Sunday, July 30, 2017

Bottles and Bowls.......

I am down to the last two weeks of my semi retirement from crafting. My daughter starts back to school this week, and my son heads to College the week after that. Where has this summer gone?
 
As much as I will miss having my son around all the time, and the lazy summer afternoons spent with my daughter lounging in the she shack and in the pool, it will be nice to start seriously crafting again.
 
But what to craft?
 
I am having some trouble there.
 
Do I continue to hammer away? Or do I find a new craft to do? I am at a bit of a crossroads. Do I want to work more shows? Sell online? Or find a new shop? Or do all three?
 
What to do, what to do.
 
I have some decisions to make in the next couple of weeks.
 
So yesterday, in the hopes that strolling through my favorite indoor flea market would help inspire some new ideas I headed out.
 
Not a single new idea to be had, but there were some fun finds!
 
First, Bottles! I keep an eye out for pretty bottles, and these purple ones caught my eye right away!
 

I now have two of "Warranted Flask" bottles in different sizes. I love how they look on my window sill when the sun shines through them.

 
And the bowls, always bowls. I do love bowls.
 

 
Especially fun ones like these Tiger bowls. We were debating if these Fire King bowls were Tony the tiger or the Esso "put a tiger in your tank" tiger. We decided he was Esso. Regardless, we loved them!
 

 
I just realized...I have had a thing for kids vintage dishes this summer.....interesting.
 
So maybe after the stress of getting both kids settled for the fall my creative juices will start to flow again, lets hope so because I cannot imagine what I would do with myself without projects to keep me constantly too busy!
 
Hope you are enjoying your summer!
 
 

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Its Summertime in the South.....

The Southern heat has finally hit. Really cannot complain, up until this past week we have been having a lovely summer, mostly 80's, no constant gawd awful humidity....until this past week. WHEW...and of course it had to hit hardest on Flea Market weekend.
 
Ya...I skipped it and opted for an indoor antique store then a float in the pool. But I have to admit, I missed going. There is always next month...or September, September is sounding pretty good.
 
Since I was just not up for pounding the asphalt of the Nashville Flea Market in the flesh melting heat of July, I decided to check out a new to me antique shop. Right across from the entrance to Opry Land Hotel. Deep in the heart of all of the country music tourist attractions I found a sweet little antique store. Really liked it (especially the air conditioning) they had a few good finds, but the prices are definitely on the antique store side.
 
Of course that did not stop me from picking up a couple little things.
 
Cute Orange Fire King dish called to me.
 
 
 
And I am always a sucker for these little tea towels.
 
 
It had been awhile since I had added to my Brass Menagerie, these darling geese had to move in with us!
 
 
When I it is super hot outside like it is right now, I tend to turn more to Ebay to try my luck. Yes....the fifth pig, the cute cereal bowl. Not a bargain price. Not so expensive that we will have to skip lunch for a week, but the bargain shopper in me is disgusted with what I paid.
 
But I still love it and I could consider the set complete if I decide that I don't really need the divided plate.
 
 
And I have not decided yet, although the bargain shopper in me is says enough with the pigs for now.
 
And does it make sense that during this heat I am craving homemade blueberry muffins? I do not like to turn the stove on in this kind of heat, but I have gotten out of bed super early the last two Sunday mornings just to make muffins. And oh it was totally worth it. This Pinterest find is now my go to recipe for blueberry muffins
 
So good!
 
 
I have finally finished the biggest parts of my summertime "decrap" project.  Now I can focus on back to school and dorm room prep. I do still have some fun decorating projects to do, I will have to show you once I have everything wrapped up! It will feel nice going into fall with a more organized house...not that I am finished...but a great deal of progress has been made! I hope I made some Goodwill shoppers very happy with my heavy donations the last month, LOL
 
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
 
 


Sunday, July 16, 2017

A small break in the trend....

I was lucky to have a supersized extra long 4th of July weekend. Even though I seemed to have something going on every day and still had to get online and work a couple mornings, it was a much needed mini staycation. Of course with a couple extra days off I made sure that I got some time to hit my favorite local thrifts and indoor flea market. I have been doing so much purging around the house that I was really not shopping for anything, it was just an excuse to run out and about. But...I guess when you are not looking for anything in particular, that is when you find the best stuff!
 
First off, Pyrex fridgies in turquoise at my favorite indoor Flea Market, no way I was passing these up!
 
 
And my apparent pig obsession continues, I could not help myself, cute little guy.
 
