Get Inspired!

It has been another productive week!  Hope everyone is keeping a positive outlook with ALL of this rain, wind, thunder, lightening and hail!  Spring has got to be just around the corner, right?  Jill and I boosted our spirits when we visited one of our favorite locations where we love to hunt around for inspiration.  Here's a brief look at what we found...

Vintage back plates of all colors, shapes and sizes.

A little eye candy for the vintage obsessed!

Tons of beautiful old window panes.

In between raindrops, we meandered around town and took in the sights of the city.  We discovered that inspiration can come in many different forms!

Inspiration from an old historic building.

Inspiration from a local landmark.

Inspiration from a stroll along neighborhood shops.

These were all pleasantly interesting and evoked great ideas and got those creative juices flowing.  However, our inspiration of choice on this particular day came in the form of a new found treasure for us...

A  "work  lunch"!  This place was a tip from the workers at our  favorite supply store.  There's nothing like a little brainstorming over fabulous Puerto Rican cuisine!

No matter how busy your life, no matter how depressing the weather, go out and find something that lifts your spirit and inspires you!  Its worth it!

Have a happy week!

Cheree and Jill

What's So Cool About Old Stuff?

My Mom once asked me why I liked old stuff so much. I think one of the words she used in that conversation was "Yuck". I grew up in a house with fresh white carpet, stainless steel tables and leather furniture, mirror-art and crystal chandeliers. My parents enjoy keeping an updated, beautiful home. That's their comfort zone. They both grew up in families with very little income, and "old" may have translated to "not good enough".

I distinctly remember eyeing beautiful crystal doorknobs and stained glass windows in my Great-Grandmother's house, which was otherwise in serious disrepair. Their elegance stood out against the backdrop of yellowed peeling wallpaper.  She was raised in a world where nothing was considered disposable and resources were not wasted. Care was taken to craft excrutiating detail into metal, wood, stone and jewlery. The bathtub had unique "feet" on the bottom. Even handwriting was beautiful, and an art in itself.

Then came the kicker that got me hooked on vintage forever!  I heard the story and saw the pictures of my great-great Uncle, Harry Borcherding, who was a trapeze artist in the 1920's and 1930's. GASP!  I was in love with the past!  I was mesmerized by the old pictures of him in his regal suit, and another of his trapeze group, The Four Lordens. He had the financial means to give his wife and daughter jewelry and gifts from the places he traveled. Cool art-deco jewelry, Great Gatsby kind of stuff.

Poor Harry died in a fall from the trapeze in 1933. His daughter died without heirs in 1992 and left her possessions to my grandfather, who was her cousin and caretaker. And I inherited them from my Grandfather when he passed away.  When I wear her jewelry, I am transported to the past and connected to my ancestors in a very cool way.

When Cheree and I go "dumpster diving" for cool finds, and pick through other people's junk, we wonder what the life story of each door knob was, or who lived in the room with the aqua blue windowsill, and what gossip was told over the fence which became a welcome sign on my front porch. And yes, we believe they speak to us! We love giving new life to "old stuff'.  We enjoy keeping items out of the dump. And we love honoring the past by recognizing a new purpose for each jewel that we find.  What are YOUR vintage items saying to you?

Thanks for visiting with us.  Have a terrific week!

Jill and Cheree

Here We Are!

Jill and I are so excited to be here in "blogland" and are ready to share the goings-on of our crazy lives!  Its been two years since With A Twist, LLC was formed and there have been many bumps, twists and turns along the way!  I've dug up some photos that tells our story from the beginning...

 

June 2009- Jill (on the left) and I about two seconds after we decided to start a business together, thus our first "business meeting"!  Although there is no evidence of it, I'm sure this was followed by a glass of wine, toasting to our future!

It was shortly after that day (during an outing with our Girl Scout Troop), when our company name was born, "With A Twist"!  Really, who doesn't love a good martini?  We had actually already come up with our first product and we liked the double entendre (twist of doorknob and a twist of lime)...get it?  There is a picture of us (of course I couldn't find it now, when I want it), which is evidence that our drive to thrive outweighed our fear of using power tools...seriously, there were sparks flying everywhere!  I'm not joking.  We even wore goggles!  I'll be searching for that picture for the next twelve hours I'm sure!  In the meantime, here are some other memories to share with you.

August 2009- This is Studio A (aka Jill's garage) where our first product was created.  We all start somewhere, right?  Originally, exclusively sold at Nest Home & Gifts, these vintage doorknob hangers are now also available in our Etsy shop "With A Twist Designs".

We produced several collections of our vintage doorknob hangers from this space.  We primarily focussed on perfecting our look of these items and began taking on custom orders.  Eventually, we outgrew the use of just this space and began using my garage, as well as the upstairs "scrapbook" room, which is now lovingly called, "Studio B"!  This is mild compared to what kind of messes we make now!

 June 2010- One year into the business and the next product we produced came directly from this salvage excursion (a barn that was scheduled for demolition) in Snohomish County.  We stocked up on the naturally aged wood that was eventually upcycled into signs!

Our very own Vana White...I mean, Jill Anderson.

If we could have, we would have scaled the walls to get this bracket!  Love it!

Believe it or not, the raw materials salvaged over a year-and-a-half ago, still fuel our current custom orders! We now are in our third phase of product development and have tons of ideas in the works!  Its so fun to see where we started from and realize where we are today.  We always enjoy the creative process and though it is a juggling act with our kids and families being the most important things to us, we love this new adventure!  To our families and friends who have been there from the beginning and watched it unfold, thank you, thank you for all of your support! 

Thanks for stopping by and come back often to visit! 

Hugs,

Cheree and Jill