Souvenirs

 Do you buy souvenirs?

A souvenir is defined as "a small and relatively inexpensive article given, kept or purchased as a reminder of  a place visited, an occasion etc."

I love to pick up a souvenir. Not the shot glass or mini spoon or giant flyswater. (Although, I do love, love a cheesy souvenir shop!)

I love collecting things other's have collected on their trips.

Oh, I pick up things as a reminder of my trip too, but 

 I love finding vintage souvenirs.

My favorite are these vintage postcards.

I have them in just about every room in the house.
I have told you how I like to repeat decorating elements from vignette to vignette or room to room.
It keeps things cohesive and looks collected over time.

 
 I don't collect new ones. I like to find old ones in dusty antique shops. If it is a place I have actually been, that is a bonus. If not, that is good too. It may be a place I hope to go one day.

 I inherited a check book size box of postcards from my grandparents. 
I try to fun cute places to display them around the house.

Clothes pins are one of my favorite methods to attach them to a garden planter turned kitchen display.

Rusty crib spring turned scrapbook of sorts.

Old window screen that I picked up at an antique mall.

Read about it here .
Most of my things have meaning. I am pretty sure that is what collecting and decorating with vintage is about.

Memories invoked of a different or simpler time.

As I look around my house, I see that everywhere.

But some of the best souvenirs don't cost a thing. I have some "treasures" that I have picked up that didn't cost a thing. 

Pinecones

Junky trinkets from an antique trash pile. I don't know why I am so smitten with this teacup handle.

I would love to find a set of them.

Sketch from a momentous day.

I can't wait to get back out camping and show you our trailer.

A sketch from a hohum day turned funny with a humorous sketch. 

These little trinkets/treasures tell a story. 

It may be a tale only understood by me, but it is one that is meaningful.

Someday as my children sift though my stuff, they may wonder why I kept what I kept, and that is okay. 

 They may pull something totally different out of my "treasure" pile and find meaning and memory in it for a completely different reason. 

Sprinkled with treasures,
Katie
Linking with,
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia 
French Country Cottage

Antique Child's Easel

Last summer I was antiquing with my Sister- in- Law, Amy and my brother, Dave.

We have the best time antiquing and junking together.

We were in one of the little small towns around the lakehouse.

I have said before that the prices out of the city are so much better then those inside the loop of the metroplex.

It always feels like a boon to get deals out there.

When I started Let's Add Sprinkles, I thought I would be showing off much more stuff for work than I have.

I am a pre-school teacher and I have loved getting cute things for my classroom.
I have been so busy sprucing up the empty nest that I haven't done very much for school. 

Well, it is almost back to school time. 

I found this little school house easel at a little shop in Sulpher Springs, Tx.  for $20.00. 

I thought it would be cute with a welcome message for back to school night and other special events.

It will also come in handy for an impromptu lesson.

The chalkboard isn't very big and doesn't need to be with my darling 3 year old students.

It has a few issues so I thought I would restore it a little. When I was putting it in the car I realized something was missing. Most of the antique ones I have seen have a little alphabet chart or other learning card at the top.  
I thought I would make one to replace it.

Bill had some of this laminate in the garage.

A quick cut with the saw and some black paint.

Some alphabet stencils. 

I found these at Hobby Lobby and  didn't realize they were peel and stick until I got home. They were very hard to position. But I did like that they didn't move around during stenciling.

Tap on the paint  when you are stenciling.

It took a bit of thought to figure out how to keep the new little alphabet chart in the space. 

The laminate was thicker that the grooves in the top section of the frame. 
The new alphabet chart kept falling out so,
I drilled pilot holes and screwed the chart in place with the tiniest screws I could find.
The little red chalk holder came off and I screwed it back on.

I gave the back of it a new coat of chalkboard paint.

It needed a new chain.

 What I didn't know is that these were commonly referred to as Chautauqua desks. This is a desk when you flip the easel down. 
That is when you see the red chalk holder.

I love this little easel and desk in one.
The desk was down when I saw it in the antique shop. As soon as I flipped it up, I knew that it was meant to be mine.

 Some child wrote Katie in the corner. How perfect is that?

Sprinkled with a darling desk ,
Katie
Linking with,
My 1929 Charmer Blog 
Lavender Garden Cottage 
Savvy Southern Style 
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia 
Feathered Nest Friday 
Between Naps on the Porch

Junk-pa-loos -a 2012

Every summer for the past few years my brother, Dave and I have a junk shopping marathon.

