Avery's Big Girl Room

Little Miss Avery would like to introduce you to her "new" big girl room!  

As you may remember, we sold our crib, and I also moved her changing table into the bathroom to free up some space.  So it was time to do a little bit of updating!

I should mention before we really begin that virtually every piece in this room has been thrifted, handmade,  or purchased second-hand, even the toys!  

My biggest splurge in the room was the little dresser, which I found at an antique store for $150.  But the cost of that far outweighs anything else in the room.  I purchased the wicker shelves at the thrift to house some of her toys, and painted them pale pink.

It's very difficult to get a good photo of this side of the room, with the light coming through the window...!

I mentioned that I was painting her toddler bed (it was originally just a standard white toddler bed from Babies R Us several years ago), and here's the result!  I couldn't resist also adding some vintage decals!  (There are closer photos down below as well.)  I found that quilt at the thrift-isn't it beautiful?

I moved our vintage tray puzzles in here, and it's her absolute favorite past-time!  She likes doing puzzles much better than taking naps, in fact, which I probably should have considered!

This blue chair is one of the only things in the room that was purchased new (from Home Goods), and even that was in another room before it was in here.

Her little dolly changing table, with princess shoes underneath, of course!

You've seen this shelf recently.  I spray painted the butterflies to match her bed.

If you follow my Pinterest boards, you'll recognize this idea for holding all the handmade dollies.  

Avery LOVES the little bunnies on her bed!

This bunny here is one of my all-time favorite finds- he is just adorable.  Actually, the piano and teddy bureau would probably be up there in my top ten, too!

A little curio shelf.  The prayer above was made by my mother-in-law from a vintage pattern.  You may remember the curtains from before Avery was even born!

Oh, how I love this little dolly.  I can't say Avery loves her as much as I do, but isn't she just the sweetest?

Another shot of our little puzzle-lover.  I found the little red play sink for $5 at the thrift, and it's the perfect size to hold all her puzzles.

Another embroidery by my mother-in-law!

Here's this cute little dolly bed again!

Cute shelves with vintage baby planters...

I love these quilted wall hangings that Kari from ArtsyMama sent me!

Another item in my top ten list is this embroidered wall hanging- sigh, I just love it...!  I keep all her scrapbooks/journals up here as well.

I've begun collecting Madame Alexander dolls and Josef figurines for her- they're in the shelf on the left.  On top of that is the very first doll I had in my childhood doll collection- the green Bradley doll, as well as two others I've found over the years.

A closer view of the art on her wall.  She loves kitties, so lots of the artwork reflects that!

Avery would like to thank you for stopping by her big girl room for a tour!  Please come back and play anytime!

Bye-bye!

Lil' Vintage Story Books #21

Welcome again to Lil' Vintage Story Books, where we share our favorite vintage children's books!

Today's book is just wonderful.  It's called "I Can Fly", written by Ruth Krauss, and illustrated by the fabulous Mary Blair.  It was originally published in 1951, although my copy is a very new reprint.

Mary Blair's illustrations are just breathtaking in this book.  This first page just stills my heart every time I look at it!!  

Her color combinations are so wonderful.  In fact, once I publish this post, I may go "pin" some of the images into my "Color Combos" board!

 Love how her little dress matches the chicken!

 So, so cute!

 Look at the details on the plates up on the shelf from the above spread!

 Such pretty designs on the clam shells!

 I adore everything about these pages- all the patterns, the kitties, the colors- just wonderful!! 

Couldn't you just live forever in a world created by Mary Blair??  I could!

*** I will be skipping next week's Lil' Vintage Story Books (March 23rd), but will be back the following week ***

Thanks for stopping by! If you'd like to join in, grab a button to the right and link up below!

Art...

I did another painting last week (you know, since I'm not thrifting these days....!).  It's quite large, probably about 20x24, which is larger than I typically work.   I'm still deciding whether I'm completely happy with it.  It feels like there's almost too much going on for my taste, but maybe I'm just not used to such a busy piece.

Anyway, it didn't start out looking like that.  I took a couple of process photos at the beginning, just because I think it's fun to see the progression.

 Here was the first layer I did.  Mostly just random shapes and light washes.

Then I went in and covered a bunch of that up!  This layer looks pretty ugly, but you can start seeing the arch shapes that result in the finished piece.

