Oopsie!

I uploaded these pictures several day ago then forgot to write the post - DOH!  Better late than never.

I promised to show my favorites from the recent button tin so here we go.  These are all glass, always my favorite, and the gold one is black glass.  I adore the little bear!

I used to find a lot of Girl Scout buttons but they are getting fewer and far between.

Red glass bears.

Sadly I tossed some of the metal buttons in to my collection without taking pictures of them.  This ear of corn is pretty cool.  Who would think of putting that on a button??

A few finds in an Autumn theme. I like the name - Dandy File.  Well, that's just dandy!  8+)

My favorite find last week is this old jump rope complete with jingle bells.  It is in well-loved condition which makes me very happy.  The evidence of hours of fun from a time when children went outside and PLAYED.  Sad to think it might be an "artifact".  I loved to play four-square at recess.  Did you have a favorite game?

A great little Tiny Tim tin (say that three times fast!) for the Christmas hoard.  Oh, I mean stash.

The vintage linen remix pillow cases - so far. I finished ironing them last weekend.  I kind of like ironing pillow cases.  That is the first thing my mother let me iron.  They are kind of hard to mess up!
 I'm still waffling over taking them to the antique mall.  What do you think?  Antique mall or Etsy??

Button Fun!

 I met an old friend for lunch yesterday and she surprised me with a tin of buttons from her mother.  How sweet is that!!  I haven't had any new buttons to sort in MONTHS so I'm looking forward to the treasure hunt.

 The tin is pretty interesting, too.  The inside of the lid is notched so you can hang it on the wall and the bottom of the tin has the same design as the lid.  I haven't seen one like this before.

I will report back on what the treasure hunt reveals!

Progress

I finished up-cycling the old bookcase this week.  Pay no attention to the clutter of my patio behind it. I set it over here, out of the way, while I work on auditioning what I will pack for the launch.  The black paper photographed a little funky.  It is black with white dots.

This black and white ticking will be on the wall behind it.  My idea is to set white things on the top shelf so they stand out against the black background and then organize by color on the other shelves.

I finished lining the wire market cart.  I

It seems like this will work for hauling replenishment to the car from the "booth".  I might be a little overly optimistic on how much I need to haul - LOL!

The week has not been without some junking.  When I walked in to my soon to be dearly departed VOA last weekend they had buttons set aside for me.  These are my favorites. You can click the picture bigger for a closer look.  I am especially fond of the lavender and the amber in the lower left corner and the green buffed celluloid leaf.

I was delighted to score another scrapbook of vintage greeting cards this week.  Most in this one are baby cards and just adorable!
I have also been working on some re-org in the art room this week - shifting gears to accommodate the new "booth". It really isn't a booth but don't know what else to call it.  The space?
Change is in the air around here!

Finds and Buttons

Well now, this week certainly went by in a flash and here it is, Saturday again.  There wasn't a lot of time for junking this week and that is a GOOD thing since, if I don't see it, I can't be tempted to drag it home.  Today's mission is to organize the booth stash and chase dust bunnies out of the house!

This birdie planter was a gift to myself for having to work last weekend.  It was found and Nina and Joe's and you know it didn't take me even one second to know I had to have it to add to my collection.

This beautiful book was published in 1939 and it is filled with art prints.  I plan to list it on Etsy even though it weighs about a million pounds to ship. I am always reluctant to list the heavy stuff because of the shipping cost but I have to remind myself that not everyone is the cheapskate that I am.

Pretty pillow ticking and lace yardage that I can use in my inspiration kits. The book with missing covers is a history of Minnesota.  There are some great pictures inside so it is a good "cutter".

A sweet angel hair angel tree topper and a few jello molds.  I grabbed that rattan trivet because I saw a clever idea on Pinterest where someone hooked a bunch of them together and made a small rug.  I see the trivets pretty often and always pass them by but thought I might like to try making one of those.

A delightful tea pot tin and a quilted yellow vinyl sewing box.

A little pile of lace ruffles and an embroidered table topper.

These are my favorite buttons from the latest mother lode button score.

Mother of pearl, glass and china.

I have not found the china stencil with this black design before.

After I took this picture I noticed I should have given this one a little scrub first.  I used to find Girl Scout buttons all the time but they seem to be getting few and far between now but still more frequent than other scouting buttons.
Hope you all have a junky weekend!

