Speckled-Egg Spring Journal Swap Completed!!!

This is the beautiful journal I recieved from Alissa Millsap of Emma's Paper Patch. We were partners in the Spring Journal Swap, hosted by Heather of the Speckled Egg. This was a fun swap where we each started out with the blank canvas of an ordinary composition book. I love the colors Alissa chose, all of the vintage wallpaper, glitter, sheet music, pom poms, and that sweet birdie! She also did such a creative thing gluing an image behind that crystal! I love the journal, thank you so much Alissa!!!

Below is the journal I created for Alissa. It came out so chubby....it will be challenging, but fun trying to write in it!!

I was inspired to make a journal that she could pull out to use each spring.

There are four tabbed sections: "me", "celebrations", "inspired", and "family". I thought this could be a great place to glue in spring-inspired recipes and craft ideas from magazines, brainstorm plans for Easter, make lists for spring cleaning, write down family traditions,etc.

On the back page, I included a pocket of goodies and some tags for creating!!

This is the inside cover of the journal. I was so inspired by the beautiful spring images I found in one of my books.
This is the page for the "celebrations" section. I had to put this sweet,velvety lamb in here. She is a very old Easter card. The journal was getting thicker and thicker as I kept adding things!!
This page was created for the "inspired" section. It was fun to give this little girl a crepe paper skirt!! I think this page was my favorite.

This was a great swap! I am always afraid I am missing swaps, so if anyone knows of any, please tell me too!! Goodnight Everyone! Love, Kristin

Show and Tell Sundays...Matilda's Mouse in Valley Center, CA

In honor of Show and Tell Sunday, today's topic is for us ladies to share our favorite Antique store. This was suggested by Cerri at Little Pink Studio. Next Sunday everyone else will be posting about this, but I wanted to start early, because I have a special shopping place to show next week too!

I have a real treat for all of you ladies today....prepare for a serious case of "cute overload" !!! Feel free to oooooh and aaaaah like when you watch fireworks on the 4th of July!! This is the story of Matilda's Mouse, a barn built in 1880 that is stuffed full of the all the the stuff we love, set up in the cutest vignettes you've ever seen!!
This is from Easter at Matilda's Mouse. So sweet!! Let's pretend it is virtual shopping...I think I'll take the cloche please!
Of course I go running for the red every time!! I think I just want to copy and paste this scene right into my house...is that possible?
Aaaaah.....the serenity of white!! I love all the cottage-style elements here. Look at the white iron!! I love all of the wood, metal and glass mixed together...such a yummy concoction!

I want that cabinet! Is that boat incredible or what? Oh my goodness...I can't look at this picture without going nuts! I love how there aren't any rules of what can go together on shelves to make a fabulous display of vintage things!! May we be inspired to play like this at home!!
What would you like? I want all of those bread boxes on the shelves. I like the green tin picnic basket too!! This is the kind of place where the owner sees me and wonders to herself, "Hasn't that person been in here for hours?". Yes, I have been through the whole thing 25 times now in last 3 hours, filling my brain with notes of things I can do at home, new collections I want to start, just completely filled to the brim with inspiration. This is like my whole lifetime of magazine reading in one place, at one time.
Christmas has to be my favorite time at Matilda's Mouse. Any vintage Christmas collectors out there? You'll be in heaven here for sure~! I have to visit every Christmas, and the inspiration carries me through the whole month!
Get a load of what they have done with these screen doors! I love this! These people are so creative!! Another shot of White Christmas below...what a sweet idea to put one of these white plastic trees already loaded with white lights atop an urn!! It looks so classy, doesn't it?
Now, for the most special part of this story. If you have been wondering while reading where the name Matilda's Mouse came from....introducing Matilada herself:

Matilda is the owners' wire haired fox terrier who is the star of every show!! She has an amazingly calm demeanor for this breed, and can be found dressed up in a special place somewhere in each show. The anticipation is so fun ...where will Matilda be next time? In the photo above, she was in a kissing booth for Valentine's Day. Smoochie anyone?

Here is the bathing beauty now....willing to wear a plastic shower cap. Amazing!! Love the polka-dotted bathtub too! Also, the floor is painted to look like brick, but it is really not. It is an amazing job!
I think she was a winter fairy for this show. What a sweet little fairy she makes. That is fake snow on the floor, another cute idea!!
Ballet, anyone? Matilda is ready in her pink tu-tu. Are you as in awe as I am at this whole thing? I am so lucky to live close to this place!!
My personal favorite...this is Matilda last Easter in a vintage baby crib that has had an Easter basket makeover!!!

