It's Vintage Thingies Thursday!!

Please join everyone over at Coloradolady's, where you can see lots of vintage treasures, and Suzanne is our hostess. Today I am sharing two old boxes that I use for storage, and inadvertently this post has ended up being about my Grandma!

This first box is in our bedroom.

I've thought about selling it several times, but I just can't do it, because it's too pretty!

It's an old Fannie May wood candy box! After you enjoyed the yummy candy, you were supposed to use it for storing gloves or hankies. So I am told.

Can you see that there is a large mirror when you open it? Can you see why I can't bear to sell it?!!

I use it to hold my Grandma's hankies. I remember one time when we were visiting my grandparents, and our daughter lost a tooth. We wrapped the tooth in one of my Grandma's hankies, and Liz slid it under her pillow, all the while thinking that there was no way that the Tooth Fairy would find the tooth so far away from home! Come morning, lo and behold, there were four quarters wrapped in that old hanky!

This box is an old stationary box that I had given my Grandma, back in the early 70's. I loved getting letters from my Grandma! I need to get them down from the attic, and put them in the box, where they belong. Now it just holds old receipts. Well, I hope that you enjoyed seeing my vintage thingies! Now go check out some more at Coloradolady's!

Thrifty Weekend Finds

Oh, I'm so late jumping in to join the party at Southern Hospitality! Congrats Rhoda, on the big move! I usually post my finds on Sunday nights, but I suffer from migraines, and Sunday I had a doozy. It's 3PM Monday, and I'm finally feeling human!

Well, I think I finally pushed my husband over the edge. He usually never says anything about my finds, but when he came home from work on Friday, he said "What's the deal with all the white chairs?" I said " They were only $1 each!" He said "I didn't ask you how much they were, I asked what the deal is with them. What are you going to do with them?" I said "They were $! each!! Who cares!" I actually only wanted one of them, but....they were $1 each!!! They're perfectly chippy, and I love them!

This statue was also only $1, from the same sale. This was the final sale of an estate sale that I had gone to a couple of weeks ago. And I learned a lesson when I bought this: when going to an estate sale or moving sale, always wander into the backyard, because there might be treasures there too!

I got this mirror to go on my porch.

I remembered seeing these chandelier crystals at the sale weeks ago, and they were $1 each then.

This time they were $1 for all of them! I grabbed that box so fast, and wouldn't put it down until it was safely in my car! My daughter wants to add some to the lights in her room, and I want to add some to the dining room light fixture. Can you believe the people at the sale asked me what they were?! I said "I dunno", and I walked quickly away!

I got this pink turkey for $1. A pink turkey!!
The old candy tin and biscuit tin were found at an antique store.

And these chalkware fruit will be great additions to my fruity kitchen. They were $1 each. I hope you found some great treasures this weekend too. Now go check out everyone else's at Southern Hospitality! And to Mr. Old Glory: Happy Birthday!

"Dirty Dishes" Fountain

I finally made one of these fountains last year, after seeing one several years ago on the Trash to Treasure segment of Decorating Cents on HGTV. I loved the idea right away, because it reminded me of how my Grandma would wash the dishes--in an old enamel bowl in the sink. When she was done, she would carry the bowl outside and empty it in the yard. You probably need to click to enlarge in order to see the spray of water. This idea is so simple, and you could make a fountain out of just about anything. The pump was the biggest expense, and that was only $14.99. You could fill a bowl with seashells, rocks, anything! It's just a soft splashing sound that is so restful while I'm on the porch swing reading a book. I love it!


This fountain is on the back porch, and the birds and squirrels drink out of it. The robins will actually take a bath in it, and I usually have to refill it, because really they are taking more of a shower than a bath! They get in there and start splashing the water around like crazy. It's pretty funny to watch!


This last fountain is from here, and that's where I got the pump for the dishes fountain. I just bought the cheapest fountain they had, and used the pump from it, because I didn't know where else I could get a cheap one. Well, Friday is garge saling day, and I hope I find some treasures. As usual, I'll be sharing all of my weekend finds on Sunday night. Have a great weekend!

It's Rednesday!

