Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Remnants By Carrie Etsy Easter Sale



EASTER SALE!

I am having an Easter Sale over at my Etsy site!

Enter coupon code EASTEREGGHUNT15
for 15% off your entire purchase. 




Monday, March 26, 2012

Thrifting Update - March 26






This week had it's ups and downs in the world of thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales. The week started with a trip to the thrift store where I scored some books for each member of the family.

Thursday the Little and I headed to a little town just to the north of us - a twenty minute drive through the rain - to a much anticipated garage sale advertising 300+ Little Golden books. Much to our dismay not a sign in sight. Apparently they didn't want to have a sale in the rain. Shucks!

                          
Friday proved a little more worth while! A couple garage sales and a occasional sale going out of business yielded the above and below! I am hoping to do a couple outdoor sales this summer and am starting to stock up on some larger items. I don't think I did half bad. I have also decided to keep the ironing board I purchased last week. It makes a great stand for display!




Saturday, March 24, 2012

Some Creative Sparks From The Week...

This bag started it's life as a vintage tablecloth for the exterior, what looks to be vintage fabric for the interior and all trimmed out with a vintage doily and three vintage red buttons. There are faded spots on the tablecloth and the doily has a stain but that is part of the charm of taking vintage materials and giving them new life!

I used a bit of the leftover tablecloth trimmed with vintage rick rack for the interior pocket.

I just love the strawberries!


This week I finally made it back into the sewing room and finished another tote using repurposed vintage materials. I also started a new little project - pins from vintage embroideries! I took pieces of embroidery that were stained or had holes and cut out the charming, useable bits and turned them into pins. Not sure if I am going to sell these on Etsy or hold off and sell them at some sales I am hoping to take part in this summer. I plan on making a bunch more as they were lots of fun! And I used all materials that I had around the house that were left over from previous projects. I may even do a tutorial - we'll see.


The finished pin next to the piece of embroidery it was cut from. You can even see one of the stains that made it unusable for it's original purpose. I love giving old items new life!


The back of the pin.
(I got a bag of 50 pin backs at a thrift store for 50 cents awhile back
just knowing I would find a use for them :)!)



The Little was inspired this week as well...
The Little helping the birds out with their nest building.
With adult supervision, the Little discovered the joy of power tools! With a scrap of wood and Daddy's drill, the Little made a house for our garden bees! It is already installed and awaiting the first bees of the season (if only the mosquitoes had held off on their appearance - they are already out in full force!)



Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Knitting & Reading - Yarn Along!



With all the gorgeous weather we have been having, not a lot of reading or knitting has been happening. I have been knittings some washcloths and crocheting their matching "keepers". Currently working on a red, white and blue set. Any left over cotton yarn I have I make a very small crocheted bowl or base that I turn into pincushions to go into my sewing cases along with a matching needle book.

I am slowly reading a few books at once depending on my mood and where I am in my day - only reading a few pages here and there. When the kids are out playing and I can grab a few minutes in the gazebo I am reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. A wonderful read for in the garden! Before bed I am switching between People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and Austenland by Shannon Hale (reading on my iPad on Kindle app) depending on what I am in the mood for.*


**Joining in again with Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along. Such a fun way to get
inspiration and see what others are reading and knitting!**

(I just opened an Amazon affiliate store in my right hand side bar where I will be putting all the books that I refer to here at Mommy Made In MN. Thank you for visiting!)

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Thrifting Update - March 19

This past week I made it to an estate sale (nothing except for a 50 cent puzzle and a gag gift for my MIL) and a couple garage sales - this nice weather has people setting up early - yeah! The week also included thrifting from another source - my Mom has been "picking" for me down in Arizona and this past week a box arrived full of goodies :)!

A few of the goodies from the box from my Mom:
Shoes my mom found at a garage sale - Stylish! These will be going to Clear Lake.
I am betting it won't take someone long to snap up the middle pay - they are awesome!

A map of the Western USA dish towel - great condition! Already listed on Etsy.

A wonderful Springy dresser doily in nice bright colors. (Already on Etsy :)!)

An absolutely adorable small drawstring bag! I can see this as a wristlet carried by a spring or summer bride as she walks down the aisle. Perfect for the little essentials a bride needs. It could also be her "something old" and "something blue".
(Already on Etsy.)

A Michael Murray scarf (and also an Ellen Tracy that I have yet to get a photo of).
(Already on Etsy.)

