Travel – Page 29 – Karla's Cottage

I want to be the Fairy Queen!!!

Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, family, flowers, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / September 8, 2007

After sleeping most of the week away, with that killer flu bug I had, and having my first cup of coffee for the week yesterday- I found myself up at 2am unable to drift off. I had IDEAS. So, at 2:30, I gave up and went to the studio and made fairy wings for Twinkle and fairy princess headbands for the rest of the group going to the Renaissance Festival today.

Trouble is, Twinks hated the wings and really isn’t very good on a leash anyway. Sparkle was extremely jealous, and kept trying to get me to put the wings on her. She does like to dress up.

So, Sparkle came along with us instead, but she is older, easily worn out, and fat (hey, being middle aged isn’t easy for some of us ladies!). So she ended up in Sugarwings stroller most of the day. I am not allowed to post photos of my husband pushing the stroller with the Dorky in fairy wings riding along like a queen.

Our little fairy grand baby had better things to do than sit in a stroller and be pushed around! There were crystal balls to gaze into, and new friends to meet.

Yes, we put that tiny little sprite up on a giant elephant.

I decided what I want to be when I grow up now- look at this fairy queen! Can you see me in my 70’s on the RenFest circuit, traveling the country and dressed up like a fairy royalty? I sure can. When my eyes get too bad to paint any more and my arthritis too bad to make jewelry or do collage, I plan on joining the Rennies and being a fairy queen.

The Kansas City Renaissance Festival is for 8 weekends every fall. It is set in a lush, wooded acreage and when you visit, it feels like stepping back in time.

I have always enjoyed going to the festival, but it is so much more fun to go with Sugarwings.

The costumes are to die for.

And the hairstyles aren’t bad either!

Next year, instead of just flowers, I want a bird in my hair!

For this year, I made a little wreath from paper roses and wired ivy vine and clipped on two vintage earrings and a matching brooch. Simple and fast, but no bird.

I think Sparkle got as much attention today as the real fairies that were there.

Everywhere we went, people asked if they could take her picture.

She loved every minute of it, too, and spent a lot of time posing with some of her fairy friends.

The fair is very dog friendly, but not as many people bring their dogs as they did in the past. Now, dogs need to buy a ticket! Only five bucks, but it is a good idea, because you have to show proof of shots to buy the pass for your dogs.

I am already looking forward to next year (when I will be wearing a bird in my hair) because little Madison will be old enough to go and we’ll have double the fun with two little fairy babies. (I hope she doesn’t mind sharing her stroller with dorkies.)

Hey, there really is a give away for Sept. Keep leaving comments to enter and I promise I’ll come up with a prize!

PS- I am attending a Tea Party on Monday and would like you to come by. I heard about it from Sweet Rememberance and here is the link for more info. I have a cute little "Tea for Two" refridgerator magnet that I will be giving away that day.

Fairy Greetings

fairies, family, how to's, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / August 13, 2007

Greetings from Indiana! My sisses and I have been doing some shopping while I visit here, and one of the things I found was a bag of old greeting cards for $1.

I asked my niece’s girls to pose as fairies for me and then printed the photos and cut them out. Today we had a fairy paper doll day by gluing the photos down onto the greeting cards.

I simply added a touch of glitter (well maybe more than a touch, maybe a bucket of glitter), some wings cut from a fairy flower book, and a little bit of drawing.

Recently, in tracing Gabby’s family tree, a connection was found to the PRESLEYs- yes, those Presleys. Doesn’t she look like Lisa Marie??? Well, that is, if Elvis’ daughter was a fairy.

On Maddi’s card, I used a gold gel glitter pen to draw a wreath of vines around the little flowers at the edge of the card. I’d not used those pens before, that is another fun thing about creating projects with others, you get to try some of their favorite techniques!

