A Quickie (Thrift Run, That Is....)

I held the boys hostage today and made them stop at two thrift stores today.  "I just want to look" and "I won't buy much" was what I said as I hopped out of the car.

A run into Goodwill brought me the cute wicker stool/side table for $2.00.  I have a wicker mirror that I painted turquoise, so I will paint this the same and take it to the booth.   When the clerk rang it up, he said, "Now, that's a good deal!"  He meant it nice too.  He was happy for me.  I like people like that.

The brand new Sock Money Kit was $1.00.  What a steal!  Those red heeled socks cost about $10.00 usually.  I could sell it, but I am going to make it instead.  I have been looking for a project that isn't Barn Sale or Booth related.  Just something for me to do with my hands while I watch mindless TV.  (Anyone else watching "Under The Dome"?)   The old clipboard will be painted with chalkboard paint and become a sign at the BS.  The giant thumbtacks will go to the booth.  Some retro loving college girl will squeal with glee when she finds them.  

A different thrift brought me this old school chair for $4.96.  It's adorable - all chippy and worn - and solid as can be.  I just love old children's chairs in different colors.  I have quite a few around here.  My favorite is from my Great Grandmother and Great Grand father's one room schoolhouse in Kansas from the 1920's.  Between my Mom and me, we have three of them.  Maybe that should be my next collection post - little chairs.  I honestly bought this chair to sell, but now that it's home, I don't think I can let it go.  Not yet anyway.  Besides, two out of three cats have already taken a nap on it and have declared it purrfect.  (GROAN).

Weekend in Junk - In the Pink

I left the house at noon today, headed for the Super Cheap Thrift and to straighten up my booth.  I found a couple of yard sales along the way which was a nice surprise.  There has been so much rain here - almost a foot in a couple of days in some places- that no one can really count on having an outdoor yard sale right now.  But, the rain dried up this morning and some people had some junk on their driveways.  I didn't find a lot, but what I did find made me happy.

A lot of the things I found had a theme that made them fit together.  Lots of baby tings and pink things.

An old rummy game board with wooden checkers.  The checkers have crowns on them, so I already made them into necklaces.  The sweet kitty planter was from the SCT.  Notice above his head on the board?  Kitty!

 William Rogers Silverplate pieces.  I don't know why I bought these other than the act they were 25¢ each.  They would be sweet with some flowers though.  Under that is some really great old wrapping paper.

It's adorable.  I bought this sheet that was opened and a package that is still sealed.  I left a few behind and now I am kind of kicking my self for that now that I see it unfolded.  Hopefully it will still be there when I go back next week.  

Two old baby rattles, an older box of colored chalk (including brown chalk.  Who wants brown chalk?) and another piece of cute wrapping paper.  

These cats are pretty big.  I may try to frame a few of them.  

A Peter Pan book by Roy Best who if famous for pin up art.  It's odd that he did Children's Books too.  This is a newer reprint, but the drawings are amazing.  Also, a book "How to Draw Famous Stars."  Because I have been DYING to learn how to draw Gary Coleman!  (I actually did it and it did NOT work.  The Bean drew Spock and it was surprisingly good.)

I borrowed this from the web, but it is in the book.  They are lovely pictures.  

More tiny tart tins.  It's addiction.  Eight for 50¢, so I had to snap them up.  

Two old blue tins and a "Joy Scope" in the original box.  A Joy Scope is a Kaleidoscope with a big flat glass orb in the end.  It has the original tag of 29¢ on it.  The wire mesh box will hold business cards or something eventually.

Two small dog figurines.  I always sell these in the booth.  The dark one is dark amethyst purple glass.  

An old hosiery box with lable and an old clock with a cracked face.  I've seen these up-cycled into shadow boxes on Pinterest.  I have way more projects on tap right now than I can do, but someday I will be looking for a project and this will be it.

(From Pinterest)

We collect these sort of handmade puzzles.  This one was partially dissembled in the bag, but I thought it was going to be a horse.  The Bean was very happy to see it was actually a Centar.  (Have I mentioned that he is practically an expert on Greek Mythology?)  

Stork Bingo game.  Love the graphics on the box.  The words on the cards are interesting too - Pablum, Cod Liver Oil, Nipples, Enema, Soakers and Toidy Seat to name a few.

