Pink Roses

perfume and powder...

My daughter loves girly things...perfume, powder, purses, jewelry...and that's what she usually buys at the flea market.  She found this powder tin in it's original box, and we both fell in love with the colors.  The funny thing is, I had been to this booth the day before, by myself, and didn't even see this tin...I was too busy looking at the linens she had for sale.  Amazing what you find when there is an extra set of eyes looking!  (It's an Avon tin:1977,)                           She also found this at another booth...

It's a little travel makeup box.  Three Flowers by Richard Hudnut, New York.  I wouldn't normally pick this up because it isn't my "colors", but Elizabeth has no rules about that, so she opened it...

It was all intact...

It contained a little powder box, a perfume bottle, a tube of cleansing cream and a tube of vanishing cream, as well as directions for their usage. I loved the Art Deco graphics and illustrations on the packaging.

I had never heard of  Richard Hudnut, so I did a Google search, on his name, to find out something about him and possibly date this item. I found out that he lived in New York City, and his father owned a pharmacy. In 1880 he became the first American to start selling luxury perfumes, and he modeled his store after the French and European perfumeries of the time.  He went on to invent 90 different fragrances, and this fragrance, Three Flowers, was made in 1929.

Google is a great way to research your finds when you have a name or manufacturer marked on an item.   I always ask questions when buying vintage pieces, but sometimes the dealers don't know an items history...only where they bought it.  Ebay is a great service to use to comparison price your finds...we all want to know if we got a good deal!  Knowledgeable dealers often put very detailed descriptions and background information on their listings, and they can be a great resource.  I entered the name  "Richard Hudnut" in my Ebay search and came up with 30 items, including this same travel set!  So much information right at our fingertips...it helps you to become a savvy shopper! 

Nancy Drew girl detective signing off...

$1.00 or less...

I bought SO MANY things at the Nashville Flea Market for $1.00 or less...lots of people had $1.00 tables, and I dug right in...others just had regular booths with cheap prices.  The trims above and below were from the nicest man who sold them 10/$1.00...yes my friends, you can still buy something vintage and cool for 10 cents!

I know I've said this before, but I really love the cards of trim that have several different scraps on them...some resourceful woman saved every little piece, because you just never know when you'll need it...

Jars of buttons for $1.00 each...I think I bought 9 jars!  Here are some of my favorite buttons...

This McCoy planter was $1.00...

It's filled with 2 jars worth of mother of pearl buttons and..

a tiny perfume bottle ($1.00), a sweet little tin filled with sewing pins (25 cents), and a patent leather doll shoe (50 cents)...

I found ELEVEN vintage enamel flower pins to add to my collection...all at various booths...$1.00 each!!!...

this sewing tin filled with things...$1.00...

and this "hat" which was really just a big velvet bow and some cool velvet dotted netting, along with 2 sprigs of vintage millinery flowers...just $1.00...

There is SO much more I need to photograph, and all $1.00 or less...postcards, sheet music, linens...this could be my new favorite flea market...more to come...!

home again!

 

I'm home again, and can I just say that I miss you guys when I'm gone...I mean I love writing about stuff, and visiting your blogs and answering my emails, and I miss that when I'm gone...so I'm glad to be back! 

I had a great weekend in Nashville,  we didn't get to do all I had hoped, but we enjoyed our time together..lots of eating and talking and shopping.  My procrastinating daughter (wonder where she gets that from? answer:ME!) had a 10 page paper due on Friday that she hadn't finished.  She told me this as I was about 15 minutes away from picking her up.  So I detoured, and spent 5 hours at the Nashville Flea Market by myself while she wrote her paper...the good news is, I did find some super cheap deals, and I got to go back again on Saturday, because she wanted to go! 

After the flea market on Saturday, we went to the new cupcake bakery and had a taste testing of our own...of the 4 variety's we tried:Birthday cake (vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting), Red Velvet, Milk Chocolate, and low fat angel food, our favorite was...the low fat angel food with strawberry cool whip frosting...light and delicious...never thought I would pick this over anything chocolate!

I have been washing and cleaning my flea market finds all day, so that I can take pictures to show you...and I am no expert, but I thought I would share a few tips I have learned the hard way...

To clean buttons I put them in a colander, inside a mixing bowl in the sink...You can fill up the bowl with warm soapy water to wash them...    and easily lift them out to rinse and drain...

