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!!

Currently reading...

 I am reading this book and loving it although at the same time I want to stop reading it.  I am now responsible for the information I now know.  It's a book about a family who is trying to eat only locally grown foods and why.  I'm only about a third of the way into the book but it has been a real eye opener.  It was hard just going grocery shopping today.  Almost all of the fruits and veggies had out of the country stickers on them.  My usual shopping habits consist of going to a grocery store once every couple of weeks.  In between it's Trader Joe's and farmer's markets.  Although I have to admit I usually only go to farmer's markets during the summer.  I don't know why.  I do love them.  That is definitely going to change along with many of the food choices we make.  We definitely won't be eating any out of season fruits or veggies.

Here is a little taste of the book:

'Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars.  We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen...

Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum.  Even bigger gas guzzlers on a farm are not machines, but so-called inputs.  Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing...

But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one-fifth of the total oil used for our food.  The lion's share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate.  Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles.  In addition to direst transport, other fuel-thirsty steps include processing ( drying, milling, cutting, storing, baking), packaging, warehousing, and refrigeration.  Every calorie consumed by production, packaging, and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from the food.

...If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels.  Small changes in buying habits can make a big difference.' 

This is just a little excerpt from the book that contains informational facts and these are scattered throughout the book.  The majority of the book is about the process the family went through to deliberately eat food produced in their area and to grow their own food.  

source

Good book if you want to be challenged. 

Soft and Squishy

I'm on a quilted blanket kick that's for sure. After going through my tiny sized scrap pile of fabric and making a small square quilt, I decided to go through my pile of slightly larger pieces and realized I could make a nice little blanket for Ella. I decided to dig up her worn with love receiving blankets from when she was a baby and incorporate them into the mix.

I made 4 large rectangles out of 4 pieces of fabric, then used long strips for in between and along edges. The back is a large piece of soft micro corduroy fabric that used to cover a chair in Ella's room. This turned out to be such a nice thick squishy blanket, perfect for cuddling up.

I hand-tied this with a nice turquoise.

I think part of my inspiration for these quilts has been this book I found at a thrift store.

It was published in the 70's if you can't tell from the pics. One of the things I love about old books is the style...awesome!

I have a request for a new comforter for our bed, so I better get started before I'm over this little quilting kick.

I LOVE...

1. My new sewing box. This beauty was dug up at one of those HUGE rummage sales in a church parking lot with more incredible finds than I could wrap my greedy little arms around. I even had 2 small helpers carrying some of the goods. Next year the wagon is definitely coming along. So, I finally made it to the line to pay, having no idea how much anything cost, and the sweet grandmotherly lady took a quick glance at everything spilling out of my arms and said, "Oh, how about seven dollars?" Maybe she felt sorry for me or something. So my sewing box cost, uh, nothing in my book.

2. Cinnamon. I love it on everything this time of year. It just tastes like autumn to me.

3. Ella tying a scrap piece of fabric to her ankle and the other end to a pillow as her surfboard leash.

Awesome!!
4. My stash of trims. I need to find a better way of storing these, but for now when I look at this mess it makes me happy. 5. This book. I'm already laughing. Last night Andy came home from the bookstore with one of the best surprise gifts I have received in a long time.
My first job was at Baskin Robbins. Yes, good memories. I quickly worked my way up the corporate ladder from scooper all the way up to cake decorator. So when Andy saw this book he knew I would appreciate it. The cakes are hilarious and will definitely make you laugh out loud, but then you read what the author adds and you will be back to a long silent mix between a laugh and a cry, kind of like the sound of a wounded animal...at least that's how I sound when I laugh REALLY hard. Tears. I guess the above cake had been e-mailed to everyone (except me) and the author, Jen Yates, had the idea to start CakeWrecks.com which led to the book. Genius.

(sorry my pics are so bad, I got a little too excited and snapped these a little too quickly)

It says 'Cake Camouflage' at the top.

I'm just imaging I am the recipient of this cake.

Author writes "Boy, Cole & Alli are NOT going to be happy about this. 'What, we're not good enough for the large font? Huh? HUH?' "These are just a few funny ones. I didn't want to ruin it using the hilarious ones here if you are going to buy the book.

ABOUT ME

Welcome to my blog!!

My name is Melissa and I love to create.  Creating to me is forever changing and evolving.  I love a challenge and trying new things.  

Some of my favorite creative outlets: sewing, painting, photography, drawing, crocheting, blogging, and crafts with the kids.  

I love anything vintage, books, sunshine, thrift stores, traveling, nature, estate sales, handmade gifts, Mexican hot chocolate, fabric, warm sand between my toes, alfresco dining, camping, fall, clouds, candle-lit dinners, laughing, surfing, music, the ocean, porch swings, foreign land, journals, ice cream, exploring, fresh fruit, bonfires, the color green, gardens, french toast, soup, cameras, basil, spring time, tiramisu, quilts, hiking, and most importantly my Creator...just to name a few.

I am a wife to my BFF.  He really is.  We met when I was 16 and he was 18, just a couple of years ago ;)  He was my brother's friend, super cute, a surfer, a gentleman, and way different from any other boy I knew.  We went to Prom on our first date, skipped out after the dinner, and talked and talked for hours.  We were young, but I knew I had found something rare.  We dated, got married, traveled a ton, surfed, played, bought a house, fixed it up, adopted our first baby, Yoshi, and realized that maybe it was about time to have a kid.  I'm so thankful for all the years we had just to ourselves. 

I am a mama to my sweet yet mischievous Ella, and to my rough yet lovable Julian.  They are amazing...they really are, even on those rough days when there are tears, fighting and no naps. It has been fun for me to make things for me kiddos.  As they are getting older, I am excited to see their creativity and I love finding ways to be able to be creative with them.

Thanks for stopping by my little world!

I would love to get to know you.

xo, Melissa