Thrifty wardrobe

Pretty soon here I'm going on vacation (yeah, long over due!) and probably like many of you I decided I wanted needed some new clothes to bring on my trip.  After all the our trip will include cooler weather and I want to have fun dressing up too!  So, I have been trading in my normal home décor hunting at thrift stores lately for fall wardrobe hunting.  Here are some of the finds I picked up and will be taking on our trip (with some other staples already in my closet).

 

Three great pairs of jeans as well a pair of purple pants that are different than my normal attire, but were too fun to pass up

 

I found a cozy sweater, a casual gray striped shirt and two light weight jackets that will be great for layering

 

 

A simple gray dress and a little bit more fancy turquoise dress for our evening adventures on our trip

 

And of course wardrobe shopping wouldn't be complete without shoes!  I found these deep purple heals and these super cute nautical inspired flats that I think will go great with a couple of outfits

 

So, the most exciting part about all these fun fall clothes I found is the price...$70 for all of this!!  Seriously, way better than going to the mall!  Mixed in with some things I already have, these "new" pieces are an inexpensive solution to my fall and vacation wardrobe needs! 

 

Come visit me again soon on here...I'm sure I'll post about our vacation! 

Make it over: old record storage to craft cabinet

More than a year ago I snagged this old cabinet at a yard sale that was originally for record storage.  While the piece had good bones, it definitely needed work to be usable and presentable.  For only $5 I decided to take it home with me and make it over.  So...more than a year later I finally got to it! 

 

 

 

I wanted to make the cabinet clean and functional, so I knocked out the pieces of wood inside the cabinet so I could utilize the space more.  I then painted the whole cabinet a clean white and added new nickel hardware.  For the inside shelves I put down cute chevron contact paper.

 

 

 

 

The cabinet now is a perfect space for all my stacks of craft paper and other creating supplies.  I love this addition to our office right next to my craft desk!  I have to admit, after I finished the cabinet and put it in the office I got a little giddy about having a clean inspiring space to work in!   

Craft night for the girls

I get the joy of working with the Beehives (12-13 year old girls) in our ward (church congregation) which includes not only teaching them on Sundays, but it also means I get to do fun activities with them during the week.  For our activity last night I decided we were due for a craft night.  (Yeah!)  There are so many cute crafts out there especially with Pinterest that it was almost hard to figure out what to do in only the allotted time for our activity nights as well as being very easy to teach and learn. With the thought of making something simple that the girls could wear, I found the awesome jersey knit bracelet idea!  Instead of giving you the whole run down of how to make it, I will point you to the source where I followed the how-to of jersey knit bracelet creating.   She also has a YouTube video in case you're like me and want to see exactly how to make it. 

Here's how the bracelets we made turned out. 

 

 

 

I think the girls had fun having a craft night, I know I did!

Day trip to Napa Valley

Last Saturday we woke up early took a road trip to Napa Valley!   You may remember that last year we did an amazing weekend trip there and couldn't stop thinking about it pretty much all year long, so we knew we needed to at least do a day trip this year. 

Our first stop, Bouchon Bakery.  This place is my absolute favorite in all of Napa Valley.  Their selection of breads, pastries, cookies and goodies they make are incredible and beautiful to look at; but most importantly they taste absolutely delicious!  We got our fair share of goodies to have for breakfast, lunch and to enjoy later at home.  Thankfully Bouchon isn't any closer to our house or we'd be in big trouble!

 

 

 

Our next notable stop was at the Bale Grist Mill.  This was a fun historic stop that featured a fully working water and grain mill!  It was a fun tour to learn about the mill's history and see a whole other side of the Napa Valley. 

 

 

The mill park was also a great place to have a picnic lunch with sandwiches made out of bread we bought at Bouchon that morning.