Little Miss Sugarwings was not here to pose for me, but I was able to use some photos of her from my blog so that she could be a fairy too. I glued her photo onto scrapbook paper and used the little birds and pussy willow illustrations from one of the cards as well as wings that I drew onto old paper to make this fairy portrait.

Sissy had some sparkly paper I wanted to try. I used the red for my sister, Bobbie Sue’s girls, because her last name is Valentine.

I added hearts to the wings in honor of their name, too.

Sissy had written out some pretty phrases in her delicate handwriting onto aged paper and gave me a bundle of the phrases as part of our swap. On these girls’ picture, I used

"May your dreams come true"

Of course, we couldn’t leave Toby out! He has the personality of a mischievous elfish guy, so I turned him into one on some of the sparkly green paper, washed over with blue ink.

Sissy used her grandson, Toby on a piece of sparkly black paper stamped in gold, then found a wizard picture to cut out for a costume to dress him in.

Tomorrow I drive back to Kansas, it’s always sad when a vacation comes to an end, and even sadder when I have to think about driving for 9 hours!

There’s No Place Like Home, but Okoboji isn’t bad

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), family, flowers, give away, Sugarwings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / July 16, 2007

It feels good to be back in Kansas!

We are back from our family reunion at Fellenwarth Beach, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. I felt like I took a trip back in time, or was on the set of Dirty Dancing at the Kellerman Lodge! This place was built in that era and has been updated, but still had that old fashioned feel. (but no Patrick Swayse, drat)

There was the cutest little amusement park next door, called Arnold’s Park. Sugarwings rode on her first carousel horsey and her Uncle Ryan won a prize for her in the bottle toss.

She had her first taste of ice cream.

At first she wasn’t sure what to think, and the cold didn’t make her very happy.

But once the flavor hit her taste buds, she decided Ice Cream is the best!!!

It wasn’t the cheapest place to stay, and I’m afraid that we made it even worse by pulling our boat up there, along with my BIL bringing his boat. If the nation experiences a huge gas shortage this week, it is because we used it all up in those two trucks. We could have spent a week in Florida at the beach for what we spent on a long weekend in Iowa.

But seeing relatives from all over the country made it worth it. It was great to be there for Little Joan’s 75th birthday (oh, and she liked the photo album I put together for her.)

I snuck away with baby brother, Randy and his husband, Kevin for a bit and we did some junking. Both of them are avid antiquers and that Kevin has a great eye and so much knowledge about what he sees. I just look for what is pretty, he knows values, and the history of what we come across.

I only had an hour or so to shop and there were SO MANY antique places up there. I was hoping to take more time junking, but just couldn’t be selfish during family time. But I did find lots of cool old papers, this album full of anniversary cards was $8, the kids books were $2, the kitten post card with glass eyes (how cool is that??) was $1.

I found a few other little pretties,

the white dog salt shaker- $2
shell vase $1
an oval frame with a German die cut cherub – $4 (and I seem to have packed that away somewhere in the vast luggage that isn’t unpacked yet)
But my best find, was these two cardboard courthouse record keepers, from 1917-1930.

They were jammed packed with correspondence, typewritten, and hand written!!

I’ll be adding some of these pages to the July Cottage Collage Kit giveaway. There are some wonderful pieces in the boxes, I can’t wait to have time to sift through them all. (the boxes were $15 each, but I was only going to buy one and then my BILs surprised me with a second one, how sweet)

Back to normal life, houseguests are gone, the vacation is over. I have so much unpacking to do and errands to run.

I went to the store to get soap to do up the mountain of laundry I brought back from Iowa, returned our books on tape that we listened to on the drive, and of course had to get some of the $1.99 bunches of flowers that are on sale every Monday. And Peaches were on sale for 88 cents lb. If they are good, I’ll go get more and make a pie or two.

Then, I swung by the Vet’s office to get my pile of Dorkies, and all of us worked outside, watering the garden and flowers. The little dorkies are all as happy to be home as I am!!

