My Best Thrift Store Find EVER!

I haven't had much luck with yard sales and thrift stores this summer, mainly because I haven't had the time or extra money to go :( But something told me to stop into the one thrift store that I always have luck at. While I was about ready to give up and head home I decided to walk to the framed prints wall.

Well something caught my eye right away. It was a framed Warren Kimble print with a beautiful saltbox house on it. I looked to the left and there was another one! So I checked out the price tags - 2 for $8.50! I knew I had to have them. They are in perfect condition, they just have some paper stuck to the frame (which did come off). I was shocked when I got home and looked online. These are two prints from Warren Kimble's 4 Seasons Collection. The whole set of 4 sells for $100+ and each one separately sells for $25+. I got each one for $4.25 hehehe. That made my day for sure.

So now I have them all cleaned up and hanging on opposite sides of my fireplace. It was like they were meant to be there all along. The other bonus is that they are prints of my two favorite seasons, fall and spring.

Oh and I can't forget to show the other thing that I bought. It was only $2. It says that it was handmade in 1984. Not sure what I want to do with it, but for $2 I couldn't pass it up.

I hope to be posting more frequently, I apologize for being gone so long. I have been very busy with my daugher being back in school and getting my 4 year old ready for kindergarten next year. Not to mention dealing with the damage from that darn tree.

Tree Fell On Our House & Local News

We had some excitement here yesterday. Right before my husband was leaving for work at 2:30 we had a little storm roll in. We were all in the kitchen getting ready to say goodbye when all of a sudden there was a loud "BOOM" and our house shook. We all screamed and I said, "I think the house just got struck by lightning". Nicole ran to the living room and noticed that the blinds were moving. She screamed out, "the windows broken" and start to cry. Then she looked out the window and shouted that our neighbor's tree was on our house.

I had to scramble around because the water was flowing into our living room through the broken window and also from the bay window roof above. In a few minutes the police, fire truck and ambulance were parked outside. What happened was that our neighbor's century old maple tree (huge) was struck by lightning and split in two. The right side fell on our house and smashed her porch in the process and the left side fell into the neighbor's house on the other side. Luckily we got minimal damage. We had to have a tree removal service come out and get this....it ended up costing a total of $10,000. We have to pay a third of it, but luckily that is what insurance is for.

Well added onto all this drama, the local FOX4 news came out to do a story. That was hard for me because I am a very shy person and it was my first time on tv. So a couple hours later I turned around and parked across the street was the FOX4 news van (again). The cameraman came up to us and said that when the main anchorman heard that we went through Hurricane Charley in 2004 and now this... he wanted to do an exclusive on us. I was like...... OH NO! lol. So we were interviewed again but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Dave and I let the kids stay up till 11pm to watch our story on tv. Do you know when they start out the news and they play a little intro to the top stories? Well guess what? It was me!!!! WHY???!!! lol. Anyways, I guess I can add the link here, just don't laugh please (except for the first part which IS funny). I look funny in a couple shots, I don't know where those expressions came from! And it's very short. They edited the heck out of it. Oh and our daughter Nicole is in there for approximately 2 seconds, lol.

Whatcha Working on Wednesday

Yay! I am finally back to crafting :) I have been so busy these last 2 months with a week visit from my sister, brother-in-law and nephew in June then in another week visit from my mom and dad in July. Then shortly after that my husband, kids and I traveled to New Hampshire to visit with family and friends. I was so happy because that was my first time showing them where I grew up. It has been a wonderful...busy...memorable summer!



So on to the crafting right?? Ok, here is what I started working on Saturday night. I love this fabric that I picked up from my local quilt store. I already made a doll's dress out of it which sold on ebay a few months ago. So this is what I decided to do with my leftover pieces. I came across this saying on a stencil somewhere and I thought it would be cute stitched on a pillow.



So here it is finished. It's actually darker in person (darn camera). I think it came out nice except for the puckering in the letters. I stuffed the pillow tight but it still looks lumpy and loose. But I guess that is what primitive is all about right? It isn't supposed to look mass produced. I backed the pillow with stained warm and natural.




Now onto what I will be finishing up today. This Annie is one of my favorites. I love her dress and her face came out so sweet. She has burgundy hair although you can't tell because the camera made it look black. I just need to attach that button on her bodice and make a hang tag. Then she will be ready to sell.



That's all I have got going on today. Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to see what others are working on today head on over to Leslie's blog My Country Home. Take care!

Locks of Love Donation

My daughter Nicole has been growing her hair out for a little over 2 years now. She heard about the organization Locks of Love and decided that she would donate her hair when it was long enough. Well yesterday was the day that she asked me to cut it. One part of me was sad because she has such beautiful hair, but the other part of me was very happy that it will be made into a wig for another child. Also....I won't have to spend 15 minutes brushing knots out of it every morning ;). So I sat her down in the kitchen and went to work.

Here are the before photos:

And here are the afters:

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I hope to post something for Whatcha Working on Wednesday (finally) ;)

Antique Shopping In NH

This past week my husband, kids and I have been away visiting my family and friends in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. (I promise to write a detailed post later).

During our trip, my Aunt Deb Rustic Country Handcrafts took me to a cute little antique shop called Log Cabin Antiques where she consigns some of her beautiful country & primitive creations. I had such a great time browsing around Lynn's charming shop.

Of course I couldn't leave without buying some things teehee.

I couldn't resist this antique rusty green scale. It was only $10, can you believe it??!!!

The robins egg blue washboard was only $8. The wording is faint but you can still read "DUBL HANDI" Columbus Washboard Co. I am debating on if I want to just display it as is or paint a primitive scene on the top part. We shall see.

This enamel bowl is huge! It was $6. I want to fill it with some prim ornies or even some prim rag balls. Does anyone have any ideas? I would love to hear them.

I also bought an old cabinet door for $2, two rusty bed springs for .50 cents each and a primitive sheep notepad. I wish I could have walked away with more but you know how tight money is right now =( I can't wait until my next trip to NH. I will be stopping in to see Lynn again, that is for sure.

If you are ever around Kingston New Hampshire, make it a point to stop by

Log Cabin Antiques.