I'm a Lucky Girl

A couple weeks ago, Aleta had a giveaway on her blog. Some of you may know Aleta. She is the proprietress (is that a word?) of the fab new "Flourishes." See her blog for details on her upcoming sales. Anyway, she had a giveaway which I won! Yippee! Most of you know that I have a lot of stuff. I don't usually enter a giveaway unless I really want what is being given away. I would feel guilty if I won something I didn't need or want. But Aleta's giveaway was awesome!
Here's what she sent me:
Adorable pin wheel, cute paper box, the sweetest fuzzy chick, precious pink roses ribbon and just because she knew I collect vintage tickings she threw those in too. Isn't that so sweet? I also just adore the lovely millinery rose pin. I've already thanked Aleta on her blog, but I want to again say thank you for all the cute things you sent me. I really love it all!
Close up of rose and tickings. Love them!






















I'm so pleased to announce the arrival of my best bud Isabel's new blog! Maison Douce, which means "Sweet Home" in French. You may have heard me mention Isabel on my blog once or twice. She is my partner in "tickled pink" our business venture featuring our booth at Monticello Antique Marketplace and various antique shows throughout the summer. A while back I showed some pictures of Isabel's lovely home and collections. You can see them here, here and here. She is a true collector of all things romantic and vintage. Sometimes it's very hard to shop together as we both love lots of the same things, but we always have a good time and there is always lots of laughter. We love to exchange gifts for birthdays and Christmas because we know exactly what the other will love. Please pay Isabel a visit to say hi. I'm sure she would love to hear from you.

Here is another reason why I'm a lucky girl. On my way home from visiting my Mom at the hospital (she had knee replacement surgery) on Tuesday, I don't know what happened, but my car just pulled into the parking lot at the Salvation Army Boutique store. I am suppose to be saving my money for my trip next week, but I just couldn't resist getting these two neat things. I mean, come on, a vintage pink roses print and vintage brass chandelier? Seriously, how could I pass these up? I didn't notice until my sweet guy pointed it our, but the chandelier has a broken part at the top. But as every true shabby chic girl knows, that that makes no difference. It's still lovely even with the flaw. Unfortunately it didn't come with any crystals and this one needs a lot. I know of a place online, Spectrum Lighting, I think, that sells them pretty inexpensively, but still, it would have been great if it had the originals. Oh well.

Today I am meeting my sweet hubby for a lunch date. We haven't done that in awhile and as he is going on a trip to Japan soon, we wanted to do this before he leaves. Other than that, I really need to finish my swap for Heather. Better get on that now. Have a fab Thursday!

Flea Markets and Friends, A Great Combo

Isabel and I had a great time at the flea market Sunday. We got there early, but apparently not early enough, because by the time we found Joy, she had bought all the cute stuff. Not really, but she did get some really cute things which I'm sure if she gets her act together, and now that she is finished with her taxes, she will share on her blog :)

Isabel and Joy all smiles.

We also ran into Diane (Molly Mo's) and Martha. Here they are all smiling because they all found some really great stuff.

Here's a picture of what I found. Neat huge vintage suitcase, glass lamp, lampshade frame, pearls, bags of buttons and fixer upper rhinestone bling, little pink cup, pink foot massager, and neat blue box. In one of the bags of jewels was a really neat vintage ladies watch. A bulova. That was worth the $5 price alone.

These are the coolest things I saw at the flea market. Two pink dental cabinets. I have seen these go for a lot on ebay. Of course by the time I saw them they were being bought by my good friend Diane.

We needed to head home so we didn't get any of the yummy hash browns with gravy that I love. Oh well, sure didn't need it anyway.

On Saturday, my daughter and I went mattress shopping. What fun! (kidding) I had just gotten her a new (vintage) black metal bed frame ($25.00 on craigslist-gotta love it!) and she really needed a new mattress to go with it. We were successful and found a good one at a good price. But, the best part of the day is that I stopped at a couple estate sales along the way. I didn't find much, but was really happy with what I got.

Cute vintage pink plastic cabinet, fabric vanity tray with roses, more pearls, pearl and rhinestone hair pins, old metal lunch box, pink & white striped pillowcases, crocheted runner, vintage slip and two hankies.

I worked my lunch lady job today and will go back again on Wednesday. Tomorrow I promised Isabel that I would help her get her blog up and running. I am so excited that Isabel will finally have a blog and will provide a link to it from my blog. She has some incredible collections and is an amazingly talented seamstress/quilter. I can't wait for you so see her fun stuff.

Pictured on the left is another rhinestone lot I won on ebay. I always hate to say "won" as it sounds like I didn't have to pay for it, but of course, I did. Not much though.

I have a little trip coming up next week that I am excited to share with you. I will be heading south to see my Dad in Temecula and go to the Long Beach Flea Market. So, until then, no more thrifting/shopping/ebay/ craigslist. I only have a week and a half to go so you would think that wouldn't be too hard, but for someone like me, it is. Anyway, just want to make sure I have some moola to spend down south.

Have you seen this yet? I swiped this photo off of Heather's flickr page. OMG! This is beautiful. It is her swap for me for the "Junque in my Trunk" swap she is hosting. I am embarrassed to say that I have had her goodies ready for about two weeks now, just haven't decorated the box. I will get on that right away as this little beauty is probably on it's way shortly and I know that Heather's other two swap partners, Niki and Lori have already sent theirs to Heather. Oops! I am in the company of some very talented ladies. I hope my package doesn't suffer by comparison. My only consolation is that I know Heather will love what's inside the "trunk."