 
I also managed to score another red stripe Hazel Atlas mug that I forgot to get a shot of. I was ticked because one of the two I bought at the Nashville Flea last fall popped and broke the minute my daughter put hot water in it for her tea. And at 3.00? It was a steal!
 
But my favorite find of the day came from Southern Thrift.  When I saw them sitting there I actually stood shocked for a moment. A Fire King Primrose four piece lunch set! I have been hunting for these for months! I had decided that Primrose would be the next dish set I collected and I really loved the lunch set. This is overall in pretty good shape, no chips but some paint loss but for 2.25 each? Yes, I will deal with a little paint loss, I say it just adds some charm and character!
 
 
I continue to focus on my house "purge" so much stuff that the kids have outgrown, piles and piles of books that I have read but not looked at again in years, so many things that I just really don't use or want anymore. Feels really great to get the "extra" out and just keep what I really enjoy. The fact that we have had at least some rain almost every weekend has helped keep me inside and I have gotten much more than I anticipated done, so I hope to have it all completed by the end of July, which is good because if I am going to work any craft markets this fall I need to start looking at getting some hammering done pretty darn soon!
 
Purging aside, I still plan to hit the Nashville Flea next weekend, unless it is flesh melting hot, in that case, more purging with a rewarding dip in the pool after I finish!
 
Hope you are having a productive weekend!

Saturday, July 8, 2017

It started with a button...

At the Lebanon Antiques and Uniques show a couple months ago, there was a vendor selling the most darling button jewelry. I got to chatting with her as I was looking over her stock and she was telling me that all of the buttons were from her grandmothers massive button collection. Tons of beautiful mother of pearl buttons turned into button flowers, necklaces, rings, earrings all sorts of cute jewelry. I had to grab a couple, one for my daughter and one for myself.
 
 
I wear mine all the time. Just something about it. The mother of pearl is so smooth, I love it!
 
So when I came home from the Nashville Flea Market last month with my mismatched insulator, thinking of what I could possibly do with it,  I started to think that maybe I would jump on the button crafting wagon and try my hand at crafting with some vintage buttons.
 
Vintage buttons are not hard to come by.
 
 
We had rain almost every day over the Forth of July weekend, so one afternoon after hauling myself out of the pool as the next thunderstorm rolled in, I came inside to scroll through Pinterest for some button flower inspiration. Then I dug into my button stash and started to play around.
 
I have to tell you, sitting at the kitchen table, listening to the rain pelting the windows, a gentle thunder rolling as I mixed and matched vintage buttons? Pretty darn relaxing.
 
And I think they turned out pretty cute!
 

 
And a button bouquet was exactly what the "bottom" insulator needed.
 
 
I ended up having so much fun, I decided to incorporate a vintage print that was destined for the trash.  A few minutes with my handy dandy paper punch and I was off again.
 
I was really tickled with how they turned out!
 





 
Well, at least I now have something that does NOT require watering to put in my kitchen window vintage bottle collection right?
 
As I was digging through the buttons, I found many mother of pearl buttons. I pulled them all out as I have another idea for them!
 
Good to keep the creative juices flowing even during a hiatus!
 
Hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer weekend!
 
 
 

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Happy Forth of July!

Happy Forth of July!
 

Hope you have a relaxing day filled with laughter, good food, family and friends!
 
 

Saturday, July 1, 2017

I have noticed a trend...

I have noticed a trend. I seem to hit a flea market/thrifting slump once summer starts.
 
I was so excited to go to the June Nashville flea market. We went early, got great parking had beautiful weather....the perfect flea market  trifecta!
 
But there was nothing there to temp me. I walked out with two insulators that I picked up for 2.00 each and a bag full of farmers market produce, peaches and pecans.
 
I walked out with more food than finds...
 
Wondering if maybe it is the thrifting gods telling me it is time decrap and not bring more in.
 
Ya...I listened, I have filled bags and bags destined for Goodwill today.
 
I did have to laugh at my insulator finds. One was just a deeper darker blue green that I really liked. But the other is a bottom, and I thought I had the top at home. I knew the color was a bit off but thought it would work.
 
Not so much.....
 
The top.
 
 
The bottom.
 
 
Nope.
 
 
Oh well. I still like the bottom. And it gave me an idea for a new project. More to come on that.
 
But I did really love the darker insulator. So pretty!
 
 
Almost as pretty as the produce.
 

 
Down to the last few weeks of these sweet Georgia peaches. Oh I will miss them!
 
Hoping you are having better thrifting luck than I am!