MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of My Weekend Finds, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!

It's that time of year when the blog gets even more neglected than usual. It's gardening season! Mr. Old Glory and I have been working hard in the gardens. We (and when I say "we" I mean mostly HE) demolished one of the gardens, because it's becoming impossible for me to take care of it all. My problem is that I never met a plant I didn't like, and when you add in tons of freebies, it's downright overwhelming and not fun anymore. To all of you beginner gardeners: Keep It Small!!!  

Have you EVER seen a sweeter little watering can than this one? Me either! I saw it on Etsy, added it to my Favorites and minutes later I bought it. I've never seen one like it before and knew I better buy it or have it forever haunt me as "The One That Got Away"!

Here's the back. Loooove that wheelbarrow full of posies!

A gorgeous lady head vase, with a bouquet of fantastically tacky plastic flowers blooming out of her head. Only $5 at the flea market. Normally I haggle on everything at the flea, but this time I was dumbfounded and just handed the seller a fiver and walked quickly away!

A pink lucite clock to add to my collection. Very hard to get good shots in the bedroom where the rest of the collection is, because of all the trees. Nice and sunny in the dining room!

A vintage Imperial camera, fished out of a $1 box at the flea. The Playtime water colors paint box is a find from several months ago. It was covered in paint on the outside and I don't even want to say how much time I spent, using just my fingernails, getting that paint off!

An old laundry cart, found at an estate sale. I don't know why I bought it. Our "laundry room" is in the basement, and believe me, this won't make it any cuter. I guess it falls into the category of something that I've always wanted. Not crazy about the yellow and black liner, but I know that I can always make a prettier one someday. 

But wait! It doesn't necessarily have to be relegated to the dreary basement. It can hold plants!

OR, it can hold vintage linens, like that daffodils in a flower cart tablecloth which I recently found. Yes, the jury is still out on where the old laundry cart will end up.... 

Last up is a Napco parakeet plate, hanging on the jadeite green secretary hutch. So that's it for my finds. A pretty meager assortment for sure. I can't decide if the junking is that bad, or if I'm getting pickier. I think it might be the latter. I caught myself several times at the flea market almost picking something up, but then saying to myself: "You don't want that. The old you, the one who bought everything because she saw it on another blog wants it, but YOU are trying to lead a simpler, less cluttered life. Walk away, just walk away!". Sometimes you really need to listen to that little voice inside your head in order to be happy!~~~~~Has that little voice inside your head recently talked YOU in or out of some junk? Do tell! 

AN EASTER BUNNY CUPCAKE

Poor Cupcake. I didn't decorate at all inside for Easter, but I did take the time to decorate the cat! She looks embarrassed and angry, doesn't she? That's a lethal combination when there's claws involved! Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!  

MY WEEKEND FINDS

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of MY WEEKEND FINDS, the continuing saga of one girl's quest for more junk!~~~~~~~~Well, hello there! It feels so good to be rejoining blogland after a long winter's nap. After a few projects around the house and getting used to a new computer ( I hate Windows 8), I'm ready to dive back in and share some junk! I've gone to at least one estate sale every week, usually coming home empty handed.  Garage sale season officially started on Friday, so that's pretty exciting. Oh, and the weather has finally cooperated so that we could go to the flea market on Sunday. Endless rows of junk, how I've missed you!!! 

They may be a little beat up and kinda rusty, but I loooove that big blue picnic tin, and the watering can collection welcomed a new arrival. Crazy about those pansies!

QUESTION: Have you ever seen something at the flea market that you wanted so badly, knew was valuable, and was terrified to ask the price? I have tried several times to win this old Our Country print on Ebay, only to be waaay outbid each time. So when I spotted it at the flea, I whispered under my breath Oh My God, got really scared, regained my composure and asked what the price was. It ended up being about 1/10 of the usual Ebay price! Isn't she beautiful? Even after she was mine, I think I drove Mr. Old Glory nuts because I still couldn't stop saying Oh My God!!! 

This old plastic aqua bread box came from an estate sale. Guess what I keep in there........ 

I learned how to crochet over the winter and I made a bunch of dish cloths!!! I watched a You Tube video and it was a piece of cake. This dummy CAN crochet! Next winter I hope to learn how to crochet a scarf. I'm sure there's a video for that too!

This witch blow mold came from an estate sale, and the seller kept cracking jokes about his ex-wife, so when I paid for it, I had to ask if VIRGINIA was his ex-wife's name. Hahaha! At first I was going to try to scrub off the name, but now I love it and I think it adds to her charm! 

About a week later I found more vintage Halloween blow molds. That huge pumpkin has a flat back, a first for me. I think it will be frightfully awesome hanging on the house!

An old red can that I can picture some pink flowers growing in, and a pair of old Bobby Orr skates to add to the outdoor Christmas/winter decorations.

A pair of old Christmas cellophane candle wreaths.

And a teeny tiny parakeet for the bird cage on the right. Gotta have birds if I'm gonna collect cages!~~~~~~~I don't know about you, but I'm positively brimming with excitement! SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!!! I've got so many plans for the gardens, some demolished and some improved upon. And I'm getting ready for another garage sale, getting rid of lots of unwanted junk. And going to sales and buying more junk. Because that's what we do! Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to. I've missed you all so much! 

