Monday 24 November 2014

Friendship

I know I don't normally talk about deep stuff but today has been a day of revelation & renewal.

Many many years ago I met a girl called Sue or Suze as I called her. We became friends .... Our kids were friends and still are to this day but somewhere along the road of life Sue & I ... well we simply didnt seem to be friends anymore.

I moved away and basically went on and about life as you do and didnt give it much thought.

Well no that actually is a flat out lie. I sometimes thought about her and remembered times where I laughed so hard I near peed myself and then times where we helped each other through not so fun things.

A few months ago we kinda sorta started to say hello on Facebook ~ yep Facebook ~ and then the other day she approached me to ask about coming over to do a Websters Class and then she called me ... on the phone ... with her voice!!!


The pieces Sue transformed using Websters Chalk Paint Powder & Léssentiel Wax

Geezuz people I near passed out and was very nervous about the whole thing. Last night I walked around the house like a complete dork checking this and that to make sure everything was perfect and THEN dropped a half a large container of our Number One Fragrance ...... all over the garage floor ... and the laundry ... and the workroom ... and the work trolley ... You get the drift........... Then spent a delightful hour or so trying to clean up the mess.

Bonus is the downstairs smells AMAZING.

As usual I digress .....

Anyway she turns up today with her pieces to revamp using Websters Chalk Paint Powder and I kid you not ~ it was like we had been with each other three days ago.

There was not even a bump or a glitch and we both commented on the fact it felt like we had not been apart for 12 years.

Yes 12 years.

The really really interesting part was MY perception of what happened and HER perception of what happened were so far apart and different it was bizarre.
We both took responsibility for our parts ~ I was going through some pretty dreadful times and my self esteem was seriously lower than the lowest you can go so my thoughts on what was happening were completely different to hers. Suze had her own thoughts on what was happening and the sad part is the waste. I cannot even remember the incident she thought was the catalyst......... I honestly have no recollection at all???
What a waste of 12 years.

12 years of fun , laughter, tears, pain and joy...... wasted.

Sue hand makes exquisite quilts and goes by the name of  Piccadilly Patch.  I had asked her to bring a few along to stock in The Shop. I was like a kid in a lolly shop going through the beautiful artisan product she had delivered. I spotted this one and my heart actually skipped a beat and my first thought was :

Hand Made Quilt by Piccadilly Patch

 "Dear god I hope she does Lay-by" ( she does and so do we)

I am like all dewy eyed as I am a firm Blue & White Gal and always have been so I am stuttering about price and she is standing there saying: "You have to find the tag so it says what it is made of and the price"....

I found the tag ...... and prompty burst into tears. Yep GIRL CENTRAL right on the floor of FS Vintage.


Hand made Quilt by Piccadilly Patch

It seems this Quilt was made for ME back in 2002 and has been on a wall mount waiting to come home.

No matter how many people said :
"Ohhhhh How much can I buy it?"
Sue resolutely shook her blonde head and said:
 "Nope that's Tracy's Quilt".

Eventually I settled down enough to conduct one of our Private Workshops and we spent a delightful few hours catching up on everything in our lives.
(I also asked her why the bloody hell she didn't give me MY quilt 12 years ago ..........sheesh!)

We are thrilled to be stocking such a beautifully made product and well ............they are seriously Fabulous.!!!!! The attention to detail is mind boggling!
Once I have some individual shots I will load these on our Website or you can contact us on our Facebook Page or go direct to Sue at Piccadilly Patch for a specially designed Quilt made to order.

Selection of Quilts now available at FS Vintage
Add caption

Absolutely brilliant day and I hope with all my stone cold heart that it is not 12 years before we spend time together again ...... and her pieces turned out pretty darn awesome as well.

So check out the transformation of drab to fab using Websters ... Ohhhh noice quilt on the chair as well!








 

Stay Fabulous!


Tuesday 11 November 2014

Welcome home

We started doing these Jars awhile ago now and basically they did not seem to be very popular. Recently we decided to try again with our new branding and packaging to see ... maybe now?














Oh yeah!

We went back and re tested them to make sure they were perfectly fabulous ...... and they are.

Available at FS Vintage in the Soy Candle section of The Shop.

Stay Fabulous

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Time for a change ...

To be honest I am not very good with change but sometimes a gal has to do what a gal has to do.

When we started doing Mason Jars they were out of the ordinary and a little bit different. We tend to love the industrial look rather than the pretty shabby look so the Masons and our iconic Fowler Jars fitted us perfectly.
We have always had our Fowler jars as part of our private collection, and made soy candles in them for ourselves, but didn't really begin selling them till after we began importing the Vintage masons from the US.

The time has come for a new look but still staying true to our Industrial roots. The search began for something that basically said ~ Hello I am Fabulous!
Fear not my friends .... we will still be importing cool, funky Vintage Masons & continuing to make our Fowler Soy.


Introducing our New Fab Jar. Yep we named it our Fab Jar because we can ....

Love how the look ...

Love how they burn ...

Love them in general.







Clean, crisp and Industrial!

These will be part of our range and we may try a few different sizes. This one was picked to start with after the initial testing showed us they are perfectly Fabulous.


The really cool part is we can keep them at the amazing price of just $19.50.

