...five star day!

5° F !

Can a day that starts out with only 5°, possibly be a 5 STAR day??

It can if each one of those 'degrees' equals a VERA find!! That was exactly what my Friday yielded!!

As with most of my finds/collections, I need the 'background info' - the 'soul', so to speak. I find a much greater appreciation through the knowledge of the designers' thought process, or the writers' personal life. (**Yes, 'knowledge' can be a dangerous thing.)

If you have been checking in on this blog for a while you already know this, but for any 'newbies' I am going to reiterate...

VERA's designs "were inspired by nature, by her travels abroad, and by Asian culture and motifs. She traveled to Ireland and incorporated shamrocks and cobblestones into her work. She traveled to China and utilized Chinese calligraphy in her designs... Vera traveled the globe, sketchbook in hand, while her husband, George, toted his camera. " (VERA TEXTILES by Jeanette Michalets & Katherine Michalets).

The best part of my Friday VERA Scarf finds, is that they each reflect a different essence of her design spectrum... ~I think...~ Take a look for yourself:

*ONE*

21" square Veresa (100% polyester). Flowers or Snowflakes? - definitely drawn from nature!

*TWO*

10"x44" crepe in subdued/muted hues of a rusty orange & cinnamon. First impression is a pattern she may have encountered on Safari? ...or maybe it's reference to a vegetable garden? ...or maybe one of those wooden bead curtains of the 70's??

*THREE*

22" square polyester? nylon? - signature style - BOLD, VIBRANT GEOMETRIC - 'So VERA'!!

*FOUR*
20" square sheere crepe

*FIVE*
24" square, 100% Nylon floral.

If these VERA 'five star' finds weren't enough to put me on overload...
When I arrived home, DH greeted me at the door with "You got something in the mail". Usually when he says that, it is in reference to a granola bar, shampoo packet or some other 'freebie'... BUT NO - not on my '5 STAR'! It was a packet of my beloved Holiday socks - 3 pairs of VALENTINES, to be exact! Delivered early, so I would have time to enjoy!! Sweetly wrapped by my blog GURU in stripey tissue -THANKS SHARA!! Add these to a WILTON silicone heart pan I found during my thrift rounds, and I think that I'm ready for V-Day... BRING IT ON!

**DISCLAIMER:Yes, yes, I know - I'm a poster child for Glamour's 25 Biggest Don'ts list (Do not put anything with Holiday graphics on your body). Do I care? NOT!

...what's better than a cuppa joe & wisteria?

...opening SURPRISE Happy Mail while surrounded by Wisteria!! I came home from a long day of work, to find a sweet box of goodies, just for ME (okay, and some for DH too!) at my doorstep!! It was all I could do to find my camera before I dug into it!
The WONDERFUL Miss Shara of Monkeybox came through in her usual bountiful fashion! I'm not posting photos of e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g or this would be the longest post ever.... But here's some of the highlights:

Additions to my quest for those 'cheesy' metal Remembrance type ornaments (to fill an aluminum tree at Christmas)... For a more detailed explanation, you can check out #2 of this post.
A promotional Haeger Ashtray AND a Sweater Clip - does it get much better than this?!?!
...and a small, blue LEO WARD bird to join my other Ward bluebird that I recently found. Doesn't he look right at home, nesting in one of my old glass salt dishes on the window sill, amongst his 'big brother' and a clear Corning Glass Goose (door prize at a glass blowing demonstration)!!

THANKS SHARA!!

...stuff shortage??

No, NOT at 'MY' house !!

I had to drive myself to work on Friday, as the person I normally car pool with was observing 'the holiday'. ~SO~ since I was in the area, I had to do 'the junk shop run (JSR)' after work.

