Chandelier Creation

As promised, here are a couple pictures of the petite chandelier I put together. I created it with the lamp parts I found on our trip. I then painted it black, added some crystals, the shades and voila' - fabulous new lighting above my kitchen sink!

I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I've been looking for a petite chandelier for some time but haven't had any luck. Any that I've found though, are always to pricey for me. It cost me $23 to make this chandelier - that's including all parts and even the paint too!

Only thing left to do now, is find cute trim to add to the shades...

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I had to share this picture I took the other night of my new buddy Buzz.
Each night while I'm out watering he does a fly-by. Well actually, I get buzzed!
He then perches himself on this tiny branch in our red flowering plum tree and watches me while I water the garden. Isn't he just the sweetest little guy ever!?
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Yesterday, I spent a good portion of the day cutting hundreds of 8" squares.
I have 4 vintage chenille quilts that I need to make.
Today, we're heading over to my parents beach house where we'll be celebrating the 4th of July this weekend, with our family and friends. The girls and I are then staying all of next week too. My project for next week is to get all 4 twin sized quilts made.
I really love sewing while I'm at the beach. Nothing beats the view!
Have a happy 4th of July!
God Bless America!

Vintage Bottle Makeover

Well... I got on a new kick this week.

I found a few old bottles at an estate sale earlier this spring. Even though I didn't know what I was going to do with them and since they were so pretty and weren't going to take up precious room in the garage, I bought 'em. I thought it would be fun to try and embellish the bottles like I've seen so many others do, so I bought a set of pretty vintage perfume and soap label reproductions from Heather's online boutique.

I've been trying to clear off my dining room table this week (ugh) and because my new bottles were just sitting there, I decided now was as good as anytime to create something new.

So here they are...

For this bottle, I used a wood topped cork that a friend of ours made a long time ago. It fit the bottle perfectly and I added the vintage rhinestone jewelry piece for sparkle. I love the old velvet millinery on this one especially.

This was one of the bottles I bought on our trip for 50 cents. I liked it because it had a cap.
This was another bottle I picked up in California. This particular label fit it perfectly.

I think this old bottle might have been an ink well. For this one, I glued an old earring to the top then attached vintage rhinestone buttons to wire and poked them through the earring to give the effect of flowers or old hat pins in a bottle.

I love rhinestones and vintage flocked forget-me-nots. Oh, and lace too...

So there you have it, my new obsession this week.

I still have a few more labels to use.

It's a good thing, cuz I found 4 more old bottles today for 25 cents a piece and they're screamin' to be embellished. hehe

Shades Of Blue...

Sara from Sadie Olive hosts a weekly color inspiration photo challenge.

Blue is the color of the week.

Here is some inspiration from around our home, and ahh garage...

Be sure to check out the Shades of Inspiration Flickr group for lots of incredible photos!

Fabulous Winnings & Some Souvenirs

I had so much fun putting together a giveaway for the 2nd annual Cottage Charm Giveaway hosted by Kim on May 31st. There were so many great giveways to sign up for, it was so fun!

Let me tell you how shocked I was though, my name was drawn as the winner of a giveaway!

Looky what I won!!!

Sarah from My So Called Junky Life put together an outstanding giveaway.

Isn't everything wrapped so cute?

Can you believe all the wonderful generous gifts she gave away!? Lots of cool stuff...

like fabulous vintage wrapping paper, trims, flowers, buttons, sachets, hanger, crystal & pearl ornament, porcelain bowl, lace cuff, pink enamel pin and a sweet dolly. I've been spoiled!

Sarah made this lace cuff and embellished it with a sparkly vintage rhinestone button - I just love it!
And look how cute she put togther all the trims she sent. I love love love all the old millinery!

Make sure you check out her blog here and her store here. She sells lots of great stuff!

Thanks so much Sarah! I'm so happy I won, and I appreciate your generosity so much!

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As promised, here are a few pictures of the souvenirs I bought on vacation.

Here is what I picked up at the Rose Bowl Flea market. Overall, I'm really happy with what I found. Like I said before, I was discouraged at first with the prices and with the vendors not really eager to deal much. Anyways, I did end up with a few decent buys...

I love half dolls, and I'm always looking for half doll pincushions. This one was reasonably priced and she's so pretty too. I picked up the Japan bisque baby since he was only 5 bucks. I couldn't pass up the vintage tablecloth because of the gorgeous roses. But, my biggest treasure of the day was the sterling mesh purse. It's a beauty!

