Thanksgiving Reminder

It's Thanksgiving!

Don't forget to set your scales back ten pounds tonight!

:)

Have a GREAT DAY!

Sorry, I Already Ate

On Sunday, our little family of six had our Thanksgiving.  I made smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberries, vegetables, pumpkin pie and pecan pie.  I set the most loveliest table - I used a red tablecloth then put one of my vintage tablecloths over it - it has big red, orange and gold fall leaves all over it. I used my white china, glasses with a gold lip and the famous gold silverware that we only use on Thanksgiving.  I had a centerpiece of a pumpkin, gourds and Indian Corn.  It turned out really nice.  But, did I take a picture of it?  Uh, no.  I forgot.  The hostess always forgets to take photos of the table, the food and the guests.  Whoopsie.  Anyway, since our Thanksgiving is over, I nearly forgot to share my Thanksgiving decorations.  And, I KNOW you are all just sitting on the very tippy edges of our seat waiting and waiting to see it.  (I KID!)

 One of my old windows and shelves with a big turkey and some other Fall-ish and Thanksgiving items.

Gurley Pilgrim Candles?  Check!

 Thi is the Squirrel, acorn and pine cone area.  I never set out to have a squirrel, acorn and pine cone area, but alas, here it is.  I kept finding cute squirrels and you know me, any excuse to keep something and I am all over it.  So, here they are - squirrels, acorns and pinecones.

The other window and shelf area.  The Bean was engrossed in "Sleepy Hollow" so I snapped this off to the side and it isn't a great shot.  

It features these uber cute Chipmunk pilgrims.  Every year I am happy to see thier fat litle chipmunk faces.  

This always, always, always has a place of honor.  The famous milk carton Mayflower by The Bean circa Kindergarten 2000.  Love this funny thing.

Turkeys?  BAM.  

Enamelware Turkey Platter?  Check.

Pumpkins, scarecrow, GIANT turkey and a honeycomb turkey.  Obligatory red pick up truck full of pumpkins?  Check.  (Expect to see that again full of bottle brush trees soon).

Vintage honeycomb turkeys on my Redmon picnic baskets.  

Wait...what's that to the left on the ladder?  Kneehuggers?  It's not time yet!  retreat!  Retreat!  

(I found them recently and I was just too lazy to put them with the Christmas stuff when they will go there eventually.)

More Gurley Candles - a bit mis-colored and apparently one of the Pilgrim girls has been in the hooch and fell over.  

Annalee Pilgrims.  I found the big one this year at Goodwill.  Love my Annalee's, you know.  :)

I bought all these Mercury Glass acorns after Christmas one year and never used them.  I found them this year and decided that the make much more sense to be used this time of year.  I put them on my little hutch and I love them.  

So, that's it.  I had a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope that you do too!  While you are eating turkey, I will be boxing up this stuff and bringing in the Christmas.  It is a HUGE exhausting job and I get NO help from The Breadman.  You might think that I don't enjoy it, but you would be DEAD WRONG.  I cannot WAIT to get it all in here.  Last Christmas was just so, so terrible.  It is time for a good fun old fashioned glittery decorations, gingerbread making, parade watching, listening to Carols, watching "Elf", having FUN Christmas.  BRING IT ON!

Recently Thrifted

Things I have recently thrifted yet failed to blog about:

Sweet bride and groom by Lori Mitchell.  They appear to be very collectible.  I will put on ebay.

Vintage Christmas plucked from the 10¢ bin at the Salvation Army - all in  a big old basket from "The Attic" for $4.00.

Hard plastic blow mold mouse for $1.99.  One sold today for $31.00.  I bought him to sell.  But, he's growing one me.....

Vintage Noel set.  I spotted that vintage package a mile away.  99¢ and it was a done deal.

But, when i got it home - there was only a N and an E - and an extra E - so NEE?  

And this one napkin ring, which really was worth the 99¢ to me.  So cute.  

A Putney Basket.  Because I am a basket hoarder.  This one will go on the porch with fresh greenery for Christmas.  

A Christmas tablecloth.  I have really sworn off vintage Christmas tablecloths, but this one had a different feel to it.  It was made in West Germany.

This nice big flocked deer was sitting on top of a god awful plasticky holly flower arrangement when I found it.  It wasn't marked, so the clerks came up with the princely sum of 25¢ for it.  When I got home and thought about it, I think it might have been part of that aforementioned arrangement.  The arrangement - ick.  The deer.  <3 p="">

A whimsical signed hand carved Santa.  I saw some similar at the craft fair for $38.00.  e was 99¢.

