Some Stuff

My girl came back from Outdoor School with lots of stories.  She had a great time, but said keeping track of 15 5th and 6th grade girls was a lot of work and kind of stressful.  She successfully taught several field study courses on water and other outdoorsy things and she even made some new friends.  I, of course, am glad to have her home again.

Last Friday I was invited to Isabel’s house for a little crafty day.  We were joined by Leah, Lara, Robin, Joy and Julie.  We had a great time visiting, eating and making cute little coffee filter and fabric flowers. Lara has  a great post about it here and Robin has some gorgeous pictures from that day here.

Joy came prepared with lots of crafty goodies.

Julie and Joy doing what she does best, laughing her a** off.

Robin doing what she does best, taking beautiful pictures.

Leah and Robin hard at work.

I don’t know what happened, but I didn’t get any pictures of our lovely hostess, Isabel or the gorgeous Lara. You can see them both on the links I gave above. Here are the flowers I made.

Isabel and I went to Cindy’s sale last Saturday and had so much fun.  As always, Cindy managed to create a completely new look.  Her theme of Spring in Paris was fabulous.  I didn’t take any pictures, completely forgot, but Isabel did and you can see them here. It was fun running into Florence who was adorable in pink.  And we even met a new friend, Marie from Salem who was so sweet and told us she has our blogs on her home page.  She even gave me a little bit of a hard time for not posting more often.  Hi Marie! Look, I’m posting twice this week.  Better? ha ha

After Cindy’s we headed on over to Monticello to drop off some things and clean up our booths.  I was super excited to see lots of stuff sold.  In fact, I’m having one of the best months I’ve had in a really long time. Wee Hoo! I’ll be moving my booth today and have lots of new items to bring in.  Can’t wait! I promise to take pictures of my new space once it’s completed.

I thought I’d show you just a few things I have found in my thrifting outings recently.  I haven’t done a lot and some things have already made it to the mall spaces.

I haven’t found any neat vintage flowers in a long time, so I was completely tickled to find these lovelies and for a really great price too. I know several bloggers out there that would love to get their hands on these.  You know if I’m talking about you.

On another unrelated note, I wanted to mention that many times I will get asked questions in my comments which go to my email account. Unfortunately, sometimes I can’t respond to the questions via email as the commenter doesn’t have their email address on their blog profile.  If you have a blogger account, it’s really easy to add your email address. Just click on customize, then dashboard, then edit profile and enter your email address where it says to, then save profile.  Easy! Not sure how it is done with Typepad or other blog formats.

Busy, busy weekend!  Moving booths today, vintage/resale shopping with my girl tomorrow and flea market with Isabel on Sunday!  All fun stuff.  Lucky me!  I hope you too will have a fun weekend.

White Wednesday-An Awesome New Dress

I had another post ready to go then realized that it is White Wednesday once again. I just had to show this amazing dress I found yesterday.

I made a much needed trip over to Stars & Splendid to fluff my booth and pick up my check. It didn’t take long so I thought I would take a little stroll down 13th street in Portland where there are several neat shops.

One shop I definitely wanted to visit was Justin & Burks. It had been awhile since I had been in there and as always, I was amazed at the gorgeous merchandise (enormous chandeliers, awesome farm tables and lots and lots of beautiful, but out of my budgets, items.) I ventured down to the basement where I have found a few goodies to bring home in the past. Lots of lovelies down there, but what caught my eye was an antique crocheted lace dress. It was beautiful and I have never seen anything like it. The neckline, the crocheted buttons on the back, the elbow length sleeves, it was perfection. I had no idea if it would fit me or not. Most antique clothing items are a little on the small side and I am not. But the clincher was the price tag. Regular price $65 marked down to a mere $30. I had to have it!

After purchasing my prize, I proceeded down the street and stopped at Grand Central baking for a bowl of French Market soup which was delish. For the car ride home, I got a yummy chocolate croissant. After eating all that, I wasn’t very optimistic that I would fit into that lovely lace dress.

Well, I’m happy to report that once I got home and tried on the dress, it was a perfect fit! I had my daughter take my picture when she got home from school. I was so excited I told her how much I loved the dress and that she had to admire me in it. She, of course, thought I was crazy. Okay, want to see this dress? Now that I’ve built it up so much, I hope you aren’t disappointed. Here it is!

