Happy pink Saturday! Sorry I have been MIA this week, I have been getting ready for my in laws arrival tomorrow. Here is a look at some lovely pinkness.

I made this bracelet for my sister, I had to wait until she received it before I showed it to you. It arrived in CA a couple of days ago, so I thought it was perfect for pink Saturday.

Next on the pink agenda, is the Vintage Pink Christmas Swap I am hosting. If you are participating in Pink Saturday, clearly you are a pink lover, so check out the details below.

You will have one partner to spoil. Minimum of 25$ before shipping. One Handmade item and at least one true vintage item. You can make or purchase your items. Just make sure they are Christmas, vintage, pink or a combination of all three. Items can be repros or vintage inspired, other than the one actual vintage item.

Sign ups will be open until October 15th, to sign up leave a comment on this post. Make sure to leave some way for me to contact you. Also, specify if you don’t want to send international. Swap needs to be mailed to your partner on or before November 25th. You need to find out about your partner, their style, likes and dislikes, so you can make your package extra special. Make sure you send things that you would love to receive. Please only sign up if you plan to follow through. If for some reason you are unable to participate after you have been assigned a partner, please let me know as soon as possible.

If you are interested in seeing all the other fun pink Saturday posts or in signing up for next week. Go visit Beverly’s blog How Sweet the Sound.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

XOXO Jen

As you know, I have participated in many swaps and now decided that I am brave enough to host one. Swaps are a fun way to meet new friends and get some fun goodies along the way. I know it is only September, however we need time to get our swaps together and get them mailed before December so people can enjoy them the whole month. For this swap I combined my favorite things, Vintage, Pink and Christmas.

You will have one partner to spoil. Minimum of 25$ before shipping. 1 Handmade item and at least one true vintage item. You can make or purchase your items. Just make sure they are Christmas, vintage, pink or a combination of all three. Sign ups will be open until October 15th, to sign up leave a comment on this post. Make sure to leave some way for me to contact you. Also, specify if you don’t want to send international. Swap needs to be mailed to your partner on or before November 25th.

After sign ups close, I will assign partners, start a flicker group and send out some questions that you can answer and post on your blog for your partner to get to know you.

Once you have joined the swap, please add this photo to your blog so others will see it and join in the fun.

Also on the swap front, here are a few swaps I have completed lately.

I sent this out for the FQ swap for October. The theme was black and white and orange all over.

I received this for August Pay it Forward Parcel. The green guy is for Graham and he calls it a dog.

I received this as a prize package, don’t you just love the fabric.

Next week I will be posting photos of the Vintage Halloween Swap I just finished.

If you are looking for swaps to join, you can check swap-bot or SwapDex

XOXO Jen

Yesterday was my first Pink Saturday and today is my first Show and Tell Sunday. Show and tell Sunday has a different theme each time. It is hosted by Cerri at Little Pink Studio, it will be every other week. This weeks theme is figurines, which I have a few of. Chad does not love them, actually he really dislikes them a lot. So they reside in the living room because I love them and we don’t spend much time in that room. Chad is a very good hubby who puts up with all of my girlie decorating, he actually likes a lot of it. He even painted my kitchen pink, so without getting rid of the things he hates, I try to put them where he doesn’t have to look at them.

This is my favorite one. It is a vintage Joseph Original. I love the colors and I love her dress and the pretty roses. I love the image of the mother holding her baby so lovingly. I got her at a flea market in CA.

I got this pretty lady at an estate sale not to long ago. I love her vintage dress, it is so prettty

Apparently I like vintage ladies:) I got this one at an estate sale for 2$. She is chalkware and about 10″ tall.

These two ladies reside in my part of the bathroom, so Chad actually really hates these. Not sure if it is because he has to look at them everyday or if he just hates these particular ladies.

I have a few more, but am going to save them for another time.

Back to cutting out black mice for Halloween decorations.

XOXO Jen

This is my first time participating in Pink Saturday. Beverly at How Sweet The Sound is the hostess for Pink Saturday. If you are interested in participating, you can visit her blog and join in the fun.

For my first post I am going to share a few of my favorite Pink items. I should have no problem coming up with Pink things for many months to come, since it is my favorite color:)

Not sure what the deal is with this picture, this is what happens when you are with out Photo Shop:(

Anyway, this is one of my very favorite pink items, I bought it from my friends Granny.  She loves pink also and once she heard I love pink she would save things aside for me. I got cups somewhere else, which eludes me at the moment, it may have been Ebay.

This is my very small pink milk glass collection.  I would love to have more of it, however it is not in abundance like the white milk glass is.  I also Love the vintage pink pottery dog, I got him at an estate sale a while back.