This sweet little pink chippy basket had to come home with me.  Especially once I spotted the pink gingham lining.  I'll probably use it for display at the Barn Sale.  

By the way, thanks for all the nice words on the things I have been making for the sale.  I really appreciate it.  It made me feel more confident.  

And, the last find of the day, this sweet, sweet vintage little girls dress.  It was marked $2.50 on the VINTAGE rack at the SCT and I actually stood there and debated it for awhile.  $2.50 sounds like a lot when you are holding a bag full of 10¢ and 25¢ items.  But then my common sense in kicked in and realized that $2.50 is what Goodwill charges for used Walmart brands so I snapped it up.  I hung it up with my other baby dresses and it is now the crowing jewel.

Oh wait!  I did buy one more thing on the way home.  

A vintage wooden doll playpen.  The man at the sale saw me looking at it and told me it was $2.00. When I went to pay the wife, I told her that he had told me $2.00.  She said, "Well, things are supposed to be cheap, but not THAT cheap!"  I told her never mind then, but she said, "Oh, no!  I didn't mean that!  No problem.  I just shouldn't have left my husband in charge."  Trust me, lady, been there done that.  I know.  Rule #1 of having a yard sale"  Never leave the husband in charge.  Rule #1 of going to a yard sale:  Find a husband in charge.  :D  I have an idea of hanging it on a wall with the bottom flat to the wall and putting slats through the rungs to make a deep shelf.  Until I get that productive, it will wrangle vintage toys at the Barn Sale.  

So, that is what I found this weekend.  How about you?

Making Things to Sell

In order to be ready for the Barn Sale, I have set a few deadlines in my head.  August 15th is the last day that I can MAKE things for the sale.  Since that deadline is rapidly approaching, I find myself cranking things out at warp speed.  I made almost fifty necklaces in the last two days!  Making them takes some time, but packaging them up, pricing them and organizing them is a whole 'nuther ball of wax.  

I've made lots and lots of Feedsack pendants.  I think they are different and original, but I don't know if everyone will.  I need to make a sign that explains what they are made of and how maybe if you look close you might see a piece of your Grandmother's apron or a part of a quilt you once slept under.  I wear one almost every day and I usually get some compliments on it.  There are a few bottle cap Arkansas map pendants in there too.

The Feedsack pendants get packaged up on cards and sealed in little plastic bags.  I think they look semi-professional that way.  I also think they look like something you could pick up as a gift for someone and give it to them they way it is in the package.  (Pardon the glare - I took these in a hurry last night before I relegated it all to the storage area).

Today I ransacked the vintage game piece drawer and make necklaces.  I have been hoarding old game pieces for so very long.  It was hard to decide to part some of them out.  Especially the gorgeous Bakelite dominoes.  But, I did it.  

Red Bakelite Domino pendants.

Butterscotch Bakelite Domino Pendants.

Vintage Dragon Dominoes.  I made some sideways so the Dragon is flat and others long-wise so the Dragon sort of looks like an "S".  

Vintage Checkers.  Some of them have a star on them, others have a planet with stars.  Some are wooden and some are clay.  The clay ones have a really neat "clink" to them.  

Here they are on my craft cabinet waiting to be sold.  I don't want to package up the game piece necklaces.  I think I will display them as they are so people can feel them and see what they really are - old game pieces.  They have a nice feel to them and fun patina.  

Last week I dug out the huge thimble collection I bought a couple summers ago.  I added a small bouquet of vintage millinery flowers to each one and made them into little brooches.  

All sorts of colors and different types and styles of thimbles.  I also make a bunch of mini bottle brush trees in thimbles, but I haven't added pinbacks to them yet.  I made one thimble bouquet necklace that turned out SO stinking cute, but I don't think I have time to find more flowers by the 15th to crank any of them out.  (But, it is so darn cute....)

 This weekend I reconstructed a bunch of vintage horse ribbons.

Razorback themed ribbons.  I hate making Razorback stuff, but it sells, darn it.  If I could find and legally use some vintage Razorback artwork, it would be a bit more appealing to me.  

I also made JUNK QUEEN ribbons.  I only made pink, white and purple, but I think I might make a few other colors.  I like subtle colors like pink and white, but other people might like something a bit more "loud" like red, blue, green or yellow.  I have plenty of ribbons, so I need to do that while I still have time.

