A Thing for Roses

Thursday Finds

2012-01-20T10:50:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a great day from start to finish. As I mentioned in my last post, a trip over to my booth at Stars was necessary as it was looking a little sparse. So, I took my buddy Joy out for a day of thrifting and since she also wanted to go to Stars, it worked out great. We started off by looking for an estate sale, which we never found, but then hit some thrift stores on our way to Stars. After dropping off my junk ( including a cool vintage buffet and a neat set of lockers)and fluffing my booth we did some more thrifting and hit a great estate sale. Here are my Thursday finds.

Pair of lovely vintage ticking feather pillows

Cotton coverlet and vintage chenille spread

Great tarnished silver pot to add to my collection and sweet vintage floral hat

Huge piece of hand crocheted lace still attached to the thread

Cute gate-leg table

A bit of jewelry

Old lady Mary Janes in my size

Vintage cotton tablecloth and small piece of lace

Three lovely vintage full slips

One adorable vintage cotton half slip

Gorgeous cotton and lace handmade dress

Pretty vintage pink sweater

Two vintage frames and sweet lamp

( The shade was one I already had.)

and finally

Cute vintage vanity bench and scallopy wood trim pieces.

I couldn’t have been happier with my finds. It’s been a long time since I’ve come home from a day of junking with a loot like this, so picture me smiling. Really big. The cherry on my sundae of a day was getting together last night with my bunco group. These ladies know how to have fun and while “what happens at bunco, stays at bunco,” I can say laughing, wine and 80’s music were all contributing factors to an awesome night.

Be back soon with some long promised sneak peeks!

Hello

2012-01-18T13:32:00.001-08:00

I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I posted last. Time is flying and unfortunately I am not getting as much done around here as I hoped. The weather isn’t cooperating with me, but I guess we are lucky that we are not buried in snow. Just lots of rain in my neck of the woods. Thought I would share a few things I have picked up recently.

Got this cute vintage child’s chair last week while out thrifting as well as the hooked rug under it. I thought I would sell the rug, but it looks pretty good in my living room so that’s where it will stay for now.

Cute little rustic display cabinet. Found another day while out thrifting. Love the little drawers and metal pulls.

My favorite recent find has to be these old cabinets. I got two sets of them. They came out of an old barber shop and I’ve had my eye on them for years. A new barber took over the shop and wanted to remodel, so now they are mine. They will be getting a little cleaning and some new tops and they will be awesome!

Have also been doing a little New Year’s rearranging. Here are a couple displays I have re-done in my sewing room.

The paintings and tole trays you might recognize from my bedroom. Still trying to get it put back together, but wanted a softer pallet in there. Couldn’t part with these colorful lovelies so off to the sewing room they go.

I got this dress form at Monticello in December. I love it with all the pearls and rhinestones. Although you can’t see, this dress form is really old and has a metal cage at the bottom. I have wanted one like this forever it seems. This gal is a little more robust than my other dress forms which is fine by me.

Heading to Stars tomorrow with a few new items. I’ve been selling lots and my booth is looking pretty empty so it’s time to restock. I’ll be back soon with some sneak peeks of things that will be coming with me to the Junk Salvation show in February. TTFN!

Better late, than never

2012-01-03T17:29:00.001-08:00

In my last post, I mentioned my first show of the year is just a mere month away. The Funky Junk Sisters came to Oregon last year for the first time and I was delighted to be a part of their show. I don’t do a lot of shows anymore, because they are always a lot of work and I’m a super lazy person, but they are a lot of fun too and I always love being able to see/meet the people who are loving/buying my junk.

I recently realized that I never posted pictures of my space at last year’s Funky Junk Sisters show. At least I don’t think I did. No, I’m pretty sure I never showed these. If I did, and I’m losing it, I apologize.

As you can see, lots of pretty pastels and roses. Really, would you expect anything else from me? I just started making my list of things I want to bring/I need to work on for the show. I always bring more that a normal 10 x 10 booth should have, but I just really like to cram it all in there. My goal is to have a little bit (or a lot) of lots of different things so there is lots to choose from. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. More is more! Here is just a partial list of the things I’ll be bringing at this years show.

*vintage dressers (at least two)*

*vintage jewelry~lots of it including earrings galore, rhinestone bracelets, button bracelets, soldered necklaces, and brooches*

*pretty vintage slips and other miscellaneous vintage clothing items. I just found the most adorable vintage sweater set yesterday which will be making its first appearance at this show*

*vintage pair of end tables/cabinets*

*cool vintage frames and mirrors*

*vintage lampshades and lamps*

Okay, that’s all I’m going to share for now, I want some things to be a surprise. I’ll be posting some sneak peaks throughout the month so I hope you’ll come back and check on my progress. Now that I’ve told you what I’ll be bringing, I will have to be accountable. See what little tricks I do to keep me motivated?

Hope you are all having a wonderful first week of 2012! I had an awesome and very lazy last week of 2011. Kids are back to school tomorrow and it’s time for me to get busy. No more Angry Birds for me. (yeah, right!) hee hee

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

2011-12-31T08:39:00.001-08:00

Didn’t think I would post until the New Year, but here I am. After seeing some posts about favorite projects of the year, I thought I would make a little mosaic of some of my favorite projects this year. This little exercise made me realize two things, A: I kind of slacked off in the project department this year and 2. I need to do a better job at taking pictures of my before and afters. I’m thinking about a couple projects that never saw the camera including a super cool table I re-did and sold at Barn House to this super cool chick.

So, for your viewing pleasure. Here they are in no particular order.

I have big plans for 2012 starting with the Funky Junk Sisters show in February. I have a bunch of projects sitting patiently in my garage. Some really cool junk, I tell you. Rainy weather and painting don’t really go well together so I’m thinking I need to work on a few indoor projects first.

No big plans for New Years Eve, but I thought I would try to share this sweet video I saw a few days ago ago on Facebook.

Zooey and Joseph, love them together!

I just want to end this post with a huge thank you to everyone that continues to stop by, whether you leave a comment or not, I so appreciate your visiting me and reading about my silly little life. I know I have been a blog slacker this year. I’ll try to do a better job in 2012. I really want to do a blog makeover and am currently looking for someone to help me with that as I am not the most computer saavy gal around. In the meantime, I hope you will drop in from time to time.

Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:23:00.001-08:00

We spent a fabulous week in Southern California with family and at Disneyland. But now we’re back and getting ready to open presents, make homemade waffles and later, have a big dinner at my Mom’s house. Life is grand!

Here we are waiting in line for our first ride at Disneyland, the Matterhorn.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I’ll be back in 2012 with more vintage finds, projects and more! TTFN!

Vintage Christmas, Mitzi Style

2011-12-18T08:53:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my good friend Mitzi is a serious vintage Christmas person. While in futzing with my booth the other day, I snapped some pictures of her space at Stars. Please know that my picture taking skills do not do Mitzi’s space justice. Everything is just so much cuter in person.

Mitzi makes the most adorable little diorama’s inside vintage clocks. I chose this one because it is just so dang adorable. Look at that frowny face snowman wishing you a Merry Christmas.

And finally, my one and only Christmas project is this vintage chenille tree skirt. It was super easy to make. I just googled Christmas tree skirt directions, watched a video and dove right in. I had just bought this cute cutter chenille spread and for the backing, I used an old sheet. It took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. I was going to add pom-pom trim or vintage lace, but I wanted to keep it super simple. Very happy with the results. If I don’t make it back here before Christmas, I want to wish you all a very merry one! Big hugs to you all!

Winner!

2011-12-12T06:49:00.001-08:00

Good Morning! Thank you every one who stopped by and entered my giveaway. I loved reading your comments and words of support and encouragement.

The winner of the giveaway is comment #4, Heidi Ann of Gold Country Girls. Yay!

Just wanted to let you all know. The tree finally got decorated. I will share some pictures soon along with some pics of my friend Mitzi’s Vintage Christmas booth at Stars Antique Mall. She has been working her butt off for months gathering and crafting vintage Christmas. I am always amazed at her creativity. Until then, happy Monday!

400th Post/Holiday Giveaway

2011-12-08T07:57:00.001-08:00

Hi all! Once again, I’ve been a bit absent from my blog. No special reason. Just living life. I wish I had some lovely pictures to share of my beautifully decorated holiday home, but I don’t. The tree is up. No ornaments or lights on it, but I am hoping to tackle that today.

I was surprised to see that my last post was #399. I don’t know why that surprised me as I have been blogging for 5 1/2 years now. That surprises me too. It has gone really, really fast! I have to be honest. There are days when I have thought of stopping blogging as sometimes, I just don’t feel like I have much to say. Really, I’m doing the same stuff I did 5 1/2 years ago. Collecting and selling vintage goods, hanging out with my family, etc. But then I think about all the wonderful people I’ve met through blogging and how much I would miss being able to share my latest finds or crafty goody I’ve made. To thank you for joining me here, I decided that it was time to do a giveaway. It’s been awhile and I think it’s the perfect time for giving.

The lucky winner of my giveaway will win either a rhinestone charm bracelet or

a vintage bling belt buckle.

*Important note: the above pictures are just examples of what will be given away. I will be making either a custom bracelet or belt buckle for the lucky winner.

So, if you would like to enter, please just leave a comment. That’s all. You don’t have to post it on your blog, or facebook or tell all your friends. How easy is that? I will draw a name on Monday morning and post it right here. So, until then, have a fabulous weekend! XO

Banana, Bread Pudding

2011-11-22T12:23:00.001-08:00

If you know me personally, you know I love to bake. Fall and Winter are the best times to bake as there is just something so cozy about comfort foods. For me, baking is all about comfort. I don’t really like to make anything fancy or elaborate. Easy, and being able to use ingredients I have on hand, is always my idea of good baking.

About a week or so ago, I was feeling the urge to bake and wanted to try something different. I looked around my kitchen and noticed I had some really ripe bananas and in the bread drawer, lots of heels and miscellaneous buns and rolls. So, I quickly did a google search for Banana Bread Pudding and came up with this easy recipe.

Banana Bread Pudding

1 loaf day old French bread, cubed with crust on (I used the above mentioned bread and it was just fine)

1 quart milk

3 eggs

1 c. sugar

2 T. vanilla extract

4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 t. nutmeg

1 t. cinnamon

whipped cream

Optional ingredients which I didn’t use: dash of myer rum, 1 c. raisins

Put cubed bread into a large bowl and pour milk over all, let stand 1 hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9 x 13 baking dish. In another bowl, beat eggs and add sugar and vanilla. Stir this mixture into the bread mixture. Fold in mashed bananas and spices (raisins if desired). Pour evenly into baking dish. Place uncovered in center of oven and bake 1 hour and 10 minutes. Remove and cool. Serve with whipped cream. Enjoy!

I wish I had a picture of the end result to show you, but unfortunately we all gobbled it up too fast. It was very tasty.

The pictures on this post obviously have nothing to do with Banana Bread Pudding. I just thought I would share some images of some of the pretty things I’m enjoying around the house today.

We are having some really wet and windy weather here in the PNW. Perfect for staying home and baking. I think I’ll make a pie… I hope wherever you are, you are warm, dry and cozy.

