NumberNineteen

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.

This Week

How are you, my blogging friends?  It's been a busy week around here, but relaxed.  I had a full-out baking day....yum yum yum yum yum.

Chocolate chip cookies (half with nuts, half without), plain pumpkin bread, pumpkin bread with nuts & pumpkin bread with nuts & chocolate chips. Soooooo good.  I'm currently trying to resist the pumpkin bread with chocolate.  It may not work.

Registered my baby for kindergarten.  How did this happen?  I demand to know where 4 1/2 years have gone!

Spent lots of time putting new treasures onto Etsy.  I sold the typewriter on the left to a journalist friend of mine, who has been looking for one. Makes both of us happy :)

The really exciting news on Etsy is that one of my items & my shop was featured on the front page yesterday!  I had no idea until a post popped up on Facebook!  So exciting & such an honor!

I've also spent a good deal of time here:

Still looking for a job.  If you know of anyone in the Washington DC metro area who is looking for a client management professional (post sales) with over 10 years of experience, I'm their girl!

I hope that all of you are having a great week & have much to look forward to over the weekend.

Vintage Typewriters Galore

The treasure hunting was outstanding this weekend. Between a few estate sales & a small flea market, I found three (yes, three in one weekend!) vintage typewriters, 2 awesome vintage cameras & a 1950s children's reading workbook.  The workbook has great images but there is a lot of drawing in it, so I'm pulling out the great images & making up ephemera packs.  They are going to be so great in any kind of nostalgic art piece, but I think they are especially perfect for the back-to-school time.

The estate sale at which I snagged the majority of the stuff was held by a company that I really like.  They are always friendly, give discounts after the first day, and this time, the guy told me some hilarious estate sale disaster stories.  Trust me, you don't want to know....

Spring Banner Papercraft

This is one of the projects that I've been working on in my new craft space.  A pretty little spring banner, all ribboned, glittered & fluffed within an inch of it's life.  Layers of pink, green, silver glitter, crepe & velvet -- Spring crafty heaven.

Easter 2010

It was a quiet Easter for us Flemings.  Just us at home...Easter bunny left Hope her basket...an egg hunt in the backyard...pretty Easter dress & the pics to prove it...ham & scalloped potatoes for dinner. Simple family good stuff. I hope that you had a wonderful Easter with your families!

My Favorite Room -- Before & After

I have attempted over the years to have a space in this house that is just for me. A place that I can be creative & run my little business & keep all of the things that make my heart & soul sing.  I've always shared this space with guest room and despite numerous attempts, it never felt right.  The few times that I tried to create in that space, I ended up on the floor with materials scattered about.

During this January's purge, I decided to re-paint this room a neutral color, as we are planning on getting the house ready to sell in the next year or two.  Once I started the painting process, it all snowballed.  I was in the midst of a complete mess:

BUT, I was so inspired!  What I ended up with is my favorite space in the house.  I go in there & create nearly every day.

This is what it looked like before:

Now:

 

 

 

We bought this great storage unit at IKEA to hold my Etsy inventory and supplies.  I even have a space for my library books so that I can always keep track of them!
 

I scanned labels from The French Inspired Home for my containers & baskets.


Notice that the basket labeled "In Progress" is overflowing! 

This room makes me so happy that sometimes, I just stand in the doorway & look at it :)