Artist Highlight and Giveaway: Mellow Mermaid!

 To get this spring break party started, I would like to introduce an awesome artist and vintage collector that not only has an Etsy shop for her vintage wares, but a brick and mortar shop as well.  Oooolalala :)  Lori has the cutest items in her shop, Mellow Mermaid.  I literally spent an hour going through it and had so many favorites that I had to remove half of them so my blog post was readable.  Anyways, you get the point... So without further ado here is Lori from Mellow Mermaid with an interview, discount (I'm totally using it!), and giveaway (a gift card!) here!

Some of my favorites from her store:

Vintage Train Case

Upcycled Wall Sconces 

Stiched Map of the South Pillow

Fabulous Vintage Crewel Work

Besides the vintage items you have in your Etsy store, what else do you like to do?
My college degree is in Studio Art & Art History. I've been fortunate to have always worked in the arts. My many "Art" hats include: Gallery Artist; Art Teacher; Artist in Residence; Summer Art Camp Director; Gallery Sales; Ceramicist; Painter; Mixed Media Artist; Decorator; Creative Recycler.

I opened my brick & mortar shop in 2005 in a rented space at an Antique Mall in Virginia Beach. My plan was to use this as a test market for a shop I would open in a historic beach cottage 2 blocks from the Oceanfront. Six years later, I still fantasize about my vision for Mellow Mermaid Studio, but my terror of being trapped indoors keeps me from seeing it to fruition. My shop at Barrett Street Antiques is still going strong. I work there 1 day every week or two, rearranging, restocking & merchandising. I spend the rest of my time working in my home art studio, where I can see the ocean from the deck where I prefer to work whenever the weather cooperates.

I treasure hunt regularly & especially love it when I'm traveling. Thrift shopping is like a social experiment for me. I learn so much about the people from the things they cast aside. I love imaging the stories of how an item ended up on a shelf in Goodwill store. I even once found a pair of framed postcards that I had designed for a postcard company, while living in New Orleans. The cards were large colorful underwater & beach scenes that sold in the Caymans, Bermuda & Virgin Islands in the 1990's (Maybe still do). How they ended up professionally framed in Virginia made me wonder, smile & know what it feels like to have your "art" be discarded. Better that than in a land fill, anyone's trash is someone else's treasure, no matter who you are.

I make up my days as I go. My time goes to gardening in my over crowded cottage rose & perennial garden, photographing & posting Etsy finds, making stuff in my studio, loving my family, wishing I had a personal organic chef to feed us, and collecting washed up sea glass, shells, driftwood (& trash) while I walk the beach with our very funny looking dog, Josie. Running on the beach helps keep her personality disorder in check. She probably says that about me.

What first drew you to vintage wares?
My parents both were thrifters & vintage recyclers long before it was chic. Dad used to pull our green Chevy station wagon over on trash day to pick up floor lamps & lawn furniture from the curbside, while I hid on the floor biting my finger nails & praying no one from my junior high school would id the car. Mom painted, refinished or 'antiqued' every piece of furniture in our house. They taught me to see possibility in everything. When I was 9, we moved from coastal California to the east coast & our new home was near a landfill turned city park, called Mount Trashmore. I made a decision to do my part in not adding any more than was absolutely unavoidable to any more mountains of trash.

What inspires what you put in your shop?
I'm like a magpie, with an eye for anything that glitters with images from my childhood. I'm always attracted to things we had in our homes in the seventies & eighties. Often times, that meant mid century modernist, crushed velvet upholstery, swag lamps and seventies crafts. I love finding things that make me smile. I figure if it works for me, it probably will for someone else. Color is my muse. Every room in my house is a different color, I can always find just the right spot to suit whatever my mood happens to be. I have to rearrange my Etsy shop whenever I post new items, so the many colors aren't conflicting.

What advice would you give to aspiring vintage artists and Etsy shop owners?
Don't be afraid to 'just do it'. If you find you aren't getting as much activity as you'd hope for, join a team. Make treasuries. Help others when you can, I've found that my most active selling times coincide with when I've been paying it forward by promoting other Etsy sellers. My main attraction to Etsy is the spirit of sharing the love & encouraging others. I've found that whenever I get outside of my own concerns about if MY shop is successful enough, & focus outside of MYself, the positive energy flows. Kind of like life, huh?

Where else can we find you?
If you're ever visiting coastal Virginia, you can check out my shop at Barrett Street Antiques. You'll find beach inspired home decor, cottage style brightly painted furniture, hand made souvenirs & things you just have to have to make you smile! I also have a 1950's-80's retro home decor shop there, as well as an antique, vintage & hand crafted jewelry display case. The warehouse is nearly 30,000 square feet of showroom space where 200 vendors sell their vintage wares. Great fun on a rainy day! And... Greyhound will ship your loot home for you if it doesn't fit in your luggage, or you could just purchase a vintage Samsonite suitcase from me while you're there. :)
 

Also, my website is embarrassingly amateurish, but is on my list of things to focus on in 2011, you can find it here. 

In addition to such inspiring words (for real!), Lori is hosting a giveaway here at A Girl and Her Scout! She will be giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to be used in her Etsy shop, Mellow Mermaid to use on cute things like this:

  Antique German Children's Dish

The winner will be chosen (via a random assorter) on March 30th so be sure to get in your entries by then!

 

To enter, head over to her Etsy Store, Mellow Mermaid, and leave a comment here about your favorite item(s). Additional entries for: 1) becoming a first time follower of A Girl and Her Scout 2) Posting this giveaway with a link to my blog on your blog 3) Posting this giveaway with a link to my blog on your facebook and/or twitter 4) “Hearting” or adding Mellow Mermaid to your “Favorites” on Etsy and/or 5) making a purchase out of her store (one entry for every purchase).

Be sure to leave a new comment for each additional entry!

In addition, until April 7th she will be offering a 20% discount to all A Girl and Her Scout readers! YAY!!! Just use key word "girlandherscout" at check out to receive your discount!!!

Thanks again Lori for your inspiring words!