Sister Hanna here! It has been way too long, I apologize. I've been lucky enough to be with Erica two weeks in a row. It was great, but also really tiring. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive to see Sister and after teaching all week, it's even harder. I hate to say it, but I am thankful that I will get a weekend at home this week so I can finally put away all my treasures. Plus, I get to see Sister in Vegas in less than a month, so I have something to look forward to!
There has been a definite theme to what I've been purchasing lately and that is animals. I am an outdoor girl and studied fisheries and wildlife science in college, which I use as my excuse for this animal menagerie I've acquired. I also try to stick to birds, deer, and squirrels, with a random donkey here and there. Yes, sometimes I stray, but how can a girl resist.
First off, at the antique festival in Coburg 2 weekends ago I was on a mission to find some bookends. These beauties are solid wood and now are propping up my favorite bird and flower books on one of my end tables. I don't know anything about them, but am exicted to do a little research.
I also picked up some salt and pepper shakers to keep me company in the window sill in the kitchen. I was most excited about my Shawnee owls that Sister got me. I've been dragging me feet on purchasing these little guys for a while and now they wink at me while I'm cooking; it's too cute.
At Pick-a-Dilly this Sunday I picked up a few little deer that I knew needed to move in with me. The tiny guy is new, but I already had his mom.
And, how could I resist this dopey guy?
Last, but not least my Sister in Law got me these adorable measuring cups for my birthday. I love that they stack into a tree, it's so clever! Although they aren't vintage, I'm totally in love with them and they look just like me. She is really good at finding me prizes that fit my taste!
Well, I must be off to the life of a school teacher (lots of grading and maybe a glass of wine.) I think I will link up with Sir Thrift-A-Lot too!
Until Next Time!
Sister Hanna
This weekend we finally had our garage sale. I'm telling you that this sale was 15 years in the making! It should have been done waaaaaaaay before now. It took my husband and I all day Thursday to set up and we were supposed to open at 10 on Friday but ended up opening earlier because A) we were ready and B) as I was coming up the driveway after running a quick errand, I had three cars sneak in the gate behind me before it could shut. Dealers.
One reason I kept putting off the sale was because I couldn't stand to miss a weekend of going to the sales myself! I figured that if I waited until the end of the season, I would have fewer competition for my sale and I wouldn't miss anything too great. WRONG! There were 241 sales listed on Craigslist alone. Lucky for me, my favorite estate sale company started their sale on Thursday so I was able to go to that one and on the way to run my errand on Friday morning, I was able to sneak off to another estate sale that was right by my house. Going to a sale when you are supposed to be running an errand for your own sale? Okay, maybe I do have a problem.
Since this sale had so much accumulation (our stuff, some of Sisters stuff, and our dad's stuff), we did really good. Is it tacky to tell you how much we made? I think it is the only way to tell you just how much we had to sell. Ready? $2,200.00 in two days! Most of the items were 25 cents to a dollar with the exception of a set of tires, my bedroom set, and Maddie's quad. I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that every single piece of Pyrex flew out the door. When you price it below $3 a piece with some in the below a dollar range, that is bound to happen.
I did get a ton of stuff at the two sales I managed to go to but that is still sitting in my bedroom waiting to be dealt with. So I will show you some other things I haven't gotten around to sharing yet.
My first duplicate vintage tablecloth. This may go into Sister's new collection.
More vintage cookbooks. Maddie and I have made the plan to start making one item a week out of one of our old books. We'll see how that goes!
I know we have all seen the rooster versions of this salt holder, but have you ever seen a bird? And it's pink! She is way to pretty to sit by my stove so I have her in my bedroom. I put my wedding ring in it at night. I also got Sister this old clear refrigerator dish with vegetables embossed on the lid. I bought her the smaller version at Goodwill in Washington. The birthday candles were another Free Box score.
I found the big glass jar with the lid (which is kinda rare) at the flea market. Sister missed out on this pink metal trash can at a sale we were at together (bummer!), and the yellow napkin holder is now pink (of course). It was only 10 cents!
A couple more flea market finds. This is an awesome cookbook and it is huge! There are some great recipes in it too. I figured it would go good with my Vintage Rustic Farmhouse theme I have going on. The recipe box has the original price sticker on the bottom (59 cents). Not sure if it was ever used.
