Instagrammmm Drop!

It's that time of year! At least here in good ol Wisconsin! We decided to decorate for Fall and Halloween early in our house! My mom saved a lot of her old decorations from when she was my age. It was really fun looking at those! I especially loved this guy above.

I love drying roses. There is something so special about watching them turn into something even more beautiful. 

I looooove my boys. These cats are my life. I love them so much. Bentley (left) is a Blue Point Siamese and Benny (right) is a Plain Point Siamese. Benny is my love. I'm always so used to him being right by my side. So it was strange that they both were laying on my tummy at the same time. I had to capture the moment. How I love them so...

This is a photo that I took this morning from my Polaroid Automatic 240. I had purchased color film (that I sort of...destroyed - by accident!!) and a black and white film. I was so happy to see that this one turned out. I was soooo excited! I will be starting my 52 weeks of Polaroids on Monday. I will be using only a Polaroid camera (sorry, don't own an Instax) so I am really excited! This is just a sneak peek of what's to come. (Don't worry, I will have better pics that won't be from my cell, either) :p 

I am going Apple Picking today with my best friend, Ashlee. I can't wait to get some great pics!!! And I can't wait to show you guys! Have a lovely weekend, xoxo.

- R

Don't forget, if you are on Instagram, you can add me (I'll do the same)... autumnbalmbotanicals is my name on there!! Just leave your name in a comment so I can find you :]

A weekend full of great finds!

I can't believe another weekend has passed so quickly. I had found some great treasures this weekend that I can't wait to share with all of you <3 I had seen a similar camera to this on The Dainty Squid's blog. It was an old vintage instant Polaroid camera (that you could actually get film for at a cheap price, GASP)! So I went on a manhunt to find that camera, or a similar model. (You can see her post here about her camera).

The model I found was a Polaroid Automatic 240. There is a funny story behind this actually. I had told me mum about this camera that I wanted. I told her that if she had seen it anywhere, to pick it up for me. I was going to a giant festival that happens one weekend a month during the summer. I was hoping I'd be able to get my hands on this camera there, I hadn't. So when I got home, I checked eBay. I'm pretty new to eBay (when it comes to bidding anyhow) so I was trying to understand the ropes when I was bidding for this camera. I had placed my bid and was hoping to win. I showed my mom and she goes, "Oh, I seen that camera today at the thrift store for $1.91, plus it's half off today." Um, whaaaaaaat?  I went into panic mode because I probably would have cried if I went there and it was gone. 

So I drove myself to the thrift store and couldn't find it anywhere. I found some other camera's before I found this one hiding. I again, hugged it until I left. I was soooo happy.

It's a larger model, which I love. I've been debating on getting an Instax mini or an Instax 210. But I'd rather have this. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to take old pictures with the white border (not the 600 type film, older than that). I loved looking at my parent's childhood photos, and I always wanted to recreate my own. I never thought I was able to, until now!

I lucked out at the wonderful condition this baby is in. Barely any dust or dirt. Everything functions properly, and there was even an empty film cartridge in there, too! 

This baby came with everything, but the case. Which is fine by me because it's really unneeded, especially because it breaks down into it's own case anyways. 

I was very fortunate that it came with the manual as well. I loooove the old photographs on the inside showing you step by step  how to operate this beauty. 

This page is my favorite. Isn't she gorgeous?

This is the back of the manual.

It even came with the cold clip, too!

I thought this camera would be so complicated to open and operate, but it is soooo easy! I love how everything is numbered for you. My favorite feature is the focus. You have your normal view finder, and then there is a spot for you to check the focus. The image will appear in multiples if it's out of focus. Once you manually change that, it should appear as one image, and you're ready to shoot your subject! :)

I also got ahold of some other instant camera's by Polaroid. Do you remember these???

I totally forgot these existed, until I was looking on eBay. I still have mine somewhere. I was IN LOVE with this camera as a kid. I'll have to find some shots I took of my cats with this baby and put them on here for you guys to see :) Did any of you have one of these??

