My head is about to explode with cuteness. During our impromptu family field trip to 
the LA Central Library to see this amazing photography exhibit, I treated myself to a box of labels by a UK design team by the name of Sukie at the library gift store. On what should I adhere them? Should I share? Can I wear them? Can I make them last forever? My head is also about to explode with label anxiety.
Is this a cute, shabby chic display at an antique store? A flea market? Why no. It's all our yard sale bonanza of finds from yesterday morning - even that amazing green & cream, Art Deco, enamel-topped table - bought for a mere $20. We hit about 5 or 6 sales and bought something at almost all of them, I think. Aprons, a vintage school reader, two kitchen tins, a stack of Union Pacific soup plates (which we've since learned are worth a small fortune - I got them for $2), a set of 1920's fruit bowls with a green poppy pattern, an old flip book about trees. We were giddy with excitement. The table is a major score -- those typically run between $100-$200. Unfortunately, we have no space in which to put, so it'll have to live in the garage under a sheet until my dream of a craft studio comes true.
Before the table goes to the garage, however, I had to try it out for crafting. I got four relatively uniterrupted hours to craft yesterday afternoon, thanks to a swim playdate in the morning that exhausted the kids, a Land Before Time movie, and a daddy that played unending rounds of UNO. I made my soon-to-be-married brother a shadow-box of sorts - it reminds me a little of a Mexican nicho. It has an excerpt of a funny little poem I tore out of a 1925 book I had, and I used other little found items and lots of cool paper. I'll add their wedding date to the bottom of the box later today, after heading out to get a copper-colored paint pen or something else that catches my eye.
The cool thing is that I realized while I was making this that I when found the little wooden "wings," I was at the flea market and Lucas called to tell me he was engaged. I was sorting through a huge bin of all kinds of funky treasures and had the wings in hand when the cell rang. I don't think Luke is in the habit of reading this blog, so I think I'm safe in sharing a few pics of the box.
With that, I am taking a blog break until early August. Ciao!
The "old lady" thrift store paid off once again: a huge bag of 100% wool felt scraps for $3! Do you know how expensive wool felt is? Holy cow, I am so happy. Several pieces are quite large for scraps, so I can definitely craft all sorts of things from it (I already started one, last pic above). I also got three pieces of vintage trim (see middle pic above) for 35 cents each. Add a few books for the kids, a bag of dinos for R., and a vintage game board, and my grand total was $12.
B's Japanese garden is nearly complete. We got the gardening bug last weekend and purchased several glazed pots (check out that red!) and lots of plants - fescue, bamboo, carex grass, a couple mini conifer trees, and red nandina. It's really taking shape!
I am also going to sneak in a few bird photos I've taken this week. Bear with me, I can't help myself. From left to right: Western scrub jay (noisy and greedy, but gorgeous), a black phoebe at our pool, a flock of cedar waxwings at our bird bath (can you stand it?), finches in a birdfeeder.
The old lady thrift store has panned out again. I can’t divulge its whereabouts—I am already a little anxious about the hipster couple I saw in there on my last visit. Will they, and others like them, start to score all the cool stuff after I drive off?—but suffice it to say, this place is gold. Latest find: three vintage enamelware refrigerator boxes with red, yes red, lids. I likely would have paid five dollars or more for each one at the flea market. The little ladies in the blue coats had these marked at $.75 each for two of them; the third was randomly marked $.50. The amazing c. early 1960's Christmas tablecloth was $1.99 at Goodwill yesterday, and the red plaid tray is from an antique store in Denver. Don’t they make a lovely arrangement all together?
I hoard red vintage things for the art studio that I will someday have. In my minds’ eye, it has open shelves, rows of jars with buttons and ribbon, lovely paper hung on racks, funky folk art on the walls, and all of the kids outgrown picture books within arms’ reach, for inspiration. Some day....
He brings me presents from the flea market.
A Mexican letter holder, likely from the 1940's or early 1950's and an old honey jar with a great c. 1940's label on it
Close-up of the honey jar
An old tablecloth with a map of Arizona and fabulous illustrations surrounding it
(and, for comparison sake, another old tablecloth with an illustrated map of California, which he presented to me at Christmas)
Thanks, bub ;-)
