Vintage Scarf Overload!

Last Thursday I took Hetty on an impromptu "Jacqui tour" of downtown Victoria (where we went to all the places Jacqui and I like to go together) and had the best day! On our way back from tea we popped in The Patch (a reasonably priced vintage shop full of all sorts and ages of treasures) and I landed in vintage scarf heaven! Not only was there a river of silky scarves lining the floor of the window display, but there were three giant bins overflowing with bright scarf-y delights! Just take a peek at what we came across:

Ah! I had a hard time refraining myself but since they were such a great deal ($3 each or 2 for $5) I used all my decision making skills and picked few favourites to bring back with me and work into my wardrobe! Aren't they lovely? 

 Okay - so you can't fully appreciate each of my eight scarf choices in a mass pile...so here they are in a row:

Hooray! I tried to get a good assortment of colours that will go with lots of outfits in different seasons so I can get the most use of them! Perhaps I will do a post showing all the creative ways I decide to sport these beauties - because I'm just brimming with plans! What do you think? Which scarf do you like best? 

More Vintage Fun

A few weeks ago I attended yet another wonderful Vintage Fair here in Victoria and apparently it has taken me quite some time to get to sharing my finds with you! I figure better late than never and boy did I ever find some neat deals there! First on the reveal - a nice selection of neutral (and fantastic) necklaces:

I've really been trying to picture what I'd wear each piece with when I got to buy it to keep my splurges on the practical side and I figure some nice warm golds and black pieces are easy to pair with just about anything! I suppose the price really influences what I end up picking up and most of the items I got on this trip were in the $2.50 range. Not too shabby if you ask me and definitely cheaper than if I tried to find new costume items at pretty much any shop! Ok, so I suppose $2.50 to $8 doesn't really qualify as a "splurge" per say...but pretty much anything that isn't a necessity for my survival is a frivolity as far as I'm concerned. 

Moving onto more pictures! Next up are three fun statement necklaces that I fell in love with and after looking at them again - could probably be worked into all sorts of halloween costumes:

Since I don't plan as dressing up as a Mayan gypsy, 80's glam rock star, or Cleopatra any time soon I will instead cleverly work these babies into my daily wardrobe and will embrace their unique costume-ness for all it's worth!  Hooray!

Beyond my ten necklace haul, I picked up a few other jewelry pieces including a fancy hair barrette, three pins, and a jade ring:

I really restrained myself on the brooch buying at this fair since there were lots I would have loved to bring home with me but figured I'd be happier in the long run not going over budget (and most of the brooches I was swooning over and left behind were over the $10 mark).  I've also got quite the hoard of jewels piling up on my dresser and figure limiting myself is best all around. What a good girl I am! Yay!

Last up on the reveal are some lovely silky scarves I found in a $2 bin:

I must say that actually digging through bins for buried treasure vintage deals does add to the fun of the event and think these scarves will be fun to roll and wear up in my hair this spring or as a pop of colour around my neck on cooler days. Oh my! 

I am super stoked with all of the items I brought home with me from this fair and am surprised I didn't whip these out earlier to share! Swollen wrist and hand pain really does put a damper on things - but I'm doing my best and am hoping this flare up calms down soon! Oh - and since I always seem to focus on one favourite piece from all my vintage and thrifting shopping trips I thought I'd take another close up of the winner from this event...any guesses (before scrolling down)?

You guessed it (maybe...I can't actually read your mind....)!  I'm such a sucker for needlepoint! Who doesn't love a little handwork, gold doily-like details, and a sweet little bow? Oh it's just darling! Just picture this baby pinned to a cardigan with one of my vintage spring dresses and some flats! I can't wait! Now for this rain to stop and more spring time sun to come this way... What do you think of my finds? What's your favourite? 

a little washi goes a long way

Since the gift giving season is long past, I figure now is the perfect time to share one of my favourite vintage fair finds I picked up for Hetty!  I was especially pleased with this little thrifted treasure and once I brought it home and washed it up it was as good as new! Since I was giving it away I thought I had better give it some snazzy presentation and a little recycled card, stamp, and washi tape later it was packaged and ready for go:

Oh boy does a little washi tape ever go a long way when it comes to presentation. That stuff is just wonderful! Hetty appreciated my presentation efforts (or...well...I figure she did anyways...) and is sure to give this little bow pin a new loving home! Hooray! Have you thrifted anything amazing lately? 

The joys of pendants!