Of course, I had to wear one of my vintage slips under the dress and I was able to find a very simple cotton one that worked perfectly. Paired with my harness boots and I’m good to go. Now, if I only had somewhere to wear this little number. I do have parent/teacher conferences this week, but I’m not sure I want to go dressed as a tablecloth. Happy White Wednesday to you all!

Dreaming of Paris-Part V

“Sunny and some clouds today. Woke and had a wonderful breakfast at a cafe down the street (Rue Cler) next to the post office.  Fried egg, croissant, ham and tea.  Tried to find a bus to Versailles. There was a problem with the trains and we ended up taking the Metro to Montparnasse and transferred to a train to Versailles.  Kind of stressful due to language barrier and lack of knowledge of transportation system.

Finally arrived at the Versailles stop and we then followed the crowds through a little town to the Palace.  Very impressive upon first site.

 

Did the tour of the Palace.  Very beautiful art, furnishings, etc.  Gardens were fabulous.

Got a golf cart to tour the gardens which were huge. 

Ate lunch at a cafe near Versailles.  Mac & Cheese for me, Salad Niscious (sp?) for Keith.  Managed to catch the train back to Paris with no problems.

Back at the hotel we rested and cleaned up and headed out to visit this famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise. Took our favorite bus #69 and ate dinner at a little cafe at Gambetta.  Both of us had Panini, but missed going into the cemetery as it was closed for the day.  Keith will go back on Friday when I am spending the day with Isabel.

Found out that the buses were no longer running so we attempted to take the metro which was again a little stressful, but eventually made it back to the hotel.”

If you are fairly new to my blog, the above is an actual account of my trip to Paris with my Dad a few years ago.  If you are interested, and have some time to kill, you can read more about my trip here, here, here and here.

I must have been really tired when I wrote in my journal the day we went to Versailles as I didn’t give much in the way of details, but I do remember it being a really fun day overall with the exception of transportation stress.  Having just seen the movie “Marie Antoinette” a couple days before made the visit to Versailles even more special.

After doing this post, I realize that I didn’t take very many pictures.  Remember, this trip was taken in my pre-blog life. 

My good friend, Kimberly is in France right now.  Not sure when she is coming home as all flights have been cancelled.  I wish I was stuck over there with her as I’m sure we could come up with some trouble to get into.

Busy week ahead.  My number 1 girl is headed out tomorrow for the week to be a counselor at Outdoor School.  We just found out she was selected late last week, and then as we were gone over the weekend, we haven’t had a lot of time to get her ready. So, as usual, we will be scrambling around last minute packing.  Unfortunately rain is in the forecast all week so we will see how that goes.  I’m just glad that she is stepping out of her comfort zone to try new things.  She had such an incredible time as a 6th grader at Outdoor School, she is really looking forward to experiencing it again as a counselor this time.

Hope to be back soon with some completed projects. Farm Chick is just around the corner and I have a lot to do to get ready. Happy Monday!

Getting My Crafty On

This week we have a special visitor staying with us.  My dear BIL came yesterday from Boise, ID.  My hubby and I picked him up from the airport.  It was good to see him.  We will all be traveling to central Oregon later this week for a visit with my husband’s folks.  The weather looks like it’s going to be beautiful for our trip.  I’m crossing my fingers.  I’ll be taking along a few sewing projects to keep me busy. In the meantime, I thought I would show you a little of what I’ve been doing the past few days.

About a week or so ago, I spotted this awesome crafty idea on Beth’s blog. She is always coming up with clever ideas for projects and I thought this was perfect for me.  So, I grabbed some of my vintage wallpaper scraps, some card stock, a glue stick and my new tag punch.

I ripped up the pieces of wallpaper into tiny randomly shaped smaller pieces and glued them onto my card stock. Then after they dried overnight, I punched them out with my new tag punch purchased yesterday at Michael’s.  It was on sale for $10 something which was a bonus.

And voila, cute scrappy looking tags.  They kind of remind me of crazy quilts which I love. Thanks so much Beth for this awesome idea!  The neat thing is that no two tags are alike.  I will most likely be using these for price tags for my Farm Chicks items.

