Featured Etsy Shop - MY VINTAGE ALCOVE

The Holiday decorating and shopping season is upon us!!!   The Fall Décor is up and if weather soon permits the pumpkins will adorn the porch.  Our Fall and Christmas décor is filled with our own DIY projects or from other artists, mostly from my favorite Etsy Sellers.

This weeks featured favorite shop or shops is My Vintage Alcove and Haute Interiors :

My very first Etsy shop was my hand-crafted shop, “Haute Interiors LLC”. I began incorporating a few vintage hardware pieces into it & they sold very quickly. I was then bitten by the “vintage bug”. I did not like the cluttered look of my shop, so I opened my vintage shop in 2010, “My Vintage Alcove”, and it has changed my life!

 I grew up in the 70s with the Avocado Greens and Harvest Golds of that era. For some reason, as a child I was drawn to kitchenware of that period. I remember my mother throwing away perfectly good pieces, and I would go behind her, pull them out and save them. I would pre-shop her garage sales and kept items I would later take to my apartment. I remember her commenting to me how common these items were to her. They might have been common to that time, but I loved them.
As an adult, I look back at these pieces and reflect on the quality, how they were made & how well they have survived the passage of time. When I am out shopping, I purchase these quality houseware & home décor items that I am drawn to. I love reading the notes from my customers of how they saw an item in my shop that triggered a happy memory from the past, or all of their family members had an item and they wanted one of their very own, or why an item was gifted to another. These are part of the reason why selling vintage is so fulfilling for me.

 My goal is to grow my shop to the point where it will help support my family. Last autumn, I learned what persistence, dedication & consistency achieved for my shop. Therefore, at the beginning of 2013, I set goals for myself to grow my business. Etsy is definitely a learning experience, but it has also been a fun journey along the way. I get excited every time I hear the cha-ching of a sale on my phone, or see what new destination at item will be shipped to. It still amazes me that I am engaging in commerce internationally.

 Etsy is a wonderful world-wide marketplace, and I am an avid supporter of the hand-made and vintage movement. Etsy is a blessing for me and it has allowed me to achieve things that I never would have thought possible for me.

 ~ Michele Nicholson.

Pink Antiqued Brass Flower Stamping Earrings Tutorial

I adore raw brass findings and stampings, and already carry several styles in my shop, Alyssabeths Vintage.  These pieces are so easy to use as is or to age or patina using several different methods from fumes, to chemicals and even paints.

These sweet little flower stampings are found in my shop, I often used them as cabochons in jewelry creations but decided to punch a hole into them to create connector pieces (I found my metal punch at Michaels in the jewelry section)

Then I cleaned with brass pieces and buffed just a bit with a low grit file to give the pieces extra texture to hold the paint.  Once good and dry apply paint, I used regular acrylic craft paint in pink, again let dry completely.

After these have dried I removed bits of the pink paint with a low grit file until I felt that I had enough of the golden raw brass showing, then sealed with a clear matte finish (make sure your pain or sealer is lead free).

Waiting some more.... and then I simply added gold earring hoops and vintage Czech glass rhinestone teardrops!  So easy and very little time!

Happy Crafting!

Beth

This is where we are linking this week!

Nifty Thrifty Things, Homemaker on  a Dime, Craft-O-Maniac, CRAFT, Mad in Crafts, Skip to My Lou, Sugar Bee Crafts, Cherished Bliss, Not Just a Housewife, HomeWork, LadyBugBlessings, Hope Studios, Ginersnap Crafts, Ivy & Elephants , Elizabeth & Co., Someday Crafts, Free Pretty Things, House of Hepworths, 36th Avenue, French Country Cottage, One Artsy MaMa, Charm of Home, Flaunt it Friday, Simply Create

Vintage Style Brass Filigree and Stampings

Alyssabeths Vintage on Etsy now features elegant and timeless brass filigree and stampings in the Victorian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles.  Our brass stampings and filigrees have been crafted in the US by family owned companies that have been operating for generations,   pieces are machine tooled from presses dating back to the 1800’s.

We currently carry primarily raw brass stampings and filigrees, which I have used for many years in my own jewelry creations!  So versatile, these pieces are elegant to use as is and so easy to patina or even antique with paints.  Soon we will be adding tutorials on how the patina, oxidize and paint your raw brass pieces, so stay tuned.

Filigree Drops, Dangles and Connectors:

Ornate Art Nouveau Raw Brass Filigree Wrap Three Ring Connector

Delicate, vintage style Art Nouveau raw brass filigree 2 ring connector centerpieces, setting or wrap. Measure 24mm x 19mm including rings Made in the US using vintage tooling, solid raw brass are nickel and lead free! 

