Rusty Cars

Roger and I both managed to do a little picking last week, but Roger is the only one who managed to get his act together to take pictures, so you get to see some more mantiques! This is the front end of a 30s-something truck. He dug it out of a pasture down by Beaumont, Kansas on Friday. Now, he gets to figure out what to do with it! I suggested a chair, but that kind of freaked him out. He's not really an upholsterer. Might end up as a desk! For now, it's sitting in the driveway that we don't park our cars in. In front of the garage that we don't park our cars in.... (I will become more bitter about this as the weather gets colder, and I have to start scraping my windshield every morning.)

This is also a piece of an old truck. Just a smaller piece. The sellers of the first one threw this in for free, since Roger drove all the way south of nowhere to pick up the other one. I'm sure he'll come up with spectacular new lives for both of them!

Linking up with Her Library Adventures and Apron Thrift Girl!

Team Effort

Blue June's Retro Deco is truly a team effort. Roger and I (Becky) do this vintage thing together. In fact, I think that's why it works. We keep each other motivated, and it's nice to have something special to share with your significant other. You know, other than the kids...

I handle the online stuff, the marketing stuff, the girly glassware stuff. Roger deals with the graphic design, the fixing stuff and the restorations. In fact, get ready to be blown away by the restoration stuff! I'm so stinkin' proud of him!

This is a 1964 AMF 508 Hook & Ladder fire truck before Roger worked his magic. (Actually, I think this was after he blasted all the rust off it.)

And this is the same truck after. He made those ladders and put the nice oak panels in the back. He couldn't find a supplier for the decals, so he used his graphic design skills to recreate them from a vintage ad.

A 1973 AMF 501 before.

And after!

A 1950s Murray Sad Face - before

Roger thought it would be neat to create an old farm truck out of this one.

Mission accomplished.

This is my favorite one of the three.

These are impressive results in my book, but I can't say I'm ever going to be too thrilled when he brings another rusty car home! Just like he's going to roll his eyes at some of my finds!

Barn Sale Finds

Roger and I spent Saturday at a fabulous outdoor craft/vintage/antique show. I'll tell you more about it later in the week. But, while I was there, I certainly couldn't resist checking out the other vendors! And I got some great things!



This chicken immediately caught my eye! I believe that it's a candy dispenser. I need to find some gumballs or marbles to try it out. It's marked 1964 Ideal Toy Corp.



I also picked up this great hand-embroidered Christmas tablecloth. The details are amazing. There is also a pair of plastic purse handles, a metal water pitcher, enamalware saucepan and cup and some soda bottle stoppers. I expect these will all be headed for my Etsy Shop soon!

Find more vintage goodies at Her Library Adventures!

Last Week's Finds

Not a lot to share this week. I think auction season is winding down, and even if it isn't, our bank account is! I still managed to get out to the thrift store last week where I found this cute little tray. I love that it has a those six depressions to hold drink glasses and each one is decorated with a different botanical motif.





Found both of these puzzles at a yard sale on Saturday morning. Of course, I love vintage toys and the graphics on these are just great. I'd love to see these framed and hanging on a wall.

All of these items (and more) are listed in our Etsy Shop!

Oh yeah!! We finally have a logo! Meet June!



Roger (my own personal graphic designer) made it for the shop. Can't wait to show her off at the Barn Sale this Saturday!

Linking up with Her Library Adventures.

Rusty Gold

This week's auction was interesting. Not nearly as many household items as we usually see, but plenty of rust and steel. I did manage to pick up a couple pieces of green Fire King glassware and a carnival glass candy dish, but most of the items were a bit less, well, girly.



Roger was practically drooling over this train. It was originally a ride on toy. In fact, there were even train cars that could be attached to it.



We often pass by sleds, because it's hard to tell if they are actually old. After being left out in the snow, all sleds look a bit worn! But, this one was the right price, so we didn't mind taking a chance.



This desktop is a bit, um, "rough", shall we say? But I couldn't resist the little cubby holes and the way the top lifts up to reveal a couple of hidden compartments.



For some reason, I was completely drawn to all these old rusty steel wheels and cranks. They just look amazing and manly and geometric. I had to have them. Basically, there was a big pile of rusty stuff, and the bidding was for "your choice". I let the men duke it out for the "prime" stuff. (Mostly stuff I wouldn't have known the technical term for if my life depended on it.) Towards the end, I was able to come in and get a few of my wheels for a few bucks each.



