September Faves

Hi everyone!  It is amazing to me that in just a day or two, I will be turning the page on my calendar and it will be September. September! How did that happen?  This year has been flying by at warped speed.  Has it felt that way for you?

But, how can I complain when September ushers in beautiful fall weather and brings back all the comfy, cozy trappings of autumn?  There are so many things I love this time of year and I thought I would share with you some of my September faves - both old and new.

First up, this super cute fringed poncho.  Waaayyy out of my comfort zone, but I picked up this poncho in a pretty olive green and I am going to step out of my box and rock this thing for the fall season,  This picture does not do it justice and at under $40, I was willing to take the risk.  I double checked and triple checked if I really could do this look and when I got the approval from Baby Bluebird, who is a fashion blogger at Bows For Justine, I decided to give it a go.  How about you? Are you feeling this fall trend?

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Continuing on with a little more fashion, I am also going to be sporting some ankle boots this season.  Love this style with jeans especially!

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I recently was browsing through Sephora and found myself in the face mask aisle. So many to choose from and at way under $10.00, they are a fun treat.  I am looking forward to testing out this tomato mask that claims to give radiance to your skin.  I could use some radiance! With my continuing weight loss, I am really self conscious about my face - holy x$!Z!! All that excess flab was keeping the wrinkles at bay! Although I am happy to have slimmed down, I feel like my face looks so much older now.  So, I have been moisturizing, serumin-g and facial-ing like no tomorrow!  

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Make it Pretty Monday

Wrinkles aside, the pretty fall mums have been at all of the stores for weeks now. I have shown restraint in not bringing any home yet.  The August sun would have toasted them to a crisp and my fall mums would be finished before fall actually arrived,  But, within the next week or two, I will be bringing home a trunk load of  these beauties for our yard.  

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One thing I really love about fall are the cozy scents you can find in candles and wax melts.  My friend, Jamie, recently became a Scentsy consultant.  Scentsy offers wickless  and scented fragrance for the home at a reasonable price.  I love this colonial inspired scent warmer and am pretty sure I will be shooting Jamie an order for this before fall is over.

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I picked up this Baked Apple Pie scented wax melt from Jamie a few weeks ago and love the long lasting fall fragrance.  Yum!

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Speaking of apple pie, September brings apple season around here and Mr. Bluebird and I love to go to the farmer's market to pick up some yummy apples.  Nothing better than a fresh picked apple! (Except maybe a caramel apple, lol!)

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A delicious fall treat that is made near our home is the amazing apple pie in a bag from The Elegant Farmer.  Beyond delicious, and the aroma of this pie baking in your oven is amazing!  No more pie in a bag for this girl, but I will definitely be picking one of the lovelies up to share with the rest of the family.  Yum, yum, yum.  Yes, this is a yum times three!

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September brings the last Elkhorn Flea Market of the year and I am looking forward to spending the day there.  Love, love, love this market!  One of these days I will show you the treasure I picked up at the August market - it's the bomb!

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I am also psyched about the new elliptical machine Mr. Bluebird and I purchased recently. It was just delivered on Friday morning.  Not only am I looking forward to getting a great work out at home, but I am also going to be converting our guest room into an exercise room.  So many ideas rolling around in my brain for this room.  I am hoping to get started on that task soon!  It shouldn't take too long, as I plan on keeping it simple - but there is painting to do and a cool art project.  Stay tuned!

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Of course, September is the perfect time to start layering in some fall decor - pretty harvest pillows and warm cozy throws.

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While I am cozied up on the couch with my throws and pillows, I will be watching Aaron Rodgers and the Packers on Sunday afternoons.  Hoping the team is Super Bowl bound!  In September, any thing is possible.  

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There you have it, my friends.  Some of the fun things I will be holding dear this upcoming month.  How about you - what your September faves?  What speaks "Fall" in your world?

Thanks for stopping by,

Jane

Linking with these fun parties:
Amaze Me Monday
Metamorphosis Monday
Inspiration Monday
Coastal Charm Show & Share

Inspire Me Tuesday
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday

Spring Flea

Hi Everyone!

Last weekend, Mr. Bluebird and I headed out to the first  Elkhorn Flea Market of the season.  It was a drizzly, cold morning which kept our "flea-ing" short, but oh, it was sweet, lol!    I picked up three vintage potato harvesting baskets (the one in front is in sad shape), a gorgeous old laundry basket and a super cute copper watering can.  I will show you in an upcoming post where each of these cuties have turned up around the Bluebird house.

I also started a little spring fluffing of our front patio.  The white wicker table had been stashed in our basement for years - I am happy to finally bring it out again.

I moved our red Pier One chairs from the back patio to the front.  The  Medallion pillows were a $9.00 score from WalMart. 

 You may (or may not!) be asking yourself, "why did the red chairs get moved to the front patio?" Well, the new patio furniture from my mother's day haul has been delivered and assembled, leaving no space for the cute red chairs.  I am loving them in the front and how they pop against the white siding and green shutters. I will also have a back patio reveal coming soon - so much work to be done back there yet.  It may be an "in progress" post!

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

Linking with:
Metamorphosis Monday
Coastal Charm Show & Share
Make it Pretty Monday
Amaze Me Monday
The Scoop
Inspire Me Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Party in Your PJ's
Share Your Style

Flea Fallin'

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend.  It certainly was spectacular around here - just the perfect fall day.  Mr. Bluebird and I headed out early Sunday morning to the Elkhorn Flea Market - my favorite.  It is only four or five Sundays a year and this one was the last one of the season.  Let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

One of the things I bought today was a $7.00 bundle of bittersweet.  This particular vendor had the best looking bundles and at a really terrific price.  Look at the vibrant colors - they just glow!!  I laid my bundle across my old scale in our front entry. 

