Sunday, October 19, 2014

A Hoarder's Sale

My cousin told me they were running an estate sale that was over an hour away from where I live.  I started to tune him out when he said these magic words, "It is the home of a hoarder."  Oh my! My very favorite kind of sale is one where you have to dig to find treasures.  I love hoarders because they have the oddest and most unusual things and everyone else is too turned off by the dirt and piles to dig.

As usual, my husband and I headed out on Saturday because that is when my cousin marks everything half off.  The sale was in a small musty lake cottage.  My heart started racing when we walked up and could see boxes, chairs, furniture and all kinds of things spilling out of the garage into the yard and driveway.  When I hit the house, my cousin's wife handed me a box. (Boy does she know me!)  I plopped my husband down on a chair with that box and got to work.  It took two boxes, but we left with this


 How awesome is this little green desk lamp...$2.50 worth of awesomeness?  You bet.  I put it into the box.

 Blue Mason jars are a funny thing.  You can find them at any price from $2 to $5 per jar.  I paid $1 for both of them.  Now they were coated and filled with dirt.  Thrift Chick was sure there was something living in one of them!
 This isn't vintage or antique or anything.  It probably came from the HSN.  I just really liked it and could imagine tulips spilling over the top at Easter time.

 This was the most expensive thing I bought at $10.  I tried to look it up on the internet to see it's history, but couldn't find it.  I knew I should buy it when my husband says, "That's really cool."
 These are melamine measuring cups.  My brother and sister-in-law were at the sale and my SIL looked at me and said "Really?"  Sometimes the kitsch factor overrides anything else.
 Thrift Chick can't understand why I like the opal pyrex.  I think because there is so little of the true opal pieces out there.  This divided dish was sold from 1959 to 1967.  It is almost 50 years old and look how it still glows.  (Well it too was filthy when I picked it up...i knew there was a gem in there.)
 Thrift Chick wanted to sleep in and did not make the trip with us.  It was her birthday so I bought her what she would have bought...a vintage camera and and old book.  She loves books period.  However, she has a thing for books with ornate covers.

 A rusty can, an old scrabble game and a seriously cool fly swatter.  Several people expressed dismay that I had gotten to the fly swatter....that is how you know you got a good deal.

 This is not pyrex.  This is Fire King which is almost as cool.  I seem to be branching out a bit.
 The cookie cutters were in a box and I was digging through them selecting the ones I wanted.  My cousin offered me the whole box for a great price...so while the above are the ones I am keeping....
 ... I have a ton more so if you have a need for cookie cutters, let me know...I have a bunch you can have.

Here is the weirdest purchase of the day.  I paid 50 cents for it.  I was joking about it with my SIL.  We thought we would get it for my other SIL who has a lake cottage as a gag gift.  I threw it in the box.  It is actually a cooler!  When I was leaving, a lady told me she had hoped to come back today and get it.  My kids thought it was the absolute best thing I bought!  It just goes to show you that you never really know what is valuable to someone else.

Literally, it was the most fun I have had in ages.  I can't stop thinking about the other things I wish I would have bought.  In the end, I bought two boxes of treasures and my brother bought a weed whacker and a decoy duck.  Seriously, some people have no imagination!

Patty

Monday, October 13, 2014

DIY - Grateful Picture

 I have this thing about pictures in my house having meaning for our family.  There are no random prints on our walls.  Everything has a connection in some way.  So when I saw this great DIY project on Catherine's Creative Corner, I knew it was going to make an appearance on my fall mantle.
She does a great tutorial on this here.  I am not going to repeat it.  Check her post out and then stay awhile.  She has a lot of eye candy you will enjoy.
This is my version.  I am so very pleased with how it came out.  Here is what I did differently.  My frame came from my stash of thrift store frames,  After measuring, I went to my computer and created a document that was 11 by 17 (knowing that I would be cutting the end off to fit the frame.)  Then I selected my font and started typing away all the things I was thankful for.  I cut down a piece of tan construction paper to 11 by 17 and put it in the printer.  I printed it off and then stuck it in the frame.  I used by Silhouette digital cutter to cutout the word grateful.  I used white contact paper.  It is much cheaper than the vinyl sold to go with digital cutters.  I stuck the word to the glass on the front of the picture and there you have it.  
If you don't have a digital cutter, you could easily print out the word and place it under the glass.  Then you could trace over it with glass chalk paint.  Same effect, different method.
 I must say that I am totally in love with my mantle this year.  From the pumpkins we got on our family trip to the pumpkin farm to the masterpiece that reminds me of all that I have, this mantle screams family.

I hope you have blessing in abundance this season.

Patty


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Sunday, October 5, 2014

A Little Bit of Fall

We love all things fall....beautiful colors, crisp air, celebration after celebration, caramel apples, candy corn, apple pie....I could go on and on.

A few weeks ago I decided that despite our heat wave of mid seventies weather, I needed to give autumn its proper due and haul out my fall stuff.  I think I put if off because my cupboards are bursting at the seams with all my thrifting junk!  An organizing frenzy is long over due!  After several hours of digging through boxes, arranging and rearranging, our house is now "fallified.
 The main seasonal decorating I do is on our mantle.  Stay tuned for a tutorial for the grateful picture.




 I have always loved those bloggers who post Christmas pictures of the rusted toy truck with bottle brush Christmas tree in the back.  I have been on the lookout for such a vintage truck.  Holy cow, are they expensive!  My cheap little heart just can't drop that kind of money.  I found this beat up metal tractor this past summer at a flea market for $15.  Thrift Chick says it is better with our farmhouse.

 I have a thing for minnow buckets, kitschy creamers and candy corn...obsession is a word that comes to mind.


There are a few other spots I am still tweaking.  They may make an appearance later on (or realistically I may not touch them for the rest of the season and just ignore my dissatisfaction.  That is truth of how lazy I am.)

Patty