More steel wheels! One of the other attendees got a good chuckle out of hearing me ask Roger if I thought they would fit in a flat rate priority mail box. "Hey!" I told him. "If it fits, it ships! Up to 70 pounds."

I also love these old ammunition boxes. There were some other good ones, but those slipped away. Probably because they were filled with a bunch of rusty wrenches...


More cool stuff at:

Her Library Adventures

I have NOT abandoned this project!!

Remember a few months ago when I got all excited about granny squares? And I said I was going to do the Granny a Day project? And I posted my pretty little squares? And then I stopped?



I did not abandon ship! I did not give up! I just had to put it on the backburner for a bit. I've started again. And, while I'm not getting quite one a day done, I am getting some done. And I'm pretty darn happy with them. I'm up to 29 squares and have another in the works.



I like to work on them over my lunch hour in my van. Or in the evenings while I'm watching TV with Roger. I've decided to enjoy the project and not the let the project become an object of guilt or obligation. It's supposed to be fun, for goodness' sake! And it is!

BIG Auction

We had two or three auction options this past Saturday, but we wanted to stay on a pretty small budget, so we chose the farm auction close to home. When we first arrived, we were pretty sure we weren't going to stay. Although the ad had said there would be some household items, there really wasn't much. However, we did find a handful of items that looked pretty good and we figured the entire auction wouldn't take more than three hours, so we decided to stick it out. I'm glad we did, because we walked away with some bargains! BIG bargains.



We ended up with this pair of steel wagon wheels for only $25. That was a steal! We're still regretting the fact that we didn't pick up another pair for the same price. These are going to stay with us to decorate our garage. It would be nice to have a second pair to sell for a tidy profit, but we just weren't thinking at the time.



This wardrobe is GINORMOUS! It stands nearly seven feet tall, and it's very deep, too. Our house has minimal storage, so we're always looking for nice looking ways to tuck away all our junk. I think the contact papered panels really threw off a lot of folks, because we walked away with this baby for $25.



And check out the "after" pic! Fastest before and after pictures ever! We were fully expecting to have to do some kind of repair to those panels, but the contact paper pulled off with minimal damage and voila! Gorgeous old wardrobe! We're thinking that we will add some kind of hardware to the front - knobs or handles.



The very last thing we bought was this little table. I'm a sucker for these chrome and laminate tables. This one is super cool, because it has a drawer and leafs that pull out from the sides. It needs some clean up and maybe a little repair, but I don't think it will be hard to find a home for it.

Our poor van didn't have room for all these large pieces, so we had to recruit my brother to drive out to the auction site to pick up the wardrobe and table. That's what little brothers are for, right?

See more great finds from last week at Her Library Adventures and Apron Thrift Girl.

925 Milk Caps

I counted my milk caps the other night. It was kind of funny, because I was grouping them in stacks of 10. After the first 100, I said to Roger, "Oh my gosh! There's got to be at least 200 of these things!"

After the next 100, I was laughing. Maybe more like a thousand!

This is what 925 cardboard milk caps look like when neatly stacked in groups and rows of ten. I had to wonder what kind of person collects nearly a thousand milk caps, but Roger pointed out it was more likely that the person was a milk man and these were just left over and thrown in a box. He's probably right, because they certainly don't look as though they've been used. And they're all exactly the same.

I plan to sell them in packs of ten. I think they'll be fun for crafters. Magnets, papercrafting, scrapbooking...

Estate Sale Finds

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am NOT a morning person. I would much rather sleep in. However, given enough motivation, I am capable of getting up early. I got up a bit earlier on Friday morning so I could attend a couple of sales before I had to be at work.



The first sale was a true estate sale, and most of the prices were a bit high for my nature, but I still walked away with a couple armloads. The second sale was a garage sale advertising "antiques". Oh my word! We're talking antiques at garage sale prices!!



Roger has been buying old school desks and restoring them. They look great when he's done, partly because he still leaves the old marks and scars in the wood. The ones he has been working with are wood desks and seats with metal legs and bases. When I saw this old school desk, I knew it was special. I have never seen one completely made out of wood. I practically wrapped my arms around it and said, "MINE!" As the seller was loading it into my van, he told me that it had come out of a Black school house down in Mississippi.



