Happy Fourth of July!

Vintage Fourth of July Postcard, originally uploaded by riptheskull.

Just a quick note to say have a great holiday!

Apparently I'm taking an impromptu blogging break, but all is well and I'll be back soon.

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day, whether celebrating with your own kids or celebrating the gift that is the mother in your life!

A few years ago, we started a new tradition where the small group of women on my little side of the family who are mothers get together for lunch and whatever.

This year, it was lunch and thrift store shopping, LOL. And, believe it or not, it was not my idea, it was my mom's. So, a great day was had by all and a few new vintage finds were found!

Top that all off with some ice cream and, there you go, you can't really ask for anything better.

Sorry for the short post with no visuals, but this girl is getting tired.

Oh, before I go, my middle daughter is 36 weeks pregnant and at today's appt. she was at 1 cm. dilated. Exciting times, waiting for my second grandchild to be born! So, we shall see how much longer she goes...you can stay at 1-3 cm for days, you just never know.

Grocery Store Flowers and Outgoing Orders

Two things I love!

My local grocery store has the best flowers and I love to grab a bunch for no special reason other than they're pretty and they make me happy.

The other thing that makes me happy is crunchy kraft paper packages tied with jute and ready to go off to the local post office.

Hopefully, what's inside those packages makes you happy!

Family Room In Progress

This is what I've been working on the last week, changing the wall color in my family room and setting up my little desk area. You can see on the right side, where I stopped painting, the color I'm switching from: sand to kiwi. I'm loving this pretty green. I have that one wall and the hallway to finish and then it'll be done.

But, I'm loving my desk area. I still don't have all my office stuff transferred over to my drawers, but just to have a dedicated space to work at has been great and I feel like I'm getting more done.

I found this desk at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. It was the family's grandmother's desk and they say it's at least 50 yrs. old. It's in great shape, structurally. It has all it's hardware, but of course the wood is really beat up, but I'm a strange one and actually like the look of it. I can't make up my mind whether I want to paint it a creamy white or just leave it alone. At this point, I'm thinking I'll leave it. I think all the wear adds character.

Wait A Minute, Mr. Postman!

I'm anxiously waiting for the mail today. I should be receiving some of the yummy books and mags I ordered last week.

Here's my list of yumminess:

Also, the current Martha Stewart Living, Easy Quilts and the last two issues of Romantic Homes! Wheeee!

I love to read and I hope to have some great inspiration for my home and items to keep my eye out for while shopping for my boutique...see, all this spending is business-related. :D

If you have a home decor, crafts or quilting book or magazine you would like to recommend, let me know!

I'm Bursting With Ideas For Posts!

I really need to get going to work right now, lol.

I still have many photos to take of the salvaged items I picked up about a week ago. I also want to take photos of various spots in my own home, featuring vintage and repurposed items I fell in love with and how I mix them with my contemporary pieces.

I plan on making a stop at my mom's home and posting some photos of her style. She has definitely been the original influence on my decorating style and she is the expert on mixing the old with the new and managing to keep it all looking current, fresh and comfortable.

Next will be my sister's home. She has recently caught the vintage bug, but she is in love with bright, modern colors...very mod, very retro. Another source of decor eye candy.

All of these ideas are brewing and will be in the works soon!

Happy Friday Vintage Lovers!

It looks as if it will, indeed, be a happy vintage thrifting weekend for me. I'm excited after checking out my local paper and craigslist and there are 5 good prospects, 4 estate sales and 1 thrift store liquidation! Yay!!

I'm off this Saturday, so it's perfect timing. Hope the hubby doesn't mind that I've planned out the whole morning. He's usually good about being my "assistant". If not, my 18 yo daughter is getting into my thrifting passion a bit herself, really just helping me out, but she's beginning to learn what I'm looking for and likes to help with my stamped shipping tags and goes along to the post office when I drop off my shipments. She even pushes me to take more photos and get more items listed at my store, LOL. Hmmm, maybe she's more of a "manager" than a assistant.

Happy Friday to you, I'm off to work and hopefully I'll have lots of fun photos and adventures to talk about this weekend.

Vintage Graphics

I've been doing a lot of browsing online today and getting my blog listed on various directories, etc., when I came across Grandma's Graphics, http://www.grandmasgraphics.com/index.php
a website with some wonderful vintage graphics and clipart, totally free!

And speaking of free, I should use this opportunity to give credit to the website http://fromoldbooks.org where I got my absolutely perfect vintage graphic, "Queen Mab", a butterfly queen from a 1920's children's book that I'm using as my banner and avatar for anything to do with "The Vintage Butterfly Boutique."

Happy Chinese New Year!

Kitty Has Found A New Home.

My sweet robin's egg blue vintage kitty tin will be heading off to her new home this week, she's my second sale from my etsy store -http://thevintagebutterfly.etsy.com .

I'm going to miss her, lol! She's a cutie.

This evening I've listed a couple of new items on etsy.

I'd love for you to go take a peek!

Estate Sale Reveries

I lucked upon a wonderful, local, estate sale the other day and found some of the neatest things. I could have easily spent more than I did, but kept to my budget.

As I wandered around this couple's home, I was touched by the strong presence that their home and the things in it gave off. I felt as if I got to know them while I was there...she was a crafty woman: there was a whole room dedicated to her crafts (she embroidered, crocheted, sewed, knitted, did plastic canvas, etc) with a sewing machine, serger and another machine I didn't identify.

She loved Christmas and made many of her own ornaments. There were light sets and ornaments. Papers and tags...many items in their original boxes.

She sang, loved to cook and was an incredibly neat homemaker...everything pressed, all instruction manuals to all of her appliances neatly filed, pretty china and silver kept in mint condition.

He loved to play poker and collected playing cards, was in the Navy and loved a good dirty joke (there were several "novelty" adult items from the 70s' in their bar area!).

I could go on...they were lovely, what I know of this couple, from their home and their things. This, this sense of history and heart is what I love about vintage collecting and decorating.

I imagine that they would be pleased at how much joy their precious things are bringing to me.

My new little cottage...

I have so many things to talk about, but this post, this teensy little post will just be the designated first post...just to get it out of the way.

Welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.