This is my first time participating in the Rednesday party! If you would like to see red, pop on over to My Secret Garden, where Sue is the hostess with the mostest! I've been sitting here, trying to remember what exactly got me collecting anything red. You see, I wasn't exactly crazy about the color red until a couple of years ago.

I think this clock might have been the catalyst (obsession starter), because I thought it would look nice against our minty green walls in the kitchen. But the clock isn't what I wanted to share with you today....

This quilt is. My wonderful sister made it for me last Christmas. She is a fabulous quilter, always trying something new. I love it! It's so cottagey perfect! Would the sofa also be considered red? It is verrry old. It was in my grandparents' home for as long as I can remember, and just recently my Mom told me that she remembers it from when she was little, and she is 84! It is pretty uncomfortable, yet really well-made . It would have to be, to survive 80+ years and alot of boy cousins! My Mom says it's stuffed with horse hair!

Well, that's it for my Rednesday! Most of my red is in the kitchen, so I don't know how much I will be able to share. I have very little of it in the rest of the house. Wait a minute. That's a perfect excuse to go shopping! I will look for more red on my Thursday antiqueing jaunts! Wish me luck!

Weekend Finds

Well, we went to about a dozen garage sales this weekend, and it was pitiful! LOTS of baby stuff, which is great for someone with a baby, just not what I'm looking for. I bought this picnic basket at an antique store on Thursday, which is the day my mother, my sister and I go antiquing every week. I got excited when I saw it, but at first I wasn't even going to look at the price. These go for ALOT of money on Ebay, and I never see them at antique stores. Well imagine my surprise when it was 1/3 of what they go for on Ebay! WooHoo! A nice addition to my collection.
I got this metal candleholder for $1.00. It's about 3' tall, and I've already painted it, but it's not done, so I'll show the results in my next post. I didn't really want to buy it, but at that point we had been to about 5 sales, and I hadn't bought anything yet. Not a really good reason to buy something, but I knew it had potential, and it made me feel like the whole day wasn't a bust!

These perfumes were 25 cents each! I never spend money on perfume for myself. To me they are a luxury, as I'd rather spend my money on flowers and antiques! I guess everyone has their weakness, and perfume is not mine. Let me tell you I was pretty excited to get Estee Lauder Pleasures, Beautiful, and Beyond Paradise, and Perry Ellis, all for a quarter! I'll be smelling fancy for a year!

I got a set of four of these trellises for $6. I had a metal arch mysteriously break and bend in half in the back yard, so my Sweet Autumn Clematis desparately needs something to take over, and these will be perfect. I swear, that plant is like something out of Little Shop of Horrors! I'll show this in my next post.

Remember this mirror that I couldn't figure out how to hang?

Well, Sarah told me to get my butt to the hardware store and get those plastic thingies to hang mirrors with. Duh! How did I not think of this myself?! They worked perfectly, and were so easy to do. This is part of my vintage mirror collection. As you can see, I "need" a couple more small mirrors. There's too much empty wall space! Sarah has a gorgeous collection, which I am very envious of!

I had my morning cup of coffee at the patio table on the back porch, and MimiLucy decided to join me. She likes to watch the birds as much as I do!

A couple of minutes after she plopped down on the patio table, a hummingbird came to investigate that lantana in the picture above. I knew it was a good idea to put it right by the table, because hummingbirds love lantana. It's amazing how close they will come if you sit very still. I want to go sit out there later, with my camera, and try to get a good shot, because I've never gotten a picture of a hummer. Don't worry, the hummer was never in any danger of being eaten by Mimi. She is old, overweight(she asked me not to use a full body shot), and lazy! I hope you had a great weekend, and maybe found a treasure or two! And if you would like to see other bloggers' thrifty finds, go to Southern Hospitality, where Rhoda is our lovely hostess!

