Overwhelmed

There are times when I go in search of antiques in America and come up empty handed.  Then, there are times like these when there are so many flea markets and antique shows and the shops seem very well stocked, at least until I show up and take it all home to add to the pile.  I recently told my husband I didn't have any money left, and he looked at me like there were radishes growing out of my ears because I have been shipping about 20 items every day.  I had to explain that while I am selling hundreds of dollars of merchandise, I am buying thousands of dollars in merchandise.  I seriously can barely get to my computer and work table because there are Cat in the Hat piles of bowls and firkins and boxes filled with old tin, all needing to be transformed.  My music room is now the hoarders nest, the dining room has things lined up around the walls and I have to clear a place for us to eat every single night.  Although we cleared out the Clarinda house a year ago, I just now was able to go through a few of the boxes we stuffed in the attic, so much more left to deal with.  We also have the husband's parents home to clear out and it is getting stacked on the front porch and in the garage.  I feel like all I do is fill up the trailer, go to the landfill and dump stuff where ever we can find a bare spot.  Not liking it at all.  With too much to do and not enough time to do it, how did I spend last night?  Went to the casino at 7, looked up from the slot machine to find that it was now 2 am.  I don't even know how that happened, but I can still see spinning reels when I close my eyes.  Of course, I won a lot, and of course I lost it all, but it was fun at least.

The latest dark and spooky items that I have managed to create amongst the chaos:

A Little Bit of This a Little Bit of That

 It has been a roller coaster July.  My husband had a hip replacement and it was a month of recovery.  He fell on the ice a couple years ago when he was out jogging, pulled a muscle that never healed and the limping ended up destroying the hip.  Miracles is what those ortho guys do.  Still, I was in charge of all the fetching of things for the first week, lots of work and worry about blood clots and other disasters, but we came through at last.  I am going to have a hard time when he retires--I barely had a minute to work on my shop, so been putting in overtime now that he is back at work.  Scattered, I am doing everything at once, and here are the results:

Could be fall...

or maybe just jump in to Christmas

but don't forget about blue

and maybe a little red for good measure

Teal Blue and New Photographs

 I wasn't happy with my teal milk paint photographs, so I did them over, much better!  I love the color so much, I painted one million more things with it and now I have to order more paint.

I was patting myself on the back for finally getting some Independence Day goods done early....then I realized it is only 2 weeks away, so I am actually very late.  I may start doing fall now, as it crazily seems to sell in July and August better than in October.

The Once in a Lifetime Antique Find

I stumbled upon this set of toy graniteware quite by chance--someone had listed them in the pretend play toys section and called it spatterware.  I knew I loved it and wanted it and could not believe I was the only bidder.  There were 30 pieces!  Further investigation found that it is confetti graniteware, or "end of day" graniteware, when the factory workers used up all the bits of enamel color left at the end of the day to create this beautiful pattern. It is rare to find any, let alone this many pieces, most in excellent condition.  I am only slightly surprised that I re-sold them so quickly.  I think this is my most wonderful find of my antique career.

 

Studies in White

I have become a bit obsessed with early ironstone, old photos and black and white graphics. I would love to do an antique show using just this style.  If you have never heard of 1871 Farmhouse, look up the etsy shop and her blog and Pinterest, I love, love, love her style.  I am so inspired by all her photos--she takes gray and white and all things neutral and makes them "catch your breath" beautiful.

 

Just Working and Working

 I have nothing interesting to say, just painting and painting, no fun these days.  This is the new teal milk paint I just bought:

These are the tins that just needed blue calico:

and some more odds and ends:

Breathe In and Breathe Out

 I quote my new favorite song from For King and Country.  The chorus of "breathe in and breathe out" gets me through the day.  If you haven't heard of this band, go the Youtube!  Watch their live performances for the best idea of who they are, which is amazing.  Grace took me to a concert last year, I went to make her happy, expected nothing and turned out they are now my absolute favorite music to listen to, and the concert was unlike anything I have ever been to.  The brothers sing like angels, the music is very percussion centered, very energetic and wonderful.  My husband didn't want to go to that one, but agreed to take us to their Christmas concert in Kansas City last November.  He, like me, thought he was just going to make us happy, and ended up becoming a convert.  We immediately bought tickets for the next concert in our area, which was 2 weeks ago in Moline.  It was even better than the first shows we saw, so back to the tour page, we find they will be in Des Moines in August, definitely going.

Now, back to work, here is the latest from Catspaw: