What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Friday's Retro Crafty Finds

Today was a beautiful almost Fall day. We headed out about 11:00 this morning with the idea of only going for a ride around town and looking at motorcycles. This is Bikes, Blues and BBQ in my area - nearly 50,000 motorcycles are in town. It is amazing to go down the highway and see a double row of 200 motorcycles coming at you with just as many ahead of you and in your rear view mirror. The people that live in town bitch and moan about the noise, but those bikers bring good money into our area and we could certainly use the boost to our economy. This is a family oriented event, no trouble makers and lots of cool bikes, choppers and hawgs on the road. I am a firm believer in enjoying what is available when it is available and having fun.

Along with the motorcycle rally, there seemed to be an overabundance of yard sales today. I stopped at two sales, spent a total of $5.25 and actually filled the back of the VUE with treasures. I bought one thing at one sale and everything else at the other sale.

The second sale had lots of odd craft supplies. Retro 1970's craft kits and supplies supplies that were not priced. (I hate it when things aren't marked!!!!!) I was looking and thinking about one or two to try on ebay or Etsy when the lady having the sale said, "Make a pile. It's cheap. Really cheap." Well, my idea of cheap isn't always someone else's idea of cheap. So, I was hesitant to go overboard.

I was looking at these Stump Kritters when she said that. A stump with a critter made out of walnuts, moss and dried flowers. Just odd enough to intrigue me. But, not so odd that I was willing to spend a lot of money on them. The lady said, "Those are 10¢ a piece."

So, I bought the case of twelve. I am the proud owner of a case of Stump Kritters. Okay, maybe not so proud. But, I still got 'em.

I also got this An-teek-it Decoupage Kit that makes a reproduction of "Morning Train to Silverton"," an Arrow Mini Kitchen room in a box craft kit and a Appli-cay Black Velvet Peacock crafty thing. The thing in front is a Didgeridoo that the lady gave The Bean. Anyone know how to play the Didgeridoo? I commented that she had interesting things and she said, "You should have been here earlier before I sold the uni-cycle."

Anyone need any Sapphire Blue Rub-on Wax? It is for antiquing and decorative painting. I thought there were different colors when I found this one, but when I got home...
I found out that I have 46 jars of Sapphire Blue Rub-on Wax. No other colors. Any ideas for this stuff?
A new in package Shrinky Dinks and a boxed set of Enameling Powders. I hope these things are all in good working order since they are 35 years old.


Two dozen fat little birdies. I love these little guys for Spring and Summer crafting.
I was over the moon when I spotted this little clump of toadstools. They are all cotton and made in West Germany. I bought some red ones not long ago and I adore them.

I was really excited when I kept finding packages of toadstools strewn about here and there. I ended up finding 13 packages of them! I also bought deer. Lots of deer. Little itty bitty deer about an inch tall and some smaller ones about one half inch tall. There were 12 dozen of the small ones and 36 dozen of the larger ones. That's a lot of deer! They would be sweet on cupcakes, a cake, in crafts, a railroad village, a Christmas Village and lots more. They will be in my upcoming Shop whenever I figure out how to take a picture of itty bitty little deer!

Despite all those things that I brought home, I am proud to say that everything above is for resale except for a few toadstools and birds that I will keep.

Here's what I did buy to keep:

This old Polaroid Land camera is for my old camera collection. Actually, the lady at the sale gave it to me when she saw me looking at it. And, I was looking at a ring with purple stones in it and she stuck it on my hand and told me to take it. Plus the free Didgeridoo. She was in a giving mood (not to mention the fact that she only charged me $5.00 for everything above). I'm kind of glad the uni-cycle was gone or I suppose we would have been dragging that home too!
This little mini picnic basket is marked Fairmont Basket Works on the inside. Handy for all sorts of things. And, cute too!
This is the only thing I bought at the first sale. But, it was worth the stop. A vintage box of Jack O' Lantern candles. I never see anything vintage Halloween, yet alone, a package with cool old graphics.
Everything was half price at that sale, but I graciously paid the entire 25¢ price tag. Love it! The lonely cupcake pick was lying in the grass at the crafty sale. I am telling myself that it was the only one and that I didn't miss out on cases of cupcake picks. And, the uni-cycle, of course. I am in love with this great old huge number stamp. I would love to know what use it had one day - it only has two digits and no dollars or cents sign, so it must have had a unique use. It is about 9" tall and the numbers are one inch tall. That's my second stamp in a week. Do I see a new collection........God, I hope not.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

4 comments:

  1. Ooh, that Jack O Lantern box is NEATO! I've never seen anything like it. Vintage Halloween stuff seems so hard to find. Great score! I love the giant number stamp, and of course the mushrooms! You need to hurry and open up so I can shop. :)

    The Stump Kritters crack me up! What a totally bizarre craft idea. The lady holding that sale must have been something else, with all those different types of craft kits and huge amounts of supplies. Makes me wonder if that's what my yard sale will look like in 30 years! LOL

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  2. Man, when you score, you really SCORE! I wish someone would give me a didgeridoo, I love unusual instruments. There is info on how to play one here http://www.didgeridoostore.com/howtoplay.html

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  3. Anonymous7:01 PM

    What a great haul! I'm jelous! As it rained all weekend here. Always next week, right?

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  4. Wow...all that stuff for $5! I love the Halloween candle box too. SO cute! You always find the best stuff at yard sales!

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