Can I Possibly Be Any Busier?...

My intentions are good; I want to create stuff, I want to hunt for vintage treasures, I want to spend time with my family, but sometimes it just becomes overwhelming.

At work we are currently in a time crunch to get everything ready for the Craft and Hobby Association {CHA} Summer trade show in the Chicago area. I am thrilled that I was able to design Tim Holtz's Alterations catalogs and get them printed, bound and on the truck heading out to the show ON TIME! This took quite a bit of overtime at work.

Then there was a blessing of freelance design work that suddenly came my way. I love doing freelance but it was kind of hard staying up late every night after a long day at work.

Then last weekend was another driving event for my son. I really enjoy supporting him but it meant that there was no time for me to do any thrifting or freelance or overtime.

Today I squeezed in just a bit of thrifting...

My favorite find was another vintage doll suitcase. These are just so sweet when stacked together in a group. The new one is at the top.

The Serendipity Sale

serendipitya talent for making fortunate discoveries while searching for other things. — serendipitous, adj
We started off with high expectations today. There was an amazing advertised sale but today was the second day so we hoped to find some bargains. We got to the house early and it looked like it was empty. Perhaps it was cleaned out by dealers on the first day. I didn't want to wait around.

We went to the second sale and found a large, messy pile of stuff sitting on the front lawn and no seller in sight. It did not look promising so we left.

I was feeling very disappointed as we drove to the third sale on my list. On the way we saw a sign for an estate sale. We decided to check it out. It turned out to be an estate sale held by the family. Their parents must have been avid collectors over the years so the house was packed with vintage treasures and the prices were good {insert squeals of joy here}.

I found this chalkware dog tucked away on a back shelf.

An Odd Day in L.A.

I was able to convince Dear Handyman to get up really, really early today so that we could go into Los Angeles for an interesting sale. The drive up was uneventful and although we were there early, we were still number 30 & 31 on the sign up sheet.

We did find some absolutely amazing things. I found several favorite items but this child's chair has to be the best. The seat is wood, the legs are thick and the color is a chippy blue. Love it!

My other favorite find is this vintage 1960s era Color Wheel to light up aluminum Christmas trees. I've always been in search of one of these and this one works perfectly and came with the box.

Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop - Father's Day

Welcome to the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop for the month of June. This month's theme is either Picnic or Father's Day. My project is a Father's Day picnic.

I've been spending a lot of time at race tracks lately so I decided to design a race-themed picnic which works well as a Father's Day picnic. I began by rethinking the typical picnic basket and used a toolbox {new and clean} instead. I filled it with all kinds of picnic goodies.

MY Thrifting Weekend

It has been three long weeks since I've had a chance to go thrifting. One weekend I had to help a friend. The next weekend we were at a driving event for my son. So this weekend was MY weekend. I found some lovely treasures.

My favorite find was another silver champagne cooler. Oh how I love the shape of these. This is a little fancier than the other ones I've found.