Two Special Gifts

A few days ago, I told you all how excited I was that I'd won a giveaway.  Well, guess what?!  When I got home from visiting my mom in Oregon just now, there was a package in the mail for me!  And...

Inside was this adorable Alice journal that I won during Cindy Adkins' "Alice's Tea Party" week at her blog, Whimsical Musings. 

Here's the back.  Isn't this just the neatest thing?  I totally love it...thank you, Cindy!

Another awesome thing that happened this weekend was the receipt of this gorgeous ring from my mom!  I was chatting about how I loved the ring that Prince William gave to the new Princess Catherine and my mom surprised me with this one in a similar style!  It belonged to my great-grandmother.  How exciting...I totally love it!

I hope everyone has the opportunity for some great rest and relaxation this weekend! We have been traveling the last couple days and are really looking forward to a day of down time on Saturday... Well, the kids and I are. My faithful husband will be back to work bright and early! I'm so thankful for him...thank you for all you do to bless us, Jamie!

I'm joining these parties today:

I Won!!!

One of the really fun things about blogging is participating in others' giveaway parties!  I've held several giveaways of my own and have entered in many more!  I'm so excited to announce that I finally won one!!

Jacqueline at Purple Chocolat Home hosted a great giveaway for a gorgeous headband---handmade by her daughter, Audra, of Me Oh My Couture, an awesome Etsy store!  Lucky me, I've got four gorgeous daughters to share our treasure!

Avalon has been wearing it a lot since it first arrived in the mail a few days ago!  She calls it her "Pitty Fower".

I like it best in her ponytail!

Thank you so much, Jacqueline and Audra, for your generous gift!  We really love our new headband and love it that it's big enough for Mom to wear too!

Beautiful Daughters

I've got three beautiful daughters! (Well, I've got four---but one is in hiding until mid-August!) Yesterday, I made my oldest, Lynzie, a dress for Easter and today I put some flowers on it and made matching flowers for the little girls' hair. I got the little girls' dresses at Target. (Click on the pictures to enlarge)

Selah, 4; Lynzie, 11 and Avalon, 2

We found this pretty green taffeta at JoAnn's and I made some flowers and hair things to tie in with the little girls' dresses.

Here is my little clone...I looked just like her at this age!

Avalon was so proud of her dress and pretty flower.  She didn't understand why we had to take them off when we came back inside but I found her a different flower for her hair so she was happy!

Antique Store Finds

Yesterday was my husband's day off and he was so sweet to send me out to have a little quiet time at the antique store...yay!  Here's what I found:  

This little book, The Lively Little Rabbit was one of my favorites when I was little.  I bought it to put in baby Liam's first Easter basket this year!  I also found these sweet mouse shakers.  We needed new shakers and I thought the kids would think these were pretty sweet!  They're not vintage...but cute even so!

A few months ago, I saw a blog where a lady hung vintage hand mirrors all over her bathroom wall with plate hangers.  I thought that was such a creative idea!  So...I'm trying to collect a bunch to make my own little wall display.  I found the brush and mirror as a set so bought them both but would gladly trade the brush to anyone who might have a mirror they want to swap!

I'm also trying to collect a bunch of mini shaker sets to put at individual place settings for a fancy dinner.  (There are 10 of us so far so I'll be collecting awhile!)  The ones on the right on the little tray are not vintage...but cute!  I had to put the little hat pin holder in this picture because I saw three others throughout that store and all of them were marked as "salt shakers".  In fact, this one was only $2 because the vendor thought it was missing it's partner!  Ha! When I went to pay for it, the store owner said, "Oh, it's still got a little salt in it!"  I said, "Someone really used it as a shaker?"  She looked at me funny and said, "Yessss...."  I told her it was a hat pin holder.  Two holes = salt shaker.  Three holes = pepper shaker.  TWELVE holes = hat pin holder.  That would be some SERIOUS salting otherwise...Ha!

Here are a few sweet things I found for crafting.  I plan on decorating the little bottle to resemble Alice's "Drink Me" bottle as it's the same shape.  The one little earring will make a cute embellishment on something.  I LOVE my two glass bottle stoppers and am hoping to collect many more.  I also found these two Eiffel Tower pendants (not vintage) for crafting embellishments.

Visit Coloradolady for more Vintage Thingie Thursday! I'm also linking up with Blue Creek Home's Treasure Hunt Thursday and Thrifty Groove's Thrifty Things Friday for the first time this week!

Mantle Re-do for Spring

A few weeks ago, I asked my Facebook friends for ideas on how to redo my mantle for spring.  For the past four years or so, I've been going with the Primitive look but have lately decided it's time to switch over to a more romantic and nostalgic feel.

This is how it looked after I finished taking down everything after Christmas.

I had a brainy idea to paint this metal can white...but that was as far as I got.

I painted the can white a couple of months ago and hung the Easter eggs last month.

Today I finished it up and I love it!  It's hard to get a close up of the whole thing as it's a pretty long mantle and a short distance across the room but you get the idea.

I was so thrilled to have found these blue jars at yard sales this past weekend.  I picked up some cherry blossom branches at Michael's.  It's such a pretty contrast!

