Now for the scores!  And oh yes, there were scores.

Here is the thing that went over the predetermined price limit with our line friend:

The gentleman who lived in the house was a boat manufacturer and he made this couch out of fiberglass.  The back and bottom bubbles out as you can kind of see.  The legs are nothing short of totally amazing.  This one is three pieces and can be arranged as a loveseat and chair, couch, or 3 chairs.  The turquoise upholstery is in great shape except for one stain that I’m going to try to steam out.

He also made this one.  Seriously, how great are these things???  It’s going to be SO hard not to keep them.  This one has some minor rips in the seat that I’m going to try to mend.  Aren’t they just the epitome of 1950s atomic cool?

We are crazy in love with this caricature.  It’s dated 1956.  The guy featured was a prominent Austin lawyer and theater dude.

Ok.  THIS CHAIR.  Holy balls!  I want to keep it SO bad but I’m going to be a good little reseller and resist.  But that aqua color is just perfect, and these Eisenhower chairs are so desirable and hard to find!

I’m super excited about these unused craft kits!  The lady of the home was a member of a craft of the month club that sent her a craft kit every month.  How exciting are these??  The one with birds is an adorable apron and the other is a framed wall hanging with yarn flowers.  I can’t wait to do them.  Keep an eye on my column This IS Your Granny’s Crafting on Tuesdays over at No Pattern Required to see how they turn out when I make them!

I paid a pretty penny for this pyrex, but it was unused straight out of the box and none of us had ever seen this pattern before!  And it’s such a great size for leftovers.  Speaking of leftovers, I can never have enough of these tupperware containers, so I snagged them right away.

I was going to sell all of these things, but when I got home I noticed the deer planter had been repaired, so I guess he’s staying with me!

I often buy things just for the packaging, and these camping supplies are a great example of that.  Love them.

Kitschmas!!  I paid way too much for that tiny knee hugging elf but I’ve never been known to leave one behind.

I’m also a known sucker for any vintage zodiak stuff and big eyed wall art.

This amazing vintage sign is a present for someone.  We could not have found a more perfect present.  Although I really want to keep it – it’s awesome!!

Not a bad haul for one sale, huh?  Now that my estate sale bug has been reignited I can’t stop looking at the listings online!  I’m already thinking about going back to this sale for the rest of the craft kits - unbelievably I left a ton behind.  Maybe on the half price day I’ll go get the rest…

I’m proud to unveil a new crewel kit!  I give you KitKat – a saucy kitty festooned with bright flowers, sitting in a shower of starbursts.    This kit is a small sampler – only 5×7 – and provides a great opportunity to dip your toe in the world of crewel before tackling a big project like my Happiness Is Homemade kit.  And it’s only $15!  It’s available for pre-order right now in my shop and will be ready to be shipped out in a week or so!

Like Happiness Is Homemade, KitKat has been designed to fit right in with your vintage crewel collection, or would be happy to be the start of a new collection.  There are only a few, simple stitches required so you have no excuse not to jump right in!  Like Happiness Is Homemade, each kit will include stamped linen fabric, all the wool needed to complete the project, a crewel needle, and complete instructions.

Roasting vegan marshmallows and veggie dogs, swimming, hiking, and enjoying Little Betty’s surprisingly good ghost stories around the campfire – perfection.

I’ve also been way into watching my little garden grow!

I’m already harvesting a few veggies here and there which is so exciting!

I’m not the biggest fan of tomatoes, but with 5 tomato plants I’ll have plenty of homemade bloody mary mix.

Soon, blackberries.  Soon.

And figs, don’t think I haven’t noticed you filling out by the hundreds in my little fig orchard. I’m VERY excited about the figs.

Everything is expanding nicely too.  My little herb corners are spreading and pumpkin and melon vines are exploring the surrounding areas.

My succulent centerpiece is filling out too.  I love having a bit of ornamentation in my garden.

How is the spring weather in your neck of the woods?

I hope the Easter Bunny brought everyone lots and lots of candy!  Besides the usual candy and stuff, Little Betty got this sweet little felt doll in her basket.  It was way too much fun to make.  I want to make a ton more!  It was all hand sewn which is a lovely way to make dolls in my opinion.  The pattern came from Noia Land who just has the most adorable doll patterns on the planet.

Now go hunt for some eggs!

My pickin’ mojo has been off lately – I’ve been kind of striking out and it’s a total bummer!  So today when I managed to pack my van to the ceiling with amazing goodies I was pretty stoked to officially declare an end to my pickin’ dry spell.  Check out that turquoise chair!  It’s actually part of a 1950s curved modular sectional.  Totally amazeballs.  And that pink luggage just might end up staying with me and not go to the store.

But the REAL story of today is the Vintage Kitschmas Treasure Chest!!

I actually owe this all to the amazing Mister Crafter.  When I saw the stack of old military trunks in the garage of the house we were picking, my gaze just skimmed right over them.  A little while later I hear the mister’s voice coming in from the garage:  ”Hey, did you even look in these trunks?”

I said “No!  Is there anything in them?”

“Oh yeah.”  He says.  ”This one is full of vintage Christmas stuff.”

After I caught my breath and picked myself up off the floor, I dug through the first couple layers, just enough to realize that I was going home with the entire trunk.  We were both super excited to get home and fully excavate the old trunk and see what was in store for us.

Here are some highlights of what we found.

