I'm Off!!!

We are taking off bright and early tomorrow morning for D.C. I'll be taking a blog break while we are gone - so I'll see you in about a week! Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately. I owe replies to several of you and haven't even gotten a chance to check out the blogs of some first time commenters. I feel really bad and I look forward to catching up with all of you when I return. In the meantime, I did finish my traveling bag! What do you think? I am really happy with how it turned out. But the true test comes when its put to use!








On a separate note, my very good friend Rachel had a baby on Tuesday! His name is Reggie and he is adorable! He is having some kidney/bladder trouble and recovering from some breathing problems and is in intensive care. Rach hasn't even gotten to hold him yet. So please, pray for them. It's so hard to leave and go on vacation knowing your friend is hurting so much, but I know she is in good hands.

Alright, I HAVE to finish packing. My in-laws will be here any minute to take care of Sydney and my house is a disaster! Take care and I'll chat with you in a week!!

Like I needed another hobby...

But needle felting is so much fun! Check out this cute little snow man!

So easy, and it doesn't take as many fancy tools as I expected. I made this little guy with a couple girlfriends. We had so much fun watching their little expressions appear as we stitched them on. And, look - I actually made 2 french knots!! Here's a quick shot of the back.

Awesome friends...

I'm sure like me, you've all met some out here. I certainly hope so anyway. There is nothing like a blog buddy, and here's proof!

Amy from Life at AJ's posted a while back about making a zippered pouch. She was commenting on how expensive zippers are and so I left her a comment about my gigantic zipper collection and offered to send her some. We decided a swap was in order, so I sent off a handful of zippers and look what she sent me! I kind of feel bad, zippers are in great supply at my house and they certainly don't measure up to all this awesome stuff!

A beautiful bracelet!

With matching keychain!

A bookmark, which I love! And she made it extra long to fit in all my thrift store craft books.

And this cute decorative clipboard. Isn't this great? I have already used this a ton - great for projects in front of the tv!

THEN, the ever generous Mary Ann sent me my Pay It Forward gift! (You have a whole year to get this done if you were a part of this fun Challenge. Of course Mary Ann is an early bird!) I am absolutely in love with this little beauty named Gretal.

She has already found a home in my kitchen - what do you think?

Mary Ann knows my fabric weakness and sent along this beauty as well! I can't wait to make myself a bag out of it! You'll see me coming with that one, won't you!?

Thanks Amy and Mary Ann!! You sure know how to make a girl's day!

Junk Fest

Whoa! It's Thursday already! Where did this week go? I have to show you some of the treasures I brought home from my trip to my grandparents. The small town they live in (where I grew up) was having a flea market of sorts called the Junk Fest! How coud I go wrong, right? Here's what I snatched up there....

Three rolls of this old contact paper! I'm thinking either I need to start covering my whole house in it, or I will be selling a roll or two in the shop.

I absolutely love this clippy thingy! I am still trying to find a good place to put it. I can see this decorated for the seasons, pictures of kids, etc. Can't wait!

Then, on the way home, Sydney and I stopped by a thrift store along the way. Out of town thrifting doesn't get much better!

I love these Japanese mugs...but they will probably end up in the shop as well, just no room!

But this purse? All mine!! It folds up and snaps on the sides to make a smaller bag. Genius, huh!

I also got this green bedspread for $2! I love the color and texture. Now I just have to decide if I am going to keep it whole or cut it up. Decisions, decisions!

Tomorrow I'll be showing off some recents goodies my mailman brought me!! See you then!

My trip to Grandma's house...

The drive: The Interstate cuts straight through the mid-section of North Dakota...unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot out there.

But, if you can look past the bugs, there are some pretty sights to be seen.

And if you watch close enough you just never know what you might find! (Yikes!)

Sydney and I had a great time. She hung out with my Grandpa doing what he does best I guess!

Meanwhile, my Grandma gave me a complete lesson in the art of canning. (Pickled beets - sounds gross I know, don't knock 'em until you try them!)

Overall, a great trip. I came home with enough beets to last 2 winters, a new gigantic cast iron pan, some very cool junk and a few thrifted treasures to share. I'll show it all off tomorrow!

An Experiment...

This...


Plus this


Equals this!


Heading off to visit my Grandma for a couple days. Have a great weekend!

The Traveling Bag - A WIP

We are leaving for vacation in a couple weeks (7 days in Washington D.C.) and I decided to not wait until the last minute to start a new bag. This bag has to meet a lot of requirements. There will be a ton of sight seeing and a ton of walking on this trip. My bag has to be big enough to hold touristy stuff for a whole day and be light enough to carry a whole day. I'm going for a messenger bag style. Anyway, I'm sure you will hear about both the bag and the trip a lot more in the coming weeks, so I'll just leave you with these WIP pictures.