Here we are again with another installment of our not-so-monthly “Monthly Mantel” segment. This time was really especially ridiculous since we never got around to taking down the cherry blossoms until we decorated for autumn.

I don’t always love to play up the autumnal colors of orange and brown too much, but when Jenny Instagrammed this copper foil garland from Hobby Lobby I couldn’t resist. While  I was there I also picked up the glittered acorns, which have become my favorite thing of the fall. I think the metallic bling helps give a twist to the standard fall colors.

We also incorporated some vintage elements that I inherited from my grandmother (the owl luminary and antique leather-bound gardening books), a newly thrifted silver rim ice bowl, and D’s fabric pumpkins from last year.

On the other side of the room, we replaced our pink and green scrappy quilts with my whimsical Matte Stevens New Orleans print, and balanced the oranges and yellows with a lively contrasting turquoise (I know, you’re shocked).

We snagged the remaining dahlias from the yard and mixed in dried crocosmia seed pods that we harvested at the same time.

How are you decorating for the fall? Leave a link!

Hope everyone is recovered from a safe and happy independence day holiday here in the states. Seattleites always joke that summer doesn’t come until July 5th, and so true to form the clouds parted and today was perfectly sunny and warm. In the spirit of it finally being summer, we’ve listed some new colorways for our rope bracelets in the shop.

Our original color line of Neon Pink, Neon Yellow, Neon Green, and Bright Turquoise has new friends! We’ve added Navy, Bright Purple, Neon Coral, Multicolor Pink/Purple, and my very favorite, aqua gingham. I think the aqua pattern is SO perfect for summer picnics!

To celebrate the sun shining and the summer stretch in front of us, we’re offering free shipping with code SUMMERFREESHIP . Enjoy

We have another exciting announcement for our local readers. Our awesome local coffee shop, Blue Saucer, is hosting a summer pop up market here in Seattle.

This is going to be a really great event – there are over 30 vendors signed up, selling both handmade and vintage pieces. We’ll have our bracelets, jewelry hangers, map art, and lots of vintage inventory at great prices to make room for fall inventory. We would love it if you’d stop by to say hello!

A couple months ago, Danni posted about organizing a shop swap through her blog. She is such a supporter of handmade, vintage, and small business, its awesome! I signed us up thinking this would be a great way to get to know another shop owner, plus a chance to promote our little selves and get a fun goodie!

Through e-mails and blog comments, we’ve come to be online friends with our swap partner, Suzanne. I feel so blessed that we got paired with a shop owner very similar to us in style, vision, etc. She has a beautiful blog filled with stunning photos and vintage goodies, as well as a new etsy shop with FUN picks in it.

Suzanne has yet to receive her package from us since she’s on a little vacay, but our package came in the mail last week and I’ve been dying to show you the treasure she sent!

First I opened the package to a colorful bouquet and a sweet little note. What a way to cheer up a late-winter day!

Inside the package we slowly unveiled not one. . . .

But TWO gorgeous silver peacock salt and pepper shakers. (Well, they most closely resemble peacocks. I couldn’t decide if they looked more like pheasant to me, but either way they are gorgeous).

Aren’t these guys quite handsome? I’ve decided they’re two dudes strutting their stuff and looking dapper.

Or spying on the neighborhood, whichever.

THANK YOU SUZANNE! We love them. I can’t wait to see what little vignettes we can pull off with these guys. The rest of you will have to stay tuned on Suzanne’s blog to see what we sent her. Can’t give away any secrets here, now can we?

For the last several months, I have been following the University of Washington Surplus Store on twitter, and have been dying to stop by. The premise is this: the college has one central depot for all their extra supplies, furniture, materials, etc to be redistributed. Mainly the goal is to have other departments repurpose materials, but once a week they are open to the public, and periodically they have public auctions. I’ve spied some great finds on their website, and had been dying to stop by but couldn’t find a time to get there before they close Tuesdays at 6 pm. Last week, I had an afternoon meeting scheduled nearby, so after that was over I finally had a chance to hit it up on my way home!

Now, this isn’t the type of place you are going to find an amazing brand-name vintage piece. No fancy designers here, these are the remnants of a public university. But, they have a TON of stuff and the pricing is incredible. Here’s what I spied:

Aluminum framed chalkboards $5-$10

Slide carousels and plastic film reels $1 max

Cute lil red coffee pot $3

Test tubes and lab bottles galore. If you’re planning a sciencey themed wedding, this is your place! I was *this* close to buying a bunch of test tubes for a little craft, but talked myself out of it. Maybe next time.

Chair central. Not all cute, but a couple little gems throughout. This 70s wood beauty was $10 I think.

Ladders and a sawhorse

Big cable spool. This was marked sold, but I think they wanted $25 or so. Could make a cool bar or something for your garden.

Galvanized tape dispenser

Date stamps

Little hardware pieces. I thought these might be fun for a windchime.

They also had things like unworn athletic shoes, old dorm bunkbeds (for those of you with kiddos who share a room!), many many metal file cabinets, and even building materials like plywood and drywall. I forgot to take pics of my loot, but I picked up a few things: some plastic tubs for use in the garden, a film reel in turquoise, and some industrial magazine holders to help reorganize the craft room. Can’t wait to show you where they land.

If you’re in the Seattle area and are looking for a different source for vintage goodies, stop by some Tuesday, or keep an eye on their website before an auction. You never know what you might find!

At the beginning of this year we started featuring our monthly mantlescapes with you guys. But, it seems that we lost focus on that, oh, in say, March, mainly because we got frustrated with how lame our fireplace and mantel looked. Now, though, I’m here to tell you, the mantle is back in FULL FORCE. Like D mentioned in her Thanksgiving post, her dad came to town and helped us realize our vision.

We’re still compiling the full before and afters (and during shots, of course), but the holidays are on around here and I wanted to show some of our decor that we’ve been toiling to get up So consider this a sneak peek of the new fireplace design

We’re ridiculous, and the mantel will probably get redecorated 3 or 4 times by the time Christmas actually rolls around, so here’s the first iteration: Simple Vintage Sparkle.

Love it!

Our D and B Jingletters

And, a sneak peek of our Christmas Tree (no, the lights aren’t blue, they’re LED and just photo that way)

Show us your mantels!! Leave a link

Linking up with the Christmas Cheer Blog Party – Today at Ten June