A few more vintage ornaments all in blue.   I mostly bought it for the pointed ones, but they are all old and pretty.

I forgot to blog about a lot of these things because I put them on Instagram when I bought them.  I didn't really "get" Instagram until recently, but now I really love it.  Hey - you should follow me there!  Instagram

It's Curtains for You

Yesterday as I was decluttering the living room and kitchen sorting piles into booth, ebay, etsy and donate, I came across the little dishwashing soap aprons I found last weekend.  Since they are tiny gingham aprons and I have a collection of gingham aprons, it seemed that they really needed to go in the "KEEP" pile, but what would I do with them?  

Inspirations struck and I pinned them to my gingham curtain that hangs over the sink.  

I like it.

I like it a lot.

*Contrary to what you might think about me and my love of Gingham - this is the only gingham thing in my house.  

Also - I finally got a big batch of my Feedsack Pendants listed on Etsy last night.  I'll be listing more in the next few days.  Not that I expect you to buy one - but I have had some emails about them.  So, there you go.  The link is to the right. ------------->

We're o'sff to see "Catching Fire".  

An Estate Sale Tale

For the last two weekends there has been an Estate Sale in Fayetteville.  It was advertised as basement, attic, two floors and a garage full of 60 years worth of stuff.  I didn't go the first weekend because, for the most part, Estate Sales around here are pricey and out of my league as far as having antiques and upscale items.  I am always on the prowl for vintage and holiday and I have never had a lot of luck finding those things at the Estate Sales I have been to - so I just don't go to them much at all.  But, Lara went the first weekend and told me that it was truly a house full and it was cheap.  Really cheap.  They had the sale again this weekend, but I couldn't go Saturday because of the Bazaar.  Lara stppped by there on the way and scored a plethora of AMAZING tablecloths for a dollar or two each.  Good for her!  Sadness for me.  :)  

So, short story long, after the big Bazaar Bomb, I was feeling sorry for myself and needed to go on a drinking binge.  Since I don't actually drink - I needed the next best thing - JUNK FIX!  So, I got up and left the house alone - no husband, no Bean.  Just ME!  This doesn't happen often, believe me.  I was the first one there, so I got to look around at my leisure.  I went into the basement first, which wasn't really a true basement - it was under the first floor.  It had two big rooms and the were full of tings.  I was surprised at the volume of stuff the had left after two full weekends of selling things.  Even though there was so much stuff - every single item had been priced.  I don't know how they had time to do that - I really don't.  The first few things I picked up were priced 5¢ to 25¢, so I knew I was in for a fun afternoon.  The best part was when I took out my first bag to pay and take it to the car - it was HALF OFF DAY.  Woo hoo!

Sign of a day well spent!  And, half off that to boot!

I looked in the basement, then the garage, the utility room, inside the house and back through each area two more times.  I kept filling up my bags and parking them by the door.  I love it when I hear people say - "This is my pile." "Pile" is a very good word in the world of junking, isn't it?

I got a lot of smalls - but that is what I tend to find.  Things to sell, things to keep.  A little bit of both.  

I found one of these old wooden pink hangers on the floor and they gave it to me.  Then I found another hanging in a closet.  Words cannot tell you how happy these silly PINK hangers make me.  

While I was looking for wooden hangers, I came across this heavy duty metal hanger - also in PINK.  It reminds me of those old aluminum tumblers.  The wire is about four times as thick as an average hanger.  It's kind of spectacular.  *A note of interest here:  I loathe hangers.  I know if I ever go to hell or prison that it will be my job to wrangle the messes of hangers.  Oh, how I hate hangers!

 Check out this redneck photo.  The dumb kid next door decided it would be fun to kick down half the pickets off the fence this weekend.  Now we have a straight on view of the neighbors house that is in the midist of a renovation.  Plus, everyone can see into our backyard which I HATE.  I don't want them seeing all my motel chairs and gliders.  I'm afraid they will go missing!

Nice, right?  Dumb kid.  I want to complain, but it isn't our fence.  But, sheesh, it looks terrible!

Okay, on to the JUNK!

 A toy dish drainer, giant old cigar box, three tiny gingham dish soap aprons and three neat old Lustreware Silverware trays.

 An ashtray from the local bowling alley advertising CAKE, some tiny metal bowls, an old floating duck, a chicken from a FP farm, some old birthday candle holders, a set of tiny vases that attach to a taper candle, a neat old hook and a wee purple mouse.  

