Vintage Pretties

The House Hunt pt 3

If you'e wondering why I haven't posted about the house hunt, it's not because it hasn't been going on.  In fact, we found a place that we put a contract on.  A place that is just beautiful & we can make entirely ours.  However, despite the contract, not everything is entirely in stone yet. There is still one major hurdle to be overcome.  And, I'm terrified that it's not going to work out.  So, I'm scared to post anything about it yet.  Please think good thoughts & prayers towards us this week!

A bright spot in this weekend is that there was finally an estate sale that was worth my time!  I don't think that I posted about my last estate sale experience or, err...disaster. After waiting in the rain for 1 hr to be allowed into the house, I went straight towards the basement and fell down an entire flight of stairs.  Nice, huh?  Not only was I mortified, but I went away with a wicked set of bruises.  To add insult to injury, I didn't find one single thing at the sale. I should point out that the people who ran the estate sale were very concerned about me, so no hard feelings towards them.

Anyway, today's sale included no waiting, no injuries and some nice deals.  That's the way I like it :)  Here's a pic of what I picked up:

I'm looking forward to the flea market season as well, which is starting up next Saturday.  It will be nice to get back to treasure hunting and refill the Etsy store.

I'm hoping to have some good news to share about the house later this week.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!!

Pinterest

Do you remember how, about a year ago, I asked if anyone knew of an online style file?  A place to keep all of those ideas, photos & links that catch my eye.  Well, glory alleluhia, I've finally found the place!  Pinterest.  Have you heard of this place yet?  It is so, so fabulous.  You can "pin" ideas that you find on the web to your "boards".

Currently, I have boards for each room, to keep ideas for our new house.  For instance, this amazing laundry room made it onto my laundry room board:

source

Yes, I have a laundry room inspiration board.  You would too if your current "laundry room" was a nasty corner of your basement.

Bathrooms that make me drool are another favorite for my boards:

source

I have boards for kitchens, baths, living rooms, and playrooms currently.  You can also use Pinterest to make wishlists of things that you want, books that you want to read, art & photos that catch your eye, recipes, fashion, really anything.  As you might guess, I've spent far too much time there recently :)

If you join Pinterest (it's free!), you can check out my boards: http://pinterest.com/kfleming/.

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Deals of the Day

I found some great deals today, which I thought that I'd share with you.

If you haven't been to your local Michaels recently, get over there & check out their clearance! I went there today, looking for a picture frame & mat.  I found a mother load of Christmas clearance, most at 80% off!

100 piece puzzle (for next year's stocking): 20 cents

Color your own puzzle

Sponge Stamps

Snowman Activity Kit

(all for entertaining a little girl who has been getting pretty bored on snow days): 20 cents each = 80 cents

2 tubes of bubble bath for me: 40 cents each = 80 cents

Gingerbread house kit for next year (we never eat the ingredients, so it doesn't matter if they are old) : $1.99

Grand Total: $3.79 for everything pictured!

Another great deal that has been all over the web, but you might have missed, is today's Living Social deal. 50% off a $20 Amazon gift card!  Personally, we buy everything from Amazon, from books to a TV, so we are all over this one.  Here is the link: http://livingsocial.com/deals/21336-20-amazon-com-gift-card.  Hurry, it's only good today!

 

Box From Amazon

"The Wells Fargo man is a-comin' down the street, I wonder what it could be??"

Do you all remember that song from The Music Man?  I feel like that every time that I get a package in the mail, even if I'm the one who placed the order.  Especially deliveries from Amazon, because Amazon orders are always treats.  I collect my rewards certificates from our credit card to use for the kind of things that I would never buy myself normally.  Hardcover books, fancy accessories, twenty dollar bottles of bath gel, luxury soaps, really anything that has struck my fancy in an expensive store but I can't afford.

Yesterday's box was a treasure trove of things just for me.  Cath Kidston, Crabtree & Evelyn, Mistral, and Jamie Oliver's newest cookbook.  SO excited about the last one. 

When I get a new cookbook, I mark the recipes that I would like to try with tabs so that I may easily refer to them when planning my menus. I ran out of tabs with this book!  I lurve Jamie (his three cheese risotto is to die for) & this book is looks so good.

I'm particularly in love with the idea of having an old fashioned English Sunday roast dinner...beef with horseradish, roasted potatoes & parsnips, & Yorkshire pudding.  Funny story...I had never heard of parsnips until I was 21 & had just arrived in England for my semester abroad.  When I was told that they would be served for dinner, I had not only to ask what they were ("a vegetable" was the answer), but what food "family" they were part of....green? root?  like lettuce? radish? potato?

I will update once I've made some recipes to give the low-down on the book.

Bunches of Notions

While we were at my parent's place last weekend, my mom was going through her sewing supplies & asked if I wanted anything.  Just look at this gorgeous stash of ribbons, trim & seam binding that I found!  In my mind, I immediately imagined projects -- a Halloween card with the orange seam binding, an Easter decoration with the lilac velvet ribbon, something for the 4th of July with the navy blue trim.  I'm a lucky girl to be the beneficiary of these beauties.  Thanks Mom!

Accessories of Old

I discovered the most wonderful shop this weekend, Accessories of Old, in Frederick Maryland. Accessories of Old specializes in old trim, buttons, buckles, beads and most any kind of notion that you could think of. Seriously, this is the most drool worthy shop that I have come across in ages.  Take a look at the displays:

A wall of vintage buttons, both on cards & individual buttons.

