Really, Me?

I have recently been given a blog award by Tammy Fischer, you might remember, my new BFF. She was so kind to honor me with the "You Make My Day" award. Tammy is one of the sweetest, and funniest girls in blogland if you ask me. And talented too. Her jewelry, which I have mentioned before, is just stunning. She recently listed some new items in her Etsy store, so go check it out.


I did end up working my lunch lady job on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I have to say that I'm so glad I don't have to do that every day. It's fun to see my friends and to make a little money too, but I am always just exhausted after and can't seem to get much done for the rest of the day. On Tuesday morning, my sweet neighbor took me to her Dad's former house. He recently passed away and had some furniture that no one wanted that was just going to be donated. So, my neighbor asked if I wanted any of it. Here is what I got:

Cute vintage chair with velvet seat

Little wood bed side table

Little solid wood bookcase.

I also got a little brown stool and neat older rocking chair which I forgot to photograph. The very same day I bought this off of craigslist:
I'm going to sand, paint and keep this little (really big) garden cutie. I might even try to make an umbrella to go with it if I get really motivated. This will go either on my deck or somewhere in the yard. Add some sweet floral cushions and we're ready for a party. I also found this at the same place:

Love the chippy, peely paint.

I did manage to do a little makeover project last weekend that I forgot to show you.

Before-ugly stool purchased at Goodwill.

After-Lovely stool with gorgeous barkcloth cover, perfect for any shabby chic home.

Gotta love that staple gun. Well, I better mosey. I need to walk this morning and then I'm headed over to Isabel's to help her load her stuff for Expo. I have to admit I'm a little bummed that I'm not doing the show too. I know with Joy and Cindy there, they are going to have a lot of fun.

Before I forget, Cheryl at Periwinkle Vintage tagged me to tell some things about myself. I have been tagged to do this before, but am always willing to play again. I'll have to think of some good ones for my next post.

I am getting closer and closer to my 100th post, so as I said before I want to do a fun giveaway. I have decided that the theme will be "Hooray for Spring!" More on this coming soon. I will be back later this weekend with pictures of my finds at Expo. Have a great Thursday!

"Miss Elany"

The weekend just flew by too, too fast. I went from moments of crazy crafting, to periods of total slothness (is that even a real word). Typical me though. Crazy busy one minute and couch potato queen the next.

Friday morning I went for a massage. Now, lest you think I am a total diva who constantly pampers herself, please let me tell you that my dear hubby gave me a massage gift card for Christmas that I finally allowed myself to use. Well, after the massage, which was awesome, btw, I came home and did a whole lot of nothing. I was completely useless. Okay, I did manage to make dinner, but that was about it.

Saturday I was feeling a little guilty so I spent a little time cleaning the kitchen and working on these.

You may remember I mentioned that I found a few denim shortalls at the Goodwill bins and I had a plan for them for Farm Chicks. Well, this is what I came up with. I decided to take them to Monticello as Farm Chicks is still a few months away. I figure that if they sell, I can always make more.

Here's the back view. I tried to just keep them simple and patchy looking.

Isabel and I did go to Monticello yesterday and spent a few hours cleaning up and rearranging our booth. It's so much easier when we both go together, but let me tell you, at one point, it looked as if a bomb went off in our booth. We finally got it together and I have to say, that it looks so much better. Much less crowded and easier to see everything. We both agreed that there are still a lot of things in our booth that will most likely end up in a garage sale that we are planning on doing at the end of March. You know, the "why did I ever buy this?" kind of things.


Isabel along with Joy, and Cindy will be doing (selling at) the Portland Antique Expo this weekend. I agreed to help Isabel set up on Friday, so I will be able to do some early buying as well. I'm not really looking for anything big, mostly just crafting supplies because as you all know, I don't have nearly enough.

This week I have to spend a little time cleaning. I was going to go to an auction this week, but I think I will just save my money for Expo. No lunch lady plans this week, but that could change. Today I think I might work on the shopping cart liner I cut out at Joy's last week. I went over to her place to work on some projects, but spent most of the time checking out all the cool stuff Joy will be taking to Expo this weekend.

We also took a little time to make some tags and to enjoy a little lunch.















Yummy Chicken Salad Pita with Chips.








Here are the leftover pretties from the tea party Joy hosted for her Niece's birthday the week before. The little chick with crown, Joy got from Martha. The little wire crowns were made by Cindy.

If you are in the Portland area and want to do some antiquing, come by the Portland Expo this weekend and make sure to say "Hi!" to my good friends.

Happy Monday!

Spring Bling!

