The Verandah Boutique

the Verandah Boutique

The new sign in my window.


Dr. Davis' Good Clean Soap

New products in the shop. This stuff smells great.

Katie's Birthday Party

She's 24 today!

Come on in and join the party!


We're all celebrating

A few friends dropped by with Birthday wishes.


Coco


Cleo


Marie


Hand-painted cake

Let's have cake and ice cream.







Now let's open some presents!


A new tiny house


A tiny dog to go with it


And a necklace

And don't forget to play pin the tail on the donkey!


Katie won!

Wonderful news!

Checking email


The wonderful news!

Rupert has been invited to come and stay with Hubert! He's so excited!


Packing

He packed his treasures in a cloth and tied it to a stick. He said he wants to look like Dick Whittington.


Ready to go

Farewell Rupert!

Sewing

Handmade furoshiki

I'm working on some more things for the shop this morning. This furoshiki is made from recycled cotton - mostly shirts.

Furoshiki

Patchwork furoshiki

I have a few pieces of silk and cotton that are large enough for a furoshiki (about a yard square or bigger) but not enough so I thought I'd make some. I found a great tutorial at mairuru for making a patchwork one by hand. Mai does beautiful handwork - she stitches about 400 yards a month. Wow!
This is my first one.


Patchwork furoshiki

I need to make it a little bigger. I really like the way it's turning out. It reminds me of things my Grandmother made. Now back to work...

Gift wrapping

Recycled fabric for gift wrap

I've been thinking about how I want to wrap up gifts for customers of the shop. I have brown paper and string for everyday gifts but I want to offer something special for the holidays. I have a lot of fabric so I thought I would try the Japanese technique of Furoshiki. It is used to wrap food and gifts. Pieces of fabric (usually square) are rolled, folded and knotted around objects to make beautiful bundles. I really like that the cloths can be used again and again. I've been practicing with silk and cotton. That alligator patterned silk was a pair of culottes! Much better as gift wrap!

Warm wool

Neck warmer

I found a sweater at the thrift shop that was made of beautiful wool yarn and brought it home. It must had been knit for a gorilla - it was huge! I took it apart and have been thinking about what I want to do with it. I have enough for several projects! I started with this neck warmer. The yarn is so pretty I just wanted to leave it as is, so I looped it around and tied it off at one side. It slips right over your head and is very warm. Now on to the next one!

Saying goodbye

We are always glad when our little friends get to go to their new homes but it's still hard to say goodbye sometimes. Hubert is going to his new home in Virginia today!


Saying good bye to Pearl, the LGO and Rupert

We're excited for him and wish him well in his new endeavors.


Au revoir to Rupert and the LGO (Little Gray Owl)


Rupert might be taking this a little too hard...


but they are second cousins.

Price tags

Hanging tags

I'm making some more tags for the shop. I cut them out of an old calendar and tie them on with cotton string. I used all the ones I cut from January through April, so today I'm cutting May and June. Now to make more stuff to put them on!

Tree branches

Vintage portrait lockets

I have a vase of tree branches and buttons that I use to display the lockets I made.
They are vintage family photos.

Another beautiful day

Moss table and birdhouses

It's another beautiful day in Boalsburg. I've been working on the displays and windows to make the shop more inviting and lure customers in! I put these little birdhouses out on the moss table. I made them out of recycled cardboard and covered them with the pages falling out of my Dickens book. I'm going to hang necklaces on the branches like I did with the ones inside.


Interior

I moved some more stuff out into the front hallway so people can see what kind of shop this is and come in.

Beautiful day

Hubert on the green chair

It's a beautiful day today in Boalsburg. I moved some green chairs out front and Hubert Bunny Little Friend wanted to go out and sit on one of them. I think the pillow suits him too.
This is what the shop looks like today.

the Verandah Boutique

Shop Windows

Birds in the forest

I have the trees and the mushrooms up and now there are a flock of birds in the forest. I cut them out of an old German textbook and strung them up on thread.

Now he's right!

Robot man

I saved the jpeg as an RGB color instead of a CMYK color in the image mode and now he's fixed!

A cold!

I caught a cold so I've been dragging around for the last couple days :-(
I've been sitting on the couch trying to be productive - I made this little guy:



Robot man

Every time I try to load him here he changes color! The dark blue is really red and the light teal is yellow. Oh well...
I'm going to make him into a label or card for the shop.

a forest grew

Forest mushrooms


the Verandah forest

The forest is still growing, and it is beginning to sprout mushrooms.
All Hail Max!

That very night...

the Verandah

I decided to put a forest up on the Verandah walls for fall. I wanted something that would look good up close and could be seen from the Diamond. The trees are made of recycled cardboard. I'll go out when it gets dark to see what it looks like from the street.
The little owls are sachets made of recycled clothing and buttons and filled with lavender.

Halloween decorations

Halloween ink drawings

I've been working on some drawings for Halloween. I want to make some cards and decorations from them. It's time to make the shop look spooky!

Fall's coming

White wool pumpkins



Orange wool pumpkins

It's starting to feel like fall here in Central Pennsylvania so I started making some fall decor.
I made these from sweaters I recycled and felted.

Lavender

I love lavender!

When I was visiting my mother I gathered some lavender from her garden and made these bunches for the shop. They are wrapped in newspaper that I got in Williamsburg last year. It's a reproduction of a paper from 1776.
I also got a big bag of lavender from France. My lavender sachets are filled with the French stuff. They make the shop smell heavenly.


Moss gardens

And I made these little moss gardens for the shop. Some of them have little red mushroom in them. They are vintage spun cotton ornaments from the 60's made in Former East Germany.

The Look

I'm still collecting things to display in the shop. Most of the stuff is in the front parlor with some in the hall and some on the front step.


Coffee set


Vintage buttons

I made this pillow out of a robins egg blue cotton velvet to display my vintage buttons. The tags are recycled from an old calendar with pictures of maps.
I've had visitors but not a sale yet - maybe today!

Displays and signs

What better way to display pearls than on a boar? And almost everyone who comes into the shop reaches into that glass vase of buttons and runs them through their fingers. It's very soothing.


I've been working on some signs to let people know I'm here. This is one I made from pages that were falling out of an old book.

Welcome to the Verandah!

The Verandah Boutique

I'm putting a boutique in my B&B and I'm starting to set up my displays. Vintage stuff I've collected over the years will be featured as well as my handmade items. Most of my handmade things are made from recycled materials.

Green Vintage Roller Skate Case

This case came with a cool vintage set of skates with wooden wheels.