A Drawer full of Dorkiness and some other goodies

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, paintings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / June 29, 2007

First of all, can anyone tell if my blog opened any quicker??? I did some tweaking.

I should be working, but thought I’d show some of my loot from my trip before I get on with my day.

Aren’t these 3 ladies something? Hey, it was suggested that we do a Halloween bag swap!! Good idea. And maybe I will save this photo for my bag, I think these old crones could easily be witches!!

My husband had to work a few hours at Columbia Country Club in Missouri, about half way to St. Louis. (and no, that isn’t a polite way of saying he was playing golf, he really had to work). So, I shopped at a mall there. It is far from my favorite place to go, and I really had to make an effort to stay there long enough to stretch out my time, there wasn’t a lot of great stuff. But I found all this!

Those bottles will be fun to decorate and fill, and I got a lot of old photos for under $1 each.

The best purchase (and Twinkle’s fave) is this set of old drawers covered in wallpaper. How handy will that stylish storage be???

Since I slept in the car most of the day, I was up late after we got home. I painted some more of the outlet covers that I had got in the big bag from Goodwill last month. Only 4 left to paint. I am selling them on Etsy and have sold a couple from this blog. These are not listed yet (the 2 switch plates are sold) so all of the outlet covers are available if anyone wants one. I’ll be listing them later this week, or email me here if you’d like one.

I’m off to work, have a decorating/rearranging job to do today with Beth. http://bethleintz.typepad.com/

Feeling like a Queen and having the Crown to go along with it

Chandeliers, fairies, Food and Drink, give away, jewelry, paintings, Sugarwings, swaps, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 28, 2007

Look where I have been! the Chase Plaza in St Louis has to be the best hotel EVER. Pure luxury. I feel quite quennly when I stay there.

These two photos are of the lobby, one from each direction. I am happy to just stand there in the hall like a rube and stare at all the marble, granite, chandeliers that are bigger than my living room, and the gorgeous architecture. I’ve stayed there many times, but I never get over my awe of the place.

The rooms are newly remodeled, but I loved it when they still had an 80s vibe to them too. Now they are updated, streamlined and sumptuous.

The restaurants are as over the top as the lobby, and "Eau" is our favorite when we are in town.

I felt like I was visiting "Top Chef", I even ate an amuse boocsh or however that is spelled. It is French for a one bite appetizer to delight your mouth. Mine was delighted. I’ve seen them served on Top Chef, so felt like I knew all about them. This one was a strawberry brushetta.

See? Delightful!

And the salads were so pretty. Mine had truffles.

There are 3 restaurants in the lobby along with a movie theater. When the movies are over, an attendant offers you chocolate on a silver tray as you leave.

The pool is right outside one of the restaurants and I love to lay by the water with a good book (this time it was a Stephanie Plum novel) order lunch with a strawberry margarita.

And sometimes I just put down the book and gawk. I never get tired of the beauty of that magnificent, old building.

Yep, I’m a rube.

I should have packed my tiara! This is one location where I would have felt properly dressed to have one on!

Barbara http://www.123lavenderlollipoplane.blogspot.com/ sent me this beaut, and not only was this wonderful piece of queenly head wear in the package, she sent presents!!!!!!!!

A hat box, vintage laces, a sweet fairy for me and a fairy framed mirror for little Sugarwings!!!

The generosity of blogger/swappers never fails to amaze me. I think she really over did it. Thanks, Barb!

I got this photo from Sissy, she has been making gift bags. She doesn’t have a blog, and makes such pretty things, I had to show you sicne she couldn’t. I am thinking about seeing if anyone wants to do a gift bag swap? But later on this summer. Or, hey, it would be a good one for getting ready for the holidays, wouldn’t it? Let me know if you think we should do a holiday gift bag swap later on!

While I was in St. Louis, I didn’t spend all my time eating, laying by the pool or gawking at the big city sites. I spent a couple of hours working one morning. I did this little chubby cheeked fairy painting and also a commissioned pet portrait.