Wow, have I been busy this week! I can hardly believe that it's Friday tomorrow. Time sure flies when you're thrifting and crafting.

A couple people thought that maybe these jewels on a stick were hat pins, but I think they are a little too long for this. To me they just look like some broken jewelry that has been soldered onto a metal stick, but they look pretty cute in my little pots, don't cha think?









I have been working on a little project for a while now that I finally completed.Got this neat little trunk last summer at Goodwill and thought it needed a little something to make it look a little cuter.

(Before)







First I covered it with some vintage sheet music.



(During)












Then I glued on some neat vintage scrappy images and voila! I'm done.
(After)

I forgot to take a picture of the inside, but it is just covered in some black and white paper. I thought of doing the inside too, but I thought it looked okay the way it is. I took this little cutie over to Monticello today where I hope someone will see it and decide that they can't live without it.



Today Tammy and I got together for our thrifting "date." Let me tell you, we had so much fun. We kind of thrifted our way to Monticello stopping at two Goodwills, the Deseret Shop and Value Village. We both found lots of treasures and Tammy found some great display pieces for some shows she has coming up.

Here's Tammy at Goodwill with lots of goodies she found.
















Tammy had never been to Monticello so we ended our shopping day there. Doesn't she look like she's having a great time? We stopped for a little lunch at Monti's (little cafe in Monticello) and finished our shopping.









Here are the results of my day of thrifting including a couple things I found at Monticello.



I won't bore you with a list of everything, but if you want to get a better view go ahead and click away.










Here is more bling I found today.














But my favorite finds of the day would be these:
vintage millinery corsage and little mirror








and these:

vintage birthday candles and cute little doll in a pink dress.


Well, I'm all tired out from all that shopping.


Have a fab weekend!

Random Stuff

We have sunshine in Oregon and all is good! After a long walk yesterday, I spent a good chunk of time cleaning and rearranging my daughter's room. She has a smallish room and lots of stuff. My sweet hubby finally installed the wall mounted tv holder my daughter got for Christmas so that freed up some floor space. I didn't get a picture of her room, but you wouldn't want to see that anyway. Let's just say, she doesn't share my love of all things vintage and roses. In fact, she is still trying to convince me to paint all of her furniture black. Ugh! I hope this is just a phase.

I do however have some random pictures to share with you. Starting with this one. This is where the basket I got last week at Monticello ended up. In case you don't remember, it's the tallest one on the left.

Here is a little clock I found at the Salvation Army "boutique" store last week. I bought it for resale, but I don't know, it's pretty cute. I do have a small collection of vintage clocks, I just may have to keep this one for little while. The funny thing about this clock is that it's also a music box. It plays "Edelweiss" and for some reason it started playing while I was holding it and walking around the store. I couldn't figure out how to turn it off so people kept giving me strange looks.

I got a couple packages in the mail last week including a package of vintage bling I bought on ebay. It felt like Christmas going through the bag imagining what I would do with these pieces of jewelry past.












The bag also contained three vintage "jewels" that had been soldered onto metal sticks. Not sure what I'll do with these, but I think they would be cute in little potted plants for an extra sparkle surprise.















Also in the mail were some vintage hats that I wasted no time taking apart for the flowers. That's why I got them in the first place. I guess I should have taken a picture of the hats in their before state. Here are some of them after. I finally found a use for the big jar with the painted roses on it. I have had this jar for a few months now and have been wavering do I sell it? or do I keep it? I guess for now it's a keeper.








I mentioned in my post on Friday that I was working at the Middle School. When I walked in I noticed these neat wood cigar boxes just sitting on top of a shelf so I asked if they were being used for anything, and if not, could I pretty please have them? Of course they couldn't refuse me and the boxes came home with me. I was so excited to have them, only now, not sure what I will do with them. They are so cute as is, but... maybe some vintage wallpaper, rickrack, lace, who knows?

I've been thinking about my 100th post giveaway and I'm still undecided about what the prize will be. Should I do a pink roses themed gift? Easter/Spring theme? Random craft supplies? I do know that I want it to be something that will appeal to the masses. Or a least my blog readers. ha ha Stay tuned to find out. 100th post coming soon!

A Belated Happy Valentine's Day

I wanted to post yesterday, really I did. But after dropping the kids off at school, hitting a couple thrift stores and Barnes and Noble, going to the movies (Definitely, Maybe-sweet movie), I got home and started to read the book I bought at a mini-mart on my trip home from the In-laws and I couldn't put it down. Finally at 11:00pm as I was drifting off to sleep, I remembered that I forgot to post my Valentine Greeting to you all.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day with your loved ones. We didn't do anything special for Valentine's Day as I explained to my sweet hubby, "every day is Valentine's Day being married to you!" I know, corny, right? But it is so true. My special guy is just the best! He is the greatest friend, husband, father, comedian I could ever hope for. I truly am "the luckiest girl in puppetland" as I alway say to him.

