Hey ladies!

I had fun last week with the birthday themed posts and decided I'd try another theme.  This week is all about girl power.  No, it's not a Spice Girls themed week!  Instead this week's posts will be dedicated to women I admire, my girl crushes, and just females who kick ass!  Today's playlist totally fits all three of those things.  Enjoy!

Have you had enough of the birthday posts?

Image from Camille Rose Garcia

I love birthdays and parties and any excuse to eat cake, but I thought I'd do something different with this post.  Over the past year I've given a pretty good glimpse into my life.  For awhile I was pretty sure my grandma was the only one reading my blog (Love ya, grams!), but my page views tell me that either she is looking at my blog a hell of a lot or there are more of you out there!  There are a few of you who comment pretty regularly and I do really appreciate that, but who else is reading?  Leave me a comment introducing yourself and let me know if there's something you'd like to see a post about, tell me about a post that you've loved (or hated), and leave a link to your blog, so I can check it out.  If you're one of those regulars I just mentioned, say hello anyway!   And of course, thank you for  taking the time to check out my blog!

Birthday Paintings

I've had a stack of blank canvases in my craft room for ages.  I used to really enjoy painting and drawing, but it's not something I seem to ever do anymore.  After giving my craft room a good cleaning, I decided I needed to spend some time in there and try to get creativity back!  There's a sweet friend on Instagram whose daughter, Emma, has a birthday coming up.  She recently posted that she was looking for some "2" themed items for her daughter's second birthday and I knew that she also had been gathering a collection of "E" related items for her.  I thought it would be nice to make Emma something for her big upcoming birthday and it was a good excuse to use some of those sad blank canvases!  Now I'm no Leonardo da Vinci or Miss Van, if you prefer modern art, but I don't think I did too bad for my first time picking up a paint brush in years!  I hope Emma and her mommy think they're alright too!

So I know this isn't technically a painting, but I'm good at gluing things and didn't want to start off too big!

This little elephant is meant to look like an "E" and is obviously ready to party!

Collections ~ Birthday Edition

I think it's pretty well established that I have a love for all cute vintage things, but I do especially love vintage cake toppers and candle holders.  These are all in my craft room waiting to be used in future projects.  In the meantime, they're displayed in old glass jars and baby bottles.  And if you look closely, you'll see that there's even some icing left on some of them.  Gross!  The plate is part of my collection of tin children's dishes.  I'll share those in a later post!

What's a birthday without gifts?!

Etsy is full of the cutest vintage gift wrap!  Check out some of my favorites-

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Happy birthday, dear blog!

I can't believe I've had this little old blog for a whole year!  I know I'm still pretty new at it, compared to many of you, but it's something I hope to find time for for years to come.  It's also Labor Day here in the states, so I'm home enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba with Benny.  I'll have some fun birthday themed posts this week, but for now, here are some fun birthday themed videos!  Happy Monday!

Avon Calling!

I may have made two trips to the best nearby thrift store this week, but I donated a carload of items during each visit and only left the store with one bag each time!  During the second trip there, I was checking out when I spotted something colorful on the shelf behind the register.  It was instant nostalgia, Avon perfume pins!  I had tons of these when I was a kid and still have quite a few, but this collection included some I don't remember ever having.  The cashier said she didn't think they were ever going to sell.  I don't know how I missed them on my first trip of the week, but I'm glad that no one else noticed them!  I can't wait to wear each one!