A thriftin' we will go....

hi ho the dario, a thriftin' we will go!

Hi y'all! Wanted to share a few thrifting finds w/ you. Isn't it funny how you can thrift & not find anything & then one day, find a whole bunch of stuff. I had one of those "whole bunch of stuff" days recently. ;o)

I found a couple of little compartmentalized drawers (will paint them white & use them for jewelry bits in my studio), tiaras (getting to where I have to pay a bit more but I still can't resist them....I paid $10 a piece for these 2) & a wonderful old pair of girl's ballet slippers.


A pair of French revolutionary dolls (destined for an assemblage) & a vintage April angel.

I collect vintage sentiment plates...these will be nice to add to my collection.

wire basket, ollllld doily, Short & Sweet cookbook (great recipes!) & a beautiful cake stand (was only $5.99!)

an apron made out of vintage hankies, a few carrots & big bag of glass stirrers . Don't have a clue waht I will do w/ the stirrers but I think they'll be used as a project of some kind instead of for their intended purpose. *crossing my fingers that I can think of something to do w/ them so I'm not out a whole 2 bucks! grins*

A vintage bed sheet (I never pass them up!) & a beautiful (beeeeauuuutiful!) linen, baby girl's dress.

I may, or may not, have any more granddaughters but who cares, I had to have it. Look how delicate the trim on the dress is!

Speaking of trims....look at all this! $2.99 a bag!!!

Doesn't this big pile of rick rack just make you happy to look at it? It's so cheerful!

Notice the gorgeous, pink velvet ribbon w/ crochet "frame"? Love it! I also love the dotted swiss ribbon & there's several yards of it.

And on the left in this photo, you'll see some wonderful old, cream velvet ribbon. The wide white ribbon is heavy & coarsely woven...it'll be fabulous stamped w/ images or sentiments.

Isn't this satin a fabulous shade of blue? I think it might have been cut off an old robe or something.

This crochet trim is, for sure, from an old blouse.

And some gorgeous, crochet trim from a pair of pillowcases.

I also got a big bag of jewelry bits. I mean a BIIIIIGGGG bag...this is only what I think I may use. There was a whole lot of tacky holiday earrings (not saying all holiday earrings are tacky...just that these were) & other things that I will never use, but I think I'll use most of this in one project or another.

There's even some bling in the lot.

Another funny/weird thing...is how I never really see vignettes until I see them in a pic. I think my ability to see things, the way I envision them instead of how they really are, is a major hindrance in my decorating. Take the picture in the post below this one...the one of my whole collection of Baby Bens. It wasn't until I posted ..... & critiqued & wondered "will this measure up to the bar the blogging community has set?" that I realized that the answer was "No way!!!!" The vignette was just BLAH!

Now it's much better!

All I added was a couple of doilies, an old bottle wrapped w/ lace & adorned w/ a cameo ....

an apothecary jar full of nice hotel soaps ( I save them as souveniers)....

and an apothecary jar w/ an old petit point hand mirror of my mother's, a vintage jeweled pill case, a scrap of lace & a dried rose. I hung a tag w/ an image of a vintage gal, admiring her beauty in a mirror.

I guess I better go photograph all the vignettes in my house to see how they really measure up. I may not be back for a while. LOL

I love my baby bens, baby bens, baby bens!

I scored a vintage Baby Ben alarm clock, while thrifting last week, & thought I'd share my collection w/ y'all.


This is my "new" one...nothing special about it other than it's a Baby Ben.

Now this one is special! It was the first of my collection ($4 @ a thrift store many years ago) & is the only one that is jeweled. It's old & worn & the casing is a beautiful shade of pink....love it! I've seen this style go for $50 on eBay so aren't I proud of my deal?

The whole collection.

Been really busy sprucing up the yard...hope every one is doing well. I may not be around much next week....my daughter got a big promotion & has to travel to Colorado for training. So the grands will be w/ us all week. *gulp* I'd better stock up on monsters & ibuprofen! ;o)

I'm gonna come clean...

& tell you how long I've been stalking Karla Nathan @ Karla's Cottage. Now don't be alarmed...I'm not dangerous (Karla, please don't retract your invitation to come to Kansas & have tea some time...I promise I'm not dangerous! LOL) but I LOVE Karla! I love my life & I love being me (I really do!) but if there was anybody I'd want to trade places with, it would be Karla. She has amazing style, even more amazing talent, a wonderful sense of humor, an open heart, a great love for dogs, a supportive husband, a fantastic farmhouse & she's very devoted to her family....plus she gets paid to do what she loves to do. All the must-haves on my Dream Life list! Don't get me wrong, I am also fortunate to be endowed w/ several of these must-haves...I have a supportive husband, a good sense of humor (at least I crack myself up sometimes!), my little doggies & I'm very devoted to my own wonderful family. I'm very thankful & blessed to have what I have, don't get me wrong. But ooohhhh, to have Karla's style, her artistic talent & that fabulous farm house would just be the cherry on my sundae of life!

