yard sales

Every year I take a trip to the Bloomington, IL area with my grandparents, cousin, Aunt, and my mom...for yard sales. Yes, yard sales! We make a weekend of it and head out super early Friday morning, shop all the way up then, stay overnight and do it again Saturday. We only go to this area because they have town wide sales and we have always had great luck there. I would say we go to 30 to 40 sales over the weekend.

This year it was just me and my cousin, Amy, along with my grandparents. We had so much fun and loved spending the time with grandma and grandpa. We missed having my mom and Aunt Diane along with us...they are both alot of fun! My dad was turning 50 this same weekend so, my mom skipped this year to stay home to celebrate dad's birthday. Happy 50th dad!!!

I've been lucky to attend the past three in a row. I didn't buy as much as in the past but, still came home with lots of goodies. I love the hunt and the unknown of what you will find...so exciting-looking, thinking of different ways and places to use things. It is hard for me to pass up a yard sale...I can usually find something at every sale. Here are some of the finds this year.

A few Dr. Seuss books for center pieces at my cousin Kristen's baby shower coming up. She and I both love wooden toys so, I was happy to find a few. This huge wooden train was only $2.00! Twister...everyone needs a twister game around.lol

a dad diaper bag I picked up for Tyler {my cousin Kristen's husband} for .25...if he doesn't use it i'm sure i'll find someone who will...how could I pass it up for a quarter!I have alot of jewelry and no big storage for it. I picked up this vintage box to use, along with another similar oldie I have of my moms, until I get something more permanent.
I am really excited about the jewelry I found! The necklace, I paid $3.00 for and I like it more than the similar one i've had my eye on at Kohl's...Daisy Fuentes at Kohl'sLots of fabric...I have no idea what i'll use it for, yet...my mom just gave me a sewing machine and i'm ready to use it! I will start collecting my favorite fabrics and i'd eventually like to make a quilt and some other goodies :)

The wine book I picked up for my friends Melodie and David. They are big into wine and I thought it was pretty { i totally judge a book by it's cover, and judge wine by its cover too...all about the packaging :) I'm a total sucker, if is looks good i'll buy it!

all these frames for $2.00! May use them for a collage in Kristen's house!?

Below: Stampin' Up 12x12 patterned paper and a set of handmade paper cards and envelopes in stripes and geometric print.

Little terra cotta planters...see them used here.

Kohl's Sonoma cloth napkins and place mats in clay color, never used, with tags. (4)mats, (8)napkins for $5.00

Black plate rack for $1.00...works perfect in dining room to display the china from my grandmother.

Coloring Easter Eggs

This was my first time to color Easter eggs in years! Dying eggs was not a family tradition of ours...yes, my Grandparents always had a egg hunt but, plastic eggs with candy & money. I see why they switched to plastic...dying them is very time consuming!




I had two baby photo sessions { Grayden & Rylie } really close to the holiday so, I wanted to have eggs on hand. I was thinking it would go really quick but, each egg had to sit in the dye for so long, then dry, then I splattered them with brown paint to look speckled. I thought they turned out pretty cute! Blue for baby boy photo session and pink for baby girl session ;)

Standing them up on pins worked great for drying http://www.marthastewart.com/

Here is a photo you can see them used...I didn't get much with them and actually left the eggs in the refrigerator before second shoot and didn't get to use the cutie pink eggs with baby girl :(

This is little Grayden Conor ~ see more photos from this session at www.flickr.com/photos/brandiwihte

transplanting sprouts

Gardening has become a new interest of mine! I purchased a few starter vegetable plants {broccoli, spinach, tomatoes} and some seeds {lettuce, basil, and flowers} to start. Wow, plants take so much attention :/ I've been working really hard to get these going. I had to do some gardening research, collect all of the supplies, etc. I used a baking pan to plant the seeds in {which took forever...i used tweezers and placed them individually in rows!}...i've been constantly misting, and warming them on the heating pad to finally see some healthy sprouts! Look at what my surprise was...Texas smashing my hard work!!! I was able to transfer a few sprouts to the little pots today before she decided to make a bed on my tiny flower garden. So far i've had alot of fun doing it...we will see if I can get a few good plants of of them!?

After I master growing the vegetables...I will learn to can them :)

What are you planting this year?

Rylie

Rylie was my second baby session ever! She is six weeks old and one of the cutest babies i've ever seen {babies w/ lots of hair are the cutest}. She was so fun to photograph! Her momma is a huge Dr. Seuss fan so, we used her collection of books. This was also the second shoot with my new Canon Rebel...lots to learn still but, lovin the upgrade from my point and shoot Canon...

view more www.flickr.com/photos/brandiwhite

Grayden

This was my first attempt at photographing a little one......not easy. He doesn't sit up and doesn't like to be on his belly so, I shot alot from above. See more www.flickr.com/photos/brandiwhite These are just a few favorites. I like the one of him outside in the clover patch...his parents were married on St. Patricks day ;) I love comments...let me know what you think!

{ For You } card

This is turning out to be a handmade card blog...I do make alot of them! This card was inspired by these earings from the Buckle I got for my friend Johnna for her birthday. Little did I know it is a favoite store of hers...go me ;) The store just looks so her...Anyhow, I love to match up the card w/ the gift :)

I wasn't really happy with the background color and the green bead doesn't match up just right but, it was a fun card...love the decorative edge on the black strip and the braid. It was so nice to catch up over doughnuts & coffee with her this past weekend :) Hope you had a great birthday Johnna!

kwerner color inspiration #45

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/ color challenge time again! These are the colors I had to work with this week. I'm a huge black and white fan so, this one was super fun! I like the way this card turned out...I like the balance : ) She usually picks 10-25 favorites and puts them in, what she calls, a color round-up to showcase the winners....

Gray cardstock, VersaFine ink:onyx black, Stampin' up: Baroque Motifs flower stamp, DCWV vellum quote stacks:wedding & romance, decorative scissors, recycled buttons and ribbons