 

Vintage Style Raw Brass Floral Filigree Teardrop Dangle Drop Connector

Set of 4 gorgeous and highly detailed vintage style teardrop shaped floral filigree stampings drops, earring dangles or connector. Heirloom quality stampings, crafted in the US using vintage tooling and are lead and nickel free. Measure 31mm long with ring x 13mm wide

 

Ornate Victorian Raw Brass Stamping Drops Dangles Pendants

 Lovely, vintage Victorian or Edwardian raw brass 1 ring triangle shaped drops, dangles or pendants – 34mm ling including ring and 16mm at the widest part. Elegant detailing in each piece, I love using these to create earrings. Sturdy raw brass stampings, crafted in the US using vintage tooling and are nickel and lead free.

 

Raw Brass Heart Shaped Angel Wing Dangles Drops

Elegant art nouveau styled heart shaped double wing drops, charms, dangles 1 ring raw brass stampings. Lovely, golden raw brass stampings crafted in the US using vintage tooling. Beautifully detailed double bird wings in the shape of a heart, with one ring. These measure 26mm tall including ring, 25mm wide.

 

 

 

Vintage Glass Flower Cabochons or Cameos

Alyssabeths Vintage Etsy shop features lovely Vintage Glass Cabochons or Flat Back Stones.  Most of these little treasures were crafted in Japan or Germany during the 1940s to the 1960s.  So versatile to use in your Jewelry and Mixed Media Art Creations.  I love the wide range of styles of vintage cabochons - from solid color pressed glass, floral and picture decals, intaglios, and hand painted glass!  Each piece is a little work of art on their own!  Here's a small selection of the vintage glass cabochons you can find in my little shop AlyssabethsVintage.

 

Set of 10 tiny 7mm Pink Rose decal cabochons with ivory pearl finish. Vintage glass cabs, made in Japan with flat backs, you will receive 10 per set!

 

 

Chic vintage embossed glass, button top cabochons stones featuring gold feathered flower on chalk white textured background with flat backs. These actually remind me of Starfish. Vintage Czech came in original packaging so these are in perfect condition. You will receive 2 of these unique glass cabochons.

 

Vintage, pressed glass intaglio floral daisy cabochons 18x13mm black with flowers hand painted in yellow, green and red. These came in their original packaging and are in wonderful shape!Please note, that these are old, crafted in occupied Japan in the mid 1940s to early 1950s., You will receive 2 cabochons.

 

Matte finish opaque cotton candy pink glass quilted textured 18x13 oval cabochons. Vintage West German, featuring concave backs with rims for gluing. You will receive 4 of these Shabby Chic glass cabs!

 

Vintage 13mm round flower rose bouquet limoge style decal glass cabochons, cameos. Very old, made in Japan with milk glass white flat back base adorned with multi-color flower decals in pink, blue, green and yellow. I also have these in 10x8mm oval cabochons!

 

New Vintage Syle Brass Settings

Hope everyone had a safe and Merry Holiday Season!  If you are like me I'm a little sad that the year is coming to a close but so looking forward to a brand new year full of possibilities!

I have high hopes for my little Jewelry Supply shop on Etsy - Alyssabeths Vintage, and cannot wait to see what the year brings.

We've been searching high and low this Fall for new supplies for the shop and have found some really wonderful treasures from all over the globe. 

From the US we found a fabulous supplier for our Vintage Style Brass settings, all made with raw brass (100% lead free) using vintage tooling.  These wonderful settings are perfect for setting cabochons, cameos or flat back glass jewels.  Use as a bezel setting for collage, photo or mixed media creations.

Lovely, 13mm Beaded Raw Brass Round Setting

 

Adorable, Rope Edge Raw Brass Connector Settings for 10x8mm Cabochon

 

Raw Brass, Ornate Victorian Frame 18x13mm Oval Setting

 

Don't  to sign-up for our Newsletter for the latest additions to the shop, sales and FREE Gifts.

 

Sign-Up Here

 

 

 

 

 

Glitter Pink Christmas!

Shabby Chic and all glittery and pink Christmas Treasury featuring hand crafted and vintage treasures from Etsy!

Shabby Chic Embellishments

I'm a Shabby Chic girl at heart, I adore anything vintage with a little bit of wear, patina, white wash and floral, and I used this style as my inspiration for most of my romantic and assemblage jewelry creations. 

