Lucky Me!

Sorry it has been so long since I blogged, we have had a heatwave here in CA. and my computer, who is already sick, refused to work! My husband is building me a new one but right now I am working from his.

I joined the spring journal swap and my partner is Diane of Nellies Nest (go see it, I have put it in my faves on the side...dont know how to make it so you can just click on it!) Anyhoo....I got the most beautiful journal in the mail on Sat.!

Here are the pics. Of course I posted them backwards-the closed front being on the bottom. The picture with the pocket has a vintage hankie with my initial on it tucked in and the back has some really pretty calling cards! She also added tabs and the pages are decorated where the tabs are with a crown, and envelope with a bird and really pretty things!

Thank you Diane! It gave me a much needed boost for a rough week!

karen....

A little more thrifting!

I was able to slip into a thrift store on my lunch which was new to me. I had been told by others that it was just a "junkie" shop...Well, boy howdee! I can't wait to have more time to explore. It is one of those hospital thrift stores run by volunteers and there are piles of "stuff" everywhere!

I have posted pics of the 2 things that I got, a vintage stocking organizer in the palest , prettiest shade of pink satin and a small boudoir pillow about 6" wide that my mom said was probably a sachet at one time and she thinks it is from the 30's.

I posted pics...the pillow has a heart made from some awesome fabric underneath and then it is crocheted over with multicolored yarn and then tied with a beautiful old satin ribbon. This beauty will be fluffed, stuffed with lavender and added to my etsy shop soon!

I hope you are having a nice Thursday! I can't wait to watch Grey's Anatomy tonite!

Talk to you soon! karen....

Show and Tell Sundays!

I have really wanted to be a part of this whole show and tell Sunday but since we have moved in with my mom, alot of my collections are in storage or someother unknown place! But....I do have my vintage jewels handy! Quite a few of these are actually my moms, some I bought her when I was a little girl - there was a pin store in the Farmers Market and I would buy pins for she and my Grandma with my allowance.

The first picture on the right is of my vintage pearl jewelry and I had to include my favorite doll, a woman sold her to me for $1 because she said she was worn out and some lady who was 92 gave her to her and she didn't know why!!! Boy did I feel lucky!

Okay, now I realize that these pics aren't posting the way I wanted so....the picture above the show and tell sunday image is of the gold jewels.... cameos etc...

And the last picture, or the first in this case with the half doll is of my vintage rhinestone jewelry. I do have more vintage jewelry but they are pieces that need TLC and that are intended for using in my art projects.

Well, I hope you enjoyed! This was alot of fun to do!!! Happy Sunday! Karen....

A teeny tiny bit of thrifting

I was able to slip into a thrift store on thursday and get this cute little treasure. It is a handpainted teacup which is very small and inside is a lace collar. All for $1.50! Good for Calif. standards. I love the thrift stores that are run by volunteers who package up everything...I don't know about the rest of the US but our Goodwill and Salvation Army stores have less and less vintage goodies and if they do they are in the specialty part of of the store and are pretty costly. I still enjoy going there for other stuff but am not as likely to find the treasures anymore.

My hubbie and I were turned on to "junkin" by my Great-Aunt Louise. She was 85 and her cr0nies were 77 and 79 and they would pile into her car at 7am and go to all the garage sales in the area. She was so good at it to, she knew her stuff! One time she found a really pretty ceiling light fixture, bought it for $8, took it to have it re-brassed and found out it was a Tiffany! She had it appraised for 8 thousand dollars! She also found 3 Steiff bears and lots of other great goodies...We were hooked. Later, when she came to live nearer to us so we could help her, we would pile her into our car and off we would go! She was in heaven!

Well, I hope you are having a great weekend! I loved remembering my times with Louise!

karen.....

My other baby and additions to etsy

Here are a couple of new things that I have added to my etsy site tonite! There are 2 1960's ephemera packs that are crammed jammed full of wonderful, bright happy goodies and a new collage that I have listed. And....I wanted to show off my other baby, my oldest....Ben

Now you are probably wondering...why would she post this picture???? Well, this is typical Ben, he is funny, inquisitive, very intelligent and loves to wear silly things and take pics of himself. But, if Mom tries to take a picture of him, he has a cow...So here is my wonderful boy! All 6'2" of him!!!

Happy Friday! karen

Whew!!!

Well, hubby came to the rescue again! He helped me resize a photo for etsy and now I think....notice I didn't say know, how to do it!!!

I so wanted to show you pics of my milinery goodies and my vintage hankies like some of the other bloggers are doing for Show and tell Sundays but hopefully I can participate in some of the other show and tell days....

Instead I will show you a pic of a little inspiration area on my desk which at least includes some of the milinery goodies!

I am trying so hard to make our bedroom not only functional but inspirational because we not only use it for sleeping, it is my art supply room and my husbands computer-fiddling with room....(computers are not pretty or inspiring to me!) So ....my way of doing this is to add little "pockets" of inspiration around here and there. Did I tell you guys we joined houses with my mom last year? Anyway, that being said...this is my little pretty area to enjoy when I am hanging out with you on the computer!

Oh Heck!

I tried my hardest last night to download pictures for you but nothing worked!!! I am such a techno-nerd and with the computer not working right.....it just wasn't happening!

Anyway, this is a gift that I made for a friend who was raised on a farm in Kansas and loves the cowgirl/cowboy life.

The pictures above are from a little altered book I made a couple of years ago just for the fun of it!

I hope you are having a great monday! karen....

Spring Break-yeah!/Spring Cleaning-uggh!

Well, because I work for a local school district, I had last week off!!! Hurray, yippee, wahoo!!!
I really needed this break and had some fun and did some much needed cleaning also!
It feels good to do both. We went away over night to a hotel about an hour away and swam and relaxed, thrifted some, ate out-yum! That was alot of fun!
My hubby found a dresser for our room/my art space so we rearranged and cleaned and it is not finished but already so much better.
Since my computer is acting funky and my camera doo-hickey is not hooked up to upload new pics, I will upload some photos that are banked for you to look at, because I hate it when there aren't any pics don't you???

My Heart

This beautiful girl is my daughter. On any given day you will find her with book in hand, she reads voraciously! She is funny, quirky, and very smart and just fills my heart to think of her.
I just wanted to share a little piece of my daily life...I feel lucky indeed..... xoxo karen

Journaling....

I have tried for years to keep a journal...just can't seem to keep up with it! Partly because I want it to be happy and perfect which life doesn't always bring. Partly because I just cant always keep up with it and when a span of time goes by and I haven't written, I think I should just give that one up and start another. This year I made myself a composition journal and am making it an art journal...It is by no means perfect but that is why I think I am enjoying it so much more...it is okay that it is messy and silly and I love that it is visual! Go figure! These are a couple of pics of my current journal!

Go get messy! karen.....