It's Rednesday--vintage apron, pin bead Mrs. Claus and gratuitous cute baby photos

Yippee, it's Rednesday! I'm joining Sue's Rednesday party today.


I love this pin and bead Mrs. Claus! She's a Walco craft from the early 1970s and is reminiscent of the pin bead fruit that I collect as well.
I found her at a thrift a few weeks ago, but sadly there was no Mr. Claus to be found. I now have a mission: locate a pin bead Santa and reunite him with the lovely Mrs.!

Found at a rare weekday garage sale when I was out visiting my mom in Utah, I think these are actually from 2008 but I never blogged about them. The crocheted apron is a child's size and somebody turned the vintage tablecloth into cute red-hemmed cloth napkins.

And a favorite red (and blue) thing around here:
Would you just LOOK at that hair? Hee! It's like Muppet hair.This one's blurry but Porter is just the happiest, most smiley baby! He'll be 12 weeks tomorrow (HOW?) and is an absolute delight!

Vintage Christmas Monday

This has been the state of my front room table for about a week now:
I'm going to call this, "A Beautiful Mess"It may be a disaster but somehow it bothers me far less than the other messes around my house at the moment. :)

After a poor showing at the thrifts so far this season, I scored on Friday afternoon. Yay!Lots of goodies to keep and lots more to put in my etsy shop!

I'm joining in on Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday!

It's Rednesday--vintage spaghetti ware Santa

My favorite color is RED (has been for years) so it's only fitting that I join in Sue's Rednesday party!Today's RED item would also fit for Vintage Christmas Monday. Oh heck, most of what I post this month would probably fall under that category! I found this guy a few weeks ago at the thrift. I bought him to sell, but as it seems to happen all too often, I think I like him too much to let him go.I'm not usually one for figurines (aka dust collectors), but come on--isn't he darling? I love the spaghetti 'fur' trim.
It's so rare to find something like this at the thrift and have it be intact, but he's perfect--not even any chipping on the spaghetti trim! I think I need to find some candy canes or barber poles to fill his sack.

We had a self-imposed snow day today. It was snowing and the wind chill was 4 degrees this morning when I got up, and I just couldn't face going out in that to take Maren to preschool. I haven't yet figured out a good solution for keeping the baby warm and wrapped up while I take Maren to school. The stroller is a pain (especially in the snow) and carrying him in the bucket carrier is unwieldy and heavy, but just holding him in my arms wrapped up in blankies doesn't seem warm enough, and I sometimes worry that I'll slip and fall with disastrous results. I've got to get something figured out though, because we have about 5 more months of cold mornings to look forward to here in Colorado! Right now the wind chill is a whopping 10 degrees, and tomorrow morning won't be much of an improvement from today. It has been a good day to stay inside and work on crafts and decorations--hope to have some to share tomorrow!

Vintage Christmas Monday

I'm joining Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday blog party!

All of the digging through bags of overpriced junk at the thrift is worth it when you find a bag that contains these:
Yum. Makes me want to put my shoes on and run to the thrift store again! Thrift store treasure hunting is like gambling--usually you lose but sometimes you win, and those wins make it all worth it!

This was found at an antique mall. Love the original box!And these were found at my new favorite vintage store in town, Pink Attic Cat:

More toadstool ornaments for my collection (are those Smurf houses?) and a fun little green mylar spray that wants to be a Christmas corsage.

Still haven't got the Christmas decorations out. Hoping to change that soon!

Pink giveaway winner & Need advice on a lamp

I'm a wee bit late posting the winner of my In the Pink giveaway. Yesterday we pulled out the Goblet of Fire...
And my trusty assistant helped me choose the winner She even wore pink for the occasion! And the winner is:
Commenter #7 shoeboxofphotographs, who happens to be none other than my dear college roommate and friend Shonda! Looks like little Miss B now has decorations for her pinky party. :) Thank you all for visiting and entering!