A bit of research and I find that this is a Liddle Kiddle  - it's on ebay for $50.00 right now.  I paid a nickle.  Actually, I think I paid half of a nickle.  

A good old tablecloth, a bunch of Salt and Pepper shakers and a set of rainbow drip candles.

A bunch of old dolls that ARE NOT SCARY, some small pottery pieces and a tiny "Never hit a man when he's down...KICK HIM" plaque.

More non scary dolls, a vintage bunny and some old office supplies.  

I scrounged up a bunch of vintage things and salvaged bits of Christmas off of them to fill up this small box - a spun head, tiny Shiny Brites, a silver sleigh, a cool box of Angel Chime candles and a chime too.

Can you see that pie box?  It has the PI sign on it.  That was the last thing I picked up.  Moments before that someone walked up to me and said ARE YOU STILL HERE?  Lara had found me two hours after I texted her to get there quick!  I was happy to find a watermelon potholder for my collection, some fun old tins and some sweet old fabric potholders.  

Fun old tins, vintage playing cards, an old SpiroTot game, beads and gardening tools.  

Vintage Dennison Crepe paper, an old Christmas candy tin (I've been wanting one of these) and a Hallmark Greeting Card holder.  

Gardening tools for my collection.  Seed beads in tubes.  

Know anyone named Doris?  Me neither.  

Lara and I just had a discussion about these dish soap aprons on Saturday and then I found all these.  In gingham.  Mini gingham aprons.  It was meant to be - 25¢ for all three.

I loved these old marbled plastics from the 1950's. The cutlery trays were all around the house with sets of cutlery in them.  I asked if I could buy them and they said "yes, for a quarter."  So, I rounded them all up.  I left behind a red marbled one that had a crack, and now I am sort of regretting that.

 There was a big box of doll clothes marked 5¢ each.  I didn't want to take the time to look through it, so I just took it all up front.  They charged me a dollar for it all.  There is a lot of cuteness in there.  I'm still washing and sorting it.  

I bought a baby doll just to rescue this adorable dress.  Now that poor naked baby is sitting in the car waiting to go to Goodwill.  I am such an awful person.

Other purchases of note:  Two cases of old Knox, Hazel Atlas and Ball Mason Jars.  The bottom box is actually older than the jars that were in it, but the jars are old too.  They have the screw on lids, ot the glass lids like on the box.  I loved the boxes as much as the jars!  I am saving some, taking some to booth and making a few into snow globes for the booth.  

 I know I went into too much detail about all that little stuff.  But, I had SO much fun just poking around finding things and then getting them so cheap!  It's such fun to find something like the Liddle Kiddle and discover it's worth way much more than you paid for it.  I haven't done that in a very long time.  Beats drinking!

Chalk It Up To Experience

Lara and I went to the High School to set up our booth on Friday evening.  We had been working about fifteen minutes-  setting up tables, getting out merchandise, chatting and admiring each others things when I noticed that all the organizers were sitting by the door.  Just sitting there.  I JOKINGLY said, "You guys aren't just here because of us, are you?"  Long..........long..........dramatic..........pause. "Weeeeeeeellllllll, it's okay," they said.  I was under the misguise that there would be LOTS of other people setting up.  I guess I was el wrongo.  So, we skedaddled out of there and went home to return the next morning to do the rest of the set up.  

When I got there Saturday morning, the room had filled up with lots of vendors.  But, I noticed that there were a lot of things like jewelry parties (*Cough* pyramid scheme! says Lara), Avon, Scentsy, Tupperware, Thirty One totes and the likes.  Now, there is nothing wrong with any of these companies, but it isn't what I was expecting there.  That's when I got a little worried.  Also, most of the vendors had a long table set up across the width of their area with some things scattered on the table.  That's was it.  

 Here is our area.  BOOM!  Color!  Appeal!  Something for EVERYONE!  Hand crafted - you got it.  Vintage - yes sir.  Attractive displays?  Uh huh.  Lots to look at!  Plenty to see!

 Let's look at Lara's side for a minute.  She makes these amazing wooden signs and trays with her new fancy tools.  She is SO talented!  She also had wonderful prints, handmade aprons and wooden Christmas trees.  

"HO HO HO ya'll."  

HOW FREAKING clever is THAT?

I loved all her colors and the pop of green with the glass bottles.  I had the extra tablecloth and it was the perfect red to match the paint on all her things.  

*Can you see those mesh wreaths in the next booth - I HATE MESH WREATHS.  But , you know what?  She sold every one but ONE of them.  