After losing buttons down the drain too many times, I started doing it this way...it works perfectly.  If you are washing buttons that have rhinestones, always use cold water, and don't let them soak...warm water loosens the glue, and the stones sometimes come out...another reason to have the mixing bowl underneath, just in case that happens! I usually do a batch at a time, and lay them out on paper towels to dry...always make sure any metal parts are completely dry before putting them in a sealed jar or bag, any moisture can cause rust...

I wash rhinestone jewelry like this too, and do it one piece at a time in cold water, that way if a stone comes loose, I know where it belongs, and can glue it back in later. 

I did find a few hats that I took apart for the flowers... and the flowers were all smashed , so to fluff them up...

I hold the flower with a pair of tongs over a pot of boiling water.  The steam will fluff up the flower in just a few minutes...

It looks much better!  I think that's how Rachel Ashwell does it in one of her books.  That's all for now...I need to go take pictures...if you have any great cleaning tricks or tips for your vintage things, I'd love to hear from you!

road trip...

         

I'm headed to Nashville to spend the weekend with E... We're going to THIS flea market this afternoon, I'm so excited!  The Nashville Flea Market is once a month and I never seem to be in town at the right time, so I have never been.  I'm also excited because this will be the first time this year I have taken a trip to see her just for fun...all my other trips have been about doctors and hospitals and tests, so this will be a strictly FUN weekend! Tonight I am taking her (and a few of her friends) out to dinner, and tomorrow it's birthday shopping... she's found some new shops and a brand new CUPCAKE bakery has opened down the street. I also helping her pack up some of her things, because next week is finals, and then next weekend she moves back home for the summer!  Another school year has flown by and I can't wait to have her back home for a few months!

The picture above is a project of mine...I bought the frame at Goodwill for $1.81...I've had it sitting around for a while.  I decided to leave it as is (chippy and black), and had a piece of glass cut for it.  I had a piece of mat board cut to size as well (super cheap), and then mounted 4 of my old postcards with black photo corners.  I didn't want to glue them down, because the backs are neat, and you never know if I might want to redo this.  The postcards all happen to be birthday cards, but I was just picking ones that looked nice together and had pink roses. I hung this between the windows in the dining room, and only put 1 nail hole in the wall :)

OK...so I'm off...it's a 4 hour drive, and I'm taking my camera, so hopefully I will have some fun things to show you on Monday!  Have a great weekend!

21...

Happy Birthday E! 

How did I get so lucky to have you for my daughter?

Thanks for making all my dreams come true                          21 years ago today! 

I love you with all of my heart...

Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

xoxo

M

slow motion...

Have you ever had a moment in your life when everything seemed to go in slow motion?  A moment when everything around you just    s l o w e d   down?  I did, the moment she was born.  I've said before that I've always wanted to be a mom, but what I haven't said, is that I always wanted a girl.  All of my life I wished, and hoped, and dreamed, and prayed for a daughter. 

She was born face-down, and the split second it took for the doctor to turn her over, seemed like 30 seconds to me.  I've always thought that was God's way of saying to me...this moment is about to change your life forever Suzanne...pay attention... 

My doctor said "Let's see what we've got here"

It was then that everything around me seemed to go in slow motion, and as he s l o w l y turned her over, he said

"You've got yourself a little girl"

...It was one of the greatest moments of my life...

***************************************************

Later that night, in the wee hours of morning, somewhere around 2:00am, my phone rang.  I was in the hospital, in bed, and because they were crowded that day, I did not have a private room.  That meant Elizabeth could not stay with me, and was in the nursery downstairs.                             I answered the phone...

Hello...

the nurse said "Mrs. Duda?"

Yes...

"I'm calling from the nursery and your daughter won't stop crying, I THINK I know what's wrong with her, but I'm not sure.  Can I bring her to you?"

Yes, of course...

In the moments I waited for the nurse to bring Elizabeth to me I thought...what does she mean, she THINKS she knows what's wrong with her...she's the nurse...how am I supposed to know...I've never been a mom before...

I heard the elevator ding down the hall, and heard the doors open.  I heard a baby crying loudly, and as the footsteps got closer to my room, and the crying got LOUDER, I knew this was MY daughter. 

When the door opened and the nurse appeared holding a tiny 7 pound 3 ounce, swaddled screaming bundle, I started to speak...

Elizabeth...sweetheart...baby...what's wrong with mommy's sweet girl...                                                   (in that calm, soothing, baby voice you use...)

