Omaha/Iowa Treasures

We're back from out little mini-trip to Omaha. We had a really fun time at the zoo, the Orangutans were a riot, we could've sat and watched them all day and the Tigers were amazing! I think it was mating "season" because the zoo had them all caged separately...one male wouldn't take his eyes off a pacing female in the next cage who kept making strange throaty roars. I really felt sorry for them, they were not happy cats and I swear that female was ready to rip someones head off! I'll post those pics tomorrow because I'm really antsy to show you all my treasures we got along the way: I don't really need more jars but the prices were too good to pass up, especially on these red lidded S/P shakers!
I got two more floral hankies to add to my collection, a whole gob of rayon seam binding, a big white bowl to hold onions and some other linens that are currently being washed. I'm somewhat of a germ-a-phobe so the first thing I do whenever I get treasures home is scrub them all down...every single one of them!

Here's a bunch of smalls...more dice (I really gotta stop buying dice), some cute little felt baby booties, a vintage bunny candy holder, some jello molds that I'll grow grass in, put in an Easter egg and use on the table for Easter dinner, a Strawberry shortcake doll for Shelby's Easter basket (the doll already got a bath and her clothes are soaking in Biz), a vintage lock complete with the key and lots of little vintage baby announcements. Oh, and don't forget about my vintge crepe paper nut cups...
I've recently started a collection of vintage view master reels. I have a new View Master Viewer but it doesn't really work well with the old reels...so I bought a vintage one (and scrubbed that down so I can check out Mickey Mouse). I got a booklet of milk coupons (some of which will go into my store,) a vintage circus program and a player piano reel.

These are two of my favorite finds. This hat is full of lovely velvet violets and two pink roses and this Chocolate tin reads "With Love to Mother". It was digustingly dirty but cleaned up rather nicely...
See how cute it is all cleaned up?
Why did I think I needed more buttons? A whole 1-pound tin of them?

And last but not least, my find of the day (Ok, Tom actually spotted it for me), this vintage birdcage was an absolute steal! I've been searching for one for months now and this is exactly what I wanted...and for only $24. I'm going to plant flowers in the old pail and hang it in the backyard and the little hippo planter is for my niece who collects them (hippos, not planters).

All I have left to do is clean the birdcage...but I probably should do my 10 loads of laundry first!

Etsy Treasures...

I've been doing a little Etsy shopping (for myself) and couldn't resist these two little treasures from this shop. After spending a very long day at the hospital with my father (he made it through surgery without a hitch) and driving home through a winter snow storm that was so bad you couldn't tell if you were even on the interstate or driving on the shoulder, I was thrilled to find the package waiting in my mailbox.

And, while Tom is outside moving snow so we can go to pick out this year's Christmas tree, I continued my decorating.
I don't remember where I got this snowman but it is my absolute favorite. I keep him out all year round but during Christmas he gets a special spot on a vintage cake stand (kept safe from flying nerf bullets and rubber balls under a cloche.) I got the vintage-style bottlebrush trees a few days ago from this Etsy shop. 'Tis the season!

Garage Sale Weekend...

This weekend was the Woobury Lion's Club Garage Sales...I wish I would have taken pictures because you wouldn't believe the chaos of it all unless you saw it for yourself. The city-wide garage sale is a Friday-Saturday event and people come from Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Iowa to this thing...you literally can not drive down most streets on Friday (which is the main "sale" day), I'm sure our postal carriers LOVE trying to deliver the mail. This year Tom and I decided we would have a garage sale, we usually just take the day off work and do some picking at everyone else's garage sales but we had so much junk we needed to get rid of...I couldn't believe it when we had everything finally moved out to the garage. We didn't even have enough table space...but luckily it was a warm and sunny weekend so we put everything in boxes and set it in the driveway. We had things marked to sell and sell we did! The remaining items will be donated to Goodwill, Neighbors and Lupus.

Tom manned the fort while I snuck out to do a little picking myself. I carefully plotted out my route and managed to hit all the sales that touted "Antiques". There's always three or four churches that have big sales too, those are the sales I love the most, I always find great treasures...like this flower basket for $3.00 (it's huge!), I belive this is what they put flowers in for funerals back in the day. I've seen many old photos with these baskets placed on graves.
Here's just about 1/3 of my haul...and yes, that's a mattress in the background. We were trying to sell our old queen bed but didn't, I'm not too disappointed though because the bed is the only big ticket item that didn't sell...so back down the basement it goes. Gobs of old ric rac - most of it still sealed in it's original packaging... I got gobs of pretty vintage buttons too but didn't photograph those because I don't want Jessica to see them...

Most of what I'm buying is for re-sale in my Alice and Elsie booth but I really don't think I can part with this pretty blue daisy plate...

...or this "NEST" block!

All these bits and baubles were in a vintage Christmas card box for $1.00...do I know any little girl who's name starts with an "M" that loves vintage brooches??? why yes, I think I do (Madison).

These little wooden musical anges were too adorable to pass up, not sure what I'll do with them but I'm sure I'll think of something!
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

A New Adventure...

