Busy as a bee. A very poor bee.

Recently, I decided to "treat myself" a bit and splurge on some items to decorate the apartment (while searching for a new sewing machine to no avail so far). I'm moving out in January, so it seems silly to spend money to redecorate at this point, but I want it to be a very cozy last several months. Most of what I bought that has been put to use has ended up in the dining room/kitchen area. Anything else is sitting on my living room floor to await its fate...

Forgive the boring, blinding white walls in my pictures. As I said, this is a college student apartment, so nothing too glorious, but these ugly white walls keep me safe, warm, and dry.

I'll start off with the best part of my tag sale-athon Saturday morning - my new shelving unit. <3 It might seem silly, seeing as most of you already have lots of gorgeous shelves to put pretty prim decor on, but I've never had one until now. I always just hung stuff on my walls (I know, so boring!). I'm constantly changing the decorations on/in it, considering I don't have too many options right now.

I like that kettle a lot, for some reason. And that candle (Pilgrim Candle) is the most fragrant candle I have ever owned. It's clearly never been lit, and I can smell it from across my kitchen. It's amazing. Almost everything on these shelves is a recent thrift shop/flea market purchase. New stuff = happy Jess. And broke Jess.

Next is my little tin and sunflower setup. It's simple, but it's something very new to this apartment, and I'm quite pleased with how it looks. I'm not usually too big on sunflowers, but the night I put it up, it brought a smile to my face every time I saw it there. Until I whacked my head on it when I bent down to take the trash out.

Oh, so that banana holder I got? Yeah, it now has a purpose. An adorable, festive purpose.

I kept those corn cobs in the plastic wrapping for so long, but I finally decided to be brave and break them free after a few years. I am glad I did so. It's the little things in life. This is where I ended up putting my new cookie jar, as well. I want some nice fabric to put under it and hopefully some more autumn leaves tucked in the corner behind everything.

I borrowed a small table from my great grandmother's basement and tucked it in the corner for now. I'll hold off on a picture because I'm expecting some putka pods and rosehips with cinnamon sticks from Old Country Barn on ebay, and I'm sure I'll be dying to post new pictures of them. I can't wait!

I found this crafted sack of blueberries, wheat, cinnamon sticks, and some nut I'm unfamiliar with at a thrift shop and fell in love with it. The problem is, everything in my apartment is autumn. All year long. And this piece is very summer. But it's so beautiful and I love it so much, that I had to have it anyways. So I put it up in it's own special spot above my nightstand next to my bed. It makes me happy. Again, it's all about the little things in life.

Next is something I actually gasped aloud at when I saw it sitting on the floor at Salvation Army. I don't even know what it's called, but it's old, it's wood, and I like it. I have no idea what to do with it, but I like it. I want to take off the stenciled stuff with sandpaper, but for now, I present to you... my new box thing!

I also grabbed a neat new stand for a dollar from a tag sale. It's nothing special, but it's cute, and it sure beats what I had before...

Before

After

This one actually has four legs! I had that other piece of junk propped against the wall for a year, and no one ever noticed until I pointed it out. Yeah, I'm glad to see it gone. And this new one has cute moons and stars. <3

I put that other tiny shelf thingy from one of my earlier posts in my bathroom for now. It's boring and undecorated for the most part, but it's got an adorable, recently purchased little critter hanging from it. I absolutely fell in love with this owl when I saw it at Michael's. They had "bears" (which looked like rats to me), a green owl, and others. He's so cuuuute! *squeee*

Lastly, I bought another shelving unit thingy from a sweet elderly lady at the flea market today. I also decided to put a birdie here. Otherwise, he'd just be sitting around on some shelf in my bathroom, waiting to be cute somewhere else. I also bought this little guy at Michael's a few years ago. I got a couple chickens for my great grandmother, too, since she used to have several of them yeeeeears ago. Now that I mention it, I should grab a few for myself. They'd look good here...

