Sunday, June 26, 2011

On My Way

Flying to Nashville tonight to see my girls. 
I can think of nothing I'd rather do! 
How I hate that they live far away. 
How I love that they are happy, healthy (and not just physically), independent, brave, talented, smart, and wise. 
I will thank my God for all these things and enjoy my time with them. 
It is my dream that we are not far apart forever. 
It is my prayer....

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Gathering details

I am gathering items (from my seemingly endless collection of stuff) to take with me to Nashville.  My daughter's wedding is in October, and she inherited the gift/curse of loving old stuff.  Since this is the "summer of the purge", as I go through each room in my house I come across little old things I think she may want to use at the wedding.  She seems drawn to the look that juxtaposes the rustic with the formal, for instance, white china with silver flatware on burlap tablecloths.  She also "loves the little details".  So, I am basically gathering details.

Presenting:  The Detail Round-Up  (imagine western round-up music)
Old jars.  I have so many more in the garage!
Old buttons and spools of tatting thread in old jars. 
Stuff

More stuff

 More to come.  No doubt!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A little nest emptying

My youngest moved to Nashville 2 years ago joining her sister who has been there for 8 years.  Today I begin the purge of her bedroom.  It's tough, but it an important part of my summer:  "The Summer of the Purge".

Because I work for the school system, summers are epic.  I can spend all year planning what I will do over the summer.  (I love that I have not had to grow out of this lovely childhood timeline.  Everyone should have the summer off.  It is so cleansing to close out a year at work, take ten weeks off, and start over all fresh and new in the fall.)

Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free.
Anyway, back to the purge.

As I took all her photos off the walls and cleaned her books off the shelf, I replaced them with treasures I collected years ago for my husband.

Coonskin cap








My husband had some hard times in his childhood, but one positive memory he often talks about is the Christmas he got his Davy Crockett toys.
Fringe galore!

"Mossakins" aka moccasins



Probably about 10 years ago I started collecting Davy Crockett memorabilia for him.  Now I have a place to put it.



Eyeglass case still has the "Return to" card.



I thought I'd share with you some pictures of this stuff his good memories are made of.
Raised in the woods, so he knew every tree.










 
Awesome Fire King breakfast set
Kilt him a "bar" when he was only three!












Davy, Davy Crockett!  King of the wild frontier!



Happy Father's Day, honey.  You are a blessing to me.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Pinterest Inspiration

Inspired by a number of great items I found while browsing Pinterest, I am working on a project this morning for a lovely bride-to-be.

The challenge is to use what I already have.  It also adds to the fun and somehow helps me justify why I collect and store all this stuff!

I bought this grocery bag paper a couple of years ago for another project.  The buttons and embroidery floss are passed down from my mother.  The hymnal is copyrighted 1925 (awesome!) and was purchased at a church thrift store.

After sleeping on it, I had my first cup of coffee this morning and headed to the work room.

Now it's time to take a break and do a little house work.  You will notice I am not posting a picture of the mess that is my home.  No, really, it's time to clean.  I'll reward myself by coming back to my project this afternoon and hopefully, I'll show you the finished product.




I was cleaning......I promise!  I was at it for about an hour:  laundry, bathroom, picking up clutter.....that's when I came across a box of lace left over from a weekend project of organizing scraps of ribbon, trims and lace.  (I found a home for the ribbon and trims, but neglected this box of lace.)  Wait!  Let's see how that looks with my grocery bag paper.........

Mom also gave me a bunch of yo-yoes she made over the years from fabric scraps.  This time I looked to the jar of light brown buttons.  Hmmmmm......

Okay, okay, back to housework.  It's not noon yet.  How much can I get done before I get hungry.  Once I eat lunch I am headed to start on these projects!



Friday, June 10, 2011

Precious find!

I had some time to kill this morning, so I drove around town looking for garage sales.  I didn't have too much luck, so I decided to head east to a couple of my favorite thrift stores. That's when I came across an unexpected discovery.  This yard sale was pretty good, which for me means they were selling items from a variety of eras.   I browsed through glassware and dishes, linens and trinkets, baskets, and clothes.

That's when I saw a box of old cards for fifty cents.  The top card is all dusty and dirty.  They are rather unassuming at first glance.  Loving old paper as I do, I picked them up.  

Taking a closer look, I realized the embellishment in the corner of
these cards is the teeny-tiniest tatting I have ever seen!  Plus the leaves and vines are hand painted.  I was sold.

The more I look at them, the more I love them.  I can understand why they were never used.  They are too pretty to part with!  But I am determined.  I will use them.  I just have to share the joy.

I've included a couple of small pictures to give you an idea of how I felt when I first saw them.  Don't they just make you want to take a closer look?











 Hope you enjoy my discovery as much as I do!  I so admire the handiwork of those who came before us.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

How I Got Here

Thrifting is in my blood.

When asked " Just how long do you intend to keep this stuff?" my parents would answer, "We keep it for seven years, and if we don't use it we keep it for seven more."

The youngest of five children, I have memories of my brothers bringing home bounty gathered from neighbor's trash piles.  The best ever was the stack of teen magazines.  I papered my bedroom walls with images of Bobby Sherman, Herman's Hermits, David Cassidy, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Jackson 5, Donny Osmond, and The Monkees.  What a thrill!  I was hooked!


In my teens my mother taught me how to sew and I began to develop my own creativity.  Patterns and textures, colors and embellishments, all these go into sewing a garment.  Not to mention the satisfaction of presenting the finished product.

In my twenties I married a man with a background in scrap.  (His uncle owned a scrap yard).  I have never met someone with such an eye for fantastic junk!  When I go to the junk yard all I see is piles and piles of metal.  But my sweetie can spot a treasure!  Whether it's a birdcage, or an industrial cart, or maybe an old iron gate, he is my American picker!

Fast forward to today.  The kids are grown and gone.  We have way too much stuff already.  But, the desire to hunt never dies.  That 's when my children convinced me to open an Etsy shop and sell vintage.  What a thrill to have a reason to treasure hunt!   I have been an Etsian now for about two years.  I also enjoy creating with vintage items.  I can't wait to share my findings and creations with you. 

I hope you will come back often and together we will see what becomes of it!  This thing called keepsacred.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Welcome

I have finally given in to the hankering to blog.  Bear with me as I construct this baby.  I'll be back with more stuff soon.