I've been trying to get my house in order...I think it's coming along nicely. I've mainly been painting everything in sight, like this old mirror...

and this old little cupboard (love this color!)...and...I've decided that it's time to turn Shelby's room into my official studio because Alice and Elsie is growing...(or at least I hope it is...)

I've been working the same job for 16 years, I used to absolutely love it but now I'm really just burnt out...so...Tom and I have been working on a few ideas that will hopefully allow me to cut down on hours and eventually quit altogether so I can once again do something that I absolutely love! I've got the ball rolling and am busy doing all my homework and applying for all the stuff I need to have to operate an "official" business in Minnesota. I'm a little anxious and a lot excited about this, it may not pan out but I'll regret it if I don't give it a try. I'll tell you more as soon as I feel that it's a little more "real" ...so...if you don't see regular Trash to Treasure posts or my Etsy store goes empty, you'll know why! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

A Quick Break...

This weekend Tom and I really got to work on the house and yard...I had a list longer than my arm of things I wanted to do and I think we probably got half of them done. Saturday morning Tom ran an errand (went to get Modano's autograph) and I ran an errand (went to Bachmann's in Minneapolis for the "Gathering of Friends" antique occasional sale...love those kinds of errands!) My bff Jane told me about it so I thought I'd check it out...so so so much cute stuff, there was an old cupboard type cabinet that I wanted for (maybe) a TV stand...I wasn't sure it would work and it was a little pricey so I wanted to get Tom's opinion before I decided so I headed home with this pile of goodies...

Tom was working on replacing the hardware on the front door when I got home...told him about the cabinet I saw and let him know I wanted to go back with with him later to check it out... In the meantime, I got to work replacing the floral draperies in the family room with some lighter, airier Rachel Ashwell curtains...what a chore that was! Patching holes, measuring, drilling, painting...whew! I sure wish I had thought about getting "BEFORE" pictures...
I painted a shelf, painted an old table we bought last year at a garage sale (you'll see pics of that on Tuesday), patched and painted more holes in various places throughout the house (thanks in part to my constant "re-decorating", washed all the bedding and put away the flannel sheets (don't think we'll need those again until December), washed the couch cushions, raked some leaves...THEN...we jumped back in the car and headed back to Minneapolis. By this time I had thought about the cute cabinet so much that I KNEW I wanted it, figured I could talk them down on the price a little bit and was so excited to get it. When we arrived I started leading Tom to the booth, as soon as I got it in my sights I noticed the cabinet had been SOLD! Argh! I was so disappointed...we found it up on a dolly ready to be loaded into the lucky ladies truck. Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be, Tom tried to make me feel better by telling me that it was too tall for a TV stand...maybe I'll find something like it somewhere else right?
By this time we were so exhausted we stopped for pizza (how strange it is for us when it's just the two of us) then went to the movies. I figured since I had Tom working so hard all day I'd let him choose the movie...alas, we saw Hot Tub Time Machine. I guess it wasn't so bad.

Today I finished painting (Tom slept until 10:00) and tried to clean up some of my mess. Tom finished raking leaves and put out my birdhouse...now all I need to do is paint the pole to match the fence.
Lucky Tom took tomorrow off work to go to the Twins inaugural game at Target Field...hope the weather is nice! I'll be back at my list after work...still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the huge vintage screen I got a Mustard Moon a few weeks ago. I think I have an idea...

Over the (Mustard) Moon...

This morning I decided to try my hand at another occasional sale, I know, I know, I'm a sucker when it comes to possible treasures. Anyway, I'm fortunate enough to live in MN where Mustard Moon is located...you may have heard of this quaint little shop...it was mentioned in Flea Market Style magazine (I think Ki said it was one of her favorites) and today was the last day of their three day occasional sale. It really only takes me 10 seconds or so to decide if I like a shop once I step foot through the door and Mustard Moon was no exception. I literally couldn't grab goodies fast enough...good thing Tom was with me to hold all my loot. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been scouring flea markets and antique shops for a vintage sort of hat rack type thingy but everytime I find them they're either too expensive or not truly vintage...look what I found at Mustard Moon!!! Don't you just love how old and crusty it is? (It's really so much more pretty in person!) Tom and I hung it as soon as we got home and now I have somewhere to hang my old buggy wheel...oh happy me!
I found all sorts of old mismatched china, the neatest lamp I've ever seen (sorry I didn't take a picture of that), a banged up old screen window (that had the best price tag ever..."FREE") and all sorts of other to-die-for treasures! (sorry for all the exclamation marks but I'm SO HAPPY!!)

And, as if that wasn't good enough, Jane the shopkeeper is the sweetest person EVER. She and I got along fantastically (and she even let Tom borrow her drill to get things off the wall for me). I left a few things behind that now I wish I had purchased but her next sale is in April so I'll be back (plus the river in Carver is threatening to flood so she didn't bring as many treasures to the sale as she wanted for fear of them getting ruined). In closing, I would like to apologize to all the occasional sales I offended with my not-so-nice post last weekend...I take it all back and I hope you'll forgive me! Seriously...if you are ever in MN during one of Mustard Moon's sales you've got to check it out...SERIOUSLY! Ok...gotta go display all my new treasures, hope you have good luck treasure hunting this weekend too!