We went shopping on our trip to Colorado about a month ago so we waited a few weeks for the checking account to recover before 

Junk-pa-loosa 2012! 

This year we were joined by my sister-in-law, Amy. 

Our first stop was Old Home Supply in Fort Worth.
I told you about the door we got there.
We had a great time browsing inside in the antiquey part of the shop. The architectural stuff is not air conditioned so we didn't spend much time out there.

I found a few darling things.

I love, love this vintage trailer license plate from 1951. Bill and I weren't born yet but we love our trailer. I have it in a memo/inspiration board that I will reveal soon. 
I also got some hotel china, a vintage tin and a measuring stick. 

At this point it was lunch time.

We went to J. Gilligans. It is a local joint that was featured on the travel channel.

We had the Irish Nachos. Amy had seen the episode and wanted to try them.

They were so good.

Our next stop was Thrift Town on Abram Street, Salvation Army, Family Stores and Collin's Park Thrift. These are all in a one block radius. Getting in and out in the heat was a challenge.
Amy kept telling me I had auto cool seats in the back. I could never figure out how to turn them on.:(

Our final stop was to be Arlington Resale but they were closed getting new carpet.
Instead we went down to Antique Mall of Mansfield. 

Here is a shot of all my goodies from Day 1.

 The real score of the day for me was another picnic basket for my growing stack.
Loving it so far!!

I was exhausted from the first day. 
We came home and sat on the couch. I made quick lasagna with no boil noodles for dinner.

Day 2

We lost Amy. Dave and I set out dropping off a chair at the upholsterers. I can't wait to reveal that when it gets back in 8 long weeks.

We headed to Good will.

I got a pumpkin crafty thing that I will repaint and remake. It was a dollar more than I wanted to spend, but it will look super cute.

Next we hit.

Two half price book stores and a store that resells music and movies.
We ate lunch at one of my favorite places, Mijos.

Here is my loot from day 2:

I am excited about the decorating books. I also found a fundraising cookbook. Those have the best recipes.
I think the map was free!
Oh and I got a toy workbench for school.
Day 3
We woke up later on day 3.
My plan was to stop in Cleburne on the way to take Dave home.
We stopped at a little antique mall but I didn't see anything.
I think by this point I was hot and tired.
A lot of these places aren't air conditioned very well and it just zaps me.
I was even drinking lots of water which caused me to check out every bathroom in the county.
Anyway. 
We had fun.
I think next year Junk-pa-loosa 13 will be in June.
It won't be as hot.:)
Next time you are in town, let me know and I will take you on a junking jaunt too! 
Sprinkled with junky stuff,
Katie

Linking with,
Feathered Nest Friday
The Brambleberry Cottage

Calico Apples

I was looking for a pumpkin tutorial (more on that later) and found a fabulous one over at the The Cottage Home 
Blog. 
Thank you google images. 
I picked this tutorial because of how cute these pumpkins were and because she put tutorial on her photo. 

While I was mired in orange 

fabric everywhere, I realized that the same method could be used for apples. I have a cute collection of apple things that I have gotten over the years from my darlings at school. 

So I busted out my red calico fabrics. 

Wait a minute!! 

In a rare fit of organization, I gave almost all my fabric scraps away.

Instead... I ran up to Walmart and stocked up on some cute fabrics to make a bushel of apples.

I love Walmart's fabric department. I was shopping recently at another retailer and was shocked at how high everything was.

Walmart had several cuties in the $2.50 bin. 

This irritates however, because the bin used to be the $1.00 and $2.00 bin. I really think Walmart sneaks in some roll forward prices at times.

This process was moving pretty slow until I began doing things assembly line style.  Sewing them back to back without stopping in between fabrics saves time. Just snip the tread in between calicoes.

I hand gathered the bottom of each apple. It was much easier and faster rather than messing with the sewing machine and trying to gather these small apples. 

I hand gathered the tops too. 

The fun part is decorating the tops with various ribbons and twigs. 

Right before inservice starts at school I will switch out my  decor in the kitchen. I'll put the cute cherries away.  Read about it   I'll sprinkle a few apple things out for September. I am sick of the sea shells and it is too early for other fall stuff. 

Check out The Cottage Home pumpkin tutorial and make some pumpkins or apples for yourself.
What do you think?
One of these with a gift card attached would be a perfect "apple" for your child's teacher. 
Happy Crafting!
Katie 
Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style