...elsa-peretti

By 9:40 am Sat. the rain was still coming down, but I 'had-to-go'!!

The rain subsided shortly 8-),  but then the humidity set in...

Oh well, I still found a few "treasures" (ha,ha) including a great old chrome cake stand (.50¢), a !Fun! handmade messenger bag, and a 'New' DYMO Label Gun (.25¢) - love me my 'Label Guns'!!! (Now I have one for work too!)

I was just about to call it a 'day' when I stumbled upon this sweet little enamel sweater clip ( 2012 #10 - $1) and shell screwback earrings that gave me a little burst of renewed enthusiasm...

...and I'm GLAD they did, for at the next village I found this .925 Silver bracelet for $2 - I thought the style was kind of Artsy and interesting!

When I got home, I gave it a closer inspection!

Do you see what I see?!

'OPEN HEART, OVAL LINK by; elsa-peretti for TIFFANY & Co.' $2.00

Of course we all KNOW I won't be able to bring myself to part with it, but...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiffany-Co-Elsa-Peretti-Open-Heart-Link-Bracelet-/400132985393

...going solo

6:21am... Quickie post! Today is the first 'Official' day of the 50 mile Route 90 Sale!! Yeh, kinda like Christmas morning 8-) ! NO, I don't go crazy,~ I just pick a couple of little Villages- park- and wander leisurely~. I don't even attempt The whole route... Especially since J informed me last night that 'I think I will skip it this year...'

'The Box'? My pickings from a Rt 90 Sale that opened early (Fri)... You know the scenario: selling their camp, getting rid of collections... You'll be seeing more of these TEN cute little Creamer/pitchers in the future - believe me!!!

GOTTA GO!!

...ZOE!

Pottery 'fish' recently captured while saling for .10¢!!
It is a HAPPY DAY when you F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. find that pair of jeans....

 ...That makes you want to purge the rest of your closet!!

My latest infatuations are my LUCKY 'ZOEs'!!  Yes, they were purchased 'NEW!' (relax, it was an 'outlet' store, but that still counts in my book as a 'real store'!!)

They are just about The.Best.Things.Ever.  ...Almost makes this heat loving girl want the cold weather to arrive, just so that I can wear them...  ...almost...

Truth be told, I DID purge #44 of obsolete excess clothing from my closet before adding my Beloved Zoes!!  Somehow, everything just seemed so ratty and dated, I just didn't even want to look at it anymore!  (J offered to buy me another pair if I would keep up 'The Purge'!!)

~AND~

Because I KNOW you are all curious as to the progress,  I am receiving 'baggies-o-corks' on a daily basis...  I think that the Grand total is around 408 these days...

In 'STUFFING NEWS'... things have been rather sparse!  Have found a few items, but they have mostly been in the FREE PILES!  Does this say something about me, that I prefer the items that other people see as trash?!?  These are a couple of my recent 'grabs' (yes I DID purchase items from these people too!!).  What do you think??

I can use old 5cent envelopes as my mailing labels on packages - they were tossing out almost $4. worth of postage!

How cute is this old Tin Litho water color paint box with almost all of the paints still in it?!?

...empty nest syndrome.

Mr Cardinal ~ or as he has become fondly referred of late 'DADDY CARDINAL'

Let me introduce you to the latest members of our 'Porch Family'...

'MOM' Cardinal... who is VERY camera shy!!
(this is a glimps of their humble abode in our Rose of Sharon at then end of our Summer Porch!)

The beginning of June we started watching the pair of Cardinals, building their nest at the end of our porch, did our research to learn what we could about the Cardinals...

and as you can expect, over the next few weeks we became VERY attached to our 'extended family'!

Needless to say, we were not quite so happy when started to discover just how rapidly our family was growing as others detected the 'impending eggs'...

 One early Saturday morning, just a few days after the babies (two of them!) had hatched, I went outside, as usual... went past the nest to say 'Good Morning' (don't ask!)... they were gone.  I was. so. bummed.

I called to J.

'They're gone.'

We both searched the ground under the nest.

gone.

8-(

J continued to look around the house...

He FINALLY found one safely tucked inside of another small bush toward the front of the house...

Overnight they had learned how to fly!!!  Well, kinda 8-)... they were still mighty unsteady!  We spent the morning watching them zip-zap around the yard with Mom & Dad close by their sides keeping larger birds away. 

This went on for a couple of days, now our 'babies are gone', nest is abandonded... Mom/Dad are still bopping around - I think they may be working on their second 'batch' for the season. 8-)  I love the fact that Cardinals mate for life!

 After the nest was deserted, I had to sneak a peak...  I was curious to see if there was any leftover shells - didn't you ever wonder what a cardinal eggshell looked like? 

 The nest was too high up in the tree for me to see in, and I was kinda squeamish of what I might see... so I made J hold his camera up there and just take a photo, so he could preview and then just show me... (how's that for some logic?!!)  He took a couple of photos before he got a clear shot, he looked, shook his head and said "I shouldn't show you."  I was afraid it was a baby that didn't make it...