That is all the pink goodies I am showing for now, I guess the items below fall into the pink category also:)

The winner of my one year anniversary giveaway is………………………………………. #11Beeb Ashcroft - Congrats, I have sent you an email to notify you. Thanks to everyone who entered, wish I could give you all a prize:)

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2008-09-19 15:04:16 UTC

Here are some new items I have made, and will be adding to the store this weekend.  I would love to do it tonight however it is quarter to 12 and I finally figured out how to get my photos to do what I want them to do on Chad’s laptop.

Vintage Rose

This necklace is so hard to give up, I love it.  The rose in the charm is vintage wall paper sealed with a clear finish to protect it.  Added to it is this darling part of a lonely vintage earring.  The pink bead is also from a vintage necklace.

Pretty In Pink

I love this one too.  A vintage skeleton key topped with vintage beads and the other charm is a vintage rose that use to be an earring.

I’ve been tagged by Michelle at Country Vintage .

If you have been tagged, here is what is requested:

Martha Stewart is hosting a Blog contest and will be featuring bloggers. You can click here to enter your blog. I entered on knowing that there is a slim chance of getting picked, but it never hurts to try.

I have some really fun posts planned, so stay tuned.

XOXO Jen

Exactly six months ago today we arrived in Jamestown, NC.  It went by so quickly.  We are all settled and unpacked, and making the house feel like home.  Over the weekend we did a lot of work in the yard.  Chad pruned and cleaned up brush.  He burned it all for two days straight.  Yes, they allow that here because we are in the county and we have no yard waste service.  I used the hedge trimmer and trimmed about a quarter of our hedges, yikes it took me forever.  I also started painting our front door, it was mostly a light yellow but someone had started to prime it so part of it was stark white, it looked STUPID.  I still have to finish touch ups and the scrolly thing above the door, I plan to work on it this weekend.  I am putting up my Halloween decorations tomorrow, which should be fun.  It will be interesting to see what the next six months have in store.

Just thought I would remind everyone that tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway, so leave a comment to be entered to win 20$ worth of merchandise from the shoppe.

I finished a couple more books. The Isle of Palms by Dorthea Benton Frank, was a fun easy read, and I enjoyed it a lot. It is set in the south, so it gave me insight into the area I now live in. The next book I finished was not a lighthearted read. It was Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult. It is about a death row inmate, and involves many religions and spirituality in general. I am not a religious person, I do believe in God and in being a spiritual person and living in a moral manner. I started to say a lot more about this but decided that religion and politics are very personal matters and I don’t want to offend any one. This book reminds me a bit of the Divinci Code in the religious aspect, not in the suspense/mystery aspect. It was a very good book, I had a hard time putting it down.

The last bit of news is sort of exciting, I was interviewed by another blogger and she posted the interview on her blog. Here is the link to the interview, check it out. You have to scroll down a bit to see it.

Graham is asleep so I am heading to the sewing room to make some fun Halloween items. Sorry for the lack of pictures, my laptop is freaking out again. Ugg, I have only had it about 8 months and this will be the second time the screen has done this, hopefully they can fix it for good.

XOXO Jen

Weird to think it has been a year since I stared blogging. Weird also that I started blogging on Sept. 11th. What a lot of changes have taken place over the year. Graham turned one, we moved across the US, Gabby started Middle School, Gwen started 3rd grade, I switched blogs and opened a Shoppe, and I have made so many new friends in blog land.

Today is also my Aunt Loris birthday: Happy Birthday Auntie, we miss you and Love you a ton. Wish we could be there for your princess party!! Yes, my Aunt is an adult, but she is a big kid a heart:)

Being that it is a big anniversary, I will host a giveaway:) The prize will be 20$ of merchandise from the Shoppe. Leave a comment on this post to be entered to win. For a second entry, you can blog about this giveaway and leave another comment with a link to that post. I will accept entry’s until Sept. 18th, 12am PST, that gives all you west coast people more time:)

I have really enjoyed blogging this past year and am looking forward to what the next year has in store. I wish my friends back in CA would get with the program and start a blog so I could see what they are up to.

Graham is sleeping, so I am going to go sew.

XOXO Jen

Let’s start with books, I read The Woods by Harlan Coben. It was a good suspense/mystery book, I had a hard time putting it down. If you like a good mystery, then this is a good one. I had not read one of Harlan Coben’s books before, but I enjoyed his writing style a lot. I am currently reading a book Called the Isle of Palms, which is set right here in the south, South Carolina to be specific. It is a great book and gives me an insight into what true southerners think. I will be done with it tonight and I have had a hard time putting this one down as well.