I've been an admirer of Karla & her work long before she had a blog or I even knew who she was. See, I have a magazine obsession. I've gotten better as some of my favorites have dropped out of sight (Country Homes, Mary Engelbreit *sigh*, etc) & since I've discovered Somerset, I'm much more selective. Anyway, I keep all copies of Romantic Homes, Romantic Country, ME *another big sigh* in tact (as well as "the expensive but worth it" Somersets) but all others, I clip out the article that inspires me & save it in folders, all categorized according to season. And every season I go through them, seeking inspiration for my seasonal decorating. Time after time, I came across Karla Nathan's name in my clip-outs, & in the other magazines, but it was still some time, after I discovered her blog, before it hit home who she was. When it did, I became uncharacteristically shy & didn't comment on her beautiful posts that so inspired me. And then one day, I did leave a comment....& she visited my blog & left one for me! Sent me all into a tither...it was like having the movie star you're crushing on, write you back!!!! (Don't give me that look...I don't feel that way about Karla *grins*...mine is a purely platonic crush) And then I became realllllly shy...was afraid to leave a comment cause I didn't want to make her think she needed to return it to a lowly blogger like me. I mean she was a busy professional, living my dream life...I didn't want to bother her. But Karla made it very clear that she didn't feel bothered. In fact, she was flattered & humbled by my "crush"...telling me that she wasn't a pro, she "just piddled around". And then I didn't just admire her work, I really liked her too.

Why am I telling y'all this? Because I wanted to share another wonderful perk of blogging. How else would I have met, & become friends, w/ a professional designer whose work in magazines, I had been inspired by for years? Only in blogland!

Here's a scan of the oldest (I think!) magazine lay-out I have w/ Karla's work. I don't have the cover to tell you how old it is but I know it's from Country Almanac & Karla thinks it is circa 2002. Told you I'm a long-time admirer! She cracks me up...her work has been featured in magazines for 1o years & yet she's "not a professional". How can you not like & admire down-to-earth goodness like that?

You can click on the pictures (& then click again) to enlarge them to read the article.

Karla hosted the Alice tag book swap I was in recently & I can't tell you how much I treasure my tag book! To see her wonderful art & mine, in the same book, just tickles me pink! And one day, I'm taking her up on the invitation to visit her & have some tea. Ain't blogging wonderful?

Got blue?

I'm sharing a sneak peek of the contents, of the May Day tussie mussie swap, I sent to my swap partner, Christine @ A Work in Progress.

Guess what her favorite color is? ;o)

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!

Last Sunday, Grouchy & I took our princess, Miss Caralyn, to Casa Manana to see a live production of Cinderella. It was such fun!!! My daughter went the whole nine yards & dressed her in a Cinderella costume (complete w/ glass slippers!) & she looked just beautiful! I wanted to play dress up too so I made a tulle wand & wore one of my tiaras & went as Caralyn's fairy godmother. *grins*

By the time they made it to our house, Miss Caralyn was so full of herself that she had a major attitude. She was bossy & demanding & we hadn't made it a couple miles before I turned around, looked her dead in the eye & said, "Caralyn Camille! You lose the attitude!". She looked me dead in the eye & said, "yes ma'am!" & then nodded off on the drive there.

Here I am, changing the brat into a princess! ;o)

I didn't get a picture of her glass slippers. Truth be known, she didn't wear them very long cause they give her a blister. We expected that though & brought along flip flops. I told her "Life's too short to wear shoes that make your feet hurt...even if they are reeallllly pretty."

Here she is, waiting in line to get Cinderella's autograph. She was so excited! So was the little girl in front of us, whose mother kept saying "are you sure you really want Cinderella's autograph bad enough to wait in this very long line?" To which, the girl would say, "yes Mom...I really really want it!". A few minutes would pass & the mother would say again, "I just want to make sure that it's important enough to you, cause this line is really long & it's going to take forever" ... over & over again. I wanted to say, "look Lady, either disappoint your daughter & step out of this very long line or shut up!" but I didn't, of course. I just kept shooting pictures of Caralyn. ;o)

Until she said, "Honey!!! Stop taking pictures of me!" LOL

This is my favorite shot of the day & it doesn't even have Caralyn in it. But it captures the reaction of the Prince & Cinderella when they saw Caralyn, in all her finery.

They wouldn't pose for pictures, as they wanted the line to move as quickly as possible, so all I got was the back of Caralyn's head w/ Cinderella but she did tell Caralyn, "I LOVE your dress... it is so pretty!"

Look at the awestruck look on her face...she thinks she really met royalty. And don't anybody tell her any different!

Caralyn had no desire to meet or get the autographs of the wicked step-sisters.

