Time with my girls

Weekends are not what they used to be around here, not quite as slow paced anymore. This past Sunday I made a break in our hectic times and just sat on the back porch with the girls going through bags and boxes of buttons that I have collected along the way. I had pulled out a few of my fancier buttons last week for a girlfriends birthday present and had been itching to dig into them since then.

When I was a little girl my grandmother would let me go through her buttons while she sewed. She had the most beautiful buttons! Her favorite Uncle was a tailor and had the most amazing collection of buttons. He passed it on to her and she passed her love of buttons on to me!

I never thought when I was a little girl that I would be able to pass along my love of buttons to my little girls and yet I think that I have without even planning on it. The same way my grandmother passed it on to me.

I also discovered that this separated dish made a great organizing box for my buttons! We were working on filling it up when I took the pictures....there are three large bags under the table we are working on.

SCORE!!!

On Saturday I took a very - very quick trip to a little antique store up the road and boy am I glad I did!! I found so many new treasures! I brought home some of my favorites - and the ones that I could justify buying - and left behind treasures that I am sure I will long for.....for days.....maybe weeks! But look at these treasures...and other than the box, all treasures qualify for Fab Finds under $5.00

This is the sweetest little apron, very flirty....Jerry wasn't sure it was supposed to be worn in the kitchen! I assured him it was since it had little veggies on it.

Look at those goodies...the lace and little thread spools were super cheap...like $1.50 and not nearly as exciting as finding the longer ones which are old thread bobbins. I almost did a happy dance in the store...I had been wanting these for ribbon and embellishment storage in my craft room. I think they are beautiful! Speaking of beautiful...look at that box!

I also bought this piece of lace, I really don't think I am going to use it for anything...maybe display at the shop, but It is really sweet - had to have it. And look at the detail on that box...

"The box" is actually an old candy tin! I think it is so pretty, it is either going to store trinkets in the craft room or I am going to put it on my dresser for my growing collection of vintage jewelry and pins. Either way, I had to have it...it was the most expensive think I bought all day. Even cost me more than a 5' mirror!

OK, this is where I get really excited....
Check these babies out!! I found these patterns tucked away....I really can't tell you how much they excite me! They are all 1950-1960's time frame, and the one in the back there is several (18 to be exact) applique patterns!!! All of them uncut...!! They say they are size 14, however...it seems to me that is about an 8 or 10 these days!

I plan on making this dress - the full skirt version - in about a MILLION different fabrics!!!! I am going to wear it every day....all summer....did I mention every day?? ..... I fully admit something is wrong with me!!!

These two pieces I really thought were cool. The coil thing is a bracelet...very retro, it was only a $1 and I thought it would look cool with that dress it is hanging out with. The pin is really beautiful in person. The flower petals are two different greens and it is in excellent condition!!

These little critters and four of their friends came home with me...these are temporarily on the waiting list. My kids love these little Wade animals and their price was just right so I bought all of them and let the kids pick one each for completing their chores on Sunday. There is a mad dash going on to earn another one. First come first serve.....the little chimp back there seems to be last on the wish list.



Hope you had a great weekend and a grand start to your week!

Fun Finds and Thrift Store Love

I have been waiting - very impatiently - to show you some of the Fun Finds that my husband and I found last week. I thought I would share them with you on this Talk about Tuesday! I have wanted to participate in this for a while, but by the time I get myself together it is like Thursday! Anyhoooo.... We were on a "date" of sorts....we had the Princess with us but she was being REALLLY good....It was a very nice day!! We had lunch at one of my favorites, and then we went to about a half dozen Antique, Consignment, and Thrift Stores. And surprisingly, he seemed to enjoy it as much as I did!! He said it was the company....isn't he sweet....I think he was just trying to get lucky if you know what I mean! Some of my fabulous finds are going to the shop, and some have come home with me to live in chaos like the rest of us!

OK, enough talk...let me show you what I found!! It makes me excited just remembering what I found...I am pathetic I tell ya!!! This is not everything....I don't want to overwhelm you!

First were these Lovely Linens!!! One of the many things that gets me really excited is finding Vintage Linens!!! I got all three of these for less than $20!! I have no intentions of parting with these!!! One has a little hole and one has a pretty interesting stain on it but I am sure I can get it out. The bottom one is in really good condition - just a little faded. I personally don't care what they look like at this point because I LOVE THEM!!!

Next up...this lovely little collection of mugs! I really liked the brown ones for my house, even the hubby was eyeing them up, but we parted with them already and they reside nicely above the Espresso Machine! They are a nice size - pretty vintage - and in PERFECT condition. Notice that there are only 5 of them? That is because I DROPPED one and broke it on the way to the register!!! The lady tells me that she has more and will bring one down to the shop for me. Then those sweet little tea cups next to the brown ones, well they are just sweet and I really liked them!! The blue willow mugs in the bag are great for Cappuccino's. They also are in really good condition!!! In fact I served to Cap's in them yesterday! They were all such a great price that it made them even prettier!!

NOW...Seriously.....do you see these SWEET little tea cups!!! I saw these and almost jumped out of my skin! This is only one of them, it is a set of four and man are they beautiful. One of them has a pretty significant crack in the plate but the rest are really nice! They are all hand painted with this little Asian scene, the insides are this beautiful iridescent white and all in all they are just beautiful!!! Have I mentioned that they are beautiful?? These, much to my chagrin are being sold at the shop. I can't keep everything.....I have to keep telling myself that!

I had picked up these three little pins a little while back and not gotten around to post them, but I really like them too!! The little pansies are made from ceramic and the black one is hand painted on wood. Very pretty!! The white one is just fun! I thought it would make a cool ring. OK, that is it for this trip. But....I have more from this past weekend!! You have to wait a bit longer for those!! They might just include a lovely white pitcher, a mint condition vintage jewelry box....and some really, really fun jewelry finds!!

