good times

Together at the beach...


And decorating my new addition to our family room...
The family room is far from finished, as the wall above needs something with great presence, but seeing how I like old, odd things... this may take me awhile to find! The current coffee table is a little old farm table, but it is too small for this space, but it makes do for now... finding a large one that fits this space, may also take awhile. And well, my rusty old furniture just doesn't look the same on carpet... but slowly and surely, it is all taking shape.

Anyways... I do need some help though, as I like really vibrant, morrocan-ish looking pillows, but not too busy. Also, in particular, I want some white floor cushions, just like the large orange one pictured above, but in white or cream. Please if anyone has any ideas of where I can find some pillows similar to those pictured, please leave a comment. And I just want a few more other pillows, preferably in a bright pink, green, orange, and maybe yellow... any suggestions will help in my search for perfect pillows. Yes, I know... I probably could sew some, but I already did that seeing that some of the pillows pictured, I made from old grain sacks...

Here is an example of the style of floor cushion I am looking for, but I want it in white...
This is from World Market and I purchased the orange, I don't like the design, so I have the pillow facing the other way...

Though my search continues for more pillows (I also need 4 for the sofa that is near it), I do like how the family room is starting to take shape. I especially love our little, antique, French bed that we converted to a sofa and it makes a really comfortable seating space.

Well, a weekend at the beach and decorating at home, definitely makes for some good times... a lovely way to start another week!

going on a memory hunt

So, we moved into our new house and I wanted to take a picture of my Ben and the girls together...


Then our kind neighbor, Sam, she moved into the house right next to us, offered to take our family picture...
We love creating memories together as a Kokeshi family!


Here are more of our Kokeshis...
A softie one just for Brave.


And True made one all by herself...
We like to call it, "A Mess of Art."

Have a fantastic weekend of memory hunting and don't forget to check out the rest of the Kokeshis at the Kokeshi Gallery...

a big girl

My babycakies is now a big girl because she sleeps in a little "big girl" bed (It only has three sides, but with it being an antique baby bed, it is quite tiny). She has been doing pretty good and we are in the process of fixing her room, so decorating has been a lot of fun. In the meantime, she was in need of her first little "big girl" pillow, so using some vintage fabric that I got in SA, I set off to make her sweet little head a little pillow...
I think she loves it and it is quite the perfect size for this tiny girl with a tiny bed...

Oh... and the Kokeshi Gallery Show is now up and running over at Bethany's blog. It was so much fun to be a part of and there are so many talented people out there! Check it out...

Change of season...

Calls for a new bag!

Summer is definitely here as I can feel the heat growing and the need to be stuffing my bags with more water, so a new summer bag was a growing necessity. Not that I was tired of my old one, but with the change of the season, I was ready for a new one!
I made it from some scraps and a wonderful, vintage tablecloth that I got at the flea market this past weekend. Someone, long ago, did all this wonderful embroidery by hand, which makes it even more charming and special. Thank you to that somebody out there!!

And the other side of the bag...


And inspiration taken from this Free People bag that is all together simply lovely...
So I told Ben, "I saved you a bunch of money making this bag!"

He said, "You didn't save me anything because you wouldn't have bought it!!"

Yeah, I guess he is right... oh well!

I can't wait to see what kind of bag the next season will bring...

Goodies...

So on my sole excursion to pick up an antique bed from our favorite vendor, at a local flea market, I was captivated by too many lovely things. Hence, I come home with more than just a bed, but a plethora of goodies for both my babycakies as well.

Who can resist some teeny, tiny vintage shoes for my Brave...

Then, a perfect, summer, vintage dress for my True (Hey... my Benny said if I ever find vintage dresses for the girls that I like, to buy it cause they are a rarity!)...

And two quite aged, beautiful quilts...

I don't think I will ever get into quilting because frankly, it intimidates me. I don't think it would come out rectangular, rather quite oblong! So, I will succumb to buying quilts that suit my fancy perfectly. I think this quilt love started not too long ago, when I fell in love with an antique one with a price tag of $1800. It was quite the beauty and would have looked wonderful on our bed, but um... the price tag, not so much! 

