this is not my work

Estate Sale Adventures with Mackenzie

 

 

 

 

 

(I am so happy to be introducing the second post of guest blogger, Mackenzie Sasser of Secret Pocket Handmade. I first met Mackenzie at Second Storie Indie Market, where I fell in love with her vintage-y yet clean aesthetic and her cheery attitude. She blogs fun bits from her daily life over here and on this blog she will be sharing crafty ideas, inspirations and tutorials. Please join me in welcoming her today :)

I lived in Buffalo, NY for a year, and at first I was confused and saddened by this grayish city, pockets which are thriving and rich, and others which seemed dying and lifeless. I couldn't find a job and didn't have many friends. I soon found my way around and found what Buffalo had for me: estate sales. Hundreds and hundreds of estate sales. Those homes told so many stories and held some great mysteries.

Every weekend I would go to several, and I got to the point where I could enter in and could tell in 5 seconds if the house was a bust or not. Mostly by the smell. The mustier, the better. I had a couple favorite places in these old homes: attics, basements, and of course craft rooms. I got my serious face on, and hunted. There were craft rooms piled up with everything you can think of.

Most people just glanced over the big things, but I was meticulous. I could easily spend a half hour to an hour, looking into every box, and pile, looking for something special. The estate sale people started recognizing me as "button girl." I had friends come with me a couple times, but I think they realized they didn't take it as seriously as I did. I worked best alone. When we moved away, I grieved for those estate sales. I catch myself looking at websites to see what I'm missing.

I have amassed quite a collection of sewing notions, craft supplies, and fabric . One of the things that I am enamored by is the packaging of notions. I look to them for inspiration for design, color palettes, type, and patterns. I bought them thinking I could use them for projects, but I don't know if I could ever take them apart, it feels wrong.

modern inspirations

 

 

I'm not gonna lie, I LOVED disney when I was a kid. My favorites were Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Cinderella. I was reminded by a post over at Inchmark last week that these films have something in common-they were all conceived by the uber talented Mary Blair.

Blair's style is one I grew up with and adored and probably laid the groundwork for many of my aesthetic preferences to this day.

These photos are from this great flickr set, if you have a minute I highly recommend browsing through it.

Blair also illustrated a favorite book of mine named I Can Fly.

green + gold

 

As a photographer (and just as a human being) I am always drawn to colors.

I feel as though a picture could be less than interesting subject wise but can still be amazing because of its colors.

Does this make sense?

These photos by Liz are great in subject and color.

They make me want to have more gold in my house which is funny because me and gold have never been friends.

You can find Liz's flickr stream here.