Occasional Sale Debut (and Finale)

I've been hearing a lot of talk about occasional sales and how fantastic they are so I knew I had to check a few of them out. This weekend was the one in particular that everyone was ranting and raving about. It was in Anoka., MN (the Halloween Capital of the World)...one of my favorite cities for junking so the 45 minute drive from our house didn't bother me at all, I was ready for a whole morning of treasure hunting. Tom and I found the "market" and headed in...I knew as soon as we were two steps inside the door that I would be disappointed. We looked around for a minute then exchanged the old "really? this-is-it?" look and left without finding anything we were remotely interested in, it's not that they were selling garbage, it was just household "decorations" you can really find anywhere. Oh well, at least we had four more antique shops to pick through. Shelby and I visited a different occasional sale in Hudson last weekend and found the same disappointment...alas, no more occasional sales for this junkaholic!

The excursion wasn't a complete loss however...Tom found some goodies (I swear he's turning into Frank from American Pickers...seems he's REALLY into tobacco tins lately) and here's my haul (I even found my next Trash to Treasure item!)


The pictures aren't as nice as I had hoped...I'm going to blame it on the gray and gloomy weather we've had the past few days.


I can never seem to have quite enough buttons, especially the ones with rhinestones in the center. All but one of the shops we visted were having big sales, anywhere from 15% - 50% off unless the item was marked "firm".

We got this adorable Googy glass for Matthew who has taken to collecting vintage disney memorabilia.
I couldn't pass up this photograph...the caption reads "Refugees In Line For Red Cross Food." It's apparently from 1928.

I got the cute little jewelry box to hold all my vintage rhinestone jewelry...one of these days I'm going to try my hand at turning some of it into a rejuvenated necklace or perhaps even a bracelet. If any of you have frequented the occasional sale in your area I sure hope you had better luck I did!

Sunday Afternoon Project...

Here's a quick little project for a lazy winter afternoon using vintage napkins to make cute little throw pillows. I found these turquoise napkins with a crocheted edge for next to nothing in an antique shop a few weeks ago. They definitely needed to be laundered so make sure you do that first. Here is a list of supplies you'll need...

1. Two vintage napkins per pillow

2. Two vintage buttons per pillow

3. Polyester fiberill (or stuffing of your choice)
4. Heavy duty thread (or six strand embroidery floss)

Here are your steps:
1. Pin the napkins, wrong sides together and machine sew around the edge (as close to the crocheted trim as possible) leaving an opening for stuffing
2. Stuff the pillow to your liking. Pin the opening then machine sew it closed.
3. You can sew on the buttons one of two ways...I sewed mine on at the same time but it can get a little tricky so I'll give you an alternative. To sew them both on at the same time thread a long needle with heavy duty thread or six strands of embroidery floss but don't knot the end. Bring the needle through the front of the pillow to the back leaving a long tail (you will use this tail to tie the knot after the two buttons are attached). Slide the needle through one of the button holes and come down through the second hole bringing the needle through the pillow to the front (next to your beginning "tail"). Now that you have the button on the back, slide the needle through one hole of your second button and come down through the second hole but don't stick the needle through the pillow, just bring it through the button hole so that it now meets up with the beginning "tail". Tie a knot with the two ends pulling tight so the buttons "indent" the pillow. I tied a few knots just to make sure it was secure...when you're satisfied with your knot cut the ends (If you did it correctly your know will be hidden by the button.) The alternative way is to just sew a button to one side, knot the thread and cut. Then sew the button to the other side making sure it's hiding the knot of the first button, knot that thread (again, making sure it's hidden by the first button) and cut. This is a really simple project, you can have two pillows finished in 20 minutes!
If you don't have cute napkins lying around try using two old handkerchiefs that are the same shape and size.

O' Christmas Tree...

I love vintage buttons and have oodles and oodles of them so I'm always looking for projects in which I can use them. I'm also always looking for projects that I can do while catching up on some of my TV programs...so here's a quick little project that took me one (long) afternoon to to complete...
I've had this shadow box type frame for years so intentionally made my linen square the right size to fit the frame. (It's 7 x 7)

And I got to use a bunch of my white vintage buttons...
You can't see them very well in the picture but I tied little french knots randomly around the background both to "quilt" the piece and to make it look like snow falling...

So here's some quick instructions should you want to make your own.

1. Cut a piece of old white linen about 1/4 inch smaller than your frame. It should be 1/4 inch smaller on each side. (If your frame is 7 x 7 your linen should measure 6 1/2 x 6 1/2) Cut a piece of white felt (or other sturdy fabric) the exact size of your frame. When the stitching on the linen is complete, you will stitch that to the felt to give it some studiness.

2. Lightly draw a tiangle on the linen then draw horizontal lines within the triangle beginning at the top. Your top "branch" will be centered and short, the next branch (about an inch below the first branch) will get a little longer, the next a little longer and so on until your triangle tree has all it's branches.

3. Sew white buttoms haphazardly with red thread along each branch.

4. With green floss stitch in branches here and there to make it look like an evergreen. (I used three strands of green floss)

5. Lightly pencil the phrase "O Christmas Tree" along the bottom of your tree and stitch with red floss. (I used three strands of floss and a simple backstitch)

6. Use white floss and stitch the completed linen piece to your white felt piece then tie french knots randomly around the background to further secure it to the felt.

7. Put the finished piece in your frame and Viola! Since I was using a shadow box type frame I used Fabri-Tac and glued the felt to the inside of the frame to hold it in place.

Happy Stitching!

Finds for my "Dream Cabin"

I drove an hour Saturday to a fabulous flea market in Cambridge. The treasures were priced to sell and I had to make several trips to the car with my haul. I would have bought more but I started running out of cash on the back stretch so had to be selective with what I bought. As I made my way though all the booths I found that I was buying with my "dream cabin" in mind...vintage pillowcases, a wonderful vintage breadbox with fruit decals, an old chipped and cracked lidded bowl with a cute little handle...(good news is if the cabin doesn't come to fruition I can still use these in the "regular" house right?) I found these cute vintage trims and a little gondola pin to use on my journals and scrapbooks...
This "days to remember" book was never used and the graphics are amazing...

I hope to put this little yellow duck in the bathroom at the cabin...maybe filled with some cotton balls or cotton swabs...

And I was so happy to find these German vintage valentines...

These buttons were sold by the bagful for a song, they're all so pretty I'm afraid I'll never use them for fear that one day they'll all be gone...

And I got all sorts of linens for $1 each, I especially love this one with the embroidered strawberries...

Now if only I had the week off work (like Tom does) to craft and create! I'm sure I'll find time to squeeze it into my schedule though, I always do!