After that, I forgot to take photos, but at least you can see where some of it started!

As you can see, the majority of the beginning painting has been covered over, but I never regret doing all the layers.  Each step sort of dictates the next, so it all leads me to the finished piece.

In other news, I've been working in Avery's room quite a bit.  I've moved the changing table out (even though she's still not potty-trained- ugh!), which gave me room to do a little redecorating.  I am LOVING the results.  Soon I'll show you- it's pure vintage girly heaven!!!

Lil' Vintage Story Books #20

Welcome again to Lil' Vintage Story Books, where we share our favorite vintage children's books!

 Oh, how I love this week's book!  It is just a wonderful little story, and the illustrations are simply gorgeous!

 It's called "Almost Just Alike", written and illustrated by Joan Machado, and published in 1970.

 It's about twin girls who are almost exactly alike.

Oh, I just love the color palette in the above spread!  That rug...sigh!

 Those bunk beds- so sweet!!

 The only difference the twins have is that Judy likes BIG things and Trudy likes little things.

 I think I'd have to agree with Trudy- I tend to like little things best, too!

 They argue about which is best, so their mother suggests they ask their teacher.

 How could that be???

 Oh, that clever teacher-everything's relative!  My kids love this part!

 Which do you like best?  Big things or little things??

Thanks for stopping by! If you'd like to join in, grab a button to the right and link up below!

Reversible Vintage Style

Okay, get prepared for photo overload today, but Miss Avery was looking extra photogenic in this photoshoot, and I just couldn't narrow it down!  

You've actually seen this little vintage dress before here.  It's reversible!  Two in one!  And the shoes and sweater were thrifted, as is the majority of her wardrobe.

 You can tell she's going to be a spoiled one.  I mean seriously, how can I resist that little face?

 "Okay, Avery, jump!"

 "I'm done now, Mommy!"

And here was her reward for posing nice for me- getting to put on some of Noah's chapstick!

Linking up here for Small Style this week!

More Questions Answered

Here is a spread I did in Avery's book this morning.  It's about her transition to a big girl bed.  Can I just say that I LOVE this color palette?  It just came about naturally with the photo and the vintage images, and I totally love it!  It's not showing up on my computer quite as nicely as it does in person, but it's just yummy!

It's interesting because I am in the process of painting her toddler bed a very similar green to the above image!  I'll show you when it's done!

Since I'm showing a piece of art, I thought I'd take the opportunity to answer a couple more questions I've gotten that are art-related.  First, I'll answer this one from Sandy:

I love the pieces you used, like the vintage boy on the bike....where did you go to get that kind of ephemera????

Well, the ephemera I use is really the result of years of collecting, but my most common source is vintage books.  And I get those from all sorts of sources- thrift stores, antique stores, Ebay,... Depending on where you live, your local library may have an annual sale on their old books.  When I lived in Seattle, this was a great source for vintage books for cheap!  However, in Florida, not so much.  Another place I get vintage images is through vintage image CD's.  Take a look on Ebay (or maybe Etsy?).  This is a great way to get a large collection all in one place from someone else who has taken the time to scan them all in!

The next question is from Michelle:

How do you keep all your supplies organized and pretty?

So the answer to this may not be the best, but I am just innately an organization freak!  I LOVE organizing and sorting and finding a place for everything.  Nothing gets me more giddy than a cute container, seriously!  Usually I buy containers first, and THEN I decide what can go in them, which is sort of backwords, but that's how much a love a cute container!  I really believe in the saying, "A place for everything, and everything in its place!".  If you can live by that rule, it makes things so much easier!

However, even though that's a pretty generic answer , I thought you may like to see how my own supplies are organized.  These are just my paper-crafting supplies for the most part, and they're all within arm's reach of my work table.  In this post, you can see the whole area a bit better, if you want a better overview.

So above is the cabinet right behind my work station.  Hopefully you can see the little labels I wrote on the photo.  The above shelves have some sewing stuff in addition to the papercrafting stuff.

 And here is the bottom of that cabinet, which is where my most used items are.

 This is on my worktable.

And this is along the wall by my worktable.  As you can see, I use EVERY AVAILABLE INCH of space!  It's a tight room, so I need as much space as I can get!

Soooo, I hope all that info was helpful to some of you!  Stay tuned, and I'll show Avery's "new" toddler bed soon!