Here we are on our wedding day, back in 1991. I had some seriously big puffy hair being held together by about a million bobby pins. Wow, we looked so much younger, but happy, don't you think? We dated 4 1/2 years before getting married. You can read about how we met on this post.

I have a couple awards/recogition thingys to share. Charlotte from At Home in Scottsdale passed on a blessing to me. So sweet. Thank you so much Charlotte!

Elizabeth from The Merry Rose gave me this award that I have seen going around. Did you know my blog is rated E for Excellent? Wow! I am so honored. I would love to pass this one on to some really and truly excellent blogs, but the list would go on for days.

Today I am working at the Middle School. My kids really love it when I work there. (Not really, they are pretty mortified.) Daughter: "Mom, how would you feel if your mom worked at your school as a lunch lady?" Me: "I would hate it, but my mom wasn't cool like I am." Daughter: "Mom, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you aren't cool" Me: "Yes, I am! I am too cool!" Daughter: rolling her eyes.

Three day weekend for us! Yeah! Hopefully I can stay away from the thrift stores long enough to get some projects done to show you next week. Have an Excellent weekend!

What I've Been Up To

Hi there! I'm back. We had a great time on our weekend away. Lots of sleep, relaxing and catching up with all the magazines I've been neglecting. So nice to get away and not worry about projects half done, cleaning house, etc.

Worked yesterday at the High School and was wiped out for the rest of the afternoon. Got a second wind in the evening and worked on a couple little projects.

I've been making these cute earrings out of all the old jewelry bits and pieces I've been finding. I just stuck them on this wire thingy I had. Now, I'm thinking I need to pretty it up a bit, but you can get the idea. I am going to try to make a few more and I will take them to Farm Chicks to sell.

I had this little wire chair frame for a while and finally got around to putting a cushion, rick rack and some flowers on it. I have two other little chairs like this already in my house, so this one is going into a little art project I have planned.

The last project I want to show you was so much fun. I had this little straw hat that I bought at Expo last summer and decided to make it prettier by adding a few flowers to it. I have this thing about using my best stuff. I just don't like to do it, but on this project, I just went for it. I love how it turned out and guess what, I hardly made a dent in my flower stash. It was pretty hard to get a good picture showing all the flowers.

Anyway, that's what I've been working on.

Today I headed over to Monticello to drop off a few items and clean up the booth a bit. I found a couple little things there and at the Goodwill where I stopped on my way. Here are my prizes. Vintage print with neat white and gold frame, vintage basket, amature landscape painting and this little rhinestone pin.

Well, that's it for today. I hope to work on some housecleaning and other projects tomorrow and on Thursday I have a thrifting date with my new friend Tammy! Yeah! You may remember me stalking her a while back. Well, she has her website up and running so a thrifting we will go.

91 and Counting

I can't believe this is my 91st post. Wow, that sure went fast. I guess I need to start thinking about a fabulous giveaway for my 100th post. I love giveaways, don't you?

Yesterday morning I spent a couple hours at the Goodwill Outlet. I can't say that I found as many exciting treasures as last time, but I still found some good stuff. I threw most of it in the wash before I got a chance to take a picture, but I found a neat duvet cover for my daughter, an old light green chenille bedspread, pretty much a cutter, but will be good for projects, some miscellaneous vintage linens with their garage sale stickers still attached, a couple pair of shorts overalls (project in mind for farm chicks), and this stuff.

A little wood doll high chair, wood step stool, funny glittery part hat and old ironing thingy, rose needlepoint picture, old lamp shade , old frame, little white birdy, some little sparkly flowers, baby slippers, needlepoint sampler, lace, rick rack, pink satiny fabric and some floral chintz fabric. Grand total for all of this stuff, plus what's in the washer soaking, $25.00. Gotta love the Goodwill Outlet!

After getting home from Goodwill yesterday, I worked on another project that is taking me longer than I thought it would, so I don't have pics to show you just yet. But I can show you this:

Remember the wedding veil I got the other day at the Deseret shop? Well, I gave it a little tea bath on the stove and look how cool it turned out. Right now it is hanging on a frame over the cabinet where my vintage wedding topper/other wedding stuff hangs out. I will most likely sell it, but maybe it can hang here for a while.

