Thrift Store finds & Recent Purchases

I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day, I really enjoyed looking at all the swap goodies, lots of great treasures!!  We havent really celebrated Valentines Day yet, after the kids parties at school and the school dance, I was too pooped to go out, so maybe this weekend.  My foot is feeling better, they gave me a "boot" to wear for a few weeks and orders to not do anything strenous.  SO, I figured shopping is relaxing for me and I headed to the thrift store.  Here are some of my goodies from Friday that I found:

Pretty Pink doilies for my bedroom dressers

I am going to use these for my Easter decorations, they look as if they are stained, but it must have been the lighting.

I love this earring and pin set, although I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet...wear it, display it, use it in a craft.  They still have the little "made in japan" hang tags on them, and for $2, I couldnt leave them sitting there.  I also bought the mouse just because it was cute, but I dont particulary care for mice (except the ones in Cinderella).  Now that I am looking at these pictures, I see some sort of shadow on the left side of all my pictures...must have been bad lighting.

Also, got these crocheted doll clothes, I have a few old dolls that I am hoping will fit these clothes.  Such a pretty spring color. 

Well that is it for my thrift store goodies, total for the day was $9 andsome change.  Now, I will go for the next few weeks and not find a darn thing, thats how it goes, you just have to hit it at the right moment.   I have also made a few purchases, first are these super super cute pastel houses made by Julie, she has an etsy shop called http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5386317 Pieceful Bits.  (Okay, I am not sure if I am doing this link thing right, hopefully it works) . I am going to set these little houses up with my Easter decorations.  I had bought a few of her houses "after christmas" and was sad to put them away, so I am so happy to be able to enjoy these for awhile.

I have alot of red in my kitchen, I like the retro diner look and when I saw these little coasters I knew they would be perfect, but I am hanging them up, they are not going to risk getting messed up by being used.  They are actually a little bigger than coasters, could be used as potholders.  I just love the the little tea pot and tea cup.  These come from Angela at Norththreads.com or you can visit her at Glitter and Grunge or her http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=17763 etsy shop (there goes that link thing again).  She has one more set of these left...very cute and well made!!

And last I want to show you something my aunt made my for my birthday which was in August, but she just found it..LOL. I usually dont like my birthstone, but it looks pretty on this angel, but what I really like are the flowers.  She does quilling and all those little flowers are quilled.  Whenever we get a chance, she is going to sit down and show me how to do it.  I remember doing it quite a few years ago and getting frustrated with it, so now that I am older and have more patience (haha) maybe it will be easier. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Murphys Law & The Bad Dog

Okay, so you ask what he could have done wrong, he looks guilty doesnt he?  He just turned a year old and is a very lovable dog, but as much as we like to think that he is "domesticated", there are times when his hunting gene takes over.  We live on about 200 acres, only 5 is ours, the rest is the neighbors, and we are about a mile back on a dirt road so the dogs around here are not tied or caged.  My neighbor about a 1/2 mile farther down the road from me processes deer during deer hunting season, which is now, and all the parts he does not use, get thrown into the woods or something.  Anyway, my dog being the great hunter that he is will go find these parts and bring them home to me as some sort of gift.  The other day he was scratching at the door to come in and there he stood with a big rack of deer ribs in his mouth, tail a wagging as if to say "Hey, look what I found, lets play".  I was like "EWW", I slammed the door and run and got a plastic bag to get it away from him, of course he thought I was playing.  Anyway, he has since brought a few deer legs and a few unidentifiable parts, luckily no heads.  Everytime I let him out I warn him not to go over there, and I watch him, but I think he is taking the back way because I am still finding things......I will be soooo glad when deer season is over!!

Now, onto Murphys Law...On Tuesday it was 70 degrees here, not the norm for Feb. so I decided to wash the kids sheets and hang them outside.  On my way out the back door, I feel down the concrete steps with the tub of laundry and sprained my foot.  I have broken my left ankle 5 times from the ages of 8-16 so I knew it wasnt broken and I continued about the day hobbling around washing floors, scrubbing toilets, etc.  About 6pm it started to really ache, was bruised and had a big goose egg on it, and the pain was getting worse.  So, my husband decides I need to go to the emergency room, but that is not the bad part.  I wanted to take a shower before I went, but NOOO, we had to go right then.  Needless to say I wasnt expecting to go inpublic that day and had my hair up in a ponytail, no makeup, cleaning clothes on and probably smelly, and that is how I had to go to the emergency room....and of course I had to run into a few people I knew, its always the way.  It couldnt have happened on a day when I was dressed for the occasion!  Anyway, I am off the crutches today and limping a little but its not bad (I even snuck out to the thrift stores while no one was watching).  Found some goodies too, a few things for ebay, more old easter grass and bunnies and a pink tote bag for my library books.  I am off to put all this stuff away before I am caught.

