Diva Chair by  Mackenzie-Childs.

I started a new category just for this piece: Stuff I want. But  then I added the category "Eye Candy." Because I suppose even if I had $3,500 to spend on a single chair, I probably wouldn't buy this. I would buy an old piece and a mix of different decorator fabrics and do it myself or have a professional upholsterer do it. Maybe the "Stuff I Want" category will be  be stuff I would actually buy if it were in the budget.

Maybe about a year ago I decided to start saying "It's not in the budget" rather than "I can't afford it."  The latter implies (to me) that it is a fixed situation- "Flat out, I can't afford it and I never will!"
Whereas the former:
a.) implies that I actually budget for things (which I don't- but I think is a smart idea.)
b.) suggests that not having the funds to pay for something  is a  temporary  condition- and I like that. Leaves room for abundance and change.

But I have been spending money like I have it lately (which I don't) .

I couldn't resist Maira Kalman's new book:

This thing is heavy.  I mean, it is sort of melancholy and sweet (one of my favorite mixtures, as you know) but what  I am referring to here is litterally the thing weighs like twice what it looks like it would.
Must be the paper.
Yummy paper with paint and hand-lettering. Delicious.

Ok, kids. Here it is: the final installment of my Creative Bazaar Goodies!

What a pleasure it was to meet up with Kari Ramstrom: The Artsy Mama!  Kari and a chatted about blogging and our love of libraries. She is such a doll.

Her display table was heaped with  halloween and vintage inspired goodies.

Look at this Yummy Halloweenie Eye Candy:

It's an envelope with a cutout and lining. I love it. I also fell in love with her fall vintage wallpaper banner/pennants.
I had a hard time deciding which of her ribbons I wanted. In the end I chose this one:

I love the little birdie and the jewelry piece! And the colors are awesome- the rust ball fringe is the best!

Kari made these from her own (and her sister's) swimming ribbons!

As always, I was walking around my yard finding ways to photograph my goodies, when my yard sale bird house caught my eye:

I love how this looks! Like the birdhouse resident won a decorating contest or something!
Don't worry, I wouldn't leave this ribbon outside. It looks so awesome in my pink bathroom.

(by the way, do you want to come over and paint my house? It sure could use it. As if you didn't notice.)

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Karen June of Simply June!

She is smart and funny and that laugh - infectious! We had a good time.
For a few weeks now I have been fantasizing about embroidering fabric to turn into buttons, so when I saw these I knew I had to get them:

Her presentation is just gorgeous and her products are so well made!

so dainty and perfect!

Someday I want to get one of her bags!

Karen was just a dear, so easy to talk with and lots of fun.

>sigh<

It has been so much fun taking all these pics of my goodies and linking up with the great gals at the bazaar!

One more to go: the fabulously talented Kari Ramstrom of  Artsy Mama! 

More ephemeral goodness, this time from the lovable Mary Ann of Follow Your Bliss: 

I hadn't opened it until today, since I wanted to get a chance to photograph it before I messed up the presentation! Look what was inside:

mmmmm, ribbon and scrabble tiles.....

mmmm, sheet music and book pages....

mmmmm, vintagey goodness...........

cute scrapbooky chipboard peices:

Thanks, Mary Ann! What a sweetie she is. Truly. Had a grand time chatting with her and Jana!

More from Follow Your Bliss:

I love that Merci  stamp she uses . Great presentation.

I finally got to see some moo cards!

Adorable.   I want some!

Next up: Simply June!

As promised, more from the creative bazaar:

Darling birdie card by Heidi Wallingford of Birds of a Feather: 

That tag is her business card! Great idea, Heidi! Heidi was one of the fine ladies who I spent quite a bit of time chatting with.  What a treat it was to meet other creative bloggirls!

At the table right next to Heidi was Jessica Moreau-Berry  from Junque Revival  and  Sweet Peas. What a great girl she is! Vivacious, down-to-earth  and fun!  And look at what I scored at her table:

Vintage wallpaper borders!

Look at the kitchen one:

I love it! And I'm thinkin' that broom and the pot next to it is looking a bit witchy, no? 

From Jes's mom, cute vintage  buttons:

and more vintage wallpaper:

One more thing from Jes - a mini ephemera pack I found in my complimentary goodie bag!

Yum!

Next up: Follow Your Bliss! 

As you know, last weekend I was lucky enough to meet some great women at the creative bazaar, hosted by Melanie McMullen of  Be Alive Be You!

Now let me show you my goodies and share the link love!

Look at these darling little bee buttons from Darlene Belisle of Ursula and Olive:

You know how I love bees! 

So cute!

And  some adorable magnets and a card from Jamie Fales of  Noosed Kitty:
 

Jamie's  work is just the perfect blend of  melancholy and sweet! I have a soft spot in my heart for melancholy and sweet.

More to come! 

It's almost Halloween! 

Some of my pumpkins infiltrated the herb garden this year:

Finally harvested today.

