The Week in Junk: It's Been a LONG Time!

Friday afternoon my Dad mentioned that there was a big Estate Sale in the next town over from his house.  Since I am still without a car, I put it out of my mind.  Saturday morning, my junker friends started sending me texts about the same sale.  It has been forever since I have been to an actual Estate Sale, not to mention to any sort of sale at all.  So, once I had some wheels on Saturday, I headed that way.  I took the Interstate (which I NEVER, ever take - I hate the Interstate and all it's insane speeding idiots) and tried to follow the Google Map on my phone without driving off the road.  I finally got to the intersection in town and headed what I thought was the right way, but I ended up deep in a subdivision with countless cul-de-sacs.  I finally got on the right road, found some signs and headed the right direction.  When I FINALLY got there - heck it was a house I knew because I lived my whole childhood right up the road.  Had I known that, I would have just gone the back way and gotten there lickety split with no stress.  But, it was TOO LATE for that.  :)  

Along the way I also stopped at two other sales, much to my delight.  I bought a few things along the way, that I probably wouldn't have bought if I would have realized what I was going to buy later in the day.  Does that make sense?  Don't you wish you could see all the things you will see all day at once so you could make better decisions and save money?  Oh well, I had a fun day, spent less than $20.00 and got some fresh air.  If you can call digging in a garage "fresh air.  (I can and do!)

Vintage books.  I tell myself NO, but then I get suckered in to those old covers and I can't help myself.  I did cut apart the old blue dictionary tonight and make bundles of pages for the booth.  I made 21 rolls and priced them $2.00 each for the booth.  So, $42.00 for a 50¢ book is not bad.  I sell vintage dictionary pages with great regularity.  The High Roads book is an old school reader.  I have a collection of those that I need to thin out, but this was a new old one to me.  "The Cave Twins" will go to Lara for her twins that she threatens to lock in a cave sometimes.  :)

The pantry at the Estate Sale brought me old jars full of birthday candles, cake decorations and swizzle sticks.  The rolling cookie cutter will go to the big booth.  The cookie cutters were thrifted this week and will go to the booth.  Except the lion - that's a new on for me so into the GIANT jar it will go.  I found the wooden crate in one of the bedrooms on one side of the house so I used it to hold all my purchases.  

Then, when I was in the pantry, I spotted this crate top so I tried it and it was a perfect fit.  

From the garage - this great old heavy toolbox.  When I paid, the man took forever looking through it to make sure I wasn't getting some treasure in it. 

 I assured him that I only wanted the toolbox so if he wanted to dump it out it was okay by me.  But he left all the junk in there.  And when I got home I found a Liberty silver doll and a diamond ring. Not.  Ha!  Wouldn't that have been one HELL of a story?  I did find a few things to keep, but nothing of value.  The metal junk will all go in my scrap bucket.  

I crawled under a table to get this old metal box.  I loved the green color.  

Open it up and there is this cool old metal tray.

Take that out and there is another old metal tray under there.  

Take that out and there is a divided section at the bottom.  

So many storage possibilities.  When I saw it I thought it would be a good Junk Ranch item.  But then I took it apart and kind of fell in love with it.  I think it will hold all my jewelry making supplies and keep them all organized.  Plus it will look so much cooler than a plastic storage box sitting out on the table.  

 On to the small stuff, which you know I love.  Great old piece of pottery and a handmade cubbie of sorts.

The handle is an old spool cut in half.  I love old handmade things like this - so much time went into making such a wee thing.

A slew of old office supplies.  I love that old stapler still in the original box.  Those refills are rolls of wire for a stapler that makes it's own staples.  They sell for about $20.00 each on ebay.  

Basically if I liked it, I put it in my box.  It was half off day, so things were pretty cheap.  Plus, I tend to buy things that other people just aren't interested in or just don't see.  I love all the old jars and the lids.  "Aloha!"  

1961 Fishing license from Germany, Canasta and Bridge score pads, an abacus, a handful of keys, some old scoops and a few other things.  

I don't buy souvenir spoons as a general rule, but these are quite old and interesting.  The baby spoon will go in my collection.  

I always like finding something that belonged to the homeowner that represents them as who they were in life.  

Oh, I found some Christmas.  Tiny bits here and there.  If I didn't buy a tiny bit here and a tiny bit there, I wouldn't have any vintage Christmas.  I never find massive hoards of it.  *sniff.

Three tiny Christmas wood carved stamps.

A big tacky kitschy plastic Christmas wreath.  

My friend Kristie was arriving as I was leaving and she spotted this old piece of wrapping paper. It's small, but really fabulous.   

Lots of NOS gift bows.  I am working on a birthday section in the booth so I will add these to it.  I think birthdays are overlooked holidays as far as decorations and preparations.  I want a stock of old cards, gift warps, candles, etc.  It's a work in progress to say the least.  

And last  - a silly roly baby toy.  

So as usual, some things to sell, some things to keep and some things for making.  A nice Saturday out and some fun junk to boot!