Would you buy it Wednesday......:)

Here's my latest offering for "Would you buy it Wednesday" over on junkernewbie
Well, I did buy it and here's the story.....I was in St. Vinnies and noticed this very long suitcase and it had some blown glass grapes inside it. I asked if the suitcase was for sale and was told no, it's just for display right now. I have to tell you how odd I find it that our St. Vinnies here do this, put merchandise out just for display only, and if a customer expresses interest, well "no, it's just for display". Do they not understand that I want to pay with real money for their goods? Oh well, at least she let me leave my name and phone # in case they changed their minds and decided to sell it. So fast forward about 1 month and I was in that same store, over in the outdoor area and there she was...$12.99! I wasn't exactly positive I wanted it now, but decided to take it...plus it was on sale so I paid about 9.00.

Obviously at one time this housed some sort of photography equipment, probably a roll down screen? This box is 39" long! I like the tweed type covering on it and took out the ugly brown suede that was covering the inside because I want to line it with either vintage wallpaper or sheet music.

It will actually be a great storage box that will be able to hold a ton of stuff when I'm finished with it....what say you? Would you have a use for this odd item in your home?

So totally out of control!

That's exactly how I feel right now...anyone else?
I'm totally reorganizing my studio space to get ready for the Where Bloggers Create party and feel like I'm spinning my wheels...anyone else? Please tell me I'm not alone! I make changes, stand back and take a look, and I'm not happy with what I've done!
Start over....the bottom line is to make my studio totally functional for me, nobody else, just me. I'm the only one that's working in there, after all.
When you have so many different elements in your work: paper, jewelry, game pieces, wallpaper, ephermera, vintage flowers, office supplies, ribbons, lace, fabric, etc.....it becomes overwhelming. Time for a break tomorrow...I'll be back at it on Monday with a fresh outlook....
If not, you'll hear from me! Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday.
We have a softball playoff to attend for our dd after church, then a fun afternoon.....hopefully.....:).

Would you buy it?

While blog surfing this a.m. I came across this cool blog
www.junkernewbie.blogspot.com with a great idea!
She calls it "Would you buy it Wednesday", the premise being when you see something while thrifting but aren't sure whether or not you should buy/or should have bought it you can post the photo and get others opinions....kind of a virtual shopping trip with friends.

So while I was out thrifting with my dd I saw this old fold-up bed....I've always wanted one to put out on my back patio to just lounge on, fill with cool linens and pillows, etc.

My best friend encouraged me to go back and buy it....for her! So I did, what do you think? Would you buy one of these if you saw it? It's actually extremely comfortable and I love the fact that it adjusts in the back, so you can have it sitting up to read if need be.
I'm linking this post up to www.junkernewbie.blogspot.com to see what other people would do if they ran across an old fold up cot.
Then I'm off to continue work on my studio because the Where Women Create blog party will be here before you know it! Yikes!

Happy Fourth of July.....:)

What a fun holiday the 4th is!!!! We get to celebrate our freedom..:). This old children's book is one I've had a long time and can't even remember where I found it.....it's "for little men and women".

Look at the back! When the 4th is over I can merely turn it over for the rest of the Summer....

This is a collection of items I made last year to decorate my home with....I believe the "firecrackers" were a pattern in Country Living magazine, perhaps it's even still on their website. They were super easy to make out of old paper towel rolls.

This wooden piece I made out of old children's blocks that have the perfect worn in patina that I love...all I had to do was assemble it.....don't think I can ever sell this one!

this is the back side of it...all the words came out of a vintage children's music book.
Have a safe holiday friends!

You know it's a happy shopping day when.........

you need to go get a cart!!!! My hands were getting very full...of course, the office supply area gets perused early on and I saw this oh-so-cool Globe-Wernicke heavy cardboard letter file for .99!
That's a good sign, right?

how about this adorable little red english-french phrase book? It measures about 4x4 and has all the interesting words, phrases, and their translations on the coolest old weathered pages.

the inside cover picture of this old school reader left me breathless so I had to have it....gorgeous pictures inside, from 1901.

fantastic old receipt book that has never been used with absolutely gorgeous writing on it...a hint as to the age are the options at the bottom....return call, wire, or write! Wire? hmmm, it's definitely been awhile since I've "wired" anyone, how about you?

and one of my very favorite children's books that may be turned into a journal.....

and perhaps my favorite find of all, there are yards of this unknown trim. I don't know what it was used for, it's about 2 1/2" wide and it used to be white before I dyed it with coffee to "age" it a bit...

it has a silky/satiny feel and it's just scrumptious.
The rest of the day was spent with my dd, who seemed to need my attention more than normal today so I was happy to oblige her!
I do hope you all have fun weekend plans with lots of good food and drink included.....:).

