Project Completed and a Birthday Girl

Remember these from my last post?

 

These were bought on Friday and by the end of the day on Saturday they looked like this.

I guess I should have taken a picture before I packaged them up, but you get the idea. I don’t think I’ve ever completed a project this fast.  I had so much fun making them, trying to decide what to embellish them with.  These cuties will be headed to Monticello for the Christmas sale which starts not this weekend, but next.  I am trying to find a cool wire dress form to hang them from so if you are local and have one for sale, please let me know.

On another note, today is my number 1 girl’s birthday.  She is 17 and I can hardly believe it.

Here she is looking all cute before the Homecoming dance this fall.  I know I have other pictures of her, but I think she looks so pretty here.  I asked her what she wants to do on her special day and her reply was to go to thrift shops.  I’ve trained her well.  ha ha

Tomorrow being Thanksgiving and all, I just want to wish you a very happy day.  Hopefully you will be spending it with friends and family.  Off to do some baking. Have a great one!

Recent Finds

Everyone in the house left to do their own thing, so I thought it would be a good time to check in and let you know what I’ve been up to.  Basically just the usual stuff, thrifting, re-stocking my booths, but we also spent a little family time with my favorite in-laws last weekend. It was great seeing them again and we all enjoyed a little family outing to the Norse Hall in Portland for a Ludefisk dinner. My folks also came over with my brother and his family to celebrate my kids birthdays. (My son turned 15, October 24th and my daughter turns 17, November 24th)

Here are just some of the goodies I have been finding over the last couple weeks.

 

Hand painted bird plate from the 50’s.

Sweet little metal lamp with hand painted roses and bows.

Cute vintage sewing bag.

Little bird, love her colors!

Misc. rick rack and flower pin.

Adorable vintage horses print in rustic wood frame.

I was so happy to find a bag of my favorite tin reflectors as I was completely out of them and wanted to make some Christmas ornaments like I did last year.  You can see them on this post.

I got these adorable stars from the Holiday Heritage Faire at the Mission Mill Museum in Salem yesterday.  They were made by my sweet friend Martha, and I am keeping these to put on my tree this year.

And finally, something quite unusual.

A lovely oil painting of Zsa Zsa Gabor from 1967. I don’t know what made me buy this, but I was sort of drawn to it for some reason.  Hopefully someone else will be too, as it will be making it’s way to my mall space soon.

Speaking of my mall space, things have been hopping at both malls lately with lots of sales so I’m super happy about that.  Today I’ve been busy packaging up some small items for a Christmas display I’m planning. I don’t usually find a lot of cool vintage Christmas items like my good friend Mitzi (who by the way, has some awesome vintage Christmas in her booth at Stars), but I have collected a few small things and have been packaging up a lot of jewelry and other things that would make great stocking stuffers.

Thought I would end this post with a recent picture of my Stars booth. I forgot to take one of my Monticello space, but will do that soon. Hope you all have a fabulous and fun weekend!

Evolution of a Garden Shed

Back in August, my hubby started a little project we call the “garden shed.” We had wanted one for years.  Ever since we sold the gigantic play structure that came with the house, we wanted to build a shed in it’s place.  We had the plans, which were approved by both the HOA and the city years ago, but life got in the way and we did nothing.  Here is what the spot looked like for a long time.

Actually, that is a very cleaned up version.  For a long time, we had a huge pile of yard debris there.  We are really lucky that even though we live in a somewhat newer neighborhood, we have lots of nice big trees for privacy.  Unfortunately, we could still see the neighbor’s trampoline.

Here’s my cute honey, still smiling. Can you see how our grape vines have grown over the neighbor’s trampoline?

My number #1 boy helped out a lot in the early stages.

Coming along.

Getting closer.

 

And voila, only three months later we have the completed garden shed.  I am so happy it’s finished.  Of course, I need to do a little planting, put up a window box, and jazz up the outside a bit. We painted it to match the house and it really blends in nicely in the backyard, I think. Lest you think I am going to decorate the inside, I need to let you know that this is strictly a garden shed. No cute antique bed or anything fun is going inside.  The good news is that having this shed will free up a lot of space in the garage for more of my junk that is currently residing in the house.

Okay, not the most thrilling post, but I’m pretty excited that this is one project that is finally finished.  Somewhat.  We are having beautiful weather up here in the PNW!  I think I’ll go outside and do a little painting.  Hope you’re having a fabulous day where ever you are.

White Wednesday~Just For Me

Several weeks ago I spied a cute little white cabinet with vintage glass knobs at Monticello where I have my booth.  I looked at it a couple times and left. After I got home I was still thinking about it.  Now, if you could see my house, you would know that I don’t need anything in the way of little cabinets, but I just adore them.  Can’t help it. So the next week I went back and bought that little cabinet. 

 

Haven’t decided what I’m going to do with it or where I’ll put it, but I know it’s a keeper.  Most of the stuff I buy is for re-sale, but every once in awhile (okay, if I’m being honest, lots of times) I will find something just for me. 

Yesterday after I finished fluffing my booth at Monticello, I took a few minutes to look around.  So glad I did because I found this (Okay, I know it’s not white, but clear is close, right?)