Each ribbon is a vintage horse ribbon with added ribbon and edging.  I used a paper poker chip in the center with the JUNK QUEEN on top.  On the back there is an old milk cap with the pinback added.  

I like the purple one too.  What else can I say other than JUNK QUEEN?  I may make some that say  JUNKER and FLEA MARKET QUEEN.

I also have a bunch of birthday ribbons made up, but I didn't photograph them.  This is the one I wear on my birthday.  I LOVE birthday's but I[m not sure other people really think ahead to them.  So, I don't know if they will speak to people or not.

Here's the one I'll be wearing at the Barn Sale.  If I remember.  

(Remind me Lara, okay?)

I found an offer for 100 free photos, so I had my blogheader photo printed off 100 times.  I'm using those for all my packaging along with the business card above I got for free from VistaPrint.  I hope my use of that photo and the color pink isn't too overwhelming.  But, I really want a cohesive look to everything.  Kind of my "brand".  

I also have a fleeting desire to make BRIDE TO BE ribbons and maybe even BABY ribbons in pink and blue to wear at showers.  But, I don't know if I will have the time or if anyone will even want one.  Actually, I have no idea if I will even sell one single thing that I have made.  This is a Farm Fresh Vintage Market which leans more towards rusty and crusty.  I'm not even sure if this is the right marketplace for what I am making.  But, I've already MADE it all, now haven't I?  So, I guess it's kind of late to be second guessing myself.  If I don't sell a thing, I guess I will have a ready made Etsy Shop, now won't I?

I still have to price everything, and that is really, really REALLY hard for me to do.  I am a pretty low spender.  But, other people seem to have deeper pockets than I do.  So, pricing is just really hard!!!!!  Any ideas would be appreciated.  I have "ideas" but I'm not really 100% certain.  

I promise all this Barn Sale talk will be over one of these days soon!  

The Weekend in Junk: The Bubba, Bluebird and Birthday Edition

Thursday is part of the weekend, isn't it?  Most really good sales start here on Thursday.  If you have a three day sale that usually means you have a LOT of junk to sell.  I like sales with lots of junk.  As does any good junker, right?  Thursday I was on the way to my Mom's house when I spotted a sign that I recognized as "my lady's" sale.  The car turned on two wheels and headed in the direction of that sign.  She has sales around town at different houses throughout the summer.  She is a big collector and has several booths around town and even up in Missouri.  She goes to lots of auctions and buys lots of box lots of things.  She fishes out what she can sell in her booths and sells the rest at her garage sales.  My favorite thing that she does is fill up gallon sized Ziploc bags with random odd things and price them 25¢ to $1.00.  More often than not, they are a quarter.  She usually puts all kitchen things in a bag, or notions, or hardware, etc.  But, sometimes there are just random bags full of stuff.  I like those.  If I see one thing in a 25¢ bag that I can sell for $2.00, I buy the bag.  It takes me most of the evening to sort through the bags and decide what goes in the trash, what goes to Goodwill, what goes to the booth and what I will keep.  I only photographed what I kept either to keep or go to the booth.  I also didn't photograph the copious amounts of lace, rickrack, seam binding, plastic animal eyes, flocked birds, colored jingle bells and buttons that I already put in the craft bins.  

I took everything out to my photo taking area and started with a quilt that I bought for $3.00.  I was snapping away and decided to check my photos.  I am glad I did - it was so humid that the lens was fogged over.  I wouldn't have had any good photos for all my hard work.  

Foggy humid photo.

Clear but still hot and humid photo.  

Notice the toadstool that says BUBBA with a birth date of 1935.

It's a well made Mother's Day quilt with all of the family members names and birth dates on each square.  

Crappy getting foggy again photo of quilt.  Not sure if this will  go on ebay or to the booth.  It's very sweet and well made with lots of graphics representative of the 1970's.  I removed all the yarn ties since it was completely machine stitched.

On to the less foggy good stuff.  

