Tag: antiques

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Sweet Valentine – Free

I have three Refind Valentines to give away.

These are each unique and might make somebody very happy! You could get a little easel to hold one. They are each 6″x8″.

They will be Free at Whatcom Art Market this coming weekend. While they last. You will find them on the shelf in my space. Come and get one for some nostalgic sweetheart. Each one comes with a wrapper of beautiful embossed paper. You can add a ribbon to hold it in place.

Number One:

Porcelain tile – with a transfer of an original 1907 Postcard. It features young lovers sitting in a park. I’ve added a few flower petals and elderberry blossoms and covered in an acrylic medium. It’s like looking into the past – not clear and crisp but faded like a memory. The postcard has a note on the front: “Don’t this couple look sweet? I did not suppose you had the courage to have your photo taken in such a position”.

Number Two:

Porcelain Tile with a dry rub transfer of a postcard dated 1916. A red heart says “I’m looking for a Valentine”. Again I have embellished with petals and added sparkles and acrylic. It becomes opaque like a memory.

Number Three

is a porcelain tile with a dry rub transfer of the cover of a book from 1880 based on the very old song “Home Sweet Home” – written in the early 1800s. A sweet girl sitting in the porch of a tiny cottage. “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home”. And of course I embellished with dried flowers and opaque acrylic to show the distant past that belongs to every generation.

Happy Valentines Day! If you take one please please please post on here or on my Facebook page or tag me on Instagram @refindcreations33

©Belindabotzong2019

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When Doubts Fill Your Mind…

In memory of my mom who went to receive hope and cheer eternally on October 16 2018 –
Roses, twine, handmade paper, architectural hardware, brass tacks, burlap, crushed glass, reclaimed wood frames, copper and lots of mod podge. Hope these bless someone’s soul.

https://amzn.to/2RjZ8sU
Mod Podge
https://amzn.to/2LCXU6I
Liquitex gloss gel acrylic medium
https://amzn.to/2Sr67NI
US Art Supply Gloss Acrylic Medium
https://amzn.to/2SoSPRT
Krylon spray adhesive
©Belindabotzong2018

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100 Year Old Barn Windows


It’s a glorious day to be Refind Creations when I get to drive in the pouring buckets of rain to get some barn windows from a barn built in the late 1800s!
After two days of back and forth messaging with a sweet lady we finally connected and made a plan for me to head out on my lunch hour about ten miles north. Such a beautiful drive into Whatcom County where acres of land surround old and new farms, berry farms, flower nurseries, silos and cows.
She told me to meet her at the big white hay barn. As if I know which one that might be. I pulled into a homestead with this giant barn filled with brand new windows. If I was storing hay I think that’s where I’d put it. She comes out in the downpour well dressed for such delightful conditions in her rubber boots and rain slicker. The high winds push blonde wisps over her cheeks. And she has a huge smile and a kindness I think only farmers exude.
I step out into the muck trying to hold my baggy scrub pants above my tennis shoes and she tells me to back up to the hay barn. Apparently the other white barn that looks like where you might feed baby cows – or an old milk parlor. I told her I wouldn’t know a hay barn from a hole in the ground.
A barn is a barn to me. Beautiful, rustic, full of old stories and lives gone before us. A work of Art. A labor of love. A necessary part of a farmer life.
She shakes my hand as I again attempt to hold my pant legs out of the mud and the wind whips my hood off so my bangs get drenched and stick to my forehead.
She shows me the different sizes and I pick four that will be great for a project I have in mind. They are filthy and layered in years of dusty cobwebs that I find disturbing but she’s wearing gloves and gets them into my trunk safely.
I tell her I passed the house on the way there where I got piles of dahlias just a few months ago and that soon her windows will merge with her neighbors dahlia petals into my art. She likes that concept a lot and I’m glad.
I head back to work feeling blessed to drive out and meet her and to know I have four windows on history to Refind. It’s a beautiful day!

Windows to the past. How many days spent taking in light as the farmer mucked. How many sunrises reflected from their panes? How many sunsets let the last drops of sunlight in on her? How many windowpanes replaced after a nor’easter blew? How many hours and days and years of hard work, memories, sweat, and worry passed by the windows of the hundred year old barn leaving bittersweet idyllic treasures of times gone by?

Petals as Paint- designed by nature. Refind by me!
©Belindabotzong2018

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Hometown Alleyways

All my childhood I lived here
Riding my bike up and down the streets
Delivering newspapers
Eating burgers and fries with goop
Walking and shopping – then the 88 cent store and still Oliver&Hammer clothing, then Holland Drug, JCPenney. Now the Woolley Market and some empty.
Yesterday I had to walk to the post office down the alley and took these photos of the very old brickwork that I would have never noticed as a child. Now I love and appreciate the rust, brick, old architecture of my home town.
Enjoy –

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Refind Refind

I did it! I spent all afternoon taking down everything in my space at Whatcom Art Market and completely redesigning it to feature Art Inspired by Nature– almost every piece is made from or inspired by flowers from my garden and others.
On the right I installed an antique door to use as a feature piece to display door-decor! It will change with the seasons to make a centerpiece display. Since autumn arrives this week I decorated the door with garlands of artificial leaves and sunflowers to highlight several door decor items I created.
Center of the door has cork and architectural pieces from antique doors and drawers.
To the left of the door are two more corks and roses themed with antique door hardware acting as a vase holding dried roses.
In front of the door is an antique milk can filled with garden stakes — sunflowers made of cork, pine cone scales and vintage lighting fixture pieces. There are a couple old cupboard doors as well. One is Birchwood and the other autumn leaves.
In the center of the space I’m featuring ceramic tiles hand”painted” with flower petals in various designs. Another highlight is a framed elderberry flower in reflection. And finally one of my favorites– paper doll dresses flanked with matching flower petals. So far there is blue hydrangea, yellow orchid, and pretty pink petals.
On the left I have the postage-paid postcards, a few palette clipboards, and a new item — 4×4 ceramic tiles covered in various petals or handmade paper cutouts – a magnet on the back to decorate your refrigerator if you like.
I feel blessed to have this opportunity to participate in a vibrant art market and guild with so many talented people surrounding me and encouraging me!
Stop by if you’re out and about in Fairhaven and see what catches your eye!

©Belindabotzong2018

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Grateful

I just returned from vacation and stopped by the Whatcom Art Market to pick up my commission for August. I was humbled, shocked, dismayed and grateful for sales over $400! As I approach the one year anniversary of Refind Creations I am so happy that the ideas, inspirations, and pure love of Refinding has been blessed by God! All glory to Him who inspires me with his designs and lets me have so much fun! Thank you to all who took time to shop in our local Art Market.

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Progress

These are ready for leaves, stems and “planting instructions” — two large, two medium and two small Sunflowers made of vintage cork, pine cone scales and acorns. They will be finished with antique lamp parts and iron bars or metal poles for garden stakes. Refind Creations – designed by me, inspired by creation – the art of nature.
©Belindabotzong2018

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New Space for Refind

Whatcom Art Market is where you’ll find Refind Creations new space! So excited!!