I'm still swooning about the sweet bargains I got at the last vintage fair here in Victoria (link) and in that pile o' finds were a few pendants begging to be given a new life! I picked up some chain and findings at the bead store last weekend and with a few snips, cuts, and bends those pendants were ready to be strung! Hooray! Take a peek:

Lovely! I'm totally digging how pendants hang on nice long chains and since I added relatively small clasps and jump rings you can just slip the pendant off and switch it out! Yay! Just like that! Apparently I'm more drawn to gold than silver since all the pendants I have to swap with are 100% gold tone:

Yeah! I really like how each of the pendants has a different feel and style so they'll work into loads of different outfits in my closet. Now I just need to remember to rotate them and not just wear one for months (a trend I often get stuck into)...what do you think? Which is your fave? 

Round Four at the Vintage Fair

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending another one of Victoria's lovely Vintage Fairs! This was the fourth fair I've been to since moving to Victoria and unlike my past visits I decided to go solo to this one. Okay, so that "decision" wasn't a very hard one since Fraser is still away on practicum, Jim was recovering from a pub crawl the evening before, and my  vintage loving gal pals were all busy - but it turned out to be a ton of fun attending alone! I got to take my sweet time searching through all the treasures and did't have to worry about holding anyone up. I also had a few nice conversations with some of the sellers there and got a peek into how they run their vintage businesses! How cool! It turned into one heck of a rad Saturday and I got quite the hall of bargoons! I think my treasure hunting skills have really improved with age because I came home with a huge bag of goodies! Let's check it out - starting with the necklaces:

I seem to have really gone for the neutrals at this fair and am trying to be more practical with my finds.  When I found something that tickled my fancy I'd check for flaws, think about how it would look on, and plan out how many outfits I could work it into (while keeping the price in mind).  Since I clearly have an accessory addiction (and if anyone took a gander at my dresser and the multitude of jewelry stands on top of it you'd have a better understanding of that), I try to stick to pieces that will add to the collection and bring some quirky vintage flair to my wardrobe.  Let's be honest here - my goal in life is to be an updated version of Jessica Fletcher and trips to the vintage fair certainly take me one step closer on that one! Haha! Next up on the finds reveal - some pins!:

I'm such a sucker for flowers! It was hard avoiding the masses of bedazzled rhinestone brooches on this round (that all seemed extra tacky) but I think it ended up well. I'm really loving the texture and detail on the cross stitch pin and think it will be great on a cardigan! I was thrilled to find the white poinsettia brooch too since most of the enamel metal ones I find are uber american and are always red, white, and blue. White is a little more subtle and  I love how it will work into some festive holiday outfits! Hooray! Next up are the pendants:

Okay, so I need to take a trip to the bead store to get some chains to finish up these beauts, but that sounds like the perfect afternoon project for the sake of new necklaces!  The two oval ones are sure to make it into weekly rotation and I got the little bear because it reminded me of a gold bear pendant my Grandma used to have! I think the anchor will be cute when I take off that top ring and thread it onto a nice long silver chain! How fun! Last up is the gold electroplated leaf that is totally not vintage but is lovely all the same. I actually bought one of these in silver last winter for Lindsay from a little shop in Fan Tan Alley and was happy to get this one a good $23 cheaper! Score!

My next find has a bit of a story to go with it.  While I was searching my life away at the tables a customer stopped by to say hello and introduce me to his wife.  He isn't a particularly an over friendly or talkative guy so I was a little shocked that he approached me but was pleased nonetheless. We had a pretty awkward moment where I was holding up a quite ridiculous piece of costume jewelry which he looked extra confused about and disgusted by and replied with, "So....you like...jewelry?" Yup. Sure do. And what was that one particularly ridiculous piece you wonder? Why a bright gold scaly snake bracelet of course! So awesome it deserves its own picture!

Yay! Every girl needs one of those right? It was just too memorable to leave behind! Now to figure out what to wear it with...

Last up on the vintage finds reveal are the bits and bobs of other goodies that really didn't work in with the other pictures I took.  I rarely leave a fair without falling in love with a good doily and can't wait to make a craft project out of this extra delicate one.  I also scored a set of 50 cent green bangles, a coconut ring, a lacy looking silver ring, a sweet silk scarf and a skeleton key! What deals! 