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DC Big Flea & Antique Show

Yesterday I went to Fredericksburg, VA, which is about an hour and a half from my house to the DC Big Flea & Antique Show.  My dads sister lives there, so I took him with me and dropped him off so he could visit with her for awhile and then me and the kids headed around the corner to the Expo center where it was being held.  Yes, I had to take the kids because my husband is on the night shift and sleeps during the day.  But the kids actually like going to the shows and looks at everything.  First of all the show was a madhouse...so many people and the booths are small, so if a few people are in a booth shopping you basically had to wait until a few came out so you could go in.  I think the guy said there were 400 booths.  The good thing was that their prices werent too high.  Although I still couldnt find what I went there looking for....DARN!!  Here are a few pictures...a big bag of old cards for valentines, christmas, birthday etc. , there were some really cute ones in there.

A set of 6 styrofoam sugared strawberries, when I saw them I thought I would they would look good in my kitchen (since it is red), but now I am just worried they may get messed up in there, so I think I am going to put them in my etsy shop.  They have strings for hanging them

A lady had a box full of bags with items in them for $1 so this is a few of the little things I bought.  I really love the little tin plates, they are so small as you can tell in comparison to the spools.  My kids got a few pieces of jewelry and coins.

After 4 hours of shopping and 3 exhausted kids, my cousins and my dad and aunt and I all went to Cracker Barrel for a little re-fueling.  I LOVE that place and Fredericksburg is the closest one to me.  Of course after we were done eating it was time for some more shopping and this is what I bought in their store.  The little felted bag was only $5.99 and the ornament only $2.99.

I have a few more vintage Easter decorations to show you that I bought, but that will be later.  Time to get the kids to bed and watch my movie....tonight its "Saw IV"....YES, I love gorry, scarry movies!!  Hope everyone had a good weekend.

 

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Valentine Posey

Well, I have spent the last few days cleaning up.  My kids had a 3 day weekend from school, and needless to say...things got out of place, even though we spent most of the weekend out of the house doing things like bowling, shopping and ice skating.  I did not ice skate though, I grew up in Florida where we had rollerskating rinks, plus I have broken my left ankle 5 times and since I have never been on a pair of ice skates, it would just be asking for trouble.  So, I stayed on the other side of the window nice and warm eating french fries!!

I have to show you what I received in the mail today.  I LOVE Raggedy Ann (vintage Raggedy Ann), and have a little room full of old Raggedy Ann things like, jewelry, cards, banks, ornaments, dolls, books, curtains, blankets.....anyway..its bad, I should really weed some of it out. I will have to post some pictures of all of it.  Anyway, I contacted Diane from Saturdayfinds to see if she could make me a Valentine Posey using a few of my old Raggedy Ann Valentine cards and stickers, and here it is:

I LOVE it....is it not the cutest, and she had 2 Raggedy Ann hang tags tucked inside of it. You have to look closely to see all the goodies on it.  Plus she also sent me a goodie bag filled with lots of great things.  Such a sweetie, Thank You So Much. 

Hopefully next week, I will post some pictures of some more Easter crafts.  They were kinda put on hold this week, I voluntered a few days at my youngest kids school and I think I am one of those obsessive compulsive people because I cannot do anything unless the house is clean.  I dont mean it has to be spotless, but it has to be straight.  I live in a tiny house with hubby, 3 kids and a black lab  (and only 1 bathroom mind you), so I dont have room for clutter.  Therefore once the kids are off to school I cant leave the house until the dishes are done, beds are made, tables cleaned off, etc. because I dont want to have to come home and deal with a mess.  And, now that it is 10pm here and they are all in bed, its time to clean up from the nightly routine of homework, bookbags packed, lunch bags put out, clothes picked out....Okay, I am outta here for now....Have a good night!!!!

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Kinda Snowed In

Just as I was getting ready to go to the grocery store today it started snowing....really BIG flakes, so I decided I didnt want to be loading and unloading grocerys in that mess and stayed home.  We only got about an inch and then it turned to rain, which will probably freeze tonight and cause the kids to have a school delay tomorrow.  Delays are good for getting a little more sleep, but when there is a 2 hour delay the kids get in "play" mode and its harder to get them off to school.  I feel sorry for the teachers because they have to get them settled down for the rest of the day. 

I made a few more Easter Wreath ornaments for my Etsy shop and piddled around with a few other things.  This is a picture of a pair of chenille bunnies that I made when I was in 5th grade in 1976 and they sit in my Easter basket every year.  They are holding up pretty good for being over 30 years old, but I think I need to replace their poor little whiskers, they have gotten pretty crumpled.

And here is the one I am trying to do today.  I cannot find the chenille anywhere.  You can find all the bold classic colors, but its impossible to find a package of all pink or all blue.  Plus, it is not the same type of chenille that I used in 5th grade.  I did find the pink chenille in one of my craft catalogs, but no blue, so I am experimenting with pink and white and see how it comes out.  My bunny is only half done, this is how its coming along, it still needs lots of work. I remember having ALOT of help with my bunnies in the 5th grade!!  Does her head look bigger that her body?  My husband says she is not proportioned, I used a smaller size styrofoam ball for her head, but to me they came out looking like the same size.

