Look at these shoes! Are they amazing or what? The lady I bought them from said they were made in the 1930s. I’ll take her word for it because I know nothing about vintage shoes. They’re silk and in the most beautiful shade of robin’s egg blue/ frenchy gray kinda color.
I had originally bought them to sell on Flea Market Friday (next week, not tomorrow), but I don’t know if I can part with them now!
Don’t they look like something out of Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette? If only I had such petite feet, I would wear them!
I love finding unexpected special things. Our local flea market is next weekend too, I’m chompin at the bit to get there again. What have you found lately?
Wow. If I had a wish for the perfect Easter Basket, this is what it would look like:
Just LOOK at this! This amazing basket overflowing with beautiful gifts is from dear Andrea at 100 wishes. She may have actually granted me 100 wishes, all tucked in this beautiful pink and aqua confection!
Beautiful eggs by Nicole Sayre and Miss Wish herself, a vintage clutch and a vintage ledger book. She sells the eggs in her shop, if you think you can’t live without one. The big ones are BIG. I think she sold out of her millinery eggs, I’m so lucky to get one! It’s gorgeous. The millinery on it is the good stuff, a big beautiful pink rose. You can’t get better than that.
check out how awesome the ledger is:
These amazing things would have been an overwhelming gift in themselves, but Andrea did not stop there. She FILLED the eggs and clutch with even more goodness!
Boxes of Pearly Pins, Sparkly Jewelry, and Beautiful Buttons Galore!
Fun spring flashcards:
Vintage crepe paper streamers, buttons and a beautiful blue buckle:
Yards and YARDS of the prettiest velvet ribbon you’ve ever seen. This is a thicker width than she usually has, it’s a new ribbon she’s going to be carrying soon, so check out OneHundredWishes.com to getcha some.
The clutch is so gorgeous. I wanted to carry it on Easter Sunday, but my 2 year old’s sippy cup didn’t quite fit. I WILL carry it soon. I WILL.
This amazing glue. OK. I had heard the hype about Andrea’s glue. I had heard it smells good, it works great, etc. But you just can’t KNOW how great it is until you GET SOME! It smells SO good. Truly like my favorite almond cookies. Like marzipan. So yummy that my kids seriously wanted to lick it. She sent them lollipops too, by the way, but they were eaten before I could get my camera out!
She also decorated the basket itself with beautiful lace, trim, and vintage chiffon millinery flowers in the pretties shades of pink and aqua you’ve ever seen. She said she lucked into finding a stash of new old stock millinery, so maybe she’ll be listing some in her shop soon, we can only hope!
These pictures truly do not do these gifts justice. Andrea’s style, her shop, and her heart are so beautiful and I am touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity. Thank you, Andrea, so very much. It’s one of those times when a thank-you seems insufficient. But I’ll say it anyway. Thank you again, my friend.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I know I did. I wrestled my 2 year old through church services, because of course, on Easter Sunday he decides NOT to attend his own class. LOL… Then I ate too much, hung out with family, came home and did laundry. All in all, it was a loverly day.
I have LOTS of pictures for you today. First of all, I wanted to show you a sweet gift from my dear friend Natasha Burns. She sent this parcel of goodies all the way from Australia, just because! No reason, just her sweet heart. Thank you so much, Natasha. I LOVE it all, especially that tiny cupcake painting. If you want one, I think she’s working on more!
And now for the Hippity Hop Easter Swap stuff. I am SO late on this. Normally, I would have blogged about these once daily, but my internet has been almost non-existent for the past 2 weeks. I could get on sometimes, but it was really spotty. I did make it to a coffee shop a time or two to do a little blogging, but doing it 11 times was a little ridiculous to consider, so here it is all in one BIG post! I also normally would have blogged about the beautiful wrapping they all came in, but at this point I’m cuttin my losses! Also, some of the pictures are not the best I could do, I’m sure, but I HAD to get them up tonight, I feel so guilty about being so late on them! You can check out the linked blogs for more (better?!) photos and info about the amazing artists. Now, all disclaimers aside, here we go!
There were 12 people in my group, so we each got 11 gifts. These are not necessarily in the correct order, but check out the amazing spring goodness that I received!
