Treasures...

This arrived in the mail yesterday...can't tell you how happy I am about it.  I've been wanting this book for some time now (love the movie Out of Africa) but I didn't want to pay a ton of money for it...seems that everyone wants it now because of the zebra stripe cover.  I scored mine for mere pennies (okay, maybe mere dollars, but nowhere near what they go for on Etsy or Ebay)

I got the fantastic antique typewriter at this weekend's flea market for only $5.00...only down fall is that it's REALLY, REALLY heavy.

And these are my other flea market treasures...didn't find a ton of stuff but I'm so happy with what I did find!  $4.00 doll head anyone?  No??

Auctions and Ephemera...

I promised my Woodbury, MN, collage artist friend, Val, that I would take her to one of my favorite junking spots in Minneapolis. It's called Hunt & Gather and it's a perfect place to find all sorts of vintage ephemera...but you have to really be in a mood to PICK because they have two floors worth of treasures and the shop is just busting at the seams! Val is originally from Virginia (and lived in Ireland before that) so she's not very familiar with Minnesota. I gladly offered to show her all my favorite picking spots. Val found gobs more goodies than I did...here's what I ended up bringing home...
I hope my niece Madison isn't reading this...these Hippo cards are for her (she collects hippo junk)...

And this crusty old thing is a "Collar Box"...I guess back in the day people had enough "collars" to warrant a special box just to hold them all????

Tom and I also attended our first auction last night and it was quite an experience. They had 5 vintage victorian plant stands that I very badly wanted (ok...I really only wanted one but I had 5 chances to place a winning bid), they had numerous vintage photo albums full of cabinet and tin type photos, a metal victorian chaise lounge, wonderful wooden cubbies with drawers and wainscotting...I was in heaven but a little nervous about doing the whole auction thing correctly. Well, my first item that I wanted to bid on was an old photo album...my "limit" was $40...stupid me...the bidding STARTED at $125...what!? Needless to say, I never even got to raise my number ONCE to place a bid because, as luck would have it, everyone else there wanted the exact same things as I did...didn't get one darn thing. Of course Tom was the ONLY ONE to bid on the ONE thing he wanted. Even though I came home empty handed I'm hooked on auctions...I just hope I have better luck next Monday!

Finally...Virus Free!

Whew! Three computer gurus and four anti-malware/virus software downloads and my computer is finally virus free. Now I have to frantically play catch-up with my 25 Days of Christmas album since I haven't been able to print my pictures...I'm hoping to post pictures of the first 10 days of my album on Friday (however that might be wishful thinking!) Here are some pictures of Tom's and my weekend getaway to historic St. Charles and Geneva, Illinois...love the houses in these two little towns (not to mention the antique shops)...

In St. Charles they've converted many houses from the 1800's into shops...like this one.
And there were gorgeous churches literally on every corner (couldn't avoid the ugly powerlines in this picture)

Geneva had quite the Christmas festival going on all weekend, Santa Lucia arrived by horse drawn carriage and Santa Clause arrived soon after she did. These old time carolers were roaming about singing Christmas carols and many home owners opened up their historic and festively decorated houses during the home tour. We really had a good time!
On Sunday we headed to the Kane County flea market and antique show...got there an hour after it opened and many vendors still hadn't arrived (hope we didn't miss anything good)...unfortunately, this flea market was rather disappointing.
Here is what I came home with...

Christmas ephemera...

And I can never pass up a vintage Jesus...

Check out the sequined mushroom ornament, reminds me of the ornament kits we used to make when we were kids...
I found a few great valentines to add to my collection.
And a couple of bottle brush wreaths with great tarnished glass ornaments. We also found a very unusual vintage mahogany standing humidor with a little door that opens to a tin inside which used to house the tobacco and cigars.

Halloween Embellishment Giveaway!

Tom and I went to a few estate sales last weekend...Tom didn't find any treasures but I sure did. One sale had a stash of vintage hats, the hats were in terrible shape but lucky for me I learned the trick to reviving vintage millinery from a cute little old lady selling vintage hats (just steam them and reshape before they cool)...they look much better now than they did on the hats!

I also found all sorts of paper treasures but some of them smell a little musty. I think I heard that storing them in kitty litter for a bit takes the smell away. Does anyone know if that's true?
I also found these adorable picks and couldn't resist...I think I'll make up some little Christmas kits for my shop with these little cuties, the vintage millinery and the little metal jello molds shown in the pic above.

Now for the giveaway: Leave me a comment sometime before Midnight (central time) Friday, September 18th telling me what your favorite item is from my Etsy shop (it could be something currently listed or something that has already sold) and one lucky winner will get a set of the Halloween Felt Rounds AND a set of the Happy Haunting Journaling Spots.

Please check my shop for new Halloween items and kits and watch for my "clearance" sale starting soon.