Its the Most Wonderful Time . . .

I absolutely love holiday decorating although I never seem to make enough time to do it. I love how these old outdoor things turned out after my putzing with them for a bit this last weekend.

I found a pair of Carter's infant mittens to put on these old skis and think the rusty old pulley on the sled is wicked cute with the little star cut out!!!! I think this was a steal at $2 from some backwoods antique vendor!!! I still need to do something cute with the snowshoes . . . any ideas????

This big star was a junked-and-left-by-the-side-of-the-road find that my SIL Jess came across!!! I still need to antique it a bit more with some stain!!

Carter helped me all day and even started dancing to the Christmas music I was playing!! He very carefully put all the ornaments on the tree, but wouldn't let me help him, the little stubborn stinker!

I LOVE these old blocks too!!! I found them this year at the Cranberry Festival!!

I can't wait to do MORE decorating this next weekend!!!!!

Vintage Checker Magnets!!

I am so in love with these! We found two small bags of vintage, old, and very well used, checkers at a huge antique store this last summer. I knew as soon as I saw them what I would do with them . . . a little hot glue and a round magnet and POOF . . . the cutest little fridge toys around! Perfect for holding up all of Carter's school work!!!!

Recycled * Reused * Repurposed - Holiday Style!

Holiday Gifts Galore is a show my we (me and my SILs) were in this past weekend! It was a total blast! Besides having only 3 hours of sleep the night before due to last minute finishing touches :). We had so many beautifully refurbished items that I can honestly say, we had the most attractive booth there!!!

We put several pair of my BelleCruz Mittens scattered throughout the sale items to give a warm and cozy feel. The rest of them I displayed in old dresser drawers. I can't believe how well these RECYCLED sweater mittens have been selling!!! I was even sewing there at the show to try to keep up!! They are so beautiful and each pair are unique, lined fully in remnant polar fleece. Definitely a vintage but stylish must-have up here in the cold country!

Missy brought so many different things, all of which were hand made! We had Mittens, Old Window Memo Boards, Wreathes, Monogram Blocks, Candles, Gift Tag Holders and Cards, Tote Bags and Pillows made from repurposed coffee bean bags, misc vintage items stuffed with real pine boughs and decorated for the holidays!!! We are definitely doing this again next year!!!!

Carter's Cute Ocean Room!!!

I found some really cute things to spruce up Carter's room at the Cranberry Festival last weekend! I got an old wood waterski that I turned into wall hooks for Carter to hang up his backpack or jacket on. I hung it low enough for him to reach it so he thinks it is "awesome!". ;) He makes me laugh!

I got these metal turtles a few years ago at Pier One and thought they were absolutely adorable. They were the only things I really had decorating his ocean room except the bedspread, drapes and a fish tank illusion hanging on his wall. That is why I was so excited to find the other things you see in these pictures . . . life preserver, beach sign, Hang Ten vintage metal sign . . .

Oh, and I cant forget the crab trap and old fishing poles. My SIL Jess gave me the poles for Carter's room which was really special since they belonged to her grandfather. I thought when I picked up the trap at the Cranberry Festival that it was just a crafty look-alike but I was actually stopped by someone who asked me about it since he said that he and his wife had just taken a trip to Apalachicola Bay and had seen similar ones!! So cool!!!

I just love how it turned out and Carter is so excited about his new room!!

CRAN-FEST - WARRENS, WI

Ok, to say we had fun at this festival this past weekend would be an understatement!! It was huge, the lines were long, the DAYS were long, the food was greasy, we got lost OVER and OVER again, but we loved EVERY minute of it!! Ok, well not every minute, some of the vendors were crabby and we got rained on a bit at the end of the morning on Sunday, but all-in-all, one of the most successful and fabulously fun junking excursions I have ever been on!!!

Look at these pics!! The one of the crowd was taken mid-way down one of the MANY paths we could have chosen. I think this one was Main Street. One of the volunteers down there that helped us bring things back to our car told us that expected over 125K people to travel in from all over for this festival! The picture of my SIL's van is only the second night we were there!! We had another full day of shopping AFTER this was taken!!! Sorry, for the quality of the pic . . . I was laughing so hard that it looks kinda blurry. Suprisingly though, we really didn't spend that much money. Most of what was purchased was at flea markets or antique dealors. The big item in the center is a large buffett that I purchased for $20 and the cool black, wroght iron scolly thing off to the right of the picture is actually a set of 3 auditorium chairs, all wood and metal, that Missy STOLE for $15!!!! Can you believe it!!!! SO MUCH FUN!!!