 

As ventured more through the valley, after the mill tour, I decided that we needed to get Clint a cannoli since he wanted to try one.  So we embarked upon a cannoli search!  We finally were able to get one at Tra Vigne in St Helena where I was dubbed the "cannoli girl" by the host that took my order for simply "one cannoli to go"!    It was worth the adventure to find the yummy Italian dessert. 

 

After our day of adventures, we had our last stop at a Michelin star restaurant, Terra, for our anniversary dinner.   The restaurant was intimate and the service was stellar.  The quality of the food was superb, but we had to admit afterwards that the dinner wasn't exactly what we expected and we probably would make Terra just a one time dining experience.  It was a fun experience though and the fusion that the Japanese born and classically French trained chef brought to the multiple-course style menu was exciting.  

 

 

 

At the end of our fun foodie day in the Napa Valley we were tired, but once again determined that the trip was so worth it and we just might have to do it again next year! 

 

PS--if you're following me on Instagram you probably already y saw some of these pics.  If you're not following me on Instagram and want to see more pictures of my adventures find me under NostalgicYellow. 

Patriotic goodies and Vintage Yellow House on Etsy!

Hello all!  I hope you had a great 4th of July with lots of BBQing and summer-style festivities.  I decided I need to make patriotic treats for the occasion.  Fresh blueberries and strawberries were the perfect toppers for my "American flag" fruit pizzas (sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting).  They were almost too cute to eat, but of course we couldn't resist for too long! 

 

Something I think of being very American is owning your own business, which is what I finally took the plunge on.  I opened my Etsy shop!  As a nod to this blog, I name it Vintage Yellow House!  I plan on adding more vintage goodies to the shop that I hope you will enjoy and might even find that you can't live without ;)  I don't know how well it will do, but it's fun to start something that I've thought about doing for a long time and decided to just jump into. 

 

 

Check out the shop!  VintageYellowHouse

Grilled chicken pesto pizza

It seems like every now and then when I find or create a new recipe that I just love, I tend to make that food at least once a week for at least a month!  My current favorite obsession recipe is chicken pesto pizza that can either be grilled or made in the oven.  I got inspired to make this when I saw last month's issue of Food Network magazine and there was an article about grilling pizzas.  Hello genius!  Especially with it being a toasty 90+ degrees, it's nice to keep the oven off and keep the heat outside. 

Last week I made these pizzas on the grill and was so pleased with the results.   Individual size rustic pizzas that are tastey fresh off the grill and even the next day, according to Clint.

 

 

 

Here's how to make them:

 

I use this recipe for the pizza dough and this one for the pesto. 

Have the grill at about 350-400 degrees.  With a paper towel dampened in olive oil and held in tongs (folded up), lightly rub the grill grates on the areas where you'll be grilling the pizzas.  Place rolled out dough (in desired size) directly on the grill.  Bake for about 3 minutes (or until browned as desired), then flip to the other side and repeat.  Once the dough is cooked, remove from the grill place it on a cookie sheet/pan.  Put on pesto sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken, and sun dried tomatoes.  Put cookie with assembled pizzas back on the grill and close the lid.  Cook about 4 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Enjoy! 

Camp crafts

Hello!  I'm back from a week of camping with the young women from our church (girls camp).  I had a great time being able to get to know the girls from church better, feeling the love Heavenly Father has for us, and laughing with the other leaders and with my crazy (and awesome) young women.  I do have to say though that one of my favorite things was making these adorable crafts that were available for the girls and us leaders to make. 

 

Each year there is a theme for girls camp and this year's theme was "Anchored in Faith".  Such a great theme to remind us of what is most important in life.  I loved the anchored in faith picture frame that we did so I can remember throughout the year the camp theme and significance of being firm in my faith.  It also happens to go with the décor in our bedroom (sweet)!  The "verse of the week" chalkboard is something I look forward to hanging up in our living room with a weekly reminder of a scripture that can guide our lives.  And last but not least, the simple yet whimsical headband.  I look forward to wearing it and also making more of these hopefully soon (possibly during a girls craft night).