Matilda's Mouse is located in Valley Center, CA off the 15 freeway. It is not open every day because the owners travel all over the states to collect these wonderful goodies for us. They have a show once a month on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you are in Southern California, this is worth the drive! It is near Escondido and about 40 minutes north of San Diego. Check their website for their next show here. Also, you can view their albums from all previous shows here. Hope you enjoyed my tour of Matilda's Mouse. I am going to tour your blogs now to see your favorite stores! This was a great idea for Show and Tell Sundays for sure!! Love, Kristin

Flu Bug and a Full Etsy Cart....

Thinking it might be possible that shopping trips to etsy help people with the flu, I found this sweet posie bouquet for myself from Caramelos.

Monday night I came down with the flu...the rotten, ugly, flu bug. The kind that hits suddenly and leaves you feeling like you were hit by a semi-truck. Fever, sore throat, sore glands, body aches, you know the routine. This flu had a special bonus though, after a couple of days of the latter, it suddenly goes to the lungs and the coughing and wheezing start. That part started for me last night. I was wide awake in the middle of the night . I am usually rather immune to caffeine because I am so used to it, but between a new black currant tea I drank to try to help myself, and the symptoms I was experiencing, I was wide awake. I decided to look on etsy and ended up having a really fun little shopping spree. Once on etsy, I did a search for Cottage Style Street Team (or CSST), which is a group of sellers on etsy who have banded together...selling lovely handmade items and crafting supplies that all lend themselves to the cottage style. I thought I would share with you the fun things I found.....

A cute cake topper from popalicioustoo that will be fun to play with at Valentine's Day.

Fun little little vintage letter pieces that spell something that I heart a lot...cup cakes!! This cute shop on etsy is called pinkgrapefruitstyle and there is some super cute stuff to be found there!

These Christmas cut-outs will be a cute addition to the vintage Christmas decortations this next year! They came from the etsy shop called snowflakeoneyelashes.
I had to click "add to cart" immediately when I saw these labels. I am so partial to red!!! Who knows what fun thing I will decide to do with them, but I can't wait for them to arrive. The etsy shop these came from is called imagineart7 .
These brilliantly colored BINGO cards came from oldpaper. I was thinking "Fourth of July" when I laid eyes on these. Maybe I'll make some collages to hang on doorknobs around the house. This is a great etsy shop for buying collage supplies.
I think these were my favorite!! I love these tags from Jenelle at sleepyhollwcrafts. She told me she made some recently for her sister-in-law who is getting married and I thought that was such a great idea!! I love her kitschy style and she has several different cute tags on her etsy shop!!

I also picked up this adorable package of crepe paper garland. This is amazing to be able to buy this to craft with!! I have spent a lot of time sewing crepe paper, but this is already ready to use!! I am very excited to use this in some projects. It came from birdsofafeather on etsy. Her shop is beautiful, I really enjoyed looking at everything she has to offer.
I absolutely love these stickers I found from catlover1 . These will be fun to add to swap packages!! They are from 1950's children's book illustrations. I can't believe how creative these people are!!
The sheet music and these adorable cupcake picks came from leesiebella on etsy. I love her blog~ SUGAR SUGAR, and she is one of the gracious hosts of the Show and Tell Sundays, where lots of gals have been participating in blogging about a certain topic every Sunday. She has a sweet etsy shop I am sure you will love.

Last but not least, some vintage wrapping paper to add to my craft supplies. Love the spring images! This came from the famous Sadie Lou Who's new etsy shop, nickelcandy. Sadie Lou has a lovely blog too, check it out here.

Thanks for enjoying my new purchases with me. I love etsy because there are so many unique things avaiable that you can't just pick up around town! I finally did get to sleep at 4 am. Hopefully only a few more days until I am back to health!! I forgot to mention too that hubby and the four little ones have also had it and are hanging on to the cough! Arrrggh! Hope you all are well out there! Love, Kristin

Weekend Finds....Loving the Red!!!

