Favorite Recent Finds...

I've scored some awesome things lately...and cheap!!! The aqua and green floral dress I wore today was a thrift store find for only $5.99! It fit perfectly so not having to alter it is always a plus.

We get lots of cowboy boots in at the shop on a regular basis. I do have a few pairs already but when I saw these beauties, I knew they had to be mine. They even have little hearts on them!!!

And this mirrored shadowbox from the 1960's has been sitting in my living room since Easter. I thrifted it in Pennsylvania with my mom for only $25. I already had one but one more couldn't hurt. I just love them so much and I get put all my small knick knacks in them.

I'm going on a junking trip with Kelli Sunday and Monday so I hope to find some more goodies. Can't wait!!

Bathing Suit Season

It's coming...bathing suit season. Personally, I havent worn a bathing suit in quite awhile. I think its a combination of not being confident with my body and never finding the perfect suit. However I do have a few vintage ones that I consider wearing from time to time. I love how bathing suits from back in the day were a lot more covering. I mean, I would never wear a bikini unless the bottom was a pair of cute shorts. Arent these suits adorable? That flamingo suit in the middle is amazing!!!

Modcloth has some really cute bathing suits available right now with a retro flair. I really like this red and white polkadot number. Soooo cute!

Thursday Wishlist

Heres a bunch of stuff I'm in love with right now. 1. Awesome "Flamingo" sign 2. Poodle Salt & Pepper shakers 3. Dollhead belt buckle 4. Ouija board cheese board set 5. "Body of Work" print set

And I was super excited to find out that the Maryland Film Festival will be showing I Am Divine, the documentary about Harris Glenn Milstead, better known as Divine; featuring extensive interviews with John Waters and many others who knew, loved, and worked with him. Been wanting to see this so bad!!!

Workshop Fun!!!

We started having our Chalk Paint® 101 Workshops a few nights ago and we are having so much fun with them! Each student learns 4 painting techniques: 2 color distressed, rustic finish, modern or smooth finish, and the soft gilded finish. Should've taken a picture of my sample boards (oops!) You get to paint your own sample chart and a pretty ornate picture frame! So far we taught some employees, friends, and had our first 'real' class last night. We are planning on doing a more advanced class soon where you can bring your own small piece of furniture...still working our the details! Its all new to us but so far so good!

Busy painting!

My frame painted with Provence & Antibes

A job well done!

If you are reading this and you want to sign up, we have a class Friday night 6-9 and next Wednesday Noon-3. More dates to come, of course! You can call us at the shop at 410.465.8330. :)

Happy Birthday John

Just wanted to do a quick little Happy Birthday post to one of my favorite people, John Waters. May you live forever because this world would be so boring without you. Things I have learned from you: it's not cool to be a 'square', you can smuggle things out of a store between your thighs, cha-cha heels are a perfectly acceptable Christmas gift!, ironing your hair really does work (tried it once when I was like 12), use as much hairspray as humanly possible, buttholes can sing (sorry), and whatever you do, don't eat poop!

Sara, John, and me

Me and John in the photobooth

There are more photos, just can't find them at the moment! Just remember "Life is nothing if you're not obsessed"- John Waters

It's getting there!

The workshop is almost done!!!! Kelli and I were busy arranging, vacuuming, hanging, and cleaning all afternoon. We are having our first practice paint class tomorrow night for employees and friends to see if we're any good at teaching! Our work table will go in tomorrow and we'll be making some finishing touches. I cannot wait until its done! Here's a look at our paint shelves and our fun wall of painted metal dishes in every Chalk Paint® color.

A few more plates to add!

 You can't see it in these pictures, but we went all out on the 'snack' table. You can't have a workshop with out junk food and chocolate in my world. I even made us some mini cupcakes for tomorrow night! Red velvets with my cream cheese frosting. :)

Decisions, Decisions

My friends wedding is coming up soon and I want to get a cute new dress for the occasion. I planned to go out shopping for one today, but I'm feeling a bit under the weather and thought it would be a good idea to get some rest. I found some dresses online that I loooove so now I just need to decide which one to get...  1.Larissa Dress 2. Tropic of Conversation Dress (its got flamingos on it!!) 3. Driven to Dazzle Dress 4. Pleated Lamby Dress. Can I just have them all???