There is so much beauty in quilts and seeing the hand stitching and allowing my imagination to think of some lovely woman, sitting in quiet place, sweetly placing each piece into its most perfect spot. So much love, art, and beauty in these old quilts (even in new ones).

There a few other goodies that I brought home, but I will wait to show those when they are all put together just the way I am dreaming up in my head...

Happy Monday everyone!!!

A new builder...

Has come into our neighborhood. This builder's home has state of the art upgrades and is loaded with character. The new builder is Mummysam and her homes are one of a kind...


There was a little package waiting for us as soon as we got back from SA. When True opened it, she was glued immediately and was saying,"Townhouse! Townhouse!" She was excited there was a new little home to add to her neighborhood. Now every nap time and every night, she takes her "townhouse," house, and her baby "oso" and baby "elefante" to bed with her...


And in commemoration of her little houses, she has a new pillow that she sleeps with too...
It was a lovely find on etsy... a perfect little, vintage, cross-stitched piece now turned into a tiny pillow for my tiny girl.

Thanks Sam! True loves her townhouse so much...

Have a lovely weekend all!

On the right track...

Today, I got this month's issue of Country Home in the mail and there was an article on "Antiquing in San Antonio" and they named all the places we go to!
It was kinda cool. Now we know for sure we are hitting all the right spots every time we go! Now, hopefully those places won't get ransacked like crazy now and still leave some goodies for us next time we go back (not sure when that will be...).

It has also been nice because we have been able to fix and decorate things around the house. I have been missing my old sap buckets on the walls, and now they are finally up...
I really love the color they bring into a room and now I don't think I want to paint my walls anymore. I absolutely adore the color white... it is so clean and simple.

Decorating is too much fun and now I am on a hunt to put more seating in our family room... though we may have just found the perfect thing. Another room that is on its way to being fixed is True's room... just wait and see, her room will be so perfect for her!

I cannot resist...

More lovely, vintage baby clothes...



And vintage baby doll clothes are just as precious...
These were more of my treasured finds from Texas. I feel like a such a little girl when I play with all these precious clothes... it is too much fun!

I must say, I love having little girls...

All too lovely...

We are back after a nice visit to San Antonio, Texas visiting my Benny's family. We always have such a good time with family and also doing some thrifting and antiquing. Here are some of my finds, which are all too lovely...

Some small embroidery hoops and a vintage, monogrammed, linen cloth... the color is too perfect!


More vintage material...


A stash of vintage thread...


One of our new favorites... an antique, tufted, velvet green chair....
We shipped it via Package Express through Greyhound and it is so reasonable (it even got here in 2 days!). We absolutely love the chair, though it needs some work done because the fabric is so, so worn. Now, I am in the search for the perfect fabric to give it new life.

It is nice to be home and I have a stash of projects that I want to get to and a few other finds that I want to share... I can't wait to get started!

I love...

All the trees in San Antonio...
California really needs more trees.

I suddenly have trees on my mind...

The Kokeshi Project...

Bethany is having a Kokeshi Doll Gallery Show over at her blog...
I am pretty excited about this and it looks like so much fun! She is the one who reminded me we were already doing our own version of the Kokeshi in the form of our clothespin dolls!!!

I know there will be nothing less than fabulous, so come on and join in!!!

A little shopping...

My best friend was shopping for a new bag... she is addicted to bags, the really nice kind! Well, as she was browsing this site in search of a bag, something very familiar on the bottom caught her eye... and she was so excited and in shock to see it was my Cakies crowns!!!

Of course, she emailed me and was "freaking" out about seeing the crowns! I mean how random is that, that she would be shopping and come across a rolling advertisement with my crowns on it, that link to another site. Well, this site Yokiddo, I guess found my crowns and their site is about cool things for babies and kids, but instead of saying my "by Cakies" it says "by Sweet Rosy," which is the name of the crown. Oh well... maybe I will just email them and correct them. Nevertheless, I was excited to see my crowns on another cool site!

Thanks Lin for doing a little shopping and randomly discovering this!