Oh yeah.  Vintage Putz village.  Major score.

Adorable vinyl tree skirt in the original package.

GOBS of ornaments.

Cute as a button window stencils.

Never opened tinsel.

Dainty and sparkly tree icicles.

I never really know what to do with these kinds of cutouts, but this Santa, sleigh and reindeer is a total must-keep.

How adorable are these little NOEL angels?  They’re not Holt Howard (although they look like they could be) but they are definitely keepers.

Once I had the box empty, this happened:

Cat is drawn to box as child is drawn to cat.  This may be the saddest looking cat in a box in all of the internet.  Poor Walter is a saint.

First of all, I think I feel a new collection of these little juice glasses coming on.  Aren’t they they sweetest?  And GAH!  One has a squirrel!!  Of course that one was a no brainer.  The huge hot air balloon glass had to go home with SOMEONE and my shopping pal wouldn’t buy it so I stepped up.  But the squirrel glass?  The other side has a FAWN.  Perfection.

I also acquired another cool rusted metal planter:

This is an old cream separator, but I thought it was screaming to house succulents in my yard.  At just $35 I couldn’t leave it behind.

And of course I had to get Mister Crafter a prize, just for being adorable and awesome.  He was well pleased when I brought this home for him:

I thought a vintage advertising door push was just the extra pop the entrance to his office needed.  And he’s all about vintage soda stuff these days (as long as it’s not Coke – too played out he says.)  I’ve never heard of Golden Girl Soda, but I sure like this sign.  And so did the mister!  I think I scored some points.

You may know about me that it’s not a successful Warrenton shopping trip until mama gets some bakelite.  Well this trip I did manage to rustle up 2 pretty great bakelite pieces:

This wood and butterscotch bakelite necklace is a great, long length and something I think I’ll wear all.the.time.  And I’ve been wanting a horse pin for awhile and this one is just about perfect!  I love the color and the twine bridle – it’s perfect!

Next up I have some things to show you that I didn’t buy but are definitely worth showing off!

Congratulations Jamie on leaving the 14th comment and winning my Happiness Is Homemade kit!  I hope you will let us know how it turns out!

Oh yes my friends.  This pink bathroom has lavender trim and tile floor!  Have you ever in your vintage loving life seen such awesomeness?

Here’s a better picture of the colors.  Seriously, have your eyes ever beheld such perfection??   I literally got goosebumps!  Since my friend is a single guy, he is open to my help in fixing the place up – yahoo!!  I’ve decided he should get this wallpaper for the bathroom:

Bradbury Googieland Wallpaper

And yes, the master bath is awesome too – 2 tone green.  Hopefully I’ll have a lot more to share about this great house!

Have you been wanting your very own Happiness Is Homemade kit?  Well now is your chance to win one!  Leave a comment on this post and become a follower of the blog by clicking the +Follow button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen and you could be receiving your kit in the mail!

Never done crewel before?  Don’t worry!  This thing is easy enough for a beginner.  And you can always email me if you have trouble.  I’m hard at work on some new, exciting designs that I can’t wait to show you!  But in the meantime, leave a comment and follow me before the drawing on the evening of March 24th, this Sunday.

WARRENTON!!  NEXT WEEK!!!  Prepare yourself for a couple weeks of obsessive posting about its wondrous bounty.

Last year, this is what my “garden” looked like:

Those two metal tubs were my previous attempt at a veggie garden.  It was a flaming, tailspinning, crashing failure.  I didn’t have them drained correctly and after the first big rain my small crop of peppers, squash, cucumbers, and cantaloupe was drowned.  I was super bummed.

This year I was determined to do better!  I REALLY want to use our huge lot (for being in a city anyway, half an acre is pretty good!) for producing some of our own food.  We have the chickens, fig trees, and persimmon tree already which are great fun.  A successful garden along with the beehive I’m planning will round it out nicely!  I bet you didn’t know I was such a hippie, huh?  Anyway, since I really want to get serious about making my yard more edible, I decided to get some professionals involved.  I worked with an amazing company whose tagline is “Grow Food.  We’ll Help.”  Perfect.  And here is my garden now!

As you can see my ill-fated metal tubs have been put to use again!  They have been set up to drain properly, had trellises added, and are now planted with cucumbers and snow peas.  Since this area is on a slope we added all this terracing to keep the decomposed granite pathways in place.  I’m super happy with the way it looks.  The slope also makes it really hard to photograph!

All around the perimeter in those mini stone beds are blackberries.  Little Betty will eat every one of them I’m sure.

Do you recognize my metal planter score from my recent shopping trip?

Although I think vegetable gardens are beautiful enough on their own, I didn’t want my garden to be ALL business.  I wanted a focal point.  And my favorite plants are definitely succulents!  They are so beautiful and easy to propagate.  I’ve always got new starts going in a few vintage planters somewhere in my house or yard!

There’s also herbs tucked into a few of the corners.

The wood raised beds are pretty awesome.  They’re wicking beds, which means there is a reservoir underneath the soil that holds water and provides water to the plants from underneath.  Great for our scorching summers!   I stick a hose down this PVC pipe and fill it until water comes out of a hole on the other side:

Brilliant, right??

I’m super excited to see how my garden will change over the coming months, hopefully into a lush, Texas style cottage garden with densely packed fruit and vegetables!

Have any of you put in your spring gardens yet, or are planning them out?