A Little White Wednesday Project and my Stars Booth

2011-11-16T10:24:00.001-08:00

I bought an industrial cart from my good friend, Mitzi when we had our fall clean-out garage sale. It sat around in my house a few months and I finally got the motivation to tackle the project I planned with it.

Here is the before picture.

And here is what it looked like after I worked my magic. (ha ha)

A little wrinkly, but so much cuter and very practical to use in my laundry room. I was sick of dirty clothes on the floor, so now I have a big enough place to put them. I used a drop cloth for the outside, a vintage sheet for the inside and the lace was a large piece I bought from Amy of Charlotte’s Brocante. She got it on one of her buying trips to France and I had it for sale in my Stars booth until a few days ago when I brought it home to use on this project. Love that I found a use for it.

Speaking of Stars, I finally remembered to take my camera last week when I went in to do a complete booth re-do. It was fun moving things around and I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how the space is looking right now.

As you can see, I have quite a different color palette from my Monticello space. It’s fun to have two completely different looks going on. Did you notice the cabinet in the above picture? Do you remember when I showed that cabinet before on my blog? If not, here is the before picture.

I got this cutie last summer from a dealer who was getting out of the business. I had never seen anything like it before. To those who may cringe over the fact that I painted it, I apologize, but honestly, the wood was in sad shape in several places and I personally really like the way it turned out.

Hope you all are having a good week. This rainy weather we’re having is just making me want to get cozy and eat a lot of comfort food. On my next post, I’ll share a recipe I made recently that was a huge hit with my family. TTFN!

Waiting Just For Me

2011-11-01T14:21:00.001-07:00

Is that a song title? If not, it should be. I guess I should google it. Let me explain the title of this post, as I’m sure at this point, you might be a bit confused. Last week after futzing with my booth at Monticello, I headed home and stopped at a couple thrift stores along the way. Didn’t really find much except a cute vintage picture frame which I felt I paid too much for. There were a few more thrift stores on the route home, but I was feeling tired and discouraged, so I decided to head home.

At the last minute, I decided I would just check out the Value Village store. I’ve had good luck there in the past, so I thought, what the heck. I headed straight to the jewelry counter and took a quick inventory as I’m always on the lookout for some cute rhinestone/vintage jewelry to use in my projects. This is what I found.

Now, to most people, this wouldn’t look like much, but to me…well, let’s just say that my first thought was this was waiting just for me because, let’s face it, I am that self-centered. $2.99 of vintage pink and rhinestone goodness! Here’s what it all looked like out of the bag.

Those chippy pink flowers with the rhinestone centers are awesome! Love them so much, can you tell? Guess what else was in the jewelry case, waiting just for me?

Vintage rhinestone earrings plus a spare. Love these too! And the best part, they were 50% off!

Today I had to head back to Monticello to clean up my booth after selling another pink cabinet. I finally remembered my camera so I took a couple pictures.

It was so hard to get the whole thing in at once. It’s a really small space, but as usual, I have a lot packed in there. The little white hutch and the white drop leaf table were purchases from Sylvi’s sale a couple weeks ago. They are perfect for my space.

On my way home today from Monticello, I stopped by that same Value Village and found nothing, but I tried another thrift store and look at what was there waiting just for me.

A big old bag of vintage buttons. Lots of great ones too. Here’s just a few I quickly picked out.

Am I a lucky girl, or what?

So, for all you junk loving peeps out there, tell me I’m not alone in my thinking that some junk is out there waiting just for you.

Ruffles & Rust 2011

2011-10-24T10:55:00.001-07:00

Kate and I had an amazing trip up to the Ruffles & Rust show. Timi sure knows what she’s doing, because I was in awe of the talent she pulled together for this event. Eye candy everywhere you looked. Booths where I literally wanted it all. I really had to restrain myself because I could have gone a little crazy buying more than I actually did. I am not always the best at taking photos when I hit the shows, but I was proud of myself for getting a few snaps of some of my favorite peeps. I apologize as somehow, I always seemed to end up in the photo too.

Amy, Me and Kris from Today’s Country Store

Me and Deb from Garden Party (she’s a sweetie!)

Me and Karoline from Cherished Vintage

Mary Larsen and Me.

Shelly and Me.

Me and Timi’s posse.

Me, my home girl, Isabel and Kate.

Kate and me hamming it up.

Isabel took some amazing pictures of booths and lovely vignettes. You can see them here.

So, wondering what I bought? Thought you might be. That’s always my favorite part.

The two glass lamps came from a shop in Centralia we stopped at on our way there. The pillow was from Isabel’s booth, plates and juicer from Lisa, Sea Worthy Home, wicker basket from Karoline, wire planter from Shelly and I forget where I got the tea pot.

Button pins and blingy rings from Karoline, skeleton key necklace from Sara, bow pin at a shop in Centralia, doll eyeball necklace from ReDeFind Vintage and metal hooks.

Didn’t buy anything big, which is a good thing as I am flush with furniture projects right now. Expo is coming up this weekend so there will be lots of out of town buyers coming into the malls. Need to get over, restock and fluff soon. Hope you have a fabulous Monday!

Added note: Not sure why some of my links aren’t working. I apologize for that, hopefully I can figure it out soon.

Road Trippin

2011-10-21T07:02:00.001-07:00

Today my good friend, Kate and I are headed North to this awesome show.

I’m super excited to see lots of my favorite sellers. Will I see you there too? Hope so!

Vintage Sale at Little Cottage

2011-10-16T09:08:00.001-07:00

Good Sunday Morning! I am still in the middle of my bedroom re-do. Painting is done and now it’s time for the fun part, decorating! I have three big boxes of all the littles that I took out before painting. Some will be going back in, while most will be priced and head to the malls. I’m trying so hard to eliminate the clutter and keep only what I truly love, but it’s so hard as I love it all. Anyway, I have a few projects planned that may take awhile, so it may be a few weeks before I share the big reveal.

Yesterday, quite early, Isabel and I headed up to Battleground, WA to Sylvi’s Vintage Sale she was hosting at her home. We weren’t sure what to expect, but I have to say, it was the perfect shopping situation for both of us. First of all, we both love Sylvi’s style and to make things even better, Joe and Natalie had cool stuff there too. Isabel and I got there first and there weren’t a bunch of people waiting so it was nice to be able to take our time, look around and visit a bit. The merch and prices were awesome and we both got lots of great stuff. Filled my van and still had to leave things behind to get later in the week. So, this is what I brought home yesterday.

Vintage bed lamp, cute little canister, three vintage clocks, floral fabric covered box, leather coin purse, pink child’s hanger and a lovely roll of vintage roses wallpaper.

Love these little vintage clocks. I am going to dress them up a little with some pretty bling.

Box of vintage casters from Joe. I can always use these.

Four vintage frames.

Lovely antique baby dresses.

Look at the lace detail on this baby gown.

Adorable baby slip, a ladies half slip that has “Love Me” embroidered on it and the most lovely powder blue petticoat lace.

And finally,

I got this long low table from Joe for a steal. I’m going to add a shelf on the bottom and casters on the legs and use it for my new sofa table. My current sofa table (cabinet) is going to be used for a tv cabinet and my current tv cabinet will be headed up to my room. Lots of switcheroos around here. Fun times!

Got lots of projects to work on this week. My priority today is to buy a new palm sander. I wore my old one out and it broke on me. Hope you all have a fun and/or productive Sunday!

White Wednesday and some other Goodies

2011-10-05T09:43:00.001-07:00

Thought I would share some pictures of some of the things I’ve been finding this past week. I had a great month at both of my antique malls. Sold lots of furniture and other things so you know that means I need to get out and find some new (old) things to keep my booths nice and full. Here are some fun finds for White Wednesday.

Sweet vintage cream lace petticoat and cotton towel with lace.

Thrift store white dresser and craigslist vintage corner cabinet.

Found this adorable beadboard cabinet at Monticello when I was there last week. It’s a keeper. Will most likely go into one of my bathrooms to hold towels and/or toilet paper.

Found these adorable pantaloons at the flea market. They were part of a vintage costume. Have never seen ones like these before that just go over your legs with elastic to hold them up. So cute!

Some other non-White Wednesday related finds include:

Belt buckles to add bling to, coin purses to make more necklaces, a little silk girl picture pill box and an adorable antique petite pointe wallet. With roses, of course.

No trip to the flea market is complete without finding a bit of bling.

The little glass lamp was a thift store find, the mini crystals were found at the thrift store and the silver cruet holder and silver Victorian box were purchased along with the corner cabinet pictured above.

This cooler weather is making me feel like nesting and I am currently in the middle of re-decorating my bedroom. The periwinkle blue, which I never really liked, but worked with what I had in there is going bye-bye and will be replaced with a creamy white paint. It’s a big bedroom, so it will be a big job. I can’t wait to share the end result with y’all. When that’s done, I will most likely start re-doing some other part of the house. We have lived here for 10 years so it’s definitely time to make some changes. Have a great Wednesday!

Some Things

2011-09-21T11:36:00.001-07:00

Not a lot of blog worthy things going on around here which is why I haven’t posted for awhile. Had a one day garage sale last week with some good friends. It felt good to clear out some of the clutter, but I have a long way to go. I have so many projects I want to do, but am having a bit of a trouble figuring out what to start first. So, in the meantime, I thought I would show you some things I’ve picked up here and there recently.

Not the best picture, but I found this cute vanity with tri fold mirror at a local garage sale. It’s currently in my garage waiting for me to finish painting it. A couple glass knobs and it will be good to go! The metal plant stand was found at another sale and the little two drawer cabinet and cast iron bird feeders were found at a thrift store.

I got these lovely pots from Isabel at our garage sale. They will look great added to my growing collection.

I also bought this adorable vintage purse at the garage sale. It will be headed over to Stars soon.

I got this cutie off of craigslist. I originally thought I would sell it, but I love it so much it’s going to be a keeper. I’ll just have to replace it with the one I currently have in my bedroom. Already gave it a coat of creamy paint, but will take a picture of it after it’s all done.

My favorite part is the feet. And, did I mention it’s cedar lined?

Found all these goodies while out thrifting. The two matching lamps were found at two different Goodwills, if you can believe that. One is broken, but I’ll use the parts to make a new lamp. I got the platter and the swivel frame at Camas Antiques, but I think my favorite find in this picture is the bunny puppet. I found him at the bins and have since washed him up really well. He’s pretty cute and it’s going to be hard to give him up, but do I really need a bunny puppet?

Also found while thrifting, a lovely pair of white euro shams, white cotton nighty, white cotton slip and a lovely floral duvet cover. Just couldn’t resist those flowers.

And finally, I want to show you something that came in the mail. Maddie, who is a reader of my blog, proposed a trade awhile ago. She knew that I have a thing for lovely vintage purses, having seen them on my blog and offered to trade one she had for one of my coin purse necklaces. So we made the trade and this is what came in the mail.

Gorgeous, right? I love it so much and I have it hanging with my other cute purses right now.

So that’s about all I have going on right now. Today I’m sorting, pricing and just getting stuff ready to take over to Monticello and Stars tomorrow. The Fall Premier Sale is still going on over at Monticello and will continue until October 2nd. Dealers are continually restocking so if you are in the neighborhood, stop by and maybe I’ll see you! Have a great Wednesday!

A Winner, Back to School, Some Recent Finds and a Makeover Project, I’m tired!

