New Fabric!

I think I might have the "I love to buy fabric more than I love to sew" problem! :) I've been finding great fabric lately but haven't been sitting down to ACTUALLY sew.

But, I did pick up some really fun fabric over the weekend!

I found this tablecloth in Kim & Kit's booth at the TN Antique Mall. I LOOOOVE IT and I'm thinking about making pillows out of it for our new couch!


And I really want to pair these together for something...


I bought the below fabric to make baby shower gifts! Lots of upcoming baby showers!


And finally, the best fabric ever!


Can you believe it? Fabric based on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!! SO CUTE. It's $4.97 a yard at Wal-mart and I hope your local store has it! It's amazing.

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Fifty Years

I want to thank everyone for the nice comments lately! I have barely had time to blog and it's been so nice to post again and hear from my blog friends! I'm so sorry that I'm terrible at replying to comments. I do really appreciate people reading here and commenting!

I ran home yesterday to let Lucy out over my lunch hour. On the drive each way, I caught parts of interviews with civil rights leaders and activists in honor of the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington. They were SO moving.

I think those of us who LOVE VINTAGE who didn't live through the 60s over-glamorize the era. We appreciate the art, furniture, clothes, and music but gloss over the really, really, really awful things that happened. It's hard to reconcile that a decade that was brimming with amazing culture was the same one that brought so much turmoil and grief.

The moments you hear about the reality of the 60s are really sobering.

Today though, I loved hearing the activists speak about what it was like to be on the mall 50 years later and to see the progress that has been made. We still have so much more growing to do, but my heart was hopeful. I pray that I live to see the 100 year anniversary and see the progress and growth of our country.

I only heard a few interviews and I dug them up on WBUR to share. Check them out below:

• Women Were ‘Second Class Citizens At ’63 March’
• One Of The ‘Little Rock Nine’ Reflects On Her Legacy
• ‘I Have A Dream’ Still Resonates With Today’s Teens

Hear and read more at WBUR.   

I only heard those yesterday - I haven't had a chance to listen to the President's speech yet but I look forward to all the news coverage this morning and seeing what all I missed.

 

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Old School Ceramics: Dry-Brushed Clock

Saturday, I dry-brushed the clock that I had previously antiqued. It's not turning out that great - up close, you can definitely tell that it's not that great. But... I'm soldiering on and hoping that it looks better as I get it more finished.

First, I dry-brushed the clock face in a color called Buff, then dry brushed Ivory Cream over it.

I dry-brushed a color called Gingerbread over the rest of the clock, then highlighted the edges with a color called Toast and then on top of that, more Buff. I realized that the highlighting helped make it look a little more realistic, so I ended up highlighting more of the clock.

The scrolly parts and the numbers will be done in gold... hopefully it will all look ok! From far away, it's not bad... but... up close...that's another story!

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Add us to the list of Karlstad lovers...

I've been looking for a couch for years. YEARS. I bought a "leather" couch off Craigslist about 6 years ago and then my style totally morphed and it hasn't fit in with my decorating style for quite some time. It was comfortable but not the look that I was going for. I started saving all my antique booth money toward a couch. I saved for two years because it took that long to make a decision!

My wishlist was:

• Clean, mid-century lines
• Button tufting
• Tapered mid-century legs

I kept looking and looking in furniture stores and online for just the right couch. I couldn't find anything that I loved for under $3,000...and that just wasn't happening! I knew I'd have to make some compromises based on what we were willing to spend.

I thought about getting the leather Karlstad couch. It has tufting, but not button-tufting. Both the back and seat were tufted, but I really only wanted tufting on the back. We almost went with it, but I was having serious doubts. I felt like Goldilocks!

Then I saw this image and I fell in love with the idea of a fabric couch.

It was hard to decide on fabric - Lucy sheds pretty badly and I was really nervous about having to constantly vacuum the couch. Each week, I wiped down our "leather" couch with a slightly soapy rag and I knew that a fabric couch would be a totally different cleaning experience. I was nervous about the dog hair on fabric, but we took the plunge anyway.

We got the Karlstad couch from Ikea in Sivik gray and I love it!


I ordered replacement legs on etsy from thirteencolonies. I love them!


I'm so happy that for under $600, we have a really great new couch! It's really comfortable and I am so glad we went with this.

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Our Graduate!

Well, this is pretty cheesy, but last week Lucy graduated from a 6 week training class! Woohoo!

We worked on training her at home but I became obsessed with the idea of taking her to the lake and seeing if she likes swimming. Her feet are slightly webbed, so I think she is built for it and might love it! BUT, Andy had a great point - we can't take her to the lake until she listens/minds us better. So, we signed up for a class with Sean at PetSmart (at 100 Oaks).

She (and we!) learned a lot but we still have a lot more to work on- like coming consistently when called and laying down. For some reason, she refuses to learn how to lay down on command. We're going to take the intermediate class with Sean later this fall to continue working on training with her. I don't think the lake is in our future this summer - I just don't think she listens well enough yet.

We got to pose with a little graduation cap on her - it was so hard to get a photo while she was squirming around and trying to fight the hat!

Happy family! :)

P.S. Andy's tattoo is a 45 adapter in case you're wondering! A lot of people ask him about it because they don't know what it is!

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Old School Ceramics: Deer and Clock

I'm still doing ceramics when I can! I went on Saturday and base-coated and antiqued a mantel clock that will be a Christmas gift for my dad and some little reindeer that I will probably keep.

The base-coat is a color called whisper gray and this is what they looked like after I painted the base-coat:



Then I antiqued them with black stain - you brush it on, then wipe it off with a rag and it leaves behind the black coloring in the detail. When you dry brush over it, the detail really stands out thanks to the antiquing step.