Then there's Shara - "Let's take everything we own because then there will be enough for everyone that comes to the Bazaar and there will be no need for fistfights in the area over any vintage or handcrafted goods" attitude.  

OH MY GOD.  I see a bare spot.  I could have crammed something in there.  Dammit.

*I was in that corner for five hours and I never could figure out what in the world was going on with that poster on the wall.  It had styrofoam peanuts and magazine clippings and it made no sense whatsoever.

I filled up the cubbies, stacked things on top and that just wasn't high enough, so I put the angel blow molds on top of that!  Just in case Shaquille O'Neal came  I wanted something at his eye level.

I took all my jewelry.  I have been stymied by why the Feedsack Pendants don't sell as well as I had hoped they would.  They do sell, but I thought they would do better overall.  So, on Friday night at 11:00 I was in the shower and I decided I should call them "Quilt Scraps" instead of Feedsacks.  

So, at midnight, I was making a sign that said "Quilt Scraps".  Seeing as how I was to be up at 6:00, that wasn't the greatest idea.  But, I do like the name and the sign.  

The Bazaar began at 10:00, so we got all set up, ran to the bathroom then came back to man our booths.  Change at the ready, area looking good - ready for the masses.  I looked towards the front door and.......*crickets.  Not a person waiting to get in.  Slowly a few people did come and it was actually sort of steady for the four hours.  Well, for three hours.  Maybe just two and a half hours....ANYWAY.......It was SO weird.

People would come back towards our area and  literally just walk right past Lara's cute trendy wonderful stuff like it wasn't even there.  What the hell were they thinking?  A few would venture into my area but they did a quick one two glance and the left.   Empty handed.  I would hear, "Oh how cute" or "Oh, how neat."  I would see people holding things, but then they would just put it down and walk away.  

In between our area and the area next to us, they had placed the big industrial sized trash can and that was also the only place we could squeeze in a few chairs to sit.  We hadn't planned on sitting, but hellooo...there was nothing to do......no sales......no customers.  We would be sitting there and here would come this big group of people smiling and holding their sample plates of Jalepeno Jelly on a cracker and we would think "Oh good!  Customers!" and then they would walk right up to us and fling their trash over our heads into the trash can and just keep right on walking.  

Also, we noticed that SO many people were carrying these identical shopping bags so I finally asked a lady what everyone was buying.  She opened it to show these Razorback pig ornaments that a lady had made out of a red plastic ornament, red jingle bells, and googly eyes.  It was cute, but the kind of cute like when your third grader makes it school and you HAVE to put it on the Christmas tree, but you kind of stick it in the back so no one can really see it, kind of cute.  Once we saw that, we realized that there was just a different type of clientele coming through those doors.  They weren't going to "get' our stuff.  (We really just told ourselves this so we wouldn't cry.)  I KID!

I did sell some stuff, but not a whole lot.  I sold three necklaces, but not one other thing I made - except for a Magic Santa Skeleton Key, I forgot about that.  I sold those %$#@^& Scrabble words.  WHY do people like those stoopid things?  I mean, I am glad they do, because it is easy money, but gosh, why can't they buy something I MADE or that has vintage character?  Not Scrabble letters that say CARDINALS.  Booooo.  After rent I made $63.00.  Granted, that is money I didn't have before, but it was a LOT of work to set up and haul all that other stuff.

Now, having said all that - I did have fun.  I enjoyed the day.  I was with The Bean and I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Lara.  Bless her heart, after rent, she made $8.00.  I really, really do not understand why people didn't buy her stuff.  In the words of Macklemore - "It is f'ing AWESOME.  I'm surprised she's still speaking to me after all that work for $8.00.  But, I ran into her at an Estate Sale today and she had ample time to bonk me on the head in the basement in retaliation.  But, she didn't!

The good news is that we both have booths and we already priced our things, so all we have to do is take it out there where people GET us and LIKE us and WANT our junk.  It will all be okay.  For the record, we heard through the grapevine that the advertising person for the event flaked out and never did much.  They only had a sign by the road and I guess people just didn't know about it.  They did get $50.00 times thirty vendors, so the fundraising part on their part worked.  It just wasn't great for us vendors.  Now, on the flip side, this is the Bean's graduating class and the same three Moms doing this event were there same three moms (along with me) that used to do the carnival, the PTA, the Hospitality Committee, Teacher Appreciation, etc., etc., etc..  Out of a class of three hundred kids - there are only a handful of parents that help with the events.  It is hard to do it all.  So, I can understand that part too.  

Onward and upward! 

Lara just posted her view too.  I haven't read it yet.  I hope she still likes me!