Apron Thrift Girl

San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair

My work life as a ReSeller has been keeping me ever so busy. Between Christmas shopping for the family, packaging toys and books from my shop, participating in craft shows, holiday baking and more my small window to blog seems to shut soundly at a time like this. And yet as I'm rushing around like crazy, I'm writing posts in my head about things I am doing or seeing. Does anyone else write in their head?

Sunday was such a crazy, fabulous day. In the course of 12 hours I went to one of my favorite breakfast restaurants, hit a one day Addison Endpapers sale (lots of delicious vintage stuff), popped into Ikea, stopped at Anthro, Castle in the Air (OMG it was breathtaking), Chipotle for lunch, coffee at a sweet Berkeley coffee house and finally over to San Francisco to the Holiday Renegade Craft Fair. How can a day be filled with so much eye candy, inspiration, excitement and talent?

 

I didn't spend very much money although I wanted to buy many things. I spent money on some art though that did fit into my thrifty budget. I fell in love with this print. It's signed and numbered and was a deal at $20.00.

I'm more of a Danny Elfman fan than an Edward Scissorhands one but I do love both. The colors of this print are stunning. Kevin Tong also had iphone skins which I had to have at only $10.00 each. 

I bought the one with the child saluting the astronaut, mostly because I couldn't help but think of my 7 year old Keiran when I saw it.

Letterpress was all the rage at this Renegade Craft Fair. I found a great deal at the Dee & Lala booth which had a show special of holiday cards 5 for $10.00.

I arrived home completely exhausted but as I mentioned earlier, very inspired. I'll post my lovely finds from the Addison sale tomorrow as well as my new thrifted craft cabinet that I picked up for a mere $45.

crafting christmas

With my two craft shows out of the way I can finally sit down and work on some Christmas gifts for family and friends. I know I should be doing these in July and not on December 9th but I seem to only be able to work under pressure. It's what inspires me even with the added stress of being so last minute. Here's a little taste of some presents I've been working on.

tree

With the advice of our friends we headed to the North Eagle Christmas Tree Farm on Sunday afternoon. Since we used to live in a very forested part of the country we were really unsure of what to expect when searching for a Christmas tree this year. We were so surprised to learn that North Eagle does something quite unique. When each tree is cut, branches are left behind so that a new tree can grow in it's place.
We also paid far less for a tree than we usually do on Bainbridge. How crazy is that?

Keiran and his trusty saw.

I think everyone was a bit curious about the chopping down the tree part.

 
One of these branches that we left behind will become the new tree.

We came home with our tree, found our boxes full of decorations and started to sing along to our favorite Christmas CD's. I feel much lighter in my spirit this year as we get closer to Christmas. I'm really looking forward to Christmas in California.

a crafty find

You know it's a good thrifting Sunday when you stumble upon this at the Zen Fest Rummage Sale first thing in the morning.

And after that my day only got better. Valuable Danish flatware, sterling silver, vintage post cards, vintage jewelry and more.

There are moments when I just adore thrifting.

holiday baking

Despite my allegiance to thrifting I still couldn't help myself and did sneak into Target to have a look at their Christmas decorations This year I told myself that I could only buy two small items to decorate my home. I sold 3/4 of my Christmas items before we moved so our holiday supplies are very low at the moment. Two items felt appropriate on a thrifter's budget.

This 2-tier cake plate was rather sad looking when I found it on the shelf. It was by itself and was tilting over to one side. I was so disappointed that the last one was broken but a quick turn of the bottom screw tightened it and it was perfect. It was $14.99.

The glass tree behind the cake plate was so beautiful that I couldn't' resist it either. It was on sale for $9.99. 

Gluten Free sugar cookies with icing & sprinkles.

I always use my Joy of Cooking icing recipe. I don't know why except that it's just the staple recipe I reach for first. This year I couldn't locate Joy so I looked at this book instead for a recipe and found this. 