I just knew it would have to come home with me.  No hesitation this time. It was a great price too. After my dealer discount, only $30.  It’s a murano glass mirror in perfect condition.  I know that because I first saw one in Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic Home book. 

 

Her’s is a bit bigger than mine and so gorgeous.

I did a little checking and found one on ebay for sale with a buy it now price of $475, so I’m thinking I got a great deal!

Speaking of Rachel Ashwell, I may have mentioned before how much I love her and her design esthetic. Discovering her first book was like an epiphany and a beginning to my own decorating adventures. Recently Ms. Ashwell was at a show in Northern California signing copies of her newest book, (which of course I have and love) and I toyed with the idea of driving down there just so I could meet her.  A little stalkerish, I admit, but I am seriously hoping that she will deem us Pacific Northwesterners worthy of a visit someday soon.  Can you imagine how awesome it would be if she graced us with an appearance at Farm Chicks next year?  I, for one, would be thrilled!

Hope you enjoyed my little White Wednesday post! Have an awesome rest of the week!

New at Monticello and Stars

I know I’ve been neglecting my blog lately.  Honestly, I just haven’t been doing anything blog worthy.  Now that show season is over for me, I have been really lazy.  Not even shopping very much which is unusual for me.  I did go to a few thrift stores and hit a few estate sales last weekend, but didn’t find very much.  Today I made a little trip to both  of my mall spaces and spruced, fluffed, and brought in a few new things.

At Monticello I had sold a cute desk, so things were looking a little messy.  A good time to completely rearrange everything, which is exactly what I did. I brought in this cute and shabby vanity which you may remember from a recent post.

Also brought in an adorable vintage aqua fan

cute pink hat

sweet vintage cottage style chair (love the white paint with a little green showing in some of the chippy spots)

I absolutely adore this embroidered pillow!  I can’t imagine the time it took someone to make it.  It depicts one of my most favorite things: a quaint cottage by the water.

I brought a few things into my Stars booth as well, but unfortunately forgot to take a picture of some of them.  Here’s what I remembered to shoot.

Little shabby black shelf

great chippy vintage vanity mirror frame (would make a great chalkboard!)

Cute little handmade chair/shelf.  Would be adorable in a child’s room holding some vintage kids books.

I also brought in that little funky hanging light fixture on the right.

and finally, a cute vintage bell.  This is the kind that would go over a door in a store so the proprietor would know when people are coming or going.

It reminds me of the movie, “You’ve got Mail,” because there is a scene where Meg Ryan’s character is closing her adorable little children’s book store and the last thing she does before she leaves the store for good, is remove the door bell like this one. 

That’s it for me for now.  I hope to come back again with a White Wednesday post as I have a couple things to share.  TTFN!

Girls Night Out

Last night I got together with my college roommates.  It had been years since we were all together and we had so much fun getting caught up.  We all brought pictures to look through and let me say that there was a lot of laughing going on.  Picture 80’s hair and fashion.  Here’s what we looked like 25 years ago.

That’s me on the left, Yvette in the middle and Pavla on the right. I had just cut my hair short.  We used to love to get dressed up and go out to parties or dancing at the Beaver Hut together.  We made a lot of memories in that apartment.

Here we are now.

Did I mention I’m a red head now?  Wow!  What a difference 25 years makes! Notice how I have a beverage in my hand in both pictures? ha ha  These girls and I have history.  They know lots of embarrassing stories about me, and I them, and we still all love each other.  Reminds me of the song I learned in Girl Scouts.  “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”  These girls are definitely golden!

More Finds

My Mom called me the other day wondering if I was okay.  She said that I haven’t been blogging much lately and she was worried about me.  My Mom lives less than 5 minutes from me and keeps up with what I’m doing by reading my blog.  I’m such a bad daughter .  I guess I should call my Mom more often. 

I have been busy doing lots of things.  Had so much fun last Saturday at the Barn House sale.  It was great seeing everyone, and so fun to see the show from the working side, as opposed to the shopping side.  The weather was so beautiful and customers came and shopped like crazy. I didn’t take one picture, but of course, lovely Isabel did.  You can see them here.

I have been doing a little shopping myself and have picked up a few things here and there.

Got this cute pink cabinet at a church sale last week.

Found this cabinet

 

and this one

and this one

from a sweet gal on craigslist.

This project vanity was found at a garage sale I just happened by while out shoe shopping with my number one girl. The little end table on top I found at a thrift store, and the box with the drawer (actually an older cash box) was found at a Monday garage sale.  I also got a bunch of furniture casters there too for cheap.

Here’s what else I’ve been doing.

*bringing new finds into my mall spaces

*golfing and lunch with a good friend to celebrate her birthday

*attempting to clean house and tackle the giant pile of laundry that never seems to go down

*helping hubby paint the almost finished garden shed

*playing hours of jewels on my droid phone (my hubby got me addicted to it)

I can’t believe it’s Friday already, Wow! I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll be continuing the cleaning house thing and hopefully will squeeze in a little time to work on some projects. TTFN!