And not the King either. She wasn't even all that interested in the handsome Prince...the only one she thought was important was Cinderella.

The pollen count has been very high here & Caralyn had already been wheezing ... the fake fog they used in the show didn't help matters any so by the next day she was having a full blown asthma attack. My daughter took her into the Dr, not too concerned cause this happens all the time but Caralyn's oxygen count was so low that she had to be taken to Cook's in an ambulance! It was very traumatizing @ the time for Caralyn but true to her Princess nature, she's now lording it over her brothers that she got to ride in an ambulance & they didn't! That's my girl!!! *grins*

Next month we're taking all the grands to see Peter Pan @ Casa Manana. Wish me luck! ;o)

Heck Yeah, I'm a Paper Cowgirl!

Registration for Paper Cowgirl is open & the classes are filling up lickety-split.... so if you want to be a part of The Best Little Art Retreat in Texas you better sign up quick!

Gonna be a whole lotta fun going on...Yee Haw!!!

I hit the junkin' jackpot!

I've been shopping w/ Junker Val for 10, maybe 15 years.... as long as she's had a booth @ the Cattle Barn Flea.... not sure how long that's been. I don't think I have ever walked away from her booth w/out some kind of treasure. Anyway, she posted on FB the other day, about a friend of her's having a big sale of a bunch of old junk & he was pricing it cheap. So I rushed myself on over. ;o) She wasn't kidding when she said it was a bunch of old junk! It was a whole garage full! I spent about an hour & a half, going through boxes & stacks of dishes & pictures stacked up against the wall & then my back could take no more. This was a true junkin' excursion too...everything was covered in dust & was more than a bit grimy (was very thankful for the baby wipes I keep in the Blazer for the grands!) but he priced everything accordingly & I walked out w/ a whole lotta nifty old stuff.

I have tons of china (I mean like tons...it's stashed every where) so I was very, very selective in choosing from the huge stacks he had but this Bavarian cake plate was a must have.


As well as this GORGEOUS Bavarian plate...love the colors w/ the soft blues & pink roses!

He also had a very large assortment of old dog figurines. Again, I have wayyy too many already so I was very selective & only walked out w/ this one....plus the old Monopoly scottie & the tiny, tiny, tiny basset.

Some shiny brites in teh box always make me happy! So do old dolls, particularly charlottes since I have discovered altered dolls.

He had a box of old photos but by the time I discovered them, my back was protesting loud & clear so I only riffled through them quickly. LOVE this 1915 portrait of the baby in the high chair!

My heart actually started beating fast when I found the old dominoes (been looking for some) & about skipped a beat when I saw the old mini-dominoes & the mini playing cards!

This is what is called a riffle book. You riffle through it & see a chick hatching...like in fast motion.

One of the many fabulous images inside this 1950.

Salt cellars & bisque cherubs.....

small bisque piano baby. Notice the chip on the hand...many of these treasures have their flaws but again, he priced them accordingly.

Almost all of the treasures required a soak in warm water w/ a bit of dish soap & many requirted a good scrubbing but I should have left this statue grimy. It dissolved!!!!! It was a beautiful grecian statue made out of "I don't know waht" (it appeared to be alabaster) but now it's only fit to be used as a Halloween ghoul. I'll never dunk another statue again, no matter how grimy, I can tell you that much!

My absolute favorite find of the day....although I didn't know what I had until I got them home. I assumed they were doll shoes since they were in w/ the toys (spent about 15 minutes of digging before I found the mate) but once I got them home I realized these were real baby shoes. Charming, tiny, faded, pink satin baby shoes....

w/ a fabulous label inside & in near perfect condition! I did some googling of Mrs Day's baby shoes when I got home & found this exact pair...said they were made in the 40's or 50's......LOVE, LOVE ,LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!

And I got all this bling too!!!!

Cameo locket...

Vintage rhinestone necklaces.....

And some not vintage rhinestone bling but who cares, it sparkles! LOL

I already have this wonderful print but this one is a tad different, is much bigger (it's 20" by 30") & it was a steal @ only $5.

Love this Parisienne print....

it's titled "The Tiff".

Speaking of Val & good deals, I also want to share some stuff I bought from her a couple of weeks ago.

A big stack of bank deposit slips, etc from the 1950's....

This old, old wrapper to some bias tape...beautiful graphics!

some old cards from a children's game. They have such cute sayings on them & the faded sepia tones are wonderful!

Some vintage threads on wooden spools & a cigar box.

And more vintage bling! Look at the old, aged notebook papers Val tossed into the deal cause she knew I would do something w/ them. Thank you, Val!

Val doesn't have a regular booth @ the Flea anymore but has a booth @ Lone Star Antiques (one of my favorite antique malls!)...stop in & see her & she'll cut you some deals too. You can find Junker Val's website here.