So the second part of my post title...
is this lamp. (Man, that's a lousy picture--it's hard to take a picture of a clear glass object!) I bought this lamp during a pre-Halloween thrift run for $1.99. It stayed in a bag under my desk for a few days until I realized in my Halloween party house-cleaning frenzy that I needed more light in a particular room, and remembered my "new" lamp. I plopped it on a table, swiped a shade from another lamp and turned it on--I confess I didn't even clean the dust off first!

In the weeks since Halloween my little two-dollar lamp has really grown on me! It reminds me of these from the Simply Shabby Chic line at Target:

This one is $29.99

And this one is $44.99

except for one thing: The previous owner got crazy with the spray paint and changed the metal fittings on the lamp to a baby blue color. I don't hate the color, it just doesn't work with my decor. I know how to wield a can of spray paint myself and thus the metal pieces are going to get a color change but I'm not sure what to choose, so I'm looking for your advice, esteemed readers!

Here are the guidelines: The walls in the room where the lamp will live are a deep red. There are accents of brown and my favorite aqua blue in the room. There isn't really any other metal in the room. There are two pieces of furniture with their original white chippy paint and two pieces of furniture in a warm oak. Because the job will only require a small amount of paint, I want to use a color I already have so here are the options:

• silver
• chrome (a bit more dull than the silver, which is a shiny metallic)
  
• black
• antique white (blogland's favorite Rustoleum Heirloom White, to be precise)
  
• aqua blue
  

What would you choose? I don't have a shade in mind just yet so I'm open to anything!

Tuesday thrift find: aqua duckie planter

Not technically thrifted (found at a little artsy/vintage store instead) but it was thrift-store priced so it had to come home with me!

How to fix a mirror that has come out of its frame

Garage sale season is just about over here until next spring, but there have been a few stragglers the last few weekends. I had a little bit of time without Maren last Saturday so I headed to the new Dollar Tree to look for the crows that Shara found. No luck on those, but there was a garage sale on the next block so I did a quick drive-by to see if it was worth stopping.

The sale barely filled the driveway of the single-car garage and the items that the owners were still putting out didn't look like anything special, but one thing caught my eye and I stopped. Over to the side, leaning against the garbage can was an old mirror. Nothing was marked with a price, which is my #1 garage sale pet peeve and usually results in me walking back to the car empty-handed However, I wanted that mirror BAD, so I asked and was thrilled when the owner said it was $2.00. In fact, she said, she didn't think she'd be able to sell it because it had fallen out of the frame and the glass was so heavy and the frame so old it looked like junk. Well, lucky for both of us that's precisely the kind of junk I'm looking for, so I handed over $2, picked up the pieces of the mirror, frame and backing and tried not to skip all the way to the car!

The woman was right, it was in rough shape. The mirror is very old and very heavy--so heavy that someone had twisted a thick piece of rubber-coated wire cable on the back to use as a hanger. The weight of the mirror was such that it had overwhelmed the old nails, causing the entire backing board to fall off so nothing was left to hold the mirror into the frame.

However, I happen know how to fix an old mirror that has fallen out of its frame because I've done it before with this one:
It's ridiculously easy, all you need are these little guys:These are called glazier points and you can find them in the hardware store. There are even instructions on the back of the package to show you how to use them. They're pointy on one end and with the mirror face down in the frame, you just push the points into the sides of the frame. The back of my package shows a special tool for this purpose but I just used a wooden block! I tossed the backing board for this mirror because it was an old, dirty piece of wood and I didn't feel like it needed a backing, but if you wanted you could use a piece of matboard or thick cardboard cut to size and secured with tacks.
It's so hard to get good photos of mirrors but the silver backing is perfectly mottled and spotted with age. It makes a great spooky addition to my Halloween decor!

Estate sale finds: Dennison seals and ironstone

It is a source of much frustration to me that I don't often get to visit estate sales around here very often (especially when I see the goodies that Laurie finds at estate sales every week). I don't go because 1) four-year-olds and newborns don't make for very good estate sale shoppers and 2) I live on the edge of town in a very new area, and 90% of the estate sales I see listed are at least a 30-minute drive from me.