Next order of business is: Graham went to preschool yesterday!! He will be going every Monday to the Jamestown Methodist Church preschool program from 9-12. I was worried that he would cry being that he is hardly ever away from me, but he was fine when I left. Phew, nothing is worse than when they cry every time you leave them, Gwen was the WORST. Apparently Mr Graham did well until it was time to go outside, he wasn’t to sure about leaving the safety of the classroom. However once he got outside he was FINE, and then when it was time to go back in he cried again because he DID NOT want to go back inside because he loves to be OUTSIDE! It should be interesting to see how he does next week. It was great for me, I got a ton done yesterday and the best part was that he was tired when he got home, so more time to accomplish things.

Goof ball all ready for his first day of preschool.

I received a swap for the group I am in where we swap Fat Quarters, the theme this time was for Halloween. I love the goodies I got. I still have to finish getting together the one I am sending out, I have it about half ready, it is not due until the end of the month. Also due at the end of the month is another Halloween Swap I am participating in. It is called the Very Vintage Halloween Swap- Hosted at Foxglovesfabric&folly. My partner lives in Southern CA, I have started making things for her, I will post photos of these later in the month.

Isn’t the vintage inspired fabric so cute, I can’t wait to make something out of it.

I finished a baby gift for one of my very dear friends Jenny Mccall. If you are reading this Jenny, stop here and come back after you open the gift!!!! I am so sad to miss being there for the shower and seeing the baby when he is born, because for SOME reason my friends in Napa can not figure out how to send me photos!!

This is my second knitted baby blanket, I love how it turned out. The yarn is a super soft cotton, perfect for cuddling up with.

Here is the whole gift. Blankie, matching newborn hat, burpie and wrapped around it is a navy pacifier clip.

While I was at it I made a burp cloth for the Shoppe. I started making these when I was pregnant with Graham and they became my favorite. My favorite use to be cloth diapers, but these are way cuter, they wash really well and the Chenille is super absorbent. I also decided it was time to get back to making tooth fairy pillows, I started making these a few years back and they were quite popular. So, I decided to get back to them and I am really happy with how this one came out. I will be making more, hopefully this week. You can find this one in the Shoppe under Little Ones.

I love this vintage inspired fabric.

The square vintage doily on the front is actually the pocket for the tooth.

Here is the back!!

North Carolina has introduced us to more nature than I have seen my whole life. Saturday Chad called me outside to look at something, and that something was a SNAKE. EEEEK I said to him that does not look like a good kind of snake, its markings made me think of a rattler. I knew it was not a rattler because there was no rattle. Chad had all ready killed it, so Gab and I took some pictures and the girls went and got our neighbor Brad. He said” I think it is a Copper Head.” YIKES. I ran in an and Googled copper head snakes and sure enough our friend was a copper head. OMG they are not good snakes and Chad being the nieve city boy could have been bitten while he was trying to kill it with the shovel. Apparently he missed a few times, so he was lucky. I am now freaked out about snakes running rampant through our yard. I could barley go to sleep last night, because I was thinking about the kids playing in the yard and getting bitten by a poisonous snake. Welcome to country livin’.

EEK, Yikes, Creepy!

Yesterday I used the rest of the peaches and made a peach crisp, it was gobbled up in less than 24hrs. Tonight I made apple turnovers with more of the apples. I love that they look like the ones you buy at the store. I still have at least 3 dozen apples left. I have no idea what I am going to make next??

Yummy!!

That about sums up the last few days. I guess I should go clean or sew or something while the little dude is napping. XOXO Jen

Today I spent all day in the kitchen, other than the two trips to the grocery store. I started by making apple sauce, then moved on to peach jam. There was still so much fruit left over that I decided to peel and slice a bunch of peaches and freeze them for winter. I then moved on to apple pie, YUMMY!!

Here are all the goodies I made, for all the work it doesn’t look like much.

Here is all the left over fruit, yikes. I am going to make turnovers later in the week.

I am one tired girlie!

XOXO Jen

The reason I haven’t posted much this week is because I was sick and now I am finally feeling normal. Today Graham and I met up with a local Mom’s Group for the first time. We went apple picking at an apple farm in Reidsville NC. All the moms were really nice, and they have a lot of fun things planned. This will be my third time joining moms groups. I was just thinking about the first one I joined when Gabby was a baby, the other two moms were in their late 30’s, I thought they were sooooo old and not hip at all. I am now in my early 30’s and in another moms group. The funny thing is I don’t feel sooo old and unhip. Maybe I am in denial. The funny thing about today’s group is I am pretty sure I had the oldest children there minus Graham. These ladies were about my age some a little older, I think most of them went to college and started their family later. I on the other hand started having babies when I was young. Enough about that, lets get on with the apple picking. Graham and I had a fab time, it was nice weather, no sight of tropical storm Hannah. Here are some photos of our adventure.

