Home Again

We arrived home from our vacation around midnight last night and we are all still dragging today. But I wanted to get some pictures up of the goodies I picked up while having a wonderful day shopping with my sister Jenny. We drove around to flea markets (what I would call indoor collectives) just south of Springfield, Missouri. If we were driving back home to California, I would have loaded up- the prices out there can’t be beat- but since we were flying and the airlines really get you on number and weight of luggage, I was pretty limited.

The first thing I found was this darling navy blue suitcase with an authentic vintage luggage label for $12. (I’m a sucker for vintage luggage & labels, so be sure to visit again this week for THAT post!) This case was just a bit larger than a train case and I decided that I would fill ’er up and stop there. And so my tiny frugal haul for the day included:

Little Jello molds (as shown for sale in the basket) for making Tidy Mom’s Espresso Brownies. They ranged from $.39 to $1.00 each.

Joys of Jello recipe booklet, you know, to go with the molds, $2.

An old doctor’s office apothecary jar with the “applicators” label pressed in glass, $8 (STEAL!) I’ll find so many uses for this. After photographing, I filled it with Q-tips and it’s now in our bathroom. (UPDATE 4/21: First use by kid…lid dropped and broke. In my head I heard my mother’s voice saying, “Why Cant’ I have anything nice?!” LOL. Looks like now it’s heading to the studio to hold rulers.)

A small vintage faceted jar, free from a nice dealer. It’s just begging to be filled with a tiny nest or something interesting, I’ll let you know.

Vintage Meyercord flower decals. Two bucks a piece, unheard of.

A couple of antique doll heads with moving eyelids, $6-$8. Not sure what’s with the attraction to the heads. It’s sort of a sweet-meets-creepy-meets-artsy thing.

And finally, a vintage blue pillow case, $1.50, and some fabric my mom gave me (shown in 2nd photo) that I will use to make more pillow cases. My sister covers all of her pillows in the most crisp vintage pillowcases and nothing is dreamier or prettier to sleep on. And it will always be in my nature to copy my big sister.

We had such a great time visiting my family in Missouri and Arkansas. It’s always a blessing to be with my mom and sister Jenny. The kids got to spend some time with their gramma and aunt and I was finally able to meet my sister’s grandaughter Lillian and share in her very first birthday. It was also a bittersweet reunion for my daughter Sarah and her brother & sister in Arkansas. Here’s a great shot of my late sister Shelly’s children, Bobby and Nicole (the oldest ones) and my kids, Bennett and Jamie, and the daughter we both share, Sarah (center).

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Clothespin Dolls- Guest Blogger Post

I am so thankful to have had a week of fun guest bloggers while I’m vacationing with my family over Spring break!

This darling tutorial is by the very creative Hope Meeks of Going Sew Crazy. I found her blog and dolls while surfing Flickr. I had just found a bag of craft clothespins in some of my old sewing stuff out in our barn and I was looking around for inspiration. And, WOW, did I find it! Please visit her blog and Flickr photos for even more sweet inspiration and be sure to say “hi!”

Enjoy this tutorial and just imagine the possibilities! Thank you Hope!

CLOTHESPIN DOLLS

Supplies Needed:
-wooden clothespins
-wooden doll pin stands
-wooden dowel cap with 5/8″ hole
-6 in. square of fabric
-small ribbon
-acrylic paint
-paintbrushes
-glue gun
-gloss varnish
-pencil
-small piece of flesh colored pipe cleaner

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Steps:
-Draw face shape onto face with pencil.
-Paint face and top of pin in your choice of flesh color. Let dry. Repeat.

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-Paint pin stand and pin “legs”. Let dry. Repeat.
-Paint hair onto dowel cap. Let dry. Repeat.
-Gloss varnish all parts. Let dry.

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-Cut a 5″ circle out of fabric. Cut a small hole in the middle and 2 small slits for the arms a bit down from the middle hole.

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-Cut a small piece of flesh colored pipe cleaner and gluse to center back of clothespin.

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-Slip fabric over the “neck” of the pin. Slip “arms” into slits.
-Tie a small piece of ribbon around the waist and tie in a bow in the center back.

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-Glue head on doll and tilt to give it a sweet look.
-Glue doll pin into doll stand.

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Some tips and tricks:
-Use tape or paper reinforcements on “legs” to make stripes or polka dots.
-You can leave the arms free or twist them together and glue something into the doll’s hand. I used a mushroom in the pic above.
-You can also buy wooden spools and paint them and attach just the heads for fun trim and ribbon holders.

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Grace, A Message of Hope

Today is my daughter Grace’s birthday. Grace was stillborn 15 years ago. But this is not a post of sorrow, it is a message of hope. I just wanted to share the fact that God is good, God is faithful and God heals. And although our journey was one of much pain, through God’s grace we have learned that His blessings are exponential.

We are on our way right now to visit my Mom in Arkansas, who I haven’t seen in more than a year! Have a beautiful day, and we will do the same.

If you know someone suffering through a similar loss as ours, I have a past post you may find of interest. LINK

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