Later today we are heading over the mountain to go visit my in-laws for the weekend. It will be good to see them and just hang out and relax. I'm sure they will have a warm and toasty fire in the woodstove upon our arrival. Ahhh!

Have a great weekend!

The Benefit of the Writers Strike

I don't know about you, but I am so over tv. I can't believe I just said that. I love tv. Always have. But since the writers strike has cancelled so many of my favorite shows, I have been a lot more productive in the evenings. I don't know, maybe I just have too many ideas of things to do running around in my brain and I finally realized that I just need to get busy.

Yesterday I got busy working on a couple projects. One I actually finished that I'm pretty happy about. On my way to Monticello yesterday, I hit a couple thrift stores. I'll show you my thrifty finds in a minute, but I also found this cute little denim jacket ($2.50) and dress ($4.99) at Value Village. You may remember recently that I just reconnected with an old college friend and found out she has a daughter I didn't know about. Well, we haven't made any plans to get together yet, but I wanted to make something special for her little girl, so that when we do get to see each other, I would have something for her. So, after washing everything I started to work on cutifying this little ensemble and here is what I came up with.

I used some of my favorite barkcloth era cotton twill fabric.

I found the perfect piece of vintage lace from my stash and made a little band around the bottom of the dress. I then stitched a rose from the same fabric on the front of the dress. On the jacket I just sewed more of that fabric on the back panel and collar and voila! Instant sweetness! I still want to do a handstamped label and maybe a little coordinating head band. If I was really adventurous I would make a little fairy wand to match too, but that might be a bit much. We'll see...

Now for my thrifty finds. I am really low on funds right now, so I tried to be selective in my purchases. First stop, Goodwill, where I found this adorable bed tray. I don't know how vintage it is, but it is in great shape and the tray part actually tilts up. Price was $9.99 which was a little higher than I hoped, but, what's this? A $10.00 coupon hiding in my wallet? Yes, it is. Yeah! So, price for bed tray, free! I also got a pewter alphabet/numbers dish and a little handmade candy/gum dispenser which of course will be painted white with maybe a little rose wallpaper added. Wouldn't it be so sweet with pink and white gumballs in it?

Also at goodwill I found this sweet little hand painted daisy lap desk. Very nicely done. That will just get a price tag and go directly to Monticello.

Next stop was the Deseret shop which is a thrift store run by the members of the LDS church. I almost always find something here and I can count on the prices being really cheap. There I got the wedding veil, wire basket, metal planter, double picture frame and weird little safety pin and bead doll all for $3.75.

I was pretty good at Monticello and only got two things. The little cabinet box and little metal hanging thingy. I just sold two of these in my booth, but I've never seen a tiny one like this before. It will hold some of my bracelets in my bedroom. And lastly, the necklace came from Value Village. It is really long and I'm sure I can come up with a lot of uses for it.

Well, I told myself that I must go walking today. Once a week is just not cutting it, but I guess it's better than not at all. I am meeting some friends for lunch today, but also plan on working on some more projects. Hopefully I can finish something to show on my next post.

Happy hump day!

I don't know why, but I'm having trouble with spacing today. I keep trying to fix it, but it isn't saving my changes.

I'm not worthy!

I want to thank Michelle at Back Through Time for giving me the "You Make My Day" award. You are too sweet Michelle. I love all of these fun bloggy awards.

In turn, I am going to pass this award on to my new buddy, Suzanne, of Pink Roses. I have been an admirerer of her blog for a couple months now and just recently added her as a contact on Fickr so I could access her photos easier.

They are just so beautifully done and of things I love, hello, her blog name is Pink Roses. Anyway, she sent me a flickr mail back saying, "OMG, I just looked at your pictures and you could be me, do you have a blog?" Or something close to that. I emailed her back with my blog address and next thing I know I get a comment from her saying, "I've been here before...." It was all so funny. We really do have so much in common, I'm just so sad that she lives all the way on the other side of the United States from me and we can't just go thrifting together every day. Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing as we would most likely be fighting for the same stuff. ha ha I'm sure someday we will meet in person, but for now, I will just have to be content to stalk her on her blog on a regular basis.

Speaking of Flickr, the other day I got a note from Pearl from A Story Book Life telling me that she used a couple of my pictures on a feature they did on decorating with bird cages. Wow, I'm so flattered, really. You can view the feature here. I love the other pictures she shows. Some I even recognize from some of my favorite bloggers. She even made a sweet comment that it would be fun to do a feature on my whole house. Does that mean I have to clean?