 A vintage Sperti Sunlamp.  (I actually remember when these were attached to hotel beds.  Those and the vibrating machines you put 25¢ in - now one of those, I would like to find!  What?  Don't judge.  It feels good on your back!)  Enjoy the health benefits of Ultraviolet light and sunshine.  Added Vitamin D!  Yikes.  Melanoma anyone?  It's still a cool looking contraption though.  It's on a vintage Oregon souvenir scarf.

An adorable doll outfit, plastic cake decorator, neat old metal cake decorator and a Sear's  pull out clothesline.  The black box is the clothesline.  

Salesman sample of a Youngstown Dishwasher.  "The greatest household aid your wife will ever enjoy."  It's missing the lid, but I'm thinking I can use it as a planter or something.  The old checkers have already been modified into necklaces.  

A rooster spoon holder and three old metal Graniteware lids for the wind chimes I keep thinking I will make.  I keep buying metal stuff to make windchimes, but the TO DO list is a bit overwhelming at this point.  

Four glass Easter Eggs, an old WOODEN curling iron with a great green handle, another metal lid (yes, yes, I know...) and a watermelon potholder salvaged from the FREE bin.  That little statue is of a little boy reading a book.  I don't like things like this as a general rule, but he has just the sweetest little cherubic face and he reminds me of The Bean.  He has always had a book in his lap.  I suppose for 25¢ I can keep him without too much guilt. 

This photo is of all of my favorite finds and the keepers.   Four boxes of vintage birthday candles for my collection. An old BLUEBIRD Oil Stove Wick in the box.  I adore the graphics on the box and the fact that it says BLUEBIRD on the wick is an added bonus.  And, a hamster.  

Not just any hamster.  A STEIFF hamster.  In a 25¢ bag full of random junk.  His little head goes all the way around.  Wheeee!  I knew when I saw him in the bag that he was a Steiff.  I wish he had his button in his ear.  But I guess I can overlook that.   He's just too stinking cute.

Closeup of the Bluebird Oil Stove Wick.  Cute, right?

Okay, hold on to your chair.  Ready?

Ack!  Head-less dolls!  Doll-less heads! Ack!  Actually the heads and the dolls do go together.  I have had good luck in the past restringing them with rubber bands, so I will give it a go.  The little Charlie Chaplin look alike guy is the main one I hope I can fix.  Also, a plethora of colorful children's records.  I have plans to make clocks out of them.  But, will I?  To do, to do.....

Old letterman jacket letters, fifty pairs of vintage chopsticks, old sewing notions including lots of old needle packs with fun graphics.  

Old costume jewelry beads,  baby shoe planter and a pile of old photographs.  

That's Jack up there in the big photo.  

Say hello, Jack!

It's all laying on a nice big piece of pillowcase edging fabric.

Two old cutter tea towels with a Mexican theme and a big stack of old military pouches.  I have no idea what to do with them, but they just screamed BUY ME and MAKE ME into something.  To do, to do....  I think any respectable junker would like one sewn onto an apron to make a junking pouch.  I will either do something with them or throw then out at the Barn Sale and see what ideas people think of to do with them.  My Step Father - aka Mister Military couldn't figure out what they were originally.  The M-391-A is upside down when the pocket is on the top.  Oh well, fun stuff anyway.

The last couple of photos are from the Super Cheap Thrift run I made on Saturday.  Not pictured is a big stack of old wooden frames that were in a 25¢ box by the front door when I walked in.  But, by the time I left, they had been demoted to the FREE box, so I got them all for FREE.  They have already been spray painted and sent to the booth.  One was a bad dark wood frame with a 1980's etched mirror in it.  And on that mirror?  A UNICORN.  I flipped the mirror over and put a coat of chalkboard paint on it, painted the frame bright red and now it has been transformed.   It hangs on the diagonal, so it's kind of unique.  From FREE to $10.00 - BOOM!

An A&W RootBear, a crocheted chicken potholder, a silk scarf box and the scariest crocheted potholder ever in the history of crocheted potholders EVER.  I am in love with him.  I want him to be the new official mascot of the monkeybox blog.  Look for him to pop up in new and exciting places.  Kind of my version of Flat Stanley.  Potholder Patty?  

Nursery room cutouts of POOH characters.  The Bean loved his Pooh, so I still have a soft spot for Pooh.  It will go to the booth.  But, it's cute.  

Too much for his room now I suppose?

So, what did YOU find this weekend?