Here’s another little project I’ve been working on.  Several years ago I started a button bracelet, then ran out of steam.  I stumbled across it the other day while cleaning out my craft room and decided it was time to finish it.  Here is the end result.

It was hard to get a good picture of it so you can see all the cool buttons.  It’s really so much prettier in person.  In fact, I liked it so much I made another one in whites/creams.

Of course, I had to use lots of sparkly glass and rhinestone buttons too. 

So, that’s it for me today.  I know I promised a Dreaming of Paris post and I will get to it soon.  Tomorrow I’ll be heading over to the malls for some clean up and will be taking lots of new goodies as well.  It’s been awhile since I’ve shown pictures.  I’ll try to remember this time to take some.  I will be moving my space at Monticello at the end of the month so I have busy making some plans for my new space.  Should be fun, change is good!

Flea Market Fun

Last Sunday I went with Isabel to our favorite monthly flea market. Once we got there I met my good friend Casey who lives nearby. It has been at least three years since I’ve seen Casey even though she lives only an hour away. We both decided that we were losers for not making more of an effort, but it was really good to see her.

As always, I found several treasures to bring home. Behold the flea market finds.

Gorgeous old mirror.

Misc. old metal drawer pulls and silver toast caddy.

Wedding topper. (Love the back of it!)

Two cute clocks.

Two bracelets (these make lovely napkin rings), baby spoon and pretty hanky.

Cool old mirror with chippy black paint, misc. bling and belt buckle.

Pair of rose bud pillowcases.

Another mirror, lady print, three small frames and metal trivet.

And finally, a big jar of misc. bling. This is just a sampling of what I found in there. (Love that tiny blue corduroy purse.) It’s always so much fun to sort through a big jar of jewelry after you get home. Just prolongs the flea market fun.

Coming up: Another “Dreaming of Paris” Post.

Timi

I first met Timi at Farm Chicks two years ago.  She had commented on my blog that she wanted one of my shopping carts and when she came to my booth to buy one, I knew we would be instant friends.  Timi is just a natural friend magnet.  She has such great humor, style, warmth and honesty. She will tell you like it is.  It’s easy to see why she has such a loyal following on both her blog and in her friendships.

A few days before Isabel and I headed North for the “Dream Girls Weekend",” I emailed Timi and asked her if she was available to meet us for lunch.  I mean, I couldn’t go to Washington without at least trying to hook up with my good friend.  Fortunately, she was available and she and her good buddy, Donna met Isabel and I in Sumner at this fabulous store. We did a little shopping, a little chatting and headed out for lunch.

Donna, Timi, Isabel and Me

In case you didn’t know, Timi is the mastermind behind “Come Junk with Us.” CJWU is devoted to sharing the whole junking experience by providing junk junkets to great shows and events.  Her next one is coming up in June where she is taking a bus of crazy and fun junking peeps to the fabulous Farm Chicks show.  If you are in the Seattle area and have been trying to decide whether or not to go, this is your opportunity to go and go in style.  Check out the Come Junk with us blog to find out more.  I know Timi still has some space available, but April 30th is the deadline so the time to book is now.  I guarantee you will have a most fabulous and memorable time.

On another note, Isabel and I were also able to do a little thrifting on our trip.  It’s been awhile since I have shown some vintage finds so, here are some of the goodies I uncovered.

I found the cute lamp at the Salvation Army, the little pink satin pillow and a picture frame (not shown) at another thrift store I can’t remember the name of in Longview, the lace  and gorgeous glass and rhinestone buttons at Today’s Country Store, and the rhinestone buckle at another Sumner antique store that I forgot the name of. At another thrift store in Longview, I found two adorable slips, a sweet vintage nightgown and a cute quilted pillow, but forgot to take a picture.

On my next post I’ll show you even more vintage goodness. I had a great day at my favorite monthly flea market and scored lots of great stuff. Be back soon!

Crafty Goodness

When I first got Tiffany’s email inviting me to attend a Terri Brush workshop at her home, I knew right away that I wanted to go.  I called Isabel and our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, did you see Tiffany’s email?

Isabel: Yeah, are you going?

Me: Yeah! I so want to go.  I think I may have to steal money out of our joint account to pay for it. But I really want to go.