Even though this Vintage Fair was the stocked up with loads of xmas goodies and was holiday themed, as you can see from my finds above, I didn't actually buy anything very festive.  I suppose I'm just more into getting the costume jewelry than expensive fancy glass ornaments that have no special meaning to me. However, it was fun to check out and all the decorations and it did sort of make me want one of those silver tinsel fake trees! It was a little difficult to avoid total sensory overload too because those booths were packed with stuff:

I actually ended up getting 90% of my purchases from the bargain table that was covered with masses of disorganized stuff. I'm sure this sort of treasure hunting doesn't appeal to anyone without some patience but I just loved searching through all the junk! Just look at those bins:

I methodically went through each basket of goods and picked up anything that really called to me. Near the end I went back through my bin of finds and discarded anything that wasn't going to immediately make my life more awesome and bolted out of there before I was drawn back in. Whew!

Overall the Saturday was a success! I found so many amazing treasures and after a good scrub and sanitation I'll be throwing these into rotation!  After looking over all my finds again I am most excited for this lacy pearl necklace I snapped up! It was in the first shot I showed you in this post but since it's my favourite I thought I'd take another one so you can soak it up in full glory:

Isn't it just dying to be paired with a nice jersey black dress? OoOo or maybe a high waisted pleated skirt, tucked in blouse, and cardigan? Oh my! It's pretty much a classy doily for my neck and I couldn't be more pleased about it! Yay!

How about your thoughts? What do you search for when you're thrift shopping? Any tips? Could you have resisted that snake? 

A Bazaar Weekend

There is a church up the street from our condo that has a thrift shop in their basement.  It's only open on Wednesdays and with work and my arthritis class I never seem to be able to check it out. Rats. Lucky for me they had a church bazaar this past weekend and the thrifty goods took over the entire (enormous) church building! I was thrilled at the chance to finally check it out and brought Jim and Hetty along with me to share in the fun!

We started out in the basement (since Jim really wanted to get a cheap coffee maker) and had a great time looking at all the housewares. Jim ended up landing a nice Braun coffee machine for $5 (that ironically is the exact same model as the one my grandparents had on the farm) and Hetty and I swooned over the glassware and crystal! Although I would have loved to fill up a wheelbarrow and pushed home a huge pile of vintage dishes I restrained myself and just got a few bargain pieces:

I couldn't pass up the darling little glasses and saucer (at whopping 25 cents a piece) and am always a sucker for a good doily.  After wandering around the maze like hallways and peeking in all the organized little rooms we finally made it upstairs to the jewelry chapel. There was a bit of a line to get in (so the poor volunteers inside don't get overwhelmed with shoppers) and one determined old lady tried really hard to talk Heather and I out of going in.  "All the dealers were already here earlier," she said, "and they left with boxes of jewels - all the gold and silver is gone! There isn't anything worth buying left now!"  Sorry lady. You aren't convincing me - and why would you bother waiting in line if everything is already gone? Odd. Luckily I don't actually care if my jewelry is real gold or not and happen to be a huge fan of gold tone costume gems! Ahha! 

Now onto the finds! They had the chapel divided into nicely organized sections (boy did those volunteers do a lot of hard work!) and I loved being able to check out all the brooches, clips, necklaces, clip ons, earrings, and braceletes all neatly spread out and labeled with bargain price tags! Best of all - the majority of the goods were priced from a quarter to a dollar so everything felt like a deal! I picked up some long beaded necklaces, two spiral scarf clips, and one pinwheel flower pin for 50 cents a piece:

As Hetty and I continued down the tables (Jim bailed pretty much as soon as he got the coffee maker and took our house ware finds back with him) the excitement grew and I reached the two tables filled to the brim with giant costume earrings! Hetty knew I was squealing in joy and helped keep me calm and sort through the trays to find earrings that suited my old lady (a.k.a "I wish I was Jessica Fletcher from Murder She Wrote") ways.  I tried (yet again) to refrain from going overboard and dwindled my purchases down to ten pairs (which, by the way, was way harder than you'd think - you should have seen how many pairs they had). Take a peek at the pairs that made the cut:

Eeee! My jewelry finds ended up costing me $6 (including the necklaces and pins in the above picture) and I think I made out pretty well! Much like all my vintage finds I washed and sanitized them when I got home and can't wait to work these into my accessory wardrobe! I was thinking about doing a close up on my favourite pairs, but after laying them all out I couldn't decide which ones I liked the most! They are all so lovely! What a great day! Looks like I'll have to try harder to find the little church thrift shops in Victoria because they are much more exciting than the well searched over shops that are open all week long. Hooray! What do you think? Six dollars well spent? Which pair(s) do you like best? 

