Latest in Loot: Installment 2, Pattern & Color

All pics can be enlarged by clicking for detail :)



This red leather bag ($2, Angel's Attic Thrift) is a favorite new find. So many wonderful colors and shapes in the amazing stitched-on leather pattern (front, back, and sides) It even has snaps in two places so that it can be a larger bag (perfect size for toting magazines, I had 4 in there when I took the third pic) or folded up to half the size. Style AND ingenious!

I came across this smock for a couple of bucks at the Goodwill and it immediately brought back memories of arts and crafts time in kindergarten. I remember there being a big box of smocks in all different shapes, colors, and patterns. The kids would choose from it when it was time to do arts/crafts projects. Of course it was the 70's, so they all looked a little something like this. It figures that when the time came to get creative, I was most interested in perusing the smock box ;)


During my trip to Angel's Attic, when I found the bag, I also found this sweet blue one for $1.50. It ties in the back and has a big pocket in front that's hard to see in the picture. I knew right away that the two had to be together:

I love the tiny floral prints, don't they make the sweetest pair! I'm hoping to come across more so I can start a smock box for when Clover gets older and has friends and cousins over for fingerpainting and what not :D

Until then, they're actually really cute on and I think I may have to try to work them into some outfits this Spring.

I about fell over when I found this vintage unicorn towel-of-amazingness hidden in with all the far less exciting towels at the Goodwill for $2. It's huge like a beach towel, in great shape, and I'm convinced that it is most definitely the coolest towel EVER!

The two vintage elephant planters in the back were thrifted back when I was still pregnant and looking for things to decorate a space for Clover-to-be. I recently found this sweet lil' guy in front to join the herd, which currently resides on the dresser in Clover's Corner.




Vintage needlebooks and an Asparagus Fern embroidery kit all for $1 each at Angel's Attic (it was a good day there). The needlebooks are great and quite old, I'm sure they're worth more than a dollar a piece, they all had original price tags on them for $6-$8 each.

I love finding fun framed vintage embroidery at the thrift stores and now I can make my own! I'm also very into ferns of all kinds right now so that makes it extra good :)

Yay! I finally thrifted a Polaroid camera, which is something I've been wanting for ages. They were charging $7 for it at the Salvos down the street, but I went on 50% off day and got it for only $3.50. Much to my delight, I got it home to find that there was STILL FILM IN IT! Five pics, unfortunately the first one, not realizing there was film in the camera, was wasted on a photo of Lucas' arm.

I took two more then it jammed, so I opened it up, ruining another, and took this final picture of Clover on my bed. Even though she looks a little dear-caught-in-headlights, I really like the soft colors and overexposed quality. Now I'm itching for more, so if anyone knows a good place to buy 600 film online, please let me know! They were actually still recently selling it at my local Target but when I went in to buy some, they had run out :(

Still more finds to come!

A Rose of a Swap

I know that it's technically Fall now, but where I am it's still HOT and Summer seems to want to hang around a bit longer. Though I'm looking forward to putting together outfits involving layers as much as the next gal, I'm also glad that the weather hasn't cooled just yet, if for no other reason than to be able to wear THIS AMAZING DRESS!

Both the dress and the PERFECTLY matching purple rose pendant arrived from Australia, just before I left for my camping trip. They were in a package full of thrifted goodies from the lovely Skye of the awesome blog Skylark and Son. After offering her my romper's blue twin, she suggested we do a swap, and I'm so glad we did!

I was immediately enchanted by this dress, I love everything about it! Interestingly, a quick google search informed me that the purple rose symbolizes enchantment, so there you go. I LOVE the flower garden print and it's so light and gauzy, the perfect dress for a hot day!

But the dress love doesn't stop there, because she also sent awesome dress number two with its perfect pleats AND this adorable little clutch!

Also, in keeping with the rose theme. I love a good theme for these sorts of things!

It wasn't until after she had acquired these items that I informed her of my address, which happens to be in a town called Santa Rosa :D The small clutch was a bit of a coincidence as well, since I thrifted one very similar for her.

Other goodies included:

This very cool skirt which reminds me of a vintage tablecloth. Skye mentioned having thought of my vintage linens post when she found it.

It seems all my whining about having no plaid payed off! I plan to wear these cute little shorts layered over tights with boots for Fall.


This neat vintage zoo pamphlet with fold-out animal pics. I like the hand colored look of the photos. There were even goodies for Clover!