Kinda, but J just didn't want to show me because he knew that I was going to want to rescue this 'PERFECT, abandoned little egg, with no chance of ever hatching and keep it as a remembrance of our little 'bird family'.

He knows me too well.

GOOD JOB MR & MRS CARDINAL!!

...another 'love' ~ 'hate' relationship!



Didn't Hit a LOT of sales Fri & Sat, but certainly found an array of items!! (and had fun!)

Sweater Clip 2012 #9 - for future trading!! Sweet Compacts for M.E. 2/$1. & Rhinestone Choker $1

Retro Sarah Coventry metal link belt for M.E. $1.



1950's boxful of cocktail napkins that I had better get rid of SOON or else I am going to be
TOO attached to - loving them - so rude- sure fire way to put a smile on your face
 at the end of a long day... well, one of these AND a cocktail!



...AND I found a good-sized tub full of 'old' canning jar rings... ~'cause I'm sure you have all seen this cool 'I could do that' primitive wreath on pinterest... right?!

http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/item/30147/junkified-christmas-decor-part-1



Well, I hope anyone else who tries this has a LOT MORE MARTHA GENES going for you than I do, 'cause there is no amount of rafia, rust or pine branches that are gonna help this baby (picture below...) - the only thing that can help this is inserting it inside of a brown paper bag, sealing the bag shut, and NOT opening it again!

I think I need to open a new PINTEREST board labelled 'WARNING: STAND BACK: FAILURES!!'

That's okay, I compensated by snagging this pinterest CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE recipe from Shara over at MONKEYBOX and making cupcakes for our new neighbors.  Of course, they only got half of them, so I drowned my wreath failures in chocolate...  8-)

So, back to the rest of my Fri-Sat goodies...

Red Morning Glory (?) Recipe box

M.O.R.E. FUN! Cocktail napkins by DROODLES that I had better get into our ETSY shop SOON!!

 

The most adorable Golden Book EVER. ~ 'My Little Brother'

...and OH, if they could all 'Dress like Italians'...

10" MIAMI MOUSE BANK to kick off CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

For anyone who might be curious on my progress...

My 'A.P.B.' for corks is serving me well (and proving just what wino's I have for friends - LOVE YOU ALL!!!)  Current count is up to 308 - KEEP 'EM COMING!

... 0n a good wine binge!

So... How was your July Fourth?

For once, we had no plans, no commitments...  J played golf in the morning, and I stayed home and tackled a 'long-brewing project'...

Simple enough.  I have a 'few' sweater clips/guards on their original cards or on packaging giving their history, that I have been wanting to make a display board for.

How sweet is this note?!



(Shara ~ I had to show this photo for The Bean!!)

I've had the frame tucked away for quite a while (J pressure washed it for me Summer 2011 after I garbage picked it!!), just needed to renail a few boards on the back & add a hanging wire - oh and one other little thing...

 Add corks for a 'tackable backer'.  We live in the FINGER LAKES of New York State - IE: the heart of Wine Country, and I have been saving these babies as souvenirs from special trips since I moved here in '87... I had a LOT of CORKS... (I thought that I had about a Bazillion corks saved up, well apparently, it is going to take about THREE Bazillion !!!! (I have 247+/- in place already!) I was originally going for 'the natural, local winery corks with cool graphics only - but now I'll take whatever I can get (kinda like life !!) - synthetics, imports, plains, broken ones...)

I have put out an 'All-Points' request to friends with 'connections' (IE: bartenders, winery tasters, liquor distributors, etc...) - so, 'barring' (pun intended) any other unforeseen technical difficulties I shall soon have a photo of a finished result to show you!

...don't get your beads in a tangle!

THE 'infamous' Porch Chandelier has been transformed and is now in place.  J, once the 'nay-sayer' has even been converter to the 'I-have-to-admit...that's-not-so-badder'.  Excuse MY bad photography, but I HAD to try to capture the feel of the light in the early morning hours - that and twilight are my favorite times on the Summer-time porch.  OH heck, We L.O.V.E. being on the Summer-time porch ANY TIME!!!

While we were out on the porch hanging the chandelier on the West end, the East end felt a 'bit' shabby and neglected, so I did a bit of rearranging - after all it has been like this for a whole month and a half now!

This left room for some M.O.R.E. vintage Beads (curtains) ~ YEH!!   I don't think that I have ever shown them here before.  We currently have 2 sets that we put into use annually on the porch above the railings, but I have (cough, cough) numerous 'ladies in waiting' in storage in my studio... just in case... some day...

And Hey!

That 'Some Day' had arrived!

so off to the Studio I went!!

TWO beautiful 'ladies' no longer are a waiting 8-)!

...they were a 'bit tangled' after all these years -

but you gotta cut 40+ year olds some slack!

and they are beautiful in the morning sun...

 

 (This isn't 'technically' considered a collection... right?!!)

HAPPY & SAFE JULY 4th !!!