Opening (and Closing) of Junk Shop

I've been adding things to my shop, getting ready to open it up. I wanted it chock full of goodies to make it worthwhile. After I added my 5th item, it said, NO MORE! I can only have five items at once (for free, of course), then it is from $50.00-$250.00 a year for the shop. So, I will have to find another site to use or just make up my own. Until, then, please take a look at my shop - because it is so dadgum cute!

monkeybox Junk Shop

If you do see anything you want, (and I don't plan on selling anything with only five items up for sale), just email me at monkeybox at juno dot com instead of adding it to the cart.

I'm so sad! Love those fat little monkey dudes!

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!

What A Mess!

I just love blogs that show pretty houses. Beautiful houses with architecture, shutters, siding, a roof, you know the luxuries in life. Here's some photos you won't see on any other blog but mine. Hold onto your hat. They are some doozies.

We wanted guttering. Our house was built without guttering or an overhang. Stupid, I know. But, what can you do about a house you already bought but fix it. Really, the only reason we thought we needed it was that it was a nuisance to try and leave the porch in the rain because it was just a constant waterfall down the front of the house. So, I called our Handyman friend and he came over to give us an estimate on the guttering. Except he discovered that the front and back walls of the house had basically soaked up all the rain the past 15 years and were pretty much rotten inside. Oh, happy, happy, joy, joy.

So, off came the siding. And the particle board and part of the roof and oh, my, what a fright. My poor, sad naked little house.
Luckily, it was only the side part of the front and the back and not the two huge very tall sides or we would be in the poorhouse right now. There's a big bay window to the left of Handyman. Our house isn't very big, but this photo makes it look teeny.
Here's my sad house without part of the roof and a straight shot into the attic. Oh, we were the talk of the neighborhood, I tell you. "What are you doing?" they all came to ask. Children knocked at the door asking, "Are you tearing down your house?"
So sad. But, then it got fixed and all put together better than new with all white trim and sparkling new white guttering. And it looked nice for a week. Then, handyman came and ripped apart the back of the house Now, it's all fixed and looking good now.

Guttering! Already in need of cleaning. A new job for the Breadman.

The garage door is white now. Thanks to me and my handy-dandy painting skills. I still have to put the second coat on. The front door will get a coat of charcoal gray paint.

Back together and believe it or not, I already trimmed the tree. It is a huge tree, but we love it wouldn't have it any other way.

It's very disconcerting when the outside of your house is a wreck for the neighbors to see. I have plenty of horrors in the house, but no one can see those. Those are my dirty little secrets. You know - I mean my thrifting piles.

So, on to the latest acquisitions. Last week at the Super Cheap Thrift, I found an old Stenographers machine. It was priced $10.00, but with an Make an Offer sticker on it. I didn't want to pay $10.00 not knowing what it was worth, so I left it behind. When I got home, I looked it up and it sells for about $60.00, plus that one had the paper, cleaning kit, manual, book and lots of extras. I went back Saturday, but I only had fifteen minutes to spare to buy it. There were 19 people in line. I've never even seen 19 people in the entire thrift before! So, I left it again. Yesterday I ran back out to see if it was still there and it was. I talked the ladies into letting me have it for $5.00. I do not have a clue how anyone could use this machine. They keys are unmarked and there's not enough and there are three "S" keys (I learned this reading the manual). It came with the original shipping slip from 1969.
I found this little sugar bowl or jam pot or whatever it might be and knew I had seen it on lots of blogs lately. Apparently this is the pattern choice of the thrifting community lately. (If anyone is interested, leave a comment - it's for sale).
Two old handmade potholders with a corn motif. A sweet little scarecrow pin and a jolly pumpkin pin. 75¢ total for everything. Happy Fall, Ya'll.
An old vintage Rook game for 35¢. I love Crow stuff, so this was a neat find. I think the cards will be great in altered art, not to mention the whole Raven/13 thing for Halloween.
Three sweet vintage aprons. Love the pink gingham one and the purple one with it's funny pockets. But, I'm not so sure what I think about the groovy 1960's number. They were 25¢ each, so I grabbed all three of them.

I suppose now would be a good time to mention some upcoming news. I am in the process of opening my own store here on my blog. I have it all set up, but I am still adding goodies to it. I want to pass on the goodies that I find at good prices to people that will really appreciate them. Like YOU! Stay tuned!

And, lastly. Heidi posted a photo of a star made out of an old folding ruler and I loved it so much that I had to go copy her thatverysecond.

Love it! I've been lucky enough to find three of these old rulers for $1.00 each, so to find a use for one is awesome. I just threw it up on the old window and the big iron key for now. I have to do things when the idea is fresh or it just leaves my old noggin.

Thanks Heidi for the Junkreating idea!

A Good Junking Day

I've been reading on a lot of blogs that the yard sale season is drawing to a close. But, around here, the yard sale season gets very busy from now until it gets cold. I love fall yard sales - first one there, digging through boxes wet with dew, hands cold so you can't feel them, but you just keep on digging. These are the sales where people clean house, dump out the barn, clean out the outbuildings and let it all go. Not just a tarp full of clothe,s books and kitchen stuff. Good stuff. Lots of good stuff! Generally the last two weekends in September and the first two weekends in October are prime yard saling weekends. Today was no exception.

Four gingham aprons - 25¢ a piece for two and the other two were in a big box of assorted linens for $1.00. I bought the box just for the aprons, but found some other goodies in the box when I got home. The pink one needs a good long soak in the Oxiclean, but I think it will come out fine. I decided to only keep and collect the gingham ones, and lately that is all I have found. I just might get a collection as good as Linda!

I commented earlier in the day that I hadn't found a tablecloth in awhile. I found this one a bit later for $1.00 and was very happy to have found it. It has a small hole in the middle right, but not so bad that it bothers me. I bought two, but the other one turned out to be more faded that I first thought. I have a rule that if a tablecloth costs less than $1.00, I buy it without unfurling it and risking grass or oil stains in the driveway. I am usually lucky and the tablecloths are in good shape. This one has such bright colors, that I don't mind the hole. I just strategically fold them and stack them up so you can't see the hole anyway.
I thought this potholder hat with potholders was funny for only 50¢. It's made out of some sort of old cardboard packaging and has great old millinery flowers on it.
This Lucite cake carrier was $1.00. It was my first buy of the day and I was eager to buy some vintage junk. I bought it without looking at it very closely and didn't notice the small crack in the base. Not so bad it isn't usable, but bad enough I probably won't be selling it (which was my intention).
A wooden FLOUR and SUGAR canister set for $1.00. I like the fruit motif, but they are for resale.

An old Garvey pricing tool. I had coveted the one that Heidi found back way back in March, so I was very happy to find this one today. This is what they used in the grocery store to price canned goods and other items back in the day. My dad worked in the grocery store and I always heard the chu-chut sound of these pricers. I have some old jars I keep my four and sugar in and they still have the purple prices on them from a marker like this one. I buy so much old stuff that it is nice to find an item that has special memories for me specifically.
An old wooden shopping list for 50¢ with staples such as Lard, Doughnuts and Cigarettes on it. Mmmmmmmmm...Good!

Yet another canister set - all yellow and only $1.00 for the set. Once upon a time they had flour, sugar, coffee and tea on the fronts, but it is mostly faded away. I still think they are neat and will make good storage.
Two tabletop blowmolds for resale. I asked how much they were and the lady said, "Oh, those are Mama's, I'll ask her." "Mama,how much for the plastic Santa's?" "The WHAT?" "The plastic Santa's." "Where?" "The ones on the table in the driveway." (Where most yard sale items generally are, as a rule). "Oh, those," Mama said. Que the Jeopoardy theme song while she thinks and thinks. Then she said, "A quarter." The daughter said, "Mu-other! Those are OLD!" Then Mama looks me square in the eye and says, "A quarter each." Whoa, back up Grandma, that's too much. She was happy with her 50¢, but the daughter was not.
A pair of really cool old Orna-Wood bookends for $1.00. Not sure if I will sell these or use them in The Bean's room with his other Native American things.
Nine packs of vintage rickrack (two not shown because I found them under the car seat after I took the photo), a ballerina cupcake topper, a bunny cupcake topper, a handful of old candle holders for a cake and a set of marble Tiki cocktail picks - $1.25 for everything.

