Fall In Love With Buttons Swap

 Button Floozies sponsored a button swap called Fall In Love With Buttons and my package arrived from the UK today.  The instruction was to alter an Altoid tin and fill it with autumn-themed buttons.  My swap partner is Apryl at Meridian Ariel.  She has an Etsy shop of the same name. She included a sweet handmade strawberry and an Alice In Wonderland-themed pin back.  I love the way she pins them on a playing card - what a great idea!

 The natural patina on the mint tin she used was perfect just the it was and I am so glad she left it that way.  Love!  She filled it with buttons in reds, browns, gold and orange tied it shut with coordinating teal rick-rack trim.  Those two red ones at the bottom of the picture are hands-down my favorites.

I showed you the tin that I altered and sent to her in this post.  Here is a better look at the buttons I put inside:

I will be linking up with the other swap participants in the Button Floozies Linky Party so be sure to hop on over and see the rest of the fun!

This Year's Christmas Shopping Book Is Done

 I finished up this year's Christmas Shopping List book tonight.  Can you believe Christmas is just two months away?  It rolls around so fast anymore.  Time for me to get busy picking up on the ideas I hear when the family is around.  If you read my blog a year ago you might recall last year's book.

This book is a little smaller, just 4"x5", and also made from a saved Christmas card.  I didn't do the brochure binding this year.  I just used my sewing machine to stitch down the center.  The graph paper is something I picked up at a thrift store one upon a time and it is old and fragile so I doubled up the pages and glued them together to give the pages a little more body.  It only has to hold together for two months but, trust me, it will be pulled in and out of my purse dozens of times by then!  The vintage seam binding ribbon is stitched across the back cover and just wraps around to tie in a bow and keep it closed.  A small envelope is glued inside the back cover to hold receipts and it covers the stitching.  I don't stamp much and don't have any Christmas stamps so I just used some flourishes to decorate the pages.  The names are handwritten with a felt-tip calligraphy pen.  My handwriting is so bad anymore and that pen always makes it look better!
I already have a stack of little notes so I'm set to get busy now and transfer them into the little book so they don't get lost.  Before I know what happened I'll be buying spring flowers!
I am linking up with Abundantly Thankful Monthly Craft Craze.  Be sure and pop over to check out the other creative ideas!

Farm Fresh!

 Well okay, not so much what Mike and Frank are talking about when THEY say farm fresh - but I did buy it all at a farm.  This was an amazing sale, if you could get there on Friday which I could not.  I was drooling over the pictures on CL but no way I could get there until Saturday and, even then, not Johnny on the spot since it was an hour drive from my house.  I guess that alone tells you how great the pictures were!  Even at that, I didn't come home empty handed. Notice I picked up another lingerie bag to add to my collection and another satin dresser box.

 There was an ugly little sewing basket so I asked her if she would sell just the contents.  I was so glad I asked because, when I got home, I discovered some great buttons.  Click the picture bigger and check out those cut steels - beautiful!  Those alone made it worth the trip for me.

 Love this old TV tray.  I cleaned it up this morning and it is very chippy but I just love the yellow roses on the red ground.  Strangest thing, they had it's mate and it was in even worse condition and they were asking twice the money - what the...!  It was too chippy, even for me so I passed.  That book is an old handmade scrapbook of fine art pictures and their history. It will make a great starting place for a journal. It went straight to Etsy to inspire someones muse.

 This detachable collar is SWEET and it's already over in my Etsy, too.  Things were so picked over by the time we got there that I can't imagine the chaos they must have had on Friday.  My son was interested in the woodworking planes and hand saws.  They had 200 planes and they were ALL GONE before we got there and mostly broken saws left.  I managed to get one with a nice red handle for him but it was the only decent one left and probably not really what he had in mind.  A "pretty" saw from a Mama's perspective.  I'm sure that will be a big hit.  8+)

 They had a big box of old postcards that were very reasonably priced.  I "speed picked" them since The Husband was standing there looking bored.  A little later when we were picking up the little pile we left at the garage the gentleman there handed them to my husband and said, "Here, you can hold these, you're not just eye candy" - LOL!!!

I stopped at the Salvation Army on my way to pick up a hold at the library this morning.  They are all pretty ordinary buttons but there are lots of sets so they will eventually make there way to Etsy, as well.
This pick will have to satisfy me for a while.  I probably won't get out next weekend since I'm having oral surgery on Thursday morning and I'm told I will likely look like I have been kicked by a mule.  Well that sounds like something to look forward to, now doesn't it.  I am stocked up with reading material.  I want to tell you about a great book I just finished but it's late so that will be for another post.

A Dainty Little Collection From A Gentler Time

 I adore these sweet little lingerie bags.  These were used to protect your "dainties" like silk stockings and panties from snags.  A long way from the way most of us probably store our pantyhose today - if we wear them at all!  Maybe we would do better if we still had bags like these.

 Each little bag is as silky and delicate as the items it was designed to protect.  Vintage femininity.

 Three have ribbon closures, one closes with a button and the pink one with the diagonal lace just folds

 The last pictures shows them opened up to reveal the little pockets.  The pink one with no closure has just one larger pocket so it might have been intended for something larger like a slip or cami.

I am linking up for Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home today.  I haven't had time in weeks and this little collection is perfect for a romantic home!

