Saturday Finds

This week flew by so that must mean I'm having fun!  8+)  I mostly post my favorite finds on Instagram but figured my poor little neglected blog could use a shot of vintage.
This is a flattering shot of this little dolly since most of the hair on the left side of her head is missing.  She is complete with both arms and legs {{gasp}} so she will be heading to the booth as-is.  The birdhouse isn't vintage but has the look so it will fit in nicely with the Spring theme going on over there.
We are predicted to have 88 degrees tomorrow - in APRIL for crying out loud.  That is 41 degrees higher than last Thursday.  Crazy.

Latest Junk

 Whew, I made it - it hasn't been a whole week!  As promised, I will try to keep the commentary brief.

 Vintage Raffia Ware mugs plus one tumbler.  Thank you Annette for reminding me what they are called and welcome back to blogland after your little family hiatus.

 How happy are we (me) that we don't have to be Barbie and wear one of these any longer.  I am ALL about comfort!  I do love the box, though.  A Sweetheart of a Figure!

 This tin might be one of Kathy's follies.  The lid is a little sprung but I brought it home anyway in hopes I can figure out how to fix it.

 A nice score of vintage book boards.  In my perfect world I would find the time to use them to make inspiration kits.  Big sigh.

 It was a good ephemera day.  The Old Faithful picture is one of five "giant" Yosemite postcards.

 A couple more tea balls for my collection and an old wooden fishing float for my patio wall.

Favorite find of the day!  This is a MOE airplane desk lamp made between 1948 and 1953.  I have done a little research and it looks like I can still find replacement bulbs for it so restoration is to come.  I don't know if I will be able to part with this one!
I hope you are having a good junk week!

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.

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!

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!

The Week in Junk

 A few fun finds from the past week.  We all know I have a weakness for suitcases so no surprise there.  The wooden hanging shelf in the back is sitting on its side for the photo.

 The suitcase is filled with lace ruffles.  The pictures in the frames are ugly but I adore the Italian frames.  The book is a vintage French children's book. I translated the title and it is The Wooden Tiger, or something close to that.

 I used a food mill like this when I used to can back in "the day".  My mother and I just called it a Foley.  I'm sure Foley probably made something besides food mills.  Mine didn't have these pretty red wooden handles. Two strands of pink glass garland.  I'm pretty surprised that I'm still finding Christmas.

 I dug and dug in hopes of finding a mate to the insulated mug but only one was to be found.  I adore the color!

 A box of adorable note cards.  Click this one bigger so you can read them.

 Plastic Christmas do-dads.  I have been bagging them up and people seems to like the little bags.

Three rolls of very vintage Christmas paper.  I rarely find it and was delighted when I spotted these.  It is similar to tissue paper but thicker.
Junking is one of my happy places so I hope you are finding time for some, too!

Gotta Fit in Some Junking Fun!

I have been bad about taking pictures lately but life has not been without junk because that's no fun!  That metal ring is a very old pot rack.  The hooks look like are wrought. I thought son might be able to use it in the new kitchen in his Pennsylvania farmhouse but he said he already had a light for over the island so it will be stored for that someday bigger booth.

This fun old Squirt bottle says "I'm healthy - I'm happy - I'm Squirt".  Love it! The sweet picture is on metal that looks kind of like the top for a tin but I don't think it ever was.  There are holes in the back like it had a hanger.  I can fix that.

A cute set of mushroom canisters.  I hope that fad hasn't run it's course by the time Christmas is done and I get them to the booth.  Click it bigger and you can get a better look at the sifter.

I think this is my favorite recent find.  I have no clue what it is but has a great primitive folk art look and patina.

Adorable graphics on this old pack of rick-rack.  I wouldn't be able to bare to open it!

This old book is very dilapidated but I couldn't resist the covers and end papers.  It is dated 1883.  They just don't make them like this anymore.

A neat little 1945 pamphlet of Christmas Carols.  I'm guessing it was used for caroling. I wonder if anyone does that anymore.  It has been years since I have had carolers at the door.

Vintage and new millinery stamens and pips.

And one more little bit of Christmas!

Odd Things That Catch My Eye

 Sometimes I come home with the most strange assortment of junk. Something about each thing caught my eye, right or wrong!

The bovines are early plastic, probably celluloid.  The chickens are W.German 1983. The metal eagle looks like he was once on a flagpole and needed another chance to be loved.  I have no idea why I would buy another yellow mustard tin since I have two in my booth already and can't seem to GIVE them away.  Well, I guess I have a collection now!
I love the randomness of the hunt.  You just never know what you will find.

Little Stuff

Tuesday was all about little stuff so I decided to try a "flat lay" again.  This time I arranged things on a footstool so I could get a better angle.  I tested using the camera and using my phone and was surprised when the phone took the better picture!

The Week in Junk

 I'm still here and still digging for buried treasure but I haven't been very good about taking pictures this week because my work table is covered with Christmas.  If you follow me on Instagram you have already seen the goodies above.
One of the canisters is missing the lid so it will be added to the collection on my potting bench.  The Christmas hatbox is also missing the top but I might be able to use it to corral stuff in the booth.  If not, it will certainly make sorting prettier! I was delighted when I found three pieces of chalk ware because I rarely run in to any.  The Infant of Prague sold right away. The tray is a huge 16" diameter, hand painted Japan.  I am never sure if this stuff is called paper mache or composite because it seems like a combination of the two.  Anyone know the proper name?

 This is the Friday junk.  I pushed the Christmas mess to the side and cropped it out.  The magic of photo editing - haha!

 The pincushion was added to my collection and I might just keep that old jar wrench for a while.  It seems pretty handy.  The old Christmas lights don't look like they have ever been used and I like the box.

 When I first spotted the storage box it was missing the top 6 drawers so I passed on it.  About four bins later I spotted a couple of the drawers so I dashed back and grabbed the cabinet.  I dug and dug in the second bin and managed to come up with all of the missing drawers.  I always wonder how things that go together manage to land in separate bins but it happens quite a bit.

These buttons were the same story.  I found a couple of tight tops in a bin so I knew there was old sewing stuff there which always prompts me to dig deeper.  I moved to the next bin and spotted another old button so ended up digging clear to the bottom in both to rescue this handful.  The junk jewelry was found inside the tin.
Now back to that Christmas mess.....8+)