By the time the nurse crossed the room to my bed, and handed Elizabeth to me, she was quiet.  I kissed the baby and spoke to her, and then looked at the nurse and said...

What do you think was wrong with her?...

"It was just what I thought", she replied, "she missed you"

I looked at Elizabeth, then back at the nurse and said... MISSED me?  She's only 12 hours old. How does she even know who I am?

The nurse smiled and said..."Oh, she knows who you are...you're her mother.  She's been listening to the sound of your voice for 9 months.  She just did the only thing she knew how to do , to get to you."

The nurse said..."I'm leaving her here with you tonight...you two belong together."

The nurse turned out the light and left the room.  All was silent again.  Elizabeth fell asleep in my arms, and as I sat there and watched her sleep, I cried.  I was an emotional hormonal wreck, I was exhausted, it had been a long day. I prayed and thanked God for giving me this child, this girl, my daughter...for answering my prayers.  I promised HIM that I would love her, take care of her, and always be there for her.   I prayed that HE would give me the strength and guidance and wisdom I needed to be a good mother.

That's what I've tried to do for the past (almost) 21 years...

Tomorrow is her birthday... 

gallery...

I've been thinking about what to put on the wall in my dining room ever since it got painted last month.  I hate putting nail holes in a freshly painted wall.  I decided to make it a photo "gallery" if you will, with some of my favorite photos from the past few months.  I had 3 photos enlarged to 11 x 17 , and found some pretty pre-made frames with matting and inserts on sale at Michael's.  The photo above is of some lace and buttons I bought at the flea market in February.  The photo below is of some gorgeous vintage things that Lisa sent me in a swap...

The third photo is some of the things I purchased at Second Chance Antiques in Omaha, Nebraska when I was there for Silver Bella last November...

After putting it all together, it looks like this...               

I'm kind of liking the simplicity of it, and I can change out the photos anytime I want to...

I wonder why it took 15 nail holes to hang 3 pictures? : )

Show & Tell Sunday: bling!

  Another Show and Tell Sunday, and it's all about the "bling"...and when it comes to bling, my weakness is pins.  Rhinestone pins...you can wear them, pin them on a package or a picture frame, or you can hoard them like there's no  tomorrow...

The pin above is my favorite...big and clunky and pink... sitting on a huge spool of vintage blue ribbon...hoarding in action.  The green pin below came from Second Chance Antiques in Omaha, Nebraska...

The pin below...Ebay...$1.00... just last week...             

This little pin looks lovely with my new (old) seam binding from the church garage sale...

more little pink ones...

   I told you there were still Easter M&M's in my house...

Pins and buttons...what could be better?

I know...pins and lace and pearls...

I also collect clear rhinestone pins...

and rhinestone pins in the shape of bows...

I may not ever need to buy another pin in my lifetime...I'll consider that possibility...and while I'm thinking, lets go check out the other "bling  blogs" posted at Cerri's...

Thanks for stopping by for Show & Tell!

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!!!!! xoxo

all dressed up...

Well, I haven't painted my mannequin yet, so shes been standing naked in the dining room...I thought I could at least give her a little jewelry...

A few vintage pieces and she's gleaming in the sunshine! Who says less is more?  I've been thinking of a name for her since last Sundays show and tell, when I wrote about my first hankie given to me by my great Aunt Nellie.  Her middle name was Bly.  Nellie Bly.  Sounds like a pirate.   My grandmothers middle name was Mae.  Nellie Mae.  That might work...

Hope your having a great day!

it figures...

MANY years ago, I bought a bag of wooden brown curtain rings at a garage sale.  I held onto these rings for probably a decade without doing anything with them.  Finally I sold them in my own garage sale.  It was then , after I had sold them, that I came up with 101 uses for an old wooden curtain ring.  Sellers remorse.  Well today, at a local church garage sale, I found a bag of old wooden curtain rings painted a chippy white...in the FREE PILE.  FREE!

Of course I brought them home, but you know what?  I can't remember a single thing I was going to do with them...it figures.  I hope it doesn't take another 10 years to remember!  Here are a few things I paid money for...            a ton of lace for $3.00...

and a pile of sewing trims for $2.00...

I love it when trims are combined like this...you know when someone saved the scraps on one card...

I also met a blogger friend...she introduced herself because she recognized me from...my glasses!!! How funny is that?  So thanks to all of you who said to keep them, and said that you liked them...I appreciated the feedback...and hi Bonnie, nice to meet you today!