Thrift Report: California Dreamin'

We had so much fun thrifting in California! Stephanie took us to so many amazing places - everywhere from a strip of 12 thrift stores in Poway to antique malls in Ocean Beach, to Goodwill in Escondido, to estate sales in Kensington and Point Loma!

I found many things for myself and for my booth. I love buying sewing supplies at estate sales - you can get such a good deal on a variety of thread. I like to stock up on thread so I'm not scrounging around in the middle of a project for the right color! Also found some elastic thread which I use all the time when making dresses. And extra bobbins - you can never have enough bobbins. :)

I also found a really fun crewel piece of jolly little bears and a vintage 45 holder. There's a great children's book about New York that was re-released some years ago but all the original illustrations are inside. I also love this Betty Crocker cooking calendar - it was great suggestions on what to cook when. I will be selling the books and the 45 holder and the crewel piece.

I'm keeping the alphabet stamps, the vintage sheet (either to make a dress out of or to use as a picnic blanket), and the beautiful cloth napkins. I haven't decided on whether or not to keep the scarf yet!

I also picked up a little notebook that I will either cut up the pages of, or glue my own images to the outside. Still figuring that out. :)

I loved thrifting in California! The prices didn't seem too outrageous- I found a ton of great deals! These items will be in my booth later this week- stay tuned for them if you're local.

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Back from California!

I'm home!! I can't remember the last time I took that long of a vacation! We saw SO much. It was a whirlwind. I want to blog properly about it but for now, our vacation in instagrams! See the feed with comments/descriptions here!

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Headed to California!!!

image source

Five years ago, my mom and I had a grand plan of flying to California and driving the Pacific Coast Highway. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources, so the trip got shelved. 

Earlier this summer, our dear blog friend Stephanie invited us out to her house outside of San Diego. We were thrilled to receive the invitation and so thankful for her generosity!

I have only been to CA on quick work trips and I've never able to explore, while my mom has never seen the Pacific Ocean. I am so excited that we get to go do this! Since we had wanted to drive the PCH years ago, we decided to fly into San Francisco and take a quick drive to see the sights as we make our way to Stephanie's house. 

I am so excited and so grateful for this opportunity!! I fly out seriously early tomorrow (7am) and meet my mom in San Francisco.

I can't wait to see the Golden Gate Bridge in person and actually go to the Santa Monica pier instead of just see it from a distance! And it's going to be SO fun to meet Stephanie and pal around San Diego with her! 

Do you have favorite stops along the PCH or any must-see recommendations in San Diego? Our trip down the coast is seriously short/quick - we will do the drive in about a day and a half so we won't have time to go off the road or spend tons of time anywhere, but I'd love to hear recommendations!

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Thrift Report: August Finds

Just a few things I've found recently... I went to a very interesting estate sale of a woman who owned a wallpaper business and lived in one half of her business. It was a beautiful house with lots of character. She is moving to Mexico and so she was selling her entire stash of crafts - which worked well for me!

I found an awesome embroidery book from the 70s with tons of great embroidery/crewel patterns inside and at Goodwill, I picked up a french grammar book. At the estate sale, I grabbed 4 vintage maps, some library book envelope thingies, and some casters that I'm going to give my mom for her projects.

At Goodwill, I found some crazy graph paper. I can't wait to cut it up for minibooks!

That's all for now! I hope you've been finding great stuff too. :)

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Mary Poppins and Me

There are rumors that I watched Mary Poppins every day when I was 4. That sounds like a pretty awesome childhood to me. :)

I love the movie Mary Poppins and recently I have discovered how much I love the products that came out in support of the movie. They have a very distinct and colorful branding that is so fun and whimsical.



Remember when I found these Mary Poppins board games? That colorful style is so inspiring to me!

I started a Pinterest board to collect Mary Poppins items and inspiration- everything from a vintage lunchbox to Mary Poppins tattoos. (!!!!! I have one tattoo - a very, very tiny brown cross on my wrist. I have often daydreamed about getting another but no tattoo idea has twitterpated my heart quite like the idea of a Mary Poppins tattoo has! I know, I'm OBSESSED!)

Check out the board here and if you're ever thrifing/junking and see something Mary Poppins and it's under $10 and in good condition, buy it for me and I will pay you back. :)

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Estate Sale Art

Recently there was a really unique estate sale on Music Row featuring hundreds of autographs and hundreds of pieces of art - plus tons of other really interesting things! Rae posted photos from the sale here.

I was really overwhelmed by the amount of items for sale, but I managed to find two pieces of art that I really loved. I hardly ever buy original art, but it tends to be more affordable at estate sales and therefore more accessible. The homeowner's father helped found the Tennessee Art League and he and his wife supported any and every local artist they met by buying art from them. There was so, so, so much art!

On a table piled high of unframed art, I found the below pieces. The first was really intriguing - a forest scene that was complete except for the deer. I'm going through a bit of a deer phase right now anyway, but I just thought it was so cool how everything was finished except for them. There are pencil outlines and marks, but no paint. It's so unique and now hangs in our dining room.

The second piece I bought looks straight from Etsy. I'm not sure when it was painted but it looks really modern. I like its unusual size/shape and the colors match the majority of our living room. It just looks peaceful!

Click to see what Rae and Lisa found at the same sale!

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Booth Updates: August 2012

Last week, I gave you a peek into my booth mid-reorganizing. It was a total disaster! I stopped back by to take some better "after" photos and discovered that my big yellow/orange armchair sold! I was so happy and thankful - it felt like such a beast sitting in the corner, taking up too much room. I was beginning to question if it would ever sell and even thought about bringing it home and trying to sell it on Craigslist!

