A Surprise in the Mail and I Need Your Help!

I got my  mail the other day and saw a purple envelope with a return address that looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place it.

I was very curious and anxiously opened it to discover this beautiful card~

Inside was the sweetest thank you sentiment from Polly at Sassafras Stuff.

And this~

A little wrapped trinket!

I eagerly opened it to discover the neatest little french flash card with an old key.

La mer is french for "the sea."

How precious! I had just the perfect place for it. On one of my end tables I keep a faux antler bowl full of shells, sand dollars, and other special treasures I've collected from when my family lived on the Washington coast.

It looks perfect there.

 

Merci, dear Polly! I have never gotten a surprise from a blogger friend in the mail, it truly made my day!

On another note, I have a quick question. I got these old Syroco Wood gold shelves at a yard sale last summer. I've been wanting to do something with them, I was thinking I should paint them. I wanted to paint them a creamy white, or a black, and distress them. Now I wonder if they'd be better left gold for the holidays.

Help! What would you do with them?

~michelle~

Ruffles and Rust, Oh My!

On Saturday I attended the "Come Junk With Us Ruffles and Rust -A Vintage Market To Inspire." Oh goodness! I was on eye candy overload. It was very crowded. I could barely get into most of the vendor's spaces. A couple vendors had long lines weaving through or outside their wares!

I hardly took any pictures. Two, to be exact. It was just too crowded. These lovely chairs were part of Junebug Furniture and Design's space.

I don't remember who this picture was from, sorry!  I kind of regretted taking my big ole Nikon as it weighed a ton in my bag. I think my right shoulder is now about 2 inches shorter than my left.

There wasn't anything I needed. I was mostly there for inspiration and to admire all the amazing creativity. I mean, these people are truly artists! They work so hard! But I did have one mission. I wanted a new pillow for the bedroom.

Last year I got a red wooden sign on clearance at Fred Meyer for 3.99, it reads "Back at the Ranch." I don't usually use a lot of red in my home unless it's the holiday season, but I liked this sign and it ended up in the bedroom.

 I had seen Melaine's newest pillow collection on her blog My Sweet Savannah and loved them. I wandered the whole market looking at everyone's fabulous pillows, but loved Melaine's best! She had so many great choices but I finally picked one to take home with me.

I was so happy with the colors and texture of the grain sack and fabric. It is different than anything I have and will be a great addition to my comforter cover and bedding (shams are a reversible print I got at Cost Plus Imports around 3 years ago; white quilted duvet and shams are from Target.) I am still playing with combining different pillows and I'm in the process of making a burlap one with one of my favorite quotes on it to replace the thrift shop needlepoint flower pillow.

Melaine always has such great goodies to sell! Her home is filled with decor that is exactly my style. Her cottage chic look is cozy and just oozes the comforts of love and family. 

I felt inspired by the Ruffles and Rust and stayed up wayyyyyy too late Saturday night to get busy on some holiday decor for All That Jazz. Stay tuned for a sneak peek......next week!

~michelle~

Monticello Marketplace

I finally got to visit Monticello Marketplace last weekend! I have been a big fan of some of their vendors and their blogs for many months. My sister was shocked when I recognized a couple of the booths from online. Does that mean I blog too much?

There were lots of fun vintage finds to be had.

I loved this vignette. The colors popped so beautifully.

A cabinet my sister considered buying. I think she has decided to pass, but I am sure it will find a happy home soon.

The front window at Monticello. Each month a new vendor gets the chance to decorate the front window. Doesn't that sound like fun! I may mention that to our shop owner and see if it's something she would be interested in.

Always love the silver pieces, tarnished or shiny.

This was my VERY favorite piece. Come to find out it was my Mom and Aunt's too! We weren't perusing the isles together so when we met up we had a good giggle about our similar tastes! I am loving the gray right now. I just finished a dresser for Jazz that I did in a light gray and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. I'll have to show you in another post. My posting here seems to be few and far between, I barely seem to blog at my personal blog anymore, let alone here.

More gray and white. It was strange when I looked back through my pictures that the vignettes that caught my eye were mostly gray and whites. It seemed to be a recurring theme and popular amongst the vendors.

Little touches of Autumn were around every corner. I hope you are all having a marvelous Fall and thank you to Michelle for keeping us entertained with such wonderful posts!

Fall Foliage- The Good, The Bad, and The Buggy

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend in the PNW. I got to visit one of my favorite places.  While there, I collected some amazing fall foliage!

It looks so lovely in my home- nature's colors just glow indoors.

Except for those fiery red branches from the burning bush shrub. Once I got them in my rusty flower can and in their new location, I realized the leaves were covered in tiny black dots and bugs.

So, back outside they went!

The perils of bringing nature inside- sometimes they come adorned with critters!

I have so many inspiring holiday project ideas for All That Jazz Vintage....as soon as I find a moment to get started on them, I'll share with you what will be arriving in our vendor space this November!
 

~michelle~

Thank You, Beach

The other day I randomly grabbed my camera and took a quick drive to the beach. The sun was about to set and I wanted to take some pictures.

The smell of the beach was overpowering. A smell that instantly took me back to my childhood of growing up on the Puget Sound. Decaying seaweed, wet sand, salty wet logs.....I don't even know all the sources of that smell. Most people would saw eeew, that stinks. Personally, I love it. It's organic. It's Washington. It's the beach.