2011-09-09T06:57:00.001-07:00

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. So good to hear from you all and I do appreciate your kind words. The winner of my Cath Kidston giveaway is, Carol from The Polka Dot Closet.

Wednesday was my kids first day back to school. My #1 girl is a senior this year and my favorite dude is a sophomore. As is our family tradition, I took their pictures before leaving the house this morning. Couldn’t get them together for one as they were ready to leave at different times.

Now for the fun vintage stuff. A couple weekends ago, I ventured out to the Oregon City Antique Fair and found some treasures.

These adorable vintage dresses were a steal. They were from the dealer’s own children and she had great taste.

Here is my favorite.

A little wrinkled, but oh, so lovely!

And this little jacket was so sweet.

I love the little tag inside.

I also got a few bits and pieces.

Love this cute hat/wig box and ticking case.

My biggest purchase of the day was this cool gate leg table with bluish-gray paint. No picture, but trust me, it’s a cutie.

I got a call this week from Monticello to tell me I sold the buffet I had there. I had just purchased this hutch off of craigslist

I quickly gave it a makeover (okay, not so quickly, it took all day Wednesday to finish) and brought it into Monticello yesterday. Here’s what it looked like before I filled it up with goodies for sale.

I gave it a really distressed white finish and changed out the knobs to glass ones. Personally, I don’t think I captured how cute it turned out, but I’m very happy with the results.

Speaking of Monticello, the Fall Premier Show starts today at 8am. I got a sneak peek yesterday and was amazed at all the cool stuff the vendors have brought in. In fact, I think this is the best show yet! You can get more information here, but I would definitely recommend that you check it out if you can. Have a great weekend!

What I bought on my trip and an End of Summer Giveaway!

2011-09-05T14:40:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in previous posts, due to the weak dollar in England, I didn’t buy much on my trip to the UK. I’m a cheapy and everything seemed really expensive. I did mention, however, that I found a few trinkets at the Portabello Road Flea Market.

All the little bits and pieces pictured above were found at Portabello Road Flea Market. The cool bottle was found at a little antique store in Harbech.

I found this cute Cath Kidston floral tote in Oxford along with a cute oilcloth scissors holder and scissors (not shown).

This was a little Cath Kidston knock off oilcloth tote I found in Portabello Road.

More Cath Kidston cuties. A deck of playing cards and a shower cap.

Lovely petite floral painting in a gorgeous frame. Found at an Oxford charity shop.

Found these two vintage books there as well. The Architecture book has some cool pictures and the French-English dictionary is the perfect size for my pocket and will come in handy next time I take a trip to France.

And finally,

This really cute vintage (antique?) pewter engraved flask. Not something I typically buy, but I was drawn to the lovely engraving and the price was right.

Some other things I bought, but didn’t get pictures of are, a pair of Laura Ashley pillowcases, a couple tops for me, a petite point purse and a black ruffley petticoat skirt.

So, now for the giveaway part of this post. I was so tickled to find a Cath Kidston store right in the London airport, that I decided to buy a few goodies to use as a giveaway for my lovely blog readers. Yeah!

Here’s what I found for y’all.

Mini oil cloth tote, thank you notes, labels and stickers, cute pencils and pencil case. I am also including a little Cath Kidston magazine/catalog.

As an added bonus, I will also include one of the antique brooches I picked up at Portabello Road Flea Market. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. You can just say hi, or tell me about something fun you did this summer. I will draw a name at random on Friday morning. Easy, right?

I’ll be back soon with some more vintage goodies I’ve picked up recently. Until then, Happy Labor Day and I hope you all have a fabulous week! Kids going back to school on Wednesday for me. TTFN!

UK Trip~Part 4

2011-09-02T09:06:00.001-07:00

On our way back to Manchester to pick up Isabel’s daughter, we stopped in the adorable village of Buxton. Lots of shops (several charity shops), beautiful gardens and so very charming. Here’s some snaps I took of Buxton.

After picking up Isabel’s daughter, we dropped off the rental car and took the train to London to spend the last couple days of our trip.

Our first destination was Portabello Road. We got there fairly early and it was already getting busy with shoppers. They had everything there from antiques, to produce, to pastries (had the most wonderful apple cream pastry). We didn’t buy a lot there, just a few trinkets which I’ll share on my next post.

We then made our way over to the London Eye. On the way, we saw this

And him, our first and only celebrity sighting. It’s Rick Steves the travel host and author.

My first view of the London Eye.

After the London Eye we headed here, the sight of a little recent wedding you may have heard about.

The next day, the three of us hopped on a bus and saw the sites.

Took a tour of the Tower of London which was really cool. Saw the Crown Jewels (no pictures allowed), and lots of other cool stuff.

View of Tower Bridge from The London Tower.

We then headed to Covent Gardens Market where we had to duck out of the rain. Not so bad as we had some yummy Paella for lunch. Should have gotten a picture of that.

Here is St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was Sunday and they were having Mass inside, but we tip toed in to take a peak.

I loved all the birds perched on this statue.

We ended our day with a visit to the Queen. Unfortunately she didn’t feel obliged to come out to see us.

We didn’t get to see the changing of the guards, but I did get a picture of this one. It’s hard to tell, but I think he’s smiling.

That’s about it for pictures of my trip. Hope you enjoyed tagging along on my journey. Overall, I couldn’t have been happier. I saw so many wonderful things and places and I will always treasure the memories I made with my good pal, Isabel. She was the perfect travel companion and we shared many laughs along the way. I am so grateful that she agreed to be the designated driver on this trip, but most importantly that she invited me to join her.

Next up I’ll share some of the treasures I found on my trip. Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Road Trip Finds

2011-08-30T07:47:00.001-07:00

Since getting back from my UK trip, I haven’t done a lot in the way of thrifting/junking. Recently after taking my #1 girl school clothes shopping, we made a mini road trip out the Plucky Maidens Vintage Sale. It was a beautiful day, great vendors and lots of shoppers. I wasn’t really thinking I would buy anything, but I did come home with these.

An adorable French fabric covered box, two vintage beaded purses and a sweet vintage coin purse with rhinestones.

We also went on another little road trip down to Salem and Eugene, where we stopped at several thrift stores along the way. Lighting and lampshades were a theme for me.

Vintage dresses were another.

Love the sweet detail on this one.

Even the back was cute.

Love this little black and white square dance dress.

Not sure if this one was a dress or costume. Cute either way!

This yellow and white gingham was a little homemade number.

My best score of the weekend had to be this though

I’ve had one of these before and I sold it to Isabel before it made it to the antique mall. This one is kind of greenish gold in color and, I think, just needs a little cleaning before it makes it’s way over to Stars.

I’ll be back soon with another England post.

UK Trip 2011~The Cotswolds

2011-08-25T07:18:00.001-07:00

I’m a little behind in posting about my England trip. Isabel is doing a much better job at it and I apologize if you are a reader of both of our blogs as many of our pictures are of the same things. So, if you are reading this post and are feeling a bit of déjà vu, that is why. Just one of the things that happens when two bloggers travel together.

Isabel had told me how much she loved The Cotswolds when she lived in England years ago. The first thing to come to mind for me was quaint villages with thatch roofed cottages. Our first stop of the day was to a village called Stow on the Wold. It was raining quite a bit that day, but after finding a little shop to buy umbrellas, we are all set.

Isabel and I, voted this cottage our favorite in Stow on the Wold. Maybe our favorite cottage the entire trip, but that’s like asking which of your children are your favorite, impossible!

We ventured on to a sweet village called Broadway.

This picture would have been perfect if that dumpster wasn’t hanging out in front. This was a surgeon’s place of business.

While in Broadway, we met a man out walking his dog, who told us about a little place nearby that they filmed part of the movie“Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Snowshill was a quaint little “hamlet” with a pub, church and several houses.

Our next destination was Stratford Upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare.

Couldn’t resist taking a picture of this pink house, right across the street from Shakespeare’s Son-in-law’s house (above)

After driving a bit, we decided to find a place to spend the night. This time we landed at the Crewe Arms Hotel in Keele. Not as charming as our previous accommodations, but perfectly clean and updated rooms with comfortable beds.

The next day we headed towards Manchester with a stop in the village of Buxton. I’ll share some pictures of that soon.

Just got back yesterday from a mini road trip with my #1 girl. Found a few cute things that I’ll share with you on my next post.

UK Trip 2011~Part 2

2011-08-20T07:00:00.001-07:00

On the second day of our trip, we headed to the lovely town of Bath. First order of business was to find a place to stay. We got lucky and found this place, right downtown.

The Elgin House B & B was just perfect for us. Here is a view from the back.

Just lovely!

We then decided to make our way to this place we found out about that was supposed to have wonderful fish ‘n chips. After asking several people for directions, we found it. Filled ourselves up and headed over to the Roman Baths.

The Bath Abbey was stunning!

The next morning we walked around town and took in the sites and a few charity shops.

By midday, we decided to grab a couple sandwiches for the road and head to our next destination, Oxford.

The last two pictures were taken at Christ Church in Oxford. The gardens were so lovely!

After spending a couple hours in Oxford, we decided to make our way toward our next destination which was The Cotswolds and the town of Banbury was where we decided to look for a place to stay. Again we got lucky and found the Easington House, another charming B & B.

Here is the Banbury Cross (not the original). You can barely make out the “lady on the white horse” in the background. I was tickled to find out the old nursery rhyme, “Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross” was based on this sweet village. We arrived here in the evening when most of the shops were closed, but we did walk around a bit and got a bite to eat. The next morning, after a yummy English Breakfast, we hit the road. Next up, Stow on the Wold, Broadway and Stratford Upon Avon.

A Little Bit about Me on the Stars Blog

2011-08-17T10:31:00.001-07:00

Hi again, just found out that I am a featured dealer today on the Stars Blog. Yeah! Click here to check it out!

Happy Wednesday!

UK Trip 2011

2011-08-17T05:32:00.001-07:00

I had never been to England, but have always wanted to go. So, when Isabel invited me to tag along and keep her company while her daughter was at soccer school across the pond, I jumped at the chance. We had planned on going on this trip for months and months, but didn’t make any specific plans about where we would be, only that we would end our trip in London. So other than booking our airfare and London B & B, we didn’t have a plan.

Isabel, having gotten to Manchester (close to where her daughter was at camp) the day before me, picked me up at the airport. Our first day was spent driving through the Snowdonia area of Wales. Gorgeous landscapes, quaint villages and ancient castles were on the menu that day, and I couldn’t have been happier. Here we are at the beginning of our journey, stopping for a bite to eat at a farm shop/restaurant.

Castle Dolwyddelan

Castle Harlech

The Old Mill House B & B. Paul and Paddie were the perfect hosts. This was definitely our favorite place we stayed on our trip.

View from our room.

Village of Abercegir outside of Machynlleth

You can read about our first day on Isabel’s blog here. Coming up…Bath, Oxford and Banbury!

Barn House 2011~Wow!

2011-08-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Just back from my trip to England yesterday. Suffering a bit from jet-lag, but I had a fabulous time with Isabel. We saw and did so much in one short week and I have a ton of pictures to sort through. Will hopefully be able to do so in the next few days! I did, however, want to share with you some snaps I took just a few minutes before the opening of the Barn House sale. It was, in a word, incredible! Loved everything about it! Great vendors, great junk, wonderful customers and just the best overall fun vibe imaginable. All thanks to Joe and Jermonne, my homeboys! Love them so much!