Last weekend I needed a junk fix and The Mister was home to watch the littles, so I headed across town to an estate sale that sounded interesting (the ad said something about three generations of collectors...enough to set any junker to drooling). It was a good 40-minute drive into the heart of downtown Denver but when I found these on the floor in the attic, I knew it was all worth it!
LOVE them. And serendipitous because I had been watching some of the turkey seals on eBay that very week! There are more that I didn't show, mostly duplicates and a few Christmas designs.

I also found this lonely china plate in the back of a basement closet:
Crazed and stained, just the way I like 'em!

The seals, the plate and about 10 packages of 1980s Muppet & Snoopy stickers for Maren set me back exactly one dollar. Now that was worth driving across town for!

Tuesday thrift finds

Some thrift finds from August that I never got around to blogging...

Silver baby cups (someday I'll have enough to do this)
Three little half-pint milk bottlesA delightfully crazed yellow planter with a sweet little bird on a branch

A turquoise Krispy Kan to match my red one. (I had no idea they came in this color; they were made in yellow too).

A golden Saturday in October

Last weekend was a perfect example of why I love autumn in Colorado: lovely blue skies, warm sunshine, crisp air and gorgeous colors all around. This weekend is a perfect example of what I don't love about autumn: the schizophrenic weather that gave us snow yesterday, cool sunshine today, and more snow (and high temps in the 30s) on tap for tomorrow. Sigh.
We took advantage of the lovely weather last weekend to drive north to Loveland to a pumpkin patch. The Mister was out of town so my mom flew in to help me out for the weekend, and we packed up the kiddos and set out for an adventure.
We had such fun! The farm itself is quite small and the whole event was delightfully low-key and uncrowded. While Maren enjoyed the pumpkins, hay rides, barrel train and petting zoo, my mom and I enjoyed the antique vendors, visiting with friends and the beautiful fall scenery. Here is my loot from the day:A great old glass jar (to go with a few others I have), a pair of cream ceramic urns (only one is shown), rhinestone sparklies, and a couple of fun old spice cans for Thanksgiving decorating. Not shown is the old Almond Joy candy bar box that I scored for a song for my mom's growing collection. The one that got away: a huge old metal canister in the perfect shade of orange for Halloween decorating. It was cheap and awesome but I didn't want to haul it around and when I went back for it, it was gone. Serves me right for being so lazy!
Beautiful weather, friends, junking and my family--what a perfect way to spend an autumn day!

Easy Framed Halloween Vinyl Decor

During the week or so before I delivered Porter, I had several days of nothing to do. I had nothing scheduled because I didn't know when I'd actually go into labor, and I was too physically awkward to be moving around much, so I returned to my default setting--if all else fails, CRAFT!

I had this very cool Spooky Brocade vinyl Decor Elements from Stampin' Up! and was looking for a fun way to use it in my Halloween decorating. My mom and I tossed around some ideas and came up with the idea of placing it on the glass of a picture frame. (I also thought it would look neat on a framed mirror, especially if you could give the back of the mirror a cool antiqued effect.) It just so happened that I stopped by a garage sale the weekend before and found a piece of framed art that was just the right size! Here's what it looked like before:
My transformation wasn't very complicated but it was satisfying! I used cheap black acrylic craft paint to paint the frame itself. I could have used some of the black spray paint I had out for another project that I'll share later, but that would have meant removing or taping off the glass, and at that point I just wasn't up for anything that took more than the minimum of effort.
Initially I had thought about leaving the frame empty, so the wall color would show through the glass. However, I felt like the brocade design got a little lost so I found a piece of Halloweeny patterned paper in my stash that perfectly fit the frame. I applied the vinyl decal to the front of the glass (so easy, it's just like a big sticker), and added the Making Memories velvet sticker letters below it. The glass is just standard thickness but I like how there is a bit of depth separating the vinyl design from the background paper. And because I can't just leave well enough alone, I embellished the brocade design with a few small adhesive gems (eyes on the bat, the large spider's body and the swirls at the sides).
I reassembled the frame and added a black grosgrain ribbon bow at the top with my hot glue and staple gun (those don't show in the photo). Now, to find the perfect place to hang my new piece of Halloween art!