A new Etsy offering........

Out shopping with my dd today I decided to stop in to a local Arts & Crafts store that I haven't visited in quite some time....

I found this stunning swallow stamp that I just had to have!

And I knew just how I wanted to use it....on some large shipping tags and some gorgeous ribbon....sometimes it doesn't take much to make me happy! I just wanted to create a little something today so thought I'd share...hope you're all having a peaceful Sunday.

Loving the unusual and different.......

After dropping my dd off at her golf class yesterday I visited a Goodwill nearby.....on one of the endcaps I saw these four tiny creamy frames with what look like oil paintings on top of the glass..

and while I find the paintings somewhat interesting when I turned them over to check out the backs I couldn't believe the paper that was covering them!

It's really thin paper and at first I thought that the flowers were handpainted on the paper as well...but no, it's just some gorgeous old backing paper...

I'm going to doing something creative with these beauties by adding my own twist on them....

stay tuned......oh, and have a marvelous weekend! Get out there and find some treasures....tis the season!

Trying to get in the "summer" groove.....

after all, it is officially summer now, right?

got out my favorite of all time vase...found at the Salvation Army, of all places...it was one of those serendipitous moments, you know, when you turn around and there it is? Think I paid $2 or $3, can't remember now...

it has violets and hydrangeas on it...what could be more old-fashioned or charming than that?

love it to bits....!

here she is in all her glory holding my peonies that are blooming like crazy right now!

happy ant, what is it with peonies and ants anyway?

And the winner is...........!!!!!!

Sweet Thespa from vintiquitiesworkshop! If you haven't been to Thespa's blog yet, you must treat yourself. This is one fabulous artist and I'm so happy that she (hopefully) will be using some of these fun elements in her lovely works of art.
Thanks so much to all of you who entered, I promise I'll be doing another giveaway....Thespa my dear, please send me your address so I can ship your goodies out soon.
Happy weekend to all!

A before and after white stool makeover and a couple of finds....

So I went to my Vintage Mall today hoping upon hope to find just the perfect stool for my studio...mostly I stand when I work in there but sometimes it's nice to have the option to sit down....I've wanted one of these old Cosco stools forever but they always seem too high priced for me (not that I'm cheap or anything, but, well I really am!) 

Today I saw this "beauty"  for $9.95.....and it's a really old one that is structurally sound, all I needed to do was to tighten a couple of screws and get out my sander. This used to be red, then green, now white. And a former owner's attempt at artwork just didn't cut it for me....:).

So I just added a decal and sanded off the "offending" flowers...

I even added a couple of my favorite stamps to the back of it....

At the same mall I found this awesome green breadbox..........................

and this awesome cutter quilt with gorgeous florals on it...it was a good shopping day for me..
I'm linking up to white wednesday here.
Hope you come over and join in the fun, and don't forget my giveaway (it's 2 posts back..... you have until Friday to enter!!!!

~Girl power~ and some great advice from my best friend

so sometimes collections can just happen without trying....these books about "girls" are one such collection for me....

I've had the top two books for a very long time, purchased for the subject matter and the graphics on the covers.....

I mean, seriously, who would have thought back in the 1800's of writing books like these for women...we surely didn't wield a lot of influence back then....but someone had the forethought to do so.
The third book "But yet a Woman" was found yesterday at the thrift....soooooo very perfect to go with the other two that I already own....and I happen to have a "thing" for daisies!

This old suitcase was another find yesterday.....and here comes the advice from my bff.....always open the suitcase to check out the inside!

Ummm, o.k., so glad I did!

It's filled with this gorgeous blue and white paper....makes me swoon!
Don't forget to scroll down to my previous post to be entered in my giveaway.....I'll be drawing a winner at the end of this week..:).