In Order To Create, One Must First SHOP!!!!

I had a wonderful day last Friday when my sweet Daughter-In-Law and I took a morning and hit area yard sales. As I have mentioned before, this is pretty new to me and I have to be in the right mood, but this activity was initiated by Steph, who decided we should do it once a month from here on since it was such fun. Here is a look at the day's purchases:

Can you just picture the fun I will have altering this cool house? I found this at a yard sale with many other cool things. The sale was at the home of a local artist, whom I had never met, named Hilary Gonzales. Turns out Miss Hilary teaches classes in our area in Altered Art! I have lamented so many times at the lack of artsy types where I live. While I am quite sure they exist, I have met so few. I hit it off with this particular artist and I am sure I will see her in one of her future classes. She admitted that this house was one of those "gotta have it" items that just she just never got to. I feel I must do it justice...one of these days.

This same stop produced these little bags of goodness. They were a mere 50 cents each and have bunches of "junque" that will work so well in my altered art. The headers say "Art To Share". What a great idea for all that little stuff you have at a garage sale. I'm not sure this would appeal to just anyone, but not everyone recognizes treasure when they see it-don't you agree? It also started a thought process within me about how many hundreds (thousands) of little bags I could fill with treasure if I ever have that elusive garage sale.

Another stop on our journey led to this little gem. A few months back I took a class at Frenzy Stamper given by a super-fun chick named Rosie. She brings an industrial Badge/Button maker and you spend a couple of hours making mini-collages and whatever you are inclined to make with the end result being a nice pile of fun, fun, fun button pins. I know I wasn't the only one who left that class sincerely coveting the machine to make buttons. But they run a few hundred dollars, so I decided I could just attend Rosie's classes. This is the where you find out just how CHEAP I can be, as I ran onto this little Badge maker marked at $5.00 and almost didn't buy it! It is not on par with the big, industrial machines, but the gal who sold it swears that she used it in her business for years and that it works just swell. I haven't tried it yet, but the box had everything-including all the directions and purchase orders from the company that makes the parts. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out, but for a five spot I think I made the right corporate decision.

Steph found several frames, old and new, which she intends to use in her home decor projects, If I can twist her arm, I'll show you what she comes up with. She has developed a new passion for refinishing (altering???) and I am so looking forward to seeing what she does. She is an artist in the making and she will be awesome once she lets go and gets it going. After our outdoor adventures, I turned her on to a wonderful antique store in none other than Camp Verde, AZ.. Sweet Peas Antiques is one of those places I had passed by a hundred times and never stopped. Once I did I was completely hooked and I have found some cool things here. Some of the lovelies I found for my Valentine's Day swap came from this venue. It's one of those places where various vendors rent space and all the spaces create a HUGE store. There is also a space set up with stamping and scrapbooking items, which makes it a double whammy. This trip's haul started with these 2 magazines from 1931-

Woman's World & The American Home. The ads are to-die-for in both magazines. I originally intended to buy just the Woman's World and then I saw this beautiful ad on the back of the Home mag-

Though I would much prefer it be an ad for lipstick or face powder, its beauty cannot be denied. And after all, this was from an era when a woman only showed more sophistication and worldliness if she had a cigarette delicately perched between her fingers. Fortunately times have changed, eh girls?

One more delightful find from Sweet Pea-this delicate baby bib from France. It is 2 layers with the first being a soft blue cotton and the overlay a cream tulle-type lace with white embroidery. As much as I appreciate the bib, the tag was the extra bonus. Can you believe that when I was going through the checkout process, the cashier came thisclose to cutting the gorgeous tag off? I nearly shrieked...but I caught her just in time! HA! I'm not sure what I will do with this, as I could never imagine it actually being worn by a baby. Maybe babies don't spit up in France?!? I do think it might look great on just the right vintage teddy bear. Hmmmm....a project for a future Grandchild perhaps? Sorry, kids!

I agree with Steph and think we should do this once a month. Not only did we score some major finds, but I always have fun when I get to spend time with her. We laughed, shopped and ate. What more could a girl want?