This is the beginning stage of the painting. Whenever I do a portrait, the first thing I paint is the eyes. If you can capture life in the eyes, you know it will be a good likeness. If not, I throw it away and start over.

Here is the finished product along with the photo I was using to work from.

I always wonder what the housekeepers think when they come in and see the suite transformed into a watercolor studio. Or sometimes, I take jewelry to work on while I am at the hotel. I just can’t stand to not get any work done at all for more than couple of days!

Thanks for all your input on my blog being slow. Typepad says that maybe I should try doing excerpts, but I don’t want to do that. They also said to try not having as many postings listed on the first page. I’ll be keeping all but a few in the archives and see how that goes. Please let me know if that helps?

Today is the 28th, so only two more days to enter the giveaway for the hand painted rose charm. (and yes, I counted all the "happy birthdays to Beth "http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ )

On Saturday I also have to write an article for the fall issue of Romantic Country and have little time to get it done, so my drawing might be late that day. So you’ll have all day to enter. And I will start a new drawing on Sunday! Maybe a matchbox full of goodness?

As much as I loved living in the lap of luxury in St Louis at the Chase Plaza, it was good to get home. We went straight to see Sugarwings and took her out to dinner. I think she wore more than she ate. I still thought she was cuddly, even covered in some sort of goo that she was eating. I couldn’t get enough hugs after not seeing her for a few days!

REDRUM

antiques/junking, Books, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), Etsy Goodies, Food and Drink, jewelry, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 24, 2007

What a perfect Garage Sailing Saturday! Good weather, lots of sales, good prices, it was just right.

I love the $1 robin’s egg blue frame. I might just put it on the wall and hang plates inside it. I found many 10 cent pieces of glassware, a old pin cushion (with a crown pin!) for 50 cents, a made in Japan pink fish from an aquarium -50 cents, another old floral tray- $1, a solid old chair to paint- $4, a box of Italian framed prints to fix up and add new paintings to- $5,

a bagful of vintage seed packets- $2, 2 dozen old postcards for $1, a beaded purse- $1 and a McCoy pink pot that I splurged on for $20.

I also broke one of my Garage Sailing rules. I usually don’t go to the 2nd day of a sale, but I did to this one, and hit the jackpot. Barkcloth, old table clothes and vintage trim!

I will need some of this silver/grey trim for some Silver Bella projects (and the tiny pin crown too). But I got YARDS of it and will be selling it by the yard at my Etsy shop.

I found old lace too! This crocheted table cloth with fringe will be perfect for my dining room during the Christmas Home Tour. Can’t you just picture the table set up with all white and cream? I have some old white Wedgewood (big stack at an auction for $11), some Ironstone, and crystal. I know it is only June, but I have my Holiday Table all planned!!

Love this trim too. I will be selling it on Etsy, the butterflies are adorable, so I’ll have to keep some. Probably will make an art journal page for Sugarwings with it.

For all that fabric, trim, and a few very old books to cut up, I spent $17 at that sale!!!! I don’t even want to think about the barkcloth I missed by not going on the first day. Oh well, I am happy to just enjoy what I did find, never does you any good at all to be greedy about junk. It comes and goes, I am thrilled when I find goodies, but can’t fret about what I missed.

As if my day wasn’t good enough already, we went to a wedding in Kansas City and stayed over night at the Savoy, where the wedding was held.

This place is a pure faded elegance. It has a run down neglected feel in many parts of it, like this entryway.

And these long, dark hallways make you think that you will meet up with those twin ghostie girls from the Shining around the corner. but around the corner, is- nothing. Empty halls with walls ripped out and doors bolted shut. Very little of the hotel is operational and in use.

The rooms are cozy, and furnished with antiques.

I’d say the bathroom fixtures are original.

It is all decorated in a bare bones way. I think they do the best with the budget they have and let the old architecture speak for itself. There is a lot of charm there, but it is a bit neglected and has the feeling of an old bouquet left in a vase to droop.

