I have a few new vintage finds in the shop today. First of all, I found a whole BOX of these new old stock PINK paper forget me nots recently. These are in the shop now for only $1.25 a bundle! You can’t beat that! But I’m not going to carry them forever, I just stumbled onto these. When they’re gone they’re gone.
Here are more peeks at the lovely things in the shop now:
Hello sweet friends. Thank you so much for all th kind words about my little banner. I think I’ll even play with Dottie and dress her up for holidays. Won’t that be fun?
Ok, I’ve listed a new pack of PINK wallpapers. They’re in the “Let’s Shop” section over there in my sidebar. Here are some peeks. Isn’t it all so pretty? I love these papers. It is so hard to find papers with a pink base and there are several in this pack. There is also a large piece of vintage mint green and pink FLOCKED wallpaper. I hope you enjoy them.
I’m so excited to finally have my new spiffy blog design. My brilliant husband did such a lovely job. He really is so smart, I love that my blog is ALSO a full-blown website, so I don’t have to direct people here or there if I have a piece of art ready to show. Isn’t it lovely? It’s nice to have something fresh.
Do you like my little bird? I think I am going to name her. What do you think, maybe Dottie? Tell me if you have any suggestions. She needs a name. I drew her by hand and then scanned her in, and made her prettier in editing. I LOVE EDITING. I want one of those drawing pads that is hooked up directly to the computer. Maybe for Christmas. I would also love a Mac, but we’ll see. I do so enjoy doodling (hence the name) and illustrating.
Ok, since everything is fresh and shiny, there could be a bug or two that show up, so if you notice anything is wonky, won’t you please let me know?
Oh, and people are always telling me that they can’t get my blog to work on Google Reader. So, just for you, there is an “RSS Feed” button at the top. Cool, huh?
Come back by tomorrow, I have some AMAZING wallpaper packs I’ve been working on. The photo at the top is just a sampling of a few of the papers. Let me tell you, they are fabulous. It’s a PINK themed pack. ALL of the papers have pink in them, and about half of them are a pink background, or almost all pink. That is very rare and hard to find, let me tell ya. There’s also a little mint, aqua, and cream thrown in for good measure. I’ll be posting those tomorrow as well as some vintage finds this week.
Every once in a while, I pull out some of my favorite things and just play with them. I fluff them up a bit, rearrange, and generally get re-inspired by them. So today I snapped a few photos of some beautiful things so I could show you. And while I’m showing you, I thought I’d share some random things about me.
I sing well enough for the shower and lullabyes. My children think I have the prettiest voice ever, but they have no frame of reference.
My two sons are my heart.
My husband works for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. He’s kinda brilliant and is a computer programer and a supervisor over the automated finger print analysis and facial recognition. So, he’s not an agent or anything like that. But, everyone who hears where he works assumes he’s a cop or something like it. One day, when we lived in an historic district near the downtown area of a college town, a neighbor came to the door freaking out saying there was a dead body in the dumpster across the street. She said “what do you want me to do?!” and he said “uhm, call the police?”. She was so shocked. About 1 minute later that “dead body” got out of the dumpster got on his bike, and rode wobbly away.
I have 3 sisters. I am the oldest.
When my oldest son was born, he had a heart murmur that terrified the doctors. A neo-natal ICU surgeon came into my room on the second day of his little life and told us that we needed to prepare ourselves to lose our son. She did not think he would survive. I had only known him for about a day, but I could not imagine my life without that fat little snuggly baby. 24 hours and many prayers later, his heart healed itself. But I know it didn’t just heal itself, I know I witnessed a miracle. After that, they had to slice his heal every day to check something in his blood. The night nurse brought him to me after one of the checks, he was snuggled into her shoulder. She said that she had seen hundreds of babies, and she enjoyed them all, but there was something about this one, “he’s a forgiver” she said. She told me that he cried every time they sliced his little heal, but that as soon as she would hold him close, he snuggled in and was content. This is his personality to this day.
By the way, when I took my son to the pediatrician for checkups, he was stunned that he had ever had a heart problem. He said there was no evidence of it. Thank you, God, for my two beautiful little miracles.
My youngest son was standing in our hallway recently, lost in his little imaginary world. Out of the blue, he turned to me and said (he’s two)… “by the way, mom, I wuv you.” Now, that is what it’s all about.
I want to incorporate more Frenchy style pieces into my living room. I’m thinking some drippy crystal sconces, maybe a curvy table or two.
I’m kinda sick of “LOL”. I will try to never write it again. (edit to say, I know this will be tough because how else will you know I’m kidding? I must become a better writer. It’s such a crutch. btw…. NOT sick of anyone else using it, I just don’t like seeing it all over my blog posts.)
My kids are up way too late and they are playing Batman and Robin right now.
I just bought one of those tank top “shaper” things. I LOVE IT. It doesn’t make me skinnier, but it DEFINITELY makes me smoother! No more back-fat! yay for no back fat at Silver Bella!
I really need a haircut, color, and pedicure, but I may just rock the Sarah Palin up-do and save that money for Vendor Night at SB!
And finally, I have a new website/blog design coming THIS WEEK! Woo Hoo! Be on the lookout. I love it. I hope you like it too. It’s a bit of a departure for me, but I drew the banner myself, so I know it will be unique to me, and also be very true to me.
I hope you liked the eye candy and swooned a little. What do you collect that makes your heart go pitter patter? xo
This summer, we did a little kitchen REFRESHING. I can’t really call it remodeling because it wasn’t that intense. Our kitchen received a little polish, a little jewelry. And we did it on the CHEAP, girls. Thought I’d share with you some pictures and a few humble tips if you’re in the market for a little kitchen refreshing yourselves.