Fairfield Vintage Fair

One of my favourite things about living in Victoria is being able to go to the wicked Vintage Fairs in Fairfield! They pop up a handful of times a year and I save up all my thrift shopping urges for one fabulous morning of sifting through tables and tables of Victoria's best! This time around I was lucky enough to bring my good pal Heather with me too! What a treat! Heck, even the fall weather was on our side with some mild temperatures and sunshine (which you can sort of see in the background there):

Now onto the fair! Since I've been going to these fairs for a year now, I must say the fall shows are my favourite. I feel like all the vendors spend their summer vacations scrounging the world for sweet vintage finds and being them all back for me to peruse in September! It was tons of fun peeking around at things with Heather since we have such similar taste and could casually browse all the tables and point out items the other may have missed - and boy - was there ever a lot to look at! Just check out a few shots I snapped of the show:

Oh it was so much fun and there were so many goodies I fell in love with! I even managed to pick up a few that fell into my "I only like to buy bargains" category. I ended up with four necklaces, a pendant, some jade clip on earrings, a big silvery brooch, and a silk scarf! Take a peek:

I really love the bright shiny gold necklaces and am fairly confident I was urged to get them solely based on how much Murder She Wrote I've been watching. If Angela Landsbury can rock those statement costume jewels I am sure I can too! Oh and I am extra in love with the cross stitched pendant I picked up! Now I just need to get some chain and I'll be set! Woo! 

And just in case you aren't into the costume vintage accessories...how about his absolutely darling butterprint fridgie:

Ah! My long dry spell of no pyrex is officially over with this baby - I mean who can say no to teal and white farm prints? Not me! So good! Now to patiently wait for the next fair to see what else I can find...

My New Addiction.

Well it's official - I'm addicted to buying reasonably priced vintage dresses off Etsy.  With all the bargain hunters and thrift shopping sharks that apparently snap up all the deals at every thrift shop here in Victoria, I've turned to internet shopping to fill the void. I was a little hesitant starting out with online used clothing shopping since I really like being able to feel fabric, inspect potential flaws, and (or course) try things on!  But with the ease of the internet at my fingertips (usually on my phone when I'm laying in bed not sleeping) I started to browse and soon enough found so many gems I just couldn't say no to! Oh my!  Looks like I'd much rather let someone else sift through the (usually stale and smelly) isles of second hand shops and pay a bit extra for them to be shipped right to my door. Heck - it even means I get more mail! Hooray!  

Since I haven't managed to snap any pleasant pictures of me sporting my new (to me) duds  I thought I'd share my new three favourite online vintage shops with you (in no particular order) and you can catch a glimpse of pieces I snagged too! Yay! Let's go:

1) Tiny Yellow Bird - A fun and cheery shop full of unique pieces and bargain buys.  I bought two dresses from Lily on my first go and fell in love their classic, schoolmarm style.  Plus grey and blue are both neutrals so it was a gentle step into working some new outfits into my wardrobe. How convenient! 

(source)

2) Yessiree Petunia Vintage - Lesley has the most fabulous online shop stocked full of amazing (and reasonable!) dresses and accessories to drool over! I first popped by her blog (link) when she left a comment here and although I've been a loyal reader who loves hearing about her real life vintage peddling (out of an adorable little vintage trailer called Matilda) I have no idea why I had never checked out her shop! It is well worth a browse and so far I've been a repeat polka dot dress purchaser thanks to Lesley Jean!

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3) Superstition Vintage - Another amazing vintage etsy shop full of wonderful handpicked and loved items that don't break the bank. Much like the other two shops, this one updates regularly so it's worth it to check back in and see what's new! Adrian does an amazing job getting a range of products in a range of sizes and so far I've places two orders with her to get a summery light teal shirt dress and a fall worthy midi skirt.

(source)

Just in case I haven't convinced you on how sweet it is to buy vintage online here are a few more reasons I used to rationalize my purchasing (and apparently another list):

1 ) Unlike pants and trousers, dresses are easier to make fit. They're usually a little forgiving  when it comes to flab fluctuations and are great for pear shaped ladies like me!

2) All of my purchases turned out to be cheaper than if I had attempted to make them on my own. Not to mention how much grief and sewing I saved myself (well...I guess I did mention that...)

3) Older dresses are longer! I'm not sure when current clothing shops will learn that some of us out there prefer frocks that cover the knees (and my entire bum in some cases), but until they do - preowned is the way to go!

4) Chances are you won't bump into someone sporting the same dress! Avoid being a cookie cutter clone and branch out into originality (kind of).

