Friday Flea Market Finds

Last Saturday my daughter was so stinkin' cute when we were at the local market that we decided to go out to the Grafton Flea Market that they hold once a month.  Grafton is a little bit of a drive, but when we got out there we ate at the Loading Dock {an outdoor restaurant right on the river}.  There is a man who owns a boat that he renovated to look like a pirate ship and he rents it out for parties...5th Birthday for Brother???!!!

Sorry this is the best picture I got of the pirate ship. :(

After we finished eating we walked into the flea market....and this is a FLEA MARKET!

It is in a huge warehouse.

We loved walking around and seeing all the vendors and all the fun people.  I found lots of stuff that I would LOVE to buy.

Does anyone have an extra $125 I can have?  I'm pretty sure my son NEEDS this for his future bed room {when we are in a bigger house and he can have his own room...}.

I am going to go back and get one of these.  He had tons of them and they were only $7!  They are my "flea market regrets".  I always leave a flea market or thrift store and say, "I wish I bought that!"  That adorable Coca-Cola crate is my regret!

Love these trellises...the middle ones would look great side-by-side as a headboard!

This beauty was rather expensive but it is the PRETTIEST planter ever! 

In my ideal kitchen I have a beautiful display of vintage rolling pins.

I have seen these vintage spools at several different flea markets and I have been racking my brain to come up with a cool project using them.  You just wait, one day I'll have something awesome.  Do you have any ideas for them?

I ended up walking away with 2 vintage Sesame Street books, some yummy cinnamon-chocolate decaf coffee and a bag of corks from a local winery.

As we were leaving I saw this wall art.  People have glued all of these neat little things and nick-nacks onto the walls.

Fun carpenter rulers, saucers, postcards, coins, puzzle pieces, political signs and look at the awesome fire blower thing {technical term there!}

I can't wait to go back to see it grow through the summer months!

A Trip and an Art Fair

My absence over the past 5 days has been due to an amazing road trip we took this weekend.  We took our first family of four road trip back to Kansas.  It was so fun spending time with our friends and our kids in the town where the Husband and I "came of age".

On Sunday we went to downtown Lawrence and they were having an Art in the Park Celebration!  There were hundreds of vendors and artists showcasing and selling their wares.  I left my camera in the car which was parked like a hundred blocks away so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but I collected business cards from each of my favorites to show you.

My ABSOLUTE favorite vendor was Emily Hamblin from Textile Couture.  She had the cutest set up.  Brightly colored empty frames, scrap fabric folded up in cute little cubby towers.  And that is just the extras!  Her bags and t-shirts are AHHHMAZING!  Her etsy shop isn't set up yet, but this was her first show.  She currently sells her shirts and bags at Au Marche, a European market downtown.  Dang I'm kicking myself for not having my camera!!!!  My friend Sarah bought one of her bags and here is a picture she took of it.

Emily thinks of ALL the details...instead of using boring tissue paper to fill out the bag, she used old cellophane bags filled with all her scrap strips and then she sews them up!  How stinkin' cute is this?!?

I LOVE Emily and I wish that I could have splurged and bought myself one of her totes or one of her sweet scrappy appliqued t-shirts, but I'll just have to wait until she has her etsy shop set up!

The Green Goat is a screen printer extrodinaire!  She has beautiful all organic and dye free screen printed children's clothes.  She uses images of intricate animals on beautifully dyed fabrics.  Here are my favorites from her shop.

Michael Williams of Metal and Nail Art has the most original art work I have seen.  He uses nails of various shapes and sizes to create 3d images.  It is stunning really.  I saw them from far away and could barely believe my eyes when I got close enough to see that they were nails!  Here are some of my favorites from his website.

Jerry Ann Dowdle of Terran Jerran is the up-cycling QUEEN!  Everything she makes is made of old or damaged clothing.  Her bibs caught my eye at the fair and as I got closer I had to look at them I realized they were made from old t-shirt sleeves!  Unfortunately Jerry Ann doesn't have any of her bibs on her etsy so you'll have to take my word that they were awesome.  Maybe she will be expanding her shop because she had sooo many things in her booth.  She made these gloves from an old cashmere sweater.

Thats enough for 3 posts!

Friday Funday Finds

Today I want to list the things I have found from around the internet that I LOVE LOVE LOVE and desperately wish I had the time to make...maybe one day my son will start to sleep.

First off is the bed.

We are 100% doing THIS for Lotte.  We (meaning my husband while I yell out directions, give the stink eye to anything that doesn't look right, and take pictures of his progress) MUST build this as Lotte's big girl bed.  Lotte and Brother will be sharing a room as soon as she is able to move into a big girl bed.  We are hoping to make the move a little after her 2nd birthday.  But because space is limited we love this "loft" bed.  The best part is the stairs.  Lotte can do stairs, but I wouldn't feel comfortable if it were a ladder.  PLUS the under part will be perfect to put her play stuff in...and look at the stairs, they are actually storage containers!

I freakin' LOVE Ana White.  She makes furniture (which is a big deal for some people) seem so easy to do.  She has the shopping list, the cut list, and clear concise directions.  She even gives you an estimated price for the total project.  There are a million things I want to do from her site, and I have could spend hours gawking at the amazingness.

