Announcing...Beca Reads!

Thank you to anyone who stops by here to read my every other month posts! :)  I have been so busy home schooling my daughter and packaging up items from my etsy shop, I've barely had time to breathe.  Thanks to my amazing friend, I found the motivation to finally open a 2nd shop...yes, another shop!  I can hardly believe how well my first shop has done so far and I'm just thrilled to finally let go of piles of children's books that I have found over the years.  I would buy any type of children's book that caught my eye at rummage sales, library sales, etc.  I just love the old illustrations, sweet stories about gay children (when gay actually meant being happy), and having good behavior.  I have decided that I am keeping my prices fair and low because I think that makes it more fun.  I want people to feel excited to buy these just as much as I was when I bought them.  They are great for nursery room decor, building up a new baby's library, and even (if you dare) using the pages for collage, scrapbooking etc.  So give it a look and let me know what you think!  Thank you for stopping by and hopefully I'll be posting some more before the holidays are over...geez time flies, doesn't it?

It's Been A While

Wow!  It has been a while since Beca Blythe joined our family, but she is still being treasured each and every day! :)  I have even found her some boots, had a lovely friend buy me a pattern for some clothes to make her...because let's be honest here...she's been in the same outfit for 38 years and I'm thinking she might be a bit sick of the dress she's in. :)  I cannot wait to pick out a wig for her...I've been searching ebay, etsy, etc trying to find the perfect one.  I'm sure in time I will have several for her, but the first one has to be extra special. :)  I'm not into the whole goth/punk look, but I do like some of the unnatural colors (i.e - pink,  yellow, etc.).  Let's see....I guess my favorite find since Beca Blythe has got to be this light fixture I found this weekend on the last day of an estate sale...the final hour too!!  I almost didn't go because I thought there was no way there would be anything, but there always is, isn't there? :)  The sun was already going down when we got home, so the pictures are a bit off...sorry!  But, you'll get the point...I LOVE it...orange and yellow metal sculpted flowers!  Husband wants me to sell it...I want to keep keep keep it!!  Help me out?!?!  How do you convince your significant other it's worth keeping??? :)

My Amazing $1.00 Find

All my life I have been fascinated with old-fashioned things, vintage items, etc.  I suppose it all began with my fascination with Anne of Green Gables as a child and grew from there.  I have found a few special items over the years, but nothing compared to what I found with my dear friend this weekend.  We try to arrive at least an hour early for any good rummage or estate sale, but this sale we were running a bit behind.  We eagerly parked, grabbed our bags and off we went to wherever our eyes led.  I immediately rummaged through some gift wrap and doilies and then over to some dolls lying in an old suitcase.  An older gentleman was already there going through each doll, turning them over and reading their markings.  I decided to let him have at it as I am not so familiar with old dolls.  My friend and I decided to go through the inside of the house and we left the driveway for about 20 minutes or so.  As we walked back through the garage and driveway I picked up an Irmi mobile that my lovely friend found for me and some other things I can't even remember now.  :)  As we stood in line to purchase I thought I'd look through the dolls one more time since there were other toys in that area too and nobody else was over there now.  I went over, saw a doll that had something hanging out of the back of her head as if it contained a talking mechanism.  I turned her over saw these gorgeous eyes with long eyelashes and thought she looked like a Blythe.  I turned her over, opened her original dress and there were the words Blythe, 1972 Kenner.  I decided to purchase her and was a bit thrilled since although I have a love for all things shabby chic I had also decided months ago that I definitely thought Blythe dolls were super cool and was going to ask my husband for one for Christmas this year (I had not done much research on them and only knew they were definitely over $100.00).  OK...back to my story...I took her back in line, showed my friend who also gave me a thumbs up and said it was a super cool find.  I was a bit thrilled to think that I was probably holding a doll worth about $100-$200.  Little did I know at the time how much she is really worth.  I asked the darling girl behind the table how much she wanted for her and she shrugged and said in a questioning tone, "I don't know, a dollar?"  I said, "sure."  We walked to the car very excited and when we got inside we admired her a bit as I started to tell her that I thought there was something wrong with her because the string in the back was hanging out of the back of her head.  As I pulled on the string the doll's face was facing my friend and we heard a click and then my friend gasped. Her eyes were changing colors!!  We were so excited.  I pulled the string again...another color..and another...and another....and another!  We screamed about a million times.  It was so exciting.  Still not knowing her exact worth, we were more and more enamored with her by the minute.  I have to say...she also has red hair like me!  I couldn't believe that man left her there in that suitcase!  I was meant to have her!  I can't believe I thought she was broken!  So...as you have probably guessed, we have no fancy equipment, no scanners, no iphones, etc.  I had to wait until I got home to look up her worth and yes, I now know I got the deal of my life!  There are some on ebay right now for $1800.00.  Her hair needs some slight help, but since my research this weekend I've learned that the red heads had the coarsest hair and their hair in general was coarse so that it would hold hairstyles.  She is gorgeous nonetheless and I will adore her forever!  I've given her the name Beca Blythe.  $1.00 for doll, priceless love.  Presenting Beca Blythe:

Something I Love...And a Little Something Else

I need to do more homeschooling posts.  Here's something I love about homeschooling....sharpening the colored pencils while she works on her math...I love it!!  Don't ask me why...maybe the mix of colors against the background of the plain wood shavings??  Whatever it is it is very soothing to me and makes me happy to look at when I'm done.  :)  Of course I also love to hear her doing her adding and counting and so forth too....but it's not quite as colorful.  :)  Oh yeah...totally different subject, but if you love Target and amazing stamped jewlery...you have to do go here!  I'll be back soon!  Good weekend to you all!

Old Things, New Things

Using something old...I love watching this!

Doing something new...first soccer practice...is she really this old already?!?!  

I Have To Keep It

Ok...I know I have a lot to learn in taking pictures, but you probably get the point...this was a quilt I found at a recent estate sale that I just love!  I also love the fact that I got it for $15...a lot more than I ever spend on any one item, but it was all the cash I had left and they also let me have a huge bag of buttons with the quilt!  I asked an old man how much it was and he started at $25...come to find out as I was leaving that his wife had told another lady $35!  I came home, treated the whole quilt with a dose of oxy clean (although I've heard that a product called Orvus is much safer when treating old quilts) and voila...it was even more beautiful and bright!  I decided then and there...it was mine...not for resale!  :)  Whoever made it took bits and pieces of sheets, pillowcases, etc and made this wonderfully colorful quilt!  My 5 yr old has even been begging for it on her bed!  I love love love it!  Do you ever find stuff you can't possibly resell?  Tell me!  Have a happy Monday!

New Friends

Etsy has been such a blessing to me lately!  I have been working hard and not only am I having fun, but I have made a wonderful new friend!  She is the inspiration behind taking more pictures for this blog of mine. :)  I can't wait until her shop reopens today!  She even shared the news of a huge rummage sale here even though I could have been considered "competition."  :)  It was a fun time and I found something that made me very happy.  I found an entire set of very old bingo cards in their original basket with the original wooden bingo sign!  So, for my picture today, here's a glimpse of it...these are in my shop right now and I've listed them super cheap!  Tomorrow I'm going to show you a picture of something I got a few weeks ago at an estate sale and I just can't bear to resell it....I told my husband, "it just makes me too happy."  Stay tuned!