a thorough shakedown. My purchase manifest at the conclusion of the trip read:

3 plates

1 candlestick

2 bud vases

1 shirt

3 silk scarves

2 pairs of earrings

1 mystery bag of floral upholstery fabric (This is a clear bag you may not open until you purchase it. In other words, you don't know how much of the material you are getting or if there is more material hidden inside. I lucked out, I got at least a yard and a half )

My total? Under 25.00. Because Stephanie was such a gracious RW&B tour guide and she loved the cake plate idea, one of the dessert stands will be for her. One of the scarves is also for Keally, the colors in it were really pretty and I think it will go with a lot of her outfits.

I spent my Saturday with Betty. She agreed to go to the fabric store and help me start my skirt for South Beach. We picked out a pattern, a fabric, and two spools of thread. She also spotted two adorable buttons in the notions aisle. (After this trip, notions has made it onto my list of favorite words.) If I don't use said notions on the skirt, they are going on a fabric flower pin. It was a slushy Saturday, and my navy Keds suffered on Mom and my walk over to Starbucks. More on Keds later.

That evening, I pinned the skirt pattern and cut out the pieces. I also marked the dots with red thread. I still need to pin and cut the lining and, of course, sew the skirt together. That's a project for the next few weekends.

Sunday was a day of more sweat and thrifting. Keally and I took group kick at WOW. This was more enjoyable for me than step. It's a lot easier to fake kick than step. After kick, we headed into Princeton for lunch at Whole Earth. Wow, so good. Whole Earth is a small, organic grocery story. A few years ago they added an eat-in area to the store where you can get an assortment of yummy vegetarian fare. Keally got a vegetarian quesadilla and sweet potato apple soup. Yes, this soup was as amazing as it sounds. I got a vegetarian colby cheese melt and vegan split soup. No, I don't know why I didn't get the sweet potato apple soup. I'm still confounded by this choice and I feel like I need to make it up to my stomach as soon as possible. We then took a long, slushy walk to Greene Street Consignment on Nassau St. This store is very different from RW&B. Everything is very organized and, in my opinion, overpriced. There's no thrill of the hunt, so to speak, at this thrift store. Surprisingly, I found a really cute pair of leather t-strap heels for 16.00. They might have been the highlight of my weekend. If I hadn't found these shoes, Greene Street might have been crossed off my list for thrifting. Before we headed back into the slush, I made amends to my palette with a trip to Twist. Red Velvet and Eurotart. 'Nuff said.

This is a big week for pepper&poppy. Stay tuned.

Wait, I promised more on Keds. On Friday, I wore my navy Keds, a blue oxford, and dark skinny jeans. One of my favorite students of all time said to me, "Miss M, you look like a female Ellen DeGeneres." I gave him a look, to which he apologized and said, "I'm sorry. You look like a female Ellen DeGeneres that likes men." I really don't think the hilarity of these comments needs to be explained; however, if you didn't "get it":

1. Ellen DeGeneres is already a female.

2. My outfit sort of did look like something she would wear. No, I don't dance into my classroom.

3. I think adding in the "who likes men" was his sincere attempt at making amends to both myself and Ellen.

This kid has grown on me since September. He's always saying something ridiculous. This particular moment is just another one of his many witticisms to store in the ol' treasure box. (That was for you, Trish.)

-L