The addition of the cream cheese gave it a hint of a marzipan taste but the recipe was so easy. Even though I would follow Joy's recipe perfectly, it always seems to take awhile to work it into a nice glaze frosting. The Cook's Illustrated recipe was done merely with a whisk rather than a mixer and it felt like it was ready practically before I even started. There wasn't any playing around with ingredients, it was simply precise. 

We tend to avoid food coloring for many reasons, but there are times when I simply need something so pretty & blue on my cookies. Call it nostalgia. It is nearly impossible to find items that are gluten free and frosted unless you make it yourself. I think I miss icing on cupcakes more than anything else in the world. Sour Dough would be a close second followed by Lucky Charms. Sigh....at least these cookies are heavenly scrumptious. I even ate three of them before dinner despite the fact that it was dinner time when I began my first nibble. And then I just couldn't stop at one.

lemons in december

There are some things about California that just leave us in awe:

1. lemons on our tree ripening in December
2. weather that sometimes surprises us with 75 degrees in late fall
3. leaf blowers (what is up with the obsession?)
4. persimmons & pomegranates on our neighbors trees
5. roses & flowers still in bloom

A week ago I received the most lovely package in the post from The Pink Pig. I entered this giveaway from the delightful and sweet Sandy and won 4 beautiful glasses that read "un verre d’amitié" or in English, "a glass of friendship". Thank you so much Sandy and The Pink Pig.I just adore my gift.

Keiran loves to go out in garden and bring in lemons directly from the tree.

It was only in the mid 60's today but the sun was shining down brightly and warmed us which made December lemonade a lovely treat. The lemonade was delicious especially with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn.

black friday blues

For the last 15 years it has been my tradition to locate a newspaper on Thanksgiving and spend a couple hours planning my trip complete with what stores that I wanted to visit first. When I was younger, my mother and brother would join me on my shopping adventure. As the years went by though my brother turned to shopping online for Black Friday deals and my mother chose to sleep in. Three years ago there seemed to be a shift in door busters, at least in the items that I had interest in. I found it more difficult to find those amazing sales, the ones that I wanted to wake up at 4am for. I know that many of my eco minded friends avoid shopping on Black Friday but I just can't resist such savings, especially since I tend not to do much retail shopping. This year though my tradition changed.

I went out first thing in the morning and stopped at World Market and Michaels. I didn't buy a single thing. How can I leave Michael's without at least buying one item? The sales were just lousy.

I needed coffee so I went home feeling down. Dave decided to cheer me up and take me and the children to a posh shopping center in Corte Madera. I hadn't been into an Anthropologie in such a long time and I was longing to peak through their sales rack.

We spent 2 hours at the village and in the end I spent $5.00. A mere $5.00. Are there any Anthro's with clothing $20 or even $10 items any more? I couldn't find anything less than $50 and that is $40 more than I wanted to spend. I really tried to shop and buy something. I still want these but can't find it in me to spend that much money on measuring cups.

We left the shopping center. I just couldn't believe that I found it so difficult to spend money. We popped into San Rafael and that is when I spotted a thrift store. It was as if it was surrounded by a golden light. I nearly ran into the store and was comforted by the familiar prices of this beautiful thrift store. Everything in the store (except their collectibles) was 50% off. If I had been there at 8am I could have scored 75% off my purchases. I quickly grabbed a cart and found these items.

Mid Century gravel art $3.50

Studio Pottery $1.00

Funky Studio Pottery Vase $2.50

My favorite, a mid century modern style lion. $7.00. He was in their collectible area and not on sale. But I had to have him as I have a weak spot for lions.

Friday taught me a valuable lesson: stick with thrifting. Thrifting doesn't leave me moody, unsatisfied, guilty or with an empty bank account. I just receive much more satisfaction by shopping with the thrifted dollar. When I walked back to our van with my bag in hand I felt so much at peace. It was very different when I walked out of Anthro with a frustration that everything was just too darn expensive. 

Next year I'm heading to San Rafael to be first in line for the 75% off sale. That's my kind of Black Friday shopping. How did you fare with Black Friday? Did you go retail or stick with thrifting?