First up is this darling little soldered test tube by Beth. Oh my gosh, the little chickie with the paper crown would have been gift enough! Is this darling or what? Not the greatest lighting, this is even more amazing in real life.
This beautiful hand made fabric brooch is from Martha. This is incredible, isn’t it? I love the stitching, the image, the colors, the fact that I can wear it, everything!
Cerri put a tiny nest and egg into this sweet little ornament that looks like a child’s tea set cup with a birdie on the handle. How serendipidous (sic?) to have found 11 of these with birdies already on them!
Debra made this amazing altered bunny…she’s on a metal base and is just darling. I can’t imagine getting out the tin snips and doing 11 of these!
Here is the Gorgeous gift that Heather of Pretty Petals made. Is this amazing or what? It’s so etheral and soft, just like we love. She parted with a LOT of vintage millinery for these babies! I think I’ll hang this on the door of my favorite cabinet.
Donna made this incredibly detailed collage. I can’t even explain how intricate it is. It’s deceiving in the picture, but ever single thing is hand-pieced out of vintage wallpaper and ephemra. She also wrote the lettering herself. and she did this 11 times!
The hostess herself, Heather, made this little sweety-pie. This is a tiny little round shadow box with the darling little peeps we love camping out inside! I don’t know if you can tell but she put vintage wallpaper in the back and trimmed it in velvet ribbon. Two of my favorite things.
Sweet Jeanne made this beautiful quilted collage out of the most gorgeous fabrics. She’s so clever, she put a clear plastic sleeve in it, so really this is a picture frame! I can put anything I want in there, although for now, I’m leaving the sweet Easter image she included. Again, I’m amazed that she did this 11 times. These people were dedicated!
Karin made us all beautiful, sparkly crystal earrings! Earrings are my favorite jewelry to wear and I love dangly ones, so this was perfect for me. The color of this pink is even prettier in the real world.
Shosh actually sent two gifties, first was this darling glass birdie ornament…and you KNOW I love the birdies… I couldn’t get a good shot of it, but trust me it sparkles like nobodies business.
and she also sent this DARLING little altered WALNUT SHELL! Yes, I said walnut shell! It’s made to look like an egg. Is this creative or what? Those bunies are SO tiny!
This next one is from Jenny. I LOVE Jenny’s work and have been lucky enough to swap with her before. I now can say I am a collector of her work because I have 3 things from her now. This one may be my favorite painting of hers. The chick, the cake, the flowers… It’s a print of her original painting that she mounted and glittered and foofed up. Darling.
I think that I covered everyone, if not in the correct order. I don’t know the correct order because I opened them all the day I got the package anyway! Thank you so much, everyone who participated, and thank you especially to Heather who organized and shipped until she was ready to cry, I’m sure. This was so much fun, and I SCORED.
I received another super thoughtful gift from a sweet friend and I’ll blog about that tomorrow. I think my blog might blow up if I add one more picture!
Isn’t this darling? It’s a vintage postcard I altered. I’m TRYING to either make a kit of some kind out of it or a sign. We’ll see. Just thought it was perfect for this time of year.
I am much remiss in showing you some beautiful swap stuff from the Hippity Hop Easter Swap, as well as a beautiful cupcake painting by my sweeter than sweet friend Natasha, but seriously folks, my internet has worked only sporadically for OVER A WEEK. I’m going crazy here. SO it’s all I can do to upload one picture of a postcard today. It’s really driving me crazy. BUT, I have LOVED every single thing I’ve been given and I promise to post about them soon.
Today was a beautiful day here in the heartland. It was around 75 degrees, breezy and smelled of spring. My sweet husband even took care of the kiddos so I could do a little antiquing I needed to do for some special order projects I have going. All alone in the car, without the usual kid arguments and silly songs to distract me, I got to remembering things about spring and summer when I was a kid. Just thought I’d share a few of my memories.