Graham is all ready to start picking. I got a good work out pulling my 30lb child in a wagon up and down grassy hills.

He kept picking the ones off the ground and saying ball and then throwing them. Everything round is a ball to this boy. He kept calling our baked potatoes balls last night.

Clearly he knows what to do with this “Ball”.

Can’t remember the types of apples, two of the four types were kinds I have never heard of and maybe they are some native to NC. The other two were red and golden delicious.

Aren’t they sooo pretty!

Here are our apples and peaches waiting for me to make some yummy stuff. They give you this big basket and tell you to fill it up and that when you are done it is 21lbs of apples. The best part is it only cost $8.95 and they are fresh and yummy right off the tree. The peaches were in a basket for $5.50 and there are a ton of them. I am waiting for my Grandma to call me back with some recipes for jam and apple sauce. The girls and I will be busy this weekend making all kinds of yummy things:)

So pretty!!

This is completely unrelated, but I had to share one of the knitting projects I finished recently. Gab wanted fingerless mittens, so I got to work even though she can’t wear them quite yet. we both love how they came out. She said to me yesterday, “I can’t wait for it to be cold so I can wear my new mittens, my black puffy vest and one of the beanie hats you knit for me.” I am almost done with my first sweater, it is for the little dude and it is turning out great, one more sleeve to go.

Off to play with my apples.

XOXO Jen

I finally have time to sit and type a post and add all the photos from the estate sale I went to last weekend.  Chad’s coworker emailed him a flyer for this particular sale and he forwarded it to me.  I got there Sat at 11ish and I figured all the good stuff would be gone all ready because there were a ton of people there. That was not the case, the house was packed full of vintage goodies. I’m sure I missed some really great stuff by not getting there when they opened.  Now on to the goodies.

Aren’t these the cutest vintage baking cups. You can find them in the shoppe.

I can picture them in someones vintage kitchen with other old packaging.

These are the sweetest vintage baby comb and brush, the little painted flowers are so sweet.

These are also in the shoppe.

Vintage Daniel Boone book, I love the graphics on the cover.

Also, in the shoppe.

Vintage hair brush with dainty pink flowers.  If you collect vintage brushes, you can get this one in the shoppe.

I love this vintage clue game. It will be adorable with my other vintage games. Clue was one of my fave games.

This cracks me up, it is a vintage Mens hair product.  It is super cute and the directions on the back are funny too.  This is also available in the shoppe.

Fun vintage office supplies.  I love the color of the stapler and I needed one for the sewing room.

This lady had a ton of vintage books, I wanted to take them all home with me.  I was super excited to see this book, I have two others by the same publisher with the neeto graphics on the front. Alice in wonderland and little women.  I will be keeping my eye out for others to go with my collection:)

I paid a dollar for each of these.  The pottery all says USA on the bottom, no other marks.  I have two other pieces of green pottery which is where the pottery obsession started.  The white piece is now with all my other white pieces.  The green pieces joined the two I have, it looks much better to have 4 than two.  The old insulator is in my main bathroom.

This is the smallest toaster cover I have ever seen.  I wish I had a toaster this small so I could use it.

These little gems are going to join my other vintage goodies in my bathroom.

Yep, another book,  I cant resist them. This one has super cute graphics inside and out.  It is all ready in the shoppe, otherwise I will have vintage books floor to ceiling.

I love this little vintage bowl. It has no markings, but it is really pretty.  Check the china cabinet if you need this little goodie.

I was originally going to put these in the shoppe, but I am thinking they need to stay here:)

Isn’t this so pretty.  It needs a vintage frame.  This will be in the shoppe soon.

I got these to use for ephemera packs.  They are sooo old.  I got a huge box of old letters, torn books and sheet music. All of the letters are from 1930 and older, there was even one from the 1800’s, the handwriting is lovely.  I will be making the packs and adding them to the shoppe later this week.

This one is staying here too. Can you believe it was only one dollar.

I love these old needle books, I have quite a few in my sewing room.  I will be adding these to the shoppe .

I love this glass and wish it was not the only one.  I will not be keeping this one because I don’t have red in my kitchen.  Check the Shoppe.

Just what I needed more vintage Christmas ornaments.  I may make a wreath out of them since I have collected so many.

I love vintage Halloween decorations, but they are usually sooo expensive.  I am bummed that the large pumpkin has tape damage.

I know this vintage oar seems random, but I have a sea themed bathroom and Hub is going to hang it over the mirror for me.  It was only two dollars:)

I also got a couple of vintage magazines from the 50’s-Life being one of them.  I also got a bag of sewing goodies and a few other things, but I am sure you are tired of this post because it is so long.

XOXO Jen