Little Biggs 6 Turns Six!

It started with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese!

 And some great presents from her friends!

 Then chocolate cupcakes with her Kindergarten class

 Then finally our family party!  Who needs a cake when what you really want is your own gallon of ice cream!

 And of course, more presents!

It was a fun birthday week for Little Biggs 6- can't believe how fast they grow up!  See you next time.

Kelly

This Weekends Finds

Mr. Right and I found some great treasures this weekend!

 Love the stacking owls! But my favorite find is this industrial rolling chair...

Super sturdy!  And last, but not least...

A massive bucket of Tinkertoys.  All of these items will be available at my next market; March 7th at Thieves Market at Big Surf in Tempe from 8:00am-3:00.  See you next time.

Kelly

This Weekends Finds

Mr. Right and I found lots of furniture this weekend...

 Don't let the red hardware and stickers fool you- this solid wood vintage desk will be adorable painted in a creamy white!

 This is a beast!!!  Solid wood and heavy!  The missing hardward was even found in the back of the drawer!

It's difficult to see, but this is an amazing drop leaf, triple pedestal table!  Here's the little we found...

The phone is made completely out of metal!  See the brass chandelier in the back?  Can't wait to transform that into something cute.

This large frame will make a great chalkboard.  We also picked up 12 of these birdhouses.

This mirror came with the beast dresser, but I will probably keep them separate and turn this into a chalkboard.

This large metal clock is awesome and works!!!  All of these items will be available for sale at our next event, which is February 14 at Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek.  Be sure and mark your calendars.  See you next time.

Kelly

Disney On Ice; Let's Celebrate!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to Disney On Ice, Let's Celebrate!  We took the whole family plus a few friends

In true Disney fashion, the show was amazing!

 We especially liked the dance of the magic brooms

Even my 4 month old grandson (Bigglet 2)  stayed away for the whole show!

Here's Bigglet 1 having a great time with Nana and Grandpa!

Despite the $12 cotton candy, and $22 light toys, it's well worth your time to see the amazing costumes and effects.  See you next time.

Kelly

This Weekend's Finds

Here's a picture of what I found this weekend...

 Not a ton, but not too bad with it being colder than usual in Mesa, AZ.  Since I had a show on Saturday, I couldn't waste anytime getting a few of these items spruced us.  See the brass ship box on the left?  Here's how she looks all painted up in a creamy white...

 Remember the outdated art I bought last week...

 Here's how it looked with the art taken out and and the frames painted cream at my show...

 I love how transforming paint can be.  I also wanted to show that sometimes less is more.  See the mirror on top of the basket?

It was a little dated with the metal vines climbing all over it- but it had a made in Germany sticker on the back and looked and felt like it was made of copper- definitely worth investing in.  Here she is, sporting the less is more look right before being wrapped up for a happy customer.

We had a great time out at Schnepf Farms this weekend at The Dirt Road Market.  We'll be back out on the farm for Valentines Day!  Be sure and become A Little Biggs of Everything Follower- we're going to be doing a "LOVE-ly" give-away for our followers and customers at the Market.  See you next time.

Kelly

The "Studio" AKA Hoarder Room and The Duo Clean Project

If you've been reading my first few posts, then you'll remember me mentioning the "studio".  The studio is an area in our home that's had many purposes.  Originally we bought our 5,000+ square foot home so that my Grandmother could move in with us.  She lived in the studio for 6 months before she passed away.  One week later my brother in law needed a place to stay.  He lived in the studio for 3 years.  His departure was followed by a live in Nanny who lived there for 6 months which was then followed by my husband's grandmother who lived in the studio for 3 years.  We had owned our home for over 7 years and I had never used an entire 1,000+ square foot area of it.

I decided the studio would make a great girls room and piled Little Biggs 3, 4, and 5 into it.  That only lasted a few months.  The studio is located on a far end of our home, the opposite end as the Master Bedroom.  It really just felt like they were two far away.  So, eventually, the studio became a free space I could use for myself- this is where things get dark and scary.  I began storing my flea market items in the room.  Seemed like a harmless idea.  However, with the number of estate and garage sales I attend, as well as auctions, the room started to fill up.  Finished projects, started project, future projects and everything else you can think of just got stacked higher and higher.  Every 6 months or so I would try to clear things out, but to no avail.  So now the studio is affectionately called the hoarder room.

With my new years goal to get organized I've teamed up with a good friend to "Duo Clean" each week.  Duo clean is where we work together for two hours to tackle a project- one week at my house, the next week at her house.  For my first project I chose the studio!  My main motivation is that my daughter will be returning from an 18 month mission in Chile and the guest room is on the other side of the studio.  (obviously we don't have too many overnight guests)  So today was the big kickoff of the duo clean.  We started at my house with the hoarder room.

WARNING!!!! THE FOLLOWING PICTURES CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES THAT MAY MAKE THE AVERAGE PERSON WANT  TO THROW OUT ANY AND ALL EXTRA ITEMS THEY HAVE IN THEIR HOME!!!!


PLEASE DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!

Here's what you see when you open the door...

and then as you enter...

In my defense, I will say that currently we are redoing flooring in my craft room and the laundry room, so the contents of both of those rooms are being stored in the studio.  After a very productive Duo Clean this is how it looks as you enter...