I walked across the driftwood.......looked for some shells or neat rocks.......snapped some pictures.....tightened the hood of my Eddie Bauer windbreaker around my head as the wind whistled past my ears.......it was getting dark and there wasn't time to do much exploring.

It had been a fairly nice day, but had gotten a bit chilly. Due to a large cloud bank off on the horizon that seemed to just suck down the sun and any color from it's glow, the sunset turned out to be less than spectacular that night.

Regardless, my visit to the shore was just what I needed at that moment.  On the way home I blasted one of my favorite CD's and just enjoyed the moment.

Thank you, beach.

~michelle~

Do You Need a New Pair of Wellies?

Do you wear between a women's 5 and a 6.5/7?
Do you want to spend under $30?
Do you have a Marshall's store nearby?

Then you may be in luck!

I was in a local Marshall's the other day and found these rubber boots in the children's section! They are youth sized.

I typically wear a women's 6/6.5, these are a youth 5. I thought the navy color with green trim was basic and fun. They also had a cool black and green tartan plaid, and a brown herringbone tweed. They have a good tread, hit upper calf and are wide enough to get jeans tucked in (I have pretty skinny legs, so most boots are loose around the calves on me.)

And they were $29! I was in need, they (the weather experts) say we are in for a pretty wet, snowy, stormy winter around here! 

By the way, have you ever had rubber wellies that get cloudy white/gray marks on them? Here is what I discovered it is (Hunter is a popular, yet expensive, brand of rubber wellies):

What is the white residue on my Hunter boots?
Occasionally, it is possible that white marks will appear on your Hunter rubber wellington boots. This is called 'blooming', it is your boots attempting to protect themselves from environmental damage.
Every Hunter rubber wellington boot is made from 100% natural ingredients and small amounts of wax are included in the rubber compound during the vulcanization process that is used to make each pair. When exposed to certain environmental factors, this wax can "bloom" to the surface and appear as white marks.
This is not a defect with the boots, and is completely natural. If this does happen, you can wipe this blooming clean with a warm, damp cloth. We recommend UV Tech* Spray which can be found at boating, hunting or fishing stores. 

Who knew?


Oh- and those wellies I got are magical! I purchased them and voila~ not a drop of rain in two days!

Hee hee!

p.s. I took the self-portrait of me and Abbie on my automatic setting. I realized that after being Abbie's puppy sitter for 12 years, I don't have a single picture of the two of us together!

~michelle~

Catching Up

It has been a very wet weekend here in the Pacific Northwest. I was feeling under the weather with my first cold of the season. So I think. Who knows with me- it could have been allergies or a migraine. I spent most of my weekend camped on the couch watching episodes of "The Event" and "Mad Men" On Demand.

One highlight of my weekend was that I received my necklace from Kristy at Sosobella Designs in the mail! I won the necklace from Robyn's giveaway on her blog Whimages.

Technically, I think the necklace was for a young girl, but I don't have children so I just had it made with my initial and my birthstone crystal, an amethyst.

I love it! You can head over to Sosobella Designs to see more of their amazing collection of jewelry!

Speaking of giveaways, fabulous Polly from Sassafrass Stuff won our giveaway a few weeks ago. Polly, your gift is finally on it's way, thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy the pillow and vase!

I'm dog sitting for Abbie, a 14 year old black lab. I've known her for 12 of her 14 years.

Abbie had cancer several years ago and although very healthy now, she is physically showing her age. So we go on really short walks now. Sunday afternoon there was a break in the rain and we got out to see and smell the damp signs of fall.

There is a pear tree in Abbie's front yard.

Most of the ones that end up on the ground are quickly mushy and full of brown wormy holes. I am trying to decide what to do with the pears. I hope to pick a few that I can reach from the tree to bake a treat.

Any recommendations?

It felt great to get out for fresh air, but then I was ready for a nap!

I just love lazy weekends.

I hope you all had good ones!

~michelle~

Fall Harvest, Part Two

After we finished our day of garage-saling and fall-harvesting, we got everything unloaded and into the shop. We discovered that we had to do some major re-arrangin'! Funny how you think you're just going to "drop some things off".....nope! Always ends up being almost a major re-do to fit merchandise in!

Here are some pictures of how our vendor space looked after almost two hours of work (and we worked minus lattes- crazy!) last Saturday.

The industrial cart that sold the minute we wheeled it into the door....

  

Tara made these darling burlap pillows tied with pinecones and twine.....

 

 Orange lights entwined a branch on the latice

The other table Tara purchased, decked out with goods!

I am in love with this scale! Tara found it at the giant garage sale. I really wanted to buy it from her but just don't have the room in my kitchen and I don't really need it......

 

Seriously, I cringe every time I look at this photo! Nope, I am not a fan of spiders!

I don't think that crow is, either!

Old wooden cabinet drawers finding a new purpose.

 Old transfer ware just feels like fall!

 This turkey plate would be perfect for Thanksgiving!

  I love using leaves and sticks in our displays....

The scale again. I'm obsessed!  I love that it is from Montgomery Ward. I remember looking at that catalog when I was a little girl!  

I don't need it. 

I don't need it.

I don't need it!

 But I want it.

The spider and leaf garlands hang for now....but in a few more weeks, we'll be thinking about changing up All That Jazz for the holidays!! Hard to believe....

Have a fall~bulous week, friends!!

~michelle~