find of the weekend...

this vintage tin, which, in its previous life, held 50 lbs. of shortening. now, amazingly enough, it holds 47 pounds of valley babies, with a little room to wiggle. i'm calling it our new playpen. and i'm only half kidding. did i mention it was had for a mere 25 cents? steal.

dressing up the place...

we had a fabulous bridal shower here a couple of months back. i didn't have time for lots of crafting, but had to make the d.i.y. flower garland from cakies. this was such a super-simple, scrapbusting project. i ended up making fifty feet of garland to hang back and forth across the slanted ceiling of my sewing studio, where the buffet luncheon was to be set up. so cheery and wonderful! i then made another 10 feet to hang against the window in our kitchen. neither garland has been taken down--they're just too pretty! i ended up spacing my flowers much more closely than the tutorial called for--about 4" apart. other than that, i followed the directions exactly. try for yourself and brighten up a space!

the first tomato...

she wouldn't eat it, so i gobbled it up. it was good. and it got me all excited for the many, many more to come. our tomato plants are heavy with (green) fruit. and i'm getting a lesson in patience!

favorite finds...

last week's vacation was shopping heaven for this thrift-and-antique-shop-loving mama. here are a few favorite things that found their way back to the valley girl home:

a set of 6 vintage cloth diapers. these are so fabulously simple--contour diapers (no elastic) that allow the user to fold for extra absorbency in either the front or back. the flannel is soft and well loved. i love them so much, i'm planning on making at least a dozen more for my little guy. these were part of a fill-a-grocery-bag-for-$4-sale. i piled my bag high with vintage bloomers for lucy, a vintage crib blanket, a few other items of clothing and some sandbox toys. plus the diapers. steal. a vintage crib toy. hudson prefers to roll it around on the floor. what's a crib, mom? $16 or $18--i don't remember.
vintage pyrex. i'm slowly phasing out all plastic tupperware, and the new glass stuff is just to pricey (and too boring) for my taste. $2.
vintage ball canning jar lids. for my jars! 5 lids, plus the original box. $8.
these cheery little salt and pepper shakers. jeremy thinks i'm crazy, but that's okay, right? i forget how much these little cuties cost, but it was in the range of $10.
a child's chamber pot for one of lucy's playmates (we have one already--it's our "car potty"). $6
a child's bank, complete with combination. $3.50.
a vintage french cooking pot. my biggest splurge at $26. i personally can't believe i spent that much on a pot, but it does look quite cheery in my kitchen--much more so than the stainless steel pot that it's replacing.
and jeremy thought we'd have more room in the car on our way home from our trip. silly guy!

and we're back...

four generations of women. a lakeside house with pool and spa. antique and thrift stores within walking distance. good food. good beer. hot afternoons. nights cooled by balmy breezes. yeah, we had fun. and lots of it. the only bad part was packing up to come home!




pizza dough: group effort for a last-minute meal...



my sole attempt at a self-shot photo of myself and the kids. it didn't turn out, but i love it anyway. and check out that life jacket...

organic, from-scratch waffles made on this super-duper-fancy professional waffle maker. they were yum!



ready to go thrifting, with babies in tow...
but first, a historical schoolhouse (which was vintage heaven and surprisingly hands-on!)...



lucy churns the butter...
lucy wanted to know why her "car potty" (an old chamber pot) was on display...
on my "making use of scraps" to-do list... knitted rag rugs


there were so many antique and thrift stores in town--we quite literally didn't have time to hit them all. here are some fun finds (with my purchases coming in a later post...)

"thrifting with the girls??? get me outta here!"

well. it's always good to be home in one piece, but our hearts are a little achy for that swimming pool, and breakfasts taken on the deck overlooking the lake. good thing we've got another trip coming up soon--this time, it's camping!