Yard Sale

Since my last post, I decided to change the days of our garage sale to Saturday and Sunday. You see, I thought I would spend Friday getting ready for the sale, ya know pricing items, deciding what I would sell and what items I would keep, etc. Yep that was plan alright! So what have I done in preparation for the sale? Very little. Sure, I've gone through some cabinets and drawers in the house, pulled some things out and made too many piles in the formal dining room of items that will be for sale. We had a garage sale in December and a lot of the items are already marked, many aren't. I work better under extreme pressure, so I'll get everything done tomorrow morning, 2 hours before the sale starts. So what did I do today? Meet my mom at an estate sale, we bought very little, just couldn't afford the outrageous prices.

Then we went to our shabby chic guy's house and spent some money! We bought some really cool stuff for unbelievable prices. I promise to share pictures in a couple of days.

Here is our agenda of things we will do in California, the first weekend in May. First stop is this place.

While we are there maybe we will be able to meet this blogger and seller at Country Roads Antiques and seller at the Irvine Flea Market, first Sunday in May. Ya, we'll be there, to excited. Let's just hope there's room left in Suburban by Sunday. The back of the Suburban gets re-arranged many times to have more space for stuff!! A couple years ago we were at a flea market and we went nuts buying stuff, unloading our flea market carts and going back for more. We had to take everything out cause we needed more space. We did this about 4 times. We were barley able to fit everything in and I mean barely. We always run out of space before running out of money. I think a u-haul truck would be suitable for our buying frenzy, hahaha

While in California, we'll head over to Coronado and visit this place. Maybe we'll be able to meet her. I've followed her back in the days when she was selling on ebay and was even lucky enough to buy some of her items.

Our buying trips consists of traveling to one place to another. Trying to hit all the shops in such a short time. Loads of fun and laughter.

Well, it's off to the store and get some poster boards for signs for the sale tomorrow. Maybe I can make a sign like this

Have a fabulous weekend, Janice

We're having a garage sale

This Friday and Saturday, April 17th & 18th me and my mom having the second part of our yard sale. We had our first one in December and now we're having another one, to try and sell the rest of the stuff. My mom comes over the night before the sale and helps out with all the prep work which can be a little exhausing, but boy I tell ya, I couldn't do it without her. She is super organized and loves to help out. She brings things over that she wants to sell and helps me get all my junk, I mean treasures priced and organized, we have a lot of fun doing it all.

You see, here's my strategy. Me and my mom are going to California Friday, May 1 and staying until Sunday, May 3rd. We usually do this once a year to have a mom and daughter trip. We'll be shopping the whole time and spending like crazy. On Friday, the Suburban will probably be packed full of goodies from our favorite antique stores. Our first stop is always the City of Orange, a beautiful quaint little city loaded with the most adorable antique shops. One of our favorites is Old Country Roads, lets just say it loaded with eye candy, my heart always starts to race upon entering the store! Can you tell how excited I am about this trip, I just keep rambling on and on.

Ok, back to my strategy. My garage is loaded, no room to put anything, not even a car and we have a 3 car garage! We have a little walk way in the garage and that's it, kinda like a fire escape route. So, when I bring home all my treasures from California, there's no room to put them (not that I intentionally buy stuff just to sit in the garage although my husband would have a different opinion about that). So we need to clear away the stuff already in the garage to have a place for all the new/old stuff, make sense?

I would take a picture of my garage so that you could truly appreciate what I mean about having stuff but it wouldn't really be a blog worthy picture. Maybe after we get it all set up, I can snap a picture and add it it my blog.

If your in the area this weekend, stop on over, we would love to see ya. Wish us luck, I really need to sell alot of stuff!

I'll be adding another post about all of this, this week and adding some wonderful links, so stay tuned, Janice

Estate Sale Shopping

Hubby and I headed out Saturday morning to an estate sale that was about 10 minutes away. It felt good to get out, it's been quite a while since we went to an estate or a rummage sale. The following pictures are things that I found.

I always go outside to find stuff at estate sales and I seem to be the only one who does that. Lucky for me cause I get first pick. Isn't this cement dog just the cutest with the sweetest face? She is all chippy and battered but still intack.

Here's what she looked like when I found her.

I think she looks much better wearing her vintage hat, don't you? Now all she needs is a rhinestone necklace or a strand of pearls.

Another picture of our finds.

Vintage pictures with the prettest ornate fames. The frames have a few spots of missing gesso. I was thinking about painting them white to conceal the blemishes,What do you think?

Clusters of flowers on the frames, gorgeous! I paid $10.00 for both frames, what a deal!!

These pictures were $1.00 a piece. Who could pass up a deal like that. One of them has a water mark but that didn't stop me. Love the scalloped frames.

Notice the watermark?

A vintage hurricane candle holder with etched glass.

