treasure hunting!!

i haven't been to any estate sales for a while.

i have been trying to exercise a little self control.

so that all ended after last week.  

a friend was over on saturday and wanted to go to an estate sale.  we went to one that was pretty much over when we got there but she found some cute little vintage Bell jars.

i didn't find anything but the itch was back.  

yesterday we just happened to meet up at the park with my sister-in-law and the kiddos and there just happened to be an estate sale around the corner from there, so of course i just had to take a little peek.  

i can't thank my sister-in-law enough.  she offered to watch the kiddos while i roamed around.  

going kidless to an estate sale is a completely different experience.

i found some vintage christmas decorations, a couple of scarves, a book, and a graduated cylinder...i think that's what it's called.

i'm such a sucker for vintage books.  we really need our own small library.  the illustrations are just perfect.

the christmas decorations, well, i can't wait to decorate with these, eek!!  the bulbs will probably go in a glass jar and all of the little wooden ornaments can decorate one of our mini trees.

i have had my eye out for beakers and graduated cylinders...love the look of them in a home.

love it all!!

Collage

 I love collages of pictures on a wall.

I have found that what I love the most is a good mix of photographs and artwork.

I put this little collage together a while back and I think I might be changing it soon so I wanted to just get a few pictures of it before I change it.

here is what is in this collage starting from the top left and going clockwise...

ella playing at a beach in Barbados on a trip we took 5 years ago
a picture I painted a while back
a cat ella drew about a year ago...I love this drawing
a hot air balloon picture from a vintage book
julian hanging in the garage with andy when he was about 2 years old.
my mom's graduation picture wig and all...love it
andy and ella from pictures we had taken when I was pregnant with julian
ella in Barbados again
another hot air balloon
and the last one is hard to see but it's a picture of my dad when he was in the navy...love this one also.

Doily Cover-up

 I love quick and easy projects and this one was exactly that.  

A stain + half a doily = a shirt I can now wear!!

I just top-stitched the doily right onto the shirt.  

I probably should have backed it with another material but it is a lot more wearable now than it was.

I had my little assistant Julian on the camera and it looks like he had a hard time getting the camera to focus... ha, ha.

recently...according to my phone

a little home decor...

part of the painting I made for Andy-we are always longing to travel especially when we just get home from a trip

some valentines day decorations Ella and I made out of hearts cut from the Trader Joe's mailer and then we sewed them together 

 a bike ride with my boy...

he found this little hill a couple of streets over from us and he was happy to just go up and down it for the next half hour.

 some recent finds...

I found this pretty pillow at an estate sale (I get so excited when I find a pillow that has a removable cover)

we picked this old gas pump when we picked up Andy's latest project.

 laundry folding...

I'm not sure if my little helper is helping too much...

he has fun just messing around trying to hide in the clothes

 on a hike at Peter's Canyon this past weekend.

 at the top of Big Red...there is this really big hill with red dirt that people call Big Red.  last weekend the kid's and I conquered Big Red no problem.

this past weekend the kid's wanted to do it again and take daddy along for the experience. 

 the sun was just setting and the air was cooling quickly.

near the end of the hike I took a deep breath and was overwhelmed with how happy I felt.

fresh air and family time is my perfect combination

Chevron Tray - DIY

 Supplies needed: old tray, painter's tape, and paint.

I forgot to take a picture of my tray before I started painting but mine looked pretty much like the one pictured except is was really old and scratched up.  I'm sure you can find a thrifted one pretty cheap.

 This is how I made this one:

I painted the entire tray 2 coats of white.  Let it dry.  Then I taped off the chevron stripes.  Make sure you use painter's tape so that you don't accidentally pull up your paint.  I just used the width of the tape to space the lines but it might also be fun to have the stripes different widths.  Paint 2 coats for the stripes.  Remove the tape before the paint is completely dry.

Enjoy your new tray!!

thrifty finds

 i hit a couple of estate sales and one thrift store late last week and found a couple of things that caught my eye.

 the fan cover...i don't know...yet

loved the color of this little stool.  

i didn't really have anywhere in mind to put it,  

but once i got home it found it's way straight to my sewing table.

i will probably have to make a nice comfy cushion...that thing is cold and super hard.

 i'm a sucker for metal stands and i especially like this vintage circular shaped one.  

i can never have too many wooden boxes.  

the step stool...well, i just needed one.

the fish bowls will become terraniums

like this one.

 the wine corks, well, these are just so many fun possiblities

 (last 5 photos found via pinterest)

is it thursday yet??

