Button Love

Yesterday Analise over at Sugar*Sugar gave the challenge to "show us your buttons!" As usual I am late to the party, but I do have a few buttons to show you.

Lovely glass buttons

Sparkley rhinestone buttons (my favorites)

Buttons on Cards

Pretty Pink Buttons (of course)

Extra Large Buttons

Miscellaneous Vintage Buttons

Two jars of white buttons.

A couple ways I display my buttons. In a pottery dish.

On a silver two-tiered tray.

Pictured on the left is a button lot I just got on ebay that I am waiting to get in the mail. In case you couldn't tell, I really love buttons. I have made an attempt to sell some of my less favorite darker colored buttons. I really only want to keep the rhinestone, white, pink or really unique ones. To check out more button love, go see Analise's blog to get a list of other button collectors. After taking a look, I was so happy to see that I am not the only one out there with a lot of buttons. Joy tells me that I don't really have enough so I am challenging her to show her button collection and you will see why she thinks I don't have enough buttons.

I thought I would end this post with a picture my Mom recently emailed to me. This is a picture of my Maternal Great-Grandmother, Great-Grandfather, Great Uncle and the cute little girl is none other than my dear Grandmother who recently passed. I love this picture. I love her sweet little expression. I love that her shoes look really big. I love the she is fingering what looks to be some kind of button on my Great-Grandfather's jacket. Maybe she loved buttons too!

A Thing for Vintage Dressers + 7 Things

Last week I was surfing around on craigslist. I love craigslist, btw. Love it! I have both bought and sold many things on craigslist. If I could I would give this Craig person a hug for coming up with a way to get rid of and buy stuff quite easily. Anyway, back to the surfing. While I was looking around I spotted a listing for a "Chest of Drawers" in my town. When I clicked on it I thought, hey pretty cute, but more than I would normally pay for a dresser. Oh, did I mention, I have a thing for vintage dressers? I love them and they are usually pretty good sellers for me at the antique mall. Okay, I'm getting off track.

Fast forward to Wednesday when I finally decided I needed to go look at this dresser I found. Well, let's just say that I fell in love with this dresser, and, I offered $20 less than the asking price, and it was accepted so the dresser came home with me. Now, this dresser is a lot older and completely different from the one I showed on my last post and I paid a little more than $14.99 for it, but this one is way cooler in my book. So without further ado, here it is:

I love the chippy paint, the carvey parts and of course, the cute little drawer boxes on top. It is pretty dirty and stinky, things that don't really put me off, but come on, pink paint! Did I mention that I love it?!

Okay, now that I have completely bored you with the story of the new dresser, I will now bore you some more with 7 random things about me. Tammy tagged me to do this, so if you are bored with my list, blame her. If you are new to my blog and want to read some more boring stuff about me, you can click on the "stuff about me" category on my side bar. Here goes!

1. I love the beach! I do! Have always loved it. The Oregon Coast is so much different from the beaches in California where I spent the first 12 years of my life, but I think if I had to choose, I would choose Oregon. The beaches are peaceful and uncrowded and quite frankly my bikini sunbathing days are long over so that isn't an issue. We actually went to the beach today and I will share some pictures in my next post.

2.When I was a little girl, I loved to read. I still do, but just don't seem to find the time to do as much reading as I would like. Plus, if I do pick up a book, I have to read it from start to finish and nothing else gets done. When I was little, my favorite books were the Little House series. I bought them and read them all again a few years ago and they were still as wonderful as I remember.

3. I love buying vintage linens even if they are dirty. Like Joy, I get a thrill at seeing the dirty water when I soak my linens in Oxy. I know, this one is strange, but I really love seeing that dirty water because it just means I am getting my new old linens really clean.

4. In June of 2006, I fulfilled a long time dream and traveled to Paris. I went with my Dad for a week and loved every minute of it. I felt like I was dreaming the whole time. My Dad and I are huge movie buffs and while we were there, we saw three movies including Marie Antoinette which didn't get released in the U.S. until a year later. Two days after that we went to Versaille where the movie was actually filmed. I am dying to go back to Paris and maybe visit the South of France as well and hope to be able to in the next few years.

5. Until recently I have never considered myself to be artistic. I can't draw or paint or sculp or play a musical instrument or even sing well. Having this blog has really made me realize that I am artistic in my own way. I can create things, sew, decorate and those are all artistic things, right? I still fall into the trap of comparing myself to other artists I admire and I am really trying hard to be proud of my own ablities and creations.

6. My Mom is probably my biggest blogging fan. She is the only person in my family who reads my blog on a regular basis and she always gives me kudos on my posts. (In person, she never comments.) Thanks Mom!