I found this great old Christmas gift wrap box in a suitcase full of old sewing patterns. The sewing patterns and the suitcase were $10.00 for everything. I asked the lady at the sale if I could take the patterns out of the box, put them back in the suitcase and just buy the empty box. As I asked this, about seven people were shopping and they all just stopped dead in their tracks and looked at me like I was a complete doofus. An empty box? Why would she want an empty box? The lady having the sale who has flea market booths and knows her stuff looked up at me and said,, "Oh yes,that is a great box!" Everyone went back to their shopping. I suppose they decided it wasn't such an odd question after all. The red in the background is a big roll of wrapping paper sized crepe paper. It was in a big pile of new-ish wrapping paper for 50¢. I asked if I could buy the one roll for 50¢ and leave her the rest of the pile to sell to someone else. She understood, but once again, I stymied the other shoppers. I really don't know what I will do with this, but it was only $1.00 and I had to buy it. A full case of McKesson's Soothe Skin Hand and face Lotion from the 1940's. The box even has the Santa Fe Railroad tickets attached to it. There are twelve bottles and they are all full and it still smells good, although I wouldn't actually use it. The bottles are glass, so the case is quite heavy. It's just neat, don't you think? Why didn't it sell? Where has it been the past 70 years?

Tomorrow we are going to the Sorghum Festival. Last year we stood in line for half an hour waiting for our first taste of freshly made sorghum. Well, that's half an hour we'll never get back. That stuff is nast-y. Blech. But along with the sorghum there is square dancing, clogging, fiddling, a Dutch Oven Cook-Off and free tasting, butter making, a tractor show and all sorts of other slightly hokey Ozark-y things. I am not a fiddlin', cloggin', square dancin' gal, but I think it is fun to watch for an hour a year. That's about long enough. New to the festival this year is a flea market. Hmmmmmmm.....

Worth a Thousand Words

I've been taking a slew of photos with my new camera, but this is the first time I have been able to post any of them. I like to take pictures of people, but my real love is nature and old buildings. I am lucky to live in an area of such natural beauty where everything, and I mean everything, is so beautiful.

I love this odd old building in the middle of the lake. I don't know what it is really for, but it is just cool. We have been there before and I have taken lots of photos of it, but on this visit, the sun was setting and the reflection of the building in the water was a new view for me.

I love the way you can't tell where it all starts and where it all begins. It's just pretty and serene and peaceful there.
A bunch of odd fungi growing on a tree near the waterline. Some people think things like this are ugly and nasty, but I think they are natural, unique and interesting.

Here's the so-called "river" after Ike came through last weekend. Those trees in the middle of the river aren't anywhere near the water's edge normally, let alone in the center of the river. It was rushing like rapids in a movie when we were there. We were in a parked car sitting on the ridge, but with the rush of the water, we had vertigo and it felt like we were rushing by and not the water.

A heart rock I couldn't bring home. It was probably 12' across and below a 40' bridge. But, it will always be there for us to see when we visit the lake.


Another reflection photo. There was a guy in a kayak just in the "v' there to the left. It looked like a peaceful lace to take a float.
There's my building again. Why do I love it so?
The County Fair. I never knew there were so many kinds of chickens and bunnies and turkeys, oh my.

The Horticulture building at the County Fair. Such a gorgeous mix of green and purple. It won Grand Champion, and rightfully so.
Jams, jellies, green beans, relish, applesauce and all other sorts of canned goods. The most remarkable part about these jars is that each and every one was canned by someone under the age of 16! The Adult categories were slim this year, but the Junior Divisions were packed.
Wow. Is he ugly or pretty? I can't decide. I'll settle at different, that's for sure.
This sheep reared up on his hind legs and threw his head over the fence to give me and The Bean a kiss. He liked us, he really liked us!
I love the colors of the Fair -Pinks & Aquas, you can't do better than that. And,they have the food pyramid - Cotton Candy, Popcorn and Candy Apples!

I took 356 photos, so consider yourself spared from The Bean's birthday,the gummy rats we ate at the party, 56 photos of various chickens and nearly 80 photos of our three cats. You're welcome!