And here are some pics from my garage sale finds - just 2 sales led to these purchases - not bad:

A table runner and vintage metal cow tags! How awesome are those tags!
Same garage sale as runner and cow tags -
a vintage wooden ironing board with a fabulous green metal base and the original label!
Will be going to Clear Lake's The Weekend Cottage next week.

The other garage sale had things priced to sell!

A green planter with mushrooms on it and butterfly fabric for a future project.
(See other items closer up below.)
Vintage linens (need ironing!)

A vintage Calaprint tablecloth in like-new condition!
 And my favorite item of all - from the same sale as the above - for a whopping $1 - one of those items that the minute you see it you know it was meant to be yours...

A vintage crewel work featuring a ring-necked pheasant and a fuzzy tailed rabbit.
Up close you can even see their tracks in the snow! It is absolutely lovely and is already hanging on the wall even though Spring is here and the pics theme is Winter. Can't help it - it just makes me smile!



Linking up again this week with Apron Thrift Girl and Her Library Adventures.



Saturday, March 17, 2012

Waking Up!

UPDATE (3/18/12): Today I planted carrots, beets, parsnips, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes and peas from seed. I also couldn't resist the transplants already in at our nearby home improvement store so also in the ground our 4 cabbage plants and 4 broccoli plants. Why not! The soil was calling my name! I forgot to put in spinach and kale, but they will have to wait as the next few days are calling for thunderstorms, some severe.

(Earlier entry from 3/17/12)
In the middle of March in Minnesota we are usually still covered in snow or at least the ground is still frozen. This year, however, with only about 20" of snow having fallen (compared to last years 75") and balmy weather (it is in the middle to upper 70s) the ground is already thawed and seeds will be going in the ground. Amazing!

I cleaned off the potting bench that my dad made me last year and I started cleaning out garden beds uncovering what is already waking up in our "I Spy Garden" (I have things hidden everywhere).

Goodies spied reaching for the early Spring sun...

Chives

Garlic

Rhubarb

A flower - for the life of me I can't remember what this is!
Will need to wait and see when it blooms.


The little and I also planted one small tray of herbs - rosemary (a favorite flavor of my eldest), basil and lovage. Garden books are at the ready - my favorite is The Backyard Homestead and I also often refer to The Garden Primer. Stock was taken of our seed stock, one pack of spinach, which I forgot to order with my seed order, was purchased, and I feel we are ready! Now we can't wait for our gardening partner, Grandma, to get home from Arizona!

(Linking up with Ginny over at Small Things for Saturday Garden Journal.)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Little Spring Break Excursion

Today the boys' and I drove down to meet Daddy at his work and go to lunch. Daddy has been wanting to take us for one of his favorite cuisines - Indian! And so today was the day and the boys really did enjoy it - Naan, Vegetable Samosas, Chicken Curry, Chicken Pakota (?), rice and, the favorite, Chicken Tandorri. They both LOVED that! After lunch we went to see Daddy's work - his company moved last summer and we had not yet been to see their new location. It was gorgeous! And many compliments to my hubby who had a huge had in orchestrating it!




After lunch the boys and I headed back north and made a stop at a new Goodwill. Another decent haul! A pair of pants for the Older, a couple linen pieces for me to turn into bags or pillows, a copy of Howard's End to add to my summer reading list, a dinosaur puzzle for little and a HUGE stack of books from the .15 bin for the boys. All for a whopping $11.30.

After Goodwill we stopped at Peninsula Point Two Rivers Historical Park which sits on the convergance of the Mississippi River and Rum River in our hometown. I have been meaning to take the Older one there since he did his unit on the First Americans at school. The park has wonderful plaques that talk about the trading history of that particular spot going back to the 1600s and the role these two rivers played in the settling of our state. A wonderful history lesson at a beautiful spot! The boys also watched the ducks and geese and threw some rocks in the mighty Mississippi!





The day ended with more outside play - street hockey, baseball and some playing on the swing set. I am amazed that we have already reached that time of year where the dinner hour rushes up and I have yet to make anything, the boys are still playing outside at 7PM and my housework isn't even close to being done. Oh well - the weather is beautiful and it is pulling us outside. What a beautiful week to be having Spring Break! (Tomorrow they are saying 75 degrees :)!!!)