***yellow butterfly finds***

 i hadn't been to an estate sale in quite a while so when julian and i found one last week i was really excited.  i think i enjoy the hunt almost as much as finding something that i really love.  we didn't find anything really great, but overall i like the items we walked away with.

 this book had a ripped up cover and i almost didn't even look in it, but luckily i did.  i love the illustrations.  this kept julian occupied for a while when we got home.  

 i love the colors of these match books.  this color combo would be great in the kid's room.

 i was kind of on the fence about bringing this camera home with me, but when i discovered that it worked and that it still had roll of film inside, i was easily swayed.  i'm so excited about developing the film.

i almost forgot i got this cute little coin purse.  

ella had already claimed it for herself.  julian also found a homemade tomahawk but i couldn't find it to take a picture of it.  he always complains about going to an estate sale, but it never fails...he always finds something really cool.

the thing i love the most is the yellow butterfly hankies.

they are so pretty and look brand new.

ah, i sure do love estate sales!

macrame plant hanger

 sometimes just doing one teeny tiny little project can make my day.  this summer we were busy busy and i had to put a lot of my creative energy on hold.  today i was able to squeeze a 2 minute project in and i plan on squeezing in a few more.  i bought this macrame plant hanger at an estate sale about 6 months ago.  i wasn't exactly sure what i was going to do with it but it kind of just made me smile when i saw it hanging in a living room with two huge plastic ferns covered in dust sitting inside.  it was pretty ugly to say the least.  i remember my mom and my aunts having a few of these when we were young...maybe this is what drew me in.  my friend thought i was crazy as dragged the beast out of the house.  it had a really long tail on the bottom that had frayed and collected dust.  i cut the long 2 foot tail off right away and hosed it down in the backyard and that is where i had left it until today.  i found an empty pot and a plant in need of a home and put it all together.  there wasn't a whole lot of creativity that went into this hanging, but i like how it turned out. 

the playroom ::a tour

 projects, projects and more projects.  i have my list and and it just keeps getting longer.  i thought that once summer came around I would have so much time to work on some projects...not so much.  we have been busy busy just about everyday, leaving little time to get anything done. 

here is one project that is semi-done...or at least done for now.  the week that school was over i decided to move ella into julian's room and make ella's room the playroom.  both of the kid's were always asking to sleep in each other's room and i realized that if they are ever going to share a room it is now or never.  i'm not really sure how long they will be able to share a room but for now the nights of chatting and giggling are on.  it's so fun to hear them talking and talking.  i'm hoping this time of sharing rooms will be a special memory for them.  i remember sleeping on the floor in my brother's room all the time and i loved it.

 this project helped me get a little more organized and some much needed cleaning was done.  it's not exactly how i want it to be yet, but this will do for now.

this is a little kitchen set andy made for ella a couple of christmas' ago.  julian now uses it just as much as ella.  the dishes are from ikea and the aprons are thrifted.

 i had been wanting a little reading corner for them for a while and now they have one.  i set up ella's teepee in the corner and tried to make it comfy with lots of pillows.  there is usually a small quilt under the whole teepee, but it was in the wash at the time of these pictures.  apparently yoshi thought i set up that little corner just for her and got the quilt all full of hair,  ugh.  

i love that there is a lot of light in this corner...perfect for reading!

 here is a little thrifted shelf i found and spray painted.  i let ella pick out this crazy bright pink and i think it works.  this shelf holds a lot of littles.

 i love this shelving unit.  we got it when ella was born to hold her clothes instead of a dresser.  i had a bunch of baskets and it worked nicely.  slowly books have taken over one shelf at a time, which i love.  changing this into the playroom allowed me to move a lot of their art supplies from a closet on the other end of the house and consolidate everything in this unit.  looking at this picture makes me want to organize the books a little to make it look a little cleaner.  i was also able to move puzzles and coloring books to a place where they are more accessible.  since moving things around you would think the kids got a lot of new toys...a little shuffle makes some toys so much more appealing.

that big teddy bear on the top was mine from when i was a kid.  my grandpa and grandma bought it for me for my tenth birthday while we were on vacation in big bear.  the bandit mask is an addition by ella.

 this is a little collection of julian's cars...well, actually andy's but i assume one day they will be julian's.  the two little dolls are handmade by me from a while back.  the one with the red dress was made from a black apple pattern.  the little boots were andy's from when he was a kid.  they were a gift from his grandpa.

 the bookcase was made by andy a long time ago for our first house.  i still love it.  we used it to hold julian's clothes in his room when he was born.  now it holds both of their clothes.  the table was also made by andy for our craft fair display.  it is a perfect table for our art projects.  the pictures are kind of just thrown up there on hooks that were there already.  i want to change that up a little with a couple of other big prints or paintings.

 this was arranged a while back when it was ella's room.  the cross stitch picture of the little girl holding bird cages was thrifted.  the tray was as well.  the clipboards hold the ever changing art work.

this little corner also holds their desks to sit at and draw or whatever they feel like doing.  ella used her's here and there during the school year to do her homework at. both of the desks were thrifted at 2 different places.  the big boat is a kite we got while on a trip in bali.  it had been stored away in the garage.  i am hoping the kids are old enough now to be trusted to not mess it up.

i still want to make new curtains and rearrange a couple of things but that is the playroom for now.  

it's a little cluttered, but i love looking around and seeing things that we have made and things that mean a lot to us displayed throughout our house.

 i'm just happy it doesn't look like this anymore.

on to my next project.  actually this is andy's project that i am helping him with.

don't even ask.  i'm keeping my fingers crossed.