Vintage Chic at Sweet Briar Hollow

 When I was at lunch at my friend Laurie's a couple of weeks ago, she was showing me her house, and I fell in love with a particularly sweet little dresser.  She said that she had bought it at Vintage Chic in Draper ... She said "You know the cute store in the several small old houses."  Nope, never heard of it.

 But I was going to find out ... after googling I came up with Vintage Chic at Sweet Briar Hollow ... when I got there it was in one larger house (above) and three smallish ones ... all in a row ...

 The store was exactly to my taste, and I spent a lovely hour browsing its contents, and found another adorable dresser.   How charming is this pink striped cutie?

 Of course the all white Christmas tree caught my attention too!

 Everything was charming and so well done ...

 ... and in talking to one of the owners, I found out that the other owner's home town is Payson ... that's where I live!!  I was surprised that the store has been there something like 6  years, well if so, its the best kept secret in Draper!!

It all but charmed my socks off, luckily I was wearing sandals and was in do real danger.  If you are local, be sure to make the trek. 

A Fairy Garden Terrarium, kind of.

 Today I would like to introduce you to my former tea cup fairy.  While visiting my sis in Maryland a million years ago,  I found the most charming broken tea cup at a garage sale ...  I loved it.  Sis took the tea cup in hand and told me she would fix it for me.  

A while after my eastern travels were complete, I got a package in the mail.  True to her word she had repaired the cup and saucer, but to my surprise and delight she had created this delightful fairy to dwell in it.  That was 24 years ago...

Today Mistress Fairy Princess of the Fair People,  got new digs!

 Long time followers may recall the day I created this wonderful miniature garden,  if not, you can see what it looked like before everything died, here.

The bonsai tree I'd brought back from the LA flower market while on a junking trip there, is now as dead as a proverbial door nail ...

I knew it was time to clean up the mess, but I also knew that killing a new batch of plants would be, well, just wrong.

There fore...

The bonsai tree got a paint job, and all the dead mosses and grass got replaced with preserved versions.

 You may note that I also repainted the table and chair set ... when they were dark green they matched the patio tiles, but they also disappeared into the green scenery.

 The Dr. Suessish tree was made from faux moss covered styrofoam forms I found at the dollar store ..  Add small branches from my yard and voila, cool, if unrealistic trees are born.

 So now the beautiful little demitasse tea cup stands along ... as my tea cup fairy has moved on ...

I think she will be much happier here, don't you?  Hey sis, she look lonely though, just sayin' .

Summer Ribbon Flag - Patriotism!

 Hey friends, we are on the cusp of July, so I needed to put something patriotic on my door.

 I found this beauty on Pinterest that I loved, but wanted something a little more tailored.  You can look at this blog to see it and others!

I gathered up some red and white and blue starred ribbon, decided to use an old ruler for a base and went to work.

I debated using a ribbon stapled to both sides to hang it, but noticed this sparkly star and thought it fit the look I was going for, so I just hot glued it in place.  It had a tiny hanging hole at the top, so I just wired it onto my wreath nail on the front door!

I think it provides the perfect amount of whimsy for my July holidays, don't you?  Since I am a ribbon addict, I didn't have to buy a thing!!  The whole project, including ironing the ribbon, took a half an hour.  Now that's my kind of lazy day project!

Hoarder's Estate Sale, Best Junking Ever!

This past week, my friend Wendy and I went to the much and long touted Hoarder's sale in Sugar House.  This man died in his 80's but had sat at the Sugar House DI second hand store every day for the previous 40 years, bringing home his finds and packing them in boxes, which literally filled his 2,000 square foot house.  

 Others were there ready to rummage as well.

 The estate company had been working on the house for 6 month. The boxes were stacked 7 feet high in every room, with just walk ways in between.  He also had a full basement and several out buildings filled with stuff, as well as metal and stone stuff filling his back yard. The estate company hauled out 12 of the big long dumpsters full, and at least that much in loads to DI.  

 The estate company also had to rent storage units to get enough stuff out of the house to make room to display what was left.

 This is just one room of light fixtures and chandeliers.  The estate people said there were over 1,000 of these in the estate.

 There were lots of paintings, frames, drawings, framer photos, etc.

 There were hundreds of decorative iron pieces, some as small as those above, along with iron fence sections, and I saw at least a dozen iron beds.

 A few photos of the full yard and storage sheds.

 Shelves and shelves of pottery and nic nacks.

 at least 30 cookie jars

The sale will go for two weeks straight, with ten times more items than a normal estale sale .... plus every few days they will be adding more items from the storage units .... Yep I plan to go back again.  Just like our friend the hoarder, I find it addictive, do you?

If you are local, check out All In The Family sales on ksl.com ... its in Sugar House just of 2100 south!

Telling Her Story.

Today is the beginning of a new project for me. This is a picture of my mother as a baby.  Whenever she showed me this picture, as I was growing up, she'd say "The first time my father saw me, he said, 'She has a big mouth just like her mother!'"    

... And that is my project, to share her story. 

Here she is as a high school graduate.

This picture shows her as a young married.  They were married in 1936 but did not have their first child until 1940. 

She was born in 1917 and I will finish her biography in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth. She was an extraordinary woman and I hope to capture that in my telling of her story.

Norma was born the tenth of eleven children, two of whom died before she was born. When she was three, with a pregnant mother,  her father died. 

Then two years later, in 1922 her mother remarried. Her new step father told her mother he would only take on one child. That child was my mother's youngest sister.  So at the age of 5 she was farmed out to relatives, an event not uncommon in those days, before the Social Security program came into being.