Valentine's Day Tablecloth

Have you made your sweetheart an elaborate cake like this for Valentine's Day yet? Me either. Believe it or not, I'm still decorating and crafting!  

While I was putting this cloth on the table, I realized that I had never ever seen a vintage Valentine's Day tablecloth in all of my junking travels. Is there such a thing as a vintage Valentine's Day tablecloth? Well I had to Google it! And do you know what? There isn't. At least not a cloth one. Only paper or plastic! But I really wanted that tablecloth to have a vintage feel, so I decided to make my own.  

I cut out some cupids, and used adhesive spray for the very first time. Hours later, I still had that stuff on my fingernails, but it does work. I wanted to keep this cloth very simple, but it felt like it was missing something.   

I decided it could use some trim all the way around it, but I wasn't about to spend $10+ on bias tape, so I made my own, using very cheap muslin. So instead of paying $10 I spent less than a dollar and had more money to spend on junk!

Much better, but it needed something more......

NOW I'm happy! It's exactly how I envisioned it, but it took me about 2 weeks to work up the nerve to try that spray adhesive. It stinks, it's sticky and you end up with furry fingers (nail polish remover works wonders!), but I recommend it!

This year's decorations on the green cabinet.....

That humongous pink candy box was a thrift store find. 

When I was putting away the Christmas decorations last month, I noticed that the candy cane lights that I had tossed on the ground made a nice heart shape. So I wired a pair together and hung a set on the back porch, where hardly anyone could see them, to see how goofy it might look.   

I liked it so much that I hung one on the front porch too! 

A cupid blow mold by the back door.  I bought it at a small card and party shop about 15 years ago, and have never seen one like it since. It stays out of direct sunlight and basically out of sight of anyone who might want to "borrow" it.... 

While I was outside taking those shots, I could feel a pair of eyes following my every move!

Normally Cupcake Sprinkles doesn't want anything to do with going outside while it's this cold and snowy, but I'm guessing that even she has cabin fever!~~~~~~HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!

PINK VALENTINE'S DAY TREE

Last year, I found this pink, pre-lit tree at a garage sale. I've always wanted a small-ish tree to decorate for Valentine's Day and Easter, so I grabbed it. But I wasn't too crazy about that plastic stand these trees always come with. 

Cupcake Sprinkles is trying to draw your attention down to the new stand I fashioned for it.

It's the legs from a small tea table that had been sitting up in the attic for years. But that wood grain color just wouldn't do.  

So I took the "stand" off and put it in a big box and spraypainted it pink in the bathroom. Really can't wait for spraypainting season to start up again. So much easier to do that outside or in the garage!  

Much better! Now time to decorate the tree....

I knew I wanted to put valentines on the tree, but I didn't want to use any of my vintage ones. So when I found this book, I knew I could use these flocked cards without feeling guilty about gluing hangers onto the backs of them. 

I've always loved that kitty card with the hearts all over it. What would you call that? They're not polka dots, so maybe they're polka hearts? Or Hearta dots? Probably just a cat with hearts all over it, right?! 

That owl was definitely going on my tree. 

I think this one is my favorite. You insert the petals in the slots......

And pluck each petal to see if he loves you. Yes, no, maybe so. He loves me!

I even used one of the kitty cards to make a topper for the tree.

I don't think I'm done decorating the tree yet, but this is what it looks like so far. I wouldn't mind tucking in a few more little ornaments here and there, if I happen to find some vintage-y ones that I like!~~~~~This is one more project, started during the deep freeze of a few weeks ago, completed! And speaking of deep freezes, we're in the middle of another one, so if I can just take a moment to say this: Dear Mother Nature, I surrender!   You've been kicking my butt for weeks now.  YOU WIN!!! Now can we please have a warm-up, like in the 20s? That sounds downright balmy right now! Stay warm bloggy friends! 

$3.00 Valentine's Day Wreath

I'll admit it. Whenever there's a threat of bad weather, it scares the bejeebers out of me. Although home is my favorite place to be, I hate to not be able to go somewhere. So a few days before we were sucked into the polar vortex that plunged us into sub-zero temps and made it impossible to see out of any of the windows, like our kitchen window above, I panicked and went out and got supplies for a few projects. 

I've had plans to make a valentine wreath for the back door for awhile now, so I grabbed that white wreath for an after-Christmas, rock bottom price of $2.00. I already had the glitter letters, red Dollar Tree Christmas ornaments from two years ago, and the embroidery thread. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, but I ended up returning it and using ribbon I already had, also from Dollar Tree two years ago. 

This package of glittery hearts from Dollar Tree caught my eye. I knew that they would add some extra sparkle to my wreath, so now a $2.00 wreath + $1.00 glitter hearts = A $3.00 Valentine Wreath!

Here's the start of the bunting I envisioned for the wreath. I wanted to use capital letters, but I was missing an M, so lower case it was! I was tempted to buy some of that cute baker's twine that I see everywhere, but the polar vortex was coming and I had no time to spare! I remembered I had tons of embroidery thread in every color of the rainbow, so I decided to somehow make that work. 

I twisted some pink and red thread together, and it looked cute so I went with it. 

And here is the finished project. I'm pretty pleased with my $3 wreath!~~~~~~I was going to share some of my other projects, but then I decided to do a post about each one separately. It will force me to blog more often!~~~~~~~My new motto: BAD WEATHER IS GOOD FOR CRAFTING!