I also want to make THESE from Ten Cow Chick.

I really like sculpture bows and her tutorial makes it too easy not to do!

I also can't wait to make THIS from Me Sew Crazy!

The other day I bought the perfect summery lemon fabric for one and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I'm also currently working on a variation of THIS from one of my many favorite bloggers, Amy from Positively Splendid!  It should be done this afternoon so I can post it tomorrow.

There is so much inspiration to glean from such amazing blogging women!  Hopefully I can start inspiring others too.  Life is good

Friday's Finds

Here are some of our goings-on over the past week...

We have finished building our raised garden bed and are getting ready to plant in it this weekend.  We want to get Lotte as involved as possible with the planting process.  Here is what we found her at Lowe's last weekend.  She loves it but I think I love it more!

 It's an Abby Cadabby Gardening Tote!  Complete with shovel, trowel, and rake!  Inside are these cuties...

pumpkin seeds (because Abby's magical spells always turn things into pumpkins), little starter pots for the seeds, cute pink garden stakes for the stickers to show what is planted in our garden!

I can't wait to see how she does with the planting!  We know she isn't afraid to get dirty!  Last weekend we discovered that she is 100% a daddy's girl (as if we didn't already know).  The weather was so perfect to play outside and she played HARD!  Sunday morning she woke up and stood by the back door completely naked saying "eeesiiide".  She loved playing and here is the proof!

Is that not the DIRTIEST little girl you have seen!  She is covered in pink and girly to the extreme and then she gets covered in dirt!  She had a blast and so did we!

Our sweet little neighbor gave us this picnic table this week.

Do you remember the picture of our lil tyke slide?  Here is another view.

That used to be one of those horribly sun faded red and blue slides until my awesome Mom found krylon spray paint specifically for outdoor plastic play things (no priming necessary).  She got this slide and painted it girly cutesie for cutesie pie.  And because my Mom is super cool like that she brought me more paint so we can fix up the picnic table too!

I am so looking forward to a beautiful weekend spending time with our little family!  We are going to get dirty and play outside, we are going to a friend's baby shower and we are going to spend some much needed time with Daddy (because he has been working overtime all week...boo!).

Hope you have a great weekend!

This week's FINDS!

Well I did some thrifty shopping this week.  Surprise, surprise!  I was able to sell a bunch of Lotte's clothes and shoes to a kid's re-sale shop here in town and I made more than I thought I would.  So of course I used that money to buy some much needed spring and summery clothes for little girl.  I guess little boy will just have to run around naked! ;)

A few of the things I got for her I hope to glam up a bit with some extra stuff from around my fabric stash.  We'll see how long it takes me to get it done.  Ooooh...and look at that pretty apple print from a overly large napkin or a really thin placemat...not really sure what it is, but it will be a pretty outfit for Lotte.

I found these AWESOME shoes for myself.

I'm not really a heel person because I have a hard time walking in them if they don't fit perfectly, but these do just that...fit PERFECTLY!  That and the comfy front strap make it super easy to strut in a natural way and not in a "I'm-faking-that-I-can-walk-in-heels-but-really-my-feet-hurt-so-bad-I-would-rather-walk-down-the-street-completely-naked-than-wear-these-shoes-another-minute" way.

I also found out that my toddler LOVES to play with shaving cream.  I wanted to give her a sensory experience so I just squirted the stuff all over her tray.  The first thing she said was "uh-oh".  She was concerned because I made such a mess.  But she had 2 tons of fun and I had a brilliant time cleaning up after she went down for a nap.

Lotte found the pure joy of bubbles!  We have blown them for her before, but I guess the winter has been so long that she forgot about them.  This spring she can actually blow them herself!  She stood there and yelled buh-bye to all of the bubbles that flew away.  So sweet.

On the craft front, I found some really cute and fairly easy ideas for my kissing balls and decorations.  But you have to wait til next week to see those!

And my last and most important find happened today.  It was a highly motivated husband!  He did all kinds of things for me today and I really appreciate it.  We were able to completely build our garden box, he helped me finish the window for the kitchen wall, he is doing lots of laundry (I don't go in our basement, but that is another story), and he has been so much help with the kids today!  And the best part of that is IT IS ONLY SATURDAY!  We still have tomorrow to get things done!  Thanks honey!

Look what I found this week!

I was a fairly pretty week.  And then the wind came...and then one day I woke up to find this.

Snow. Spring Snow. Sigh.

How sad does that little slide look.  As if it were saying, "But I thought it was spring, and I thought I could get some good old fashioned "weeeee" time in."

I also found this.  We haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping it will help with his gassies.

It wasn't that great of a price, but cheaper than the mylecon if you figure the dosage.  Plus its all natural.

I also made a few thrifty finds at various places throughout the week.

These are the neatest set of picture frames.  They were only $8.00 for the 3 pieces!!!
They will be perfect once they are spray painted and I pick out/print/make some cute little spring and easter prints to put in them.

The weird striped thing is not only ugly, but it is a tray, and only cost $1.00!