7. This one you probably already know about me, but other than spending time with my family, I would rather go thrifting than do anything else. That includes garage sales, flea markets, antique shows, etc. If I had unlimited funds I would still buy most things second hand. I am too cheap to pay retail. Isabel and I are always joking that we would still go to the Goodwill if we won the lottery. Our dream would be to fly to the east coast, rent a uhaul and thrift our way back home. Maybe someday.

Well, there you have it. More than you ever really wanted to know about me and then some.

Hope you all have a truly awesome weekend!

Unfinished/Finished Business

Sometimes coming up with a title for my posts is the hardest part of posting. It has been a few days (okay, maybe more than a few) since I last posted and I have some odds and ends I want to share.

In my last post I mentioned that I would be sewing over at Isabel's house with her and Joy. I made it over there about 10am and spent a good chunk of time finishing up a shopping cart liner. That felt really good. I think it turned out pretty cute.

You tell me. This one I'm saving for Farm Chicks. I'd like to do about 5 more at least. I have a lot of carts. I pick them up whenever I see them if they are cheap. I'm really glad I have a good stash as I hardly ever see them anymore. Anyway, last summer I went through all my fabric and bundled some together for cart liners, so now when I'm ready to make one, I just grab a bundle. Saves a lot of time as I don't have to get all my fabric out and lament over which fabrics go together, etc.

Saturday I spent dinking around home working on various projects, cleaning and such. I did manage to finish one project I had been working on. Well, I'm almost finished.

Here is the before picture. Well, this isn't the actual before picture. I bought this dresser for $14.99 at Value Village the day I went with my friend Debbie. It had a really beat up veneer top which I painstakingly removed with the help of a heat gun and a scraper. It was actually pretty easy, just tedious. Underneath was a nice wood top, not too damaged. I removed the ugly metal knobs, sanded the whole thing, painted the drawer fronts with white primer (the only white paint I could find) and put on some crystal knobs from my stash and a little vintage decal and voila.

So much better. This one I'm keeping. It will go in my sewing room to replace a newer cabinet I have in there. I really wanted some big drawers to store my vintage wallpaper in as it is kind of everywhere and hard to store. Right now I have it standing in baskets which kind of ruins the ends.

Anyway, I love the pink and white combination. I still need to wallpaper line the drawers before it will go into its new home.

This was a really easy project. I hate painting so the fact that I didn't have to do much on this one was definitely a bonus.

On Sunday I headed over to Monticello with a basket of new/old stuff to put out. I really didn't buy anything except a birthday gift for Isabel which I can't show yet as she hasn't seen it and I don't want to ruin the surprise. I did stop at 2 goodwills (found nothing) and Value Village where I found this sweet vintage cottage print, four padded baby hangers, vintage watch, liquor decanter, and two little silver Hilton Hotel spoons.

Did I mention that my first job out of college was for Hilton in LA? I was so excited to find those spoons as I never stole, I mean got any souvenirs from when I worked there.

The bird cage, metal container, sheet music book and slip all came from the American Cancer Society thrift store which was just across the parking lot from the Thai restaurant that I went to yesterday for lunch with some of my lunch lady friends.

I have been a little negligent about responding to a couple tags and an award I have been given. Linda, who is a frequent commenter on my blog and a real sweetie, tagged me to do the six word memoir Meme (I'm still not sure what "meme" stands for, is it short for memory?) Anyway, you are suppose to come up with a six word memoir that describes yourself. I'm not very good with things like this. All I could come up with is:

"Family, More Beautiful than Pink Roses."

Karoline, was so sweet to award me with the "You Make My Day" award. If you haven't visited Karoline's blog, go right now. She has the most adorable daughters and a sweet vintage style. We share a lot of the same collections and she sells her lovely handcrafted creations on Etsy and Ebay.

Tammy, who you may remember as one of my new BFF's, has recently tagged me to do the 7 things about me thing. I have done this a few times before, so I feel like you already know what a kook I am, but as I am always one to play along, I will have to think about some more things to share with you. I will try to do it on my next post.

Taking the kids and some of their friends bowling today. We really need to get out of the house. Too much tv and computer stuff. On Friday, my hubster is taking the day off and we are going to head to the coast (beach for some of you) for the day. I am really looking forward to that as it has been way too long. Of course, we may just have to stop at a couple thrift stores along the way. We'll see.

Added note: I am having trouble with my hotmail email account. For some reason it is not letting me respond to messages I have received, so if you have sent me an email in the last few days, I will try to get the problem fixed and reply as soon as I can. Thanks!