Anywho, thank you to those who have taken a peek at my blog or been so brave as to step in and say hi. Sometimes I wonder if people in the prim blogosphere will be kind of weirded out because I look a bit different and I'm a young hooligan, but for the most part, I'm not too worried about it. I've already talked to a few super nice people, especially Gina from Cat Nap Inn Primitives. She's good to me. :D

I do have one question to anyone who may be reading at the moment: Where do you get your Sweet Annie? Would I be able to go to a Garden Barn and find some or is it an online-purchase sort of thing? I don't really want to grow my own. Seeing how much some people use in their prims makes me assume it's rather cheap and easy to come by, but I saw one little bunch on ebay for about $15 plus loads for shipping. Yeowch.

Thrift Shop Treasures!

Just one follower now (*sniff.. sniff*), and he sees me all the time, haha. Oh well. Build it and they will come, I guess. Maybe when I start making some amazing prims, people will want to stop in and say hi, haha.

I've been so jealous/inspired by what I see all you other prim bloggers finding at tag sales and such that I decided to go on a little spree at a cute little thrift shop down the street from me called Amy's Attic. I made the mistake once of passing up a cute set of wooden bowls. I soon learned that "sleeping on it" can result in continuous regret every time I pass by where it used to be on the shelf. Not today! I've been eyeballing some adorable old bucket containers on a fixture full of neat little antiques. I had to actually ask the lady that works there what a "smudge pot" was, and she ended up Googling it right there, haha. Anyways, enough talk. Pictures!

I'm not sure what to do with this little lady, but she was only a dollar and I liked the simplicity of her. I wish she had a companion (I'm a sucker for old Mr. and Mrs. sets).

I found this cute little shelf for $3 at Salvation Army, and I'm hoping to repaint it, age it, etc. Hopefully (if I actually go through with it), I can put it in my living room for a less boring apartment-like look. :/

Kind of a bad picture because of the flash, but this little shelf is so tiny and adorable, I had to have it. The candle holders were a pleasant find as well. :)

I like the wood look, so I picked up these dirt cheap odds and ends. I'm already trying to plot out some grungy ornies or tiny wreath to hang from the banana holder. I love the candle holder, too...

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this tiny covered bowl, but I absolutely love it. That skinny candle was marked "free" on the price tag, haha.

 I rmember talking to the lady who was selling it there, and she kept trying to lower the price last time I was there. "25 cents? How about 10? 10 cents." I simply didn't know what to do with it, but that didn't stop me this time. And how could I beat FREE? Haha...

Here comes the good stuff. A perfect candle holder for rosehips and cinnamon sticks, an old tin container for some nice autumn picks and maybe Sweet Annie (if I can ever find the stuff), and if I'm correct, an old bed warmer. I couldn't believe it. I was debating whether or not to get it because again, I had no idea what I would do with it, but for 50 cents... why not? Haha.

Now for some of my favorite purchases of the day. I fell in love with that old "cookie" container ($12) and I FINALLY got ahold of some wooden bowls. I'm not too crazy about the small ones, but hey, for 25 cents each, who cares? The candles were lovely as well. I need to get some old pots so I can grunge those up a bit.

Needless to say, I am quite happy with my finds for the day. I ordered some rusty tin wire and star garland last night from Winter Garden Primitives, a beautiful little e-shoppe. If you haven't looked around, I recommend you do so when you get the chance. I finally got ahold of some Spanish moss and some beautiful pip berry picks from Michael's last night as well. I love this stuff, I'm so excited, haha. *squeee*

I've started a quick project using a freebie pattern from Tennessee Ridge Primitives, another amazing shoppe. I keep eyeballing her pattern auctions on ebay, but then I tell myself I shouldn't spend the money. I usually don't use patterns anyways, but I feel it would be nice to get into the swing of things before I go all free-for-all about it. I am new to this, after all.

Anyways, time to go to the drive-in with some great friends, have a lot of laughs, and eat some fried dough.