So here we go!

Picture of my space. I can’t believe how much I packed into this small space. The gold velvet settee was the first thing to sell.

My bling corner. Earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces and belt buckles.

Lots of cool vintage frames.

The cute vintage buffet. Still available, btw.

Love the chippy paint on this folding chair. Also had lots of lovely vintage millinery from my own stash for sale. Just a peek at the cool work table I brought and sold to Lara.

Remember the dresser from this recent post? It got a lovely shabby chic style makeover.

More goodies!

Lovely vintage clothing, and ticking pillows.

Here’s just a glimpse of the awesome metal garden table you may remember from this post. It was the second thing to sell and I could have sold it ten times over.

Another shot of the velvet settee and more miscellaneous goodies.

Lots of cool, vintage mirrors too!

Isabel and her lovely daughter to my left.

My adorable neighbor Stacy on the right! She had the coolest stuff and was super sweet!

Lovely Lara’s booth!

Sweet Lisa Souers! Love that she came all the way from Yakima to do the show.

Here is Sue and Kristin! Kristin’s booth with the adorable covered wagon was a perfect fit for the show.

Cindy’s always artfully arranged booth.

Sara and all her yummy goodies.

Joy’s space. She always has the coolest stuff!

Sweet Debbie and Laurie! I think they outdid themselves this year! There booth was amazing and almost empty at the end of the show.

Joyce’s lovely booth.

Lynn and Natalie’s space. So cute! Love that bench up front.

Liz’s always gorgeous space inside the barn.

Joe and Sue’s space.

Diane’s space.

Duchess (JoDee and Kat)

Lovely Julie’s space.

Theresa Sheeley. So cute!

So adorable Chocolate Spider girls.

Lovely Manor Bourne!

Tracey and her beautiful daughter from A Cottage Industry.

Brocanteur Vintage

Retreat

Sweet Lynn!

Plantantis (came all the way from California!)

And of course, Barn House!

I now realize I should have broken this up into two posts. I hope you enjoyed all the pictures and I apologize for not giving fair warning that there were a lot. I also apologize as I didn’t get pictures of all the booths as I ran out of time. To all the customers and visitors who came and shopped, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It wouldn’t be possible to do this without you. And, to Joe and Jermonne, thank you so much for all the love and support. You guys know how I feel about you! I also want to send out a big thank you shout out to my helpers, Mitzi, John, Zoe and Kate! You all made this show so easy and fun for me to do! Thanks so much you guys!

Again, I hope to be back soon with some of my England trip pics! TTFN!

It’s Barn House Time, Baby!

2011-07-29T19:41:00.001-07:00

Just got back home a bit ago from setting up my booth at Barn House. I have to tell you that this show is going to be better than ever! More vendors, more parking, music, food, great vintage goods! What more could you ask for? I completely forgot to take a picture of my booth which needs just a bit more tweeking before it’s ready for the public. But here is a picture of just some of the goodies I had last year. You can see all my Barn House booth pictures from last year here.

This year I have lots of my favorite things like a bunch of vintage frames and mirrors, lovely ticking pillows, cute little cabinets, a beautiful velvet settee, a gorgeous iron garden cart, lots and lots of vintage bling and so many things I can’t even remember! Here’s a little sneak peak of something new I made especially for my Barn House customers.

I made these adorable little coin purse necklaces after I saw the one Gail got when she was in Texas. I fell in love with it and since I had a few coin purses lying around and lots of bling, I decided to give it a try. Love how they turned out!

If you’re at all able to come out and check out the Barn House Vintage Market, I hope you will! I’d love to see you! This will probably be my last post for awhile, but I’ll be back with pictures from both the Market and my trip to England. TTFN and Cheerio!

White Wednesday on Thursday~Barn House Sneak Peek

2011-07-21T11:26:00.001-07:00

I see that I have been absent on this here blog. The days are getting away from me and some days I can’t even remember what day it is. As you already know, I’m knee deep in getting my goodies together for the big Barn House sale coming up on the 30th. Can’t tell you how excited I am. Got lots done, but as usual, there are a million little things that need finishing up.

What I haven’t mentioned here before is this. I’m going on a trip the day after the Barn House sale. A big trip to jolly ol’ England. Quite awhile ago, Isabel mentioned to me that her youngest daughter was going to soccer camp in England and did I want to go along to keep her company while her daughter was at camp? Silly question, of course I did! So, flights are booked and our London accommodations are booked too, but we haven’t really decided where exactly we will be for the rest of our visit. Flying into Manchester and hope to check out some lovely English villages and maybe even stumble upon a car boot sale or some other fun junking adventure. It’s kind of nice not having everything planned.

With all that said, we would love any recommendations you might have for places to stay, must not miss places to visit, etc. This is my first visit to England and I am super excited as you can imagine.

Okay, enough of that. You probably want to see some pictures, right? Okay, here are a few White Wednesday on Thursday photos for your viewing pleasure.

Found two extra large funeral baskets at Goodwill on two different occasions. I find these from time to time, but never this big.

A sweet little white tattered baby dress. So much cuter in person.

And finally, a little before and after makeover. Found this cute vintage buffet at a thrift store awhile ago. It’s a nice size for a smaller space.

Here’s the after.

I gave it a little shabby look. Love the arched piece on the back and the original pulls. Had to add the sparkly glass knobs to the long drawer as there was one missing and the other was messed up. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Well, better get busy on those one million things I still need to do. I’ll be back with some more sneak peaks of Barn House goodies. TTNF!

A New Collection, or Two

2011-07-12T08:44:00.001-07:00

It all started with this cute purse I found at the White Corner Store in St. Paul, Oregon.

I had seen these Victorian metal purses in glass cases at antique shops for very high prices, so you can imagine how excited I was to find this one for $12.00. It’s in great condition too.

Then I found this one in Joyce’s booth at Monticello. If you know anything about me, you know that I love me some vintage rhinestones.

A few weeks ago, while out shopping with my daughter, I found this one at the Buffalo Exchange in Portland.

I love how it shimmers in the light, and the rhinestone clasp, forget about it! I had to have it.

I didn’t really set out to collect vintage purses. In fact, I have sold quite a few adorable vintage purses and currently have a few for sale in my mall booths. Here are a couple more pictures of the cute purses I found at Expo last weekend.

The one made in France. Love the clasp and the chain is so sweet and delicate.

This one also has a cute chain and I love the fabric. How cute would this be with a little black dress for a dinner out?

The clasp balls even have rhinestones in them. Love this detail for sure!

A lovely beaded one.

I don’t really know much about vintage purses or even the ages of these cuties I have found. I just know I love them. Now I’m trying to figure out how to best display them. This is what I have for now until I can come up with something better.

As for the other collection I accidentally started.

Tarnished silver coffee/tea pots. I found the genie looking one at a garage sale for $2.00. The rest I’ve just picked up here and there. The more unusual and tarnished, the better. I love how they look with the leaded glass piece behind them on top of my china cabinet.

So, two new collections added to my home. What new things have you been collecting lately?

My Weekend Haul

2011-07-10T17:58:00.001-07:00

On Friday I headed over to Stars with the dresser I mentioned on my last post I was going to take. Took out the white dresser and replaced it with the brown dresser including the mirror. My booth was pretty messy (always a good sign) so I spent a couple hours cleaning up. By the time I finished I was too tired to take any pictures so I just headed home. Didn’t hit any garage sales on Friday or Saturday for that matter. I did, however, make a last minute decision to go to the Portland Antique Expo Saturday morning. So glad I did as it was a beautiful day and I always love shopping the summer show. A few years ago Isabel and I sold at the summer show, but this time it was so nice to be able to just take my time, wander the isles, chat up the vendors and other shoppers and of course, hunt for great vintage stuff.

My goal was to find stuff to resell as I didn’t really need to buy anything for myself right now. But, as always, I found several things that are going to be just for me. At least for now. Hey, my birthday is coming up soon. A girl’s gotta treat herself to some pretties once in awhile, right. Okay, onto the stuff.

One of my first buys was this jewelry Christmas tree. I have bought one of these before, for the jewelry. This one had lots of pretty bling I can use in my projects.

Three adorable vintage purses. The one in front says “Made in France” inside. Oo la la!

Miscellaneous blingy bits, vintage watch, three glass drawer pulls, a bunch of old skeleton keys and just peaking in the upper right corner is a metal tie rack that I think will be great for a necklace display. Thanks Joy for that great idea.

Love this cute, unusual white cabinet, and this old tool/hardware cabinet. Behind both is a table I scored at the Goodwill outlet.

Here’s a better picture of the tool/hardware cabinet. Found this late in the day on Saturday. I was surprised that it was still there.

Another little wood cabinet with three drawers. So hard to resist these.

Adorable sweet vintage 70’s pink top with lace. This one is for me. Really, so much cuter in person.

I got this super yummy and fluffy chenille spread from Christa. Bought a little vintage wallpaper from her too.

Couldn’t pass up this sweet etched mirror. Bought it from my friend, Mitzi’s booth at Stars.

And finally, my favorite find of the day and my birthday present to myself

This gorgeous barbola mirror was my very first buy of the day. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I have wanted one of these for years, but they were always way over my budget. Love this one and it works perfectly in my bedroom on the corner shelf.

So, as you can see, some to sell, some for me. It was such a great weekend, but now I need to get back to projects. Only three more weeks until this awesome show.

Can’t wait! I’m getting so excited. Head on over to Barn House to get more info. I hope to see you there!

One little, two little, three little, dressers

2011-07-07T09:25:00.001-07:00

The other night I was reading in bed and I got a text on my phone from my friend, Mitzi. She said, “my sister-in-law is buying your white dresser at Stars.” So of course I had to call her and squeal, I mean, get the scoop. Don’t remember if I even posted about this dresser, but it’s a cutie.

Here it is.

I love this dresser. Can’t find the before picture, but trust me, this is a great improvement. Mitzi’s sis-in-law is furnishing a condo nearby and I’m hoping she will love this dresser as much as I do.

This pink dresser, which you can barely see, recently sold at Monticello. So, with the sale of the white dresser above, I was all out of dressers. None even in the before makeover stage. Dressers are good sellers for me. For one thing, I love dressers so I tend to buy them when I see them and I really try to only buy the cute older ones with lots of character. So, the next day after Mitzi’s text, I did what any good junker would do. I checked out craigslist for dressers and was lucky enough to find one that looked interesting. Unfortunately it was in Vancouver which is not exactly in close proximity to where I live, but it had been awhile since I had been up that way so I decided to go for it and fortunately the seller responded quickly and we set up a time to view the dresser. I grabbed my number one girl with the promise of thrift stores stops in Vancouver since we were going to be up there anyway. So, without further ado, here is the craigslist dresser.

I toyed with the idea of painting it, but the wood was so nice (after a little sanding and some Briwax, even better) that I couldn’t bring myself to paint it. I put the glass knobs on it. It had some mis-matched wood ones when I got it, but I like these better. What you can’t see is that this dresser has some adorable brackets and a cute oval mirror. It will be heading over to my Stars booth tomorrow.