This was a birthday gift from my mom. Every year, she struggles with what to buy me. I have a tendency to buy the things that I want/need so I can be hard to shop for. Sister told her to buy me something old. So she headed to an estate sale by her house and picked up this awesome, heavy pink depression glass pitcher for me. Good job, mama!
Well, that's all for now. I need to go wake up Sister (who is in town for the second weekend it a row! Yippee!!). We are headed to opening day at the Piccadilly Flea Market. We are paying the higher price to get in 2 hours early. The dealers have had all Summer to find new treasures and we want to have first pick! If I have learned anything in my foray into the junking world, it is that the early bird does get the worm!
I am going to link up over at Pink Saturday for Beverly's party and then over to Sir Thrift-A-Lot's when he gets his party started. Oh & Apron Thrift Girl just opened Thrift Share Monday so I think I will head over there too.
Until next time....
Erica
Normally at this time of night, I would be bedded down with my DVR fired up to watch The Real Housewives of Wherever. However, two things occurred to me tonight: I haven't blogged in almost a week and it's Rednesday! Enough said!
I wasn't planning on stopping at the sale that I found all this stuff at but it's a good thing I did. I got the vintage drink umbrellas in the original (but in poor shape) box, the scotty dog cookie cutter, and the 4 Gurley Santa candles for $1! Yep, you read that right. A whole dollar.
I love the graphics on this tablecloth. It doesn't look like it was ever used and will be perfect for Valentines Day.
Even though its not vintage, I couldn't pass up this cute handmade sign. The color doesn't show up too well in the photo but it is a really light aqua. It fits in really good with the shabby decor of my bedroom.
I got this pillowcase and dish towel out of the free box at the sale that I got the Apron sign at. Kind of funny how they were selling reproductions but giving away real vintage!
How cute is this? Miss Maddie found it at a sale a few weeks ago. She collects vintage furry figurines and what is cool about this one is that it is also a piggy bank. She really has an eagle eye and sees things that I miss just about every time we go out garage sale-ing. I am going to miss her while she is in school this year!
I'm heading over to Rednesday to join Sue's party and to Sir Thrift-A-Lot's for his Thriftosaurus Thrift Haul party. See you there!
Until next time....
Erica
So this isn't a post to show you all of my spectacular treasures that I found at an estate sale this morning (although I did find a couple of things, but not so spectacular). It's more of a complain post. I promise it won't be long and drawn out. Sometimes you just gotta vent.
This morning, I saw an ad in the paper for an estate sale that was literally 2 minutes up the road from my house. It was given by a company that I had never heard of before. I checked out the online photos and although nothing jumped out at me screaming "YOU HAVE TO HAVE ME!", I thought it was still worth a look.
So after dropping Maddie off at her first day of 5th grade ("Woo-hoo! Top of the school now!"), I headed up the road and parked in the "field" that the ad said to park in. It wasn't really a field, more like a small side yard. I got there about 30 minutes prior to the doors opening and was #11 on the list. Not too bad, I thought. There was one girl and her mother there that I see at a lot of the sales and they are both super nice. Evidently, they had been there since 6:00 am and were first in line. Did I miss something in the pictures? At about 10 till 9, someone working the sale came out and said "those of you on the list can go ahead and go in". Um, okay. There were about 40 people on the list by that time and the line was just starting to form. Needless to say, it was a free for all.
Have you ever watched Storage Wars Texas? You know Bubba, the big guy with glasses who always wears a University of Texas hat? I'm pretty sure he was there because he slammed me into the door frame tying to get by me. Ouch. Didn't even say sorry!
My whole point is that I felt really bad for the girl and her mother who had got there 3 hours early. There were no typical estate sale rules being followed or enforced at all. I'm glad it wasn't me getting there at the crack of dawn but it very easily could have been.
This is all I found
A cute plastic watering can, a tin measuring cup, a Bisquick cookbook, and a really dirty American flag.
An old Swedish Recipes cookbook and orphan squirrel shaker for Sister and the most amazing old hand tooled leather western belt for me!
And just in case I ever get a hankering to make some toothpick trees, I have enough Styrofoam balls to make a few.
I will definitely have to watch out for this company when they have their next sale. Hopefully by then, they will have learned some of the few simple rules of giving an estate sale.
Since it's Thursday, I think I will head over and link up with Suzanne over at The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday. Maybe I will see you there!
Until next time...