~WARNING: TEDIOUS BACKGROUND INFO TO FOLLOW!!~
... I live in town 'A', commute 30min/20miles to the west to town 'W'... if you continue another 10min/9miles to the west you reach town 'G'. 'G' has (1)consignment shop -LE, (1)church thrift -CC and (1)Junk Shop - SHS. Usually a fun way to spend some time and get a good fix, but nothing earth shattering or worth the gas$$ of driving 40min... UNLESS I happen to be more than half way there anyway!! Enroute from 'A' to 'W' is 'S'. 'S' has a church thrift -HC and a Salv. Army - SA. The JSR can include 5 venues! 'A' (my town of residence) has a Volunteers of America - VOA, Salv. Army - SA and a Rescue Mission - RM. that generally aren't included in the JSR!
~BACK TO OUR ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM~

so, after work I did the JSR - cut short by 3 because of observations of the 'holiday'! The ones that were open had many EMPTY SHELVES!! I was talking to one of the workers and she said donations were WAY DOWN and they just weren't getting the stuff in! Will this change when warm weather arrives in CNY? Is everybody hoarding in fear of the financial market? Is it all being sold via cyber-land and Junk Shops are heading toward extinction? Not Good. Not a Good Friday.

That's not to say that I didn't manage to come out with a few goodies!

'V' - you can never have too many 18"tall, 3D, chunky resins of your initial! Only .29c !

I knew when I picked this .25c pillow case up that the design had to be a VERA... but where was the signature? Can you find it??

A cute .99c square, silk VERA



-Metal, Retro 'candelabra' (.35c)... I'm thinking spray paint... porch... fun BBQ dinners...

-TINY Craftsman 10' tape measure fo $2. - I always carry one in my purse, and I try to keep a stash for when they get misplaced, broken or 'borrowed'!!! Not easy to find!

What finally put the 'Good' in my day was returning home to find this on top of my stack of mail....

'REAL', 'HAND MADE', SNAIL MAIL!!

I am all about the tactile, the way things feel to hold in your hand - the weight, the temperature, the texture. The handwriting - the way people form letters, the type of writing instrument they use & it's color, the pressure used in writing, the layout... Unconsciously I always try to calculate who a letter is from without the aid of the return address label. First identifying the writing, if that doesn't work the post-mark is usually a good clue. This card startled me at first glance! The way the 'S' was printed was that of an old high school 'Best Friend' that I have been out of touch with for 14 years! I was wrong (Hmph! That must be a first - ha, ha!!). It was from Sweet Shara at Monkeybox!! This woman is in the middle of a Flood - Garage Sale - Holiday, and she still found time to make (and mail!) this adorable card - complete with Glitter!! THANKS SHARA!

Completely off 'any' subject... can anybody out there give me the sequence/combination of keys to type a 'cent' sign??????

ANS: Were you able to find the VERA signature in the pillowcase?

Hope the Easter Bunny treats you all well 8-)!!!!

... a little CA Sunshine!

...do you ever have one of those days, or more accurately one of those WEEKS when just nothing seems to be going smoothly?! THE BEST cure was waiting for me Friday afternoon when I got home from work, in the form of a 'sunny little care package from CA'!! THANKS YSP (Yard Sale Princess) !!! Lookie what she found for me.....

VERA calendar! ...and not just your usual 'towel calendar', but an actual fabric wall hanging calendar! This is a first for my collection - I've never even seen one of these before - WAY COOL!

And... an adorable little England tin egg filled with 'egg-shaped' tags - too cute to use, maybe they will be displayed in some way-shape or form as Easter/Spring decorations! Isn't the accompanying note card enough to put a smile on anyone's face??!

What a way to start the weekend! THANKS LeAnne! As for the weekend... I just spotted in the paper an SPCA fundraising rummage sale this morning - YIPPEE!! Never been to this one before, but I think I better get ready to go, as I'm sure it will be packed. I'll report back with my finds!

Hope you all have a Happy Weekend!!

back of notecard from YSP - do you think she knew we have two goldfish? (Fred-8yrs and Stand - 5yrs)