Rack ‘Em Up!

In my last post, I shared with you several small paint projects that I completed for my booth; BUT I also finished one larger project that deserved a post all its own.

I found this sad, brown-stained plate rack at a yard sale recently. It was very well made and quite large….measuring 48” across. In my opinion, it just needed a face lift so I pulled out the chalk paint, paintbrush, sandpaper and paste wax.

BEFORE

Here she is…..already hanging in my booth……and displaying several pretty plates!

AFTER

One of the pretty plates displayed is a 1972 Kewpie plate featuring one of Rose O’Neill’s sweet designs.

There’s also an unusual unmarked plate and teacup I found last week with gold scissors all around the rim. I’ve never seen this design ……Have you?

Here’s a glimpse of the table below the “new” plate rack!

I hope you find a treasure this weekend!

Temps Just Right!

The temps have been just right this week for spending some time out in the garage completing some long over due projects.

These two boring brown wooden objects were screaming for cheerful makeovers.

Before!

I think they are much happier now……

After!!!

A couple of simple stencils added spice to this old wooden bowl....

Paint, ribbon, twine and a rusty blinged-up key brightened up a sad candleholder...

  

Loving the way the other two projects turned out, I was so excited to paint this little recipe card holder that I forgot to take a 'before' picture. It was the same boring brown as the other two projects; but adding a couple of "messy-on-purpose" stencils, it think she’s very happy now.

Have the temps warmed up where you live?

I’m linking to the following parties:

Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove

For the Young Ones

Though I tend to avoid yard sales that advertise only baby clothes and kid’s toys, it doesn’t mean that I never buy child/youth related items. After all, many of my customers are grandparents that search for vintage items for their grandchildren to enjoy.

Last weekend I found several vintage items for those grandparents (or parents, aunts and uncles) to consider for their younger loved ones.

This set of four Brambley Hedge seasonal books by Jill Barklem is the perfect addition to a child’s library. I was fortunate to find all four seasons!

Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit is another popular read. Here’s a Wedgwood child’s mug depicting the characters from her books.

And finally for the beginner cook in the family, I found a 1972 edition of BH&G’s Junior Cook Book. It contains lots of fun recipes including Egg-In-A-Bun Sandwiches and Picnic Some-Mores. 

I think Mickey will probably try the Grilled Cheese Sandwich recipe!

I’m linking to the following parties:

Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Coloradolady

 

“Yard-Long” Prints

Dealing in vintage items gives me the opportunity to learn something “new” almost every day. I often buy objects that I don’t know anything about, just so I can do research on them.

That was the case a few weeks ago when Mom and I spotted a framed print of a pretty lady with roses in her hair while shopping at an estate sale. We thought she was charming, so I bought her. The print is 36” tall and only 7” wide.

The only marking on the print is the name C. W. Henning so that was the beginning point of my research. I would love to have learned more, but I have found out that she is one of many “yard-long” prints featuring pretty ladies drawn by several artists of which C. W. Henning was one. She is called a “Pabst Girl” because this print is affiliated with the marketing of Pabst Extracts. The prints were distributed in the early 1900s, so I am thrilled that this print is in good shape despite its 100+ years of age.

I also learned that yard-long prints, both vertical and horizontal, were very popular at the turn of the 20^th century. They featured not only pretty ladies, but animals and flowers too.

Well, Looky Here!

The classifieds were full of garage sale and estate sale ads last week. Mom and I sorted through them and charted our course to set out on the first mega-week of yard sale season. I logged over 100 miles on my car and wish that I could have scored just a few more goodies; however, we did find some treasures!

I was running low on platters, so I picked up these two….the top one is marked ironstone!!!

Mom spotted some pretty glassware at a church sale, so I selected a silver-rimmed ice bucket/tongs and an elegant butter dish.

Diamondpoint ice bucket, Windsor butter dish

We also found a couple 1950s insulated tumblers, a Mickey/Minnie Mouse juice glass and a Corning Ware trivet in a size that I’ve never seen before.

A colorful trio also came home with us…..a Swee-Touch-Nee Tea tin, a Ghirardelli chocolate can and a Fire-King Apple (Super Fruit) mug. Yay!

But the most unusual and fun find was looking up at me from a table full of miscellaneous kitchenware…..

  

It's a sugar bowl......no bull!!!  

  

I’m linking to the following parties:

Vintage Thingie Thursday at The Coloradolady

Thrifty Things Friday at The Thrifty Groove

Chalk Talk!

You already know that I love chalkboards. Chalkboards are fun! They’re fun to make! They’re fun to sell! I especially like to make them from unusual items like a piecrust tabletop…..

Or a small cutting board…..

Even a plain chalkboard in a pretty frame is fun and functional…..

So I couldn’t resist this large 21 x 25 “already painted” aqua frame that I found at a rummage sale last weekend. I knew it would make an impressive chalkboard!

But such a large frame brings a unique challenge......what to write on the chalkboard to fill up some of that empty space while it’s waiting to be snapped up by its future owner?

A unique find at a church rummage sale yesterday gave me the possible answer. The graphics on the dust jacket of an old book jumped out at me. 

FUN WITH A PENCIL by Andrew Loomis. It was originally published in 1938 but my book was part of its 15^th printing. That's an impressive run, don't you think?!? This book is the perfect example of how we once learned things by book instead of by YouTube. The illustrations are amazing and some of the text looks hand-lettered. Wow!

So why not use this book to have FUN WITH A PIECE OF CHALK?

I looked through the simple figures toward the front of the book and found these guys. The one on the right looked like my kinda guy!

So with a few FUN strokes of the chalk and some shameless advertising, I filled up that empty space….

Would my guy make you stop to shop??? 

Calling All Space Cadets!

Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books are close to the top of my treasure-hunt list. I’ve been fortunate to find enough of them to keep one in the booth most of the time.

Grosset & Dunlap, the publisher of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, had another popular line of youth books that is a bit harder to find…..Tom Swift. Tom’s adventures were played out in outer space or in the depths of the sea.

I can remember finding only one Tom Swift Adventure in the last few years, but the luck of the Irish must have been with me a couple of weeks ago when I found three Tom Swift books!

The young boys of the 1950s and 1960s must have been thrilled to read about Tom’s adventures in space. I’ll bet the girls found them interesting, too!

Oh, and if Tom Swift’s adventures weren't enough, there was Tom Corbett Space Cadet! 

It's funny that Tom Corbett was also published by Grosset & Dunlap....

I guess “Tom” was a popular name for space travelers!

Thinking INSIDE the Box!

My booth is filled with "smalls." I specialize in kitchen glassware, utensils, linens and cookbooks. I add vintage cameras, luggage and wire baskets when I can find them; but they are all considered smalls. The few pieces of furniture I have just help to hold all those vintage smalls.

Butterfly Wings Necklace

But sometimes I find smalls that are tiny or at least too delicate to be handled too much. I’ve never had a place to display these “tinys” until now. This week I added a glass top display box to my booth that can hold these tiny delicate treasures.

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll drop by to view these tiny treasures and all the other vintage smalls in the booth.

Plymouth Cricket "clicker"

Happy Spring Treasure Hunting!