I have so many sweet, chic vintage jewelry findings and crafting supplies to share with you in my new supply shop.  Looking at my stock, I see that I am defiantly addicted to cabochons of all sizes and types, but there is lots of aqua, pink and white! Most of my cabochons are vintage from West Germany or Japan from the 1940s to the 1960s. 

Vintage Hand Painted Flower Embossed Glass Cabochons Oval 13x8mm . Shabby Chic vintage white pressed glass oval cabochons with hand painted pink flowers on textured background. These are very old, and each have various stages on worn paint, which create a lovely time worn look. Each little cabochon measures 13x8mm, 4mm thick with flat backs. 

Retro Rose Pink & Gold Drizzle Oval Glass Cabochons . Shabby Chic, retro 1960’s pink glass decorated with matte gold drizzle. Vintage, West German oval glass cabochons, measuring 18mm x 13mm with flat backs.

Vintage Chic Aqua Blue Leaf Medallion Lucite Cabocohons 16x13mm . Shabby Chic 1950s vintage marbled aqua blue & white leaf medallion cabochons, with faceted navette center, each cab varies slightly. Cabochons measure 16mm x 13mm, 4mm thick with flat backs.

Art Deco Floral White & Gold Embossed Oval Cabochons . Shabby Chic vintage pressed glass art deco stylized flower oval cabochons are fashioned from opaque chalk white glass and hand antiqued in gold, with flat backs. These are unique and old, each piece varies in wear of the gold.

 

 

Vintage Christmas Sparkles

I know that we haven't even hit October yet, but I know that many Christmas Crafters and Jewelry Designers are already preparing for the Holiday Season, at least I know that I am.

So, for the Jewelry Designer in all of us I've started adding some lovely Vintage Holiday Sparkle supplies in my shop, Alyssabeths Vintage!

 Bright cherry red vintage glass cabochons accented with crystal clear faceted glass rhinestones, perfect for your holiday jewelry and mixed media art creations.

Elegant, vintage lucite faceted oval emerald green stones mounted in 2 ring brass channel settings (connector settings). These lovely findings measure 19mm long including loops/rings x 8mm wide, and have a lovely aged patina to the brass.

Stunning, 11mm siam red vintage glass faceted Czech glass stones, jewels or rhinetones, just in time for your holiday jewelry creations. These 48ss stones have pointed, unfoiled backs and will be hand set in either 1 ring drop or 2 ring connector settings.

Vintage Winter White Gold Starburst Snowflake embossed vintage lucite round 10mm cabochons! Perfect for your holiday and winter jewelry, mixed media or scrapbook creations! Perfectly flat backs, 10mm cabs.

I didn't disappear!

Hello everyone, I've been away for several months and have missed working on my blog and crafts.  I decided to take some time off to reevaluate my life and family relationships, and found that I was seriously neglecting my loving and understanding husband.  I found that the blog, crafting and Etsy jewelry shop was taking way too much time away from my husband and step-kids!  So I made the decision to close the jewelry shop, it's still open a the moment - everything has been reduced so pop on over and help me permanently close the store!  Oh and here is a coupon code for an extra 5% off GOTAGO!

But..... I did realize that I actually liked the hunt for vintage jewelry supplies more than I did creating the jewelry, must be a shopping thing, lol.  I didn't want to give up my dream of being self employed and found that the supply end would be my way, and at the same time takes a lot less time away from my family.  So I opened a second shop selling Vintage Chic jewelry supplies Alyssabeths Vintage - stocked with vintage handset Czech Glass & Swarovski faceted glass jewels, cabochons, cameos, beads, filigree and so... much more.

I'm busy stocking the store for the up coming Holiday Season with lovely sparkly things!

Vintage 11mm Purple Amethyst Glass Stones, Jewels, Rhinestones 1 ring or 2 ring brass settings

Vintage Ruby Red Large 11mm Jewels, Glass Stones, Rhinestones in 1 ring or 2 ring brass settings (2)

Gold Plated Rhinestone Flower Floral Link Charm Bracelet Blank (1)

Shabby Chic Light Amethyst Faceted Vintage Oval Stones Jewels 10mm x 8mm brass settings (4)

Keep checking in, new vintage jewelry supplies are added daily!

Thanks for stopping by,

Beth

My New Esty Vintage Jewelry Supply Shop is Open!

As you can imagine I have absolutely tons of vintage jewelry supplies, re-purposed and salvaged pieces stock piled for my own jewelry creations for my Jewelry Shop Alyssabeths.  And, well I do, I really do!!  (by the way my hubby doesn't know exactly how much so, let's just keep it between us girls). 