I also got another one of these. I have a few already, but this one is a macro camera, I couldn't pass that up (Macro has to be my favorite photography that I take). 

Not camera related, but I did get it on the same thrift sale. This neat little tin platter. I love the vintage feel of this and had to take it home with me.

I also got this cute little guy. I'm unsure what I'm going to put in there as of yet, though. (You can see this in some of the camera photos, too). 

Then I got this cute glass duck. I looove these! Did I mention I got all these goodies for around 7 dollars??? What a steal!!

My mom and I had gone to a little craft fair today that was held on a very old farm. These are the goodies I found...

Aren't these adorable?

Love love love!

Ahh I love fall!

I've been looking for a ring like this for the longest time. I've been hesitant to buy online because of the size issue. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they don't. I didn't want to take a chance.

And this guy. I love birds, and this was the perfect necklace for me! 

Now, I didn't get this copper bracelet this weekend. I actually got it while I was thrifting in Minnesota. I completely forgot to post about this, so I am now. I just love this, and am a big fan of unique copper bracelets. So there you have it! All my great finds from the weekend!! 

Room Revamp Pt 2

Well! My room changes are finally complete. There are some things I still would like to update, but I happy with the current results. Now onto the pics :)

I used to keep all my jewelry in an antique bowl. Eventually it got all tangled up and hard to pick out what I wanted to wear that day. So I decided to hang up some of my necklaces on my walls as a decoration, as well as keeping them readily available for when I want to wear them :)

I've gotten into hats recently. And seeing my room is so small, I didn't just want them to pile up in a corner somewhere. So I had some Glad hooks laying around that I drew hearts and dots on for a fun look. 

I pretty much kept my TV stand the same. I love what's all on it! 

I had reorganized my piano bench. I had threw some skeins of yarn in one of my Longarberger Baskets (thank you Goodwill) for a fun touch. I put my grandfather's old bird book in the other. 

Instead of having a ton of clothes on my chair, I put some herb books on there for storage, as well as to give it a charming look.

This is an old field desk from WWII. I had it on my floor where my chair currently resides. This is one of my favorite pieces in my room. I've had this item since I was about 15 or 16. It's so special to me, I will never let this baby out of my sight!

These are the items to the left of my trunk. All thrifted - minus the girl...I got her on my 16th Birthday.

This is to the right of my trunk. All thrifted except the earring holder. I just got the bunny the other day at Goodwill. I was so excited to find it! It's adorable!!

The top of the trunk. All thrifted again.

This is the inside of my trunk. It has a lot of great storage space on the inside...where now I store all my yarn & supplies. 

These are the polaroids I took last weekend. Some of them didn't turn out. So as I was reading I got this neat idea from Little Chief Honeybee's Blog about writing inspirational quotes on the undeveloped polaroids. Sorry I can't find the original post. I thought I had bookmarked it but I suppose not. Nonetheless, it's a wonderful idea!

My cork board was a complete mess. So I had to find a good way to make it cute and fun. I had made the banner from old scrapbook paper I had laying around. I just LOVE it! I also rearranged my photos as well. 

I had recently purchased these cute owls at Goodwill. They are for your stove, but I decided they would look way better on my walls! I just strung some yarn threw them and hung them up!

These I won from a giveaway on Talk2thetree's blog (she has a giveaway every Monday, too)!! They are made from A Vintage Poster. I love love love all their products and the quality is mind blowing. I highly recommend checking them out!! :)

My dresser, which is now an organized mess, hehe. 

And my newest item in my room that I just adore. These cute owls!!! I just love them! 

So there you have it! My room has been revamped and now I don't want to leave it! I feel more inspired now and now I hope to get some new goodies in my shop real soon! I'm thinkin about one more week or so before we open back up! Feel free to send us a convo on Etsy if you need anything :)

<3 Rachel