Rolling Along With The Junkalanche

 I'm still here and still not making any significant progress in digging out the art room.  I tell you what, I am going to be GREAT at retirement, although I have been told that I still won't have time to get everything done.
I have been neglectful about photographing the recent finds so I made a point of getting a picture of the Saturday finds before I sorted them away.

 I was intrigued when I found these little nun figurines and thought they were sort of beautiful.  I did some research when I got them home and they are Depose Italy Fontanini and someone has WASHED OFF all the paint.  Boo.  They are supposed to be painted.  I still think they are sort of beautiful so I hope someone else will think so too.

 It was a good day for vintage tablecloths.  I don't find them often.  The ivy is a cutter because it has a stain from what looks like a paint spill.  The other two are a little faded but overall good vintage condition.

 I should have taken a better picture of the other tablecloth.  It is my favorite with a pretty yellow and turquoise color combination.  Shiny Brites on top but I only brought home the plain round ones that were good colors.  I'm not sure I ever found a purple one before.

 A Japan baby shoe planter and some lace for the inspiration kits.

 A whole menagerie of chalkware nativity figures.  These are going to make me squeal again when I re-find them next Christmas.

Last but not least, a 1986 Mickey squeak.  Toys are not my "thang" but some things just can't be left behind and need my help to send them along to their new forever home.

Camera Dump

 This picture has nothing to do with anything other than it is about the only spot in the art room that I would dare show you.  I envy those bloggers who show studios that are curated and decorated with pretty little vignettes.  We flipped a circuit breaker the other day so Husband had to move a bunch of my junk precious treasures to get to the panel box and it is all still heaped on the floor.  I just have pig piles of chaos waiting for my attention.

 This old wooden dough bowl is a favorite recent find.  The black blob inside it is a hat.  I still haven't gotten around to taking the camera in for a check-up.  I don't think the folk art cow is old because it has a label on the belly that says "Beaches".  I haven't gotten anywhere trying to research it because Google finds everything Beaches except what I am looking for. He is missing an ear but I liked the look so picked it up anyway.  Yes, I bought a cow with one ear.

 There is still no shortage of Christmas to be found.  The coloring book has wonderful pictures inside and is unused.

 I was smitten with the wax baby Jesus in this candle.  Oops, I should have cropped out the forbidden plain round Shiny Brite.  At least it is pink.

 I don't think these ornaments are old but I think they are sort of wonderful.

 Another favorite recent find is the old Juice-O-Matic in my favorite Grandma Green.  The round thing in the upper right is a chimney flue cover.

 If you follow me on Instagram then you have already seen the juicer, along with the next three finds.

 Chippy chalkware Madonna.  I picked up the upholstery fabric in the back thinking I would like it better than what I put on my kitchen chairs but now I'm thinking it is probably too thick for the corners.  I adore the pattern so it will stay around and wait to be the perfect thing.

 These darling angels are marked Italy.  They don't necessarily scream Christmas at me so I think I might just let them hang out with me for a while.

THIS is what has been impeding my progress on cleaning up the art room.  I found two big boxes of these horse ribbons and have been working on listing them in my Etsy.  I have sold almost a hundred of them already and I am down to just one more lot to list.  When I brought them home my room smelled like a barn for two days.  A stiff brush and some Febreez works wonders.
For those of you up there in the frozen Northeast, snuggle down and take good care!!

Where Are The Bowling Balls When You Need One??

This is the raw junk from a recent trip to The Bins.  I had the rare opportunity to shop longer than a 45 minute lunch stop so I dug and I picked and I dug and I picked and I waited for new bins to come out and I dug some more.  I pushed my load up to the scale and I was at 22 pounds.  The magic number where the price drops from $1.69/pound to $.99 is 25 pounds so I headed back out on the floor to hunt some more.  I was EXHAUSTED.  It is a rare event when I treasure hunt so long that I am tired of it!  It took me a good half hour to dig out 3 more pounds and I was seriously hoping I could just find a bowling ball and call it macaroni - LOL.

Lots of little treasures in this heap-o-junk, though. Smalls are my gig for my tiny little mall space.

The colorful blocks were in a painted wooden toy box that someone had painted Amanda on. I think that will stay with me for storage.  Humpty Dumpty is an Irmi lamp part that is already sold.

I'm still finding plenty of Christmas.  I didn't get a mall space and start buying Christmas until June of last year.  I'm starting a lot earlier this year so maybe my house will sink under the load, especially with all the rain we have been having.  Buy it when you find it, you know...

Sorry I didn't spend the time to arrange the junk so you can see it better.  I am having some trouble with my camera, too.  I have noticed the focus seems a little off and some of the pictures come out washed out.  I kept thinking it was me or I had bumped the f-stop.  Son educated me that digital cameras have a finite number of pictures they can take and I am nearly at the 9,999 limit.  I need to take it in and have it serviced.  Who knew??

Yes, I bought another one of those not-vintage giraffes.  The other one sold so I disinfected this one and gave it a baby friend of mine.  She is teething and adores it.  I wish I had taken a better picture of the adorable graphics on the old cards.  First I found a few cards then in a nearby bin I found the lid to the box.  Well, that got me going and I had to dig until I found every card I could scrape out plus I found the bottom of the box.  A treasure hunt.

The bird ornament will be staying with me.  I am always amazed when I find things like that and they haven't had that elusive bowling ball dropped on them.

Groovy "mod" Christmas tags.  The little plate with the winter scene is from a child's set of tin dishes.
I am on a mission this week to dig out the studio and fill up my neglected little Etsy shop.  I want to make some new inspiration kits and altered Altoids tin but there is no room on the workbench.  My room needs a purge and re-arrange, overall, but I will tackle one thing at a time and focus on the workbench first.  One thing at a time!

Happy Mail!

I recently received this amazing happy mail from Betsy at My Salvaged Treasures.  She knows me well and I am over the moon at her generosity!  Be sure to click this picture bigger.  The key chain of red and blue buttons is already dangling from my purse.  The sweet card is adorned with ladybug buttons.

These earrings are one of her original creations.  Vintage sewing snaps and shoe buttons.  How perfect for me!  I have already worn then.  They are light and comfortable and destined to be a "go to" in my jewelry box.

She included several new to me needle cards for my collection.  How clever that she re-purposed the yarn card for holding this vintage lace.

I immediately swapped out the bookmark I was currently using for this one.  It is another one of her original creations and topped with three stacked buttons.

This broach is also created from stacked buttons.  Betsy's creativity is astounding.  If you aren't familiar with her blog, please click on the link above to follow along with her projects.
Thank you, Betsy.  I treasure each and every thing and, most especially, our blogland friendship!

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming - Sort Of

 Amazing how time flies by during the holidays.  It seems like it was just the first of December and here it is, almost the middle of January!  I got my antique mall space switched out of Christmas mode and the leftovers packed away until next year but I continue to find Christmas to squirrel away.

The time to buy it is when you see it, as they say!

 Although finding photos like this that have been discarded always makes my heart a little heavy.

 I have been finding some fun ephemera lately.  Junking tip for the day...  I rarely buy old Bibles but it is a good idea to check between the pages.  Nothing in this photo was found in a Bible but I have been finding some interesting ephemera in them.

 These cards were all found in an old scrapbook.

No, this Thanksgiving turkey is not attached to the Winston Churchill snowman.  

Ho, Ho, Ho, bring the Spring flowers now, please!