Simply Seleta

brown-bag-it

I must confess I'm digging these little brown bag sketches designed by photographer and artist, Alicia Lynn Carrier.

She'll draw whatever you like on a brown paper bag paper for just $10.  How cool is that?  Wouldn't this make an original gift for a friend?  Easy on the wallet and eyes.  Hmmm, I wonder if she used to doodle on her lunch bag whenever she was bored at school.  Would have loved to have sat next to her at lunch.

Oh look, I found an Easter bunny.

Okay, now my brain is ticking on what I can get sketched for a few gifts.  Is yours?

Go visit her right here.

[Thanks to Ruby Press via M.A. Belle for finding this]

good girl gone bad...

Our beach town had its annual yard sale this weekend.  Pictured above are a few of my finds I wanted to show you.  No, the table and chairs aren't mine, they were just sitting so pretty outside of an artist's studio so I "borrowed" them for the shot.  My finds include two burlap sacks from France and Germany, and a set of five vintage-looking bottles.  I may make pillows out of the sacks.  As if I need more pillows in my life. 

I sort of blew it at the garage sale.  What possessed me to spend too much $$$ on items at a yard sale just after posting about being thrifty with design, is beyond me.  I guess I confess to having design impulse-control issues.  It does get me into trouble.  What's worse is having to explain to a non-design oriented husband that I spent a good bit of money on burlap sacks at a yard sale.  That just doesn't come out sounding rational.  

Anyway, the yard sale is an annual tradition and I went to the other one just last fall. 

Here's what it looked like when I got there this Saturday at 8:30am.  Crazy, huh?

If you can make your way through the masses, there's some cool stuff to see.  Like these antique books from the 1800's that caught my eye.  They look very "grandma" in the picture but were actually quite lovely in person.  The detailing in the covers were amazing.  The covers alone would be gorgeous framed.

Below is where I bought my vintage-looking bottles.  Notice I said vintage "looking".  The bozo who sold them to me bragged that they were European pharmaceutical bottles from the 1800's.  On the bottom of each bottle was a sticker that said, "made in India".  I must have looked pretty stupid to her.  Funny. 

At first glance it would be easy to walk away from such a display.  They look so sad with their neon green price tags while sitting next to the smashed Dr. Pepper can in the far left corner...

But don't forget you can always do something like this with them...

Remember Danny Seo doing this really cool take on vintage bottles?

In my case I popped some gerber daisies in them.  Simple and lovely.  And a very safe option for a girl who can't put a flower arrangement together to save her life.

Switching gears, I have to say that it was a gorgeous day for a sale.  The sky was blue and it was about 65 degrees.  And it was fun hooking up with fellow blogger, Megan from A Life's Design.  Megan has a great design blog and is a fellow Alanta peep.  We've been long distance blogging friends for a while so it was fun to finally meet in person!  Can't wait to check her blog and see if she found anything good from the sale.

After shopping and completely running out of cash, I gathered my goodies and walked back to my car.  I thought about how pretty my surroundings were and how I take them for granted.  Lots of picked fences, pretty flowers and porch swings.  Someday I should take a walking tour and just show you a few shots of houses and lovely sweet nothings in this area.  Let me know if that sounds interesting to you.

 
In the meantime, let me tell you that Fridays are going to start getting fun around here.  Beginning this week.  I'll explain more later...

girls weekend!!!

Yesterday husband packed up the two boys and headed to Atlanta for his beloved YELLOW JACKETS game. 

Oh sure, the girls and I will miss our boys.  I suppose we'll suffer through our weekend with endless shopping, gabbing, nail painting, chick-flick movie watching, and sleeping in.

Last night we launched our girl weekend with a rooftop sunset dinner right here.

And first thing this morning we hopped on our bikes and headed for SEASIDE's ANNUAL GARAGE SALE.  I've been waiting to see this for the last six months!  It never disappoints. 

 

Oops,  a little bike trouble along the way.  Husband where are you?

 

Pretty crowded when we arrived. 

Like any other flea market or garage sale, there was the good and the bad.  I'll share just a few things that I found to be "the good".

 

I tried to talk my friend, Michelle, into snagging one of these bracelets made out of antique typewriter keys. 

Look how interesting they are.  If you fancy one, I can hook you up with the designer who makes these in Pensacola.  She works a regular full-time job and designs these babies on the side.  Love it.

Vintage Polaroid camera.  Couldn't you see this placed on an antique chest next to a really modern lamp and a stack of old books?  Very Anthropologie.

Antique skeleton keys.

Michelle found this darling antique stool hiding under a table.  Love that white vintage chenille! It took me about two seconds to decide it was going home with me.  Perfect for helping little feet get that extra boost into bed.

Thinking...picturing it in the room.

 

Done. 

A bonus was spotting clothes from one of our local fashion boutiques, DÉJÀ VU.  Owner Stephanie Nichols both designs and manufactures this fabulously chic line of clothing.  Michelle and I scored some finds and also found the perfect "little black dress" that every girl needs in her wardrobe.

A quick peek in Stephanie's store.  [Stacy I borrowed your photo!]

 

On our lovely bike ride back home, I had to stop and take a snapshot of one of my favorite observation towers in Seaside which happens to be made mostly of glass.  It's outstanding. 

The weekend isn't over yet, but when we made it home I realized I had two tired little shoppers.  And a snuggly cat.  See him right there spooning the oldest?  I wonder what we'll do tomorrow...

 

Oh, and one other thing.  GO JACKETS!!!