shopping with my sis

last sat i spent the day trying to help my sister decorate her new house. we didn't get as much done as planned, as usual, but we did hit up some wonderful shops! one was this warehouse type fabric store (PA fabric outlet). they buy all of the inventory from stores going out of business so they have a little (or a LOT of everything).
zippers anyone?

rows and rows of fabric (and my sister)...

and spools of everything and anything you can imagine.


we then went next store to an antique shop (antique marketplace of lemoyne) and i couldn't pass up an amazing deal on a 8 place-setting set of silver-plated silver wear. i haven't decided whether or not it will be mine or in my shop. they had lots and lots of other awesome stuff too.
these tables were sweet.

and so was this little collection.

sorry the quality of the pictures is pretty terrible. i only had my iphone with me.

what the heck is etsy?

by now you know that i have an etsy shop, brandeye, but what is etsy you may be wondering? well it is a website where you can buy and sell all sorts of wonderful things. the three main categories are handmade, vintage and supplies. within these categories is just about anything you can think of. vintage clothing, vintage housewares (my favorite), handmade jewelry and clothing and sweets and bath products and cards and knitted things and art and photography and... i could go on and on and on.

start at the etsy homepage and just browse around.
if you know what you are looking for, use the search box and scroll down to the correct category: handmade (with 2 different search options), supplies, vintage, all, sellers and materials. then enter the search term (i.e. silver jewelry, vintage milk glass, organic soap. and voila, items show up. the search takes some getting used to and could certainly be improved upon.

you can also look through gift guides, or categories, or even by location (find local sellers!). it's a pretty neat site, it just takes some browsing around to get used to. you can start here on the buyers page.

here are some items i love at the moment:

amethyst and sterling link bracelet, from stamp, located in brooklyn. i love the little bit of understated bling in the amethyst (my birthstone.)


this constellation wing back chair from spruce home, located in austin. their furniture is divine and exactly what i could create if i had the ability to upholster!


the science geek in me loves these organica note cards from LandMdesignworks, located in california.


and the clothing from sarahseven makes me want to dress up and hang out in a warehouse for no apparent reason.


what are your favorite etsy finds?

moz (not our dog)

morrissey was in town sunday night, so of course we went to see him.(morrissey happens to be where we got our dog's name, moz is his nickname. if you are a fan i'm sure you figured that out by now!)
it was a great night. we started off having a delicious dinner at mercato with dave's family and friends (happy birthday brian), then headed to the concert at the academy of music. the place is unbelievable. and also happens to be where dave and i had our graduation from college. the tickets said that they wouldn't allow cameras, so i left mine at home. well i should have brought it, because they didn't check at all. i did have my wonderful, handy iphone however and it lit up bright enough at one point to get a pic of the venue and enormous chandelier. i looked like it is about the size of our house.
we were too far away for me to get a good picture of morrissey, but trust me, he ruled.

spring is on it's way

i guess it is actually technically spring, but it sure doesn't feel like it. i bought some daffodils at the grocery store yesterday and they are starting to peak through. i always think of them as the epitome of spring.

and i thought i may have killed this beautiful orchid by over watering it (i had it soaking for about an hour and it should have been 10 min, i forgot about it). but it is still alive and looks beautiful.

but i won't tell you about or show you the flower that my parents got me for my birthday. it's only been about 2 weeks, but it is on it's last leg. i tried.

modern, but girly pink floral quilt

since it successfully made it through the wash (yeah!), the quilt is finished and is now in my etsy shop. all of the profit from this sale will go to the cora paige benefit to build a playground. as listed before, you can read about her story here.




you can see the item at the brandeye etsy shop.

a quilt for a cause

today i am making a quilt for cora's playground project, you should read about it here. all of the profit from it's sale will go to help build a playground in her honor. i will finish up the quilt monday, then wash it (fingers crossed it makes it through the wash!) and hopefully it will be in my shop by tuesday. i'll let you know when it's posted.
here it is in process. the size is sort of odd, because i just made it with what fabrics i had laying around.

and since my friend alyssa said i need more pictures of myself, here i am quilting it.

entertaining with vintage

last night we had some friends over and i used some of the lovely vintage items in my shop. i used the depression glass vintage compote, amber depression glass bowl, and the milk glass divided dish.