A wall of hairclips.

One of the stunning vintage display cases. (This photo is from their blog, as I couldn't get a good photo)

I think that it's safe to say that my favorite part of the store was this wall 'o ribbon:

See that second section over, with the white spools?  ALL velvet ribbon, in every shade & width that you can imagine.  Just heaven.  (This photo is also from their blog)

If you live in this region, try to check it out.   The proprietor was so friendly & nice and you'll really enjoy your visit.

Sunday Night

I'm sitting here as the Sunday routine goes on...dinner is done and Hope is pretending that she is getting ready for bed.  I'll be going to her room to urge on the process shortly.  I'm mentally praising Glenn & I for fitting so much into the weekend.  Friday & Saturday mornings, I made the rounds of the estate sales & the monthly flea market in Arlington.  I uncovered a few finds:

I just love, love, love the fan & the little platters. I will exercising great restraint by not keeping them.  "They are for Etsy, they are for Etsy"...must repeat to myself.

I'm kicking myself over the typewriter.  It's a great typewriter, but I pretty much ruined it when I tried to clean it up.  Note to self: rubbing alcohol takes paint off of old typewriters.  I think that Hope will be inheriting it as a toy.

After returning from the flea market, Glenn & I attacked our yard with a vengeance.  We showed no mercy to weeds, long grass or overgrown bushes.  Hope "helped" with her play hoe.  We then cleaned ourselves up & spent a great evening at a friend's house for one of the first barbecues of the season.  They have an incredible tree house & the kids absolutely exhausted themselves by playing all over it all night.

Finally, I went to the farmer's market this morning.  I wish that I had taken my camera...all of the produce is so gorgeous.  I came home with asparagus, spring onions, lettuce & tiny sweet strawberries. 

And, that wraps up our weekend. I hope that you had a great weekend too!

This Week's Finds

Hi there!  It's Friday & that means Estate Sale Day!  I went to 3 sales today, 2 of which yielded treasure, the other, not one thing.  I don't know if you can tell, but the suitcase is hunter green, with a basketweave pattern printed on it.  There is one lone sticker, for Northwest Airlines.  I love to find cases & trunks covered in stickers.

The search also yielded an envelope full of postcards from the turn of last century, about half in floral designs & the remainder, pictures of New York City.  I only pulled out a few for the photo, but all of them are really nice.  Also found was a working 1950s "Baby Ben" clock (yay! I look for these!), a small ivory pitcher, & a 1928 issue of Ladies Home Journal with the most gorgeous illustrations.

I came home from my search & took a long nap -- the pollen is killing me!  I feel so sluggish all of the time & have a scratchy throat.  I can't wait until we get through spring & all of these allergies.

Also, you may notice that I have changed the comments section so that I have to approve comments before they appear.  I hate to do this because it gives the impression that I only want comments that please me, but I've been forced to by the spammers, who have become completely out of control.  Keep coming back, bloggy friends!  I'll get rid of these pesky spammers one way or the other!

Looky What the Postman Brought

Somedays the postman isn't so exciting.  He brings boring things like credit card offers and advertisements.  But somedays, he bring ebay finds!  I'm so in love with these little tins that I scored on ebay this week.  Aren't they the prettiest things?  I'm always looking out for old tins with roses to fit into my collection & these will be just perfect.

The Weekend Update

Hello dear friends!  I hope that you've had a good weekend.  Has spring come to your part of the world?  Spring is being a tease here in Virginia this year...one week, we have hot sunny days & the next, it's 50 degrees again.  But, all is in bloom & it's beautiful outside.

I almost titled this post "The Day That Rocked" because Friday was one of those days that just astounds you with how *GREAT* everything turns out.  As you may remember, I found out that one of my items was featured on the front page of Etsy.  Not only such an honor, but that is, short of having your shop mentioned in a magazine, the best advertisement that you could hope for.  I sold 5 items in one day!   To give you a frame of reference, I think that I sold 3 items in all of last month.  I was so excited, I could barely contain myself!!!

It put me in such a good mood that I decided to go to Banana Republic to buy the dress that I've been thinking about since I first saw it 3 weeks ago.  I've dithered & dithered over it because I really have no money to be purchasing dresses.  When the dress was rung up, it turned out to be 50% off!!!  Things were going so well that I called Glenn & told him that he had to take me out to dinner to celebrate such great day.  I know, I totally should have played the lottery. :)

The rest of the weekend wasn't quite up spectacular-ness of Friday, but good stuff.  I ventured out to some estate sales on Saturday morning and came up with this:

"Handy Hannah" -- blow drying your hair, circa 1950s!

After the sales, Hope, Glenn & I literally dug into yard work all Saturday afternoon.

I planted 60 impatiens plants...maybe they will look like this in a month??

 
I also put in another hydrangea, hoping that I'll have some flowers to cut in the future...my other hydrangea has produced exactly one bloom.  Hope springs eternal.

Today we experienced the joy (cough, cough) of a children's birthday party, this time featuring a magic show.  The kids were wild about the show & then they were fed cake.  You can imagine the scene.  However, we did get to see one of Glenn's co-workers (the father of the birthday girl) forced, as part of the show, to wear a toilet plunger on his head, so all was not lost.