Mama's Dolls

I just realized my mom has some really cool dolls that she's found thrifting or has saved to give new dresses, hair, etc. I wanted to share some of my favorites because they are just too precious and unique.

This doll is part of a vintage gift set that came with a book, The Little Wooden Doll. I have been trying to learn more about the doll, but the only hit online is about the book. The book alone goes for quite a bit, but I have yet to find the little doll. She is probably one of the most beautiful closepin styled dolls I've ever seen. 

The second doll is a storybook doll, also vintage, but this little gal was balding, missing arms, and without clothes. Mom gave her doilie wings, patched up her hair, found a dress, and pinned the arms so you barely notice her arms are missing. I love this doll's face; she is so dainty. 

Winter Break and Thrifted Finds

I'm officially on break! Can't believe I'm already halfway through my sophomore year. Everything is going by so quickly! Anyway, I got to spend some good old quality thrifting time with my family today. I almost slept in today too... I'm glad I didn't because I found some great stuff today!

Awesome halloween-esque skull planter, jolly roger sparkly bowl, vintage tupperware cups, a vintage crazy quilt pillow (my favorite find of the day), a groovy vintage recipe tin, and two little kewpies. Probably one of my best thrifting days, because I found a ton of new clothes too, including a vintage 'Judy T. of California' dress, which is in a Gunne Sax style. Most of these finds will be making an appearance on my etsy store too, so keep posted here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jreyesha

I usually blog things I've made, but since I've started adding vintage items to my etsy store, I'm going to start posting some of my favorite finds from thrifting and my collections of vintage trinkets I have from my room.

Antique Alley, Hattie's Sweet Shop, and New Etsy Listings!

I haven't blogged in a while because school has been taking up so much time. But, this weekend I got to spend some time at Antique Alley, one of my favorite antique stores in Portland. While I was there I found the coolest poster. I'm going to see if I can find another online and buy it for my room. I just love Aunt Sam's femme sign earrings. I'd love to have a pair of those. I need to do some research and see why and when this poster was made. It's just too awesome!

Also, a new candy shop opened by Found on Fremont! It's called Hattie's and they sell every kind of candy you can think of, including these 'Jelly Babies'! Apparently, one of the original Doctor Who's used to eat them in the show. For the longest time my mom talked about them and I didn't know they actually existed. Well, they do and they're delicious! The candy store is the cutest and I can predict lots of my money is going towards licorice malties and jelly babies... :) 

Check out their website here: http://www.hattiessweets.com/

Also, just added a ton of new things on my etsy store! I now have a vintage category. I'm moving out of Found on Fremont soon and transitioning to etsy for everything.

Check out my new listings here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jreyesha

Halloween Night Porch Decorations

I haven't made anything new as of late, but I just wanted to show our porch decorations from Halloween. Mom went all out with candles up our pathway and glitter snow globes. I'd like to think the decorations helped bring trick-or-treaters to our door because we had a whopping 15 kids that night, which is about 5 times more than we usually have... 

I absolutely love the glitter pumpkin faces mom put on our pumpkins. 

Purple glitter is the best contrast on a pumpkin!

New Displays at Found on Fremont

Thought I'd take the time to share some of the new things mom has in her space at Found in Fremont. We have acquired some really great display pieces, like a tall brown corner shelf and a new jewelry glass class. It has definitely added a fresh look to the space! For more about Found on Fremont, visit and follow the store blog: http://foundonfremont.blogspot.com/

The new corner shelf is perfect for displaying our groovy vintage finds.

Owls, mushrooms, pyrex, and lots of other great items!

Getting ready for the holidays little by little with vintage postcards. 

Also, some of our jewelry. Vintage and handmade!

One of my favorite parts of mom's space. Our Japanese inspired shelf 

and the growing collection of purses we pick out when we shop. 

Of course I saved the best for last! A wonderful glass display case for all of mom's handmade jewelry!

My Fall Break Creations

So, fall break is nearly over. I have one day left and homework has already called dibs on it. :( I didn't make as much art as I would have liked this break. I actually spent most of my time catching up with friends and working at Found on Fremont. But, I did manage to make a recycled slide lamp shade, which is something I've wanted to do for a while. I still need to add another set of jump rings to the top, but for the most part it's finished! I'm so excited about it. I can definitely send 'Scrap' in NE Portland kudos because they always have recycled slides for only 10 cents a piece!

