Flea Market Finds

On Sunday, I had some time to spend with my mother. We decided to check out a small flea-market and a couple thrift stores. It's fun to thrift and spend time with family at the same time. We both enjoy treasure hunting. I didn't find much this weekend, but I found a few fun items.

I found MANY sets of earrings for only 25 cents each! I kept over half of them for myself and the rest are for the store. :) I love costume jewelry, the funky shapes and colors!

I've been on a "jewelry-making kick" these days, making jewelry out of buttons. These button cards were marked down to only 10 cents each so I gathered up all the pretty ones they had to offer.

I thought these two metal trays were pretty and in great condition so I purchased them for a quarter each!

I found two old BINGO games on the bottom shelf of a thrift store for only 50 cents a piece! LOVE LOVE LOVE old BINGO cards and pieces. The one in the red box is from 1959 and I believe the blue game is older than that!

Amazing Author

                                                           Books by Tracy Chevalier

I love to read books that take you to a different time and place. I fell in love with the author, Tracy Chevalier, after I read her book: "Girl With a Pearl Earring." From there on I had to own every book of hers that I could get my hands on! 

In many of her stories she takes a popular piece of artwork and she comes up with a story of how that piece came to be. Many of them take place in 16th-18th Centuries, great historical backgrounds and you fall in love with the characters. Her books are twisty, eerie and full of interesting detail. They are definitely page turners, you won't want to put them down but you also won't want the story to be over by the time you reach the end. I highly recommend these books! 



The Virgin Blue is my favorite!

Dining Room Re-do

My husband and I live in a 1920's farmhouse and for the past couple years I have really enjoyed furnishing our home with the majority of the furniture coming from Garage Sales, Thrift Stores and Antique Stores. Some of it...actually A LOT of it was even free! Perks of working for your father at a Thrift Store, I get first dibs! :)

When we first moved in to our home, I found our dining room table on Craigslist for only $10.00! It was a nice large table with black iron detail and 'Queen Anne' style legs. Not in perfect condition, but still a fantastic find! It just happened, at the same time, a gentleman donated 4 black iron chairs, they needed recovered and had gum stuck to the bottoms but I saw potential. My cousin who is amazing at reupholstering furniture, recovered the chairs for me and Wah-lah! We had a nice looking, CHEAP dining table and chairs!

BEFORE PICTURE

Around Christmas my father came across a nice, antique dining table that came with two leaves and 6 matching chairs. The set also came with a matching buffet. He planned on giving it to my mother for Christmas but she didn't like the color. I, on the other hand, thought it was perfect! I decided to take it and replace my $10 Table and Chairs. I was lucky and found the same fabric that I had used on my black chairs to recover the seat cushions on the new chairs. I really love how it looks in our dining room and it will be nice to have more seating for holidays in the future. That buffet will come in handy also for all of our nice dishes! 

AFTER PICTURE

Which one do you like better?

Interesting Items

One of my favorite things about my job is getting boxes of new items in at the thrift store. I love popping the boxes open one by one and sorting through them to see what fun vintage items are in there. I enjoy finding unique, interesting items that not everyone may be looking for but will definitely get comments. Sometimes I get carried away and decide to take the really cool stuff home with me... but I have gotten better about my picking and choosing. :) These are some of the things I'm loving in our store right now...


Animal figures with jeweled eyes are so cute. They are always an unexpected color like this pink Siamese.

 I love Vintage boxes with neat colors and graphics.

Vintage patterns are fun and the pictures are always a little goofy. These remind me of my Barbie and Ken paperdolls that I had as a little girl.

These small, jointed Napco Dolls were wrapped up in a tiny box. Clearly they had been treasured for a long time.

I have a love for old boxes and compartments so I absolutely adore this small painted sewing box with drawers for needles, buttons and pins. Hard telling what I will get in next! :)

Week of Snapshots

Since I began blogging, I have tried to have my camera with me wherever I go. I like to take random photos of things that catch my eye, like these pretty smelling flowers that were my Valentine's gift. He did good. :)

My Aloe Vera plant, has a pod on it that looks like it is about to bloom...Do Aloe Vera plants bloom?!

If so, I had no idea!

A yummy treat from Coldstone Creamery, Oatmeal Cookie Batter ice cream with Heath bar. Delicious.



My basket full of dog doctor supplies. My kitchen looks like a vet clinic with bandages and syringes and medicine taking up the entire counter, but we are dealing with it. :)

Hope you all had a great week! Happy Friday!

Fruity Collection

I have many items that I love to collect. Usually when I see something that would fit into one of my MANY collections, I just HAVE to have it! If I spot something, I smile, look at my husband and watch his eyes roll back in his head followed by a "Where are you going to put it?!" This doesn't bother me, I take it to the cash register and move on.

One of my favorite items to collect are fruit shaped jars with lids. Also known as, "Apple Jelly Jars" or "Sugar Bowls." This collection began when I spotted an Apple shaped jar just like one my grandma had sitting on the kitchen table when we were growing up. I remember she used to keep sunflower seeds in it for her salads. My sister and I would eat the seeds by the spoonfuls out of that thing. :) I purchased that one and ever since, if I see a fruit shaped jar...or even a vegetable...I snatch it up!

I have Strawberries, Raspberries, Oranges, Apples, Grapes, a Lemon...I even have an Ear of Corn and an Eggplant.

I love the color they add to my kitchen and...come on, they are cute!

The largest fruit jar I own is a Strawberry cookie jar that I purchased at a garage sale for $2. She was a sweet elderly lady and she told me that her mother glazed it at a ceramic shop many years ago. I love hearing stories of where items come from. It makes them more special.

Puppy Love

Happy Valentine's Day!
My Valentine sweetheart is my poor puppy dog, who
finally got to come home Friday. He is definitely in a
lot of pain and discomfort. He has his jaw and his canine teeth wired together so his jaw fractures can hopefully heal. He has to wear a muzzle all-day/every-day for 6-weeks. He has a feeding tube and all he can do is sleep.

It is honestly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Having a 100lb. dog (Yes, he is huge!) relying on us to keep him alive is a daunting task. I am trying my hardest to get him back to his happy, tail wagging self.

Wish me luck!