Let's talk GREEN...

I have this REALLY exciting - REALLY fun - REALLY cool news!! Maybe you picked up on it in my post from yesterday???? We have a new business!!! We bought a coffee /Antique Consignment Shop! It is going to be more like a coffee lounge/Antique consignment/retail of handcrafted items shop by the time we get it open. I am so excited - I haven't been able to sleep in days....When I say "we" I am referring to my mom and I. We make a good team...she has a great eye for the antiques and merchandising, and I can do all the other stuff!

So, why green you say???? Well, did you know that coffee beans are actually GREEN before roasting??? If you did know, good for you! lol.. I didn't, I am certainly NOT a coffee expert, just your regular coffee, little splenda (or Agave) and a dash of milk kinda girl! I really don't like that "St**bk's" kinda coffee - too bitter, but I will drink it if the caffeine is necessary!! Anyway, back on track here....We went today and toured the Roaster, and sampled this great brand of coffee, Cafe Pronto, it is such a nice coffee. The people were awesome, and so supportive of our new venture - really exciting!!!

We also are being GREEN by bringing in local artists, recycled goods....aka Antique Consignments! The good stuff people, not the dusty crap we pull out of grammies attic! LOL. I have been on Etsy, shopping away...making wholesale arrangements, consignment arrangements for jewelry pieces and larger items. It is so much fun, I love it! We are going to bring in as much "talent" as possible. I love the idea that we can use handcrafted items to fill our shop! I could go on for hours about this, it is a concept that I really love! I have one girl who is making "shopping" bags out of old vintage/recycled linens! Talk about cool!!!!

Miss L is going to be the smallest Coffee chick ever!! I am going to try and get some aprons made before next week....o yeah, did I mention that we take over on May 1st???? Talk about being on the fast track! She is going to be part of the working class before she even gets to her first pre-school class! She can remind me of it daily when she gets older, the same way I remind my mother that she let me man a produce stand on a major roadway at the tender age of 10 - all by myself!!!! Hello People!!!! Although, I get much more mileage out of the "I fell out of the car and you kept driving...." reminder. No pun intended!

I am going to start a NEW blog for the shop - I will hopefully get it up and running by the weekend. Check it out at here.

Can you say Pack Rat?

Today I spent the better part of the day moving/emptying my mothers storage unit that she rented after we cleared out my grandmothers house...the other half of the day was spent putting things BACK in trash bags that my curious little trash picker daughter pulled out of the bags! She is a mess...it is truly an inherited trait! I go through and throw away and "someone" in the house will pull it out and act like it jumped out of the trash all by itself!! Crazy how this seems to happen! Anyway....moving all that stuff was a little like an adventure....stressful, fun and a little overwhelming! There were some great finds in there! Buttons, vintage notions, beautiful fabric, some fun retro/vintage fabric, UNBELIEVABLE/FABULOUS vintage patterns!!! She was a VERY talented seamstress!! Great silver pieces that I plan on using in my office and studio!! Old jewelry - looking to make more fun rings, tons and let me say again TONS of mason jars! They will come in handy for the big ol' garden we have started. Plus, the greatest selection of cookbooks....my grandmother wasn't a great cook, but my grandfather sure did buy her a lot of cookbooks! He was such a hopeful man!! LOL! I had almost forgotten about all the great "stuff" my grandmother had. I am going to work my way through a bag buttons I found and start sorting through the fabric to see what I am going to keep and what I am going to purge!

Look for pictures soon...gotta run!!

Extra day???

A WHOLE extra day...really??? What will I ever do with so much "extra" time on my hands?? I am sure that I will get soooo much done today with a WHOLE extra day....sense my sarcasm, won't you?!?!?! Did you do anything fun today??? I spent my "whole extra day" doing our taxes..NOTE TO SELF: put all the receipts away each and every month this year!!

Now during all of this fun tax prep time, I did "rediscover" a little tidbit of information that as a mom of four I can't believe had slipped out of the memory bank....When a small child is QUIET - it only means BAD THINGS!! So another NOTE TO SELF: Put the syrup on a higher shelf!! Yep, that is right...quiet two year old = syrup river in the hallway!! Thank You!!!

After being a little "taxed" today, I decided to take a break and stalk, ooops I meant READ some of my favorite blogs..I do love to visit my blog friends...they don't know it yet, but we are friends. LOL!!! So in an attempt to get a little computer time and keep an eye on the two year old, I am sitting here having lotion - that for some reason smells like beer and bbq sauce - slathered all over my legs!!! She has a new obsession with lotion! Where is the baby lotion when you need it..she found the lotion leftover from the recent hospital stay, yuck! The things we will do for a little time on the computer!! Geesh!!

Well, little L has run out of lotion which means I have run out of time! I hope that you find some FUN in your extra day...and thanks for checking in. I promise to have some cute little crafty creation to share with you soon. That darn hospital sucked the crafty right out of me, but I am getting back in the groove!!! I have found some BEA-U-TIFUL fabrics that I am drooling over! I can't wait to get my little hands on them!! OOHHH OOOHHH I also have some nifty new little finds to show you....went in search of some vintage fabrics....can't wait to turn them into something - and bonus, they were FREE!! And I have been storing away some new scrapbooking ideas to play with...had time to "dream" up some new album ideas while we were away.

OK...now I really have to go! She is starting to throw things at me :) Enjoy what is left of your extra day - Get an extra cuddle in with your loved ones- watch a movie - play a game - Be Creative and enjoy each other!!