I still have those teal canisters - come and get them! I priced them on the higher end at first because they are SO amazing but they haven't moved, so I brought the price down a little. I think it's about $28 now, but I can't remember. I will hold onto them at that price for awhile longer - they are so, so cute. I try to keep my prices pretty low but when I find a real gem, I try to price accordingly.

I tried to centralize the children's items and also the "wearables" - everything from kids' clothes to scarves and neckties to dresses and aprons. I love, love, love the blouse below. I think it would be SUCH a cute fall outfit with a highwaisted pencil skirt or some skinny jeans.

Still have the horse cardigan, too. I can't believe someone hasn't scooped it up yet. Maybe it will find a new home this fall.

I have been trying to highlight crewel work in my booth after the Design*Sponge feature on crewel! I sold a giant piece last week, so I think it's working. :)

I also brought in these really cute blue, industrial/schoolhouse children's chairs. They would look so good in a nursery or child's room! I set the pink royal typewriter atop them - it was a bit hidden previously.

And you can always find great vintage luggage and travel bags in my booth! This is my current selection of shoulder bags. I'm kind of obsessed with bags like these.

And there you have it!

If you're not local and you see something you have to have, drop me a line and I will try to make it happen for you!

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Thrift Report: Owl Really Staples

Some of the below finds were found by my mom. She often goes out hunting for junk and texts me photos when she sees something she figures I'd like. She found the typewriters and the fan below! The fan doesn't work (it's missing the power cord!) but it still looks so awesome. Hopefully someone will want it just for it to sit and look cool.

I always try to keep a typewriter and fan in my booth, so these are "Owl Really Staples."

The brown bag is a Goodwill find and the bottles were given to me by a colleague. He collected bottles as a kid and when he was home for Christmas, his mom told him to do something with the bottles so he brought them to me! There are some really cool ones and I priced them below ebay value so they are priced to sell!





I found this awesome retro bread box and considered keeping it for craft supplies but then I decided I've been keeping too many of my finds lately and would rather put it in the booth. :)

Thanks for checking my recent finds out! Post a link to your favorite finds, I would love to check them out!

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Make, Make, Make, Sew, Sew, Sew

Make, Make, Make, Sew, Sew, Sew / Let's all sew things! / Let's all sew things!

(to the tune of "Shake Your Groove Thing" if you couldn't tell)

Sorry for the cheese.

I have been really inspired to sew and work on projects. Last weekend, my sunglasses broke and I picked up a replacement pair and wanted to make sure they stayed safe in my wasteland of a purse. I came home and immediately started googling sunglasses case tutorials.

I ended up using this tutorial with slight modifications. I made my case a little bigger and sewed on my velcro rather than using iron-on velcro.

TA DA! It was really easy!

I want to work on more projects in the upcoming weeks:

• Sprocket pillows - so cute and so many possibilities with different fabrics
• Chevron tote bag - this is a good looking tote bag!!
• and this week I made more dresses! It is the easiest project and so rewarding! I love being able to make my own clothes even though I can't sew from a pattern.

What are your favorite, easy-peasy sewing projects? I need more sewing in my life!

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Favorite Finds: Samantha's Dining Room Table

Samantha from Fabule$$ly Frugal Mom wrote me the greatest email when she submitted her Favorite Find! I love her dedication to bringing home this beautiful dining table and her husband's willingness to indulge her tendency to bring home wayward furniture! :) Read the story below and remember - I would love to feature your own favorite find - just email me!


What is your favorite find and where did you find it?

My favorite find is actually a dining table that my husband and I found on the side of the road with a "FREE" sign on it. We were driving home from a friend's house, had both kids in the car, and my husband thought I was nuts for wanting to stop and look at it!

What all was involved in getting it home?

When I finally convinced him that grabbing that table would be a good idea, we unloaded the back of the car and tried to get it in upside down with the legs still attached. That obviously wasn't going to work so we sadly set the table back down, put the free sign back on it and drove off with me looking longingly out the back of the car! My husband, being the saint that he is, actually pulled off at a car repair store, bought a small tool kit and drove back to take the legs off! I bet the original owners were watching out their window cracking up at us coming back a 2nd time for their free junk! It finally fit in the back and away we went with a huge smile on my face!

How could you tell it would be worth all the extra trouble to take it home?

When I first saw it I knew it had potential just by the shape and size of it even though it had deep scratches and children's stickers all up and down the legs! I had to get out of the car to make sure it was solid wood and once we saw that it was we knew we had to take it home.

Did you have to do any restoration/repairs?

We sanded and sanded and sanded to get all the old color off the wood and buff out the scratches. Once we did that we stained the top in a cherry finish and painted the legs an heirloom white. I think it needed 2 coats of stain and then 3 coats of Poly Urethane to get the pretty shiny top. This was definitely a fun project for me and my husband to complete together and I LOVE the outcome of our little table. The chairs in the photo were actually a garage sale find also: $2 per chair! We may eventually refinish the chairs to match the table but for now, they work perfectly!


Why do you love secondhand/vintage?

I grew up going to and having yard sales, I was born with the thrift bug, and I love the thrill of the hunt! It's hard for me to buy things at retail stores at retail prices! When we bought our place we decided to decorate as much as possible with second hand and vintage items. Its been a fun summer so far finding some great pieces that have a history and a story behind them rather than, "Oh we picked this up at (insert big chain retail store name)!" Everything in the after photos came from garage sales and thrift stores, with the exception of the big old dog that is!

Samantha - I love that story and your table! Thank you so much for submitting your favorite find!

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