Thrifting my way to good mental health

Four straight days of nasty weather and a newborn conspired last week to give me a pretty serious case of cabin fever by the time Thursday rolled around. I made my escape to the thrift store (of course) for a much-needed hour of sanity restoration, and while it would have been good anyway just to get out, it was made even better because I found some good junk!


I went looking for a particular item for a project I'm working on for my Sweet & Sinister swap partner and thank the thrifting fairies, I found it! No picture yet because so far it's just a boring picture frame, but I have plans for it that I can hopefully share soon.

I also found two other items for the baby's room that I've been looking for: a crib bumper to match my previously thrifted crib skirt, and this green & blue paper lantern. I had a darling pink & yellow lantern hanging up when it was Maren's room but needed something different for Baby Boy. I looked at World Market but could only find a white lantern and I bought it but once I put it up I realized that it reminds me WAY too much of the fake spider egg sacs that I saw in a Martha Stewart Halloween magazine a few years back. This blue & green lantern is MUCH better! It was new in the package and it is the perfect colors for the baby's bedroom. Maybe I'll actually have that room finished by the time Porter is ready to actually sleep in there!

My other treasures: a bag of sewing notions that included 2 teeny weeny flower frogs and a baggie of covered button blanks, a Scrabble game for the tiles, an apothecary-type jar (which will probably get one of these spooky labels for Halloween), and a mushroom-shaped jar that I'm dying to fill with red & white Jelly Bellies. Not shown are an old Christmas wreath from which I'm hoping to salvage the vintage glass picks and a NWT blue and white seersucker suit from Talbot's Kids that will fit Porter in 4 years.

And speaking of Porter...
Here's the little Munchkin after his first bath last week. I love his crazy hair!

Weekend garage sale finds

It's so nice to have friends who know what you like, isn't it? On Friday morning I returned home to find a message on my answering machine from a sweet friend, alerting me to a garage sale in the neighborhood that she thought I'd like! I grabbed my purse and raced over there, only to find my friend still there shopping. :) She was right--I found plenty that I liked! Here are my purchases:These two cute pillows made from old chenille. The pink & blue one matches Maren's new bedspread just perfectly! The other doesn't match anything yet but was just too darn cute to leave behind; in addition to the chenille it has old yo-yos, buttons and cute vintage fabric.
The cherry fabric is a pair of curtain valances; they aren't vintage but they're definitely vintage-inspired and I think they'll fit over my kitchen window. The pretty shabby pink frame will also go in Maren's new room. The metal thing--well, I'm not sure exactly what it is (a mail holder?) but what I do know is that it 1) has chippy pale aqua paint and 2) was only $1, so that was enough for me!

One of the ladies holding this sale is a big fan of shabby/vintage style decorating and was doing some purging, hence all the goodies. She said whatever didn't sell by last Saturday would be moved over to another sale this coming weekend, and she said she had barely scratched the surface of things she needed to sell. We encouraged her to "get scratching" and my friend took down her address so we can be sure to hit her next sale--hopefully I'll have more goodies to show next week!

Saturday morning I went and had my hair highlighted and trimmed. Add that to my recent pedicure and brow wax, and I'm almost ready for those post-birth hospital photos--just need a quick trip to Target for some new jammies! :) After my hair appointment I started having contractions, which continued all night long. They weren't really hard but they were frequent and they were enough to scare me good and bring back the memories of my labor with Maren. The contractions stopped Sunday morning and I haven't had any since. I actually feel much like I did when I was first pregnant: zero energy, upset tummy and no appetite--funny that it has come full circle that way! I go in to the OB tomorrow for my next checkup. Mostly I'm just trying to take it really easy. Maybe my exhaustion is my body's way of telling me to cool it and conserve my energy for the big task ahead. Plus I need to conserve my strength for Round #2 of that garage sale this weekend. :)