First Day of School!!!!!

I can't even believe that Carter is old enough already to go to Pre-School!! He had his first day and although he is typically pretty shy about new experiences, he was so excited!! He has been talking about going to school all summer and now it is finally here!

Look at the shoes! (in his excitement, he put on Daddy's sandals) ha ha And YES, the mohawk is natural!! Believe it or not, his temples are really blonde and that strip down the center is dark and thick!! LOL Studly!

He didn't even notice when we left him, but his teacher did say that as soon as he figured it out, he was a little apprehensive, but still pretty outgoing so that is a good sign! He even met a new friend right away and they built . . . of course . . . a racetrack!!!

Recycled Sweater Mittens!!!

Talk about a fun project!!! I have been grabbing every old, discarded wool sweater that I can get my hands on! I am making these mittens with a fleece lining so that they don't itch are are extremely cozy!!!! I plan to have some of these for sale, since we do live up north and the cold weather will be here all too quickly, over at Snowman Hill's awesome fall sale Friday Sept 25th and Sat Sept 26th!! I love recycling!!!! Thank you Krista!!!!!!

More Junk-Lifting!!

More ideas from my sister-in-law! It was no surprise that I totally loved a little red stool she re-did for her kitchen so when my other sister-in-law said she had one for me .... I jumped all over that!!! I painted it a metallic celery color - I love it up against the dark gray walls of my kitchen!!! See how cute it turned out! Thanks to both my sisters!

Lights Please . . .

I bought these lights down at the park point garage sales. The pictures are bad because I took them with my phone late last night. They were originally supposed to be a set of 3 but I only ended up with two so I wasn't sure what I was going to do since I was now short one light.

Voila, new sconces!!! I mounted them on either side of my entry way mirror and although they don't actually work, I love the look they give the room!!!

Panths or no panths . . . I'm goin sthwimmin!!!

Carter is pantless a lot these days . . . potty training is going well!!! These pictures from the cabin reminded me of one of my favorite knock knock jokes. Yes, it is a very stupid joke, but I laugh everytime I think of it. Knock knock. . . . whose there . . . . panther . . . . panther who . . . .panths or no panths, I'm going sthwimmin!!!! ;)~ tee hee somewhere my dad is laughing too!!!!!

Fourth of July come and gone . . . .

This is a late post but I wanted to share how much fun we had on the Fourth this year!! We went up to "uncle Tom's cabin" for a few days between races and had an absolute blast. The weather was low 80's and sunny everyday which for up here is rare but made the weekend perfect!!! There was a huge firework show on Saturday night and tons of bbq-ing. Carter spent most of his time down by the lake and poor Mike spent his nursing a pretty bad sunburn he got while fishing the day before. I went Jet Skiing and Tubing, both of which I had never done before!!! AWESOME!!! Of course, all these fabulous pics are from Missy, the camera queen!! Thank you Missy!!!!!

Hot Hibbing Races!

We went racing this weekend up at Hibbing Raceway and man was it hot!! That descriptive only pertains to the weather though since Mike struggled with his car most of the weekend and ended up more frustrated with it than ever. Carter was a regular racin groupie and as usual just excited to be up in the stands watchin Daddy!! He was up late both nights and never got crabby although he did get pretty tuckered out during the Semi-Features on Saturday and fell asleep for an hour on my lap! He just loves being outside and especially loves the racetrack!

Stocking up at the Park Point Garage Sales

I went to the Park Point Garage Sales this weekend with my sister-in-law, Jess. I had never been interested in going before, but now that I look at junk a bit differently, I was excited to try it. We got down there when most of the vendors opened at 8am and didn't leave until almost 2. We had so much fun and found such great deals!! I found this really old metal fan for $1 and the vintage wood sled for $3, (how fun will that be to decorate this winter)!!! I also found an old wooden level that I plan to use as a picture shelf and bought Hostas for my new shade garden so I'll post pictures of that too when its done. We walked nearly the entire lenght of the point, and found cute things at many of the vendors, but I'd have to say that my favorite find was the "little brown chest", an old metal cooler that the lady said was from the 30's or 40's, and was only $2!!!!!