There was some fantastic wallpaper in the spooky halls.

And the lobby was pretty much original too.

Since they only have part of the hotel in use, the front desk becomes the bar and the lobby is where the wedding cake was set up.

The cake was delicious, a fudge marble swirl.

The entire front of the old building is stained glass, done by Frank Lloyd Wright himself.

Harry Truman and Harry Houdini used to be regulars here. And the place feels like you could walk up to either one of their ghosts at any time.

I actually had to buy a dress for the occasion. Didn’t care for that. But found this nice, stretchy black one at TJMaxx for $32. Not bad, it was comfy and I didn’t need a new bra or shoes, or have to wear panty hose! What more can you ask for in a dress? I did make a necklace to wear with it.

What the Savoy saved on in renovations, they spent on FOOD AND SERVICE. Oh my god, it was better than being on a cruise ship. We were catered to every second. Great staff, some of them have been there for over 25 years. Our water glasses and coffee cups stayed filled to the brim and we had 2 waiters fluttering about.

Starched white linens, heavy silver, great food. And coffee made just for them from the Roasterie (best coffee in KC), called "Savoy Blend". They give you a bag of it in your room! Along with a plate full of fresh cookies, and a gift bag of sample sizes of toothpastes, and toiletries and candy bars. All complementary.

These are the breakfast choices. Notice my husband chose boring old Bacon and Eggs?? What was he thinking?? I got the Lobster Bisque and Coquille Saint Jacques. and it was wonderful.

Breakfast is included in the room price of only $99.

Amazing. I’ve paid more than that to stay at a Holiday Inn Express.

If you are ever in Kansas City, you have to stay here, it is quite an experience, a one of a kind hotel.

And of course, if you are in KC, you have to promise to call me too. I’d meet you there for a cup of that coffee in the morning!

High School Hi Jinx at nearly 50

antiques/junking, parties, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 10, 2007

My friends are on their way back to Pendleton and my sides are still aching from all the laughing we did this weekend. It was like we were 16 year old school girls again.

It was a weekend full of silliness and fun. This photo just about sums it up. Out on the lake, we were waved over by the patrol for a routine safety check, but my friend, Madonna, who was facing the officers was waving back to them, like they were best friends passing by, not realizing we were being flagged over. So, I just kept driving and we just kept laughing and talking- until the red lights come on and they call out to us to stop.

Those poor officers never knew what they were in for. Lori offered them cocktails, we asked them to pose for photographs, and chatted with them about where they were from, what they were doing, got their entire life stories. Those boys had a deer in the headlight look in their eyes when they drove off.

There was a giant music festival going on at the lake campgrounds this week. I think that Lori’s tie dye shirt is what caught the officer’s attention out on the boat. They must have seen the bright colored shirt, heard the loud laughter and thought we were a bunch of stoners out joy riding!

Here are some signs up at the entrance to the park. Words to live by everyday!

We were able to park in a cove and listen to the music off in the distance. At almost 50, that is a beautiful way to attend a concert! Floating on a calm lake, enjoying a breeze and some sunshine, watching a blue heron along the edge of the water, and hearing a blues band play in the background.

We also had hours and hours being pulled in the inner tubes behind the boat. 3 of us along with my 14 year old niece, managed the trick of jumping from one tube to the other, back and forth at full speed.

On Friday and Saturday mornings we did some garage sailing.

My best purchase is this cabinet for $50, slightly in need of some repairs. I have to attach the top back on to it. Not hard to do at all. I don’t know if I will repaint it or not, I like it as it is and hope to use it in my kitchen next to the fridge to keep my garbage can in. But I have to wait till my husband goes out of town to bring it in from my studio, he HATES it when I get new furniture. The poor man would live with a bed, a couch, and a recliner if he had his way. Well, I guess he’d need his pool table too.