The "One Woolly Wombat" book is all about the crazy animals Down Under (of which the platypus has always been a personal favorite), very cute.

Speaking of very cute, I love this long-sleeved koala tee, absolutely adorable!

AND speaking of absolutely adorable... the poncho! Poor kid... it was like 90 degrees out and her mama is making her pose in a wool poncho (one woolly wombat indeed;) She's obviously very pleased with her loot though, and it didn't stop her from hamming it up for the camera, look at those teeth! Princess CloverTwoTeeth has about five more coming in as we speak, ouch!

Thank you SO much Skye! You really did a wonderful job shopping for us, and I had a blast shopping for you as well, we should definitely do it again sometime!

Thanks guys for all the well wishes on my trip too, we had a really great time! Also, there WAS some thrifting involved and I'm planning to post about it soon ;)

Thrifts and Gifts

Today's outfit was a combination of recently thrifted items and gifts. I found this sheer cream blouse at the Hospice Thrift this week for $2. The drape is nice and I love how tiny the collar is. Just one of those great basic pieces.

The gray pants (they're jean-like but much thinner and softer) are another great basic, given to me by my friend Julianne. Someone she knew was trying to find them a home and she took them thinking they might fit me. Turns out they fit PERFECTLY and are now the nicest pair of pants I own, brand new and very high quality from a boutique in Spain. I've been wearing them a lot lately, thanks Julianne!

For some reason I find this shot incredibly amusing. Maybe it's how I appear to be in complete denial of the fact that I have a child. Meanwhile she sits there plain as day in all her pink-striped glory pondering the quickened beeping of the strange blinking red light. Really, there's no denying such cuteness and cuteness of this magnitude can not be cropped, besides, she kinda matches bits of my patchwork leather bag ($1 from the romper rummage sale awhile back).

The GORGEOUS pinkish nude suede shoes and this really cool bracelet were swap gifts from the lovely and stylish Meg of the fashion maven. I saw the bracelet on this post along with some other pieces of jewelery that she made and commented about how much I liked it.

I was thrilled when she offered to do a swap with me for the bracelet, and even more thrilled when it showed up with these amazing shoes that she thrifted for just 3.99. They look barely worn and the suede is sooo soft!

I love the beautiful Gandhi quote and the simplicity of the bracelet which is what I was originally drawn to. I can wear it with everything and lately I have been, thanks Meg! :)

It seems I'm not the only one who is drawn to the bracelet though. Clover has taken quite the liking to it. She absolutely LOVES playing with this bracelet. I don't know what it is, but it's amazing! When she starts getting fussy now, I just take it off and hand it to her and she is instantly appeased. Meg, for that I thank you most, as it is a truly priceless gift (one that came in very handy today at the supermarket ;).

The hair was an experiment inspired by this lovely post by Milla at The Girl Who Married a Bear. I started off following the tutorial for creating the Gibson Girl hairstyle that she refers to at the end of her post, but then kinda started doing my own thing and one large hairclip, one small hair clip, one hairband, and about 8 bobbypins later this was what I ended up with.

Two more items from the Hospice Thrift this week. The bag was $2.50 and is the perfect size for carrying books and magazines. I was actually planning to go to the bookstore and buy this exact book to read on our camping trip this week. I was so excited to come across the hardback copy for $4, quite the savings! I keep wanting to start reading it, but I'm saving it for the trip.

Here's an outfit I wore earlier this week. The pleated turquoise skirt with pockets was another find from Hospice thrift for $1. I also got a like-new blue paisley sling for lugging around little Miss Clover for $3. The cool part is that I got the blouse, bag, book, skirt, and sling all for less than what the book would have cost me at the bookstore :D

These two lovelies were both gifts from family that coincidentally showed up on my doorstep on exactly the same day a few weekends ago. I came home to find the adorable vintage cardi waiting for me on my front porch, it wasn't until days later that I found out my sister-in-law scored it at a clothing swap for me.

After discovering the cardigan, seemingly left by a mysterious cardigan fairy, my mother-in-law showed up later that day with this lovely skirt that she thrifted for me. The skirt fit perfectly and twirls like a dream! I couldn't get over how perfectly the two items went together :)

And now I'll leave you with some cute overload. Clover has a skill she would like to demonstrate:

Look mom, no hands!... Could I be any prouder? :)