My mom, the girls and I managed to do a little thrift store shopping too. This is what I found...
a chandelier (I took most of it apart), a tall ashtray(for parts), doilies, vintage seam binding, old thread, vintage forget-me-nots, and a cute old clown figurine.

I've already put together a petite chandelier combining the parts from both the ashtray and the chandelier. I'll show you all soon how it turned out.

And here's what I found while antiquing in Pomona. Just click on the picture for a close-up of everything if you're interested.

This Victorian glove box is worthy of its own close-up though. I can't wait to put it on display. Oops, I should have taken a picture of the silk lining too - it's beautiful. Oooh, I just love this box! Now, I better get busy rearranging.... everything is piling up on my dining room table again. Yikes!

2924 Miles Traveled

We're home!

It feels so good to be home safely after a fantastic vacation.

We managed to see and do everything on our list.

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Here are some highlights...I was finally able to attend the Rose Bowl flea market. We shopped for 5 hours in the gorgeous California sunshine.Lots of fun things to look at. I was shocked at the prices! I guess I was expecting flea market prices, not antique dealer prices. Things were pricey! I was kind of discouraged at first, but I did manage to find a few good deals so I didn't come home empty handed after all... I'll share my finds soon.

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Next on our list was Disneyland!
We arrived at 10 am along with what seemed like a million other people.

Sydney had drawn this picture map of what she imagined she'd see in Disneyland. She carried it around to each site she visited and compared her drawing to the actual site. It was quite cute, and her drawing is one we'll save forever.

Daphne loved the carrousel. Dumbo was a big hit too.

Sydney was beyond excited to pose (not to mention get their autographs) with Mary Poppins and Bert.

I cried when they got to hug Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.

We stayed for the Parade of Dreams. I cried again. hehe

It was so beautiful. Watching my girls so caught up in the moment was just the sweetest thing ever.

As we were walking out, the night lights were just starting to come on.

It was such a magical day. We can't wait to go back!
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On the afternoons we didn't have places on our list to visit, we'd spend at the pool.

The weather was magnificent the whole trip!

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We spent one day down in San Diego at SeaWorld.

We all loved the dolphin show! Even though we sat in the splash zone, we managed to stay dry.

We watched lots of fun shows. The girls loved all the animals. It was another glorious day.

Before we headed back up to L.A. we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants on the bay in San Diego. It's always yummy at Anthony's!!!

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I was able to do some antiquing on Pomona's Antique Row.

Still quite a few good shops, but a lot are gone. I always manage to find a souvenir. I'll share what I found here soon too.

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The last thing on our list was the L.A.Roadsters show.

It's a really fun show to attend. All of the big named car builders attend,

and there are lots of beautiful cars to see.

My dad trailered down his 32 roadster, and we towed it home for him.

He just had the bop top made and put on the car on their way down.
I love how it turned out - so very cool!
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All along the trip, I tried to keep track of gas prices. This was the most we paid. Ouch!

It's hard to believe we're home. We all had such a great time. My Daddy told me what my Grandpa always used to tell him. He'd say, "you should enjoy your trip 3 times... first - have fun planning it, second - have fun doing what you've planned and third - enjoy looking back at it".

We definitely achieved all 3 for this trip!

Going To Cali...

The laundry is done, just a few more things to pack, cuz tomorrow we're off

to "The Golden State". Here are a few of the attractions we have on the agenda...

The girls' are beyond excited. They've been counting down the days for almost a year. We will be meeting up with my parents on Saturday down in L.A.

I just checked the extended forecast. Looks like we'll hopefully see sunshine the whole time we're away. It'll be a nice break from the weather we been having up here...

New Garden Container

Earlier this spring, I found something I've always thought was so cute and charming.

I knew I shouldn't pass it up either, since it was so cheap.

But before I bought it, I had to make sure I had a use for it...

So I thought about it, and thought hey, what about a flower container?

Yeah! That could be its new purpose.

I knew my hubby would be thrilled too since I had an idea, and now it wasn't going to just end up being stored in the garage. hehe

Well, here it is in all its repurposed glory...

It is a 1940's Taylor Tots stroller.

Don't ya think it's just the cutest thing ever? I'm so happy I brought it home.

I love how even more charming it has become full of flowers!