My mother and sisters have beautiful shoulders, creamy skin, dark dark hair. My sister tans well, but in the summer they get these gorgeous freckles. I always wanted them. They’re so beautiful. I can remember an image of my mother in one of those funny terry-cloth halter top things that we wore in the 80s. Her hair was up, but sort of wisping around her jaw-line. Her naked shoulders were so beautiful that the shot of her in my head is only of her smile, her jawline, her neck and shoulders. I can’t even see her whole face in my mind’s eye. It was the freckles… so beautiful…. on her youthful, shiny skin. Like summer snowflakes, come to rest on sun-kissed shoulders. Just beautiful. I almost started crying in the car remembering. It seems so long ago but the memory is so vivid.
I also wanted braces. I know, I was weird.
I also remember “laying out”! BAD, I know! Iodine and baby oil, baby! We were tan, moisturized, AND sanitary! LOL
What about summer love? My first kiss was Matt Shaeffer in the back yard playing spin-the-bottle. Funny.
Remember running yourself ragged all day, running through the sprinkler, then stopping for grapes and grahm crackers on the porch, your dirty,damp swimsuit sagging (or riding up) on your little cute tush? Oh, to have that bottom back now! My mom used to call us her little “Coppertone Babies”. So UN-PC now. Now I slather my kids with so much sun-screen they could probably stand next to the sun and not get burned.
After we’d run and play all day, we would spend the night time chasing fire flies and screaming about the june bugs in our hair.
My mom was the only mom I knew that stayed home back then. So she was the neighborhood cheuffer. Every day in the summer that we asked her to, she would cart us all to the local swimming pool where spend the day. She was so good to do that.
I hope I can give my children beautiful summer memories too.
I’ll be back with more pretty photos soon, I promise. Meanwhile, I’m gonna do a little more summer dreamin.
I’m a little late doing my “Easter” decorating, so instead I’m calling it my “Spring” decorating. I’m SO READY to clip roses from the garden, buy tomatoes from farm stands, let the kids run through the sprinklers…. ahhh… good times.
Anyway, I grabbed some of my baskets and basket purses and an arm load of millinery and tossed them together. You can’t go wrong with vintage millinery! The HUGE basket on the left is a vintage florist basket that I just got for ONE DOLLAR at a garage sale not too long ago! Can you believe that? I never get a deal like that! I added the millinery to the handle, but still, pretty cool.
Anyway, just popping in to show you something pretty I did today.
There are still a few Spring Nest Baskets available, although more than half have sold… thank you! If you want one, you can click on “Nesting Series” in my sidebar.
Today I’m trying to get the ones that have sold shipped, ship off Heather K’s Round Robin book all the way to dear Natasha in Australia, and CLEAN OUT THE CRAFT ROOM. Ugh. I seem to do that constantly. My husband will walk in that room, see the destruction, and say “well, you’re definitely an artist”. Hmm. I’m not quite sure how to take that. The other day when he saw me mopping the living room, he asked if the pod people had abducted me. I think I may have to show him what it would really be like around here if I really did NOT clean. He he he
My internet is down. I mean DOWN. It’s been down for FOUR DAYS now. My home phone is also voice-over ip so it’s down too! I don’t care so much about the phone, actually, but no blog and flickr surfing is about to just drive me insane! I’m at a coffee shop using the free wi-fi right now and enjoying a frozen coffee beverage. Ahhh….that’s better. What’s bad is they have no eta of a FIX DATE! Ugh! I’m so sorry if you’ve emailed me a question or left me a comment and I haven’t responded. That’s something I’m trying to be better about, responding when you take the time to leave me a sweet comment. It’s not like I get so many that I just can’t keep up, LOL, nothing like that, it’s just that my 2 and 5 year old are usually on the verge of a major meltdown by the time I finish surfing around and then I don’t leave myself the time to respond to comments. BUT, I don’t want to do that. You have no idea how it makes my day when I receive a kind word from you. So thank you so much.
Anyway, I do have some cute things to list and show you.
Since I was day one on the Hippity Hop Easter Swap, I can now show you what I made. The big picture at the top is all of them together. WHEW! 12 peeps in this swap! I don’t know if I’m doing a big swap like this again! It about made me nutty…kidding. But it was fun. Here are some individul pics:
Aren’t they cute? If you want one, I made some more to sell in four different color ways. I made them in the colors of spring and summer. Since they’re not really an Easter thing, more like a spring thing, or a May basket thing. LOL…. Or how about just a cute, nesty,birdy thing? Here they are:
This one is called “peach sherbet”
This one is “French Lilacs”
This one is “Forget-Me-Not”
And this one is “Pink Lemonade”
They’re listed in my shop now.