Pale pumpkins, and a little watermelon, too!

Zeus helped:

I am so happy that it is beautifully sunny today. I got a chance to finally take pics of the goodies I got at the Creative Bazaar!  Stay tuned!

These are some fabrics I bought last month. I used that pink stripey fabric in my new shower curtain and the big pink flowery pattern is in Riley's new dogbed. I could not resist the Mexican lotteria fabric from  Alexander Henry! I can't wait to use it!

This year I had  great yard sale luck and this is one of  my faves:

I spied it on a shelf at a church yard sale. It was nestled in with the ubiquitous promo mugs and other unloved ceramics. How could someone get rid of this guy? Maybe the previous owner was suffering from an MSG overdose and had a lapse in judgement as a result. Ten cents. Yes, just ten cents!
I knew immediately I wanted to use this as a vase. Look at how cute and mischievous he is in his flowery cap!

In the background you can see the new pink of my bathroom. 

My new broom by Vigar! This swedish company  has the most adorable and fun cleaning supplies! And trust me, I'm not one to be excited by such things under normal circumstances. I have been coveting this one for a while and finally bought it specifically to keep in the pink bathroom! It makes me want to sweep. Now, that is really saying something.

Thrifted piggie and moo-cow.

The paint color is 'pinwheel' by Glidden and it is perfect.

I love my bathroom now!

 it is really fall now. i am in love with so many things about the autumn, but in my heart i am a summer girl. winter? no thank you! what am i doing living in the northeast?!

these little urns i got a few years ago at a flea market. at the time, they were actually pretty new looking, which made me almost pass them up!

in a weak moment, i paid more than i normally spend on anything secondhand: $15 for the pair. They are really nice and heavy.  I am so happy with how they have rusted and peeled.

I might have paid twenty for them if they looked like this when i bought them!

i don't know what it is with me and these looking-down-at-my-feet pictures!
this pot is still doing  well, even though I pretty much ignore it . monthly watering at best this summer and i maybe deadheaded once! i love these colors together. i especially love how they pop in that blue planter.

and this most perfect enamel bucket. marbleized!

i  keep it in the vegetable garden. that is where i throw the rocks and glass and rusted bits i find when i am planting. it has holes rusted into the bottom so when it rains, the water just drains out- that way it doesn't become mosquito soup!
oh, hey by the way, did you see that new martha stewart commercial with tim gunn?
I love tim gunn!
I can't wait for project runway to start again!

Maybe you noticed I've spruced the place up just a bit?

Finally got my link love goin' on over there on the right. Eventually I  am going to feature some of my favorite new ( to me ) blogs. Blogging can be discouraging  when you don't know who, if anyone, is reading or interested! I want to show the blog love to sites that just don't seem to be on the radar yet. You know, besides mine, I mean.

In addition to ye olde blogroll, I have added  categories for my own posts, changed my sidebar info just slightly, and removed a few things altogether.

At least I did some kind of cleaning up today.

My honey was busy doing house stuff-Look what he uncovered under some panelling in the kitchen!

See how under that crazy chicken wallpaper there is... more chicken wallpaper! And under that are a bunch more layers. Makes my heart go all fluttery. Of course I had to peel it all off and save as much as I could.

so cute!
and it just keeps getting more beautiful as a peel it off:

peely, layery,papery,flowery,chickeny beauty.

Thor entertained himself as I scraped.

After the wallpaper salvaging, I wanted to poke around the garden and take pictures. It was chilly so I made some super yummy trader joe's hot cocoa to take outside. Made with soymilk, yum. It's like drinking  hot chocolate pudding before it sets.

Riley wanted some, but ,of course, she's not allowed to have chocolate. 

Can you believe the cuteness of my new Nick and Nora sock monkey slippers? Got 'em at Target last week.

Look at my strange pumpkin color:

They're, well...pale!
Adorable, nonetheless. I am crazy for pumpkins.

This is my first time growing brussell sprouts - bought a little plant on a whim, and look what happened!

Isn't that lighting cool? I didn't alter this picture in any way. It's just the way the afternoon sun was peeking through some trees. Brussell sprouts are so yummy. I just like to throw them in a bowl with a little water and microwave them till tender. A little drizzle of olive oil, some salt and fresh cracked pepper! Like candy!

>sigh<

Killer costume chain maille! $1.99!

 Eighties flavored bangles- $1.99 for the pair!

This weekend I realized just how much I post about my second-hand finds! Yikes! Suppose I ought to vary it a little!

Today is Saturday.

Do you know what that means?

It means I went yard saling! woo!

Sorry, but you will have to wait to see my haul from today since I'm still showing you stuff from last weekend!

At the all-you-can-carry-for-a-dollar sale , I got this great little recipe box.

Originally, I was attracted to it because:

a.) it is a little box, and i love little boxes

b.) it has a  gold-painted, rusty and generally worn exterior, and i love that

then when I opened it up, I found that it still had written-on cards in it, and they are a bit random and odd. And I love random and odd!