After picking up the dresser, we then ventured out to find some thrift stores. Here’s what I found at the first one we stopped at.

Cute, right? Ignore the folded up car seat. I ran out of time yesterday and had to shove it into my garage which is getting pretty full with some great stuff that I’ll share some other day. This dresser needs a little attention. Some paint and new knobs and it will be adorable.

So, my car was getting kind of full with the two dresser’s in it. I picked up a few miscellaneous smalls at another thrift store and then we stopped at the Goodwill Outlet in Vancouver/Battleground and I found this.

Aint she sweet? She has a few issues, but nothing I can’t work out. Look at these great appliques.

It was love at first sight. My daughter couldn’t believe I found three dressers in a matter of a couple hours. I wasn’t surprised as I have a tendency of finding like items all on the same day. I do however, feel so lucky to have found these three dressers. It was definitely worth the trip. I was so excited I sent a text to Mitzi that said something like, “I just found three awesome dressers and one is so cute it hurts.” My daughter thought I was nuts, but I knew Mitzi would get it.

It’s going to be another lovely day here in the PNW. I’ll be painting later, but now I promised my #1 boy I would take him to practice driving. Have a great one wherever you are!

Recent Finds

2011-07-04T07:03:00.001-07:00

I have been a busy girl hunting and gathering for my next show, Barn House, July 30th. Hitting the garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets and even had a picking day with my hubby. Here are just some of the goodies I have found recently.

What would you have picked?

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend with your loved ones! I’ll be back soon with more vintage goodies.

A Thing for Roses at Monticello

2011-06-20T06:15:00.001-07:00

On Friday, I went to Monticello to give my booth a bit of a fluff and to bring in “Big Pink,” as my friend called the big pink cabinet I took to Farm Chicks. I was very pleased to see that many items sold so I didn’t really need to take out too much to make Big Pink work in my space. I also realized that I can’t remember the last time I showed pictures of my little space at Monticello. My good friend, Amy, took this one back in April.

Here’s what my booth looks like as of Friday.

Here’s the cute little cabinet I bought from Isabel at Farm Chicks. It’s perfect for holding some of my pretties. Of course, I had to add a little bling to the ugly lock.

This chair was from my own home. It’s the only one (of four) that I finished making over. I guess I just never loved them enough to finish. For awhile now, I’ve been looking for some new dining chairs. I wanted a cane back and curvy legs, and I wanted them cheap. Last week, I was lucky enough to get to pre-shop a few of my friends garage sales and at my friend, Allie’s, I found these.

Sorry for the poor quality picture. I love these chairs and all their mis-matchiness. I love that they are already painted and they are sturdy. I have already given them new seat covers, but no pictures yet, so I’ll have to show you how they turned out along with some of the other great furniture items I scored last week.

This week, my #1 boy is heading down to California to visit his grandparents. My #1 girl and I will be taking a mini thrifting road trip. Be back soon with lots to share! Happy Monday!

White Wednesday

2011-06-15T06:27:00.001-07:00

On Monday I went to my Stars booth as I had sold a really cool old postal cabinet that unfortunately, I never got any pictures of. I did however get a message on my answering machine from my good friend, Sue. It went something like this, “Hi Lisa, I’m at Stars standing in front of your booth, looking at a really cute postal cabinet that has a sold sign on it…” I can’t remember the rest of what she said. Something about how she wished it was hers or something like that. This makes me laugh, because Sue always finds the best stuff. I’m not kidding. She does. But, she also has a secret weapon. Her husband Joe. He is as good as Sue at spotting cool vintage junk and when they go to sales together, look out!

But, I’m getting off track. This post is about White Wednesday. To fill the hole that my postal cabinet left I brought in this really cool buffet I found a couple months ago.

I guess I should have taken a picture of it before I used it for display, but I think it’s pretty cute. When I found it at a local thrift store, they wanted a lot of money for it. More than I would pay for something I’m reselling. It was about 95% stripped and the cabinet doors were off and it had no hardware. When the store employees couldn’t find the hardware, they said they would sell it to me for half of what they originally quoted, so into my car it went. Other than finishing the stripping, putting on the hinges and glass knobs it was quite an easy project. I love it and wish I had room for it in my house, but unfortunately it is just too big for my space.

After getting my booth fluffed, I decided to walk around Stars and take some pictures of some of my favorite white things for sale there.

This giant cabinet is supper cool. I wish I got a better picture of it. It belongs to my friend, Mitzi and I love all the shelves, doors and drawers it has. You could store a lot of stuff in it and it makes a perfect display cabinet for collections.

This is one of two found object assemblage pieces Mitzi has made. The other larger one sold. I thought I took a picture of it, but now I can’t find it. I look for it some more and will post it if I find it. It was super cool!

New dealers at Stars. They were setting up their tiny space along the wall. Very cute and artistic.

I’m a sucker for a pretty vintage wedding dress.

Yesterday I went back to Stars because I had sold another larger display piece and had to rearrange. After that, Mitzi and I went out to lunch at Mother’s restaurant and while we were there, I got a call from Stars saying that my clothing rack fell off the wall and could I come in and fix it. The only casualty was the cute little white display cabinet pictured at the top of this post. Let’s just say it doesn’t look so cute any more, but I’m just glad that no one was hurt. After a trip to the hardware store to get some heavier duty molly bolts, my rack is back up and sturdier than ever. Happy ending to a somewhat sad story. Okay, enough of me rambling. I hope you have a great Wednesday and if you have time, drop by Kathleen’s blog and check out some of her other White Wednesday participants.

A Makeover Project and a few Weekend Finds

2011-06-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

I thought I would show you a dresser I worked on for Farm Chicks, but that never made it there. Here’s a before picture without its drawers. (I’m so bad at taking before pics.)

This dresser was a craigslist find. It was in sad shape and the top was peeling off, but I loved the cute legs and curvy detail at the bottom. It sat in my garage a couple years and I finally dragged it out to work on it.

Here is the after picture.

I loved how it turned out. I gave it a creamy base coat and a couple coats of minty green paint I had leftover. I was going to put decals on each drawer, but loved just the one. I even had a mirror that I gave the same treatment to. Both pieces ended up at Monticello where they sold just a few days later. Another dealer bought them for her daughter. So sweet! I love projects like this. As you may have noticed on my last post, my booth at FC was quite full, so it’s a good thing I didn’t bring this cutie along.

On Friday, I hit a few sales and a couple thrift stores and found some good stuff. Here’s just some of the bigger items I scored.

Got the brown desk, metal, scrolly pot holders, colander and lamp shade at estate sales, the chairs and lamp came from Value Village and the drawer box and giant flower basket came from Goodwill. I ran into a dealer friend, Kay, at an estate sale and she had the shopping cart for me in her car.

I also found some lovely Victorian buttons and some other small things that I have already forgotten. Oops! Anyway, today I am headed into Stars with a big buffet that I scored awhile back. I’ll make sure to take a picture to share with you on White Wednesday. Happy Monday!

Farm Chicks 2011

2011-06-09T07:18:00.001-07:00

Once again, the Farm Chicks show came and went, in a blur. The build up, hard work, preparation, packing, driving and the disruption to family life are all worth it. Because in the end, it’s about the sales, but more importantly, it’s about the people we meet.

My roomies this year turned out to be my good friend Joy, her husband, Dave and their son, Sam. I had just been talking to another friend about the fact that I hadn’t gotten to spend much time with Joy lately and now I had her for a whole weekend slumber party!

So, onto the show! It was so busy that other than a few trips to the bathroom, I rarely left my booth so the only pictures I got were of my booth. Here goes.

These pictures were all taken just minutes before the early buying started on Saturday morning. As you can see, I brought a lot. So much, in fact, I think it was hard to see everything. You can just get a glimpse of the most awesome piece I brought, the pink multi drawer cabinet shown in the last two pictures. On Sunday, I rearranged everything. Here’s a picture where you can see the cabinet better.

Cool, right?

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t get out of my booth much, so unfortunately I didn’t get to shop very much. I did however, buy a couple cute items from my booth neighbor, Isabel. I got a little dental display cabinet, which I have been wanting forever, and an adorable apron from her. I also found a couple cute lamp shades and a sweet pj top which I’ll wear as a regular top with jeans. I’ll have to show those another time.

As I also mentioned above, I love selling at Farm Chicks. The people are definitely the best part of doing this show. I love seeing returning customers and meeting new friends. I love getting to hang with my peeps that “get me.” I want to thank each and every customer who bought from me. I couldn’t do this show without you, so I am very thankful for you all.

Wish I took some people pictures. Here’s a cute one Joy took of Sue, me and Patricia on Saturday.

And here I am on Day 2. Picture taken by my road trippin buddy, Kate.

I called this my “sexy lunch lady” outfit. ha ha

Serena has posted links to other Farm Chicks posts and I’m so grateful as I was able to see so much that I didn’t get to see at the show. You can go here to check out some more Farm Chick goodness.

This week I have been filling my mall space with my Farm Chicks leftovers. Wow, that sounds bad, but really, it’s all new (old) good stuff. I have a little break before my next show which is the Barn House Vintage Market, July 30th. The wheels are turning though and I have several projects spinning in my little head. I love those guys and this show. It will be my third year as a vendor and I’m really excited to be a part of the Barn House family. If you are at all able, I would love to see you there! TTFN!

Farm Chicks Past

2011-05-30T21:57:00.001-07:00

I am totally copying Isabel’s post and am going to show you pictures from my booth the last three years I sold at Farm Chicks.

2008

2009

2010

This year I’ll be in the exact same location as the past three years, right next to Isabel. Click here to see the map. I am in Bay 1, booth #202. Pretty much in the center of the building. I look forward to seeing some familiar faces and hopefully meeting some new ones. Not sure if I’ll post again as I still have so much to do before we leave early Friday morning. I might sneak in a little something before then, but if not, I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share when we return. TTFN!

Got Bling?

2011-05-24T09:13:00.001-07:00

It’s crunch time. Less than two weeks to my biggest, can’t miss, show of the year. Yes, that’s right. I’m talking about Farm Chicks. I still have so much to do before packing up the trailer, but I’m feeling pretty good right now. I have been working really hard painting, sanding, crafting up some cool treasures for my awesome customers.

Here is just a small sampling of the bling I will bring.

My latest collection of vintage bling belt buckles.

I love them all, but this just might be my favorite.

Love the cute little horse button.

Vintage button bracelets and cute vintage rhinestone bracelets.

Vintage bling rings.

I’m off to do some more painting and sanding. Today is suppose to be the nicest day of the week weatherwise so I better get busy. I’ll be back with some more sneak peeks. Happy Tuesday!

Happy 100th White Wednesday Kathleen!

2011-05-18T17:37:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to pop in to wish Kathleen of Faded Charm a happy 100th White Wednesday post. And since I never like to do a post without a cute picture, here is my 100th White Wednesday photo.

I got this cute little vintage child’s folding chair yesterday at the bins. Pickins were slim and as I headed to the counter to pay for my measly finds, this cutie was sitting by the register, just waiting for me. Of course I made sure that she wasn’t spoken for before I grabbed her. All she needed was a light sanding and she is good to go. Of course, I could add a cute rose decal to the back, but I think she is perfect just as she is.