I'm Finished!

These are the last two lid-less sugar bowls I had stashed away from the Summer so I am finished for now.  Done, done, done - yay!!  I have already started cleaning up the mess and getting ready for the next thing.  I want to make some covered hangers, I have a couple Altoids tins sitting on my desk waiting for attention and it's time to get my little Christmas shopping book/list made for this year.
That last little guy looks sort of cartoon-ish.  For some reason it seems like a little mouse should be peeking out from behind it - LOL!

Three More SugarCushions, Ruffles and Not Quite A Collection

 I am happy to say I finished up three more SugarCushions over the weekend.  I am happy because I am down to just two more and I'm getting tired of making them.  They are fun but I'm ready to move on to some more of those ideas swirling around inside my head.  Racing to the next thing - LOL!

 The new SugarCushions are sitting amongst the weekend loot.  We had several things going on this weekend so not much time for picking.  We did run over to The Bins.  I have never seen the parking lot so full.  They were apparently having some unknown to me toy event.  It was almost all toys, something I am rarely interested in.  I didn't want to waste the trip so I stocked up on ruffled curtains since I am planning to cover the lampshades for those rose lamps with fluffy ruffles.
I picked up the tray in the back at the Salvation Army store. It appears to made of some sort of paper mache material and I can't find any markings on it.  I love the design!

I already had this black tray which is slightly larger and made of a similar material.  Well, that's two, so not quite a collection, at least not yet!  This one is marked "Alcohol Proof Japan Hand Painted".  If anyone knows something about these trays, please share and educate me!

Family Fun!

Remember the wacky purchase I told you about in this post?  Well, it has morphed into double the fun!  When our older son saw it he mentioned he would like to have a bike like that, only a boys' version.  Well, that sent us off on a mission to find a matching one for his and hers fun.  I think our little Grand will have a ball when she can peddle her little bike around with Daddy and Mommy and we're hoping they will, too.  It's certain they will have the most unique bikes on the block!
The altered picnic basket turned out to be a little big for the package carrier but will still go home with the bikes, just in case.  Wouldn't it be perfect filled with sandwiches and apples and little bottles of chocolate milk?

A Rosy Sunday At The VOA

I debated whether to show my treasures from last Sunday since I only got four items but these lamps are just too pretty to not show them off.  I seriously don't need them but they were still sitting there waiting for me a week later so I decided it was destiny.  That's as good an excuse as any - hehe!  I just LOVE the roses on the front so it looks like I am going to be learning how to re-wire lamps.  I have heard it isn't as scary as it sounds.
Since there were only four things I didn't take time to clear off the table full of SugarCushion makings so I apologize for the cluttered picture!
I also got the tattered tin and the "book" it is setting on.  It is actually a wooden box with an embossed leatherette binding and lined with vintage paper.  I have no idea what the original purpose was but I knew it had to come home, too.  Sort of looks like a "rosy" day, doesn't it!

So Far...

It's still pretty slow going here in flu-land but I did finish up the first three new SugarCushions.  It is so much fun to audition the little bits and pieces of fabric and trim!  I'm not completely sure I like the blue one.  The fabric has some blue but by the time it was stuffed and inserted not much of the blue was showing.  I'm not planning to make any changes just yet.  I will let it "steep" until I have the rest finished and then see what I think.
Does anyone else have trouble with too many new ideas when you're not finished with what you are currently working on??  I have so many good intentions in my head right now that I had to start a list. Idea overload!  Why can't that happen when you can't think of what to make?  Maybe that's the trick, just start making something and the new ideas will come.  Hmm.  A lesson I need to pay attention to!

Getting Busy

I have been picking up lid-less sugar bowls all Summer long.  The air was crispy today so no denying Autumn is in the air and it's time to get busy in the art room.  I started pulling out bits and pieces tonight to tempt the muse to come out and play.  My brain is cranking on three of them already.  Funny how just looking through the stash and piling them up so they have a chance to get to know each other can do that!

I Didn't Get Skunked THIS Weekend!

Not a stunning score but apparently I am finally feeling a little better since I was able to make a decision and didn't get skunked this Sunday.  Knock on wood -  I finally feel like I am turning a corner this afternoon so I don't want to tempt fate!
The Budweiser Christmas stein is 1991.  The husband has a collection so I always keep an eye out for ones he doesn't have yet. 
The Lucite grape cluster is for me.  I already have a blue and green one that was my Mom's and now this all blue one.  We know where THAT'S heading - hehe!
I hit two thrift stores for this little bit but really didn't mind since I spent yesterday afternoon buying a new car so didn't mind having an excuse to drive around.  I have been eyeing a Scion xB for a couple of years now and driving the 2000 Cavalier I inherited from my mother in 2002.  I bought a 2012 xB in the color called Army Rock.  It is a sweet dirt color and I'm thinking of naming it "Spud".   I LOVE it!  Well, except I have no clue how long it might take me to figure out how the stereo and bluetooth work.  Seriously.  They say the xB is targeted to the 18 - 24 year old market.  They have the advantage that they can actually REMEMBER the 15 steps it takes to find, adjust and save a setting.   My little book is filled with sticky note markers and I still can't find the base and treble or answer the phone.  I'd got the window wipers figured out, though, so that's something!