And how about this: 

The most perfectly worn in denim jacket from the Gap. Two bucks. Ri-Ri in the background again.

It's fitted enough that it doesn't look rediculously oversized, and just roomy enough that a hoodie fits comfortably underneath it. and it's softy soft-soft.

After spending a great morning yard saling with my honey, I had a great afternoon taking advantage of a rare opportunity to meet some fellow bloggers - at a craft fair organized by melba . Originally, she was planning a weekend-long  event billed as a gathering for creative bloggers. The Creative Bazaar was to be just a part of the festivities. Unfortunately, she needed to cancel the retreat but in the end decided to go ahead with the craft fair part of it. Melba and I have  swapped a few emails in the last year since I  discovered that she was planning the event right here on the Cape ( in my town, even!) - but we had never met. So I thought I would head over and introduce myself and see if she needed any help.

I am so glad I did, because I got a chance to finally meet some other bloggers! I literally stayed there for Four Whole Hours chatting with these lovely women! I will be showing you what I bought and linking midweek. It was great fun!

blog love!

Hey, remember the forty steps that I told you about last spring?

Back in July, when my BFF Jennifer ( yes, we are grown women who refer to each other as BFFs!) took me there for my birthday to give me the most amazing gift, I took some pics to show you what the 40 steps looks like in real life. In case you missed it, this is a place very dear to my heart- in the tiny village of Craigville ( in the town of Barnstable) , on Cape Cod.

This is the view from a little ways down the path at the bottom of the steps. 

if you turned around, you would see this:

and now we walk toward the steps and get a bit closer...

and now looking down:

 Here is me (on the right) and my gorgeous and brainy BFF!

She is  incredible.

So sweet and generous. Loving, strong like you wouldn't believe, creative, gifted, clever, insightful. 

She's just the bee's knees. And the cat's pajamas. 

And did I mention gorgeous?

I have been itchin' to do some stitchin' lately. And itchin' to do some redecoratin'. And itchin' to do some more paintin'.

I have a ton of paintings that I started last spring. I want to get into my workroom and get messy with them! In regard to my creative space, I always love the sound of my studio but ,truthfully, I almost always call it My Workroom. 

This is a detail from my favorite one of my favorite paintings from this year.

So many things I am dying to work on! I just have one last push on a major project I have been working on, and then I am going to let loose!

Sorry for all the teases about my big secret project over the past few months. For a while I thought it was a go, then I thought I let it slip through my hands, and now it looks like it is really happening. I am going to get a final confirmation on Monday  and when I do there will be some shrieking and creme brulee and yes, I will tell you all about it. It still kind of doesn't feel real yet.

When I tell you, I think it will start to feel real. And I can hardly wait.  

More yard sale fabric! Fifty cents, baby!

I love this African style print. I don't usually like primary colors together like this, but the pattern is just so cool.

I love everything about it- the figures, of course, how they are interacting, their stances, their outfits and hairdos! The background prints- the blue fields with tiny white dots and the borders of semicircles, the ovals of white with the blue circle outlines.  

And if I dye the fabric, say, pink- the blue would turn purpley, the gold would be orange, and the background would be pink! Yum!

Dude, You won't even believe the awesomeness that I received in the mail yesterday.

I have been obsessed with sewing lately ( I know a little black kitty who feels the same way.) I got Bend-the-Rules Sewing a few weeks ago- just looking at the cover makes me happy!  I had some good news last week, so to celebrate I went a little bit wild on the amazon . Yesterday, I was greeted at the porch with one of these:

Amy Butler's new book! I've only been able to spend about a half an hour with it so far, but it is luscious and warm and inspiring.

Oh, and I also got one of these:

I had gotten Sew U out of the library a while back and thought itwould be a good one to own.

And how about one of these?

Joelle Hoverson's new one! Gorgeous.

I also got Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing and Crafter's Companion.

I can't wait to dig into these!

Yep, more yard sale stuff.

More yard sale tales from this past weekend. Hope you don't mind.

Got a bunch of seventies-flavored fabric at this one church sale. It was everything you could stuff into a box for a buck. But they didn't care if you had a box, it was basically everything you can carry for a buck! My kind of sale!

I have fondness for faux patchwork fabrics like the one above. Can't quite explain it.

I love this cooky barkcloth-plaid collage:

Cuteness! Love those little birdies above. I don't know what I'm going to do with any of these, but they were too great to pass up. Viva La Stash!

Behold, yard sale awesomeness.

Yes, I need a pedicure. Yes, my second toes are longer than my big toes. Are we done with this now?

Can you even believe the perfection of this watering can I got for five bucks? It is the most incredible deep blue. Paired with the rust! Perfect!

Nasturtiums are so cute. I love that they are edible. I love that the leaves are round like that.

That cement urn they are potted in was a yard sale score, too- from a couple of years ago.