Strategically Placed Spring

Karsen is into EVERYTHING. It has taken me all week to decide what Easter decor was safe to put out, what had to go back into the basement and what could be placed strategically.

She is such a climber. She loves to get things down. 

Here are a few of the decorations safely hidden around the house:

I love vintage Easter decor!

Vintage Ribbon

Look at these gorgeous vintage ribbons that I rescued from the bottom of a very old seamstress box that I found at a local thrift store.

Gorgeous calico prints and lovely rich fall colors.

Available at my Ebay store.

How I wish ribbon was made like this now!

Falling for FALL

With mid August quickly approaching, my favorite season is drawing near! FALL!

I love waking up on crisp September mornings. Cool at first and then warming to a near perfect 75 degree day. College football resumes on 9/3 and again on 9/5. Go Duke & Go Mountaineers!

School will soon be starting and the Dixie Classic Fair (a MUST if you live ANYWHERE in central North Carolina) will be pulling into town.

Fall has always been my favorite season.

And Halloween (only 74 days away) is one of my most loved Holidays!

Tate & Ashton with Papa Bud in 2008. Our last Halloween with him.

There is just something to be said about the simplicity of the colors of orange and black.

I especially love vintage Halloween decor. Especially the old invitations, the plastic spider rings and the heavy cardboard paper cut outs your teacher would hang on the walls.

Here are a few of my favorite online vintage Halloween decor items:

Photos from Country Living

And a few ETSY favorites too:



And Ebay:

Check out this perforated pumpkin carved by Eddie Ross ( PS if you aren't reading his blog yet.....YOU SHOULD BE!) Is'nt it stunning!

In other news, looks like my family is moving to Richmond in the next 2-3 weeks.

We have put our house on the market and have found a home to rent in the meanwhile.

It is SO hard to leave my family so soon after Papa Bud's death. And it breaks my heart to leave my grandmother. But it is what my family has to do and I know Papa Bud would support that.

In July, when we drove up to look at homes & condos, I kept thinking to myself that I could never move with Papa being so sick. 4 hours is too long of a drive to be away from him.

So, at least I will not have that worry in my heart now. I was able to be here with him during his illness and death and that time to me was the most precious time spent in my life.

God's timing is perfect...even if I don't understand HIS clockwork, I TRUST His plan.

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances- Isaiah 49:8

Vintage Wooden Ornaments

My vintage Kurt Adler ornament from 1960

Wooden Christmas ornaments were all the rage in the 1960's-1980's. By the 1990's however, not so much.

The joy of collecting vintage wooden ornaments is that you can buy them at just about every yard sale and Goodwill for nickles and dimes.

I began my collection about two years ago. However, they are currently packed up so I don't have many any pics to use for this blog. =(

Here are some goodies from the web though.

My favorites are the wooden German ornaments made by Erzgebirge .

There is just something sweet and innocent when it comes to handpainted, wooden toys!

Ebay is your best bet for finding HUGE lots for dollars.

Also try searching Steinbach ornaments. They are too adorable! Check out their Flickr page for some great examples of Steinbach's best!

Perfect

My latest Ebay find for under $3.00.

It's a vintage enamel flower pin. They were popular in the 60's and 70's.

I thought the red, white & blue would be perfect for the 4th of July.

I love vintage deals!

Vintage Barbies. The only way to play!

After giving birth to 3 consecutive boys, I was more than ready to have my one and only little girl, Ashton Kaylee.

She is my Christmas present to myself I tell others. Her birthday is on Christmas Eve.

As a little girl, I imagined having a daughter one day so that I could continue playing with my Barbie dolls....forever! This evil plot was formed after receiving the BEST Christmas present EVER....my 1980 Barbie Dream House.

After two years of crappy fake Barbie houses, and one very cool Barbie Townhouse (the Dream House predecessor) , I hit the jackpot........I will never forget that Christmas morning of 1980 when I walked into the living room and was met by this monster of a home! I played with it until I was too cool and then my mom sold it at a yard sale. It wasn't until Ashton was born that I set off on a mission to reclaim my treasure!

Now that Ashton is old enough to 'play' with me, it was only right that she play with the best Barbie Doll House EVERRRRR. The 1979-1982 Barbie Dream House.

I had to buy it off of Ebay. And it was not cheap. It was missing a few doors but hey, the bones were good so I bought it for me her!



You are looking at three large plastic pieces of orange & yellow HEAVEN (unless you were lucky enough to get yours in late 1981-1982 in which your house would have been PINK!)

Today's Barbie houses SUCK. They are flat and fold away neatly. Well sorry-- that is no fun IMO.



The 1978 Barbie Dream House does not fold away. Cannot fit into your closet and will only go neatly under your bed if you take it apart. ALL of it apart.

It has windows, lots and lots of windows. A flower bed. It has a closet which can also be a pretend Barbie elevator. I We like to divide the three units up so that I we can play with them easier. FUN!
It has 6 rooms. It is magnificent. It is why I love to play Barbies. And sometimes I let Ashton play with me.

All that's missing is the Barbie Dream House Cottage. Love Ebay.

I Heart My Vintage Mantel

My mantel in my living room is the place to be for my vintage holiday items.

I love decorating it for the different holidays.

I purchased some vintage Enesco Salt & Pepper shakers with a colonial theme a few months ago on Ebay. They are PERFECT for vintage July 4th decor.


Toby jugs make GREAT decor for a vintage 4th look. The best thing about the Toby's is you can find them relatively cheap on Ebay!




My vintage white creamers are actually measuring cups from the 1940's. They have an eagle and stars on them. Not sure who made them but they are quite old. I heart them.


A great Goodwill find from a few years ago is this vintage 1970's Candy jar from the George Washington Mount Vernon souvenir gift shop! Complete with the box I think I paid $2 bucks for it! I filled it with red, white and blue soap stars from Kohl's.


Another vintage item I am trying to win on Ebay is Dennison Patriotic Crepe Paper. SO awesome. This months issue of Better Homes & Gardens had a very neat idea to turn crepe paper into little bunting style banners and this Dennison vintage paper would do the trick!


What's on your mantle?