Score!

The DH was on furlough today so we hit a couple of estate sales.  The first house appeared to be the home of someone who got rid of all their vintage goodies and replaced them with newer, cheaper junk (and not junk in a good way).  I did find a 1953 medical book with some funny photos and illustrations and a baggie full of stick-on and iron-on lettering, and the DH got a small basket full of nuts, bolts and washers, and a couple of brackets. 

At the second sale I hit paydirt!  I got all of the glorius vintage Christmas bounty you see below, plus a few cabinet cards, a couple of postcards and a few doilies.  For $6.  Yes, $6.  The ornaments were in a larger box marked "$1 per ornament" so I was expecting to have to pay a lot.  I even left a dozen or so in the box because I thought my total was going to be much higher.  Unfortunately, by the time I knew how much they actually cost someone had come along behind me and grabbed the other box. For some strange reason only the barns were open today and all the Christmas stuff was just laying out on the grass.  The house will be open tomorrow and Sunday so we may be going back.  Can you just imagine what all must be in there???

Behold, The Humble Oil Can

Last Saturday the DH and I planned a drive to Stillwater via Perkins. Before we even made it out of town he spotted a yard sale.  They didn't have much for me so I wandered into a little boutique next door and found a cute bracelet.  I went back to look for him and spotted some old oil cans.  DH had already been looking at them.  I bought one but he wasn't ready to jump on the others.  We left but only made it a few miles down the road before he turned around.  The price was right, and he's happy to have them for display in his garage. 

I've been on the search for old oil cans (the small ones) since I saw some transformed into beautiful photo holders by Jennifer Valentine in the Summer 2010 issue of Somerset Life (scroll down at the link to see a pic.) I found seven at a junk store in Perkins, along with five folding wooden yardsticks, some old craft magazines, two funnels, a cool old jar and a few other things.  The DH got a couple of tool-type items.  We then headed on to Stillwater.  Love the antique mall there.  I found old linens and hankies, a 1927 yearbook from Duncan, OK, another oil can, a vintage "Touring" card game and a lot more.  It was a really good junking day. 

I was also on the lookout for fabric for Jemellia's Bag Challenge so checked out a fabric store on Main Street in Stillwater.  Didn't find any fabric, but I went into a floral and gift store and found some wonderful holiday leftovers for 75% off and a Patience Brewster Basset Hound figurine that I had to have because it made me laugh out loud. I'm trying to stop collecting Basset Hound things and have even put away a few to make room for craft stuff, but I had to have this one.  Insane, I know, but if I ever get up the nerve to show ALL my Basset crap, you'll really worry about me.

Playing Tag

The extremely creative Jackie Peters had a heart tag tutorial on her blog recently and early last week I made several.  They were so fun to do - quick and easy.  I'll be making more today.

I also took Jackie's "shrink" tag class at Paper Crown last week.  We made four little shrinky-dink items and then attached them to Valentine-themed tags.  I haven't done shrinky-dinks since...oh, gosh, maybe grade school.  It was kind of scary to watch the plastic curl and wonder if you were just going to end up with a little hard ball, but Jackie guided us through it and all turned out nicely.  Here are my finished tags.

I'll probably share two of these with friends or family, but the little girl with the turquoise heart is staying with me!

Post-Christmas Creating

Christmas is past and here I am making Christmas ornaments.  I just think of it as being more prepared for next year (uh huh). The first is based on a Lisa Pace design, and the second is inspired by Ann-Denise Anderson's paper medallions. 

Ornament 1 - front



Back



Ornament 2



Terry/Terri Christmas Swap

My new blog friend Terry and I met through Kari Rastrom's Sweet and Sinister Halloween swap and both liked what we received so much we decided to swap privately for the next year.  It's been fun getting acquainted on-line and finding out how much we have in common besides our names. I feel totally spoiled by what she sent me for our Christmas swap. Take a peek!

