Finished Halloween Projects

They have posted several tutorials over on the Sweet & Sinister blog. I am trying to keep up, not doing that great of a job though. But I have gotten a few finished. The banner, and now these. The one they did was a candy shop sign. But I decided to do an apothecary shop instead. I have some of those ingredient jars that Michael's has, and also some eyeballs & witch fingers that a lady from work made (I'll have to share those, they are great!), so I thought I could display it all together.

This is not a good depiction of the color, but a close-up of the lettering.

The next project was a frame to display items on. This one was pretty simple. And I actually saw something just like it on this blog. I decided to use some of the crackle paint I had for this one.

Is anyone else working on Halloween stuff already?

Even MORE "new" goodies!

I know I have been slacking in the vintage department lately. I haven't been yardsaling in ages and trips to the thrift are here and there. The few yardsales I have stopped at have been mostly junk (not the good kind) and I haven't actually planned a day to go. But I was off yesterday, and after dropping Blake off at school, I spotted a yard sale sign. I figured, why not? That's where I found these blue Mason jars. I can't pass these things up if they are a good price!

I also found this little mama hen. She's missing a little bit of paint here, but I think she's cute anyway.

Thursday night, we found a place near us that has a thrift store & auctions. They said it's a thrift store Thursday-Saturday, and then every other Thursday they hold auctions. I found this Fire King bowl for $.25 in the thrift area. Blake scored a pretty good deal in the auction. A Nintendo DS (not the Lite, the older model) for $30. And this little clay bowl (?) I dug out of the backyard yesterday. It was in the same area that I found the McCoy & Regal pieces. It's terra cotta, but an odd shape to me. I've never seen one like this. And it has a little hole in the center.

Yesterday I also had to take some things to donate to the St. Anthony's (the catholic thrift). It had been awhile since I had stopped by, so I decided to take a look. I haven't really been posting prices, but I coudln't pass these up at $.10 for the Pyrex & $.05 for the Corelle! Sometimes I feel bad paying so little, but I also donate a lot here, so I guess it equals out, right?

I have passed up this plate at two different thrift shops (St. Anthony's & another). I happened to notice in Flickr that this pattern seems to be fairly popular, so for $.10, I decided, why not? If I decide I don't want it, I figured I could use it in a giveaway or swap. The maker is Marcrest and the pattern is calling Swiss Chalet or Alpine.

Last week, we had a silent auction at work. I didn't really think to check out the goods, but afterwards, one of the nurse's came up to me with these salt & pepper shakers. She wanted me to look them up. Then she told me to take them since she had gotten four for $1, and didn't need all four. The bottom says Federal Housewares.

Also from the auction, Mike bid on this box of frames. I wasn't expecting that, but I am always getting frames from the thrift for various projects, and most of these look like I can redo them without too much trouble.

Back to St. Anthony's... I saw this vintage-looking fabric rolled up near the Christmas stuff. At first I thought apron(!?) or tablecloth (!?), but no, they are curtains. I still think they are great! And they are in great shape so they defiantly can be repurposed. I have LARGE windows so they won't be able to serve their original purpose. There was one of this pattern in a very long valance and a curtain.

And then there were two of these much smaller valances. If you look, this matches the background pattern in the other fabric.

And for my favorite find? QUILTS! Two of them! My first ever! These came from the place that has the auctions. I was walking around inside and didn't really expect to find anything. The inside was mostly furniture with some clothes, electronics, porcelain dolls, etc. But then I saw these peeking out. As I searched for a price tag, I was expecting the worse. But when I saw the $4 price tag on both of them, I had to have them! I just love this orange and brown one. But when I got home and unfolded them, I found these two holes. It almost broke my heart! LOL. This one is big enough to fit our queen bed, but these holes... Other than this they are pretty stain-free and could just use a nice cleaning. I don't think I have the heart to cut this, can anthing be done to save it?

Here are close-ups of the tears.

