Treasure Hunting

I had a lot of fun on my treasure hunt this morning.... the weather was fabulous and everyone I came across was happy, so it made for a fun-fun day. I found five lace-scalloped metal tin pieces, the likes of which I've never seen before. I paid $4 for all of them.... caute huh? You should have seen the people trying to buy them off me, it was so funny.... I could have made a hefty profit, but I'm greedy and I wanted them for myself--- although, I don't have a clue what I'm going to do with them just yet! Some jewelry, all of this for $1... A huge lot of necklaces, these were .50¢ each. Just look at these beauts.... Lastly, this fabulous wooden magazine holder. This was $6. I am going to paint it white (of course) and put my grandkids coloring books and crayons in it. It is actually quite tall, it stands almost two feet. I also bought 8 pairs of lace curtain panels for .50¢ a panel. Eight bucks for a trunk load of curtains... my-my-my... I also got several wooden curtain rods with all the hardware for only $4. I am anxious to wash the lace curtains and hang them up....but.... I've got to hit the sheets as we are going to Disneyland in the morning. *woot-woot*
Toodles!!

Glittered eggs

I made some glittered egg ornaments for an Easter ornament swap I joined. I cut an opening into each plastic egg-- Next, I added a flat platform to the bottom of each egg. After glittering inside and out of each egg.... I then created a little vignette inside each one. Look at this little pixie... I adore the puzzled look on his face, so funny~ I was to make six, but ended up making seven... so I could keep one myself. Don't you find you never make yourself anything? I think the vintage pearls and seam binding finish them off nicely. I'm keeping this one....I like the look of boredom he has to his stance, the little cutie-pie~

Salvaged Treasures

This weekend I thought was going to be a total bust on finding any treasures... due to the fact that I was HAVING a yard sale instead of going to yard sales. Well, after about an hour of putting my stuff out onto the driveway, and selling things for about another hour.... I was done, done... done. I sold the ALL the remaining contents left on the driveway for $20. It took us about another forty-five minutes to bag everything up and stick it in the ladies van. Whew...work-out!

With money burning a hole in my pocket..... FLAMES I tell ya! We headed out to find some treasures. I found this wooden headboard and foot board for $20, asking price was $35... This 1942 vintage game was only $1. Look at the fabulous graphics on the money. Caute huh? Next yard sale.... was a DREAM. Shabby chic everything. *swoon-sigh-get busy grabbing stuff yard sale* I bought this fabulous table and chairs set for only $125. Already painted white-- hooray! It came with a fitted glass top and it has THREE leaves to extend it to a ginormous size.... Look at the cute as can be chairs. If you can even fathom the thought, this table that you see pictured here even has drop down sides to make it even smaller if you need it to be. I love it! I also bought all this china for $5. A couple of books and a German glitter glass ornament, all this for $4. A super heavy fireplace pit for only $20. Its going to be a beaut once its newly painted! *woot-woot* This small table and chair set was only $10. With the addition of these two chairs, I now have 31 chairs in my backyard..... A huge bag full of scrapbook items and books for only $4. The 3 piece pen set alone online sells for $25.... Now, I'm off to buy some paint for my new headboard and fireplace pit. Happy-happy-joy-joy.... Its starting to feel like Spring ;-P or maybe I should say I've got a "spring" in my step over my newly acquired stuff!
I've linked up to "Thrift Share Monday"

Hallelujah...

The weather has finally decided to stop messing around and become spring-like. Hall-e-lu-jah! Lately, I've been spending my days outdoors trying to get my backyard under control.... leaves, sticks, WEEDS, yucky grime all over everything..... yuck. I just don't understand how everything is covered with a layer of dirt-- you would think that everything would be so darn clean after having spent all that time being rained on.... dusty, dusty, dusty.... all of this is going to be painted white.... soon.I did manage to have some fun even while doing some outdoor cleaning. I took some metal curvy bits that we took off of two gazebos... spray painted them hot pink.... next, I hammered them into the ground behind some plants so I could use them as plant stakes. Topped them off with some plastic balls and taaaaa daaaaaaa whimsical plant stakes! This is in my play yard. Next big HUGE project is breaking through some cement to put two posts to hold this beauty. I was wanting needing a gate to keep my dog from strategically placing land mines poop in my grandkids play area. I'm using the fireplace screen (painted pink) to keep the dog out of the area for now. Last summer while tossing things out on the curb for our yearly city wide garbage pick up, a metal scrapper was going through our pile pulling out metal bits--- when I spied this beautiful gate with the two posts that it hung from ON HIS TRUCK. I bought it right on the spot. I think I paid him either $10 or $20 for it... it was all a blur.... I was giddy! Hmmm door to door junk salesman..... not a bad idea! We are going to cut out the "R & L" in the
center of the gate, sand it, paint it, hang it-- LOVE it!

