A Fresh Mantle for Christmas.

There is no blue on my Christmas mantle this year! First time in many years I think... although that could all change at any moment, but for now it includes:

• Fresh white Alstormaria in a vase. A great long lasting flower!
• An old altered book...each page folded and left open. I may use it to hold some Christmas cards when they start arriving.
• My "R" ....on old marquee sign letter found in an antique shop in Corning NY.
• Birch bark logs, lovely cut up by my husband. There is a well in the top of each log to hold a tea light. Fresh moss and pears to surround them.
• an old glass jar filled with vintage ornaments.
• a rustic wooden angel given to me by a friend
• a silver cone filled with branches from the yard, sprayed silver. I pulled out all my silver vintage balls to hang on the branches, along with mini disco balls from the dollar store. It is looking a little dark in the picture, but when the sun is shining or the candles are lit, there is a beautiful sparkle!

Before and After

I have been following Knack http://knackstudios.blogspot.com/ for quite sometime. She is actually celebrating her 2nd year anniversary of blogging....check out her blog for a chance to win some great neat things from her shop!

She has a very unique way of recycling old furniture...usually with paint. I'd love to have just one of her pieces. But this one, I think, is the most beautiful I've seen yet. Here is her before and after:

 

 

 

Nice huh?

Beautiful Images.

 

This is a great resource for scrapbookers, cardmakers or just crafty people. The Graphics Fairy has an amazing selection of vintage pictures, signs, labels etc. Some of them are just beautiful! And she shares them all with us...her images are free!

http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com

Got Books?

After being asked to speak about "Living well On Less" to a Womens Ministry Group this past weekend, my partner in crime, Darlene, started experimenting with book folding. Her results were amazing...I wish I had the book she folded to show you....but you can trust me...it was good! She said it took her about 2 hours (infront of the TV kinda thing!) and I think that was with two folds on each page.

I've found a few more images reflecting the various things you can do with old books. It would be the perfect thing to do with any old books you might have around that are damaged.

One of these pictures shows them hanging...looks amazing in groups. Darlene's looked great just sitting open on a table. And I think they might look kinda cool hanging on the way with a plate hanger!

My other thought was how kid friendly this could be...I think my boys would enjoy it.

So...now you know what I'm up to this week.

Pinky!

I've been following several blogs of those that have traveled to Spokane Washington to either go to or be in the Farm Chicks show. I think I've mentioned the Farm Chicks before. They put on shows in the northwest a couple of times a year, have a great website and store as well. I believe they have written books and I have seen them recently in Country Living. It's the kind of thing I would love to visit if they were just a little bit closer.
Anyway, Camp Whimsy put out a blog post suggesting where to go and what to see while in Spokane. This pic is from an awesome looking place called Chaps. I'm LOVING this buffet painted pink and really roughed up! I think somewhere I'm going to have to start a pink room...I have seen so many cute things lately.

It's found a home...

Remember this vintage laundry hamper on wheels? I picked it up on my last outing, not really sure what I would end up doing with it. If it fit in my laundry room, I would have used it there since it really is pretty sturdy, and the wheels even still roll.

I ended up putting it in my "creative room" to hold all my fabric bits and pieces. It could also be a great place to put my "to be ironed" pile.

Junkin' With Darlene...

Darlene and I had a ton of fun junking on Friday. So many times we have driven up Hwy 11 and passed right by several "junk shops". So we reserved friday to head up to check them out. And junk shops they were! I don't think I've ever seen so much stuff piled into one place...and not many treasure amongst the junk either! Darlene found this Parchessi board and we thought it was vintagey looking so she picked it up for $1.













The trunk starts to fill up!
































This place was recommended to us by one of the dealers we stopped to see near Coldwater. The shops were in a few units of a storage business in Midland. We would never have know it was there otherwise. Each shop was very tiny, but packed full of stuff...and our kind of stuff! Very friendly owners too. I picked up some vintage linens...napkins, table cloths and runners. An old laundry holder on wheels...have never seen one before. An office wire paper organizer, an old emamel pot to plant up with somer geraniums on the back patio.
Darlene found a great green enamel pot and a cute green and white check serving plate.






This place totally cracked us up. Looked up the Beverley Hillbillies first home....before Beverley Hills! It was packed inside with furniture and all kinds of interesting odds and sodds.
The only thing I picked up here was an old boiler pot...painted blue.

Score!