Enjoying the end of a beautiful spring day - just soaking it all in!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Thrifting Update - March 12

Joining in again with Apron Thrift Girls's "Thrift Share Monday" (oops! collection already closed) and Her Library Adventures "Flea Market Finds". I meant to post earlier today but as I have mentioned before, my boys are on Spring Break so this week is flowing differently then most others. (Tomorrow is our first field trip - check back tomorrow for the details!)

Last week while my in-laws were in town my MIL and I got away for a little shopping. After a stop at the Round Barn Potting Company in Andover for some inspiration, we hit Goodwill for some thrifting. It turned into quite a nice stop. My MIL found an adorable 40s dish and some fabulous bright green fabric with giant white flowers. I will let her post about those. Together we found some wonderful things that I will be adding to both my Etsy shop and the Weekend Cottage in Clear Lake - 2 embroidered table runners, a bag of vintage Christmas ornaments and some Palm Springs souvenir S&Ps. I also found some nice fabric lengths for next to nothing which hopefully will make an appearance in sewing projects very soon (just waiting for the creative bug to bite again.) Add these things to the brand new, still stickered Darth Vader baseball cap and tshirt for Little, shorts and three books for Older and a Bonanza book for FIL and it was a very nice stop!

Beautiful table runners in wonderful condition - soon to be added to Etsy. I can see these on an Easter table!

Some old Christmas ornaments - I love the Partridge in a pear tree glass ornament! The two in front are plastic believe it or not. I have never seen anything like them before so if anyone has any info on them I would love to know!
This one is slightly creepy! It kinda looks like a street car decorated for the holidays yet the passengers are skeletons...kinda charming in a weird way...

After Goodwill we went out for lunch in Anoka and then went to the occasional sales that are held at a number of shops once a month. There are 3 or 4 of them in town right now. We only purchased some bed springs for use in future projects but it was fun seeing what they do with stuff. My Mom and I have went to these before and she had great luck finding some needed pieces of little furniture.

On Friday, the boys first day of Spring Break, I dragged them to an estate sale. It was a small, family run affair and wasn't at all what they had made it sound like on Craigslist. We saw the entire place in 5 minutes. 80% of the stuff was labeled "Not For Sale" and considering the ad said "everything not attached for sale" I found that odd. Oh well, I did find a cool clothespin bag (I have a thing for those) and a cute little Sona Ware aluminum teapot.




On Saturday I went to my first garage sale of the year. I new there wouldn't be much there but they did advertise old Bingo cards so I went. I did come away with a pack of Bingo cards - eagles and Zip the Greyhounds. That was all though.


This week there is a garage sale starting on Wednesday that looks to be chock full of vintage stuff. There is also a flea market on Thursday. We shall see what I make it to...most importantly is for me to get more things listed and consider a possible trip up to Clear Lake. I also want to maybe look for another outlet to sell online that works for me. I have tried Ebay and just wasn't happy. Anyone have any ideas? I am also thinking of opening a second Etsy shop where I would sell my handmades, so I would have a vintage shop and a handmade shop...opinions? Thank you for any advise you may have!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

62 Degrees!

When i happened to check the temp today it was 62 degrees!

Our neighborhood was full of kids playing, adults enjoying the lovely weather and I think I even smelled a grill going. Spring is here! We Minnesotans know that snow stll could fall even into April so we take what we get when we get it! I did realize that I didn't take a single picture of our day and the actvities that filled it - not a single picture of the new light now gracing our entryway that dear hubby installed. Not even a picture of the old toilet sitting on our front lawn after same dear hubby installed a brand new one in our main level. No pictures of the hours of baseball played or pics of the seeds started. There are more nice days to come though because the weatherperson says that by Tuesday we could be in the high 60s! Just a little rain tomorrow night into Monday first to wash away some of the winter grime and there will be sunny skies again. Must come up with some fun places to take the boys since they are on Spring Break...

P.S. If anyone out their has some great "Bug" themed crafts I would love to hear them. I am in charge of our Vacation Bible School crafts again this year and the theme is "Bugs". The more ideas I have the more I have to draw on to match the Bible story and verse with the craft.

Thnak you in advance!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Creative Friday


Joining in with Natural Suburbia for Creative Friday. Hoping next week to have some finished projects to show you!

Not a whole lot was created here this week. My in-laws were here visiting and taking care of the little one so I could go to a couple school meetings. Much thanks to them! The little and I did do a little needle felting and I pulled together the materials to make a pillow from an old vintage calendar that features a maple sugaring scene. Kinda appropriate for this time of year I thought...