The other quilt has no holes thankfully! And it's also in pretty good shape, just needs to be cleaned. (Sorry some of the pictures are kind of washed out, I had them stretched out in the sun)

The only issue with this one, is some of the edges are a little thin with a few small holes worn in them.

Here is a shot of some of the patterned fabric, check out the little violins!

I appreciate any help with the quilts. If you need any other shots Sarah, let me know! THANK YOU!!

New Goodies

I know I haven't really shared much of anything vintage-related lately. But last week I went to the thrift in search of frames for several different projects. I found my frames, but look what else! Three, count them, THREE plates in the pattern I have been looking for! Boutonniere, from Taylor, Smith & Taylor. They match this cup here.

And a few weeks ago, Mike surprised me with this, but he won't tell me where he got it from!

I also ordered this yummy fabric off of Etsy. I just love those apples! And how cute is the Halloween one?

Did you know that Michael's not only has Halloween stuff out, but they also have Christmas stuff? Silk flowers, ribbons, picks, the Christmas village stuff and a whole aisle of wood crafts and ornaments to make. A little early, don't you think? Anyway, I found these adorable little picks for $.59 I believe. I love the glittery-ness!

And don't you think this little guy would work great for Halloween, too?

Finished Projects

Layla has decided she wants to be a witch for Halloween this year (it's never too early to start thinking about costumes when you're four, right?). I love the look of the tutu costumes, so I decided I will attempt to make her costume this year. I googled how to do it, and decided I would give it a test run. I had this tulle and some elastic already, so I gave it a shot. It isn't the prettiest thing ever, but it gave me some practice and an idea on how much tulle I need and how long it needs to be.

Next up, remember this? It became a chalkboard, courtesy of Mike. I chipped off the top layer of warped wood, he sanded, primed and painted it. Now I just have to find somewhere to put it.



This started out life as a mirror (thrift shop find). And I had intended to keep it that way. That is, until Pumpkin took a flying leap onto my kitchen table and sent the mirror crashing to the floor. I thought the frame was cute though, and decided to keep it until I came up with something. I found the corkboard at the thrift, ripped off its frame and cut it up. A little fabric, some buttons & plain tacks, and we have this. Now I just need to find another frame to make one for Blake.



I joined Artsy Mama's Sweet & Sinister Swap this year, and when I saw this tutorial, I knew I wanted to try it. As you can see, I have some issues with them all hanging the correct way!

The ones she made had black lace, but I didnt have any the right size. I did, however, have some vintage orange lace. And since I decorate in more black & orange than black & white, I went ahead with it. It also gave me the change to use some of the glass glitter I purchased from Andrea. I like the way it turned out! (I chose this phrase because we have a talking candy dish that says this, and we always end up saying this over and over during Halloween).

So, have you made anything lately?

Fun with Tropical Storm Fay

As you probably now, Tropical Storm Fay found her way to Florida today. She passed near here. It's been grey and windy all day. We had flood watches and tropical storm wind warnings, tornado warnings, etc.... But really, she was lighter than even our typical summer thunderstorms. This was the extent of our "damage".

Needless to say, it feels pretty good outside. Much better than the typical upper 90's weather!

So the kids got to enjoy a little while outside in the cool weather. Sorry about the wonky pictures, I was using the "action" mode on my camera and they came out a little weird!

Have a great week!

Projects...

Some finished...

While others are still WIP's (works-in-progress) or UFO's . (I FINALLY got the links!)

Ignore the egg! That was today's "bounty".

More photo's to come!

I'm a winner!

I won a blog giveaway hosted by Nikki @ http://huntforvintage.blogspot.com/. (I still cannot figure out these stupid links!). If you haven't seen her blog, check it out! Lots of vintage goodness. Look at all those goodies up there! Thank you Nikki! I love them!


Look at how cute these little cards are:

Some milk caps and a little vintage W pin:

Cute Christmas scrapbooking goodies and some more cards:



Wooden spools(!), a pretty vintage hanky and a cute little bag:

And some great vintage postcards!

I just want to say thanks again Nikki!