I was on my way to Costco this morning when I saw an upcoming garage sale. I tried to go straight, but the steering wheel pulled me over and I had to stop.

Not too much exciting.....except these two pieces of blue and white. Old Foley Staffordshire to be exact.
Both the pitcher and the bowl were masking taped together as a set. $5.oo for both!

Even my hubby was impressed :)

A few finds this week.

I took a little stroll through the Innisfil Street Antique Mall this week. I go fairly regularly so I wasnt' expecting to find too many cool, new (and affordable) things.
But I came across this neat thing. I'm not really sure what it is, but it looks to be the top of an old desk. The top flips up allowing access to the top compartments a little easier. I thought it would be a great place to store a lot of my crafty things that usually just hand around my desk. I'm thinking about painting it, since the finish isn't that great. $25



Then I found this cool mug....just my colours too. I love the transfer design, and the heaviness and shape of it. Feels like stoneware. $10

















And lastly, there was a little bag of ivory button goodness. I think it only caught my eye because it was wrapped up so nicely with a brown Hermes ribbon tying the top. I really bought it because of the cool buckles...although the buttons are cute too. $4

Going antiquing...

Who new you could actually go antiquing online?

One of the gals from a blog I have been following (Such Pretty Things) took this pic, saying it was one of her fav's. You can see all her pics here. It looks like a little bit of heaven to me.

So next time you're going through Leesburg Virgina...check them out. Or if you can't get there...shop online. http://www.luckettstore.com/

Inspiration

This little baby is just too cute...and simple. Seems as if all the thrift shops have an abundance of these silver trays. I've painted them before...but I kind of like this one as is. It would even be better if it was tarnished, don't ya think?

Then check out the button magnets. How simple is that.

This from another new blog find Little Byrd Vintage.

Turquoise!

This blog has become one of my favourite and most inspirational blogs.
I love how she takes the traditional and gives it a twist....like she did here with colour!
Check out Knack!

New and Improved Craft Room

Good things are happening in my craft room... a major overhaul, clean out and organization!

I still wouldn't mind a few more pieces to help me get everything where it needs to be. But it is a whole lot better.

I keep finding neat little "do-dad" that I have forgotten I even had. So, do I have too much stuff? I think not...I just need to have everthing in it's place, so when I need it, I can see that my options are!

My new desk is from Ikea, which matched the bookcase I had bought previously. I also purchased the shelves above the desk for a place to keep all the little trinkets so they will be close at hand. The glass jars (a steal from HomeSense) are filled with bits of ribbon, and smaller sheets of stickers. Smaller jars are from Ikea and hold all my markers. Twist open cannisters are from the dollars store and hold all the little wee things like brads and eyelets, buttons and metal embellishments.

Boxes on the top shelf hold cards ready to send and tags. Top shelf jars hold all the little do dads and trinkets.


I decided to keep my little sewing corner....not that I do that much, but it is set up and ready to go if I need to do some mending, or want to do some sewing on my cards or scrapbook layouts.
The old sewing maching table drawers hold all my thread, needles etc.

Love, love, love my Ikea bookshelf. It holds a ton of stuff. And I love that Ikea has all the right sized boxes and organizers to keep everthing in. This stores all my loose photos, paper, various supplies, and of course magazines and books. I think I'd like to add one more of these eventually. The space on top is great for holding all the things I'm working on at present. The wire baskets are old locker baskets from the antique store.

I love the bulletin board my mama made for me. It is the kind with the criss cross ribbons and holds a kzillion and one photos. On the dresser top is an old berry picker with all the old berry baskets inside. This has been perfect for storing spools of ribbon.

So there ya go...my work space. And now that it is all tidy again, I feel like getting back at my albums!

Good finds...

We took a quick jaunt to the 400 Flea Market yesterday. I left the boys in the market and headed for the much more exciting antique section. I never get tired of looking at antiques...and the inventory seemed quite different from the last time I was there.
Here's what I found...
A beautiful old English soap dish, which will probably end up being used for everything but soap! I can just see it crashing down into the sink when one of the boys grabs for the bar!
Next I found another set of S&P shakers with button tops...those are the only variety I go for. I think that makes for 8 pairs now. They are a little tricky to find. In all my antiquing in Pennsylvania, I have never seen a pair...they must be English as well.
Anyway...it is quite amazing how a few little old things can make a girls to happy!
Happy Sunday everyone.