I'm not much of a vintage jewelry expert, but I saw these two pins and bought them for their subject matter. So cute!



A dancing lady in a yellow skirt. Another thing that just caught my fancy!



An entire army of legs. Roger doesn't think I'll be able to sell these.



Thanks to some vintage savvy friends, I've identified these as the caps that were put on top of milk bottles back in the day when it was delivered fresh to your door. I now own an entire shoebox full of them! About a million of them!

What else did I find? Old rubber squeak toys, Betty Crocker kids cookbook, old brown bottles, Pyrex caraffe, Haeger pots, a wooden bowl painted with cherries and an old filing box. Great, great weekend!

See more great finds here!

Blue June at Newton Antique Mall

We opened our booth at Newton Antique Mall at the beginning of July. After a few weeks, we knew we really need a larger booth! So, as of August 1, we have expanded! Lots more room for lots more stuff!

Here's what the booth looked like before:



That actually kind of embarrasses me, a little! It looks SO much better now! Here's hoping for lots of sales in August to justify the new space!

Trench Art

Roger is a World War I history buff and likes to collect militaria from that era, particularly helmets. He had been looking for some pieces of trench art to add to his collection, and this year he struck gold.

Trench art can be a pretty broad category, but Roger was specifically looking for items that were made from shell casings or the other detritus of war.

The lamp on the right came up at an auction earlier this summer. It is marked "Verdun" and is really a gorgeous piece. It did not have a shade when Roger bought it, so he added a period helmet from his collection to complete the piece. I have to chuckle, because the auction card showing what we paid has it described as "art deco lamp".

The vase on the left is new to his collection. We attended an auction a couple weeks ago that had three of these vases. Roger was positively dying to have at least one of them.

After a few hours of sitting, Roger needed to visit the restroom. Wouldn't you know? That's when they decided to bring the trench art pieces up to the block! My heart was in my throat. I knew I couldn't let them get away! I immediately started bidding with no idea what my maximum should be, let alone which of the three items I should choose if I won! Fortunately, Roger arrived part way through and took over. I asked him later why he chose the vase that he did. "I picked the one that looked the best." Well, shoot! I could have done that!

This piece is marked Reims and also has a floral design. It is also made from a shell casing. I can't really complain about either piece. They're both very attractive. (The flowers in the vase were Roger's doing. And, I have to giggle at the idea of him in Michael's trying to find poppies, when he wasn't really sure what poppies looked like, anyway!)

Prized Object

Quite often at an auction, I will come across one particular item that just seizes my attention and won't let go. I was able to preview the last auction we attended the day before it actually occurred and came across this interesting milk glass plate. It was lumped in with a bunch of other handpainted plates. Upon close inspection of it, my imagination was sparked, and I couldn't stop thinking about it! I must have it!

At the auction the next day, I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find the box holding my precious treasure. I was afraid that it had been pulled to be sold alone, and I had missed it! After a bit further searching, though, I located the box and breathed a sigh of relief. I was eventually able to buy my box of plates and take them home. Now, I don't collect plates or milk glass, so I am putting this in our Etsy shop, but sometimes there are items that won't hurt my feelings if they decide to live with me indefinitely...

The plate depicts three gentleman in old-fashioned attire. One of the men is a bear and the other two are wolves! They appear to be enjoying an evening of storytelling, as the wolf in the middle has a large book open in front of him. It's almost like a depiction of a fairy tale or perhaps, this is what it looks like when the characters from our stories share their own tales!

See more vintage finds at Her Library Adventures.

Comments

I want you all to know that I read a lot of vintage and thrift blogs, and so often I want to comment on them. Unfortunately, I am having a heck of a time with Blogger letting me leave comments on some blogs. I try to log in with my Google account, and it just throws me into the endless loop of log-ins and captchas!!

So, please know that I am reading your blogs, too! I just can't always comment! Even when I really, really want to!

Huge Haul

This week's auction haul reminds me of one of those hidden object puzzles! Here's a sampling of what we brought home with us. See if you can find them in the picture!

Frankoma honey pot
red Pyrex covered dish
3 lanterns
Frankoma teapot
2 cherry pitter/stoners
2 glass washboards
2 duck decoys
blue Pyrex refrigerator dish
Limoges seashell dish
printing plates
scale
5 rolling pins
3 sifters
owl cookie jar

And various other odds and ends!! I'll try to post some individual pictures of the good stuff later this week, if I get a chance to take some photos.