I also started another mixed media assemblage. I haven't made one in a while, so I was stoked when I got inspired. The funny thing is, this is actually one of my brain stormed ideas from high school IB art two years ago. I'm going to try and use all those young high school ideas from now on, because I really like how this feminism/women inspired piece is coming along.

I made use of an old drawer and some old dictionary pages for the backdrop of the piece.

I hope I'll get a chance to finish it soon!

Storenvy Shop!

Last weekend I launched my new online store through Storenvy. I haven't decided if I'm going to try to have both my etsy and storenvy shop concurrently, or eventually transfer everything over to my storenvy shop. So, for now I have both shops open. Storenvy allows creative control with shop appearance, as well as being completely free! Etsy is definitely more popular than storenvy right now, but both sites get a fair amount of traffic. I haven't had a lot of time to post anything aside from some old printed shirts and lego jewelry, but I'm on fall break for a week, so hopefully I'll get some crafting done.

Take a look at my new storenvy shop: http://jreyesha.storenvy.com/

Here's a preview of the store!

Also, for those of you that have visited Found on Fremont, I recently redecorated my space. I put some of my Dia De Los Muertos art on the wall, cleaned out some items, and added in some new creations. If you live locally in Portland, come visit Found on Fremont. The store literally has something for everyone: vintage, resale, clothes, jewelry, etc.

Heirloom Tomatoes and Skeletons

Haven't been working the studio as much as I would like, but still managing to thrift for the shop and garden a bit. Surprisingly, Portland hasn't rained in almost a month. I'm not sure I like it. In fact, I kind of miss muggy cold days. And, I really miss wearing sweaters and boots! Though, if it were sweater and boot weather, I wouldn't be getting these tomatoes or dahlias this far into fall.

Yellow Brandywines, Mortgage Lifters, and Hillbilly Potato Leaf Heirloom Tomatoes! 

Don't you just love the names of heirloom tomatoes. :)

Also, with Halloween on the way, I have been getting ready some of my old Dia De Los Muertos artwork from high school to put in the shop. Gonna put these old friends in the shop this week. Though, I'm a little attached to my marigold holding skeletons at the gates of heck. I may have to whip out some old inspirations to make some more festive art.

Last Last Thursday, Domino Tiles, and new Leather Earrings

School has started again, much to my chagrin. Too much calculus and too much physics, but because it's the beginning of the year I've still had time to go in the studio. I even had time to attend the last Last Thursday on Alberta of the summer. At the show, I put my latest domino/stamp pendant necklaces for sale. Since I've started collecting stamps, I have been saving a few for pendants because they are just so pretty and detailed. Mom found a baggie full of vintage dominoes at a yard sale and I've been making a few pendants whenever I can.

I've also started selling my leather earrings on etsy, rather than just at Found on Fremont. I had searched the leather earring tag and realized that there were not a lot of affordable leather earrings sale and some even looked commercially made from a merchandiser. I sold a few of my etsy leather earring collection at the Last Thursday show, but the five pairs I started with are shown below. I've been experimenting with new layers and some of the other leather colors ( I usually stick to red and brown)

Malaya Garlands

I couldn't help but post my sister's recycled fabric garlands. She's never been super motivated to craft like my mom and I, but last week she started sitting down for hours at a time to cut and tie these fabric garlands. For a while, every room in our house was decorated with a garland, but they're now available at the store (Found on Fremont) in our space.

Mama's New Treasures

Thought I'd share some of my mom's latest pieces. Lately, she's been the one making assemblages... I feel like I need to get back into the loop there. Mom has been decorating little jars with buttons and ribbons, turning them into beautiful containers for supplies.

As far as her little frame, I made the picture hanging inside from a class we took at 'Collage,' where we made tile framed pictures. I had no idea what to do with it, but mom was able to make it lovely with the boot and buttons.

Summer Updates

Feel like I'm always apologizing for not blogging enough here. I just wanted to let everyone know what I've been up to this summer. I have been working most of the summer, but during my free time I have been spending a lot of time at 'Found on Fremont.' Having my own space requires a lot of time making and buying things to keep it new and fresh. Yesterday was the Fremont Festival, so I took some time to help out the other vendors with our outdoor display. It was probably one of the busiest days I've seen at the store, and I was glad Portland's hottest summer day wasn't keeping people from shopping! 

