Upcycled Transformation

Every fall our chuch has it annual parish festival. It is our biggest fundraiser of the year, and it is next Saturday.

Many years ago I started a "silent auction" as part of this event.  Calling local businesses and other parishioners asking for donations and organizing the entire event.  I am no longer in charge of it (by choice!) but I always dontate something to it, 

Here is my donation for this year...

 


It started out as these bits and pieces... 

... an old school desk that was originally in our parish school.  The school sold these for $5 each a few years back.  My neighbor was done with hers, she put it in her trash - and I took it! 

I am not too proud to take something out of the trash for a good cause!

... this stool, that I picked up at a local thrift store for $1 yesterday.  It was covered in rust and quite dirty, but I saw it had potential as a chair for my little desk.

... metal desk accessories, I found at Dollar Tree for... you guessed it... $1 each.

... some regular yellow pencils I covered with oragami paper (had both of those things too!) based on this tutorial I found Omiyage's blog (you can check it out here) ...

... some cute school supplies,
... a couple cans of spray paint (half of which I already had in my stash!)...

... some buttons and magnets (once again, I already had these too!) to use to hang paper and what-not from the metal sides of the desk...

... some ric rac around the bottom of the legs (had it)...

 ... and some fabric and batting (guess what... I had those already too!)...

Total out of pocket cost for this project:  $19!

I think it turned out quite cute!  

I hope that it will find a home and bring in some much needed cash to our church and school!  

 

What little girl wouldn't love doing her homework at this?

What to do, What to do?

I currently have an etsy shop where I sell some of my handmade items, and more recently some vintage items I have picked up here and there while "junking", "thrifting", "garage-saling"...  This portion of my shop has done much better than my handmade creations, and I think I have finally found my niche. 

I have recently been thinking about opening a physical resale shop.  However, that takes more time and money then I have to invest right now.  So I am not thinking about renting some booth space at an antique mall to sell some of my treasures. 

I would love input anyone has done this - pros, cons, costs, what would you do differently, what worked, etc...

Thank you for sharing your secrets with me!

Purging...

I am the thrift store queen.  I love scouring all my favorite stores and garage sales and finding a diamond in the rough or forgotten treasure that others have cast away.  

That being said, I have accumulated a lot of "stuff" - all of which were great bargains but a lot of them are now just taking up space.

But I am trying to reduce the clutter in my house and part with things that I don't want, or need any longer. 

So I have been listing some of my vintage treasures in  my Etsy Store.  Truth be told, I have also purchased a few solely for listing on my site!

If you are looking for something in particular, send me an email with a description of it (pictures are helpful too) and I will see if I can find it for you!

These and many more treasures can all be found on my Etsy Store - please stop by and take a look!

Blue Canning Jars

I love old blue canning jars.  Ball, Atlas, Ideal, Mason, doesn't really matter the brand or the age.  Most of mine are Ball jars - probably because they are the most common, and I live in Indiana (the Ball factory was in Muncie, IN).   I just love the color and the functionality of them.  I started collecting them a few years back, all bought from garage sales and thrift stores.  I think the most I have paid for any one is about $2; most were bought for less than $0.50 each.

 I don't collect them because of any real value they may have or with the plans of selling them and making big money in the future.  I collect them because I like them and I use them.


I use them as display pieces...

I use them to store things...

I have one I use as a table lamp...

... and even used 3 of them to make a chandelier for our home office...

I probably have about 30 of them and have often wondered about the different marking on them.

So just for fun, I bought this book recently...

1000 Fruit Jars

It has drawings of all the different canning jar markings, descriptions, and estimated values (as of 2007 I believe). 

It has been fun looking at all my jars and figuring out which ones are worth what.  I won't get rich on my collection should I tire of it and decide to sell (most are worth about $3, a few are worth $10, and I have 2 worth about $35 each),  but the book is fun and interesting.

If you have a canning jar collection or are thinking of starting one, it is definitely worth the $6 as a handy reference guide.  I even picked up an extra copy for my "junking buddy" Lori at Fresh Picked Whimsy.  I think I probably scored 1/3 of them with her one day when she and her family were visiting at the lake and we went to a barn sale.  They had boxes of them and were selling them for $0.50 each!  But SHHHH  don't tell her I got her a copy - its a surprise!

New Listings in my Etsy Store

In the last few days I have listed some wonderful vintage items in my Etsy Store!  

Please stop by and take a closer look...

This is a beautiful piece of mid-century California pottery.  Can be used as a relish tray or chip and dip platter.  Beautiful aqua/turquoise blue on one piece and a speckled off-white and tan on the other!

