this is gonna be a long one

I really have to stay away from the antique store and yard sales. I can't help myself. Yesterday, I went to a few yard sales because one of the neighboring towns was having a Town Wide yard sale. We had soccer in the morning, so I really didn't get going until noon and most stuff is pretty picked over. But I got a big rabbit cage for $5, a cork board (which will need a little loving care before it goes up in my scrap room) for 50 cents and this pretty little glass basket for $8. That last one was probably too much but the colour hypmotized me. I noticed a little crack in the base of the handle today, but I have a feeling I did that when I carried it in. Typical me ... carrying way too much so I don't have to make as many trips.

I filled it with these buttons I picked up at the antique store. Snip the pieces of fabric still attached and wash up a jar full of grungy buttons ... this is what you're left with. A few good ones. A few OK ones. You just are never sure what you'll get. The big round ones are sort of neat. I think I'm going to cover them with paper or something for layouts.

Found these at the store too. Little butterfly lapel pins. Might use them on a layout or as push pins for the cork board.

And a shelf to store my paints. It was pretty much like this when I got it. The paint was a bit blah, so I sanded it a bit and covered it with a wash of dark brown paint. Grunged it up, so to speak.

Which leads me to some photos of my scrap room. I took over the "baby" room about a month ago because I'm all done with the babies. Moved the kids from room to room. Lost the spare room. And came up with this. Ideally, I'd love to have a solid colour on the walls, but this is a century home. This room is one of the few that still have the original plaster and the walls are a little bumpy. When I did it originally for a nursery, I figured the easiest way to hide all the flaws was to use wallpaper. Not cheap and it is still in perfect condition so I have no plans to strip it until I need to. Stripping wallpaper is one of my least favorite things to do. However, I would like to do something with the border. It's kinda kiddish, but I just don't look up. I'll find something.

This little corner has a cupboard I bought at an auction sale just before I moved into my first off-campus house in university. It was from a elderly brother and sister that lived up the road from us. I'd known them all my life and I like having momentos from people I've known. Behind the door are two shelves that house magazines, kits, chipboard, etc. Inside the drawers are dollar store finds, mini albums, chipboard alphas and miscellaneous bits.

On top is the bread box with fabric and flowers inside and a basket with Etsy tags and such.

The white plastic cabinet has more flowers, inks & embossing stuff, stamps, scissors & punches, glitter, etc.

I've positioned a drop-leaf table with one leaf up in the corner. It came from my grandfather's, as does the quilt which hides boxes underneath.

On top is an egg box that was at my grandmother's. The metal picnic basket was my other grandmother's and the funky straw hat was one that my dad wore. Having things around me that came from different generations of my family makes me feel comfortable and happy.

My in-laws picked up this long table at an auction sale for $4. Not the fanciest, but it does the job. I'm still not done with this area. I want to make a long shelf for above the table ... maybe out of barn board and some interesting braces. And a corkboard as well.

I have an old tv stand that hold boxes storing small embellishments and trims. My unscrapped photos are in the basket in the bottom.

Thickers and rub-ons are in the grass box and the rest of the storage is most of my paper.

This was my splurge for the room ... $20 for the steel shelves. Little bits of this and that are in the boxes and the neat thing about the shelf is that I can hang my ribbon through the end. Not all my ribbon, but I iron my current DT kit ribbon and have it hanging, ready to use. Sorry ... I like my ribbon ironed!

I have this little table with the kids' craft supplies in the carts underneath to keep them off my table when they are in here. Or at least, that's what I intended it to be for. I also will set up my sewing machine here so that it's out of my way.

A little couch which is perfect for the odd nap ... which I did this afternoon instead of scrapping. I put the little guy down for a nap, the two older ones were entertaining themselves downstairs and I took the opportunity for all it was worth. This room happens to be in a spot where very little noise from downstairs is heard (which is why it was perfect for a baby nursery), I had the window open, a nice cool breeze coming through and all I could hear were the birds tweet-tweet-tweeting away. Good stuff. Of course my house is a mess now. But I got my nap.

And to finish off, the last of my June Scraphoria projects.

Tried one with more white space than I'm used to and some stitching. I took this photo one day when I was out on the 4-wheeler, going to the field. A little flash of purple caught my eye and I found these little guys in amongst last year's dead leaves in the bush. Love it.

A super quick one of P from his birthday. It's no wonder the kid is as big as he is.

And a pieced, distressed flower card which took longer to do than any card should ever take. But I think it was worth the effort.