Busy Bees

What a busy week! Lots of things going on at the shop. Our Annie Sloan Chalk Paint® Workshop needs to be ready by Sunday evening and Kelli and I have been working so hard to get it done. Thank God for nice weather because we've been doing lots of outdoor painting. These are pieces of our Ikea shelves which will hold all of our paint and supplies. We decided to use Provence Chalk Paint®. One of my favs!

I also did a little makeover on my awesome workshop stool. I scored this cute stool for $7 at my local thrift store. I didn't really mind how it looked before but I wanted it to be more personalized. I painted the back of the seat in Chalk Paint®. I used Provence again (I just love that color!). I used vintage repro fabric that I've had in my fabric bin forever. Can't wait to use it in our upcoming classes!

Ikea Day!

Kelli and I spent several hours at Ikea yesterday. We are on the hunt for cute and functional stuff for our workshop. I think we did pretty good. We got shelving, storage, etc. Did you know that Ikea is a hoppin place at 10AM? Apparently, breakfast is free before 11:00 so you know we took full advantage of that!

FREE!!!!

I actually made it out without really buying anything for myself...well expect for some cute flamingo glasses. They were only $0.99 a piece! Gotta love Ikea! Oh and this print was just too cute to not take a photo of..

Weekend Update

I feel like I've been nonstop lately but I'm enjoying every minute of it. Lots of work, painting, shopping, and fun took place this weekend. On Saturday Kelli and I were visited by our friends Sue and Lulu. These women are so awesome. Its so inspiring to get to be around women who are so creative and that 'get' you. I love chit chatting about all our projects, upcoming craft shows, etc. I just love these ladies!

Kelli, Sue, Lulu, & Me!

Today Kelli and I picked thru a basement, a storage unit, and did some thrifting! We found some amazing things! We also got to finish up a painting project in the workshop tonight involving these cool old metal plates. Can't wait to share the finished result. :)

Rainy day in the shop

Rainy days here in the shop are kinda quiet but good for getting stuff done. I just cleaned and tagged 23 pairs of amazing cowboy boots. I mean look at these beauties, there are some good ones in this batch for sure! Wish that turquoise pair was a size 7!

We also got in lots of cute retro dinnerware, including these cute glasses I've been lusting after. I'm sure I could get just a couple into my packed kitchen cabinets....

We have also been working really hard to get our Chalk Paint® 101 classes ready to go. Looks like our first Workshop will be Tuesday April 23rd from 5-8 and Friday April 26th from 6-9. We will have room for 6 people per class. So excited to get these started! If you don't already, you need to be following us at A Journey From Junk on facebook!

Day Off & A Wishlist

It always feels weird to me to have a day off when the shop is open. I feel like I need to be there all the time. I miss it when I'm not there. Weird, right? I guess its not so weird if you love your job. But I wanted to take advantage of my free day and the nice weather so I tried to get Cooper to go out for a walk with me. Side note, Cooper hates going for walks and only goes outside to 'do his business' and then runs back inside. Very frustrating. Needless to say, he lasted out there about 10 minutes....

We came back in, cuddled, and took a nap so I can't be too mad at the little guy. The rest of my day was spent cleaning up a bit and surfing the internet. Heres a little wishlist of things I'm loving right now! 1. Mixed Media Masterpieces with Jenny & Aaron 2. Lady Brunch Dress 3. Atomic Diner Glasses 4. Joy & Merri-mint Flats

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes

Wednesday is Gay Bingo Night at the Hippo and I try to go every week....not empty handed though! I got into the habit of making cupcakes to bring along. Since the weather here has been hotter than usual for this time of year, I was craving something lemony and refreshing. I made lemon cupcakes with a cream cheese raspberry frosting. They turned out so good! Here is the recipe for the lemon cake to try for yourself :)

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
4 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sour cream

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Add the flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream (batter will be thick). Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Makes 24-36

ENJOY!

