Beyond beadazzled

A recent visit to a local thrift store revealed a disturbing new process regarding their Christmas inventory…

I think they’re selling it by the pound.

As far as I can guess, somewhere behind the swinging doors of the mysterious ‘Employees Only’ area is a giant, roiling pit, filled with Christmas things.

From this pit, the employees pack shovels-ful of Christmas into very large, clear plastic blanket bags. 

If you have x-ray vision, it’s possible to see one of everything ever remotely related to Christmas, across many decades of décor, crammed into these bags which are then dumped onto the sales floor and left to fend for themselves.

And there I am, pawing my way through one of these bags, which is clearly marked "Do Not Open, except for you, Amy," and what do I find buried in the midst of the tangled tinsel, plastic holly and strings of burned out lights?

This.

And this.

Somehow both ornaments remained completely intact despite having been (possibly) shoveled from a pit into a bag. Could this be a Christmas miracle? I think so.

But what really caught me by surprise in that bag were these.

I can’t begin to imagine the number of hours and finger pricks it took to create these pins + beads + sequins ornaments and to me, they are shiny, tacky, gaudy, beautiful, flashy, flawless handmade treasures.

That’s right.  I’ve gone to a place I never thought I’d go:  The world of sequins.

Please send help.



All dressered up

Things are getting pretty tight in the Garage Where Cars Can’t Park.

And yet, I still managed to squeeze in a dresser.

It wasn’t on my yard sale shopping list but I've always believed that when life gives you dressers, you make space in the garage.

This poor thing had a terminal case of the flakes.

Not the sought-after, time-worn, chippy paint kind of flakes but more along the lines of varnish dandruff.

One $4 can of steely-slate-gray 'oops' paint later and things are looking up for this old dresser.

That’s right, Sandy’s back with a vengeance. J

And there's even more transformed furniture here.

The right place at the wrong time

Note to self: Today is Saturday. 

 

 Despite the fact I drove 30 miles in order to accidentally show up at an estate sale on the wrong day, the Nicest Woman Ever who was organizing the sale (which, for buyers who pay attention to the world around them, not to mention the fine print in the classified ads, was to start the following day)

invited me in to shop.

I know!  

Proof that the early bird does indeed get the vintage bird books.

 She was selling her parents' belongings and we got to chatting about how difficult that process can be and before I knew it, I had accumulated a small mountain of things to buy.

 The mountain of things all had 25 cent price tags with two exceptions: The 6’ vintage aluminum Christmas tree and the cardboard box filled with an entire farmer’s market of vintage chalkware fruit & vegetables.

The Christmas tree and box of fruit were $3 each.

There’s more I haven’t brought in from the car yet – some vintage suitcases, canning jars, polka dot Pyrex … I'd like to interpret this turn of events as a sign from the universe about the thrifting potential in 2011.

Thank you, Nicest Woman Ever.  Hope your estate sale went really well!

Junkin' road trip pros and cons

Sadly, this is not a photo of the World's Best Salvation Army store. 

This sign was hanging in the Coburg Antique Mall in Coburg, OR

+ On the plus side +

+ Shopped the Sacramento Antique Faire and really liked it. Not too big, not too small. Great mix of antiques, vintage, mid century, shabby, mantiques and junk.

+ Met a dealer whose shop is also called Vintage Home.
(I know!)
 

  My favorite kind of junkin' jumble. Saw this at Antique Cottage & Garden in Shasta Lake, CA

+ Stopped at some antique shops along the highway that I’ve always wondered about.

+ The weather, at times.

---------------------------------------------

- On the minus side -

—  Didn’t go to the Candlestick Park Antiques Faire.
 (last minute change of plans) 

— Didn’t buy nearly as much as I would have thought.

— Should have taken a lot more photos*. A lot. 

— The weather, at times. 

— *New camera. We took a time-out around Day 4.
We made up on Day 6.

I had a lot of fun browsing even though I didn’t bring home as many things (to resell later) as I had hoped I might – plenty of little things but no *major* score/s.

I was fully prepared (hoping!) to drive home Beverly-Hillbillies-style with rusty, chippy stuff strapped to the roof of my car or better yet, pulling a packed U-haul, but it didn’t work out that way.