The etched mirror was $10, but well worth it. The white vintage basket was $1 and the linens were only 10 cents each! Two weekends in a row, scoring dime linens!!!

This blown glass frog paper weight will be a gift for my brother-in-law when he comes to visit next month. It was $2, and just made for his collection of frogs.

I met a lady who has been a cake decorator for 35 years who was selling a box full of old items she didn’t want, for only $5. This is just a fraction of it.

I’d like to paint flowers on the cake cover.

All the cake toppers looked looked vintage to me, some older than others.

Sugarwing’s first birthday will be in August. Maybe I will make a tradition of using these little angels on numbers each year for her cake, starting with the blue #1.

Or maybe she’d like a circus carousal with a yellow monkey? My son’s nickname for his little fairy girl is Monkey Stuff.

Speaking of my little Sugarwings (who also got a haul of goodies from the garage sailing adventure), I miss her, since I have been so busy. Her hippy-type parents are at the music festival out on the lake today, so I will get to babysit. That will help me today, I’m sad about my friends going back home to Indiana. But I’ll have my fairy grand baby all day and we’ll have some new adventures of our own.

2am Fairies, and Fun with History

fairies, Food and Drink, give away, paintings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / June 7, 2007

My friends are here! And I learned more about the town I live in this afternoon than I have in all the years I have lived in Lawrence!

A couple of them are history buffs and Lawrence, KS had a major civil war battle take place here.

Of course, I knew about "Quantrill’s Raid" and the devastation of that battle, but not details. Like this stone house, that I have been in before, when a friend was renting it. I had no idea it was one of 6 houses that survived the sacking of the town. We picked up a map from the Convention and Visitors Bureau and took the self guided tour to the historical sites.

I told them that the only times I drove around and looked at the homes in Old West Lawrence was when there were garage sales there. They liked hearing about the sales, so we are going to get up early and go to some tomorrow.

Speaking of early, they didn’t arrive till about 4am! I stayed up and painted while I waited for them, was too excited to sleep. I knew that if I sat down to watch TV or read, I’d be OUT. So I painted a while.

BETH AVERT YOUR EYES IF YOU ARE READING THIS! http://bethleintz.typepad.com/ If you leave a comment to tell Beth Happy Birthday on her blog, I will enter you in my drawing too!!
I painted a little ATC card size portrait of Beth’s dog, Madison. Beth’s birthday is this week.

I also painted this fairy. I don’t know if she is done, I think I’ll foof up the painting a bit, add something later. And her ear is weird. But hey, it was 2:45 am!!

Everyone is napping now, I will go pop a casserole into the oven now so dinner will be ready when they get up. I made tortellini with grilled chicken, broccoli, rep peppers, Alfredo sauce and layered it with cheeses. Its ready to go, glad I made it last night, since we spent the day chasing down historical sites!

Hey, don’t forget to leave a comment to enter my charm drawing for June, any comment or email will be an entry!

Someone always ends up being a fairy

fairies, jewelry, paintings, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 31, 2007

I’m in a fairyswap !!!!!!! I am so excited about it, I am a fairy-aholic. I was disappointed to see all the fairy jar swap people, knowing I had missed it and was too late to get in. Taking pity on me, (or maybe wanting to stop my whining?) Natasha Burns http://natashaburns.blogspot.com/ set up a mini swap with some talented bloggers, Heather http://prettypetalsboutique.blogspot.com/, and Holly http://hollydoodledesigns.com/WordPress/.

This will be my 3rd swap, and I am glad it is a small one, the charm one I am in is a doozy. I need to make somewhere between 15- 22- 33?? I need a final count, I am confused. I also need to start making them…….

I’ve spent the last two days making scrapbooks of my trip to give as thank yous to the people we stayed with. For my sister-in-law, Sandy, I found a clearance journal for 50 cents and foofed up the cover with vintage goodies and scrapbook paper. Hers has no photos yet, I need to finish it tonight so I can think about doing some charms……

For my brother-in-law, I bought one of those mini,ready to go scrapbooks, this one is from Studio K, love that line!!