My Mom's best friend, Sherry, called me last week and asked me if I might want to come sometime during the next week to take a peak at her garage sale pile before she has a sale in a couple weeks. That's a no-brainer. I quickly responded, "May I come tomorrow morning?". She let me have whatever I wanted....and this darling table was one of the things I gratefully accepted!! I love the curves and the colors!! I picked up the old kitchen utensils and kitchen towell at a sale. I love the sales where people aren't charging outrageous prices, which makes it possible to get quite a few things. Look at that tiny rolling pin all wrapped up snug and cozy in a crocheted red and white cover to hang it up on a wall. I had seen these on flickr and was very excited to find one!!
These ice cream cups were also at that sale. I just plucked up all the red and aqua that I could find there. I love the thick aqua outside and milkglass inside. These are dreamy and I hope I find more to have an icecream social with some of my blog friends someday!! Wouldn't that be fun?
Sherry gave me this pyrex piece too, it was a wedding gift for her quite a few years ago. I have a little collection of this pattern going. I like it with the red in my kitchen.
Last but not least, these little vintage Christmas items. I can't ever pass these up, even though I have so many!! The little girl is a bell and sweet as can be with that spaghetti type edging lining her dress and hat. Every Christmas I love pulling all the little boys and girls out that I have like this and looking at their faces. Their expressions are so cute!!! I have never seen a deer quite like this one either.
Hope everyone is well and those of you in colder areas are starting to see the sun and signs of spring so that the garage sales will start to be plentiful for you too!! Blessings and Love, Kristin

Show and Tell- Vintage Hankies

The topic for show and tell this week is vintage hankies. They are great for pops of color and beautiful graphics, I just love them. My collection isn't very big, but I buy them up whenever I see them for sale at a thrift store!! One of the thrift stores I frequent puts several in a bag together for a few bucks. That is the way I like to buy them!!
I made a little cake display to show off my collection today. I love all the different patterns on the hankies. They are such a treasure from the past. Hankies were given as inexpensive gifts, and could be sent easily through the mail. Uh-oh, I might feel a hanky swap coming on!!
Who does that couple represent on top of the cake? That is what I always wonder when I look at the many couples in my wedding cake topper collection. Some special couple had this atop their wedding cake...I hope they had many happy years together.
Aren't these berries sweet? I am attracted to the hankies with interesting things on them. I especially love holiday hankies. Christmas and Valentine's Day hankies are really cute for wrapping up little gift.

These hankies are great for color in little vignettes you might set up around the house. See what you can do with a stack of old books, a vase, and a hanky or two.

Here, I placed a hanky folded in half under one of my favorite things, a little glass luncheonette plate and cup. Instant placemat!! A table would look so cute set this way with many differnt hankies for Mother's Day. Each guest could even keep their hanky.
These are satin hanky holders....they are so soft to the touch and such a special way of to hold these prized possesions.

Happy hanky collecting everyone!!! This has been fun to pull out all my hankies and play with them!! To see more collections, check out the links to other bloggers' collections here. Have a wonderful day!

Come Read a Story with Me....

I got this at an estate sale a couple weekends ago, but I felt it was so cute it deserved a blog post all of its own! ! So, here it is, the cutest little fabric book on the face of the earth. The illustrations are just dreamy!! This little girl is giving lessons on how to zip, button, snap, tie a shoe, and tie a bow. That little red button is too cute!! I love the graphics on the cover!! You can see why I went crazy when my friend Mandi handed it to me at the sale, saying she thought I might want it! I am not much for sewing, but this would be a fun thing to recreate. It was written by Kay Clark and made by Plakie Toys out of Youngstown, Ohio.

Mega post Monday Continued....Weekend Finds!!

I accidently found myself at the Pasedena City College Flea Market yesterday. (Ha! Ha!) It is almost a 2 hour drive there for us....and instead of driving to church, we drove there! It is a great flea market... I love it much more that the Rose Bowl because the prices are so much better! These are the things I picked up. A lady had a big bin of hankies for $1.00 each....I am always on the lookout for these for a future valance or something fun. I bought the jadite bowl and the 2 jars from the same gal for $21.00. I thought that was a great price. The amazing steal of the day was the complete set of these pyrex bowls in super shape for $15.00. I thought it was a joke at first....because I had seen the same set in 2 other times within the hour for $45.00 and $60.00. I was not going to argue with him, that's for sure!! I also bought this quilt from the 1940's with lots of red and aqua in it! We had a great day there! Even hubby found some great finds like 2 huge bows (archery), a spear gun, and a unicycle. Sure is funny how different we are created!! Hope everyone else had some great finds this weekend too! Luv, Kristin