Erica
I've finally sat down. My goal for the day was getting the house cleaned from top to bottom and finishing the mountain of laundry in my laundry room. I just finished but not without some typical obstacles. Have you ever tried cleaning the house around a 16 year old teenager who can't seem to move, a 10 year old girl who has recently just discover Perler Beads and has them everywhere, and a husband who leaves a tornado of chaos and clutter everywhere he goes? Not easy.
All I wanted to do was put together a blog post for Rednesday! Is that too much to ask?
Okay, readers. I need your opinion. Is it rude to ask if the tablecloth that is being used on the table that is full of garage sale items is for sale? I mean, why would you have it out there if you don't want to sell it, right? I would never tease buyers by using my precious vintage linens as decorations at my sale and then not letting them buy them. Although this tablecloth wasn't for sale, the seller had no issue with throwing it in FOR FREE!!! Am I yelling again? I apologize.
I got all these goodies from an estate sale thrown by my favorite company. Once again, their prices were super cheap. I have never seen a plain turquoise and white bread box so I was happy to find that. But can you guess what my favorite item is in this picture?
The Hazel Atlas Zippy Dill Pickle jar! Oh how I love vintage graphics! This is the new change jar in my laundry room.
More cute stuff from the same amazing sale. Maddie collects the old promotional piggy banks. This is the first one that I have come across at a sale.
I'm not entirely sure what possessed me to buy this bag of vintage blocks. It was just such a good sale that I was frantically grabbing anything that appealed to me. Honestly, I didn't even remember I bought these until I got them home. Does that ever happen to you? Any ideas of what I can do with them? They can't go into Sisters "Baby Box" because I'm pretty sure they are full of lead paint and that can't be good.
Finally, I am going to leave you all with some beautiful Pyrex, not found by me but by my awesome garage sale loving husband. He found the two dishes and one lid and when I stopped by the same sale later, I found the other lid out in the garage. These are duplicates for me but it's always a good idea to have backup Pyrex, right?
Enjoy your day, friends!
Until next time...
Erica
Is everybody having a good Labor Day? Can you believe that Summer is almost over? I sure can't. To me it seems like it just started!
As I told you before, last weekend was really productive project-wise. Between the bathroom cabinet and towel holder, we were pretty busy. But I still haven't shown you my most favorite thing...
It started out as a $12.00 door at a garage sale.
When I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
Plus the paint was so perfectly chippy that I didn't have to do anything to it.
Amazing, if I do say so myself! This project was repurposing/upcycling at it's finest! It was also much cheaper than the $800 sleigh bed I bought 8 years ago!
Until next time...
Erica
Fall is definitely in the air. The kids start school next week, it's colder in the morning, and getting darker earlier in the evening. Soon, I will be changing the look to of our blog. It's time to put away the Summer theme and adopt a cozier, Fall look.
I don't know if it is the fact that this is Labor Day weekend or if the season is simply winding down, but I went to a total of 3 sales this weekend and two were right down the road from my house! Here's a look at what I found
I haven't found any tablecloths in the last couple of weeks so I was happy to find this one on a dollar table. I don't have any tablecloths with purple in them so this is a great addition to my collection.
I found these two shabby wrought iron plant stands and contemplated painting them for about two seconds before I realized how perfectly chippy they are. Why mess with that?
Not entirely sure what I am going to do with these old road maps. Any suggestions?
I was drawn to the graphics on this box and was super excited at what I found inside
A set of 8 Bartlett Collins holiday themed tumblers. I can't wait to use these at Christmas.
I found these canisters and table runner about a month ago at a sale that was being given by two sisters who decided they were closing down their booth at a local antique mall. Their prices were still pretty high but they had some awesome stuff. I could have spent a lot more money than I did but I was good. I had never seen pink canisters before so I was pretty happy to find these.
Then, the following weekend I found these while antiquing with Sister and BFF.
No readers, you aren't delusional. This is the full set of the exact same canisters as above. And of course I had to buy them! How often do you come across pink canisters?
I made a promise to myself that although school starts back next week, I am going to try and keep up the same blogging pace as I have done all Summer. It's so much fun to show you what I have found and what kind of projects we have going on around here. I love your comments and am addicted to checking out your blogs as well.
I am heading over to Beverly's for Pink Saturday and Sir Thrift A Lot's for his very first link party. Hope you all have an awesome Labor Day Weekend!
Until next time....
Erica