Vintage Thingies and Other Stuff

It's that time again! Time to show your thingies! If you would like to see more thingies, go to Coloradalady's blog, where Suzanne is our hostess. Meet my new favorite thingie. Isn't she a beauty? I just got her from Ebay, and I love her! It's so retro cool, isn't it? As soon as I got it out of the box, I played the radio for hours, and the clock keeps perfect time. Only one problem. It scares me. When I went to turn it off, and put it there on that table, the back was so hot! My husband tells me that this is normal, because it is a tube radio, and tubes get hot. I'm afraid to leave it plugged in and running, because it might start a fire. Does anyone have a tube radio? I love it so much, and I want more old radios without the clock. Can you feel another collection coming on?

I've been working on this sign for 2 weeks now, and I finally finished it! Ok. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking How pretentious. Not only has she NAMED her house, but she's made a sign too! Don't worry. I'm thinkin' the same thing!

It took forever to figure out the right color to paint it (you probably need to enlarge the pic), but sometimes the easiest way is right under our nose. Or in our blog header picture.

I found these thermoses and sandwich box under the seat in my van the other day. I had bought it on our trip to Wisconsin, and forgot all about them.

I hung it by the back door, because I want everyone to know that I am so ready for a picnic!

Finally, I want to thank Shauna, because I won this book! It came by UPS yesterday, and I'm so excited! My first blog giveaway win! I can't wait to read this book, as I have been trying to get it at the library, but it has a looonnggg waiting list for it. My good luck continued, because a couple days later, I won a book (thank you Elizabeth!) from another giveaway! I will share that as soon as it arrives. It's always a great day when you get a new book, isn't it?!

Some Projects and A New Collection

Gosh, does anybody else get a headache after trying to upload their pictures, in the right order? For the fifth time?! I hate how you have to upload them in backwards order of the way you want them shown. Can't they make it easier? Anyway, I goofed off ALL day Sunday! Did silly little things that weren't important, but had been driving me crazy, painted anything that stood still, and I had FUN! Do you remember this garage sale chair? It sure is cute, but I wanted to plant it. So I took the seat off, and that little back cushion,
and I found an old enamel basin in the shed, and I planted it! I wish I had waited 'til my neighbors went somewhere in their car to take this picture! Not attractive at all. Do you feel weird taking pictures of things in your yard? I do.

I bought this birdcage a couple weeks ago, and knew that I wanted it sitting on this table, somewhere in the garden, but the table is all rusty, so...

I spraypainted both! I hope you can tell that I painted the cage pink. I just threw a pack of flowers in there to see how they would look. How much do you want to bet that pack stays in there like that, and I don't put them in a pot? I'm a lazy gardener!

Next, this cabinet is so hard to open.

There is a key in each lock, and if I'm not careful the key will turn and lock the door and it's very hard to unlock it.

So I got some knobs from Hobby Lobby, half off, my drill and metal bit to drill through the locks, and

I like this so much better! Now if only I can talk my family into letting me paint this cabinet! I would love to paint it Wedgwood Green, or a pale yellow, or even chippy white. So far it's a no go. Is there something in your house that you want to change, but your family has talked you out of it?

I got this old pot at an estate sale, and I wasn't crazy about the color, so

I painted it! I was trying to make it look like a concrete pot. I saw some beautiful antique ones last week, but the cheapest was $40. It's ok, but definitely an improvement.

I see that I have messed up on the order of pictures here. Oh well, you will see the after before the before! I have a very tiny house, so I use this bin to hold my buckets for mopping the floors, and it also holds seasonal items from the porch. I added ball feet to raise it off the porch.

Well, here's the before shot. I got this bin for $2 a couple years ago.

Another before shot. This is what it looked like sitting on my porch for a couple years. I decided it needed a change.

And finally, the start of another collection. Just what I need! I had two cloches already, but I found another one today, so it's official. I have a cloche collection!

I was able to trap a fairy in this big one, made in Czechoslovakia.

And another one in the cloche I got today.

And I caught two in this one! This cloche was my first, and I was told that it is English. I don't understand what that green part is on it, but I like it anyway! Now if only I can find something really neat to make a chalkboard out of! I feel like I am the only person in the free world who hasn't made one! So that was my Sunday. I got nothing done that I was supposed to. My husband had to go to work today with mismatched socks, because I didn't do his laundry. I am bad. But I had fun.