One of the first vendors we came upon had this yelloware Purina Mink Chow dish sitting all by itself on a table and he was asking $10.00 - tried to dicker him down, but he wouldn't budge.  Ten dollars was a fabulous price, so I couldn't walk away.  He told me he had a few more in a box underneath the table.  Be still my heart!!!  I wanted them all, but settled for this burgundy one along with a square burgundy dish.  Deal of the day. In fact, I had laid them out on the table to decide which ones I wanted and another lady almost absconded with them!!!  There would have been punches thrown if I did not get my two dishes!!!

The round one looks quite charming under my lamp on the sideboard.

 For now, I just plopped my wax melter on the square one, but I know it will  find a different home soon. I am madly in love with the shape of this dish.

I have to share with you the story of how I came to even know these "mink chow" plates existed.  Last week I was looking through EBay at Purina feed sacks. I wanted to pick a couple up for a project I've been wanting to do.  I didn't find any I liked or at a price I wanted to pay, but I did find the green Purina dish you see in the picture below.

There were only two or three for sale on this particular day and I knew I had to have it.  Something about it just spoke to me and I had never seen these before. Well, with shipping, this dish made it to my doorstep for the paltry (cough, cough) sum of $58.00!!! I thought I had gotten a deal.

And then of course, today at the flea market, the first thing I see are six of these things for $10.00 a piece!!! Oh well, I was happy with the price I paid before I got to the flea market so that's the way it is.  I am pretty darned thrilled to have found two more - especially the square dish, at such a great price.  I just love them.  Three's my limit, though.  The collection is officially closed!!  I think they will be turning up in numerous spots around the house as time goes on, lots of creative things to do with them.  And if Mr. Bluebird decides to start mink ranching, well - we have three dishes already bought and paid for. Lol!

I also had the opportunity to meet a fellow blogger who I knew lived close by to my house, Karen from My Colonial Home.  From the distance, I could see a vendor who had lots of fabrics at their booth and there was a familiar face, that I recognized from her profile pic, holding up a piece of wool.  I knew it had to be Karen since I know of her love for wool for all her beautiful crafting! So I scooted on over there and introduced myself.  It was so nice to finally meet her.  Be sure to check out her wonderful blog - she has a fabulous home and often writes about her travels, too.

We had to keep our flea marketing short as Mr. Bluebird had a golf game and I wanted to be home to get the house ready for our daughter who is flying in tomorrow.  She has been gone since July and is home for a week or so until she flies off again to parts unknown for her job as a leadership consultant for her sorority.  We are so excited to have her back home again, even it is for just a few days.

Hope you are enjoying these fall days....we'll be talking Thanksgiving and Christmas before you know it!

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

Linking with:
Southern Hospitality Thrifty Treasures
Amaze Me Monday
Masterpiece Monday
Monday Funday
DIY Sunday Showcase
Metamorphosis Monday
Show and Share
The Scoop
Inspire Me Tuesday
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party
Wow Us Wednesday
Treasure Hunt Thursday

You Put the Suds in the (Olive) Bucket, Pt. 2

Hi everyone!

When last we met, I was all excited about the new olive bucket from WalMart and was on my way to aging it with a formula found on the internet.  Well, let me tell you - it has been a long process and I am continuing to wait for a little more "aging" to take place.  I first tried a bleach, vinegar,  and salt formula.  That worked a bit, but not as much as I had hoped.  Today I am going with the "toilet bowl cleaner" approach and that seems to be moving things along a bit more quickly.  I think I will need to keep this up for a few days to get to a patina I like.  Still, for $12-ish, I am willing to wait!

BEFORE:

ONGOING: 

In the meantime, Mr. Bluebird and I went to one of my favorite flea markets in Elkhorn this morning, and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A genuine, real deal olive bucket!  Gloriously rusted and weathered and crusty - in other words - perfect!  And get this:  the dealer was asking $35, but sold it to me for $30!!!  He had a lot to choose from, in a variety of shapes, sizes, and conditions, so it was great fun searching out one to take home - at a bargain price.

Isn't she a beaut?  I wire brushed it off and then gave it a couple coats of matte clear sealer to stop the rusting process - enough is enough!  Plus, I did not want rust rubbing off on whatever indoor surface I use it on.

So, never say never, but I think I have enough olive buckets now - not planning to be a bucket hoarder or anything like that.  I did a little research at home to see what prices these things get on the internet, and it looks like anywhere between $48 and $75 - so I am very happy with the $30 I paid out, plus I didn't have to pay shipping!  This was the only dealer that I found at this huge flea market that had olive buckets and prior to today, I had not seen any available before - either at the flea market or area antique shops.  In the end, a lucky find!

I do not know what will become of my WalMart faux bucket, but even if I can't get quite the patina I am looking for, I am confident I will find the perfect use for it here at home (outside or in), and it will fit right in with the rest of the family "treasures!" Hopefully there will be a part 3 of this story, but who's to say?

Hope you all had a terrific weekend!  Did you score any bargains? Real or faux?

Thanks for stopping by,
Jane

Partying with:
Amaze Me Monday
Boogieboard Cottage
DIY Sunday Showcase
Metamorphosis Monday
Coastal Charm Show & Share
Make it Pretty Monday
Inspire Me Tuesday
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday
The DIYers
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Share Your Cup Thursday
Grace at Home
Find Your Voice Friday