Salvaged Treasures

It was another rainy Saturday here in sunny California.... which meant zero yard sales. I did however attend an outdoor antique show & sale in the next town over. I like to see what antiques are being sold for now-a-days-- especially the jewelry. Yikes, things are pricey! I came across tables and tables of shiny bling only to be devastated to hear that they ranged in price from $20 and up. What? geeze..... That being said. I did manage to get this huge lot of jewelry for $10.... I know right?... I'm lucky like that. These two watches are my favorites out of all of it.... love 'em! I then came across a huge wooden box of keys... the asking price was $15, I paid $8 for the lot. While looking at them, my husband asked me, "What do you need all those keys for?".... "Ooooooooh shut up," I said...... he carried my bags of keys to the car. Of course I had to weigh them when I got home.... they came in at six pounds. Six pounds of keys! While placing them on this tray, I found a vintage Ford key. This one I am going to make into something special to hang from my '66 Mustang's mirror. I love-love-love that car! Not to shabby for a rainy, overcast weekend. I've linked up to "Thrift Share Monday" Also, "Her Library Adventures"

Felt Pirate Hats

I just finished making some felt pirate hats, they were so simply to make.... that I made a total of twenty....Are they not so adorable? Here is Chloe playing in one of the hats--- Jonathan wouldn't even stop playing long enough for a picture wearing HIS pirate hat! Here is Chloe, obviously annoyed that I wanted her to stop playing and look at me so I could take a picture of her wearing said hat.... lol... Nana's toys are always a big hit with the kids. One square of black felt makes one hat. You simply chalk the cutting line onto the felt, and cut out. I'm keeping the scraps, I'll show you what I'll make with all of those very soon! I've made these pirate hats to fit a group of four year olds--- using my grandsons head for measurement I cut pieces of 1/4 inch black elastic into 8 inch pieces. Obviously, you could lengthen or shorten the elastic if needed. You simply stitch the elastic onto each end of one of the hat pieces making what will look like a completed hat. On the second hat piece, you add the white trim around the top of the hat... and a skull and cross bone in the center. I used paper backed iron on fusible webbing on the back of the white felt. This made it easy to draw all of the skull and cross bones and the white trim pieces onto the felt to cut out. Once all of the white embellishments were cut out, I used my iron to fuse the pieces onto the black hats. Any piece that was not cooperating got the wrath of my glue gun! Once all the white pieces were added to each hat, the hats were ready for assembly. I pinned the decorated front of the pirate hat (with the white embellishments) to the back piece of the hat (with the elastic stitched to it) making sure it lined up nicely all around. I unpinned and glued one side of the hat, keeping the other side pinned, and ran some hot glue around the edges to adhere the two pieces together. Keeping it pinned together helps keep it aligned nicely while gluing. Thats it. Now you've got yourself a lovely felt pirate hat that any little pirate would be pleased to own. I also used this same method to make Chloe's birthday hat~Easy-peasy~

Watch Charms

I made these charms using watch cases that I salvaged from some old watches that I bought at a yard sale....This past weekend wasn't as full of yard sale treasures as it normally would have been... it was a rainy weekend, therefore there wasn't a lot of yard sales to be found. *bummer* I did manage to find some jewelry though, all of this pictured below for $4. I'm only keeping the items in the container at the top right.... the watches in the photo are the very same ones I repurposed into charms. The aluminum tray with the ornate handles was only 25¢ After sorting the jewelry that I purchased, I immediately took the watches apart... anything to get out of painting my new to me- vintage bedroom set, and set about playing! Here are two more charms made out of the watch cases. This little oval shaped watch charm is my favorite.... The fairy images are itsy-bitsy! I used a high powered magnifying glass to be able to see where to cut. You would think I use tiny scissors when I cut things this small, but actually I use large scissors :-) I also picked up seven of these containers full of rhinestones, silver & gold embellishments, charms, jewelry parts and pearls. I got all seven containers for only $5. The containers alone are around $3 each at the craft stores. Well, after looking at these photos, I would have to say I did better than I thought thrifting this past weekend. I am wanting/NEEDING to have a yard sale myself... I've got an ever growing pile that I am adding to daily. Its either --have a yard sale or sign up to do an episode of Hoarders.... *sigh*
big hugs,