Small, hand painted Fire King serving bowl.

Cute depression glass bowl, great for storing odds and ends on your desk, keys or to actually use in the kitchen.

This is a gorgeous hand crocheted bedspread made of very heavy cotton thread.  I love the 3 dimensional ball on it!  I was going to keep it, but didn't really have the right place for it so decided to give it up.

SORRY - THIS IS SOLD!

Family Circle - October 1960

I love finding a periodical older than me! A newspaper, magazine, anything that speaks to what was going on "in the day". It is amazing how quickly some things change and how some stay the same. I found this on a recent trip to one of my favorite thrift stores.

Here are a few of the "regular features"..
.

Do you think they could get away with a column entitled that now?

The original owner of the magazine must have really liked this recipie - it is the only "damage" to this magazine - other than that it looks like it has never been read or opened. How did she cut that out so cleanly? Must have been a previous tip in the "Better Housekeeping" section...



Here are some of the "feature articles"...

Not just fashion, but fashion you can sew. There were also knitting and crochet patterns!

I'm sure I can pick up a few pointers here.

Have no fear... PMS was alive and well - they just didn't have a name for it!

What cracks me up about this is that if you change the word encyclopedia to internet or wikipedia the very same scenario probably happens at most homes today - It is almost exactly how it goes at our house, only I have to admit - I would be the "father" in this story. If you click on the picture below and see the full size picture, I think you can read the first page of this article - it is quite funny.

And here is the "monthly short story", by the up and coming author - Mary Higgins Clark...

FIVE DAYS in the hospital after a baby!!!

And to boot, the story talks about her waking up to find out what she had!! Those were the days! And can someone explain why we don't still do it this way?

When I had my first in 1995, she had broken my rib which sent me to the hospital 3 weeks early due to the excruciating pain. (which they did not figure out until 6 weeks post pardum and it was still hurting and they took x-rays) So because I was in so much pain they couldn't send me home so they decided to induced me 3 weeks early, they had to do an emergency c-secction becasue her heart kept skipping beats with every contraction, my staples got infected and I was spiking a 103 fever, because she was small, they brought her to me every 2 hours to nurse, so between the pain and the nursing, sleep was non-existant. But even through all of that I was forced to leave 48 hours after delivery. So at 8:45 pm I was wheeled out of the hospital and sent on my merry sleep deprived way with my 5 lb 12 oz. - 3 week early newborn, a broken rib, c-section with infected staples.

If I had delivered after 9 pm I would have been able to stay until the morning - sometimes I think they did the c-section to ensure I delivered before 9pm!!

Oh well, it all worked out OK!! Here she is 14 years later right before her 8th grade graduation... Oh, they do grow so fast!!!

There are many more things in the magazine that you would enjoy, but I would be here all day taking pictures and uploading them. I will show you some of the ads in another post - they too are quite funny!

Peacock Bedspread - Sold!

I am so excited that I sold the peacock chenille bedspread I had mentioned in my earlier post yesterday. I decided to list it for $125. I am sure, based upon my research, that it was worth at least twice that, but I got a really good deal on it (I didn't want to be greedy) and wanted it to go to a good home where it could be loved and used (not stored away as a collectable)! It sold on ETSY within about 5 hours of listing it, and the buyer was someone who saw it here first and wanted it for their little girls bedroom - PERFECT - just they type of person I wanted to have it. I think that was my quickest sale ever!

Peacock Chenille Bedspread

I picked up this bedspread this weekend. I think it is a full size. I wasn't even sure what the design was on it when I picked it up from a school rummage sale table.

I just knew it was chenille (which I love)and very colorful (always a plus and unsusal for chenille).

My original thought when I grabbed it was to cut it up and use it in quilts. I have gotten several "cutter" chenille bedspreads at garage sales before.

But it is vintage cotton chenille and is in absolutely fantastic condition. The colors are so bright, and the fabric and chenille itself are so SOFT!!!

I can't bring myself to cut it - it would be a shame and a waste of a beautiful piece of the past.

But I have no place to use it...

So I think I am going to try to sell it in my Etsy Shop. The only question is how much should I charge. I can not find anything remotely like it anywhere to get a reference price. The closest thing I could find was this one (which I don't think is nearly as beautiful). Did you look at what they are asking for it?!? In this economy, who in their right mind pays $285 for an old bedspread? Obviously no one, because it is still for sale! Oh, well, if you have any ideas about what I should charge for it or if you are interested in buying it please let me know... I have an idea in my head of a fair price, but just curious what you other bloggers think.