Times seems to fly

Well my dear readers. It's been a few weeks (again) since my last post. My laptop did indeed died. Luckily my hard drive was intact without damage. My hubby bought a housing case so now it's an external hard drive. I'm just glad all of my photos are safe. We're waiting to hear back from one of his co workers about a laptop he has for sale. 

It seems only yesterday I was worried about Thanksgiving and here we are about a week away from Christmas. We finally bought our Christmas tree last weekend. 

We always buy a noble fir. Jess really likes the smell and look of real trees. I'd be happy with an artificial tree but he won't have it. All of the decorations and tree skirt were either thrifted or bought at rummage/estate/garage sales. I don't think I've ever bought any new ornaments since we've been married.  

Today I got into the holiday spirit and decorated the house a bit more. 

Now I just need to go buy a couple of presents and I should be set. 

If you don't hear from me before the new year: I wish all of you a merry Christmas and happy new year. Be sure to spend happy and safe times with friends and family. 

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Hello lovelies. I hope the week is treating you well and everything is going great. We've having odd weather. Warm one day; cool the next. It's nice but I'd rather it just stay cool. Then I can drink all the tea I want.

A few weeks ago I was honored to be nominated for the Very Inspiring Blog by the ever lovely Jessica from Chronically Vintage. If you haven't checked out Jessica's blog I suggest you do. She has a wonderful blog full of vintage outfits, recipes and fun informative posts.

As per the rules of the award, I will state seven random facts about myself.

1) I LOVE ghost stories. Ever since I was a little girl I used to love listening/watching/reading anything related to ghost, spooks, specters and even aliens. My grandma Ines had some of the best stories ever. They usually involved the devil disguising himself as a handsome young man and dragging some beautiful conceited woman to Hell.

2) I taught myself to knit. I've posted a few of my projects on my blog from time to time. I'm rally proud of the fact that I learned to knit by myself. It's a great skill to develop and keeps your mind sharp. Not to mention the bragging rights to anything you make.

3) This Thanksgiving will be our  first hosting it as a married couple. Although we've been married for almost 3 years, we've never hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at our home. Usually we attend a family dinner hosted by Jesse's uncle and his wife. It's great not to cook but there's always too many people around and not enough to do. This year it will be Jesse, myself and my in-laws. Nice and quiet.

4) I am a scientist. Buwhahaha. I graduated with an Associate's Degree in Science and Mathematics. I really love and do well in any science class. I told Jesse that once I change my name, I'm going to get cards made with my name and my title as "home maker and mad scientist." He liked the idea.

5) I love gray and gloomy weather. There's something about it being grey outside that makes me happy. I love driking a hot cup of coffee and watching the weather move. The clouds get thinner and thicker. Not to mention I get lots of cuddles from Ridley

6) Vincent price is one of favorite actors. Anyone who has ever seen or heard Vincent Price takes a liking to the man. I've always loved his movies and voice acting was great too. My favorite Vincent Price movie is House on Haunted Hill.

7) I have been trying to finish reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for over 2 years.This is such a great book. I bought this exact version over 3 years ago and have only read it half way through. It's an easy read and very easy to follow but I just haven't done much reading outside of knitting patterns and blogs.

An now for my nominees for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award:

Elisa from Like a Tree in the Desert -She has some awesome outfits and always seems to have fun weekend adventures.

Deborah from HellCat Vintage  She has great posts about rockabilly, plus size and hair tutorials.

Mysti from Mysti Luxe  She has some great restorations projects and tips about fixing up vintage.

Rosy from Sewingadicta She is a marvelous seamstress and has reproducd a lot of famous movie outfits by herself.

Mary Lou from MaryLou Cinnamon Another great seamstress who wears everything she makes and looks great.

Mama from Op Shop Mama This lady know how to shop and always has great finds for her and her family.

Helga from Helga von Trollop She is fabulous and fierce. She inspires me to be myself.

I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. I'm hoping to get out of the house and do a little thrifting.

Snow Fall and Some Great Finds

Well, it's definitely fall in Northern Nevada. On Monday, we awoke to our first snowfall of the season. This first photo I toke at 5am. It made me very happy when I looked out the window and there was a good 2" of snow on the ground and the flakes that were coming down were thick and fluffy. After I got the hubby off to work I went back to sleep. I can't function well that early in the morning. It's better than getting up at 4 am.



The wonderful thing about cats is that they are nature's own alarm clocks.Even if we don't want them to be. Ridley is dead set on having his breakfast at 7:30 every morning. Sometimes he's more cold than hungry and we'll sleep in until 8:30 am. I woke up, feed the cat and took a few photos. It is so wonderful to see the clouds coming over the Sierras and into the valley. You can literally see the snow coming over the mountains sometimes.