Not too shabby!  I promise we didn't just shove it all out of the camera view.  This is what we did do:  Grabbed a few empty bins; one for trash, one for garage sale, one for sell at next flea market, one for "it doesn't belong in the studio" and one for arizona room.  (we recently re-did our arizona room and a few items haven't found their way back because I need a huge bookcase to store them in- I've decided to pack them in a plastic bin until I find the perfect bookcase)

I have a few homework assignments before my duo clean buddy comes back to my house in two weeks (one includes putting away all of the items in the "it doesn't belong in the studio" bin.)  Overall, I feel like it's a great start!

Do you have a hoarder room?  Or a hoarder closet?  Grab and friend and try the duo clean method- it really makes it so much more tolerable.  See you next time.

Kelly.

Three Kings Day

Had to post about a wonderful tradition that was introduced to me last night, Three Kings Day.  My good friend served a mission in Argentina where she learned of Three Kings Day and has since celebrated with her family.    Here's what the internet says about this celebration;


"Latin America and Spain anxiously await “El Día de los Reyes” Celebration on Jan. 6th.  For many Christians, the holiday season doesn’t officially end until the 12th day of Christmas known as the “Feast of the Epiphany” or “Three Kings' Day”. The holiday marks the biblical adoration of baby Jesus by the three Kings, also referred to as three Wise Men or Magi. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the men found the divine child by following a star across the desert for twelve days to Bethlehem. Many Hispanic communities in the U.S. celebrate Three Kings Day with many different traditions including parades and performances. They will usually celebrate Three Kings Day with a scrumptious dinner that is topped off with the King's Bread (Rosca de Reyes) for dessert. It is tradition to hide a baby jesus figurine within the bread -- the person whose slice has the figurine must prepare tamales for everyone on the Day of the Candles on Feb. 2!  In addition, Children leave their shoes right outside their doors so the Three Kings will leave their gifts inside, the bigger presents are placed around them.  Many families leave a box of grass (or hay) and water for The Three King's camels to eat. Camels are known for being a bit sloppy and leaving a trail of hay behind that children can often follow to their gifts!"

Sounds fun,  right?  We celebrated last night with an amazing Argentine BBQ dinner.  Flank steak, jerk chicken, Chimichurri sauce, roasted potatoes, homemade bread, fruit salad with Dulce de leche (carmel) and then topped it off with our own version of King's Bread.  Instead of a Baby Jesus figurine, a cashew nut was hidden.  Little Biggs 4 found it so we will be hosting a dinner sometime before February 2nd.  

Unfortunately, the Little Biggs forgot to put out their shoes (and Momma Biggs didn't have any treats) so we will have to make up for that next year.  With the incredible food, and the opportunity to get more presents, Three Kings Day will definitely be a Favorite holiday in the Biggs' family.   See you next time.

Kelly 

This Weekends Finds

We had a great show Saturday at Vintage Charm, which means we need to go shopping to fill our space again.  However, with the frosty weather we've had in Mesa this past week, there weren't too many sales going on.  Friday was a complete bust,  but Saturday Mr. Right and I did find a few things for our next show:

 I couldn't resist this retro vinyl chair and ottoman!  We loaded it up and took it straight to Vintage Charm, and guess what?  It sold!  Sometimes we don't get to hold on to things for very long.

Here's the rest of my treasures that will be available at our next show this weekend, January 10 at The Dirt Road Market at Schnepf Farms.  Of course the frames will lose there dated artwork and be painted a creamy white.  My favorite find is the retro fan.  It's the size of a modern box fan, but it's all metal and really moves some air.  Also pictured:  a vintage level, 5 readers digest books that will be cut into letters, a retro clipboard, two military patches, a handy andy tool box (just the box),  a silver like pedestal dish and a really cool patina hand broom.  I'm always asked, "Do you buy anything to keep for yourself?"  The answer is definitely yes, but I try to limit myself- otherwise people might think I'm a hoarder.  (it actually may be too late for that- remember me talking about the studio?  Pictures to come in the near future- I promise)  Here's a few items I kept for myself this week.

It's not too exciting, but it definitely saves me tons of money.  Puppy pads are a necessity with my two prissy little dogs.

 Halo

and Annie ( she doesnt like having her picture taken as much as Halo, so you have to get her on the run). I also found Paint rollers and steel wool for .50, which helps keep my project costs down.  Not too shabby for a weekend after a holiday!  See you next time.

Kelly

Going To Market!

Happy New Year!  Here's a few of the fireworks we enjoyed last night...

Okay, enough of the celebrating, I'm not wasting anytime on my new years resolution to get organized!  Mr. Right and the little Biggs helped me pull tons of items from the studio.  A Little Biggs of Everything will be at the Vintage Charm PURGE sale Friday and Saturday.

This will be a great opportunity to pick up some holiday and home decor at greatly reduced prices.  Here's a few items that we rescued from the depths of the studio... 

I have an entire trailer full, plus there will be tons of other vendors.   Some of my items are reduced as much as 50%!  We'll be located in the back yard, so come on over and pick up some great steals!  Hope to see you there. 

Kelly.