Thrifted Finds and A Thing for Roses Fabric

On my last post I mentioned I had a pretty good day thrifting on Monday. My plan was to stop at Home Depot to get some sandpaper and wallpaper paste after I dropped the kids off at school. Somehow my car just kept on going to the Goodwill down the road. I'm so glad it did as I found a few goodies. After that I drove a few more miles until I got to Value Village where I found a few more fun things. And finally I stopped at the Salvation Army Boutique. Here's a pic of my haul.

Wow, was it ever gray on Monday. Sorry for the bad picture. Here we have a cool basket, vintage bird feeder, batting, victorian couple plaque, big jar, three tier stand, quilted glove box, extra long floral curtain panel, two vintage half slips, little bunny in an egg, vintage baby print and


This funny little thing is actually a Steiff cat puppet. I was super excited to find this as they can be quite collectible. I found this one in a bag at the bottom of a basket at the Salvation Army. Sometimes it pays to dig. The funny thing is, that we already had a little dog puppet from when my husband was a baby. Now he has a friend.

At Goodwill I also found this dress. It's a little big for Manni, but a tiny bit tight on me. But isn't the fabric great? On closer inspection I could see that it is vintage and homemade. Very nicely done. Love the pleated skirt. Maybe if I can drop a few I will be able to wear it this summer.

My thrifting break last week did not include ebay as I found and bought some cute fabric to add to my stash. I am currently going through and cleaning out my sewing room and I will be selling my less favorite fabrics. But, as you can see, I do have a thing for roses fabric.

Close up of the three tickings I got from one seller. You may remember from my last post that I just cleaned out my stash of tickings, but these were so pretty and not ones I already had and a good price. Alright, my name is Lisa and I am a ticking addict.

Isabel found this fabric at the Camas Antique Mall last weekend. I was drooling over it the whole time we walked around and told her if she changed her mind, I would be happy to buy it. She was kind enough to share a couple bouquets with me. Thanks so much Isabel, I love it!

This is another shoe bag I found at the Camas mall. I actually saw it in the window while I was waiting in line and when I got in the door, ran and grabbed it. Now I have three and can't figure out where to put them.

On Wednesday I found this on craigslist. Isn't it great? I bought it to resell but am seriously thinking about keeping it. Maybe I'll just keep it a couple months and take it to Farm Chicks. Speaking of Farm Chicks, this week I have actually been working on some projects to take there. I am getting more and more excited and even though I still have a few months, I know that I have a lot to do before I'm even close to being ready. I sure hope to be able to meet some of my blogging friends at the show. For more info you can go to http://www.thefarmchicks.com/.

Today I will be going to Isabel's to work on some sewing projects. Joy's coming too. Should be lots of fun and laughing. Maybe we will even get something done too. I plan on working on a shopping cart liner and some smaller sewing projects. Have a fun weekend! It's the start of our Spring Break so we'll have to do some fun things with the kids next week.

Saturday

Saturday morning we were up very early and headed up to Washougal to attend the first sales event at the new "Flourishes," formerly the site of Willow Nest. We made it there just as they were opening for early sales at 8:00am. Aleta and Bill did a fabulous job decorating the place with all kinds of wonderful things to buy. I took a few pictures of some of my favorite pretties, but of course, forgot to take pictures of my shopping companions (my Mom, Isabel and Jean.) Here we go!

Joy modeling a sweet little tiara.

Martha showing the adorable pin wheels.

Of course I had to buy a few pretties for myself. Joy helped me pick out this lovely wreath made by The Withies. See the little birdie and my favorite pink roses.I also got this sweet little vintage ice cream box filled with a little assortment of pretty things from Madison Park. The itty bitty bench came from Flourishes. There were lots more things I wanted to buy, but I was trying to be good. After we left Flourishes, we headed on over to the Camas Antique Mall where there was a line of people waiting to get in. They were giving out Easter goodies and had cake and drinks and most booths had sales. Yippee! I only found a few things that I couldn't leave without and this little vintage fabric bear is one of them. I added the ribbon, but isn't she cute modeling my collection of vintage tickings. Actually, I spent a little time the other day going through my tickings as I finally realized I have way too much. The pile in the basket is what I'm keeping, the pile on the left will be heading to Farm Chicks. It was really hard to decide what to keep and what to sell as I really, really love tickings and have been collecting them for a long time..Saturday was very fun day spent laughing and shopping. On Sunday I just hung out at home trying to get a few things done that I have neglected. Monday I did what I do best, thrifting and I have to tell you, it was a great thrifting day. I can't wait to show you what I got, but that will have to wait until my next post. Have a happy Wednesday!