Don’t forget to head on over to Kathleen’s blog to check out her 100th post giveaway and link up with all the other White Wednesday posts.

A little road trip, some fun finds and completed projects

2011-05-16T10:06:00.001-07:00

When I found out my husband and the kids were going to a concert in Seattle the same weekend as a couple antique shows I’ve been wanting to go to, it wasn’t too difficult a decision to tag along. While they were at their concert Friday, I drove up to Snohomish, met my dear friend Kimberly and headed over to the 2nd Saturdayz set up day. Linda had a drawing and picked a few people to come do early shopping, and I was one of the lucky winners.

It was fun to get first dibs at some good stuff, not to mention, getting some one on one time with my sweet friend. I was also lucky enough to get to hang out another BFF, Timi and her adorable husband, Jay or PJ as his is affectionately known.

On Saturday, I ditched my family once again, and made the trip to Puyallup to the Funky Junk Sisters sale. So glad I did as I found lots of great things and got to see some of my favorite homies like Amy, Amy, Pam, Amy, Christa, and of course, the Funky Junk Sisters themselves.

Here’s a picture of my weekend loot.

The cool mirror, green glass lamp and jar of wood casters all came from Ruffles & Rust Square. The rest of the goodies came from Funky Junk Sisters.

Love this little German Lucite clock with dried flowers embedded in it. So much cuter in person.

Love the little wicker basket, tole painted tissue holder, filigree butterfly, and floral pins, misc. bling and buttons. The pretty millinery rose was a gifty from Pam.

I also scored a cute little four drawer cabinet and a rolling laundry cart at 2nd Saturdays, but I didn’t get a picture of those just yet.

Saturday night we headed to the Waterfront of Seattle to do a little site seeing and meet some friends for dinner at The Crab Pot.

Here we are in front of the Pike Street Market.

And my adorable daughter in front of the wall of gum.

Adding her contribution.

Getting ready to eat.

A little blurry, but yum!

We had such a wonderful and fun weekend doing what we all love doing. Concert and music museum for hubby and kids, junking for me, hanging with friends and each other and eating some really good food. Couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

Going to end this post with a few of my complete projects.

Pair of vintage bed side tables/cabinets and a cool trunk.

Child sized hutch

Cool old, refurbished desk.

That’s it for me now. I’m off to work on some more projects. Hope you have a great Monday and fabulous week!

White Wednesday

2011-05-11T07:52:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few White Wednesday finds and project pictures from Chez Lisa.

Lovely antique French nightgown found at Stars. A keeper!

Pretty beaded cashmere sweater. A recent thrift store find.

Cute and shabby little white cabinet.

Mirror found recently on Craigslist. Love it! Lamp on top was the one with no electrical that I found at the bins. Had my husband rewire it and I made the lacey shade to go with it. Here’s a close up.

Here is the other lamp I worked on this week.

This was an easy fix. The lamp was in perfect shape. I found the shade at the Goodwill and just added the ruffled ribbon trim. Simply sweet!

Head on over to Kathleen’s blog to check out all the other White Wednesday participants. To celebrate her 100th White Wednesday post, Kathleen is having a great giveaway.

The sun came out yesterday afternoon and I was able to finish some painting projects which felt really good. Today is a sewing and sanding day for me. I’ll be back soon with some finished projects.

Mother’s Day Finds and Market Cart Liner Factory Part 2

2011-05-10T09:37:00.001-07:00

When my husband asked me what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day, I told him I wanted to go to the coast for the day with my family. I could have stayed home and worked on the many projects I have started, but for me, it was more important to spend time with my loved ones.

The day at the coast actually turned out beautiful and sunny. We went out for a late breakfast, hit a few antique shops and thrift stores and walked on the beach for a bit. We ended the day having an early dinner at the Rogue Public House in Astoria.

Here are the goodies I found that day.

The lovely floral (anemones?) painting is probably one of my favorite finds of the day. I don’t know if I love the painting or the frame more. I also got a cute made in England cotton half slip, linen and lace runner, stencils, belt buckle, old bottles, a cute peachy pink vase and a jar of buttons.

Another cool find was this box of misc. numbers and letters and collagey stuff. Not sure what I’m going to do with it, but the price was so good, I just couldn’t leave it there.

And finally, the best find of the day was this

A cool, old 1928 etched mirror in a lovely frame. I found this beauty at the Seaside Antique Mall (sorry for the poor picture~cloudy today) for a very good price and my dealer discount made it even better. This one will be headed to my Stars booth and I have the perfect place to hang it.

Thought you might want to see how the Market Cart Liner Factory is going, so I snapped a picture of my cart army.

I actually have 10 liners cut out and am almost done with my fourth liner. I had so much fun putting together the fabrics and I have to say they are turning out pretty cute. My goal is to finish sewing the liners in the next couple days so hopefully I will have some completed cart pictures to share soon. I’ll be back tomorrow with a White Wednesday post as I have some cute vintage whiteness to show you.

On a final note, I just want to do a shout out to my good friend Jeanne. You know Jeanne, right? Here she is!

Isn’t she so cute? She’s not only cute, she’s super talented and just released her Spring/Summer line on her website Jeanne Oliver Designs. If you haven’t already, please check out her lovely items. The dresses and ruffled bags are my favorites!

That’s all for now! Happy Tuesday!

Flea Market Finds and Market Cart Liner Factory Part 1

2011-05-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

Thought I would pop in to say hi and to show you some of my finds from last weekends flea market visit. Isabel and I went to our favorite monthly market, and as usual, neither of us came home empty handed. Here is just some of the things I brought home.

Several vintage flower pots.

More vintage glass lamps, a couple cute vintage bottles with black lids and two vintage Harry and David “pearserves” jars.

The black thing in the back is a velvet lined ring box, two vintage necklaces, misc. rhinestone bling, a silver tray with great roses detailing (didn’t capture that too well), a glass tray and a hand painted flowers mirror.

Vintage buttons and two pretty hankies.

Cute vintage gingham top.

Adorable vintage dress.

Vintage and antique lace and trim.

I also got a really cool old typewriter, a little metal chair and an antique child’s chair.

The second part of this post involves a project I’m working on for Farm Chicks. If you have been to Farm Chicks, have seen pictures of my booth, or have been reading my blog for awhile, you may already know that I sell vintage market carts with custom made liners. Well, this year is no exception. I have a huge pile of carts all ready to receive their pretty liners. I have been collecting/hoarding them for the past year and now it’s time to work my magic. ha ha Today I spent several hours coordinating and preparing the fabrics to make the liners. Here’s the stack of lovely fabrics I have put together.

It’s kind of hard to get a good idea on how the fabrics look, but I’ll share some pictures of the carts when they are completed so you can get a better idea. Or, you can click on this link to see some I’ve made before. If you are coming to Farm Chicks and would like a cart with a liner to tote your goodies around, make sure to come see me.

I’m off now to start cutting out the liners. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Booth Update

2011-04-28T07:01:00.001-07:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve shown pictures of my Stars booth. Since I was just over there on Tuesday, I decided to take a few pictures so I could share what my space is looking like these days.

I just brought in that shabby dresser which resided in my house for a long time until I recently replaced it with another larger shabby dresser.

Got a call just yesterday saying that dresser sold. The day after I brought it in. Wow! The coolest thing (other than the fact that it sold so quickly) is that it was bought to be used as a prop in the movie “Gone” being made in Portland. I need to do a little research to find out more about this movie.

I don’t know if I’ve ever shown this little cabinet before, but I love it. I think it’s just adorable and wish I had a place for it. I was going to paint it, but I think it has a nice finish on it.

A couple weeks ago, I built this little hanging shelf to house all my vintage clothes for sale. I had them hanging in several different spots in my booth and I thought it would look nice to have them all together in one spot. The only thing I had to buy for this project was the hanging brackets ($8.00 for the pair at the local re-builder store). I had the wood for the shelf, the dowel, the finials and even the lace already on hand. I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself after completing this simple project and the best part? I didn’t even measure the space where I wanted to put it. Just got lucky.

Not sure if I’m loving this area. Parts are okay, but I need to do something about those little shelves. I guess I just got tired and put them there. They are pretty cute and should be hung up. Maybe on my next visit.

I like how this little area turned out. Seeing these pictures is making me realize something though. I need more smalls.

The same day that I visited my booth, I also hit a few thrift stores in the area. So glad I did as I found several vintage lamps. One of the many things I love, collect and sell.

The one on the front, left was found in the bins. It has no electrical, but I love it’s size and shape. The far right lamp I found at Stars. The one on the back, right I found at Goodwill and the other two at Value Village. I think the cream metal with the glass is my favorite. I have been selling quite a few vintage lamps lately, so I was very happy to find these.

I also found several vintage nighties which will be joining all the others that are quickly filling up the clothing rack that I’m planning on taking to Farm Chicks. I apologize if I am talking too much about Farm Chicks these days, but that is where my mind is right now. I’m just so glad that I am motivated to work on projects. I guess I work well under pressure. Hope your Thursday is a happy one! I’ll be doing a little painting here at Project Central.

On A Roll

2011-04-26T06:42:00.001-07:00

Saturday was spent outside in the gorgeous sunshine. I pulled projects out of the garage, painted some, sanded others. Rearranged stuff. I’m feeling pretty good right now even though the rain came back on Sunday. That’s okay as it just gave me an excuse to work on some indoor projects including some soldered charm necklaces.

I had so much fun making these. It’s been ages since I’ve made any. Couldn’t believe I spent two whole days putting them together. So much fun and highly addictive. Here’s more.

And some close ups.

I’ll be bringing these cuties to Farm Chicks.

On another note. Remember the cute, rustic cabinet from my last post? I had planned on taking it to FC, but a light bulb went off and it found a new home in my dining area. I even cleaned off the kitchen table so I could show you how great it looks here.

It’s a perfect fit for that little corner and now I have a place to store my soldering supplies and other goodies that didn’t really have a home before. I love it when things come together like that, don’t you? Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Weekend Projects

2011-04-18T11:43:00.001-07:00

I had a very productive weekend, filled with both indoor and outdoor projects. My creative mojo is back and I couldn’t be happier. Nothing like a little sunny weather after a long, wet winter to improve ones mood.

This sweet dresser was a Goodwill find. (Thanks Mitzi!) All it needed was a little sanding and some cute glass knobs from my stash.

This little cabinet was also a Goodwill find. It already had the bin pulls, but the ugly glitter glue on the top was not so attractive. I stripped the top, gave the rest a good sanding and then put some of my favorite stained wax on the top boards. Love it and all its rustic cuteness.

I was also busy working in the house packaging up some adorable ephemera that I’m de-stashing. Didn’t take any pictures of that, but I did work on some jewelry making as well.

Love this necklace. It was a simple silver locket that I attached a extra large rhinestone button to the top and added a silver chain. Much prettier in person. Seriously thinking about keeping this one myself.

I also attached some vintage bling to some business card holders. I should have taken the picture before packaging, but I was feeling overzealous and couldn’t wait to package them up.

These cute hair pins are always big sellers at my booths and shows.

I even made a couple vintage bling hair combs. Love the way they turned out.

Did some painting yesterday too, but nothing ready to share here. It felt so good being out in the sunshine. Hope wherever you are, you are having a sunny and creative day!

