living on love

a date to ramona.

so we have really needed new tires for awhile, like for about the past year, but getting new ones never really seemed to be in the budget, so we made do by just exploring places close to home, combining trips, etc. well we finally got new tires & both of us had the itch to just go somewhere... maybe some place where driving on the highway, the use of gps, & maybe a bathroom break would all be required.

who knows why, but we ended up headed to ramona, a super cute place a little less than an hour away from us. the drive was so pretty... i was fascinated with the giant boulders that were all over the hills, now i wanna know how they got there. oh & thats also why i needed to share 3 photos of them.

our first stop on the main street in ramona was a feed store to look at the baby chicks. they were all adorable & chirpy... brought back memories of the when we bought baby chicks to live in ran's mom's chicken coop. next, we stopped at really cool thrift store with so many treasures! awesome scores all around... ran was so pleased with a book he found he had to look through it before we could continue on. after the thrift store we walked acorss the street to an antique store that had the cutest little candy.by.the.piece shoppe with all the old school candies & some little kids even came in while we were there to buy a piece... cutest thing ever.

such a wonderful afternoon... i think we had both kind of forgot how mind clearing a nice drive can be.

 

guest post: thrifted treasures.

Hi everyone, I'm Holly from aqua elephant. One of my favorite things to blog about is great finds on used goods at cheap prices. First, that means you get to go shopping without spending a lot of money. Then you get to practice your photog skills and tell stories about why you picked each item. Finally, you get to enjoy your new goods for years to come! It's win-win-win. I thought I would share four pieces I've picked up over the past year that somehow never got shared on my blog. Best of all they all come from very different backgrounds... 

This little painting on wood was a score from Value Village. I find that the thrift stores up here in Seattle are mostly junk I wouldn't want, but every once in a while you come across an item that catches your fancy. I am a sucker for mountains, cabins in the woods, and wildlife. I originally planned to paint over the gold edge, but it grew on my once I got it home. On the back the artist, Helena McMahon, wrote "To Pam & Fred Sept 6, 1986". Pam and Fred's loss is my gain. 

This next item was discovered while on vacation last year in Grand Rapids, Michigan of all places. There was this cute store in town called Rebel Reclaimed that had a combo of new and vintage. This little tea container was untouched and perfectly old. It is so handy to keep tea bags in on top of the fridge! 

Estate sales are my favorite shopping destination. They are hit or miss, but I can usually find something I like and it is the cheapest way to go. I went to this total bust estate sale and was just about to leave when I spotted this piece. I don't think it would stand out to anyone else, but my grandparents had a painting in this style hanging in their kitchen and it reminds me of them. I hung this above my kitchen stove and it brings back happy memories of visiting them when I was young. One of my favorite things about shopping for used items is finding things I remember from the past.

The last item I want to share is one of my all time favorites, and I actually found it at an antique store in Snohomish, WA for only $6.50. I thought that was a steal considering the work someone put into this little pillow. Alaska holds a special place in my heart. My parents lived in Anchorage before I was born and we took vacations there often since my dad is in the Alaska travel industry. I lived in Juneau for a summer after graduating college. Even without my connection to the state, I couldn't have passed this one up. How cute are all the little scenes from each region? I especially love the polar bear. This could also be inspiration for a fun project... we should all go stitch our states!

 okay, stephanie here. i love all these so much... especially that state pillow. im totally with holly in that we all need to start stitching states. i always get a little excited when holly posts her thrifted treasures... anything vintage is just lovely, but she has great taste to boot. some of my favorite "holly finds" are this amazing blue trunk & this amazing knit pillow she posted today.

thrifting treasures.

look at what i found today! it was one of those moments when you see something cool from afar & suddenly feel as if every other person in the store is going after it, you feel like you cant get there fast enough, & your ready to push down anyone who gets your way. yeah, that was me... & look at how wonderful it is!