I had a good time yesterday at the Flea Market. Unfortunately I didn't sell as much as I hoped, but I guess I did better than some others. It seemed like there was a lot of people there buying, just not from me. Joy met me at 6am to help me set up. Thanks so much Joy! She couldn't stay as she was expecting company for Super Bowl and she was going to get busy making another crown with Sheila. I'm sure they had a lot more fun than me. But, I'm not really complaining, I did have a little time to do some shopping. Here's what I found.


I got the cute pink vase really cheap, lots of rhinestoney bling, a cute belt buckle that I'm going to add some bling to, a broken pearl necklace, mustard seed bracelet (love this), and another silver watch. Just couldn't pass it up. It's hard to see all the little stuff here, but if you click on the pic, you can get a better view.







Oh, and I also got this lovely diamond (aka rhinestone) ring for only $3.00. It says it's 18kt on the inside. I just thought it was pretty. It was hard to get a good picture of it, but it has five diamonds, I mean rhinestones, up and down and three across.

On my way out the door I spotted this cute drawer. 3 bucks the dealer said, sold, I said. I think it will make a darling shadow box, don't you?

I don't know if I will do this particular sale again, but it is definitely worth it to go and shop. I always come home with some good treasures.

Heading over to Monticello tomorrow to pick up our January check and drop off some goodies. Hey, I wonder if there is a Goodwill Outlet over on that side of town? I would love to do some more digging.

Happy Monday!

P.S. One quick last note. Dede mentioned on her blog the other day the fabulousness of jewelry designer Tammy Fischer and said she lived in Oregon. After checking out her blog, which is awesome, btw, I sent her a little comment saying how much I loved her stuff and that I too live in Oregon. Long story short we live only 30 minutes away from each other and now we are new best friends. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but isn't blogging great? I would probably never have met her if it weren't for fabulous blogs like Dede's. Thanks Dede!

Thrifted Finds and More Valentine Love

Yesterday I went to that little flea market here in my town. There was actually a little line when I got there which surprised me.

Anyway, I'm so glad I went because look at what I found.

A local antique dealer just closed her shop and she had three big tables full of treasures for just $1.00 each! I got all ten vintage frames, four with glass for a buck a piece. I also got the little box, vintage earrings, vintage collapsible cup, pearl necklace and three other necklaces, and the two tin heart ornaments (not old). I got everything pictured here for $21.00.

Click on picture for a better view of the cool junk I got.









Next, I headed over to a town just down the road as I saw that there was an estate sale going on. I usually don't have a lot of luck at estate sales, but occasionally I get lucky. Usually I am too cheap to pay the prices they are asking, and I wouldn't say that the prices yesterday were fabulous, but they weren't too bad. Here's what I got there.


After uploading this picture I realized I didn't arrange things very artfully. Oh well. You get the gist. I love this little pink stool. Also found the vintage fruit dish towel, pink and brown apron, bag of trim featuring little pink rose appliques, vintage sweater, little rose & heart necklace, pearl choker, and bag of vintage plastic clips. I got all of this for $24.00. Not too bad.

Close up of pearl choker and sweater. I love vintage sweaters and wear them all the time. Usually with a rhinestone brooch from my collection. This one is a neat greyish tan color that I think will look great with a white t-shirt and jeans.

All in all, I'm very happy with the short time I spent thrifting yesterday.





Later when I checked the mail, I got a package. Oh boy! Don't you just love getting packages in the mail? I sure do! And I was really looking forward to this one as it was from my "oh so charming, itty bitty swap" partner Jo. Yesterday I showed you what I sent her. Well, take a looky at what she sent to me.

Everything was so wonderfully packaged, I didn't want to open anything, it was so pretty. Did I mention Jo likes all things French? I just loved her little french themed gifts. She even drew a picture of Le Tour Eiffel on the envelope. Just gorgeous. And look at the little rose treasure chest! Wow! She went all out.

Here's a picture of what was inside all of those fab packages. Lots of yummy goodies and dvd of French Kiss, and Paris CD.

Here is a close up of the itty bitty valentine Jo made for me. She is really one creative person. I wish she had a blog. Really Jo, I know you are busy with your twins, but you really should have a blog to show everyone how incredibly talented you are.


Last night I got a call from the lady at the Polk Flea Market which is being held tomorrow. You may remember me trying to get into it last month with no luck. Well, she called to tell me she has two tables available if I want them so I said yes! That's what I will be doing tomorrow. Selling at the flea market. I do realize that it is Super Bowl Sunday, so hopefully people will still come and want to buy my junk. I will be busy today getting everything together so I can leave here tomorrow at 5:00am. Ugh! Wish me luck!