Several months ago, for some crazy reason, decided to open a second shop selling mostly vintage, but always lovely and unique jewelry supplies - cameos, cabochons, brass set jewels and stones, and salvaged pieces, vintage and new brass components and filigree.  Since sometime before Christmas I've been having a great time finding treasures for my new shop Alyssabeths Vintage and as late last week opened the shop up! 

Only a few items are listed so far, but there is so much more to come, so I hope if you are a jewelry designer, crafter, mix media artist or scrapbooker that you will stop by often!  Oh... and for my US customers there is flat shipping rate of only $2.50!  And as always, a little surprise will be included in each shipment.

Sign-up as a follower on the blog to keep up with Sales and Events from both stores!

Happy New Year, One Resolution Down More to Go

I hope that everyone is having a safe and happy New Years Eve.  Me, my big event for the evening was running out for Dunkin Donuts (yes, I can be bribed with donuts!).  We are spending a quiet evening at home with my step-son and watching movies, nice and safe that way.

New Years resolutions, well I have several this year.

1. Move my craft room - done

2. Take more time off from work to de-stress

3. Exercise and Take Vitamins daily!

4. Loose weight - oh... the donuts don't really seem like a good idea then, lol

5. Get my backyard back in shape, that is if we are allowed to water this year

For the one item that I can already mark off my list, the craft room!

For the last 2 years I have taken over our formal dining room. It drove me nuts to walk in the house and the first thing that you saw was jewelry supplies and craft projects in mid-stream. Plus, it was really dark in there and I swear I was going blind, lol.

This summer my step-daughter graduated high school and decided to live primarily with her mother (no rules or school expectations over there).  So... we decided to move my little work room into her room!!  It's not a big space, and won't make it into the "Where Women Create" publication, but is a vast improvement, it's my space and I can make it as girly and shabby chic as I want to!

I love my new space and have decorated it with antiques that are old freinds and recent finds all now painted a lovely soft Shabby Chic white.
The a chifarobe I purchased at an auction when I was 19 and have been lugging it around with me all these these years.  I adore black and white, and for the most part that is what the room is, with the white furniture, black & white damask prints and vintage ticking fabric, but I decided to paint the wall as very... soft pale green. 

The lovely art deco vanity (a Craig's list find) is now my shipping area and my chifarobe stores my beads, vintage jewerly and most of my craft supplies.  And my little stack of vintage suitcases, the tapestry overnight case was my grandmother's, is used for extra storage.

I'm off to a good start this year, well.... except for the donuts..

Happy New Year and Happy Crafting
Beth

I'm linking up with: Nifty Thrifty Sunday, I Heart Nap Time, Sunday's Best, Creative Me Monday, Craft of Maniac Monday, Homemaker on a Dime, the Creative Girl, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Skip to My Lou, Everything Under the Moon, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want a Crafter, Knick of Time, Sugar Bee Crafts, Mommy by Day Crafter by Night, the Kurtz Corner, Giggles Glitz & Glam, The Stuff of Success, Free Pretty Things, Someday Crafts, Savy Southern Style, 36th Ave., Thrifty 101, Somewhat Simple, Saved by Love Creations, the Artsy Girl, House of Hepworth. Yesterday on Tuesday, My Romantic Home

Creating Christmas Glitter Chic Vintage Cookie Cutter Ornaments

This is probably my cheapest, quickest and one of my favorite Christmas Crafts this year!  I used items that I already had around the house:

Vintage metal cookie cutters

Sheet Music Scrapbook Paper

Glitter

Ribbon

Decorative items vintage and/or new

   I used a vintage fur earrings, a tiny
   bottle brush Christmas tree and a
   vintage Santa graphic encased in resin
   and antique lace




So how easy is this, well trace your cookie cutter out on the paper, cut out and glue into the cookie cutter.  One this is dry paint glue around the inside and outside of cutter and glitter away!  Once this is dry decorate the inside with your little decorations.

To hang tie a pretty ribbon around the handle on the back of the cutter.  As you can see I've hung mine from a precious vintage tinsel tree that I found at an antique store this season.  This craft is simple and quick enough to create with your kiddos!

As always Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting My Friends!

Beth

Linking up with - Wow Us Wednesdays, Somewhat Simple, 36th Ave., Trendy Treehouse, Eisy Morgan, Thrifty 101, Thrifty Thursday, The Artsy Girl, House of Hepworth, Yesterday on Tuesday, Every Creative Endeavor, Free Pretty Things, Gingersnap Crafts, Whipperberry, Simply Desgining, Fingerprints on the fridge, Home is Where the Heart Is, The Charm of Home, French Cottage Home, Finding Fabulous