The windows are PINK!

We finished our windows at the shop today! Everything is pink for the Pink Panes Contest for Blossoms of Hope. One window is Peg's Pink Parlor and the other is Pinky's Soda Shop. I raided my house last night for some props. I came up with some fun framed pictures, a large pink hair dryer, a small hand held hair dryer, some wig boxes, a poodle lamp, cans of hairspray (one of which is signed by John Waters), and other fun odds and ends. So happy that they came together as well as they did. We are so proud of them!

Monday Funday!

Most people don't enjoy Mondays. For Kelli and I, its our day to go thrifting and get random odds and ends done. I love Mondays! We spent our morning getting lots of small pieces painted with Chalk Paint® by Annie Sloan in our workshop. We mixed lots of pretty custom colors today. Take a peek at our work station...

We went thrifting to look for more pink things for our upcoming "Pink Window". I think we did pretty good. Can't wait to show you when the windows are finished! I did however find a few things for myself, including this amazingly creepy doll. She will fit in nicely with my growing collection.

Last but not least, our neighbors Randy & Steve officially opened their deli today! They have 6 freshly made sandwiches to choose from and I had the luxury of being able to test them a few nights ago. I already have my favorite...the Charleston. I love a sandwich with apple in it. So yummy!

DIY Sunday

Besides getting to go out with my husband, Mark, today, I did get some small projects done at home. I love spray paint. I will spray paint anything and everything. I was recently given this amazing deer skull and I wanted to do something to spice it up a bit. With some inspiration from pinterest, I decided to spray paint it metallic gold. I love how it turned and I can't wait to hang it!





Today I was also able to get done a cute pink 'no-sew' poodle skirt. Its actually just a prop for our shop window mannequin to wear so I didn't really fuss over it. We have a great idea in the works for Ellicott City's Pink Window Contest.


Kelli got me this awesome chevron stencil. I'm obsessed with chevron. Ever since I laid eyes the 'Black Lodge' from Twin Peaks, I knew I was in love. Its very in style right now, which makes it easier for me to find all sorts of chevron printed stuff! Can't wait to use it!

Got Chalk....Paint? We do!

Kelli had told me how awesome this chalk paint stuff was a while ago. I had no idea! Once I got my hands on it, I wanted to paint everything. "Hey, could we paint this old frame?" YEP.

A Journey From Junk became proud stockists of Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan at the end of February and its been great for biz! Out of 30 different colors of paint, we've dubbed Florence or, "Flo Jo" as we call it, our favorite. Not only have a I painted my own personal items in this color but we have several things in the shop this color as well. Obsessed.

Aint she cute?!

If you don't know much about Chalk Paint ®, its super easy to work with! It rarely involves the usual prep work like sanding and priming and its great for indoor or outdoor use. Applying the soft wax over your painted piece adds more durability and a smooth, buffed out look. You can mix colors together, create faux finishes, and funky distressed looks.

Here are some shots of what we have to offer and some fun painted pieces!

Our display

 

 

Some of the sample pots

 

 

 

Pretty sewing table in Antionette & Paris Grey

Florence on an old desk

 I'll be posting lots more about this awesome paint and what we have done with it. Just consider this a little preview!

The journey begins!

I stopped blogging a fews ago. I'm not sure why because I really enjoyed doing it. I'm gonna give it another shot, especially since a lot of fun things are going on and I feel like I need to document them!

Let me first tell you a little about my job. I manage a 'junk boutique' called A Journey From Junk in Ellicott City MD. Its on a historic Main St so we have some tourists and some amazing regular customers. We sell a mixture of funky old finds and new stylish pieces. My boss Kelli is like a second mom and best friend to me. Her and I do a lot of shopping together for the store at all kinds of places like thrift stores, flea markets, and trade shows.

Today we only had to go 20 minutes away to The Barn Show to find some amazing pieces and get some inspiration. It was my first time there and I loved it! Lots of painted furniture, old signs, salvaged goods, and lots of smalls. The weather was great and the space was packed with exciting things.

Me and the girls!