There's a Christmas necklace and a precious bird nest cone that she made, a vintage apron that is oh so sweet, and a cute Santa magnetic memo board with button magnets.  Also German scrap Santas and Christmas trees, beautiful Christmas papers, stamps, bling, cute candy soaps and reindeer Sniffs.  For my sweet tooth there's lots of chocolate, a scone mix, and holiday coffees and cocoa with a ceramic mug to keep my beverages warm. All of this was wrapped up in pretty paper with a great big red ribbon with bells and ric rac.

I made her a white matlesse stocking trimmed with lace and bling, a little cookbook of some of my favorite holiday recipes with a mini whisk attached,  and a soldered Christmas charm necklace.  I also sent several pieces of vintage trim, a vintage horsewoman postcard, stick-on ornament decorations, a few scrapbooking supplies, a pretty memo pad and just a bit of candy.  I had fun making three tags that I attached to some of the items after they  were wrapped up. 

Can't wait for Valentine's Day!  I have big plans for that one and have already started on a couple of projects.

A Rink Visit

More catching up!  Okie Bella's Chris and Kerry hadn't experienced The Rink Gallery, so we headed out on a Sunday in early December. I really enjoyed spending time with them and I think they both were suitably impressed with The Rink.  Hope we can go again soon!  We each found a large quantity of vintage trim so were able to divide it.  Here's a shot of that as well as some other things I found:

Scrabble Heaven

I missed posting about a fabulous garage sale/junqueing day in late November!  We had a beautiful Friday between Silver Bella and Thanksgiving and the DH was on furlough, so we headed out and about.  We found our first sale almost literally in our own backyard.  The neighbors behind us were having a yard sale, and I found an old Scrabble game complete with all the letters - something I had been searching for - as well as a Phlounder game, some jewelry, old dominos and some great old books.  We hit a couple of thrift stores, another yard sale and a couple of junk stores where I found TWO MORE Scrabble games, each with all the letters.  One is newer but the other is a really early version with more rounded edges on the tiles and a better color.  Couldn't believe my luck!  I also bought what I was told are very early wooden Monopoly houses and hotels - not a complete set, but fun - and a small oil can that I'll use to make a photo holder.  Here are a few of my finds.

Thanksgiving in Texas

I'm so behind on blogging! 

We spent Thanksgiving in San Angelo, TX with my oldest brother and his family.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing them. They moved to San Angelo from Odessa a few years ago and this was our first visit.  I highly recommend it for junque seeking.  My sister-in-law and niece are superstar junquers and took us to lots of great places.  Here are a few of the things I found.  My favorites are the old labels in the frame and the dresser scarf with the blue embroidered bird.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was my birthday so my parents took us to lunch at Sealy Flats. Great food and live music.  We really enjoyed it!

Me, my dad, my sister-in-law Jackie and my brother Ray

More scenes from San Angelo:



Junque Seeking in Omaha during Silver Bella

I didn't expect to like Omaha as much as I did.  Admittedly, I only saw a very small portion - the Old Market district where our hotel was located - but what I saw was interesting and made me want to go back with the DH someday to spend a little more time.  There were several places we didn't make it to, including Anthropologie and a vintage wallpaper store.  He won't be thrilled about those but I think there's enough there to keep both of us happy for a long weekend at the very least. 

Second Chance Antiques is located in the Old Market district and we were told from the start that it is a must.  It's a huge store with a nice variety of merchandise and helpful employees.  We visited on the afternoon we arrived and again that evening during special Bella shopping hours.  Here are just a few of my purchases made at Second Chance and also during the Bella Market on Friday night.

And a couple of shots taken during our shopping and dining excursions.

And here's a group of us in our hats Friday night just before the Bella Market.

This will probably be my last Silver Bella post until I finish my final project or make significant progress on my SB journal.  It's tempting to try to drag it out forever.  It was all so much fun that I hate to see it end!