All The Pretty Colors ~ Estate Sale Finds

I love the colors of all these recently purchased Estate Sale items.



pretty reds and blues with yellows and greens...

old Christmas light reflectors, a tea tin



pen nibs..



handmade felt artichoke pincushions..



student watercolours, and a vintage toy shovel...

I LOVE being an antiques dealer.....

and if you like seeing what I find...

Estate Sale Finds as Still-Life

This is part of my haul from recent Estate Sales.... grouped on my kitchen counter so I can enjoy them ~ briefly ~ before packing them off to be sold....



... four flower frogs {from 4 different sales}, 1909 postcard with BEAUTIFUL handwriting, fancy vintage pin, old fly swatter




apothecary jar, two crosses and two rosaries, little business address books,



a herd of steel pin nibs, old screen-door spring {inside jar}, bill holder {pointy thing},




and the funny monkey-face-looking-things are sprinklers.

World Traveling Friends

I am reposting this as part of Sunday Favorites... It was first posted in May... and I love the old pictures and vintage luggage {both part of my collections at the time} and wanted to share it will you again....



While they traveled the world...



from Europe...



to the rockies...



to old Maine's cottages.



They used their luggage. I mean they really, really USED their luggage..



then repaired it, patched it up...



and USED it some more!



Wouldn't it have been being one of these friends ~ and being part of their globe trotting adventures?

Pot your Croquet Set ~ or what to do when your plants are dead!

I admit it...I stole this idea from another blogger. But, not just any old blogger ~ a blogger who is a friend of mine...not just a "blogger" friend...a real life friend...who lives very close to me....



AND I am going to show you EXACTLY where I stole it from...right here.

My croquet sets come from curbside shopping also...and notice that she has one end thingie...and I have one end thingie...but they aren't from the same set! Weird.



I so wanted to put something in this empty urn AND... had no ideas... forgot about it... and then right on my sidebar appeared.... inspiration!

I hope she doesn't mind. I will let you know if she does! I am going off to email her right now! {Update: She said, "Steal away, and be sure you blog about it." ~ not really, she was very nice about it!}

Linda's look so cute as a pair...I don't have that many croquet mallets, and I don't have a cute pair of urns by my front door like she does.




What do you do when faced with the "Empty Planter Dilemma"?

White Urn Wednesday

In September I like to add a little autumn to my beach decor....



with seed pods, dried hydrangea, touches of darker blue and a splash of orange.



I found this plaster urn a couple of years ago. I have never seen another like it. Wish I had a second one

~ I love pairs!

Feathered Friends

This post is for the birds. { and the nests! and the eggs! }

No other words needed.

White Wednesday

Had to... just had to.... join the White Wednesday blog party hosted by Faded Charm. Love her blog name, her blog, and this blog party!!!!!!!




Today I'm showing a little wire cloche I made, filled with old butter pats, and adorned with a little bisque girl.

Here is the post I wrote about making the cloche.

Enjoy your day traveling around in the wonderful world of white!

Where I Create

I am participating in the exciting blog party Where Bloggers Create being hosted by MY DESERT COTTAGE....so...

Imagine me {making snowmen, yes snowmen!} in an unfinished basement...AKA, my studio...




surrounded by unmatched, trash-find wood shelves, working on Costco folding tables...




filled with stuff collected over many years...




some of it planned for a specific project...




some of it collected for future projects...




some of it just because it was cool, neat, cheap, interesting...




fun, or free...




and some JUST BECAUSE...




as I get older...




I am more willing to actually make things with all this stuff...not so worried that it will be all gone...not so worried that I won't find more...




Now I make things to sell so these bits and pieces can have a new life, and other people can ENJOY THEM.

Bringing the Outside Inside

Today I'd like to do something a little different.

For this Outdoor Wednesday I'd like to show you how I bring the OUTSIDE to the INSIDE of my home.



I so love the way they look outside, that I made some permanent arrangements of eggs with nests to have inside. They are all under glass domes with wood bases that I painted black.



The top two were made faux eggs and nests. The last one has a real egg and nest that was abandoned.

The leaves and stems are a combination of real and faux. On the backside of the domes, I attached old bird, nest, and egg prints.

The bird print in the last photo is attached to the backside of a glass microscope slide.



I call them Life Under Glass. Thank you for letting me share them with you.

I'd love to see and hear how you bring the OUTSIDE inside.

Hem measurers = photo holders.

In a previous post, I showed and talked about how to make a simple photo holder from vintage skirt hem measurer.

I am HOOKED on doing and making things the simple way.



I am taking this group of photo holders to the Grayslake (Illinois) market this weekend to sell....

.

But, I wanted to show you how interesting they look with old photos and displayed in a group.

Look around your home and see what you already have that you could use in a new way. And, have fun with your stuff!!!!!!

Updated July 13, 2009: These all sold at the Grayslake (Il.) Market last weekend. Just letting you know how this project worked out business-wise.

A flea under the Flight Path

During the last two weeks I've taken you shopping for my antiques business in a geodesic dome, and sale-ing through the North Shore of Chicago.




Today we are going to a parking lot flea market under the flight path of O'Hare Airport on the northwest side of Chicago.

Many of you have flown in here never knowing what's going on below you on a Sunday morning.



Can you tell from the photo below that the sun isn't up yet? We arrived at about 4 am. last Sunday.

Bikes of all kinds, ages, and conditions are one of the most commonly sold things at this market. I don't exactly know how well they sell. It isn't something I'm interested in personally.




This is more like it. This vendor had recently cleaned out several local estates and had many interesting things to offer.

In this pile there are many things of local Chicago interest. I bought some unusual items from him to sell through my soon to come online business.




The booth below would be considered well-displayed at this market.



Most of them look more like this...or...



even like this. Right on the ground. In fact, this is the most common display technique.



These two items were the most unusual I saw on Sunday. They are PRISON TELEVISIONS!

They are see-through so contraband can't be hidden inside them by prisoners. They are purchased by the prisoners and can be taken home upon release. Interesting home accessory, huh?



One of the things I really enjoy about flea market shopping is talking to the people I meet.. like the couple selling the televisions who assured me that the husband had NOT gotten these while in prison.

Good to know.



Near the end of the morning. Ever helpful husband taking a load of purchase back to the car...while I finish up.



Just before leaving I bought this weird antenna made in Chicago. Why is this guy holding it? He followed me back to my car because he had to have it for his 1940's vintage TV!! Money changed hands. He was happy and I was happy.

We spent our profits at the Lowes on our way home on supplies to finish other projects to sell next weekend.