Of course, it melted all away by noon but it was a wonderful surprise. This is the earliest snowfall we've had in the almost 3 years we've been here. Maybe we'll get more snow this year. I'm hoping my mom and nephews will be able to come up for Christmas. The kids have never somewhere where there's snow on the ground. Jess is getting really excited about it. He wants to take the kids sledding.


A few weeks ago, I went to the annual Elks Lodge Flea Market. One of the great things about living in a rural area is that there are plenty of treasure to find and at great prices. Since Jess works so ealry, I decided to walk to the flea market. I took my hiking bag, which has a water bladder. Water bladders are great for when you go hiking or extended walks.We often use it when we go for walks around the neighborhood. It was a cold morning so I dressed for it. Unfortunately, once I got out in the sun I realized  had over dressed. I'm still surprised how cold it can be in the shadows but as soon as you get in the sun, you feel great.

 I decided to go ahead and walk to the flea market. I got there and went straight to the jewelry. I always try to get to the jewelry and patterns first so I have time to look through it and pick out what I want. I then move onto arts/crafts supplies, Christmas decorations and finally look at purses/clothes.

This is what I came home with. I was very pleased with everything I bought.  I bought a vintage zig zag afghan, several purses, several bunches of fake flowers, a couple of scarves, a handful of jewelry, a cinch belt, a vintage Dutch tin,some vintage Christmas ornaments and of course my awesome Samsonite train case.



Vintage Jamaica souvenir  straw and raffia purse. Not quite a shoulder bag or a hand bag.




Awesome vintage macrame handbag with Lucite handles. I think this one may be homemade.


Here's a close up of the afghan. I was think about making myself one. I love the pattern. I love making things but sometimes it's just cheaper to buy them second hand.


Can I let y'all into a little secret? I haven't bought any new Christmas ornaments/decorations since we moved out. All of my ornaments and decorations have been bought at garage sales, rummage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. I see not point in buying new. It's so expensive and don't have the charm of vintage items.

I love the drawings on these jingle bells. I just wish peolpe would stop writing prices on the front of packages. If there wasn;t a huge 10cents on the front of this package I would have framed it and hung it up.



I complete box of ornaments some embossed with "Merry Christmas" and a wintery scene.






Hand Blown and Decorated box of ornaments. I also found a lone glass drummer man. I removed to of the round ornaments to safe guard him.
 

I love how each tree is different and unique.




I bought this vintage Dutch tin for 50cents. It has embossed garlands around the top and sides.


Here she is. My beautiful mustard Samsonite train case. She was a bit grubby but I mostly cleaned her up. I cleaned up the outside and the inside. The mirror and interior are in great condition. It smells a bit like old makeup but a dryer sheet should get rid of the smell. She has the original key and the locks work well. The best thing about her? She was only $1! Yep $1. Doubt I'll ever find a cheaper one.







Of course, Ridley had to be in the shot. He knocked it over.







These are a few of the pairs of earrings I bought. The daisies are something else. I bought a lot more earrings but didn't feel up to taking photos of all of them. Most are clip-ons.




I kept these two pairs for myself. The red hoops turned out to be Bakelite. Not bad for a 10cent purchase. The bottom earrings are enamel clip ons.



And here is my growing tower of train cases. I love how the colors look great together. I may need to paint my dresser. But that will have to wait until Spring. No way am I jumping on a painting job during cold weather.



I hope everyone has a great week and a fun,safe Hallowed!

Giveaway Winner

I don't know if anyone else is having trouble with Blogger lately. I've noticed that my post don't well post right away there is a few hours delay. It rather annoying and weird. Which is why my last post was a duplicate. Hopefully Blogger will fix this bug and I can post in a timely manor.

Okay, onto the giveaway winner. There were 14 entries. I used a random number generator to pick the winner.

Congratulations to Thread Snipper. Please leave your email address so I can ship out your items.

I want to thank everyone who participated in this giveaway. I truly appreciate everyone's comments and I thoroughly enjoy reading your blogs.  I hope everyone has a great week.

Repost: Goodies I've bought and find

I have been in a bit of a crating funk lately. I've been wanting to work on sewing up a few wool skirts for the colder months but just haven't the drive to do it. All I've wanted to do is bake and watch the leaves change color.  I do love the fact that I can watch the leaves change color.  I can't get over how beautiful and vibrant some of the colors are.Especially when the sun catches them from the south. Gorgeous.

A few weeks ago, I had a doctors appointment so I had to go thrifting ,of course. I went to all of my usual stops except for the F.I.S.H thrift store in Carson. I probably won't be going back there since the last trip I took there I saw cockroaches. Yup, pretty gross. I have NEVER seen cockroaches at a thrift store and I have been going to them since I was  5 years old. I don't want to risk bring something home and getting an infestations. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything.

