Minibooks by Owl Really

I spent a whole Saturday making these mini-books out of vintage children's books and random paper and notebooks I bought at an estate sale*. I love repurposing paper that would have gone in the trash otherwise!

I am considering re-opening my Etsy shop and selling the books online... but if any blog readers are interested in one, please drop me a line and we can just set up a paypal transaction! They will be $10 with free shipping within the US. Since they're my first effort in book-making, they're not perfect, but they're really cute and one of a kind! They are 4x6 on average with a few that are smaller. If you'd like a closer photo of one, I can send that to you if you describe it.

*I was really happy to find two huge boxes of paper at a recent sale - it was such a great way to stock up on a wide variety of paper for these notebooks. The insides of my books range from construction paper to graph paper to notebook paper to other sorts of vintage lined paper that I had not seen before.

I think the Non-Consumer Advocate would be really proud of me. When I decided to cut paper for hours, I knew my little sliding paper cutter wouldn't really cut it. (haha, get it? "cut it") I posted to Facebook, asking if anyone had a paper cutter I could borrow. A friend responded that she did and she brought it to me since she was on her way to the grocery near my house. When she handed it to me, she said I could keep it! Woohoo!

It made life (and making books) much easier!

Let me know if you're interested in one of the books... I hope people are! :)

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Thrift Report: New In The Booth

Here are a few things that I stocked in my booth last week! I picked up the fawns in Nashville, IN but didn't have a photo of them last week.

I love vintage Better Homes and Gardens books and picked up "Guide To Entertaining" and "Holiday Decorations You Can Make." Very fun!

And like I mentioned last week in the Crewel post, I picked up a new smaller piece of crewel that I added to my booth.

And when I stocked my booth, I did a little bit of re-arranging. Just a little bit... Ha! This is what it looked like in the middle of re-organizing:

Yikes!!

I will take some new photos this week of the new configuration - I really didn't change much but I hope that regulars will notice a difference and be more inclined to dig around.

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Friday Fun: The Odd Life Of Timothy Green

I am so looking forward to this film. We saw the trailer at the movie theater a LONG time ago and I wept during it. I am so passionate about adoption and while this is a really unusual adoption story, it really hit me. When she asks, "Is he for us?" I just want to cry and hug her.

It comes out August 15 and I am going to take a box of tissues to the movies with me. Julie Gumm, of Adopt Without Debt*, reviewed the movie here and said the end is a tearjerker. If the trailer makes me weep, I can't even imagine how hard I will cry during the actual movie! I am a sap.

*I subscribe to Adopt Without Debt because someday we'd like to, you know, adopt without debt. :) That day is awhile away, though, and I will definitely post about the process whenever we start that journey.

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Trend: Crewel Work

This morning, Design*Sponge featured crewel work. I have been a huge fan of crewel work for a few years and have made sure to keep it stocked in my booth. I even have a piece similar to one they featured:

image source

And a few of mine - with the white daisies on the right:


I also just stocked the 1950 crewel piece (perfect for your vintage-inspired crafting space!) but I think I am hanging on to the kite kid below:

If you're in the Nashville area and haven't been to my booth lately, swing on by at 654 Wedgewood Ave! Maybe you'll find something you like - maybe even a piece of crewel!

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Andy's 33rd Birthday

Andy's birthday was Friday and it was a fun day! In the morning, I gave him his presents (a close-up of one of my favorites is below). I baked his favorite cake - yellow with chocolate icing. I wanted to take it up a notch, so I crumbled his favorite cookies (Fudge Stripes) and mixed them into the icing between the layers. I also added some crumbs as garnish for good measure. (The cookies look weird because they were red - apparently Keebler has a marketing deal with Spiderman and these were colored red for the movie. Funny.)

Andy hangs out with a group of guys every Monday night so we had them and their ladies over for a cookout. We turned on the Olympic opening ceremonies and watched them together - but sadly we missed the beginning. I've heard it was pretty crazy and I'm bummed that I missed Mary Poppins saving the day!


I like to take photos of us and Andy likes to make funny faces. :)

If you spent any time in Nashville in the past 40 or so years, you might be familiar with Opryland, Nashville's country music theme park that closed years ago. I grew up in Louisville and we made the trip down to Opryland once when I was probably around 10. Andy grew up spending his entire summers at Opryland and those memories are really dear to him. I have been wanting to get him an Opryland souvenir for awhile and I searched etsy and ebay for something I thought would be fun and useful. I found these awesome coasters on ebay and thought they would be a fun gift. 

It was a really nice day! The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotion (more on that later) and it was nice to just unwind with friends and celebrate my awesome husband.

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Ollie Young

Oh, he's wonderful.

Tiny little toes.

So happy for Michael and Staci.

Love.

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Thrift Report: Secret Store & Hoosier Finds

I feel awful about this, but I have a secret thrift store in town. It's relatively undiscovered and I love the things I find there. I try to be really helpful when it comes to thrifting and blogging and all that... but a girl has to have at least ONE secret, right? :)

So, at this store, I usually only find one thing at a time, but I stopped by last week and found several great things!

Ooh I love clocks like this. I have one in my booth currently but it never hurts to make sure I have another waiting in the wings! And I can't pass up fun, geometric scarves in great colors! I found two packs of crewel kits - yes, that IS a hedgehog pincushion!! And then I found a Kentucky puzzle that is made by the same people that made our Nashville puzzle!

I'm pretty sure I've had my eye on the below dress for months and finally snagged it! (Beth Mathews, I think it's calling your name!)

The weekend before last, Andy & I drove up to Nashville, Indiana (Did you know that existed?) to spend the weekend with some of my best friends from college. The town is really cute and the house we rented was within walking distance of all the shops and restaurants. We had so much fun browsing and shopping and just spending time together!

Nashville, IN is known for antiques and artisan stores but not many of them were really floating our boat. We were walking around Antique Alley when Andy spied a record/vintage shop. It was so great! I found a few awesome things and Andy bought thirty 45s! They were 3 for $1 and it was the perfect opportunity to stock up for our jukebox.

I asked the shopowner if she had Kenny and Dolly's Christmas album and she did. For $2! It is my absolute favorite Christmas album ever and I have one that I got at Goodwill but it's really scratched up and didn't come in the jacket. I am slightly tempted to break out my new copy and play it even though it's July! :)

I also found (non-vintage) Dick Van Dyke Show and Mad Men books. They are both really fun to look through! The Dick Van Dyke show is one of my favorites!

The Mad Men book has beautiful vintage-inspired graphics. The pages are filled with recipes, etiquette guides, and everything you need to know about living within the world of Mad Men.

We also ventured outside of town to check out some of the local flea markets. They were pretty much a bust and we almost didn't stop at the last one, but I'm so glad we did! I found the below owl vase and kitchen clock! Both totally my style and such great deals. I am hanging on to the owl and considering keeping the clock for our kitchen... We'll see!

I also found the most adorable fawn s&p shakers but somehow didn't take a photo before I put them in my booth, unfortunately.

There ya have it! Some recent finds! What have you found lately? :)

Linking up to:
Apron Thrift Girl

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