See more great finds at Her Library Adventures!

"Estate" Sale

There needs to be a law about what can be called an Estate Sale and what is just a yard/garage sale. I got up at 6:00 AM on Saturday to drive about 30 miles to an "Estate Sale" that I found on Craigslist. The photos looked promising, so I thought I'd take a chance. It started at 7:00, and Roger wanted to work outside before it got too hot, so I left the house at 6:30, so I could be home no later than 8:30.

What a disappointment! A lot of overpriced stuff drug out on the front lawn. In my opinion, an estate sale is when everything in the house is for sale. This was a yard sale. Perhaps a yard sale with some antiques, but a yard sale, nonetheless.

I found nothing. I drove down the road a bit, so I could turn around to head home and saw a sign for a garage sale just down the block and in a nice looking neighborhood. I figured it couldn't hurt to look, and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't earthshattering, but I found a handful of nice things.



I love the shape and color of this Haeger vase. The cookbook binder is one you can use to collect and organize your own recipes. There were a few recipes tucked into some of the envelopes inside, but overall, it looks unused. My favorite find was definitely this two yard cut of knit fabric. How cute are those little guys? For some reason, they remind me of Russian acrobats.

I was home shortly after 8:00. After that little taste of treasure hunting, I was in the mood for more, so we rounded up the kids and headed out for some more garage saling. Total waste of time. We spent 10 cents on a book for the kids, and that was it.

Thank goodness I have an auction to attend this Saturday! Assuming I can find a babysitter...

View others' finds at Thrift Share Monday!

Estate Sale Thursday

Normally, I don't get the chance to attend many estate sales, simply because I'm usually working during the week. Sure, I could go on Saturdays, but by Saturday, I figure most of the good stuff is gone, plus, Saturday is auction day. Last week, I took a few days off, because I had friends coming down from Canada for a visit, and I kind of thought we might try to squeeze a quick little mini-vacation in over the weekend. The vacation didn't happen, but that's okay. It's been a nice little break from work anyway.

So, Thursday, my plan was to clean my craft area! HA! Instead, I went over to Craigslist and found a couple estate sales down in Wichita that looked interesting. Driving down to Wichita is always a little scary for me. I don't have the best sense of direction, and I'm a nervous driver. But, I poured over the Google map and got it all sorted out in my brain.

The first stop was okay. Nothing that really got me excited but I picked up three salt dips and headed on to the next sale. The second sale was advertised as being the estate of a woman who used to own an antique store! Now, we're talking! There was so much stuff! It was overwhelming! I probably went through the house five or six times!



It was a little scary, because nothing was priced. There were price tags on some of the items, but they assured me that those were old store tags and everything was much lower. (Some of the price tags were downright terrifying, so I tended to steer clear of some of those items, because I was afraid that "much lower" would still be "too much".) So, I gathered up some things, took them to the front, and we discussed prices. I was pleasantly surprised! We seemed to be on the same page pricewise, and I didn't have to put anything back!



Roger and I have been wanting some colorful things for our booth, and this teapot was just perfect! The bright color is so fun. I am also completely in love with the picture frame, chippy paint and all! Roger thinks we should strip it. No, dear, it's perfect just the way it is!



The tray was the first item I picked up. I didn't even realize it was a Pepsi tray until I turned it over and read its old tag. I just liked the cute beach scene. When I looked at it closer, I realized that nearly every person is holding a Pepsi bottle!

The sunbonnet sue table set was too adorable to pass up. (Plus, it's red!) Now, I'm trying to get it cleaned up and silenting swearing at the person who thought it was a good idea to tape the napkins together...

That thing in the tube is a soap thermometer. That's all I know about it. I don't know why you need a special thermometer for soap.



These sewing cards were right up my alley! They're so bright and fun! And, they're flocked, so they're fuzzy, too!



I found these three sets of embroidered pillowcases. I'm pretty sure they are brand new, and the lace on them is probably handmade, too.



I found this birdcage in, um, questionable condition. It was a little hard to see what was underneath all the holly, ribbon and, well, birds. I am happy to say that once it was de-birded, it was quite the little cutie!



See more great vintage and thrift finds at Her Library Adventures!