Blue Lincoln

Anytime we go to an auction, we come home with a few items that we didn't really mean to buy, but they were part of a larger lot. Most of those items get dumped into the trash or the garage sale pile. Mr. Lincoln here was one of those items. When I pulled him out of the box, he was a brownish colored lump of metal with some kind of weird residue on him. My first impulse was to toss him in the trash box. But, inspiration struck! I told Roger to clean off the weird ick and shoot him with some spray paint!

Voila!! Blue Lincoln! And, I'm totally in love with him. For now, he's my new mascot. I'm trying to decide whether to stick him in the camper, keep him on my desk or drag him around to the barn sales this fall.

I am now convinced that sometimes, ugly can be fixed. With spray paint.

Finally, a Good Auction!!

It has been slim pickin's around here this summer. Last summer we were overwhelmed with so many great auctions. This year, they've all dried up. Kind of like our yard. We have a couple of big barn sales coming up in the next few months, so I've been getting a little worried about having enough quality stuff to fill our booths! When I saw the ads and pictures for this auction on Saturday, I was so excited!! Unfortunately, it coincided with our planned trip to Kansas City to visit Roger's family. We ended up adjusting our schedule to make it possible to do everything, however, we didn't get to stay for the full auction. This auction was so big that after they cleared a table, they refilled it! We didn't get to stay for Round 2. We still managed to come home with a vanload, though!

Enough talk! Here are my pictures. Forgive the quality, I was in a hurry and taking them at night in my house, so some of the color seems a bit "yellow".

Top opening breadbox with a cute strawberry pattern, copper colored aluminum pitcher and an Alphabet Soup Game.

I completely missed the game. Roger snapped it up. Not only is the can adorable, it was full of little red plastic letters! I love letters!

New old stock spats! I'm thinking these will be perfect for someone who is into cosplay or steampunk.

A pair of swanky swigs. One of our local glassware experts was at the auction. He knows everything about glassware! I picked up the one with the kitties and he handed me the other one. He told me how they used to come filled with various spreads. They're super-cute! I can certainly see how they would be fun to collect.

Another breadbox! This one opens in the front and actually has a little shelf inside. This was one of the items that I saw in the auction listing that I knew I had to have!

This Holt Howard cigarette holder caught my eye! I had to smile at the idea of this hanging in a housewife's kitchen to keep her cigarettes handy!

I believe that these are intended as a pair of bud vases. Wouldn't those birds look pretty surrounded by posies?

My very first pieces of Blendo. (Actually, my second. I bought a pair of salt and pepper shakers at the same auction that morning.) There was actually a fair amount of blendo at this sale.

I nearly missed out on this set. I saw the breadbox with the goofy "Handyman" sticker on it and just thought, "Nah!" Roger saw it later and told me to open it up. All four cannisters were stashed inside!

I find that I am a sucker for these vintage figures, especially dogs. I don't even especially like dogs.

But, how can I say no to that face?

Technically, this was one of Roger's purchases, because I was out at our van feeding, changing and threatening the children. ("Do not come inside unless it's an emergency.") I'm thankful he managed to snag this Anchor Hocking chip and dip set. And, I'm very grateful to the lady who pointed out its original box under one of the tables!
This isn't even close to all the stuff we bought! There was an entire trailer of salt and pepper shakers. I always swear I'm not going to buy anymore, but they are so darn cute! And, these were going fairly cheap. I also found about four pieces of Pyrex. I'm not kidding, it was killing me to leave that auction before it was done. So many things left behind....

Retro Camper Re-Do

Earlier this spring we bought a 1960 Fan camper. Remodeling your own retro camper is all the rage these days, right? And, Roger and I love a good remodel/redecorate project! The camper we bought was actually in very good shape. It had already been remodeled once, so it had a nice big air conditioner and good cabinets. However, it also had carpet on the floor, goofy curtains and ugly cushions.

 Last week, we were both on "vacation" from work, so we spent a lot of time working on the camper. I'm pretty stinkin' pleased with the results!

This is our dinette. As you can tell, we removed the carpet and put down some fun black and white tile. Easy to sweep clean. It's the same tile we used for our booth at Paramount Antique Mall. We used a retro chrome and linoleum table that we bought for the dinette table. The rest of the table is being used in our booth, too! My mom and I spent an entire afternoon working on the curtains. I still need to finish the tie-backs. I did the cushions by myself. I'm so proud of those cushions. They are far from perfect, but I didn't have to pay anyone else to do them, and they even have zippers!