Here is an idea of what I have planned for it.  If you squint really hard you might be able to see the potential.

This is something that we found down in the basement.  It's an accumulation of roughly 3 years of dust on a wonky old glass-less picture frame.  I think I know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm having a hard time committing fully to one project.

And the biggest "find" this week actually happened last night and was the reason why this friday post  sat completely finished until this morning.  As I am adding the images seen above, I hear my Little Lotte cry out up stairs.  She had been asleep for about an hour, so I went to check on her.  As soon as I opened the door, the smell hit me like a stinky old train!

Yep my sweet little toddler threw up for the first time.  I knew I would have to deal with it eventually, but I was hoping it would be when she was 13 or 14 so that she could clean it out of her own hair!

I'm not really a puke person.  But being a mother, I put on my mommy pants and immediately went to work.  I moved her from the giant pile of puke...how can all of THAT come from a toddler?!?!  I took off her soaked pajamas and got her into the bathtub.  All the while telling her that it is okay and gagging at the same time!

I got to be the hero.  I was Batman.  I saved her from the nasties that were in her hair and all over her sweet purple pj's, while my poor poor husband was Alfred.  He did all the dirty work.  While I was washing her hair, he was changing sheets and doing the laundry.  I LOVE THAT MAN!

So what was it? Stomach flu? I don't think so.  She acted like she was feeling fine after, and we gave her some diluted juice and she was drinking as if nothing happened.  She was a little scared when I put her back to bed.  Because she didn't see us (by that I mean Alfred) change the sheets she thought it was all still there.  She didn't want to lay down.  I had to sweep my hand all over her bed and repeat "all clean" over and over again.  Even though she was repeating "keen", she must not have been convinced because she curled up in the opposite corner and rolled into a little ball to sleep.  Poor baby.

She has had some breakfast and is doing well.  So hopefully it was just something she ate, because we have my grandparents 63rd wedding anniversary dinner tonight.  We wouldn't want it to be a puke fest!

Oh, and one last find! JAYHAWKS ARE THE ONLY #1 SEED LEFT IN THE TOURNAMENT!  What the heck?!? Ohio was rumored to be taking the entire thing! Kentucky is my hero.  But honestly if they can beat Ohio, I'm sure that they can beat us if we don't fight hard enough.  Imagine this senario...Kentucky and UNC in the final four.  UNC wins.  KU plays UNC for the championship! Hardcore!  And anyone out there reading this is like...who cares, it's basketball!  WELL I CARE!  I bleed crimson and blue!

It's Friday...see what I found!

My greatest find makes me want to cry. Literally. On Wednesday my kiddos and I went for a walk on main street.  There where these AMAZING little people chairs that were PERFECT for my time out chair that I am envisioning.  Better yet...$6.99 a piece.  Since we still were walking I decided I would come back for them.  Well when we got back they were locking up the door.  I almost cried.  So I decided to come back Thursday after I dropped Lotte off at day care.  And BAM! they were gone.  I feel like someone stole them from me.  But I have no one to blame but myself.

Moral of the story...if you find a GREAT find...find a way to get it then before someone else finds it.

Another find...a possible dining room table via craigslist...wait for future post!

During our flea market walk on main street I made this great find.

Tons of awesome vintagy buttons! I'm going to do a dining room decor project with the white ones, and the brass-y ones are going to be used for my master bed room fake roman shades.  And they were only $1.00!

Notice the back ground that the buttons are one...this is my favorite find!

Two vintage pillowcases for $1.00!!! I LOVE the print and the sweet little ruffle at the opening.  I'm going to make Lotte a spring dress with these!

This bad boy was found in my garage last week.  When the previous owner re-sided the house and garage he just covered over the old windows in the garage.  This is the last known survivor.  And he is going to make a beautiful addition to my kitchen.  I'm almost through with it...give me a few days to post how lovely he turns out!

Lotte made a great find too! The sneaky Leprechaun snuck all kinds of green food into her big girl back pack that she takes to day care.  She had a shamrock shaped waffle, green yogurt, and green grapes for breakfast; and she had shamrock shaped sandwich, broccoli, and green cottage cheese for lunch.  And of course green milk.

And another St. Patrick's Day find...a SICK little girl.  We woke up last night at 10:30 to a screaming toddler.  We went to get her and she was running a 103.5 degree temperature and appeared to be in pain.  We called the exchange and they told us to go to the ER.  The doctor there was not my friend.  He made up his mind before he even saw her that she had an ear infection.  He looked at me as if I were a crazy over protective mom who brought in her ear ache infested child.  I wasn't happy.  We got home at 12:30.  I called her pediatrician this morning who already received the notes from the exchange and called for her ER chart.  She told us to come in immediately.  After running several tests which Lotte and Mommy both despised, we were told she does NOT have an ear infection, but she does have a virus.  We are very thankful it isn't anything worse, and she is getting lots of love and cuddles today.

In fact here is what she had for lunch...

A peanut butter banana popsicle! She looks like she feels just fine in this picture.  I'm sure the frozen banana and pb on a stick helps.  She LOVEs eating things on a stick!