In my last post I mentioned that I have had great luck finding vintage sweaters for the winter. I found these two beauties at a little thrift store for $2.50 a piece

I LOVE this sweater. I've always envied the vintage bloggers with their awesome winter sweater and have lusted after their beautiful design. I found this hidden under a rack of men's sweaters. At this point I've come to accept the fact that very few vintage women's sweaters will fit me. If I do find one that fits, it's too short and I don't like showing my belly.  I was so excited about this sweater I didn't notice the black stains on that sleeve and back. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed. I soaked in it in the sink over night and that helped. However, I bought OxyClean and holy crap that stuff is awesome. It removed like 95% of the stains. There are a few very light stains that you need to be looking for  to find.

How cute is this label? A Viking holding a mace. Totally awesome.  I figure that this sweater is from the 1960s from the looks of the label. I tried looking the label up but didn't find an exact one.

 

This is my second Centura brand cardigan. I have a burnt orange once I bought back in 2000 and I love it to death. This is an Orlon cardigan and I realized that it would be the perfect match for me to sew on my letter from high school.

 

As excited as I was about these two awesome sweaters, this Johnny Cash LP made my day. I've been wanting a Johhny Cash LP to add to my collection and I finally found one. Actually my brother's girlfriend found it and I swooped it up. It's not in the best condition but it doesn't skip.

I found this awesome vintage planter at another one of the hidden thrift stores around town. It truly amazes me how much awesome vintage stuff I have found since moving out here. This planter is a vintage Rubens ceramic planter from the 1950s or 1960s. It's in great condition except for some discoloration on the nose and mouth. Right now it's sitting on my kitchen window sill growing some succulents.

I also found this vintage pullover. It fits me but it's too short so it will be sold. I love the texture of this pullover and it's acrylic too so just wash and wear.

Helping Hands is my closest thrift store even though it's still a good four miles away from us. I've found many a treasure there. Mostly clothes, fabric, and knitting magazines.

I've been slowly building my collection of wool sweaters/pullovers. I may need to make or buy a camisole since I get a little itchy with wool directly on my skin. This pullover had a few holes (maybe moths) on the front but the pattern lends itself to hiding the stitching.

I love the vintage color of this pullover. It was right next the the pullover above. It's a little long in the arms but I can always roll up the sleeves.

I bought this wool coat for $5. Yup, brand new without tags and clean. It's a bit big on me but it's nothing a belt won't fix. Luckily, I have some premium felt that matches the coat perfectly.

Here it is with my vintage fox collar that I bought for $2. I can't wait to wear it out. It hits me mid-thigh which is great since my behind always gets cold during winter.

These gorgeous girls I bought for $2 I love me some glitter Lucite especially at a great price. These threw my for a loop once I realized that they aren't earrings. It turned out that they are scarf clips. Not sure how to used these but I may used them as shoe clips too.

I love this set. Although it did take my a couple of years I bought the bracelet first and really loved it. I got curious if there was a matching necklace and low and behold there was. Although the big elephant is BIG.  It's about 2'' long. I think I paid about $12 for the set.

These earrings are really cool. They are caved scarabs in a trio of colors. I wish I could find a matching bracelet or necklace that didn't cost a fortune. Lately, I've been wanting to add more tiki themed or colors to my collection.

This beauty I bought from decoderm007 off of Etsy. It's an artisan piece using Bakelite chips shaped like suns and moons on a  black chain. It's very reminiscent of novelty necklace of  the 1940s. I can't wait to wear it out.

I won this awesome 1940s celluloid chain necklace from eBay. I thought the wood hearts would be very heavy but they are unbelievably light. It has "Bora" written on the biggest hear which leads me to believe it was a souvenir necklace.

I love elastic bracelets. They can be a bit pricey. Especially vintage Lucite ones. I bought this one along with a couple of bubblegum pink bangles that alas were too small.

Bakelite Hoops!! I bought these for $15 for all three including shipping. Anyone who has ever looked into buying some Bakelite hoops now that they can rune anywhere from $12 -$45 a pair depending on color and texture. So I was tickled pink when I won these babies.

I made this blouse from vintage fabric and used vintage buttons for the Fall for Cotton sewalong. Unfortunately, I felt like crap that final week and didn't get my entry in. I love the way it turned out and I figured out a better shape to the sleeve.

Lastly, I made this brooch out of a necklace that I hadn't worn in a long time. I glued a brooch pin to the back and let it dry. I haven't worn it out yet but I will.

My sister game me this cute eyeglasses case. It's from the Philippines and made from raffia and straw. I love it.

I've had  great luck lately at the thrift stores. There's a flea market coming up this week and you can be sure I'll be there. Can't wait to see what goodies I find.

If you haven't entered my giveaway be sure to enter before midnight Friday 10/11. It is open internationally too so everyone has a chance to win.