Another set of pictures.

This gorgeous vintage pitcher went home with me. I squelled silently when I saw it.

I'm heading over to Trader Joes to get some fresh flowers to put in it.

The pitcher has beautiful grazing and the colors are my all time favorites.

The lady who puts on these estate sales is having an estate sale every weekend this month. She said next weekend is another sale full of antiques and I'll be there early waiting at the front door to get first pick. Oh, how I can't wait!! I'll be sharing pictures of what I find at the next sales.

Have a relaxing Sunday, Janice:))

Finger tip shopping

That's what I call it when I'm shopping on the Internet. One of my favorite things to do. I can sit in my computer room and click away. No need to find a parking space, wait in line, spend money on gas, or to try and find some one to ring up my purchases. Yep, I can sit in my computer chair, sip my Diet Dr. Pepper and wear my jammies. So here are a few things I bought while finger tip shopping.

Aren't these tea towels the cutest? I love them all with many more styles to choose from. I bought these from Teresa. Teresa is just fabulous and I am sure you will fall in love with her art work as I have.

Here's a closer look.

All of her designs are favorites of mine.

Teresa offers many more items and designs, note cards, pillows, paintings, aprons and all the art work that is featured on her items is her own original design.

I recently found this seller , Tea Cup Design on etsy. She is the creator of the hand stamped ribbon and roses. Here are some of the things I bought from her.

All these designs are hand stamped on muslin wrapped on a wooden spool and secured with a hat pin and vintage button. These ribbons can be used for so many things but for right now I just like looking them wrapped on their wooden spool sitting on one of my vintage plates.

The picture above shows an example of her fabric roses, hand stamped with french writing.

When you have the time, check out her items on etsy

I also bought these from a different seller

These are old industrial trays and the price was for four trays. I bought these 14 days ago while finger tip shopping and still have not received them. Emails I sent to the seller have gone unanswered and no where in the description did it say that buyers would have to wait an unreasonable amount of time to receive their items.

I bought some crotchet dish clothes today. I currently have one and I use it all the time so I thought I better get a good supply of them. I'll post about them when they arrive or at least show you a picture.:))

I hope you have enjoyed my finger tip shopping tour. Have you bought something that you would like to share. If so, I would love to hear about it.

Getting ready for the tax man

Geez, I didn't realize how much time had past since my last post! Well, it's that time of year, again, trying to get ready for my tax man. He's a CPA and I have been going to him for a lotta years! I've had this appointment for a couple of weeks and had all intentions of getting ready well ahead of time. But, I kept putting it off saying to myself, "I'll do it tomorrow." Lot's of tomorrows had past me by and now it's crunch time. Tomorrow is my appointment, yikes! You should of heard me a few hours ago, rummaging through all the desk drawers saying to myself, where is that receipt, what did I do with that statement? Thank goodness for the internet cause I was able to find alot of lost statements that I needed from doing a few searches. Sorry this is a short post, I promise to have a more uplifting post in a few days. Well wishes to you all, Janice

Here's what I did

I'm sure most people would think I'm nuts taking apart a perfectly functioning vintage lamp, but I did, I had other ideas for the lamp. I took them apart and used the bases to display some of my collections, enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think, ok? (there I am in the mirror trying to hide from the camera)

This is part of a lamp, crystals attached and a pretty paper flower sits in the center. You could also use this as a candle holder. I didn't have the right size candle to show how it would look .

I just love the ornate details of this lamp base. The next time you have some lamps sitting around, have fun and take them apart and use the pieces for other things.

I added some much needed crystals to this piece and perched a clock on top.

Another lamp part (not sure the correct name for these pieces), pictured on the right. I think this would look stunning with a tapered candle on top.


The following pictures are of some other lamp parts that I painted and distressed that are part of a vignette that is in the foyer. I had these for a couple of years and I get lots of compliments. The first picture shows the two separate pieces.



close-ups

The piece sitting on top is actually from a chandelier, this piece would hang from a chain that attaches to the ceiling, I used this piece and sat it on top of a lamp base.

This picture shows them together.

I really enjoy re-purposing things and seeing what the final out come will be. You just never know what you can create until you do it. :))

~I have an Idea~

I've had these two things in my garage for a while now. One is a vintage lamp (on the left) and the other thing (on the right) (not sure what the correct word for it is) use to be a a scale, two crystal plates or bowls use to hang from the arms with chains and people would put plastic fruit in them. Over time, most of the bowls, plates,and chains disappeared and for the longest time people started using them as a hand towel holder or hankie holder (anyone out there know what I'm talking about)? Well, I don't need a lamp or a towel holder so I'm taking them apart and making something else with them. Just look at the beautiful design on the base of these, just gorgeous! Stay tuned and I will show you my creation, oh what fun!!



Ornate bases, love them!!