Garage Sale Day.

Look at these treasures found yesterday...

6 curtain panels... $1 for the lot.

Two twin flat sheets for K... $1.

K's first apron... $1. She wore it this morning to make lemonade and wiped her hands on it with delight.
And the find of the day... stacking boxes in the design of, yes, can you believe it, the Root Children! $1 to boot!

The Root Children, by Sibylle von Olfers, is one of our favourite books. The illustrations are charming.

And the story is too sweet too.

We will treasure this set forever.

And, speaking of treasures... I was the lucky blog giveaway winner of this gorgeous bowl, shown here with my yummy breakfast in it. Thank you, Jamie from A Forest Frolic. She is having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party on her blog today, pop over for a visit here. I love it!

And she also sent me two of her charming gift tags from her Etsy shop. 

They are delightful and I know just what I am going to do with one. A Good Man turns 40 tomorrow and one of these beautiful tags will be on his present from me. Thank you, Jamie.

Blessings and magic.

Garage Sale Day.

I can't pass up a Shabby Chic book, never! Especially when it's 50c.

This is my favourite photo in my new book... the fabric swabs look so romantic to me, haphazardly pegged up on wire.
4 hours of listening for... 25c! I wonder if K will love Roald Dahl as much as I did?
A tin bucket for T... $1. A stainless little jug for K... 50c.
A rabbit door-stopper, sewn in fabric that could have come from my new book... $2.
And the find of the day... 6 hand sewn apples! $1 and the old colander thrown in for fun. 
It amazes me how days seem to have a theme. Today's theme... yes, you guessed it... SHABBY CHIC!

Look here for our other Garage Sale Days.

And Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful dads out there!

Blessings and magic...

Garage Sale Day.

Another great day of garage sailing here in Southern California!

Our spoils...

Gorgeous shabby frames in pastel colors.

A sweet match-box candle holder.

And the find of the day...

A little wooden dolls house for K!

She can't believe how lucky she is. It needs a little work as some of the woodwork has come loose but Daddy's a not a carpenter for nothing!

The other side opens up to the charming inside of the house, complete with little beds, tables and chairs.

And, the most fascinating thing to T, the staircase that connects downstairs to upstairs. He walks his fingers up the stairs saying... 'up, up, up' in an ever increasing octave.
Hope others also had a happy Garage Sale Day.

To see our other lucky finds, look here.

And, for what I am going to do with all of my garage sale finds, look here.

Blessings and magic.

Garage Sale Day.

Yesterday was Saturday... better known in our house as, Garage Sale Day! Gorgeous stuff was found once again. 

I love these pretty pillow cases...

But K loves them even more! She has adopted them for herself, not to use as pillowcases, but as... quilts... pillowcase sized quilts? She has given one to T (he doesn't really know what to make of it) and kept one for herself. She has declared them 'Favorite Huggies'. She carried hers around most of the day yesterday, even taking it to A Good Man's rugby game. She slept hugging it last night, beloved Puppy and Awwie neglected in the corner of her bed. I would feel a little worried as to the reason why she has formed such a strong attachment to this, um, pillowcase if I didn't know the reason. Fortunately I do... they smell like one of her favorite people in all the world... Tessa, T's Godmother. Tessa and her family are the closest we have to family in Southern California. Her three little girls are like cousins to K and T and, obviously, they smell really good!

This is a gorgeous wool poncho for me. It's perfect for this indecisive spring weather.

I am going to try to felt this woolen sweater. The embroidery also looks like it is wool and I am hoping like mad it shrinks at the same rate as the rest. If all goes to plan, it will make a lovely 'flower meadow' in the story blanket we are making.

This is an author I have been searching for... James Herriot. James Herriot is a vet in England and he writes delightful stories for children (and adults) from his everyday experiences with animals. If we were in England, our bookcase would abound with his charming books. The one we have in our bookcase is called, "Bonny's Big Day". The inscription reads,  "Dear K, on our way to the airport to come to you when you were born, we passed Dolly and Bonny in their field in Yorkshire. They sent their love. Love Granny and Grampa." And then in the top right hand corner reads a pencil scribbled "50 pence" This is delightful to both K and me and starts and ends each reading. The James Herriot we found yesterday is the only one I have ever seen at a Garage Sale. It is a compilation and I know many hours we will spend between it's pages.  

And now for my favorite find... He came from a funny little garage sale that we would have driven past if I weren't such a freak. From the road we could see that it wasn't a sale full of treasures. Rather, there were rusty old tools, a hanging rack with mens shirts a few plastic and cracked dishes. But I had 'my feeling' and A Good Man stopped to let me have a quick look... and this is what I found...

