fabulous flea market finds

Today I went to the Paris Flea Market put on by the cutest shop called Cottage Green in downtown Los Altos, CA.  This little shop has so many treasures inside...it's always been one of my favorites.  There are beautiful bird baths and garden statuary out front and around the side yard; inside there are gorgeous glasses and pillows and vintage serving pieces...lots of fabulous artwork and figurines...just all with a fun vintage feel!

So, today they held their annual Paris Flea Market out back.  Scattered on tables under large tents were candlesticks, bowls, books...just a ton of good stuff.  They also had a food drive for a local non profit group based in Palo Alto.

I dropped off my donations and headed in for treasures...I found some great vintage wooden picture frames and vintage botanical prints.

I couldn't believe this great find...I have been looking for a little table just like this one to use as a make up table. Can you believe it was only $25!!

Inside I picked up this great yellow chicken for my kitchen...

and this picture easel with a sweet little bird.

Chickens and roosters and little birds are big in my house.

It was a fun morning in the beautiful California sunshine, but I pretended I was really in Paris for just a bit...

I am so excited about my little table! 

Attached to our bedroom is what I call our "dressing room"...I don't know what else to call it...it has our closets and a big antique armoire.  It needs painting and new baseboards and closet doors, and a lot of fixing up, and my plan was to get a little make up table for that room (in an attempt to keep our tiny master bathroom a little neater), and that would be my final inspiration to get to work on this room.  So this table just fit perfectly into my plan...the only problem is:

this is my husband's latest project...

...and the seats for this wonderful truck (which he says he bought for me) are sitting in the middle of my would-be romantic, relaxing dressing room right now.  Ahhh, husbands!
But now that I have my fabulous new make up table, I will be inspired to be sure he moves those seats to the temporary storage room created after my son moved out this summer...so that I can carry out the rest of my plans!   I'll be sure to share pictures when it's done!

xo

sweet little bird

"Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them."

Matthew 6:26

just a touch of fall in the air

Fresh for fall: papergoods available at my etsy shop,

bleu bird nest.

back to school

I love September because it feels like the start of something new.  I loved shopping for back-to-school supplies with my son when he was younger...everything fresh and new and waiting to be filled with reports and projects.  When he was in third grade I became a first grade teacher at a little private school and that gave me more kids to shop for!  The crafting side of me came out...I would spend hours planning the classroom theme and shopping for the little extras.  Matching composition books and pencil boxes and cute little chore boards.  Although I'm not teaching right now, I still check out all the aisles at Target just to see what composition books I would have chosen for the year...

Two of my nieces are starting highschool this year and we decided to have a girly weekend before they went back to school.  We had so much fun shopping for make up and clothes, but I really loved taking them to the office supply store in search of back-to-school supplies.  I loved that they wanted to coordinate all their supplies.  That night they set up shop in my office, spreading out all over the floor with my loot of scrapbook papers, embellishments, paper punches, and sticker makers. 

Sierra had a bit of Marie Antionette theme going. She coordinated each notebook with matching colors and then added Marie inspired clipart and punched out circles of music notes and vintage french script.  Loved that!  Perri methodically worked on her main notebook, picking out all of her favorite colors and patterns from my stash.  She ended up with a patchwork pattern that was awesome.  I wish I had taken pictures of their final products to show, but by the time we ended at about 1:00 a.m. all I could think about was falling asleep...we did have nail appointments early the next morning.

So this fall my son starts college...can't believe where the time went.  And now I know he will most likely want me to come with him for some of his shopping for back-to-school supplies, but it won't be the same as when he was younger.  There will be no letting mom coordinate folders and pencils.  There will be no debate over what color lunchbox to buy.  But, that's okay...I am thankful for time moving on and watching these little kids growing up.  (That hasn't always been easy, but that's a whole other post...)  Anywho, September is here and I love it just the same.  I love that I have my own stash of papers and supplies that I can create with.  I recently purchased some vintage children's flashcards and school ephemera, so I've been dreaming up things to create for my shop.  I'm sure there are other moms and teachers out there who obsess about coordinating school supplies like me!

p.s. here's those sweet neices of mine.

xo