I added more papers, copies of my paintings, some hand drawn doodles and writing, stickers, then the photos. I like to make pockets to slide the pictures into. I make the pockets from card stock so they are sturdy.

The ready to go books are so nice, since the background is already printed, they make simple gifts, just with a few personal touches and pictures, they are ready to go.

And of course, in every book I make, someone always ends up being a fairy. This is Emily, she is a tiny, dainty little 15 year old who has a natural fairy quality about her. She makes a lovely sprite.

Oh- I have been having inquiries about my hand painted charms. If anyone wants one, here are few to look at, I can send close ups, or photos of more. They are $18 each plus $2 shipping. Thanks!!

Sisters Junking Day in Indy and MORE $1.99 roses!

antiques/junking, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, flowers, Travel, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 29, 2007

What’s one good thing about being back a day early from vacation? Being at the local grocery store for the Monday markdowns on flowers! $1.99 bundles of roses are almost enough to come home early for. (But I also got a day with Sugarwings!)

I bought the roses in a lavender pink color, and got a $1.99 bundle of snap dragons to match. Then it just so happened that the color of the flowers looked so beautiful with the mail I happened to be opening- look at my presents!! I received a bundle of pretty cards and papers from Vickie at Stampin’ Up and a dainty little rose scented candle that came all the way from Norway and http://brittarnhildshouseinthewoods.typepad.com/brittarnhilds_house_in_th/. She gave the candle as a prize for her Caring Bloggers Rose Day and I was lucky enough to win it. But, I think I have mentioned before that I am a lucky person. Thanks to you both for the pretties!!

Here is a pile of the loot I found on my Sisters Junking Day in Indy.

Southport Antique Mall was HUGE, it had wings, upstairs, downstairs, back alleys, hidden rooms, and felt like a maze that went on forever. Why aren’t all antique malls built that way????

I accidentally left with the clothespin that was used to mark my pile of purchases. It said "Carolina" on it, and I had just been in N. Carolina a couple days ago, seemed fitting. My niece was given a clothes pin that said Loo Loo, but she insisted it was 007 007. Bobbie Sue had one that was just a number 3, so I asked if they would trade it in for a pretty name. She got "Peace" in place of #3, much better!

A favorite find was the cute jar with the pink lid, that was full of rhinestone buttons for $6.

I found 2 of these albums, for $12 each. Both in decent shape, but one a bit better than the other. I will probably make one into an art journal and use the 2nd for parts.

The dish with pink flowers is actually tin! very pretty. I also got a big bundle of china flowers for $12. I never really like the plastic stems on these things, and often just use the buds in mosaics. Not sure what this bunch will be yet.

We had a mini shopping trip the day before, a stop at Goodwill and a spin through TJMaxx. I found new towels at the Maxx, Sissy found the new sheets and the chocolate bars wrapped in pretty papers, as well as the 3 sisters mug.

She found the blue skirt with pink roses (a Ralph Lauren) at the Goodwill along with the pink basket. I got the soap dish at the thrift and plan on painting it ivory to use in my kitchen to hold the sponge by the sink.

I’m jealous about the basket Sissy bought, it was just the right size to fit 3 Dorkies in. I loved the skirt too, but my sis is about a size minus zero and that skirt would have ripped in half just holding it up to my hips.

Tonight I started working on my vacation scrapbook. (Walgreens has a special now for 15 cent prints by email, ready in an hour). I thought I’d turn some little nieces into fairies, this first one is Hannah. I was lucky enough to be in Indiana while she was having her nursery school graduation and got to attend. Hannah and her friends sang and danced for the crowd and it was so cute, I laughed till I cried.

Her cousin, Mikaela is a couple years older and loves pink and princesses and fairies. She makes an elegant little flying sprite. Their grandparent’s last name is Valentine, so I added some hearts in the pictures.