This is a vintage Chambers C model stove. It works GREAT. I’ve had it for years. If you want one, you can start googling “chambers stove” and you’ll find all kinds of resources. I’ve even seen them on ebay. If you’re anywhere near central Oklahoma, contact the guys at Tyson’s Appliances (in the old stockyards) and they can hook you up with mad stoves and other retro appliances. Or, you can go new, but made to look old, at www.bigchillfridge.com . Someday, when I have an extra 3 or 4 thousand dollars just laying around, I WILL be buying one of those fridges!
The cool farm sink is by American Standard. It’s pricey, but we got it for 1/3 the normal price because we were at the right place at the right time. Someone ordered it and then changed their mind! I had this sink for 2 or 3 years BEFORE we built our house. Just biding my time!
For my countertops, I went with a plain flat edge, nothing fancy. This was good because those fancy edges get pricey. I actually like the flat edge better anyway! I had them add this arch to the island to give it some detail.
The real story on the countertops, though, is how cheap they were. This is Italian granite, called Bianco Romano. It’s a very white, pale granite with grey and garnet specs. It has lots of flow to the specs, so feels a little less granite-y and a tiny bit more like marble. Here’s the cool part….. This was ALL remnants! That means that I got my entire kitchen granite, the whole shebang, installed and everything for $1,987.00. That’s right. Less than $2,000.00 for ALL of my countertops, installation, cut, everything included. Here’s my tip…. Go to your local stone yards and ask about remnants. You just never know. There happened to be enough of this remnant to do my entire kitchen. This is not damaged or seconds, it just means it’s left over from another job. Woo Hoo!
The other cool detail we added was white glazed subway tile. Now, I’ve looked at subway tile and pined over it for years. Usually it’s like $10 to $12 a square foot. Well, not anymore! Lowes has caught on to the trend and guess what? Their tiles are about 30 cents each! That’s less than $2 a square foot. Oh yes! So, all of our tile work, which went up almost to the top of the wall, was about $350.00. Now, we did install it ourselves, so that saved us on labor.
Here’s our little kitchen table. The builders put the chandelier in the wrong spot, so we need to scooch it over but you get the idea. The chandelier was about $69.00 from Lowes. I added the green beads, it came with the clear.
This isn’t that great of a shot, but just trying to orient you, this is from the kitchen table, looking towards the island and out to my living room. Kids’ Sonic cups on the table, nothing too good for my family….har har har….
Here’s a detail of the cool old farmhouse kitchen cabinet we have. It was pulled from a nearly two-hundred year old farmhouse. I know it’s obviously NOT that old, but it is very old and I LOVE it. The doors on the side are rounded when closed.
So, that’s my kitchen, refreshed! I like the challenge of doing something fun and unique and even luxe, but doing it on a middle-class budget. I LOVE color. Color can really unite a room and make it feel polished, and I’m not afraid of it. If I like it small, I’ll like it big too!
Yesterday was a LOVELY day here in central Oklahoma. I took the day to hang out with my girlfriend and hit the flea market and a couple of antique haunts that we like to hit. I think I scored! I only bought a few things, but what I found was lovely. Do you LOVE that pincushion? I do. I love it. It is vintage but looks like it could have been made to my specifications! Love the pile of very old millinery forget me nots on top. Gorgeous. And that wallpaper it’s sitting on is another find from yesterday. Got about 3/4 of a roll of it! It’s GORGEOUS cream, white, and gray vintage FLOCKED wallpaper in the most beautiful scrolly pattern. Here’s a detail shot:
and here’s the rest of my haul:
The lampshades are tattered silk, but still very usable. I LOVE the old discolored lace and ribbon detail. And I added to my McCoy pot collection. I pick these up whenever I see them for a good deal. I only look for them in cream, aqua, or pink. And I don’t care if they’re actually McCoy, I’m looking for a shape or feel, not a name. I also picked up the most incredibly beautiful peach coverlet or tablecloth. It’s crepe with the BEST ruffles all around and beautiful needlework on the front. Check it out:
It’s truly so beautiful.
The sweet man who sold it to me just about broke my heart, though. This sweet guy was 72 years old and his mother died when he was only 2, while she was giving birth to his younger brother. This was something of hers that he had hung onto all these years. He started to cry when he was telling me about it and I seriously tried to give it back to him, but he wouldn’t let me. I hugged him 3 times during his story because it was just so sad. He said he has no memories of her, but that his older siblings do and they always kept her memory alive. It was just heartbreaking. It goes to show how much a mother means, here he was, a 72 year old man, barely able to hold back tears as he spoke of his beloved mother whom he really never knew. So, yeah, I will treasure this piece for sure. And, by the way, I’ve talked to this guy several times over the years and he is always cheerful just a regular guy, and never weird, so that’s why this was even more touching!
So I think I had a pretty good Saturday. What did you find this weekend or recently? I’d love to know.
I know I’ve been AWOL a lot lately, so sorry. I’m trying to get ready for Silver Bella and just trying to be a better mom, spending less time with my nose pressed into my monitor! I am going to be better about blogging, but it’s just tough to reach a balance, isn’t it?
I’ve decided to make some changes too. I’m no longer accepting custom orders and I won’t be selling new things like the milinery flowers any longer. If you would like to purchase the millinery flowers, I’ll take what I have left to Silver Bella. Also, Andrea from www.onehundredwishes.com carries the millinery flowers. If you do not see the one you want, just ask and I bet she can order them for you. I will, of course, still be selling my artwork and the occassional kit or flea market find. And I will do wallpaper packs occassionally. I just won’t be selling the new retail items.
I’ve enjoyed selling new things but it’s just that I can’t do everything! So I’m concentrating on coming up with new and fun art pieces and expanding my horizons in my work. I am excited to reveal my new web design soon and some new artsy stuff I’ve been doing. I’ll keep you posted.