I wanted to put sliding curtains on the overhead storage unit above the bed both to hide whatever mess we make up there and to keep things inside during hauling. I had intended to make them fairly tight, but after making the curtains on the windows too tight, I overcompensated and made them too long. But, I'm considering it a happy accident, because now I have this cute little valance looking thing over the bed!

The kitchen we were given to work with was really nice! The countertops aren't bad, the stove top is nice and there's a decent fridge and sink. We did paint the weird floral panelling and put up a cute curtain. You can't tell from these pictures, but the red curtains are all red and white houndstooth. I am so in love with this fabric!

Yesterday, I was all alone in the camper for a few minutes. It was so cool and quiet and cute. I said to myself, "I hereby declare this to be my sanctuary!" I'm imagining one evening a week all to myself in my little camper. Roger is not convinced....

New Bike!!

My husband is, more or less, a magician. I'm convinced of this now more than ever. He took this bike:

plus, this bike:

and made this bike:

Magic, right? That's my new bike. And, I love it! I've only gotten the chance to ride it a couple times, though. We've been crazy busy and hello! It's been about 150 degrees out every day for the past month!

The Longaberger mailbox baskets are my favorite part. Even if they do make my butt look big...

You can find more awesome vintage/thrift stuff over at Apron Thrift Girl and Her Library Adventures

New Booth!!

We've been on the waiting list for about a year to get a booth at Paramount Antique Mall. This was finally our month! Roger and I have spent past week or so scrambling to design, build and stock our new booth. And, we're pretty pleased with the results. It still needs more stuff, but it's off to a great start! We definitely need to utilize those big blank walls.

 I will freely admit that Roger did most of the work. I don't build stuff and he won't let me paint. Plus, someone has to stay with the kids while he's building and painting and laying down tile. Those black and white tiles were originally purchased for our camper. We're going to have to buy more of them...

Roger built that amazing shelf out of wood and airplane flaps. It is perfect for displaying his pedal cars! Not to mention the fact that it's very eye catching! I'm just amazed that he designed and built it himself. He does that kind of thing all the time!

This is an old victrola cabinet that we picked up off the curb. Roger gave it his version of a shabby chic paint job and it makes a perfect display cabinet.

I love how bright and cheerful the booth is! Roger pointed out that as you're walking through the mall, it's like flipping through the channels on the tv and suddenly hitting the kids' channels. I've been referring to our booth as Cartoon Network!

Be sure to stop in at Paramount if you are ever in the Wichita area. It is worth the trip! There is so much to see! We're at the West side location!

See more vintage goodness at Her Library Adventures!

Adding to My Collections

This past weekend, Roger and I took some time away from home and the kids and drove down to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. If you've never been there, you should go. Especially if you're within driving distance of it. Such a pretty place and so many neat little shops and restaurants. But, you need to bring your walking shoes. Some of those streets are at 45 degree angles!

Anyway, I got the chance to add to some of my personal collections while we were away!

This piece of mod dot Pyrex was on my list of "oh my gosh if I ever see this and can afford it, I will have to buy it." Lo and behold, in the mall where every other piece of Pyrex seemed a bit high priced, this one was marked at $30. I checked my Pyrex book when I got home and it said it is valued at $100. Now, of course, value always depends on where you are, the current market, blah, blah, blah, but it doesn't matter anyway. I'm keeping this baby!

I found this 2 1/2 quarter covered casserole in a booth marked 40% off! It's a wonderful piece and so nice and big! This is one that I will actually enjoy using!

This recipe box and unmarked bowl will fit nicely into my "red" collection.

I haven't added anything to my pincushion collection in quite some time. This week I added three! The cactus on the left is a vintage crocheted cushion. It even has a little pocket on the right there for a thimble. I just love the hand in the center. It's tomato pincushion has a little paper tag hanging from it marked "made in Japan". The one on the far right was purchased in a shop called Something Simple. The entire shop was done in neutral shades, and the owner was such a fun lady! This is a pincushion she made out of bits and pieces.

A back view of my hand. Love that nailpolish!

838 Ways to Amuse a Child. I guess they couldn't come up with 840 ways. This one is going into my vintage craft book collection.

We covered a lot of antique stores this past weekend. One thing I learned. All that effort I put into cleaning up my finds before I tag 'em and drop 'em in the booth? Worth it. There were at least two items we probably would have purchased if the seller had taken the time to clean them up a bit. Sorry, but I don't want a melmac picnic set with the original picnic still attached. And, that mouse nest in the ammo box? Yeah. Probably should have removed that before taking it down to your booth... There's patina and there's dirt. Remove the dirt, please.

Sally's song

Sometimes, you have to make a rainbow!

Sally's song

Yes, our daughter is adorable.