Check out more about Found on Fremont on the blog I designed for us: http://foundonfremont.blogspot.com/

Here is one of Found's outdoor displays from the Fremont Fest- a summer table filled with pyrex! 

Speaking of shopping for the store. Here are some of my favorite finds from over the past few months. I absolutely loved theses two items. They're just so kitschy and fun! :) Almost kept both of them. 

This hilarious 'God Bless This Lousy Trailer Plate' made me laugh so much! Such a fun piece. The bedazzled Virgin Mary is actually a shirt with the icon printed entirely over the shirt. I wore it a few times to school and let's just say it was quite the conversation piece at my Catholic private college. ;)

I've also been spending some time in the studio working on various projects. I'm going to post some of my new jewelry pieces once I get a whole collection ready to sell. My latest project is getting back into painting. I finished my first painting of the summer last week! I'm not a pro and I definitely need to practice more, but I'm glad I was able to blend my paints together more than I usually do. Hope I'll get to make another painting before my summer ends! I want to try a self portrait or still life of some sort. 

So, in this long novel and picture fiasco of a post I think I've covered almost everything I've been working on in these summer months. Because I've been working on the Found on Fremont blog, I'm going to try and keep this blog updated as well. More pictures of new jewelry and some of mom's new work will be uploaded soon! :) 

Found on Fremont Updates!

I'm officially on summer vacation and have successfully completed my first year of college! So... now I have more time to work in the studio and help out at Found on Fremont. I just wanted to update how the space mom and I started has changed. We've moved to a bigger space and we've filled with all sorts of vintage treasures, handmade jewelry, kitschy cards, and other collectables. I absolutely love looking at all of the other vendors spaces. Everyone is definitely preparing for summer, with lots of garden decor, springy vintage items, and beautiful furniture.

Also, two weeks ago I just got my own small shelf space. It has more of a fun and bright colored theme to match all of my lego frames, collaged pieces, etc. I'm so happy with how well it turned out and how many things I was actually able to fit into it! I'm just glad I have another venue outside of etsy to sell some of my work. I've also put a lot of supplies into my space, so that others can make things to create with.

Come visit at: 

4743 NE Fremont St

Portland, OR 

https://www.facebook.com/FoundOnFremont

Steampunk Estate Sale Finds

Last weekend mom and I hit an awesome estate sale by my college, where we found some great items for the store. That alone was something to blog enthusiastically about, but... the best part is that the sale had had jars of old nails, wing nuts, bolts, chains, and other metal pieces. I put all of the goodies I found in this dandy felt tray I found at a thrift store! I think I officially have a steam punk collection to make jewelry and new art pieces. Can't wait to have some time to work in my studio!

Etsy Updates & My New Koi Print

Haven't posted anything lately about my own art in a while, because I just haven't had the time. However, last weekend I was able to work on my stencil print shirts. I even came up with some new designs! I'm particularly pleased with the new koi stencil I made and printed on an upcycled vintage white shirt. Not only was I able to print some new work, I was also able to list them on etsy! :)
Check out the new shirts: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jreyesha?section_id=10859913

Something in the Shadows...

Once again, some of my friends on facebook shared this amazing link filled with incredible shadow art. Seeing things like this help me realize I haven't reached my limits with art. Inspiring and motivating. Moreover, I'm just impressed with the sheer perfection of these artist's vision when it comes to working. No kidding when they say an artist sees the world differently.

Check it out here: 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/21-amazing-examples-of-shadow-art

Too much craftiness?

Haven't been too diligent with posting new things. But, this is officially my only blog, so all focus is here now. Without further ado, I'd like to introduce the most crafty and tacky object I have ever seen for footwear. In one of my many Goodwill trips, I was able to capture this BEDAZZLED and puff painted shoe of galore. For a while, I didn't think you could outdo crafty... now I know there are limits.

An Installation that will 'stick' to you...

Every once in a while, Facebook will show me something interesting and make me feel like checking it isn't a waste of time. One of my friends posted a fascinating installation link yesterday. An artist, Yayoi Kusama, designed a living space, completely white, and allowed visitors to help create the installation by giving out thousands of dot stickers to place freely in the room. The link shows the transformation and it's really quite amazing. I would love to make an installation someday. Probably not one I'd let people help with, but the idea of massive art is always a good one. 

Read & see more here: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/01/yayoi-kusama-obiliteration-room/