However, being the optimist that I am, I would do it all again and hope I can. Next time…

Junk Drunk

 

 Please pardon me while I decorate this post with some unrelated photos of my thrifted finds.

American Pickers are here! Well, sort of.

(Wouldn't that be nice? They could pick out in the Garage Where Cars Can't Park)

 The American Pickers Season One DVD is here because I won it (so very excited to have won something!) from Sonya at Dime Store Thrift. Thank you, Sonya!

{ If you're not familiar with American Pickers, please check them out. I'll wait here. }

I confess -- I've been watching American Pickers since the very first episode and I think what I love most about this show is that it exists. Mike Wolfe has such a passion for what he does that he knew other people would be interested enough to watch an hour long TV show about two guys climbing over heaps of rusty, old stuff that many would walk right by on their way to the antique store...

Thanks Frank and Mike! You make junking fun. And I think the non-junkers out there are starting to understand the rest of us a little better now. 

Another one of my gratuitous photos of old stuff I found.

Here's a link to a funny story + interesting interview* with Mike Wolfe. I've never met him but he seems like a charismatic & funny guy. Goofy too. 

OMG. If I didn't know better, I might think I have a junkin' crush going on here.

Move over, David Cassidy. 

 Last one, I promise.

And if you're feeling lucky, here are a couple of giveaways for you:

Kathy at A Spectacular Mess has a spectacular bunch of prizes!

Jen at {the cottage nest) is giving away something especially for us fabric collectors :-)

Good luck to you!

*(I can't recall where I originally saw the link for the interview but I think it was over at Vintage Rescue Squad. That's where the pic of Mike & Frank came from. Thank you, Sue)

Nuts for Vintage

Can you tolerate one(-ish) more vintage-holiday-show-and tell? I'll hit just the highlights, I promise.

As mentioned on my previous post, I found a few more holiday treasures at a recent 'living' estate sale which, when I drove up to it, didn't look like there would be much to see. 

The sale was held in a ramshackle warehouse of sorts, in the middle of an orchard (you may recall I live in the Fruit Loop) and the woman whose estate was for sale was there and very much alive & kicking. And she was downsizing in a major way.

{all photos can be clicked to enlarge}

Buried in a box, I found this set of vintage cornhusk nativity characters but with spun heads instead of cornhusk heads. Sort of  1970s crafts meets 1940s crafts.

Did you notice the fellow on the far right dressed in purple? I don't know the particulars of his situation but somehow he ended up with an acorn for a head and a nut shell for a hat.

Maybe it's me but he kind of looks like he's wearing a cowboy hat.

This is just the tip of the shiny-vintage-Christmas-iceburg I found at this sale. There were so many ornaments I couldn't bring myself to unwrap them all to take a photo but they did provide lots of ideas/justification for purchasing that I'll share in another post. 

Some serious vintage honeycomb madness was happening too. 

I love that metal hanging decoration on the right, made from vintage tin molds. The Living Estate Sale Lady told me she made those to sell at church bazaars back in the day -- they're for hanging on the front door or from a doorknob. I have some holiday plans for that piece too.

 And finally, picks of all kinds -- witches, pumpkins, Santas, dolls, glass balls, elves and my favorite on the far left, the Black Cat. Some of the picks even had leftover cake clinging to them which always mystifies me. Maybe someone was in a hurry. Or wasn't wearing their reading glasses. 

Which never happens to me. 

Whew - feels good to get all of that out of my system. Thanks for indulging me. 

Where little banners come from.

Shoes without socks - was I brought up in a barn?

I definitely don't collect old wooden picture frames and yet, I seem to have a bunch of them. And since I don't collect them, they aren't used for anything much such as framing a piece of art but I like having them around. And I especially like the look of a group of empty frames on the wall. 

To me, the frames are art all by themselves.

Ok - this is a little minimalistic, even for me

And so my non-collection of frames inspired my blog banner. Oh sure, I could have done the smart thing and made my banner from one of my billions of photographs taking up space on my hard drive but...

I had this idea.

And it involved those frames. And vintage fabric. Because in my barkcloth-doily-tablecloth-infused world, fabric is art too.

After a series of manuevers, 

Disclaimer: No vintage fabric was harmed during the creation of this banner.

