Scrapbook finds

 One evening this summer, my dad brought us a treasure trove of finds from an auction. We unloaded his pick up and did a quick sort - what did we want to keep, sell, donate or toss. It was a mammoth task and we spent hours going through things.

In all of the boxes and piles, we found two scrapbooks.

Charming is the only word I can use to describe them. At first glance, I expected to find photos on the pages, but when we opened the first, we found...

 pages and pages of old advertising - display ads for every type of household item.

The illustrations were amazing and I loved reading the ad copy.

 The second scrapbook - I expected more of the same. But, with this one...

 it was filled with what I think is calendar art.

 And, this book also had some color advertising - maybe from magazines?

 The pages with the auto subject matter were some of my favorite and with great color, too!

 And, you have to love the farm and tractor scenes.

 And, the prize bull...

These are prefect for the history lover. I could look at these for days!

My husband the artist

 My husband is a really creative guy.

He was super tolerant when my mom and I took him along on some shopping between basketball games a couple of weekends ago.  He actually spotted Studio 11 and that turned out to be one of my new favorite stores.

He really liked some of the items in the store, too.  They must have really inspired him because the next day, he told me that we needed to make something.

I directed him to my projects board on Pinterest and pointed out a few things that I thought might be possible because we had the supplies.

Well, my husband is a pretty amazing guy, and take a look at what he created.

 A whole series of these signs.  We had to go to town to get more colors of paint.

 And, a different take on the love design.  He asked me for some other four-letter words.  He wondered who might buy some of the signs with the lettering I suggested, but at least it was good for a laugh.

 He made this for a friend to give away as a wedding gift.  Cute, right?

 And, then, he did a whole series of upcycled belts made into crosses and stars.

Some of the belts we were upcycling had awesome buckles, and that led to crosses with some bling.

I have never had more fun than digging through the belts at Goodwill with my husband.  I think that qualifies as a weird, but cheap date.

Saints in residence

We visited family in Colorado over spring break and during our time there, we spent an afternoon browsing an antique store a few blocks from where we were staying.  There were so many things that were interesting and we had a great time roaming around.

At nearly the last booth, my husband and I were both intrigued by a number of things this vendor had on display.  Two items, high on a shelf at the back of the booth, captured my attention - two statues that appeared to be hand carved saints.  I loved the simple, yet stately look of these folk art pieces.

I have this test that I use when I see something I like and think I might buy it.  I have to leave the item and walk around.  If I keep thinking about it, then I know it was more than a passing whim and I go back and pick it up.  

Well, these two made the cut.  I considered buying just one, but could not bear the thought of separating the pair.  I am glad that we brought both home with us.  They are now our saints in residence.