Tuesday thrift find: Oyster plates

I've never eaten an oyster and I never intend to do so (although I love most other seafood) but I was tickled to find three of these beautiful old oyster plates at Goodwill recently! The glaze is perfectly crazed and crackly and I love the relief images of mermaids and King Neptune around the edges. I had thought about selling them but as it happens too often, I got attached and now they're going to live here for a while! At least two of them will end up on my wall--wish I could have found a fourth and then they'd all be hung up. That reminds me, I need to measure them and buy some plate hangers so I can get them up on the wall!

As of yesterday I hit the one-month countdown mark until my due date and as of Thursday I'm officially 36 weeks. I can tell I'm really slowing down in terms of energy (it's only noon and I've already had a nap today) and I'm getting really frustrated at the physical limitations my big belly and swollen extremities are causing me. I'm pretty ready to NOT be pregnant anymore but at the same time we still have lots to do to get ready for a new baby around here so baby can't come just yet!

We moved Maren into a new bedroom and I've been working on that since last week, but it's been slow going given my lack of energy and physical awkwardness. Thankfully, my parents came to visit over the weekend and helped us install a closet system in her new room, something that helped us immensely. I've been trying to get her things all organized in her new space so that we can start on the baby's room next. I keep waiting for that burst of nesting energy to kick in but so far I haven't seen it!

Tuesday thrift score

After complaining all summer about the dearth of good junk at my local thrifts, I've had a pretty good run the past week or so! I have more photos of my finds to share but wanted to show this one, today's only purchase:Oh, how I LOVE this old thermos! The plaid, the cute logo & name, the RED! It's in pretty good condition and I can't wait to display it! Maybe my junking luck is changing...

Is there a 12-step program for this?

Does anyone know of a support group or 1-800 helpline for the truly Button Obsessed?
Seriously, I think it's getting worse. These are some of the buttons I bought this past weekend on our trip to Durango. Help--somebody save me from myself! Forget button flowers; I'm moving on to button gardens.

Also among the spoils from this weekend's junking: a jadeite ashtray (nobody in this house smokes but you had better believe that if I see jadeite for $2, it's coming home with me--I don't care WHAT type of object it is) and a couple of strings of red mercury glass beads.

Button love

I'm sick--with the the Button Bug. I've always been afflicted but lately it has been bad. I blame those darn button bouquets for my current flare-up; I wiped out my supply of large buttons in several colors, so I've been on the hunt for more.

On Monday I found myself at the giant antique mall. I was supposed to be doing some birthday shopping for others but ended up finding a few treasures of my own(doesn't that always happen?). Among my finds were several jars of buttons: two jars were ridiculously cheap and one jar was ridiculously expensive, but it all evened out because contained in those jars were some of the absolute BEST vintage buttons I've yet to find!

Colorful plastic buttons in all sizes and shapes...These Lucite & glitter buttons were the ones that convinced me to buy the expensive jar--LOVE them! The three black buttons at the left are SO fabulous--they have faceted glass insets and look how huge they are (that's a quarter in the center for scale)! In my imagination, they came off a really amazing 1960s black boucle swing coat.Huge faux tortoiseshell (again with the quarter for scale) and lots of real shell buttons...
And LOTS of sparklies...
The large jar had quite a few old metal buttons that have become encrusted with green corrosion (rust?), which then rubbed off on all the other buttons. I gave them all a soapy bath and a gentle scrub but the corrosion didn't come off of the metal buttons. Do any of my fellow vintage button lovers out there know if there is any way to get rid of that for good? Some of the buttons are SO neat and I hate to have to throw them away.The Mister has been making fun of me because every time he's walked into the kitchen since Monday night, he's found me fiddling with my new buttons, arranging them by size and color and type, and just generally fondling them. I can't help it! Could you?