I had a few of those paper boxes left, a few tiny bunnies, and some eggs, so while my wreaths were drying I made these two little ornaments.  I need to figure out how to put a loop on it for hanging, or I can put some little beads on the bottom to make "legs" on it.  I am trying to decide if I want to keep them or put them in my Etsy shop.  I just love the mini pom pom trim ( now I need to remember which store I bought it at, I think it was Jo-Anns)

Well, time to relax, I got a few movies from Netflix today and one of them has Matthew McConaughey in it...whoo hoo!!  Have a good night!

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New Projects & Purchases

Last week was really busy, so this week I am staying home and getting some things done.  Today I spent ALL day cleaning up all my craft supplies.  I bought a bunch of pearl beads and sequins from Michaels and AC Moore that they had on clearance and they needed to find a container instead of sitting in bags on my floor.  Of course when they put things on clearance it usually means that they wont be carrying them anymore, which is why I bought almost all they had. 

And last week my sons science fair project was due, or should I say MY science fair project.  When I was in school they were pretty simple, but now they have all these "requirements", and I am not very handy on the computer when it comes to doing graphs, which is one of the requirements.  Luckily I have neighbors who are computer nerds and can whip up a couple of them in no time flat.  I just hope MY science fair project was as good as some of the other parents.....some of them are real good at the graphic arts thing and the projects come in looking like a presentation for NASA.  Oh well, at least its over...but wait...next year I will have to do 2 of them since my 2nd grader will be required to do one...I better get started now!!

Okay, now on to some new projects and purchases.  Here is a ornament I got from Sadie Lou, they are called Betsy ornaments and I had to have one since my daughters name is Betsy, plus the ornaments are just plain adorable.  Sadie Lou is super nice and will custom make one for you.  She has some really cute Valentine items in her Etsy shop as well.  You can find her blog listed over there on the left (still cant figure out how to do the link). And Thank You Sadie for featuring me on your blog!

These little glitter house  I bought on Etsy from a shop called Pieceful Bits.  I was going to use them for Easter and sit my vintage chickens and bunnies around them, but she said she was thinking about making some pastel ones for Easter, so I may check back and save these for christmas.

This is really bad, but did you ever make something and not really know if you like it or not, well, that is how I feel about this ornament.  I usually only make the beaded/sequined ornaments for Christmas and Easter, but thought I would try one for Valentines...its a pink satin ball with crystal and red beads, pink ribbon and pink roses.  What do you think....be honest, I dont mind.  I think I would like it better if I saw it hanging on a white tree with a bunch of other red and pink ornaments...here it is

I have started on my eggs, this one is decorated with vintage lavender floral trim, lavender sequins and beads.  Sometimes people want a grouping of about 6 of them in pastel colors and display them in a basket and sometimes they want hangers on them to hang on a Easter tree.  I have a vintage plastic Bunny pulling a cart that I like to put mine in, but I did buy a small metal tree that I might use this year.

And these are in my Etsy shop right now.

Okay, I have obviously been on here too long because my kids are telling me that I need to see what happened in the living room...better go check that out!!  Have a good night.

Easter Goodie Giveaway

Well, my house is back in order now that the holidays are over.....well, at least somewhat, we cant count the kids room since that is a never ending battle.  My daughter keeps her room pretty neat, but the boys rooms is a whole other story.  It seems like the messier it is the better they like it, and when they cant find something they come and ask ME!!  So I tell them to clean their room and they may find it, but that doesnt work, its just makes it worse since they tear it up even more looking for whatever they lost.  Oh Well, hopefully they will get out of that stage. 

Okay, see that picture of the boxes up there.  I am going to do a giveaway for one of them.  You get to choose which one you would like.  I am new to blogging, but have been reading everyone elses blogs for about a year.  I know its a little early for Easter, but I dont really have any Valentine crafts so you will get a jump start on your Easter decorating.  Just leave a comment and I will put all the names in box and have one of my kids do the drawing on Friday night.  The boxes are something I had not made before but this summer at a yard sale I got a whole box of Easter and Christmas miniatures, paper boxes (from little to REALLY BIG ones), ribbon  and a bunch of other goodies in there for $5.  So I thought I would try my hand at decorating them.  If you would like a closer look at them, go to my flickr link and I have the individual pictures there.

Isnt this the cutest bucket, I got this from a shop on etsy called Saturdayfinds.  I love the little wooden shoes tied to the handle.  I have her blog listed so you can click on that to get to her shop since I havent quite figured out how to insert links yet.  She has some adorable vintage Valentine Pockets listed right now, I cant wait to see what she does for Easter.

Well it is a nice day here and the kids want to take the dog for a walk.  We have a year old black lab who can never, and I mean NEVER get enough exercise.  The more we wear him out the better. Tomorrow is 25% the whole store at the thrift store tomorrow so if I get some treasures I will post them.  Have a good week!! 

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