Just wanted to pop in real quick to say hello to all of my BBF’s (Best Blogging Friends). We had a very lovely and quiet Christmas here at the Johnson house. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your loved ones!
I’ll be back soon with more of the good vintage junk you love and hopefully some fun projects as well. Wishing you all a very bright and shiny New Year!
XO
Thank you everyone who entered my giveaway. Used the random number generator to pick two winners and they are:
Pallas
and
Kim G.
Congratulations ladies! Please send me your mailing addresses and I will get your prizes in the mail to you tout suite.
I’m a little embarrassed to say that we don’t have any Christmas decorations up yet and haven’t even gotten our tree. This weekend for sure. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite pictures from Christmas a long, long time ago. That’s me front and center, my big brother, Mike with the holsters and my little brother, Devin sitting behind me with the drippy nose. Ahhh, memories! Have a fabulous weekend!.
I’ve been having so much fun reading about your favorite picks in the comments from my giveaway post that I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite picks. As I am, and have been buying and selling for several years now, I have come across some cool stuff. Some I have kept and will never part with (maybe), and some have gone onto new owners. If you have been reading my blog awhile, you may remember these items.
I picked this awesome and super heavy bad boy off of craigslist. It didn’t look like this when I found it. It was super dirty and I cleaned and painted and stained. Here’s the best part and a little secret. It was free. It was also the most expensive thing I have ever sold. (I know, bragging, sorry:) Kinda miss it, but don’t miss hauling it.
I found this awesome piece in a barn sale of a local antique dealer. I paid a whopping $50 for it. It sold in less than one week at Monticello. Looking back, I think I priced it way too low, but that’s okay. Still love it though.
Found this super cute white lace dress in the basement of a really neat antique shop in Portland. Love it so much and I wore it to the Farm Chicks party last June.
And finally, this cool mirror was found in a box of frames at an auction. It didn’t look like this though, but after I tackled it with some paint stripper, this is what I found. I also found a label on the back that says “patent 1883.” I paid $20 for the box of frames including this mirror. It currently has a place of honor on my mantel. If you’re curious about what it looked like when I bought it, here it is. Definitely not white.
Ugh! Why anyone would do that is beyond me.
There’s still time to enter my American Pickers Giveaway. Just scroll down to my last post and leave a comment. I’ll be back on Friday with the winners. Happy Wednesday!
It’s been awhile since I have done a giveaway on my blog and so I thought it was time. Especially since the nice folks at the History Channel have given me not one but two dvd’s of the awesome show, American Pickers (season one). If you haven’t watched this show, what are you waiting for? It’s awesome and the new season actually starts tonight! Can’t wait to see what treasures Mike and Frank will find and will they ever let Danielle go on a pick with them? I guess I’ll just have to watch to find out.
In addition to the dvd of season 1, the lucky winners will receive one of Martha’s adorable Christmas stars.
So, if you would like to enter this fun giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me about one of your most favorite picks (finds). I’ll randomly pick two winners first thing Friday morning. Sound good? Good luck!
Remember these from my last post?
These were bought on Friday and by the end of the day on Saturday they looked like this.
I guess I should have taken a picture before I packaged them up, but you get the idea. I don’t think I’ve ever completed a project this fast. I had so much fun making them, trying to decide what to embellish them with. These cuties will be headed to Monticello for the Christmas sale which starts not this weekend, but next. I am trying to find a cool wire dress form to hang them from so if you are local and have one for sale, please let me know.
On another note, today is my number 1 girl’s birthday. She is 17 and I can hardly believe it.
Here she is looking all cute before the Homecoming dance this fall. I know I have other pictures of her, but I think she looks so pretty here. I asked her what she wants to do on her special day and her reply was to go to thrift shops. I’ve trained her well. ha ha
Tomorrow being Thanksgiving and all, I just want to wish you a very happy day. Hopefully you will be spending it with friends and family. Off to do some baking. Have a great one!
Everyone in the house left to do their own thing, so I thought it would be a good time to check in and let you know what I’ve been up to. Basically just the usual stuff, thrifting, re-stocking my booths, but we also spent a little family time with my favorite in-laws last weekend. It was great seeing them again and we all enjoyed a little family outing to the Norse Hall in Portland for a Ludefisk dinner. My folks also came over with my brother and his family to celebrate my kids birthdays. (My son turned 15, October 24th and my daughter turns 17, November 24th)
Here are just some of the goodies I have been finding over the last couple weeks.
Hand painted bird plate from the 50’s.
Sweet little metal lamp with hand painted roses and bows.
Cute vintage sewing bag.
Little bird, love her colors!
Misc. rick rack and flower pin.
Adorable vintage horses print in rustic wood frame.
I was so happy to find a bag of my favorite tin reflectors as I was completely out of them and wanted to make some Christmas ornaments like I did last year. You can see them on this post.
I got these adorable stars from the Holiday Heritage Faire at the Mission Mill Museum in Salem yesterday. They were made by my sweet friend Martha, and I am keeping these to put on my tree this year.
And finally, something quite unusual.
A lovely oil painting of Zsa Zsa Gabor from 1967. I don’t know what made me buy this, but I was sort of drawn to it for some reason. Hopefully someone else will be too, as it will be making it’s way to my mall space soon.
Speaking of my mall space, things have been hopping at both malls lately with lots of sales so I’m super happy about that. Today I’ve been busy packaging up some small items for a Christmas display I’m planning. I don’t usually find a lot of cool vintage Christmas items like my good friend Mitzi (who by the way, has some awesome vintage Christmas in her booth at Stars), but I have collected a few small things and have been packaging up a lot of jewelry and other things that would make great stocking stuffers.
Thought I would end this post with a recent picture of my Stars booth. I forgot to take one of my Monticello space, but will do that soon. Hope you all have a fabulous and fun weekend!
Back in August, my hubby started a little project we call the “garden shed.” We had wanted one for years. Ever since we sold the gigantic play structure that came with the house, we wanted to build a shed in it’s place. We had the plans, which were approved by both the HOA and the city years ago, but life got in the way and we did nothing. Here is what the spot looked like for a long time.
Actually, that is a very cleaned up version. For a long time, we had a huge pile of yard debris there. We are really lucky that even though we live in a somewhat newer neighborhood, we have lots of nice big trees for privacy. Unfortunately, we could still see the neighbor’s trampoline.
Here’s my cute honey, still smiling. Can you see how our grape vines have grown over the neighbor’s trampoline?
My number #1 boy helped out a lot in the early stages.
Coming along.
Getting closer.
And voila, only three months later we have the completed garden shed. I am so happy it’s finished. Of course, I need to do a little planting, put up a window box, and jazz up the outside a bit. We painted it to match the house and it really blends in nicely in the backyard, I think. Lest you think I am going to decorate the inside, I need to let you know that this is strictly a garden shed. No cute antique bed or anything fun is going inside. The good news is that having this shed will free up a lot of space in the garage for more of my junk that is currently residing in the house.
Okay, not the most thrilling post, but I’m pretty excited that this is one project that is finally finished. Somewhat. We are having beautiful weather up here in the PNW! I think I’ll go outside and do a little painting. Hope you’re having a fabulous day where ever you are.
