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.