Friday

Friday morning found me in the heart of the Portland Pearl District where I made my way to the enchanting studio of Sally Jean Alexander. I had been looking forward to this day for a long time and was so excited to finally be there. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the studio to share with you (they were discouraged), but let me tell you that the term "eye candy" would be a gross understatement.

We were greated at the door by Brad (aka Mr. Sally Jean) and Sally introduced herself with a warm smile. I tried hard to pay attention to her, but there was just too much to look at. Shelves of all kinds of little treasures I could only imagine in my dreams. On the ceiling was the most amazing aqua vintage lighted snow flake. We were told another one was in their home. There were jars and jars of vintage goodies that I wanted desparately to get my hands on. And all of her wonderful creations, too many to see them all, but all filled with magical goodness.

This is Sally Jean, isn't she adorable? I felt a little weird about asking to take her picture, but she was very cool about it.


Here's a funny story (at least to me). As I was walking around I noticed an aqua blue folding metal chair that was chippy and rusty and I thought, hey, that looks like the chair I sold at a backyard sale Isabel and I had a couple years ago. I looked closer and hanging on it was a pink ribbon that I used to hang the price tag on. Same chair. Of course I had to tell Sally the story and that I was so happy to know that a little piece of me now has a home in her studio. I couldn't tell if she was amused by my story or secretly thought I was a wacko.

We spent the morning arranging our artwork and learning how to put the charms together in preparation for the soldering. I was pretty prepared and put my charms together quite quickly. Before we knew it it was time to head out to lunch where we went to a most fabulous restaurant called The Paragon. We had a private room in the back of the place where we were served appetizers of Rosemary French Fries (yum) and Gorgonzola Cheesecake with Crusty Bread (double yum)! For my lunch I chose the pan fried chicken cutlets with mashed potatoes and green beans. DELISH! (Okay, now I'm sounding like Rachel Ray, sorry!) It was fun listening to Sally and Brad's stories during lunch. They were so sweet together and really make a great team.

When we got back from lunch it was time to start soldering. This was the part I was nervous about, but Sally gave us demonstrations and lots of encouragement. Of course, she made the whole process look very simple, and it wasn't too difficult. The hard part is getting everything to look good in the end. As I have said in the past, I'm not much of a perfectionist and I was okay with the many imperfections in my charms. I know that I need to spend more time getting the tape even and burnished and next time I sit down to make charms (which I hope I will do soon as making them is highly addictive), I will do a better job at making them a little prettier. But, for my first attempt, not bad I think.
Tell me what you think. These are all the charms I made on Friday. Notice a theme? Sally says we really need to keep our first charms so that we can see the difference practice makes.

If you haven't checked out Sally's book, "Pretty Little Things," I would highly suggest you do so. I checked it out at the library, but have since bought a copy at JoAnn's (used my 40% off coupon too). It is filled with sweet little soldering projects that I can't wait to try. If you have ever thought about learning to solder, I would strongly suggest taking one of Sally's "Soldering for Virgins" classes. They fill up fast, but keep trying, it is worth it. I know I am sounding like a paid advertisement for Sally Jean, but seriously, it was so much fun. Okay, I am officially gushing, but I don't care. Soldering charms, my new favorite thing.

I want to shout out a special thank you to Joy for letting me borrow her soldering supplies. Thanks so much Joy!

I was originally going to call this post "Friday and Saturday" as I have a fun Saturday to share with you too, but as this one is getting a little long, I will hold off telling you about Saturday until my next post. I always feel like I'm a couple/few days behind in posting. Oh well, come back soon, I promise to show you some yummy pics.

Pink Roses Swap

A while back I discovered the fantastic blog of the incredibly artistic and talented Suzanne Duda. I have talked about her blog on my blog before. Many of you know her. Her pictures and collections really spoke to me and we commented back and forth for a bit. Last month I proposed to Suzanne that since we have such similar styles that we do a swap, you know, supplies kind of stuff. She agreed and let me tell you how much fun I had putting together some things for her. I picked a little bit of all my favorite things and packed them all up in a box for her. You can see what I sent to Suzanne on this post. She took such incredible pictures that made everything look lovely.

Last week my package from Suzanne arrived and I was so excited to open the box. I went very slowly to make the experience last. I couldn't believe all the goodies she sent me. She says I sent her more, but I don't think so. Vintage wallpaper, labels, flowers, fabric, ledger paper, buttons, rhinestones, miscellaneous jewelry, and much, much more.

I truly felt like it was Christmas opening each and every thing. I want to again thank Suzanne for her thoughtful gifts. I can't wait to start some serious crafting. I already have a neat project in mind for the wallpaper. The little Eiffel tower and the neat lady hat stand have already landed in special spots in my home. Now, every time I look at them, I will think of my new BFF Suzanne.