February thrills...

Happy February! Lots of excitement going on here. We're changing over to pink as the color theme on A Year of Color blog. Can't wait to see all the projects going on. Speaking of projects, my parents bought a new house. They currently live about 5 miles away from me and that could not make me more happy. I am thrilled that they are a part of my daily life and the relationship they have with my kids because of it is such a blessing. So they are moving...but only a few miles further away. We saw their new house on Friday and it is wonderful. I can totally seem them happily living in it, nestled in the woods with wonderful views and parks all around! I was over to their current house last week as the decluttering has begun in earnest. I wanted to take a peek at the boxes that were bound for the thrift store. I found this gorgeous old tin full of beads. I just love the colors on the top and when I put my little vintage bouquet from Ulla on it, I thought it was the perfect color palette! I also hit a few wonderful estate sales yesterday. I spotted this very old looking desk and thought it was cute. I knew that I didn't need another old desk, so I passed on it at first. Then I noticed some paper scrolls sitting on top of it and started to unroll them. They were filled with the most wonderful vintage children's illustrations from the 1920's. Needless to say, I didn't want the desk but they were asking so little for the entire package, I walked away with it all. I got home and it turns out the kids love to use the desk as a little drawing station. This is what it looks like with the top up. You can see where the scrolls attach.
Here is what is on the scrolls from 1929. So cool!

Also found this little 50's globe that I was thrilled with.

Hope your month is off to a great start!

Back to the shanty's...

It was just about a year ago that I shared this post on the art shanty's that spring up on the lake that we live a few blocks aways from. Each year they hold a festival in the heart of the winter. What a very lively community it is! Today could not be a nicer day to venture out onto the ice and enjoy the entertainment. I missed some of the fun ones from last year, but there was a new crop this year, just as quirky and creative.There were shanty's for all tastes. Check out the skirt and the boots on the girl inside this one (above)! The door handle to the library shanty simple said WORDS.The USS Mondale.An art post office.A map shanty.Theatrical productions on ice.Have you ever seen a shanty confessional?Fun stuff!

Despite the wonderful 40 degree temperature (!!!!) Chloe was pretty tired out by the end of the morning walking on the snow and ice. The kids had a fun time.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

January packages...

I sent out my "All that I Love" swap packets today to my two partners. The swap is on my A Year of Color blog. We're finishing up the blue and white theme for January with a guest post from Julie Collings. Then we move to pink, pink and more pink in February with guest designer Melissa McCobb Hubbell. You can join the blog any time throughout the year and all posts will be available all year long. My partners for the swap are Kathy (Red Thread Art) in Belgium and Linda Crispell is my estate sale soul mate from afar. I've never met her in person, just admired all her goodies featured in Home Companion last year. I know we are two peas in a pod. I just love sending out boxes packed to the gills with treasures that I hope they will love! I was also excited to get a pretty little package in the mail myself yesterday. It was my welcome packet for ArtNest coming up at the end of February. Look at this amazing stitched envelope. It's filled with class info, schedule of events and info on what to bring. There's going to be an artists sale night, where we can all bring art work if we would like. I better get crackin'. I am so excited!! Julie and Candice already have gone above and beyond. I cannot wait to see what's in store!
Pretty stuff.
Here are a few more pages of my daily journal.


Happy Hump Day!

P.S. Just heard that Domino magazine has folded. That makes ME Home Companion, Country Home and Domino. Yikes! I know we are all magazine fanatics. Are you still buying as many magazines as you used to before the economy turned bad?

Evolving treasures...and interview

I've already picked up some new treasures. This time from etsy. These yarn flowers and beautiful button magnets in yummy candy colors are from twogirlzstuff. I ordered a few different lavender filled satchets and other colorful goodies from Tracy B Designs. I will keep some and give some as gifts. I hadn't bought from her before and I couldn't be more pleased. Her creations are wonderful. Check out these colors and the aroma is intoxicating!


Check out her "puzzle" flowers. So unique!This brooch is going in a special package that I'm putting together.

Thank you all so much for your kind words on my treasure book in the post below. I don't know if I've ever done such a massive project so quickly. I am very passionate about vintage finds and it was such a delight to look at all the photos and organize them in a meaningful way. Some of you have asked about my printing. I print my photos at home on a Canon Pixma iP5000 printer. I used 4x6" Canon glossy paper for this project. I love how it leaves the white border. As you can see, I'm sharing even more photos below because the project has already evolved a bit. I added some more embellishments from my vintage stash and also wrote on all the journaling tags. It's such a quirky book. No rules, no holding back. What fun it was to recall my memories of each sale and any personal history I know about an item. If you recognize any of the items in the book as something that you've purchased from me, I'd love to hear about what you have done with it. Sharing stories about our treasures is even more meaningful and fun!

Also, Diane has an fun interview with me over on her blog today.

Have a great day!

Collecting treasures....

Hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! Just when I was complaining about my estate sale rut, I came across a fabulously fun sale on Saturday. It was an old-school sale, old house full of junk, stinky and packed. I spent most of my time in the basement. I came across these gumdrop dolls from the 80's and immediately thought of this sweet lady.
Then in the corner of a little room in the basement that was full of sewing supplies and trims, I came across these vintage knotty chenille rolls. I immediately thought of the wall of these in Jennifer Murphy's studio.
What a find! Although, I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. Just stare at them for now:)
Then began my project for the weekend. After seeing Kristina's Anthropologie book here, I decided that I wanted to create an album housing all my estate sale pictures and memorabilia. Definitely in line with my Year of Color theme, I found this wonderful album at Michael's and matching paper in the Que Sera Sera line by K and Co. and so it began...
I printed off more than a hundred pictures from the last 5 years of estate sales. Many of the items in the pictures have either been sold or "re-purposed" for use in my art. Some of you may may even be the current owners of some of these treasures! I'm so glad I take pictures of all these gems. Now I can house them all in one place.
The first several pages of the album has tabbed pages that have pockets on top. More room for receipts, packaging or labels that are worth keeping. As you can see, I have journaling tags that still need to be filled in. I'm sure I will add more to the pages as well.

Since these pages did not have page protectors I could embellish them with lots of chunky bits of trim, millinery and other odds and ends.

Then begins the pages with page protectors. Since there are dozens and dozesn of pages to share with you, I put six pages together and laid them out to photograph. They are each 8.5"x8.5". They look all bunched up here, but you get the gist.

What a project! This book is already so much fun to page through. I cannot wait to keep adding more to my treasure collection!