Here's what they looked like after antiquing!


This Saturday, I will start dry-brushing them! Can't wait to see how they turn out!

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Slow-lene

The above video is a recording of Dolly Parton's "Jolene" 45 played at 33rpm. It's such a beautiful song but slowed down, it's even more haunting! People are so clever to experiment with music like this. Enjoy!!

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20% off Owl Really at the Tennessee Antique Mall

Through the end of August, you can take 20% off your entire purchase of items from Owl Really (booth 85) at the Tennessee Antique Mall! Happy shopping!! (Please tell your friends!)

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Thrift Report: West Coast Edition

I went to Washington for work earlier this month and was able to hang out with some dear, dear friends - Jake and Amy and their two daughters. I actually met their family for the first time at our wedding. Jake and Andy have been best friends for years but since they live so far away, I was never able to meet them until they came to town for the wedding. I am so thankful for them and their wonderful, amazing daughters who are like nieces to me!

Amy is one of the kindest, most generous people I've ever met. She handed me this owl plaque and said she had had it for me for awhile! She's the best. It's going on my office gallery wall whenever I get around to doing that! 



I squeezed in some thrifting in my downtime and found...



A cute ceramic owl, a kinda crazy whale bank, and some poorly-painted owls.

I put the brown owl in my booth yesterday. I'm keeping the whale - I just need to work on it. The flowery design is done in puffy paint so I need to figure out how best to remove that. Then I'm going to paint it a solid color - those lips and huge eyes freak me out!

I also want to paint over the owl duo and put those in my booth.



I found these fun souvenir plates - Hawaii, Ireland, San Francisco, California, and a mother's day plate.



Ughhhhhh I still want to quilt. It's been a goal for years but I'm scared and so I haven't started. I picked up these fabric pieces because they were cute, pre-cut, and didn't smell awful like the ones I bought last year in Gatlinburg.

And I found some cute, never-used retro potholders!




I have felt such a surge of nostalgia for little golden books lately, so I picked out some favorite stories to bring home.



I keep thinking about starting a stationery shop on etsy since I love buying/selling vintage stationery but it doesn't do well in my booth. Sooo, these would go in there if I ever do that! (I'm thinking maybe labor day weekend I could get some work done on it? We'll seee....!!)



Love aghans! Love finding cool patterns and colors.



These will both go to my booth soon, although I have 3 afghans there that have been there for a loooong time. Do people not love them as much as me? (She types while snuggled up under a teal afghan she bought at Goodwill and kept!)

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TCM's Star of the Month - Doris Day

My mom sent me an adorable video of Doris Day talking about her career and her co-stars. The video is all clips from her movies that mimic/match what she's saying about her life. It's REALLY cute...check it out below!


I love, love, love Doris Day and this video just further cements my love of her.

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Happy Surprise: Jade Plant!

So, when I went to plant the dogwood I posted about yesterday, I discovered a beautiful jade plant growing in the yard! How did that happen?

Well, whenever I had dead houseplants, I dumped the dirt into the potential-flowerbed I mentioned yesterday. After Andy removed the pond liner and some of the ickiness that had been accumulating there, I wanted to fill in the hole left behind. I didn't have any soil on hand, so I just dumped houseplant remains whenever I had them. (Not that I kill lots of houseplants, but I had a group of succulents that I just couldn't keep alive!) 

Fast forward several months, and a jade plant was growing outside!

I threw out a dead plant and it somehow revived itself. Amazing!

I planted it in a green planter and I'm keeping it outside right now since it previously died inside.


I was so giddy when I found it. It was part of a group of succulents I bought around my 30th birthday last year. I passed them out as favors at my party and it's fun to see them alive at friends' houses, but I wasn't able to keep any of my own alive. I'm happy to have this one!

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$2 Dogwood!

On the side of our house, there was a little man-made pond when I bought the house 7 years ago. It didn't have any fish or anything, and I never really did anything with it. When we were thinking about selling our house, Andy cleaned it up and removed the lining and since then, it's just been sitting there looking like a nice little potential flower bed.

I was at Aldi earlier this summer and saw a Dogwood tree on clearance for $2. TWO DOLLARS for a whole tree. A little tree, but still a whole tree! Of course, it looked awful and dead, which is why it was on clearance. I took a risk on it since it was only $2 and brought it home to attempt to nurse it back to health. It lived on our little porch landing for awhile with a few other plants:


I wasn't sure it would live, but I watered it faithfully and all of a sudden, I noticed that the leaves were green and it looked really healthy! I finally got around to planting it in the little former-pond-potential-flowerbed area this weekend and I'm so excited to watch it grow and thrive!


Ignore all the weeds. ha! It looks a little droopy but I'm thinking that might be due to initial shock of being planted and I'm hoping that with sun and water, it will perk right back up.

Buying clearance (or yard or estate sale) plants is a lot like buying vintage -- giving something a second chance and giving it a new life. I love saving money, but I love rescuing things (plants, whales, etc) even more!

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Whale Really!

Melissa from Andromeda Vintage posted her recent finds lately and I fell in love with one of her items in particular! I don't know why I'm so obsessed with animal things right now, but I saw this whale and immediately emailed her to buy it!


He was so cute, but a little scuffed and worn. I broke out my Brasso and cleaned him up and now he's shiny!


I'm not sure where he'll live yet...I've been working on getting my upstairs office organized, so he might head up there...or he might hang out on a bookshelf in the living room. I'll post a photo once I figure that out!

And a note about Whale Really--"owl really" is a play on "oh really."

Well, now that I'm obsessed with whales, I have joked that I could re-brand to "whale really" as a play on "well really!" ha!

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