Walking the Talk

My last post was about "blooming where you are planted".  Well, it's time for me to walk the talk.  I recently announced that the elusive antique mall space was finally on the horizon but it has fallen through and I am back on the waiting list.  The other dealer decided not to vacate after all but at least I know that I am in the running!  I had just finished up these little signs I thought I would add to the booth but now I might just list them on my Etsy..  blooming where I am planted and shouldering on.

Later the same day I stopped at the VOA and another motherlode of buttons took some sting out of the disappointment.  I am still sorting and promise I won't put you through so many button posts this time!

Some Creepy Junk and Some Pretty Buttons

My name is Kathy and I am powerless against the siren song of The Bins.  I knew resistance was futile when they built it so darn handy to the big girl job, but I tried, I really did.  In my defense, I did set a goal to leave my desk more at lunchtime this year.  This is my lunch stop on Friday.

I read once what these crockery cloches are used for but it escapes me now.  It looks like a mouse hole, doesn't it!

Love, love this very vintage key hole.  One of the things that makes digging The Bins so much fun is that it really is true that one man's junk is another man's treasure.

A couple of Putz houses that need some fixing to join my décor for next Christmas.  The spun head angel is in the Ethel box so Laurie can lavish some Magpie love on her. 

The lovely lady on the postcard is Bessie.  Why are there no more Bessies?  Surely that name will come back in fashion one of these days.

If you follow me on Instagram then you have already seen creepy wind-up baby.  Trust me, it gets even worse when you turn the crank and it's arms and legs flail.
Vintage white birdies, seam binding rolls and an unusual cupcake pan.  I am guessing it is WWII when metal was going to the war effort so they eliminated what they could from the pan and just hooked the cups together down the center.

Does anyone know what these tiny little animals are?  The stand about 1/2" high.  I already had a donkey and then found these two in a bin.  I thought they might be Cracker Jack toys but that didn't seem to pan out when I Googled.  My donkey has a tassel like the camel does and they are made of plastic.

Dismembered china dolls and some very vintage leather baby shoes.  To clean or not to clean??

I have no idea why this picture decided to turn sideways.  Maybe you can tilt your head.  Yes, I bought a box of air, but those old graphics are just so darn cute!

A few more of the buttons from the VOA haul.  The ones on the left are vegetable ivory and the center are MOP.  The ones on the right are among my very favorites I have found.  They are wood on one half and a transparent plastic on the other.  This is the first time I have found ones like this.

Plastic rhinestones.  I prefer the ones set in glass or metal but it's hard to not love sparkly stuff!

Back In The Saddle!

She lives!  Despite all my big talk about turning corners and being sure I was nearly well...  well, I ended up with pneumonia and eventually had to admit defeat and hit the recliner chair for a week.  On Sunday I FINALLY started to feel like myself again and hit the VOA for a long-overdue look-see.  They greated me with "Where have you been, we have buttons!".  Oh boy, did they ever!

I also found a blue vase in the color my son is fond of collecting, four glass door knobs and a metal souvenir ashtray.  This is the second one in my not-quite-a-collection and was happy that is is an Oregon souvenir.  My other one is Montana.  Only 48 to go!

The buttons looked like mostly the modern novelty variety, which is fine because they sell well.  Once I got to sorting, there were plenty of old ones to add to my collections, as well.  I will show a few of my favorites in a future post.
I have missed you all and happy to be back!

Recent Junk

 There hasn't been much time for thrifting lately but I did manage a quick trip through The Bins and found a few things.  The white necklace display stand was undamaged but quite dirty so I painted it gunmetal gray and gave it a second chance.  I had absolutely no reason to buy a crow or a baggie of golf tees but it seemed like a good idea at the time - LOL.

 One cookie cutter is missing from this vintage set but close enough!  I adore the graphics on the box.

 These old die-cuts are on a card that is marked Dec. '42.  It amazes me when something like this survives the stirring and digging frenzy at The Bins.

 A wooden hanger and a set of tiny salt and peppers for my collection.  How appropriate to find this hanger during the poinsettia season!

 Here is a close-up shot of the pretty gold edge on this velvet-lined box.  It has seen better days, for sure, but that makes it perfectly patina-ed (is that a word??) in my eyes.

Plus a few recent buttons.  These are not from The Bins, they are from Nina and Joe's.  Notice the quarter I added for scale.  These are all LARGE buttons.  The black glass one was missing the shank but I was able to repair it with a tiny eye-hook, good as new!
This holiday season has been overshadowed with family drama, a tragic loss and an intense project at the big-girl job but I did finally manage to get some decorating done last weekend.  I will attempt to take some photos in my very low-light living room so I can share in the next post.
Hope you are doing something fun today!!