Thrifting Thursday - Vase and shakers

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you should just go back to bed because so many odd things are happening to you before your day even really starts? That’s how my morning was today. I’ll spare you all the details as it no longer matters because I choose to make it a great day regardless :)

Now back to the real reason of this post! I’m going to start a series on Thursday’s called Thrifting Thursday. A post dedicated to sharing my thrift store finds with you :) Fun right?!

Yesterday, I went to St. Vincent with a friend of mine on lunch to see what we could find. Some days I can go and find TONS of stuff that I fall in love with and some days…well….I only find one or two things. Yesterday was one of those days where I didn’t find much but I DID find this beautiful vase and some small salt and pepper shakers.

 

             
















         
                               
I hope everyone had a great Thursday and has a wonderful Halloween weekend!!

 

Pumpkins we carved last night :)

 

 

Leave some love in the comments if you would like to see more Thrifting Thursdays!!!!

 

Much love,
Liz

Obsession

I feel as though I need to start this post with the acceptance of a terrible obsession I have with St. Vincent, milk glass, pressed glass and preparing for a home we don’t even own yet. If you follow me on Instagram @ladyephotos you’ll see some of my crazy shopping sprees.

Ok, now that that is over I can get down to telling you WHY I have this unhealthy (at least my husband thinks so) obsession with thrifting. I LOVE old things. I love thinking about where they came from and the story that might be behind them.  Many would say I have a old lady style. I’m hoping some day they won’t see it that way when I design our new house with a modern twist with everything I have collected. I have a collection of furniture sitting in a chicken coop up north that is just WAITING for me to bring it home so I can breathe new life into it. These pieces have been in our family for decades and now just sit, collecting dust. Some people see junk, old furniture that should just be gotten rid of, or something that is out of style. I see things I can make new again :)

Isn't this just the most gorgeous piece?!

A very small sample of milk glass

 

I about died when I walked around the corner and saw this lamp.
The lady said she had just set it on the shelf minutes before.

St. Vincent has been my go to place to find great treasures for awhile now. I’ve tried Goodwill, Bethesda, and others but I always go back to St. Vincent. I love the people working there and I’ve even gotten the in of what days certain things go out and how their marking system works. Yes, I actually PLAN my days that I’m going to go there!

I have a large collection of vintage salt and pepper shakers too but 90% of those were given to me by my grandma and she got them from her stepmother. See? More items with a history :) I don't have any photos of those right now because they are packed away with the majority of our belongings.

I couldn’t even begin to tell you where my fascination with milk glass and pressed glass came from. It just happened one day and stuck. Funny story...I found a rectangular relish tray one day and I was so excited. I got home and told my mom that I found this super cute tray and that it would be perfect to put pickles and olives on at holiday time. She looked at me and said “Do you know WHY you think that would be perfect? Because you ate pickles and olives off that exact same dish growing up!” She then reaches in to the cupboard and pulls out the EXACT same relish tray.

 

Yep..that middle piece is the relish tray I had to have lol.

 

The other item I seem to collect a lot of is CHAIRS! My husband has pretty much told me that I can’t bring any more home as we have NO PLACE TO PUT THEM!!!

 

Chairs that came out of the coop. Oh and that mirror??
Can't wait to hang that some day :)

I always say it will be the last one…until I find the next one. This was my latest purchase.

 

 

It will be repainted and reupholstered and turned in to a sitting chair for my bedroom once we buy a house. Right now it’s covered in a blanket and used as my office chair.

That’s probably something I should explain. We are currently living with my mom. We sold our last house and sadly took a loss on it so we are staying with her to help save up for a down payment. For some reason I think I need to start buying things to decorate our new house before we even have it. I have big plans with all the little trinkets and books I’ve bought to decorate the book shelves I will, of course, have next to my fire place. I have dinner parties thought up so I can use my random china and pressed glass pieces.

 

 

 



The poker table that is in pieces in the chicken coop will get redone and go in our basement because yes, we will have a finished basement.

 

Some day we'll play games on this table :)

My husband just shakes his head and can’t even begin to picture what I’m going to do with all this stuff.

I know…I’m a dreamer…and guess what?! That’s OK WITH ME!!!

I’m excited for the day I can share with you my furniture rehabs, my decorating ideas, and our new house. Hopefully sooner rather than later!!!

Hope you enjoyed my post today :) Do you have any crazy shopping obsessions like me or am I the only one? Leave me a comment. I’d LOVE to hear from you!!

Much love,
Liz

M & N Family Session

Miss Nicole is an old friend but a new client. I was thrilled to have the chance to photograph her family and her adorable baby bump :)

Day 5 - A Helpful Post

 

Today's challenge was to write a helpful post. I'm choosing to share my most favorite saying that has inspired me to pursue my dreams :) Never be afraid to listen to that inner voice, you never know what amazing things it's trying to share with you.

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone has an amazing Saturday :)

 

Much love,

Liz

Day 4 Challenge - 10 Things You May Not Know About Me

I have to say after yesterday’s challenge I was worried that each day was going to get harder. I was quite pleased though when I saw that today I needed to tell you 10 things you may not know about me.

1.      I’m adopted. I was an only child for 20 years until I met my birth mother and discovered I had two half sisters. A few years after that, I had two step brother’s join my family. I am now the oldest of 5 children :) I guess that was a few facts in one..oh well.


2.      Because of the above, I’m blessed to have 4, yes 4, mothers. My birth mom, my adopted mom, my stepmom, and my mother-in-law.