Available now at FS Vintage.com

Stay Fabulous!

Saturday 1 November 2014

The Fabulous Shopping Experience...

I am not a big fan of shopping .... SHOCK HORROR GASP! It is absolutely true ~I do not enjoy the process in any way and tend to go out of my way NOT to shop. Mr Fab actually does the grocery shopping!

Seriously!

So ~ I have always tried to come up with ways to make Shopping an enjoyable experience ...

First our website which a normal and clever Graphics person probably could have knocked over in a few days but nooooo I had to do it and it took me two weeks, many late nights, copious amounts of caffine and quite a few tears.

Now you can shop online at FS Vintage in your pajamas drinking wine .......

OR:

You can have a Fabulous FS Vintage Shopping Experience. Three Ways to enjoy Fabulousness!






We can also come to you in your own home or workplace! The same fab Free Gifts & incentives on whichever way YOU choose to Party Plan Shop!




How easy peasy is THAT?????

 

The welcome awaiting you at FS Vintage ......


We had an amazing one this week with our beautiful Host ~ Lisa. She gathered a few of her friends , dropped the nibbles & wine in to The Shop the day before and simply walked away and left the rest to us.


We did all the prep work and Lisa was able to enjoy time with her Guests while sipping a beverage & enjoying scrumptious nibbles.
She received a beautiful gift to say Thank you & was able to go Christmas shopping with her credit earned from the Sales.



We love having these Parties as it also gives us a chance to make sure we are doing things right!
I am also quite surprised to find I am meeting some seriously amazing people and enjoying their company!



We try and make sure the atmosphere is calm & soothing ....... even in the Bathroom.



We loved how relaxed everyone was .......

Do you live in Brisbane? Then contact us on 0402 065 606 and make a date for YOUR Fabulous Shopping Experience.

Stay Fabulous!

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Creating a Memory ....

I had been searching high and low for a print or canvas to put in the Book Nook since having that dreadful moment where I moved furniture around.
It is indeed a rarity for me to even move a coffee table unless I am mopping the floor so I honestly have no idea where the Nesting Instinct came from.

It is done now and the blank wall was driving me insane as it is visable when you walk past the Nook.

So ~ I went to our local Cheap Shop / Dollar Shop and grabbed a blank canvas. I had a few sample pots of a brand new ~ not released yet ~ paint by our LÉSSENTIEL Wax supplier called Pure Mineral Colour. I really wanted to challenge this exciting product and even went as far as to wipe some on my skin to see ..... would it cause my hands to flare?

It didnt ~

So let us begin.

I had mentioned I wanted to try something different apart from furniture and our supplier supported me 100% with some handy tips along with the sample of Raspberry Red.
(This is NOT a paid endorsement. We purchased the samples)





I covered the canvas with 3 good coats of the Rasperry Red ~ (I did use a water dipped brush to make the small pot go further and it certainly did!)

Wowsers! This Paint is thick, creamy & gorgeous.

I then used the Mod Podge Transfer method I found by googling. I reversed the words I needed in my Picmonkey Photo Editor and simply printed them out on the good old Inkjet Printer









I went through both our America Blogs here & here to make sure I didn't miss any of the places we had traveled.
(I did miss Flagstaff Arizona which didn't quite come out as clear as I would have liked.)

I smeared Mod Podge on the paper with a sponge and smoothed it out on the painted canvas. Left overnight to make sure it was really dry then soaked the paper with water and gently rubbed to reveal the words.
I went around the edges with a dusting of our LÉSSENTIEL Aging Powder to give it an aged feel. I wanted it to look like it had been around for years and years.

Two coats of Gloss Mod Podge to seal ~ leaving each coat to dry thoroughly ~ before hanging in The Book Nook.

TA ~DAH!






We now have a little reminder of our trips to the US that is out and visable ... not stuck in a Jar or a box somewhere.......
I am not very crafty so I have to admit to being suitably chuffed with this little piece of Fabulous Art .......

Leave a comment and tell us what you think! We love to hear from you!


Stay Fabulous!



Friday 22 August 2014

Easy Peasy Wood Transfer

You remember the cabinet I found at the Dump? Costing $8.00? Once again good ol Websters Chalk Paint Powder came to the rescue and it came up a treat!
I have wanted to try the Wood Transfer technique for ages and as this is going in my work area it didnt matter iff I screwed it up so lets do this!

 

I found a video via google and simply did what they told me to do and it worked!

Find an image you would like to transfer on to the wood. I use The Graphics Fairy who has the most amazing website and can also be found on Facebook

I saw this one in my Facebook Feed and simply HAD to try it!






And a link ........French Beekeeper

Peel all the labels from an Avery Label sheet and use the side the labels would be on. Put it in your Inkjet printer. (I need to mention I tried Unistat Label sheets and Avery. Unistat sucked.)
 


Use the side the labels were on
 
Print out the image you would like and then simply press onto your wood. Gently rub over the paper to ensure the transfer has come out on your project.



I let mine dry overnight then put a layer of Léssentiel Wax over the top to seal it. You could also use a spray on sealer or good ol Feast Watson Polyseal.



Pretty easy peasy .......

I also used Google to find out how to reverse an image and had a play with our logo ......


Good Times ..........

Revamp, restore & Be Fabulous