i heart vintage

i added a couple new items to the brandeye etsy shop. i'm sure you're sick of hearing it by now, but too bad. that's what i'm here for. i have 5 years to get out of my day job or i will self destruct!


and this lovely lamp that i picked up at zerns this weekend is looking fabulous in my living room.

you see that plant on the table? can you believe that it is at least 7 years old? it is by far the longest living plant that i have ever had and look how pathetic it is. i love it, but jeez, it should be about 10 times that size by now! it was a housewarming gift from our friend brendan who gave it to us when dave and i first moved in together (we were shackin up as my dad liked to call it). we moved to a apartment "complex" in a crappy town, levittown. sorry anyone who may live there, but be honest with yourself, it is a pretty crappy town!

work space update, we added shelves!

i have been wanting shelves in my work space for ages, and we finally got around to it today! they look great and i have much more space to store all my etsy and sewing goodies.
check em out.

more vintage items for the shop (and for me)...

yesterday my friend and i went to zerns and had a great time. i bought lots of vintage stuff and lots of meat. what a combo. here are the vintage items that will soon be in the shop (and sauce with meatballs is on the stove).


but i think i'm keeping the lamp. i love it too much, there is even a light in the base, so it "glows."

how a forever 21 shirt that i never wore turned into an awesome, glamorous pillow!

this week i cleaned out my closet and found quite a few things that could be turned into some cool pillows. the rest is going to the goodwill.

so first up is this forever 21 sequins shirt that i bought, but never wore, as you can probably see why. it is basically a belly shirt! not sure why i even bought it (what can i say, i am a sucker for sequins), but it is now a gorgeous, glamorous pillow.

before:


and after!!



stop by to see more pics and check it out in my brandeye etsy shop!

i heart pottery

i love lots of things, basically anything for a home, but i especially love pottery. we stopped at a pottery store while in new orleans and they had AMAZING stuff, it was hard to choose what to buy. usually i look and look and never buy anything, but it was my actual birthday so i didn't feel one ounce of guilt. i treated myself to this.

the shop was shadyside pottery of new orleans and the potter, charles bohn, was hard at work on the potter's wheel in the back of the store. it made me remember back to high school art class, working on the potter's wheel, screwing things up most of the time, but still having lots of fun. i can still remember how it felt in my hands, and now i wish i had a potters wheel! actually i should just go rent one for the day or something, that would be more reasonable.

the technique he uses is raku, you can read about it here.

i think the turquoise and copper color of the one i bought is the coolest. it's beautiful, but a little gritty, just like new orleans. here it is filled with flowers from my aunt and uncle (thanks wanda and andy!)and some left over from my party (thanks dave!). they're slowly dying so i keep making new arrangements with them.

surprise!!

last saturday (and then again this saturday at my parents) i came home to a surprise birthday party for me. it was the first time i was successfully surprised, which is kind of funny, because in the morning i had a feeling it would be that night. but then as the day progressed, everyone made plans with me to do something that night that i thought i must be wrong, not to mention my memory is awful. so i rushed home from a bridal shower to run down to the city for dinner and when i opened the door... SURPRISE. it really was a bit overwhelming and i want to thank everyone for pulling it off. even though my very wonderful, but not so slick, husband, sent me an e-vite to my own party and still didn't spoil it. (i didn't look at the e-vite, he deleted it right away when i asked him as i was opening the e-vite "what party did you sent me an e-vite to" he just yelled, "don't look at it!" and so i only saw "surprise 30th birthday party for brandi" without any date details.
here are some highlights of the night.
there was lots of good food, most of which i ate for leftovers all week.

and old friends.


and family.


and a cake fight.

and lots of karaoke (and mustaches).


thanks to everyone for all the fun.

thrift store trip

yesterday i went to a thrift store that my friend amber posted about here . i happened to be in annville getting a hair cut and so i left home a little early to hit up the store. well i should have added about 3 hours to my trip, because i could have spent all day there. i rushed through about 1/3 of the store and got lots of awesome stuff. dave even found a suit for $7.
here is some stuff that has been posted or will soon be posted to the brandeye etsy shop.
a beautiful turquoise planter accented with 22k gold.

milk glass candle sticks

metal plate with peacock pattern. it has a hanger on the back to hang it on your wall.

glass creamer and sugar set with matching tray. it has bubble glass with gold detail.