He is a little red elf. Where he comes from, who knows... the man at the garage sale didn't even know how he came about him. He said he'd been sitting at the back of a cupboard for many, many years. He was mine for $1 and the man looked a little sheepish that he was ripping me off at such a price! Little Red Elf now sits on the shelf in T's room, surveying all the excitement that happens around about him.

Garage Sale Day.

We are avid Garage Salers... Saturday is Garage Sale day. We wake up, have our coffee/bottle/hot chocolate in bed, get dressed and all pile into A Good Man's truck as the first rays of the sun are beginning to warm the world. Our first port of call is Starbucks for my Chai Late (extra pump of Chai, no foam, extra hot!), A Good Man's vanilla Late (straight up... nothing surprising there), two warm milks, two bagels and cream cheese and off we set, eating our breakfast on the run. We tell K to 'keep her eyes peeled for signs' and T to 'find junk for our trunk.' A big neon-yellow sign on a lamp post is met with shrieks and hollers and I-saw-it-firsts. We all enjoy garage sales immensely; the excitement of spotting one, the anticipation of what treasures we will find. Most of our most precious possessions come from garage sales.

Yesterday was very interesting in what we found...

A Good Man found stain glass sash windows, 6 of them, for $2 each. They are beautiful and will fit perfectly in the conservatory he will one day build.

T found a couple of balls to add to his collection of about 1000!

K found a very long pine cone that she wants make into a feeder to hang next to her humming birds nest.

And I found these gardening books. The first is an absolute treasure. The illustrations are too gorgeous for words and I can't believe, in my wildest dreams, that someone would let it out of their lives, let alone for a dollar!

Look at these illustrations of lichen...
And this thistle and morning glory...
These are the other gardening books I came across. I am particularly excited about the one on turning junk into garden decor. 
I am so filled with excitement for spring. I am bursting, bubbling. I want to garden to my hearts content and can't wait for T to wake up from his nap so that we can take a walk over to our garden shop to choose some gorgeous plants...

Nothing comes without a cost.

T LOVES to play the piano. Alas, we don't have one. He is a menace whenever we go to my friend Y's house as he spends the whole time making music (the most aweful din to those of us who don't have his ear!) I have been keeping my eye out for a piano on craigslist and at our local charity shops as I have felt the time for K to start piano lessons is soon... it is such a beautiful skill to have. I haven't found one, that is, until today! 

I am flabberghasted as I'm sure you will be too! 

On our usual Saturday morning garage sale outing, what did we drive past with a 'FREE' sign on it? A PIANO! A beautiful, tuned piano. I was so amazed that someone would just put a piano on the side of the road for anyone to take, I had to knock on the door to check with the owner. I admit I patted my hair into place for the candid camera I was sure was hiding in the hedge. But, yes, no joke, the piano was free for the first person who claimed it! 

Still acting nonchalant for the hidden camera, we loaded it onto A Good Man's truck with the help of two early morning runners and set off for home, still a bit incredulous of our great find. 

At home, our neighbour helped us unload it (wow, piano's are heavy!). Alas, a in the process, A Good Man walked into the sharp edge of it's foot and dented his head! Blood... I thought it needed a stitch but he (afraid of needles like all good men are) assured me that all it needed was pressure, neosporin and a band-aid. 

Our new piano is in her new home in the playroom. K and T are making wonderful music as I write but poor A Good Man. He is wearing the cost of our piano on his forehead for all to see. He really is a good man!

T

Antique Fair

My city has an Antique Fair every third Sunday of the month. It is a treasure trove. Gorgeous fabric.

Colourful beads.

Iconic art.

Glass bottles.

It is one of the things I love about living here; access to such beautiful things. Not quite the bounty you get when you live close to nature but a substitute if you cant. When I go, I have to exercise great self control. I want to buy EVERYTHING! I get particularly excited with all the shabby chic things; the distressed white furniture, the flowery fabric, the crystal chandeliers. I drool and froth and fawn. A Good Man loves the old tools, especially the ancient woodworking equipment. K's favorite are the glass and china figurines; cats, dogs, horses. She has collected quite a few and treasures them, playing very gently with them. They sit together on her 'special things' shelf. T loves the cars although it is a bit of a nightmare keeping him from touching the more antique, fragile ones. We know we have about an hour and a half before the wheels fall off and he becomes unstopable. Probably a good thing as this time limit helps to keep me in check.

It helps if I go with a list, a few things I am really looking for. Plus $2o to spend on something special. This Sunday we were looking for a cast iron, or teak, outdoor couch (to replace the one our resident skunk got) and a small tin wheel barrow for T. Instead, we came home with a gorgeous copper water jug, three cashmere sweaters and a lovely apron... OK, I'll admit, all for me and a little over $20, but not by much, really.