Look what else I made while my hands were free from typing comments on blogs:
a sweet little velvet strawberry. Someone asked if I will be selling these. Uh, that’s a big fat NO! I won’t! LOL…. i’m just not that fast or good at sewing, and since my sewing machine bit the dust I had to do this one by hand. I WILL be posting a free pattern and instructions for them on my site soon, as soon as my internet is back up, so you can make one or five for yourself! Just had to show you though, since it’s so darn cute, if I do say so myself!
Also, I’ve been painting again. I’m in the middle of doing a canvas for a new baby boy. Here it is in process. I still have to add the name, of course.
So, I’ve been pretty busy, huh? I hope you guys like the nesties! Think of me when you’re all out there enjoying your internet connection! I’ll be back soon, HOPEFULLY! LOL!
Don’t they make you happy too? I’m finally starting to decorate for spring and easter. Last week when I got all my little froufy basket purses out, it got me motivated. Easter is way too early this year, but luckily I could decorate for Easter year round and be happy!
This sweet basket is loaded with some of my favorite millinery and every time I walk by I smile. The littlest things can give me such a little boost in my crazy day!
Here are some pictures of my most recent crowns. The poodle one is for a little girl’s birthday. For her birthday picture. Isn’t that cute?
I wish you all a happy spring day today! I’m taking the boys outside to play with the cats in the fort and get dirty and enjoy the glorious day.
Well, basically, I HATED it. I really did. I was just NOT happy with it at all. I was at a loss at the time I did this. The name of it is “young and naive” and I don’t think it portrayed that youthful vibrancy at all. So, tonight, I ripped it apart and started over! Here is what I ended up with:
SOOOOO much better, don’t you think? I love these colors. They seem fresh and young and innocent, don’t they? And I love the frivolity of the huge floppy millinery flower. *sigh*, I’m so relieved to have fixed it. I just did not want my sweet friend Heather of Pretty Petals Boutique to have a blah page in her gorgeous book. Here are more pictures:
I also was unhappy with how another page looked. I had made a page using a vintage photo album page. I LOVE it, but it looked really weird when I tried to tack it on to her pre-made book pages. So I carefully removed it. I’m now going to be making everyone 4 pages and one vintage photo album wall hanging. LOL. Here is what I did on that page.
I love love LOVE the pretty blue-green satin that I pleated and glued. And Heather and I share a love of aqua with soft browns and taupes. Heather collects vintage post and calling cards with this silk fringe on them, so I knew she had to have this one that I’ve loved for so long. Don’t you find it feels so good to give away some of your good stuff? It makes me feel free.
More shots of it.
I’m finally finished with all of Heather’s pages. Well, almost. I still haven’t done anything to the backs of the pages. I think I’m going to write the title and info about it and then find some way to sort of cover it so it looks pretty. Hmm.
I have some custom crown orders to finish this weekend. Oh, also, I’m taking my oldest son to the PTA’s Mother/Son Boy’s Bash that they have every year. This year the theme is GLADIATORS. Oh gosh, I do hope they don’t expect me to don spandex and knock other slightly overweight mothers off of pedestals. ha ha…. Actually, I think it will be mainly the boys jumping on inflatable structures while the moms hold their coats!
Some details and sneek peeks of my offering for the Hippity Hop Easter Swap I’m doing. We have 12 people in our group, so that’s a lot-o-swappin. I hope they like them.
There are several groups participating. My gift is the first to be opened in my group, so I labeled the tags “Me First!”.
It’s truly ALL I CAN DO to refrain from showing you the full picture. I’m horrible about keeping gift secrets. I can keep serious secrets, but presents are just so much fun that I can hardly stand it. Everyone always gets birthday presents from me waaaaay early. I’m such a child. I have to refrain for a week and a half! I think we start opening the gifts on March 14. *sigh*