Monday Morning Blues

2011-04-11T09:47:00.001-07:00

I’m not sad. In fact, I’m feeling pretty good as the sun finally came out this weekend which motivated me to get busy working on some projects. No, the blues I’m referring to are a few blue items I bought while out thrifting last week. I once read that people are either green or blue people. Usually, I consider myself more of a green person, but maybe I am a blue person after all.

Love the gorgeous blue night gown with the rosette. Found this at Aunt Addie’s Attic in Hillsboro. The lace edge sexy baby blue top and the blue eyelet runner both came from the Goodwill bins. And finally, the vintage blue lamp came from Value Village. Part of the metal is broken, but I will most likely take this cutie apart and create a new lamp from these and other pieces in my stash.

Want to see more vintage finds? Okay, your wish is my command.

Hand painted roses platter and lovely vintage light cover.

Cute pair of horse paint by numbers. Perfect for Farm Chicks!

A bit of bling.

Vintage flower pots and postcards. Love the boy riding the turkey on the left side.

And finally, one of my absolute most favorite vintage finds.

A whole bunch of vintage rhinestone buttons! This find totally made my day!

Happy Monday!

Friday Finds

2011-04-09T17:25:00.001-07:00

On my way over to Stars Antique Mall to work on my booth yesterday, I decided to make a few stops at some garage and estate sales along the way. So glad I did as I am in need of some smalls and that is exactly what I found. Here are the highlights.

Vintage stencils and two folding rulers.

Two little wood shelves.

Lovely butterscotch pottery lamp.

Close up of the very lovely finial.

Sweet vintage bride doll.

Scary, malformed vintage baby doll with spare parts.

Adorable vintage doll clothes and bonnet.

Cool old leather purse.

Pretty beaded purse with rhinestones.

And finally, my best find of the day.

I found this at the first sale I went to. It was in the window sill of the garage with a bunch of ugly old Avon bottles and I can’t believe no one else got to it before I did. After doing a bit of checking on the internet, I found out that it is a cut glass chatelaine perfume bottle. It has a little metal loop where I’m guessing it attached with a chain. I’m not sure if the painting on the lid is original or not. Green and purple are not my favorite color combination, but I think it is sort of pretty. I didn’t realized until later after I got home and looked at it more carefully, but it has the initials MCL engraved on the rim of the lid along with 1904. Now, want to know the very best part of this story? It had a .50 sticker on the bottom! Pretty cool, huh?

Hope you are all having a fun weekend. We are finally getting some much deserved sunshine here in the PNW! Made me want to work on some Farm Chicks projects today which is exactly what I did.

Finally, a White Wednesday Post

2011-04-06T09:06:00.001-07:00

Since we got back from our Spring Break trip, I have been busy hunting and gathering. Sales have been great at my mall spaces, so I need new (old) inventory to stock up my booths. Also, I am in full on preparation mode for the Farm Chicks show coming up in less than 2 months. Seems like a long time to prepare, but I have lots and lots of projects to complete before it’s time to pack up and head to Spokane.

Thought I’d show you a few items I have found recently that are appropriate for a White Wednesday post.

I found this awesome display cabinet on Craigslist. It was made out of four old windows and some cast iron stove legs. I think it is super cool and so perfect to take to Farm Chicks.

Here’s another little cabinet/dresser I just found yesterday. I love its size and shape. It will also be accompanying me to FC in June.

And finally, I thought I would show you a couple new keeper items I have found.

I spotted the shabby stripped cabinet awhile ago at a local antique shop and it was love at first sight. The problem was, I didn’t have anything wide enough to hold it. On the day I drove out to pick up the window display cabinet (first picture), I stopped at the Goodwill and found the perfect dresser. All I had to do is give it a light sanding and change out the knobs and it was a marriage made in heaven. I love it! Sorry I couldn’t get a very good picture. It has been so cloudy and wet here lately. I’m hoping for some better weather later this week.

On another note, the Home & Garden Show at Monticello starts this Friday.

I have seen a few sneak peeks on various blogs and I have to say how impressed I am with the wonderful vendors/merchandise that will be available. If you can, I would definitely recommend you come to Monticello. If you can’t make it Friday, that’s okay. The sale will continue through May 30th with vendors restocking frequently.

Be back soon with some more great finds.

A Little Trip and Some Goodies I’ve Found

2011-03-27T06:58:00.001-07:00

The family and I decided to take advantage of Spring Break and head out of town. Since I didn’t take any pictures of our trip, I thought I would just tell a little about what we did and show some pictures of some of my recent finds. So, just to be clear, the pictures in this post have nothing to do with our trip. Just saying.

We started off on Friday with a visit to “Duck Days” at the University of Oregon Campus. My daughter, who is a junior, is very interested in going there for college, much to her parents dismay. Let me explain, we are both Beavers. In case you are unfamiliar, what that means is that we both graduated from Oregon State University, U of O’s rival. It was a little difficult walking around the beautiful U of O campus. We kind of felt like traders, but this visit wasn’t about us, it was about her. We are excited that she is excited about continuing her education at such a great school only a mere 2 hour drive from home.

After that, we headed south, driving through some really stormy weather. Both rain and snow and I mean, a lot of snow. We ended up in Vallejo, CA to spend the day at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. That was the plan, but when we woke up and looked out our hotel window at the soggy day, we decided to make a “Plan B” and that was to head over to the Jelly Belly factory for a tour. This turned out to be a lot of fun and I would highly recommend it to folks of all ages. By the time we were done with the tour, the rain had let up and we headed to the park where there were absolutely no lines. We went on rides first and saw dolphin and whale shows. I was surprised how large and varied the park was. Kind of a combination amusement park, zoo and aquarium all in one. We all had a really good day.

The next day we drove even further south down to San Francisco and spent the day on the Wharf and did the Alcatraz Island tour. It was probably one of my favorite things we did on our trip. The boat ride, tour and just the island itself was so interesting and the story behind it, just fascinating. What I found the most interesting was how tiny the cells were. If you are ever in the San Francisco area, I definitely recommend this tour.

Day two in San Francisco was spent site seeing. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. Explored Golden Gate Park. Spent some time checking out the shops on Haight Street. My kids loved this amazing record store there. I on the other hand, loved looking at several vintage clothing stores. The stores and their merchandise were wonderful; the prices, not so much. Very high. After the Haight area, we drove back to the wharf, caught a cable car to China Town, had a yummy lunch, wandered through China Town which was so cool, then walked back to the wharf. We then stopped at Ghirardelli Square for a little dessert before heading back to our hotel. It was a really fun day.

The next day we headed for home, stopping in Medford, Oregon to spend the night and break up all that driving. By Thursday afternoon, we were home and as always, I was so happy to sleep in my own bed. Since then, I have been Miss Lazy, watching Netflix, doing a bit of laundry and a tiny bit of house work. Kids have Monday off and I’ll be heading over to check out my mall spaces, but I really need to get my rear in gear and work on some serious projects I have planned for Farm Chicks. I’m getting super excited about my fourth year being a vendor at this show. If you are even remotely considering coming, I would strongly suggest you do. It is so worth it. But then again, I am only a little bit prejudice about it.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about our little trip and seeing some of my recent finds. I’ll be back on Wednesday with a White Wednesday post on a couple really cool white finds. See you then.

Dreamy

2011-03-16T08:25:00.001-07:00

It has taken me a long time to post about the fabulous weekend that was “Dream Girls 2.” Once again, it’s hard to express how truly lovely this event was. You really have to experience it to understand. So much love, creativity, support, friendship. Almost too much for this rose loving girl to take. Let’s just say, there were tears and laughs a plenty. I want to publicly thank Tiffany the gorgeous (okay, maybe not so much Friday night), hostess of this spectacular event. Again, I took no pictures as there were so many professional photographers capturing the feel of the weekend and I knew that they would do so much better at it than I. I also want to thank Terri Brush who always comes up with the best projects. I only did the Saturday project which was a soldered birdcage with a crown inside. It was so much fun seeing how everyone interpreted the project to make it their own. Here’s how mine came out.

And a close up of the crown.

I wanted to keep it very simple. I didn’t have a bird for my cage, but that’s alright. The crowns were a bit challenging at first, but now I want to make a whole bunch more.

I want to do a little shout out to some of my favorite peeps that I was lucky enough to spend time with. Miss Kimberly, you know I love you and wish we weren’t 4 hours apart. Jeanne, you are a total nut and I so love that about you. Getting to see you only once a year is just not enough, we need to plan something and soon! Any luck with that move to the PNW you were talking about? Lisa, it was so great getting to spend more time with you this year. I feel like we are kindred spirits in so many more ways than just our name. Patricia, even though we only got a few minutes Friday night to chat, I think you are awesome! Beth, it was so lovely spending time with you. I felt like we were instant friends and I hope we can hang out again soon. Robin, Joy, Cindy, Natalie and all the other dream girls, thank you for making this such a memorable weekend for me. And lastly, I can’t forget my partner in crime, Isabel, the best road tripping buddy ever.

I got some great vintage goodies to share with you so I’ll be back soon with pics. Hope you’re having an awesome week!

Finds

2011-03-04T12:11:00.001-08:00

I’ve already showed you some amazing stores that I visited down in Southern California. What I didn’t tell you about is the fact that I also made visits at several thrift stores and the fabulous Long Beach Flea Market. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much at the thrift stores. Just a few vintage nighties which were great as they didn’t take up that much space in my luggage. But the LB flea was another story. I found lots of my favorite things and ran into some friends which I’ll tell you more about later because I know what you really want is to see the stuff.

Okay, here it is.

Vintage bling is always a great find.

Misc. metal tags and a couple keys.

Lots of great vintage buttons.

A cute little lock with key that someone glued some vintage jewelry to and an adorable little petite point coin purse.

Sweet crochet hangers and crochet doily trivets.

Sweetest crochet picture.

Lovely vintage cotton hankies.

Gorgeous vintage slips.

Beautiful floral fabric remnants.

I also got a couple vintage crinolines and as I mentioned above,and a few cute vintage nightgowns. But my favorite find is one that wouldn’t fit into my suitcase. It was a little black cabinet with four drawers which had to be shipped home. After a little a little sanding and a couple new knobs it has now landed in my Stars mall booth. If you’ve been reading my blog awhile, you know how fond I am of little cabinets with drawers. Here is my LB flea find.

It’s kind of hard to see as the lighting wasn’t great. Here is another little cabinet that I recently scored on craigslist that is also now at Stars.

I got it and another larger cabinet from the same guy. The other larger cabinet is super cool and will be making its first appearance at Farm Chicks. Ooh, I can’t wait!

Back to the LB Flea. I was so busy shopping and enjoying the sunshine to bother getting my camera out, but I did happen to see a few people I know including Brent and Darwin, the owners of Stars Malls (where I have one of my booths). They were vacationing in Palm Springs and decided to do a little junking. I also saw Tim and Lisa of Blue Canoe Reloaded. They were first time vendors at Farm Chicks last year and had the most amazing stuff for sale. You can see Tim and one of his awesome large bird houses in the latest issue of Flea Market Style magazine. I was also lucky enough to run into the adorable Trisha of Vintage Bliss. I had met her on a previous visit to the Urban Barn where she was a guest vendor at their Street Faire. And finally, I can’t be sure, but I’m almost positive that I saw Tori Spelling at the flea. Last time I was there, which was a year and a half ago, there was a celebrity siting of Simon Baker. I didn’t see him, but a few of the vendors were talking about it.