(I used color copies)

stops & starts and arranging & rearranging,

To angle or not to angle?

my banner was born. And because I'm thrifty, I made it a two-fer.

Twins!

Um, fraternal twins.

The top one for my blog and the bottom one for my etsy shop.

And that is where little banners come from. 

(Wow! I'm really feeling the ital today!)

In other news, later this week seems like a good time for a giveaway. Here's a hint...

Really good goods

You may recall in the not too distant past, we all took a little stroll through Karen's beautiful home, that one that's filled with loads of vintage charm and lots of vintage details.

And a couple of sweet cats.

 a peek into Karen's shop window

{click photo to enlarge}

I wanted to let you know that Karen is now an etsy shopkeeper where she's selling her amazing vintage finds -- gorgeous textiles, fun vintage housewares, sweet embroidered samplers and more.

I hope you'll swing by her shop and welcome her to the neighborhood.

Karen is also a longtime seller on ebay with more of her vintage finds there too including stunning vintage quilts, vintage kitchen accessories and Cath Kidston fabrics. 

Karen's etsy shop:  CCAAPPP

Karen's ebay seller i.d.:  PIESAFE

Hope you're having a wonderful day so far. It's blue skies here in Oregon!

other people's kitchens

With a doily factory full of sewing to do, as-yet-unplanted flower pots outside and an overall lack of interest in the nearly life-size dust bunnies which are now shadowing me around the house, this seems like the ideal time to take a break and explore some more of Karen's home. You know, where things are tidy and neat and vintage.

The Kitchen

This is the photo that started it all. Karen sent it to show me where she was using some pillows I made for her, never suspecting I'd end up driving a virtual tour bus through her home. Everybody wave at Karen as we go by!

I love the vintage details in Karen's kitchen including these cookie jars and canisters and I can only imagine how much fun she had finding all the right pieces -- the hunt is half the fun, isn't it? The cherry canisters are my favorites although the Nestle hot chocolate tin is a close second. Did you notice the chicken wire in place of panels on the cabinet doors?

Here's Karen's vintage tablecloth stash, stored where she can enjoy them even when they're not in use. She uses hers and I use mine too. If you look closely, you can see all of the switchplates have been covered with vintage wallpaper.

The Laundry

Even Karen's laundry room has been thoughtfully filled with vintage finds, from vintage canisters stacked high on the cabinet tops to the tiny vintage porcelain plate hanging over the framed cover of a vintage Good Housekeeping magazine.

More vintage prints and magazine covers and one of Karen's 27(!!) embroidered vintage samplers, all of which are on display throughout her house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Hoosier Nook

And now, please take a deep breath because we are headed to see The-Hoosier-That-Was-That-Color-When-She-Bought-It. I know! Can you believe it? Lucky Karen!

This little nook was originally destined to become a computer work area until that fateful day when Karen came across this Hoosier cabinet which just happened to fit into the space perfectly ... size-wise and style-wise.

Proving inspiration is everywhere, Karen got the idea for this hankie jar from an eBay seller who told the story of her grandmother who kept a jar of hankies by her front door so visitors could choose one as a gift when they left. Karen's hankies are from her Granny too but they're staying put for now.

While waiting to be hung, framed pieces of vintage fabric sit above a vintage coat rack from an old school. They may have to wait a while longer because they look good right where they are.

 

One more sampler

 

Thanks for joining the tour today and please watch your step as you exit the bus.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

All photos were taken by our industrious homeowner and vintage collector, Karen. She has been into vintage for about 5 years.

Her ebay seller i.d. is PIESAFE.

 

Kitchen curtains are vintage and were altered to fit.

Found at the International Collectibles and Antiques Show in Charlotte, NC.

Laundry room rug from The Land of Nod.

Laundry room curtain is a shower curtain from Anthropologie.

Here's more info about vintage Good Housekeeping magazine covers.

Karen soaks her vintage samplers in Restoration, available at The Stitchery.

Vintage wallpaper from eBay store Rosies Vintage Stuff.

Wallpaper is decoupaged onto switch plate covers by etsy shop Fondue. 

Yellow cuckoo clock in Hoosier Nook is from Urban Outfitters.