This post took me a really long time as I was having trouble posting pictures. Blogger just wouldn't let me yesterday so now it is being published in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

April Showers Bring Sunday Flowers

Today is "Show & Tell Sunday" and Analise and Cerri have asked us to show off our millinery flowers. I haven't been collecting vintage millinery flowers for very long, but I love them! So, on with my own little personal "flower show."

A lot of my favorite flowers live here in one of my vintage hat boxes.

A favorite pink rose.

I got this peachy pink velvet box from Isabel and I had the perfect flowers for it.

Some flowers on my new revolving rack.

Floppy red flowers.

Vintage hat and flowers found at the last Portland Antique Expo.

This box holds a few special things destined for the inspiration board I plan to make.

One of my favorite Monticello finds. A vintage basket with millinery already attached.

Here are a few ways I use vintage millinery in decorating my home.

My Grandma Pressley's vintage hats displayed in my bedroom.

On a pretty pink crinoline hanging in my sewing room.

On a silver tray, under a glass dome on a bookshelf in my living room.

In a bird cage with other pretties.

In a cabinet with some other special treasures.

On a vintage lamp in my entry.

I hope you enjoyed my "flower show today. Please make sure to check out Analise and Cerri's blogs for a list of other blogs who are participating in Show & Tell Sunday.

Going to the the flea market with Isabel this morning, so I'd better boogie! Have an awesome day!

Thursday's Thriftin Finds

Decided to hit a few thrift stores yesterday and I'm really glad I did. I should have been home working on some projects, but shopping is way more fun. I did the usual Goodwill, Value Village, Salvation Army route and this is what I found to bring home.

Cute scrolly wicker shelf, floral tin, decanter, two vintage jewelry box (only one shown), vintage baby ben clock, glass jar, brass towel holder, handpainted trinket box, vintage hankies, revolving display thingy, two clipboards, miscellaneous crocheted doilies, crocheted collar, pink bath pillow, glass paper weight and vintage plastic bowl. Sorry my picture is so dark, but if you click on it you will be able to see the individual items better. I scored at Value Village with several 50% items and a 30% coupon on all non sale items.

Close up of the clock and trinket box.

I also found this snowy white chenille spread. Large enough for my queen. Not a vintage one, but still pretty.

Here is a close up of the jewelry box dancer. She is a little underdressed, but I love that she doesn't just twirl when the music is playing, her legs dangle too.

When I got home from thrifting, I had a couple packages waiting in the mail for me. One was this lot of vintage rhinestone jewelry that I bought on ebay for a song.

This rhinestone tiara came in the same package.





















This one too. Not so vintage, but maybe I'll wear it when I go out clubbing. ha ha

I also got these five vintage watch bands on Etsy. I have some ideas for these.

Last weekend I went to Monticello for my weekly visit and of course could not resist stopping at a few thrift stores along the way. Here are a few of the things I found that day. Little handmade vintage box with drawers (already gave this one a makeover with some paint), vintage suitcase, wood folding stand.

Rose still life painting.

And finally, another shopping cart and another lap desk. This one is a lot bigger than the other ones I found and will get a make over with some creamy paint.

That's all I have to show you for now. My next post will be on Sunday when I am participating in Analise and Cerri's "Show & Tell Sunday." Should be a lot of fun so make sure to come for a visit then. Until then, have a great weekend!

A Day at the Beach

On Friday we headed out early for a drive to the coast/beach. Our destination was Cannon Beach where we hadn't been in several years. Usually when we go to the beach it is to Lincoln City as it is the closest for us to travel to. This is the scene out the window on Friday, our last day of spring break.

Lots of snow and stormy conditions, not typical for this time of year in the coastal range. There were also lots of cars in ditches too, so I'm glad we arrived at our destination safely. When we got to Cannon Beach we parked the car and decided to walk around the town a bit. Not many shops were open yet, but we did manage to find this wonderful shop. Sesame & Lilies. They have been written up in Country Living or Country Home, I forget which one. But they had all kinds of neat things to look at. Most things were way too expensive for my thrift store budget, but it was still fun to look. I loved this shell display on the wire rack.

Cool old bottle display on a neat crusty cabinet.

Sparkley chandeliers

Pretty pink display

Very cool chippy antique plate rack

And, the store's cute mascot

After we walked around a bit, we decided to grab a bite of lunch at our favorite beach restaurant, Mo's. They are famous for their clam chowder. I had my usual bowl of clam chowder, salad with shrimp and garlic cheese bread. Wish I got a picture of it, but it was gone before I could get my camera out. After lunch I had a hard time convincing anyone to walk on the beach with me. We decided to drive south to see what we could see and found a place to walk down to the beach for a bit. Here is my cute hubby, all bundled up.

Sweet daughter climbing on the rocks

Adorable son waving at Mom.

After playing on the beach for a while we decided to take a different route home and traveled south stopping at little beach towns and of course a few antique shops and thrift stores along the way. I didn't find much to bring home. Some glass knobs, a basket, vintage sewing stuff and this.

This sweet vintage nightgown was just being hung up at a thrift store when I saw it. I love the ruffley detail. I paid a whopping $2.00 for it and it even fits me. Here is Manni modeling it with her collection of pearl necklaces.

Even with the crummy weather, we all had a good time at the beach. We definitely need to go back on a sunnier day. Gotta run now, hop on my pink cruiser to go to my lunch lady job. Have a fun Wednesday!