Vintage Whimsy Paper Book

I had a very busy day today and was hardly at home.  On my way home tonight, after being gone for nine hours, all I could think of doing was taking a relaxing bath and staying in bed the rest of the night with my book.  Lately I've been having these crazy crafting dreams at night (must be the pregnancy creative dreams kicking in...) and usually wake up with a great crafting idea.  Well, tonight it happened while I was in the bath and, as exhausted as I was, I just had to go and make my dream a reality...Ha! 

I began by using my kids' watercolor paints to paint a piece of cream-colored card stock.  I used red and orange.

Then I cut the paper down to the size I wanted (10x7 to make a 5x7 book) and antiqued the edges using a blade and chocolate-colored ink.

I used a pile of my kids' scrap paper for filling.

I used a couple of plain sheets for the first pages of the book and cut them just a tiny bit larger so they'd show past the scrap paper.  I antiqued the edges of those too.

Then I tied it up with raffia, added some glitter, and secured a dried rose to finish it off.  I'm not too sure how I feel about the glitter on the book itself, but I like it on the rose and overall, I think this is a pretty cute little project!

Now that I'm super, duper exhausted, I've got to go to bed!  Goodnight!

Yard Sales Woo Hoo!

Today was my first day of going to yard sales for the year!  There were quite a few in my area but I had no idea how far I would be driving in between!  I spent about 3 hours driving between 3 sales...but the kids and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way!

At the first sale, I found these old blue jars (a couple of them have the handles on still), a set of rust-colored curtains that I plan to use for fall crafts, and this sweet little pink pitcher.  The pitcher is marked "Tunbridge Wells Nash".  I can't find a thing about a company that would have put this out but did learn that Tunbridge Wells is a place in Kent, England.  It's a mystery for now, I guess!

At the second yard sale I got all this for 10 cents!  There are a couple sheets and a rug that I won't be keeping but I loved the two pillows, the rose tablecloth and the table runner with the yellow flowers on it!  Pretty!

At that same sale I found another blue jar, 2 frames for crafting and this porcelain rose made in Italy.  I saw a blog last week with some of these on it and thought they were so pretty.  Now I have my own! 

Here's Cainan with my third yard sale find.  He has been wanting this exact Noah's Ark toy for awhile now.

It didn't come with any animals but Cainan had some things that went with his Baby Jesus set that he put into it to play.

At the fourth yard sale, I found a bunch of lace and trimmings.  I've got several projects in the works so it will be nice to add to my stash!

I usually give myself a $20 limit per day (this doesn't include the things I find that we actually need like clothes, etc.).  Today, I'm proud to report that I spent a grand total of $8.00!  Wonder if that means I can add the extra to next weeks budget?

More Spring Crafts

If you've been reading over the last few weeks, you'll likely remember me lamenting my lack of spring decor.  Well...I have to say that I've been busy, busy, busy and am crafting quite a collection!  By the time spring is over, I'll have a whole bunch of pretty things to show off!  I'm feeling pretty good about that too---it's fun to look around and feel the satisfaction of my own hard work!

Here are a few things I worked on yesterday and Sunday...(click on any picture to enlarge it)

I got this great idea from Lauren at My Wonderfully Made.  I have to say that I don't like mine quite as much as hers but I think I'd like mine better if I had the right supplies for "antiquing" the paper.  I guess I need to put in another order to my best friend and Close To My Heart consultant, Audra's scrapbooking website!  Want to check it out yourself?  Visit her here.

Lauren's instructions were clear and thorough.  I had everything I needed on hand and I liked the graphic she chose so much that I used the same one!  There are lots and lots of vintage graphics online though so yours can be whatever original creation you come up with!

I added this sweet iris embellishment, as well as a red daisy and a few other little things...and I was done!  Love it---thanks so much Lauren!

Then I decided to try out some of these altered bottles I've been seeing around the Bloggyhood.  I had saved these spice bottles a few years ago for a different project that I never got to.  I like their pretty simplicity.

I might give them away as gifts...or save them for me.  Not sure yet.  I found this sweet baby girl graphic online and chose it because we have a baby girl due later this summer.  I glued ribbon and lace around the bottle and secured this picture with a green ribbon.  It didn't take long at all to put together.

This one reminds me of my 2-year-old, Avalon.  Her baby colors were pink and green.  The ribbon around the top is leftover from a basket and pillow I made for Audra's daughter's wedding last spring.  (Happy almost Anniversary Katrina and Dane!)

Then I got another brainy idea for this little piece.  I typed out the first page of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, stamped a little design for the background and mounted it on paper that matched my Easter Parade picture above.  I had another iris embellishment so that went on too---sprayed the frame white---and, voila!

Or so the mothers believe...

Finally, I put together this pretty one with the same matching paper.  I just picked out enough buttons to form the cross and added in a charm that used to be on my daughter, Lynzie's, shoe when she was about 7.  It says Barbie on the back but only you and I know that!  

So...as you can see, things are getting pretty springy around here!  It's nice to be getting rid of my earthy-toned primitive decor and into something a little more romantic.  I'll be having one heck of a yard sale if this rain ever stops...!!