Okay, back to reality. Oh wait, I am headed up to Tiffany’s house for a fun girl weekend of giggling, crafting and eating. Maybe even another visit to the Yella Beak. This time I will try to behave myself. Have a fun weekend!

More Eye Candy~Vintage Begonia & Urban Barn

2011-03-02T09:41:00.001-08:00

I’m back with more pictures of my fun trip down South. I was super excited to visit a new shop that I heard about on Sheila’s blog. The fact that it is located in Temecula, CA was an extra bonus as that’s where my Dad lives. I’m talking about Vintage Begonia.

I didn’t think I would get the chance to visit the lovely Urban Barn, but was tickled pink to find out that they had changed their hours and are now open Tuesday – Sunday. I want to thank Linda for letting me take some pictures of the beautiful displays.

I instantly fell in love with this amazing cabinet. So wish I could have brought it home with me.

This chair was the perfect pink. There were two of them. Still too big to fit in my luggage.

Adorable baby dress form.

Love this peachy pink velvet settee.

This little desk/cabinet was adorable and so unique.

This rusty, crusty little cabinet was awesome!

And finally, I took a picture of my Dad hanging out behind the store, sitting in this cool gypsy wagon.

That’s it for now. I promise I’ll be back soon with stories from the flea market and my cool vintage finds. Have a great Thursday!

Eye Candy~The Attic and Vignettes

2011-02-25T08:52:00.001-08:00

I’m back from my trip to Sunny/Rainy California. Had such a good time junking and visiting with family. I hope you’re ready for lots of pictures, because for once, I remembered to take some.

Our first outing was to San Diego to visit The Attic on Coronado Island.

This adorable shop is owned by Nancy who I have known via Ebay and blogging for years, but have never met. I was thrilled to find Nancy working that day and it was so fun meeting her in person. She is as warm and down to earth as I thought she would be.

We thought it was so funny how we were both wearing almost the same thing. Here’s just a sampling of the many gorgeous things she has in her shop.

I want to send a big thank you to Nancy for being so sweet. It was truly wonderful to finally meet her. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit to The Attic. Tell Nancy I sent you.

Our next stop was to the lovely Vignettes located in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. The owner, Lori, was nice enough to let me take a few pictures to share with you here on my blog. Be warned, drooling is likely to be a side effect to viewing these photos.

Simply gorgeous. I realized after the fact that I didn’t get any pictures of my friend, Joy’s booth. The Vintage Rabbit is her little biz and her booth was simply amazing. She had the best stuff and I’m sad I didn’t get to see her on this trip, but hopefully I will do a better job at getting in touch with her on a future visit.

I have more to share with you from my trip. Pictures of some very lovely shops, details from my day at the Long Beach Flea and of course, the goodies I brought home. But, that will have to be on my next post. Hope you’ll come back and check it out! Have a fun Friday~!

White Wednesday~My daughter, The Artist

2011-02-16T04:56:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I could do a post with pictures that were already on my computer before it started acting wonky and since I’ve been wanting to do a post about my daughter, aka, my#1 girl, for awhile, I thought now would be a good time. Here she is.

I love this picture. It was taken a few months ago after she got a cute hair cut. Since then she has cut her bangs, so now she has a funky retro hair style.

The other night we were hanging out and I asked her if she thought of herself as an artist. She said, not really, which surprised me as she totally is. I don’t know where she gets it from, but she has been drawing amazing things since preschool and has recently been doing quite a bit of painting.

This is one she did last trimester in her art class. It was supposed to be a memory or a dream. The house in the painting is my dear friend, Joy’s house. Ellie would go with me on visits to Joy occasionally and would love to walk through the cemetery nearby, on her way to Dairy Queen to buy a banana milkshake.

Never in a million years could I ever paint anything remotely resembling this.

This trimester she is taking Photography 2 and she is really enjoying it. She had an assignment to find a photograph she liked and try to recreate it. This is the photograph she chose.

So she enlisted the help of one of her girlfriends, and came up with this.

Pretty close, right? She was also instructed to do another photo that was “inspired by” the first one and she came up with this.

Thanks for letting me get my brag on about my #1 girl. I’ll be leaving on my trip tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it. It has been raining here all week and looks like more rain is in the forecast here for the weekend. Not so in sunny CA. Yeah!

TTFN!

Hi!

2011-02-11T08:32:00.001-08:00

We are having technical difficulties with our computer right now so I’m not able to include any pictures in this post. Just wanted to drop in to say hi. The Junk Salvation show last weekend went very well. I want to thank everyone who came out and supported/shopped this first time show. It was so much fun meeting new friends and seeing old ones as well. I did take some pictures of my space which I’ll just have to share some other time.

February and March are going to be busy, busy! This week I’m working on getting my two booths stocked and fluffed. My Monticello booth is nice and full of goodies and I’ll be heading over to Stars today with a car load. Next week I’ll be heading South to Temecula, CA to spend some time with family. I hope to visit some shops in San Diego, Venice and Santa Monica as well as the wonderful Long Beach Flea Market. I’m already starting to think about Farm Chicks, my next big show coming up in June and I want my booth to be better than ever!

In March I’ll be heading North to my good friend, Tiffany’s house for a lot of girlfriend fun and crafting. I can’t wait for “Dream Girls 2” or is it “Dream Girls, The Sequel?” Last year was so much fun and I’m sure it will be even better this time.

The new computer is scheduled to arrive in a couple weeks, so until then, I’ll be taking a little blogging break. I’ll be back with pictures of my trip South and hopefully some of the goodies I have found along the way. Have a great weekend!

Getting Ready

2011-01-31T16:40:00.001-08:00

I have been a busy little beaver getting ready for the February 5th Funky Junk, Junk Revolution show which is why you haven’t seen me here much lately. Just thought I would pop in and give you just a sampling of all the goodies I am bringing to the sale.

Cute little vintage, cottage style lamps.

Just a couple of the vintage pillowcase sets I’ll be bringing.

I had so much fun making these vintage fabric covered buttons.

I’m bringing lots of pretty vintage jewelry, including these rhinestone necklaces.

And some sparkly bracelets, too!

This cute wedding couple is ready to Par-tay!

I love these sweet little vintage cottage prints.

I’m also going to be bringing some great vintage furniture, including this neat shabby dresser.

I have a whole rack of cute vintage clothing items including dresses, slips and nighties.

That’s all I have for now to share. If you’re in the area, I hope you will stop by. Don’t forget to print out my $1.00 off admission coupon on my last post. TTFN!

I’ll be Here in February, Hope You Will Too

2011-01-10T06:30:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to tell you about a new show that I will be a vendor at coming up real soon in February. The Funky Junk Sisters are taking their “Junk Salvation” show on the road and will be hosting some of best vendors in the PNW on February 5th at the Washington County Fairgrounds. I am excited to be included in this special, first time event, and I hope that those of you who live in the area will come check it out.

I have been busy painting, buying, hording, packaging and crafting some fabulous goodies to bring to the show. Below you will find a coupon for $1.00 off the admission. Just copy and print and bring with you.

I’ll be back with a few sneak peaks of some of the fun things I’ll be bringing to the show. If you would like more information, visit the Funky Junk Sisters blog. Happy Monday!

New Year/New (Old) Finds

2011-01-03T08:36:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year dear blog friends! Just thought I would say hi and show you a few of the cool things I’ve been finding lately. Isabel and I went to our favorite monthly flea yesterday and while it has been better, we both managed to find some good stuff.

Everything here with the exception of the barkcloth vanity organizer was found at the flea. The organizer was found at Goodwill and it’s a keeper. I love those for storing all my little bits in the craft room.

I also found some bling and other littles at the flea. Some of these items have already been packaged up and some will be used in some craft projects I have planned.

I love these little rose calling cards and was tickled that I found some more to add to my collection.

Have been eyeing these adorable vintage paper covered hat boxes in Debbie’s space for awhile and I finally bought them. They will replace two I currently have in my craft room that hold my collection of vintage lace.

And finally, one of my favorite recent finds:

This lovely hand painted roses glass jar trio was found at the Goodwill. I initially left them there because I was being cheap and thought they were priced too high. After leaving the store and visiting a couple other shops, I was still thinking about them and decided to go back and get them and I’m glad I did. They cleaned up nicely (they were a bit grubby in the store), and have no cracks or chips. I’m a sucker for just about anything with hand painted roses. I can totally picture these with bars of soap in the large one, cotton balls in the medium and q-tips in the small one on a bathroom vanity.

Today is the last day for the kids to be home for holidays. I’ve enjoyed having them home and having less chaotic mornings, but it will be nice to get back to a regular schedule. TTFN!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-26T06:58:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to pop in real quick to say hello to all of my BBF’s (Best Blogging Friends). We had a very lovely and quiet Christmas here at the Johnson house. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!

I’ll be back soon with more of the good vintage junk you love and hopefully some fun projects as well. Wishing you all a very bright and shiny New Year!

Winners!

2010-12-10T06:15:00.001-08:00

Thank you everyone who entered my giveaway. Used the random number generator to pick two winners and they are:

Pallas

Threads in Time

and

Kim G.

Camp Whimsy

Congratulations ladies! Please send me your mailing addresses and I will get your prizes in the mail to you tout suite.

I’m a little embarrassed to say that we don’t have any Christmas decorations up yet and haven’t even gotten our tree. This weekend for sure. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from Christmas a long, long time ago. That’s me front and center, my big brother, Mike with the holsters and my little brother, Devin sitting behind me with the drippy nose. Ahhh, memories! Have a fabulous weekend!.

Some of My Favorite Picks~White Wednesday Style

2010-12-08T05:37:00.001-08:00

I’ve been having so much fun reading about your favorite picks in the comments from my giveaway post that I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite picks. As I am, and have been buying and selling for several years now, I have come across some cool stuff. Some I have kept and will never part with (maybe), and some have gone onto new owners. If you have been reading my blog awhile, you may remember these items.

I picked this awesome and super heavy bad boy off of craigslist. It didn’t look like this when I found it. It was super dirty and I cleaned and painted and stained. Here’s the best part and a little secret. It was free. It was also the most expensive thing I have ever sold. (I know, bragging, sorry:) Kinda miss it, but don’t miss hauling it.

I found this awesome piece in a barn sale of a local antique dealer. I paid a whopping $50 for it. It sold in less than one week at Monticello. Looking back, I think I priced it way too low, but that’s okay. Still love it though.

Found this super cute white lace dress in the basement of a really neat antique shop in Portland. Love it so much and I wore it to the Farm Chicks party last June.

And finally, this cool mirror was found in a box of frames at an auction. It didn’t look like this though, but after I tackled it with some paint stripper, this is what I found. I also found a label on the back that says “patent 1883.” I paid $20 for the box of frames including this mirror. It currently has a place of honor on my mantel. If you’re curious about what it looked like when I bought it, here it is. Definitely not white.

Ugh! Why anyone would do that is beyond me.

There’s still time to enter my American Pickers Giveaway. Just scroll down to my last post and leave a comment. I’ll be back on Friday with the winners. Happy Wednesday!