Isabel: It’s my birthday that weekend, so I’m going too.

Isabel: What’s the project?

Me: Who cares?

Me: OMG, it’s going to be so fun.  I’m so excited.  I haven’t done anything like this in ages.

(Okay, maybe it didn’t go exactly like that, I have a really bad memory, but you get the gist.)

Little did I know just how much fun it would be.  On my last post I talked a bit about our hilarious Friday night. Today I will share with you some pictures I took on Saturday of the people and projects we made.

The most gorgeous supplies packet ever!  My dear friend Joy made the folders.  Wish I got a picture of the inside.  Truly lovely!

  

You should have seen all the cameras that were whipped out to take pictures of this lovely set up.

Kimberly is amazed at all the gorgeousness.

Linda and Amy hard at work.

Tiffany was so generous sharing goodies from her bling supply.  I wanted to take this whole box home. I think I touched everything in there.

Kimberly concentrating. I bet she looked just like this doing her kindergarten art projects.

 

Maija was my next door crafting neighbor. Look what she came up with.  So clever!

Speaking of Maija, here she is modeling her adorable Magnolia Pearl dress.  She came all the way from Phoenix, AZ and I’m so glad she did.  Love her!

Isabel’s egg in progress.  I loved the papers she used.

Tiffany’s egg in progress. Her color palette was so her.  I think you can see the completed project on her blog.

And finally, my completed egg.  I got the ruffled crepe paper from Tiffany and everything else from my stash.  I’ve had that girl scrap for a long time just waiting for the perfect project.  I still need to make my glass box to house this cutie in.  What a fun project.  I wish I had gotten pictures of everyone’s completed project, but you can probably see them on their blogs. Links can be found at the end of my last post.

Not to change the subject, but…

 

No trip to Tiffany’s would be complete without a little visit with the adorable “Churro.”

And the newest member of Tiffany’s family, “Cookie!”

 

I just loved Cookie’s little feet. So cute!

This photo was actually taken before going to “the beak” Friday night.  Don’t Tiffany and Jeanne look adorable? Tiffany’s dress was an “altered garment project". She took a simple slip and turned it into a gorgeous dress.  That is one talented girl! However, I don’t think that curtain is flame retardant.

As always, thanks so much for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed my day of crafting fun! It didn’t really matter what we made, just the friendship, laughter and the bonds we created were what really made the weekend so memorable.

A Weekend to Remember

Several things conspired to delay this post.  By now many of you have already seen and read about the ab fab “Dream Girls” weekend hosted by the always lovely, Tiffany. One thing that prevented me from posting was my missing camera battery charger which was found after several days of looking sitting right next to my computer.  Once that problem was solved and I was able to upload my pictures, I realized how they just didn’t do the weekend justice.  Now, keep in mind, there were several professional photographers who were snapping photos all weekend long and I’m just afraid my photos are  not up to snuff.

Have you ever had this problem: you know what you want to say, but just can’t find the right words to say it? This is the third reason this post is so delayed.  I can’t find the words to describe what an incredible time I had at Tiffany’s weekend.  First off, I feel like I won the lottery by being included in such an amazing group of women.  So much talent, humor, creativity in one place.  I could hardly stand it! It really was wonderful how we all just clicked. Okay, enough with the yammering. Here are the photos I took of Tiffany’s gorgeous home.

 

This last picture is actually my favorite of the bunch.  Just a sweet little vignette in Tiffany’s office.

Friday night was filled with meeting new friends, getting better acquainted with friends we already had, laughing hysterically, chocolate martinis, dancing, and more laughing. Honestly, I loved each and every one of these women and have been to enough workshops to know that you don’t always mesh with everyone there, but really, we all clicked.  I am still amazed by it!

My next post will be devoted to the crafty part of the weekend.  I’ll share more pictures of my BFFs and some of the projects that we worked on. But, before I go, I just want to do a shout out to my peeps: Tiffany, Kimberly, Jeanne, Isabel, Robin, Kris, Amy, Maija, Lisa, Tammy, Linda, Terri,  and Donna.  Thank you, thank you all for being a part of one of the best weekends of my life!  I love you all!

 

(I hope it’s okay, I borrowed this picture from Tiffany.)