& the price was so amazing i cant keep it to myself. i scored this amazing gumball machine for... (insert drumroll)... $3.60! even after i picked it up, i was having crazy thoughts that someone was going to try & take it away from me... because isnt an old gumball machine what everyone wants? yeah, thats what i thought too. so i hurried to the checkout, but along the way i did manage to pick up this sweet vintage metal filing box.

collections: vintage sewing spools.

welcome to the first installment of collections, a new blog feature for the coming year. every couple of weeks or so i will be sharing some of the things i have collections of. i always think they make for interesting photos & its just fun to share. 

i have been collecting vintage spools of thread for the last couple years. some of them my mama sent me & some i found during various thrifting & antiqueing adventures. the labels are my favorite part... some on paper, some printed directly on the wood, different fonts, & colors. i store about half of them in a vintage mason jar on my sewing counter ( i took over the bar in my kitchen) & the other half are stored away. 

my favorite room.

i love my kitchen. not in a "i love to cook & bake" type way. its more of a "this feels cozy" love. its filled lots of vintage treasures, has three windows to let in lots of light, more than one person can fit in it (big improvement from our ny kitchen), & i usually spend a lot of time crafting at the bar.

one thing i discovered from our ny kitchen was that i like open storage. i was having a hard time adjusting to cupboards in this new kitchen so we picked up these organizing bars from ikea & now i have open storage right at my stove. it works out perfectly. it still totally complete yet though, we are going to add a magnetic board (also from ikea) in the spot right behind the stove to act as a back splash (& then i magnet cool things to it too).

theres kind of a little joke among us & some family about how we didnt bring our mattress with us when we moved, but we brought a fridge door. we still dont have a mattress & spend our nights on a blow up bed or the floor... im still happy with my choice. its one of my favorite vintage pieces.

you can see bits of my living room here.

flower pins.

1. punch two different sized circles out of paper.

2. ink the edges if desired & pre-pierce holes in the middle of the circles.

3. add a tiny dot of liquid glue to the under side of the pin head & then slide the smaller circle on, repeat glue application, & slide on the larger circle.

4. add to your next project...

 for a variation, use 4 hearts instead of 2 circles:

special delivery.

the other day mr. postman left me a slip saying i had a package to be picked up at the post office... from my mom. packages from my mom are always a little exciting because you never know what kind of crazy stuff she has packed into that flat rate box... & she sure can pack stuff into one of those boxes.

this package was filled with waxy thread, chocolate treats, a pump so we can make a fountain for our back porch, some knives (we only have butter knives & when my mom was here she was asking ran where the knives were to cut an apple... ran: "we only have butter knives so it can make cutting things a little interesting." mom: "well i guess cutting my apple will be interesting then."), a cheese grater (another thing we didnt have), some vintage kitchen utensils, & these lovely things:

resin flowers... i love that little owl.

vintage fabric, zippers, & bias tape... i like the name of this color: parakeet.

lots & lots of crepe paper. ive already used it for some projects.

& this pretty trivet. arent the colors wonderful?

crafting a creative home

christmas decorations.

since its almost christmas i wanted to take a quick minute to share some of my favorite christmas decor ideas. some of them i even want to implement as everyday decor ideas.

i love this tree trimmed with vintage photographs.

image found here.

i have seen a few variations on this "tree" idea. i think it would be fun to do a whole wall like this... i could probably spend all day just staring at it.

image found here.

the candy pillows on the couch crack me up & that frame wall is amazing.

image found here.

i think this is pretty classy...

image found here.

this "tree" is prefect for us. no branches for kitten little to be constantly trying to eat.

image found here.

this is another idea that i would love to do as an everyday decor idea. i especially love the toadstools at the base of the tree.

image found here.

this is my favorite room right now. the walls. the windows. & the seating! those brown chairs next to the christmas tree look so snuggly.

image found here.

vintage treasures.

i had so much fun shopping at the trading post yesterday. i keep thinking about different little things i saw & thinking, "oh i should have got that." i am thinking we are going to need to make another trip out there sometime soon (they had tons of old frames that would be prefect for an idea i have been dreaming about recently).

they had piles & piles of suitcases... all shapes & sizes. a little tan one made it home with us. i think it would make such a fun overnight bag or art tote.

every time i look at this retro bundt cake pan i smile a little bit. the color is so fun & i just imagine it hanging on the wall of my kitchen.

i always thought that the polaroid rainbow camera was the cutest camera out there, but that was until i met the kodak brownie. it is totally adorable. so small & cute. i think it may give the rainbow a run for its money. my favorite part of this camera, besides it cuteness, is the instructional booklet that came with it.

all these goodies are up in the shop now. a few more treasures from our adventure will be added tomorrow.

i love my mama.

and she loves me.

remember how i said i wanted tree for vintage ornaments? well i didnt actually own any vintage ornaments... just ones for the shop. that is until i came home from work the other day & found that mr. post man had left me a little package...

my mama had sent me a little box filled with ornaments that had been my great grandma's & my grandma's.

i love them sooo much & think they are greatest... & now i have a tree with just vintage ornaments.

plus, look at the cool box she sent them in...