The Holiday Weekend

Cleaning out the garage and shed

 spawned some projects.

My husband suggested using the miscellaneous and rusted pieces

to be bases for three "bottle trees".

Bottles were found curbside; rusted and miscellaneous pieces from who-knows-where?!

 

 He also transformed this and another piece

 ...into this!

Both were either garage sale or thrift store finds

that had sat in a corner for some time anticipating their transformation!

 They've already been purchased.  We have an empty corner!  Yay!

All Over the Charts!

An unexpected invite from a friend to go garage saling yesterday

found me all over the charts in purchasing.

 (But NOTHING more than 50 cents.)

The sweet billfold above - $.10!

 This smiling wooden paper doll with magnetic clothes?

 $.25.

 Free!  (Above)  I have at least one grandson who likes cars.
Any kind of cars.   I happen to like the little people!
Can't get enough of them.

And this small molded wood 

"Behold I stand at the door and knock" plaque...$.25.

I also purchased three mid-sized clear Rubbermaid boxes at fifty cents each.

I decided not to buy any more than fit into the three.

Other purchases included 5 children's Golden Books,

a glass 2-cup measuring cup,

a stack of ten new dishwashing "scratchers" (as I call them), 

and if there was more, I forget what it was!

Just a great day weather-wise to garage sale

and even greater to spend the time with a friend...

But just wait till you see what I found toDAY--

and how I'm finishing my deconstructed lampshade.

By the way, if you want to see some of the notes/quotes that inspired me
while thumbing through some of my favorite decorating magazines
and a couple of new decorating books at Barnes and Noble,
come over to my Other Blog and read them!

the "bigs"

 In my last post, I showed you some "littles"...

 here are the "bigs"!

 I purchased these two life-sized dolls at a church rummage sale for $1@.

I was told that they arrived naked at the church. 

One of the workers promptly clothed them with donated clothes.

 We think THIS one is Haley Mills.  She is a marked "Disney" doll.

 I was excited to find this tilt-top child's table at my favorite thrift store last Saturday.

I know I'm blessed to have this skilled and capable repairman living with me!

He has removed the rough paint on top.  I'm trying to figure out how to finish the table.

free and just-about-free

On the way to North Carolina, we found a curbside teeming with stuff.  A large cardboard box held zillions of plastic Easter eggs--mostly disassembled!  I missed quite a bit of scenery as I matched them up.  In addition to what you see here, there is one more bag.  I also rescued two plastic pails and two plastic plates with bunny motifs.

 There are more clothespins in this bag than it appears.
I believe I found them in Tennessee.

I may sort them and display them in jars.

We stopped in Cincinnati at a good-sized thrift store.  I bought the wooden bowl for $1.  We'd seen some "fancier" ones in North Carolina produced on a lathe out of various woods.  The tiniest one was priced at $20.  The largest, $200.  Bowls this size were between $45 and $90. 

The little stuffed kitty kat was found hiding among glass wares. 

I couldn't resist.  It will be a gift to my cat-loving friend.

This is a book I wrote 24 years ago.  I've never run across it in a thrift store before.

I bought it because I think I've only set two copies back.  I was pretty excited to find it in North Carolina.
(After my husband repairs the child's chair we found curbside
and I reupholster the $1 footstool, I'll feature those in a future post.)