3.      I’m absolutely terrified to speak in front of people. The thought of it actually makes me ill.

4.      I unfortunately can’t have children. I have some medical issues that prevent me from getting pregnant. My husband and I have accepted it and we have 3 fur babies that we absolutely adore and treat as though they are our children.

5.      I’m deathly afraid of haunted houses, scary movies and anything that strikes fear in me. Oh and you can add roller coasters to that list too.


6.      I can’t STAND wearing shoes. If I could go barefoot every day I would.


7.      I dream of having an old barn some day that I can use as a reception hall, meeting place, studio and gallery for my photography. Yep…a big, old, faded barn. LOVE.


8.      I used to be a singer..many moons ago and was blessed to have the opportunity to sing in Carnegie Hall with my college choir.


9.      I’ve traveled to almost all 50 states and hope to check off the ones I’m missing in the next few years.


10.  This 7 day challenge has pushed me to really put myself out there which is something I would have NEVER done on my own. After the initial fear wore off, I can say I am loving each and every challenge and not letting my fear win. I have met the most amazing people on this journey and also learned SO many new things.


I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings and I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little bit more :)

If you liked this post or can relate to any of the things above, I’d LOVE to hear from you!!! Please post a comment below :) I read each and every one of them.

MUCH LOVE!

Liz (That’s another little fun fact…I go by Liz :) Elizabeth Mellenthin is just a little long don’t you think?)

How To - Day 3 of the Feel Good Blogging Challenge

Today’s challenge from Alex Beadon had me TERRIFIED! I had no clue what I was going to do. She asked us to write a tutorial. ME?! Teach other people how to do something?! It took me all day to figure out what I wanted to do…I wrote down ideas, scratched them off, started again…and so on and so on. All of a sudden it hit me…why don’t I do a tutorial on something I, myself, wanted to learn!? (insert head slap here)

So today, we are going to learn how to make a scarf ladder :) I have been wanting one of these FOREVER and what better time than today to make one. I enlisted the help of my husband, who just shakes his head when I come up with stuff like this, and we set off to the local hardware store to get supplies. Yes, I am seriously going to make this scarf ladder TONIGHT, pictures and all, just for this challenge :)

So where were we? Oh…right, driving to the local hardware store to the store to get supplies. You will need 2- 6' 2x4's, 2-4' dowels 1 3/8" for the rungs, wood glue, and a drill bit that looks like this.



The beautiful sunset as we left

I decided that I wanted my ladder to be 6' tall so this actually worked out well. I'm going to have 4 rungs at 12" apart and they are going to be 18" across. My husband started off by cutting a 10 degree angle on the bottom of each 2x4.

I then marked where each rung was going to be and my husband drilled a hole about an inch deep centered on our 2x4's. I had marks at 6", 18", 30" and 42".

 

I didn’t want it to go all the way through because I feel it will have a better hold with the wood glue if there is a pocket for it to sit in.

He then cut 4-18" rungs for me.

After the holes were drilled, I put a generous amount of wood glue in each hole and secured the dowels. At this point, I just left the ladder sit so the glue could dry.

assembly time

Husband checking our work :)

I was going to paint it tonight but I am quickly running out of energy so that's going to be tomorrow's project.

It’s finally ready to come in the house and to be decorated with all my scarves :)

My poor metal scarf hanger overflowing

 

Pile O' Scarves

 

Here is the finished product!!! I hoping to use some leftover paint from other projects to paint it with. This whole project only cost me $22!!! You can certainly use different sizes of wood and customize the ladder any way you would like.

I hope you all loved my tutorial :) I know I did! If you did, please leave a comment as I would love to hear if you’d like to see more of these types of posts.

I can't even begin to imagine what tomorrow's challenge is going to be!!

Day 2-Passion

A Passionate Post

Today’s challenge honestly had me stumped. We were asked to write about one thing we are truly passionate about and why. When you think about it, it really shouldn’t be that hard right? I’d have to say the two things I’m very passionate about are photography and items with a story. Lucky for me, they sometimes go hand in hand.

I wish I could remember when my photography really took off. I’ve always enjoyed photographing the things around me and never really got in to photographing people until friends of mine asked me to take their family photos. After that one session, their word of mouth about my work spread and I started getting more and more people wanting to work with me. It was an amazing transformation from taking photos of flowers and nature to working more with people.

I love working with each and every one of my clients but truly love going out and photographing nature. To be alone in the woods or on the water and just taking in everything around you brings such peace to my soul. No one to judge, no one to see you laying on the ground to get that perfect shot, and no one to see you close your eyes to just soak it all in.

 

Each photograph evokes an emotion in me and some even tell a story. There is an old house by my dad’s that has been standing for over 100 years and I could sit and stare at it for hours. I think about the people who used to live there, what their lives were like, and what they did for fun.  You may see a scary old house but I see history and a home that keep the occupants safe and warm. I look at the flowers in the front of the house that have been growing year after year with no care and am amazed…that they come back no matter how hard the winter, no matter how many times they have been trampled by deer…no matter what…they keep coming back.

 

I take each and every opportunity to tell a story with my photography whether it’s of a family, an old house, or even spring blooms on a tree. It inspires me to live each day to the fullest.

 

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about the things that I’m passionate about and what makes me who I am. If you did, PLEASE go down and leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!!!

Can’t wait to see what day 3 of this challenge brings :)

H Family Fun

I had the privilege of photographing a friend's grandchildren a few weeks ago, and they were great to work with. You never know what you're going to get when you tell them to just go and have fun :)