5) Instead of supporting giant fast fashion slave labour corporations you're buying from great ladies like these and helping reduce, reuse, and recycle some goods! Good for you!

Add in the points I already made above (shopping in bed, getting mail, and pre-sifted vintage gems) and I figure I've got myself convinced! Online shopping is the way to go! Now to try to limit myself and stick to budget...oh dear...

a quarter well spent.

Last week I shared a tutorial on how to turn a dish into a pin cushion (link) and totally fell in love with the simple and handy idea! I filed it in the back of my mind and kept on with my regular scheduling. Well, this past Saturday we drove past an estate sale and Fraser suggested we take a peek! I always tell him how much I love the idea of estate sales (well, not the whole dead person bit...) and since old people have way cooler stuff than the young folks (who typically hold garage sales) - we stopped in! There was quite the selection of paintings (actually, a ridiculous amount of paintings) as well as some lovely antique furniture! Although I swooned over the silverware and china sets, they were out of my spur of the moment (a.k.a how much cash I had in my wallet) budget and I decided to pick up this dish:

 

Isn't it darling? I figured it was certainly worth the 25 cents they were asking for it and proudly took it home. Now all I had to do was epoxy on some super strong magnets...

...and bam! - instant amazing poppy dish pin holder! Check it out:

Yay! I was a little doubtful of how well the pins would hold through the thick ceramic but they claimed to be super strong on the package and those pins seem to be holding on for dear life:

Ahha! How lovely! I am thrilled to no longer have to deal with my broken disaster of a pin cushion and instead use this classy looking DIY bargoon. It has also got me hooked on going to estate sales and ever since I've been roaming the internet looking for freebie antiques and sales! What fun! Are you a vintage bargain hunter?

Vintage Fair - Round Two!

A few weeks ago I attended my second vintage fair here in Victoria and although it wasn't quite as full of thrifty steals as the first one (link), I did manage to pick up a few costume jewelry pieces to add to my collection. Apparently I was all about threes this time around since I bought three pairs of earrings and three brooches! Check them out:

 

Aren't they fun? I bought 50% of them at a $1 table (can you guess which ones!?) and the other three pieces were pretty far from breaking the bank (I think the most I spent was $6). There seemed to be a much bigger turn out to this fair with fewer vendors so I'm not surprised the bargoons were harder to find. I was also lacking my deal finding partner in crime Fraser who seemed to have the perfect eye for brooches I'd drool over. Alas - hopefully he will be around for the next vintage fair in July and I can't wait to go and see all the vendors new finds! It certainly explains why the thrift stores are so combed over here and I will gladly avoid the wasted hours in smelly old shops for one Saturday morning of thrifty buying! Yay! I can't wait to fit my new vintage items into my daily wardrobe and am especially excited for this little bird pin:

 

 Chirp chirp! Isn't he sweet? I really love how vibrant he is and think this bird is just begging for a spot on a cardigan! What do you think? Have you ever attended a vintage fair? Do you like thrift shopping for costume jewelry? Any guesses on which items I got for $1?

Vintage Fair Fun!

When Lindsay came to visit last month she gave me a flyer to a vintage fair she came across when we were out shopping. I thought it looked like fun but didn't think much of it. I clipped the ad to the calendar and figured I had a while before I had to decide if I wanted to go. As the date got closer, I got more excited about attending and figured the $3 admission was a pretty good deal for an outing on a Friday night.

When the Friday finally came around, I had even convinced Fraser to attend with me and we headed out in the rain for a fun date night (or at least, what I thought was a fun date night)! I had been to a few craft shows at the Fairfield Community Hall before so we mastered the directions and parking for the event. The place was buzzing and as soon as we stepped into the clutter of shoppers and tables I knew it was going to be worth while! Take a peek at my initial view of the fair:



Time to roam around and discover some treasures! There were a few really awesome tables with piles of thrift store finds to search through for $2 each or 3 for $5. Clearly I was all about the bargains and asked Fraser to help me find fun brooches and old lady jewels! Fraser (as always) was a great sport and helped me organize the pieces I was interested in as I was in a flurry of brooch overload! Whew! We then drifted through the rest of the fair spotting some more interesting booths (although not as low priced as the bargain tables we went to first). The show continued through out the whole hall and there were even more vintage find upstairs (including a nice selection of china, housewares, and pyrex)! The top floor was especially crowded so I decided to skip out on the clothing racks and stick to the accessories. The verdict? The show was
super awesome and I landed some exciting new brooches! Take a peek:


Oh my! I am still in a flutter about the pieces I ended up getting and can't wait to work them into my daily attire. I am really thrilled about the enameled metal flowers we found too! The swirly orange one was on one of those bargain tables and although I do love the shape of it, the orange sort of screams, "clown!" to me. I may try to refinish that one, but we'll see. Another one of my favourites is the pearly tree pin that I think will be particularly stunning on a cardigan:


I was also pretty stoked to continue my "old crazy cat lady" way of life and picked out a nice jaguar brooch too. Just check out those green rhinestone eyes:


But my bargoons didn't end at the brooches - I also got a pair of fun bracelets, two granny style necklaces, and a geometric gold pendant:


Yay! Needless to say, the fair exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to go to another! It also helps explain why my thrift shopping in Victoria has been so unsuccessful - there are loads of people rummaging through all the shops to prepare for these fairs! I think I'll save myself the agony of dismal thrifting and stick to paying a little bit more at vintage shows. What do you think? Have you ever been to a vintage fair before? What do you think of my new jewels?

Hoop-tastic!

If you're a long time reader of the blog, you may remember me talking about making an embroidery hoop art wall. I first saw the idea on the purl bee back in September 2010 and after raving about the project to friends finally found some wooden hoops in October of that same year! Wendy found them for me at her neighbourhood thrift shop and we quickly made a trip there to pick some up in a variety of sizes:


All I had left to do was find some swoon worthy fabrics to stretch in my new frames and stick them on the wall! Sounds easy enough right? Apparently not. My extremely picky taste and frugality put fabric finding on the back burner and my lovely wooden hoops never made it up on the walls. *Sigh*

When I moved to Victoria this past September Lindsay and I spotted some craft packages of beautiful printed scraps from The Milkman's Daughter (the sister shop of Smoking Lily). I may have gone overboard (ok, definitely went over...) and bought five packs. It felt like christmas opening up each of the bags to see what bargain gems I had acquired and figured they would work perfectly for my embroidery hoop project. Unfortunately once again the project got put back in the closet as unpacking, organizing, and getting my health under control seemed to take priority. Well - good news! This weekend I finally decided to take the plunge and behold my embroidery hoop covered living room wall:


Oh my am I ever in love! I've spent countless hours humming and hawing over how to cover our mass amounts of bland walls in our condo and the long strip behind the couch was certainly the most difficult. Our extremely limited decorating budget certainly didn't make it any easier but since I already had all the craft supplies waiting in my craft room project, I figured there was no time like the present to get it finished! Hooray! Take another peek from side:


What fun! I didn't want the fabrics to be overly feminine since although I doubt Fraser would complain, I'm sure he'd appreciate a more gender neutral approach to our main living space. I also wanted to go with a slightly asymmetrical layout so it wouldn't feel like I was over thinking it, even though I did go through a few lay outs before I got a composition I was happy with. To top it all off I completed the whole thing while Fraser was out so I got to see his reaction to the embroidery hoop wall when he got home!

The majority of the hoops are the Smoking Lily pieces, although I did use a grey pussy willow print I bought from bookhou at home:


I really love how each hoop looks and the Smoking Lily prints have charming off center composition. This is balanced out with a few patterned and striped prints like the super fun blue mason jar fabric I bought from bespoke uprising!:


The grey maple seeds are probably my favourite of the bunch, but I do have a special place in my heart for horse printed on striped rose cotton. I wanted the largest hoop to have a large print on it to bring in some interest and I think it turned out quite well:


I still have a few large hoops left and loads of scraps so as soon as I find some more smaller wooden hoops I think I'll do a similar spread above our headboard! My weekend thrift shopping trip was pretty unsuccessful (since all the thrift shops here are pretty looked over and ridiculously over priced) so I may have to wait until I head back to Kamloops so I can buy out Cost Savers! Oh well, it took me over a year to complete this first project so I'm sure I can be patient. So what do you think? How do you decorate your walls? Ever tried embroidery hoop art? Any hoops you think I should switch out?

Dip and Thrift

I popped over to Lovely Cupboard for this 5 layer greek dip. Delicious, I know!

So delicious, I nearly missed a previous post! Heather at Lovely Cupboard started with this frame:

It is lovely, but doesn't exactly scream young and fun.

After a little creativity, paint chips, and (a lot of) cutting she made the frame look like this:

Did you just do a double take? I sure did! What a genius Heather is!

It is so bright and geometric and completely Kate!

What is the best thrift store re-purpose you've ever done?