Estate Sale Part 2

Well, happily there was another good estate sale on Friday, which I had time to attend.  I picked up some great finds.  This home is still owner occupied.  My understanding is that in order to redecorate they were liquidating lots of stuff.  They must have either been collectors or antique dealers, since,for the age of the home and occupants, there was lots of good old stuff.  The prices were significantly higher than Thursday's sale, but still reasonable.  Due to cost, I had to be very selective.  Some items never made it into my pile, as the condition did not justify the price.  I am very content with the overall outcome.

The tally is: two vintage fans (have to check if they work or not);a bunch of little American flags; several great vintage games including pin-the-tale-on-the-donkey, United States bingo, and a WWI airplane game; some vintage grade school books; two great collections of wooden anagram letters; a big box of old wooden thread spools and vintage sewing supplies (only a tiny portion is shown here on the table); a table that will have its top transformed with a covering of yardsticks (I'll be sure to post that result); a great vintage green hamper; a few vintage kitchen utensils; a couple vintage office supplies; a vintage dress-up makeup box for children; an idea and activity book for girls from the 30's; and a sweet little oak, curved back chair (the damaged cane work will get removed and a cushy cushion will take its place).

I've had two very rewarding mornings, enough so that despite looking forward to the opening day of our great local flea market, I think I'm actually going to skip it and sleep a little extra instead.  I've got enough to work with for now.


On another note, besides all the snow being gone from my yard, spring has definitely sprung!  I have crocuses in full bloom, daffodils and tulip shoots coming up and bought my first big pot of pansies to have on the front porch.  I have been craving this time and am soooo glad it is finally here to stay.

The pot on the crate is mine, the others two are gifts.

 Check out the beautiful petals on the flowers.  They are ruffled.  I've not seen this before in a pansy.  So pretty!

Please be a Follower

Hello there cyber friends!  I am sure enjoying this blog world.  It is such a fun way to communicate with all of you.  I hope you enjoy what you see and read.  I see by my view counter that I am on the radar of more than the four readers who have become followers. I'd like to encourage my other readers to sign up as a follower as well.  Once I have 10 registered followers, I'll be raffling off a happy vintage gift to one of them.  I'll be posting a picture of it soon.  Also, in the works, once I figure out more computer navigation, will be a small section on the side of the page, showing a weekly idea or project.  I also hope to have another small sidebar updated regularly to show featured items or new items in my space at the Cooperage for any of you local shoppers.  I can't promise it will be anytime super soon, as I don't want to stress, but keep your eye out and thanks for blogging with me.    Tera

More of Heidi's New Room

Thought you might like to see more of Heidi's room project.  She is very content with the outcome of her redo.   And thankfully, also very patient, as I am still tying up the loose ends.

This custom, mommy-made, bulletin board spans one wall of her room.
Each of the three panels is made of homeosote board covered with
homespun fabric and anchored to the wall with mouldings.  The "NO PARKING"
sign came from a flea market expedition last fall.

A close up of one section of board.  She's my little collector.
Here you see some of her keys, stopwatch and ruler collection,
as well as her favorite number, made of two pieces of old licence plates.

The desk cubby you've seen, but I finally added the side curtain
to disguise part of the door frame.

Here is the answer to a nightstand/bookcase.  Three vintage fruit
crates (labels intact on the sides) serve her well, especially after
she so creatively arranged them.

Estate Sale Part 1

Two red, white and blue chairs (one a chaise) for children.  What a great
display they'll make in July.  Also a great collection of vintage games
and records.  Four simple, but nice colored bath towels and a sweet sun umbrella tops it off.
On another happy note, as you can see in the next picture, spring has sprung in my
yard and the snow is all melted, revealing my garden beds.  I'm itching to get growing!

So.....yesterday, I finally had the chance to go to a good estate sale.  It has been a long time since there has been a good one, and one that I can attend.  It felt to good to go and have a little fun.  Estate sales can be tricky.  They can easily morph into stress, wanting things that someone else picked up first, people being angry and pushy, and people trying to take stuff out of your pile, despite marking it sold.  I've worked very hard with myself and continually remind myself that it is all just stuff.  It wasn't mine to begin with and if I leave without it, my life will not be any the worse for.  Also, these homes we go into, belonged to someone else, usually an elderly person who has died or can't live alone any more.  They laughed and loved and lived and struggled and cried in these homes, and we need to act with the same respect for their home and belongings as we would if they were there greeting us and asking us to come in.  I like to ask the sale facilitator for the person's name and whether they are still alive or deceased.  It is then my great honor to lift that person and their life in prayer to God, and with thankfulness that their life can still be a blessing to others.  This has always helped me to have a less stressful experience and  to keep things in perspective.  It,is easy to get sucked in, but I remind myself constantly and feel pretty good about it.

Some funky, but fun vintage bedspreads that will make fun tote bags. 
A vintage breadbox and cookbook.
Some great old records.
A stool, table, a bowl of black and white photos and a thick
scrapbook from the 50's, full of vintage valentines and greeting cards.
SWEET!

My Space at the Cooperage

Here's a peek at my spot at the Cooperage in Townsend, MA.  I used to have just the space with the white cupboard, but as of April 1, I now have double the space.  (Still small, but just right for this girl.)  I plan to hang up some fabric on the wall behind my space to warm it up.  I'm also going to hang  a window frame on the wall to be able to display curtains for sale.  Had hoped to do it this week, but being under the weather with a bug of some sort, kept me taking too many naps to get it done.  I'm in no hurry though.  If I rush it, then it becomes stressful, and that is not my aim here.  I want to have fun with this, not stress.  I'll show you some new pictures when I get the area spruced up. Until then, I still think it is a very happy space! And so far, it looks like it must be happy for the shoppers as well. I've met or exceeded my sales goal each month. My goals are not set very high, just high enough to keep me going. In celebration of my continuing success, I made the decision last month to tythe 10% of my monthly check from sales to my church. They fund so many wonderful programs here and abroad. My contribution is rather small, but I feel so blessed to be able to contribute some money on my own, not just what we contribute as a family.

This shows my original space, although it was about a foot less on the left.



This is the new addition to my space.



A peek into a happy cupboard.  Notice the little journals
on the bottom shelf.  Those are the ones I blogged
about last week.  I also made the little shadow box
with the bird and nest on the second shelf.

Some vintage Easter.

Spur of the Moment Inspiration

My happy new paper stash.

Yesterday, I bought some fun new paper at a local art shoppe.  I was putting them away in my studio this morning when I happened to come across a stash of mini marbled composition notebooks I have.  They are about the size of an index card and would fit so nicely in a pocketbook or by the phone.

I bought them some time ago with the intention of collaging them.  One of those projects that got set aside. When I saw them this morning, I had a sudden inspiration of what I wanted to do with them.  Since it's Saturday, and there is nothing I have to do, I set to work right away.  I got so engrossed that an hour had gone by before I knew it and my fingers were frozen.  (To save on polluting oil consumption, we leave the heat in the basement studio turned way down and I was too engrossed to remember to turn it on!)  The happy result of my hour's work was four little journals.

I used my Xyron adhesive machine from Michael's to adhere vintage sheet music to the front and back of each mini journal.  I then used book binder's tape to finish the left bound edge.  I then sponged a little black ink all around the other three edges, front and back.  I color copied (on my printer) and reduced four vintage newspaper fashion pattern ads from the 50's and applied adhesive to them as well.  I cut up four vintage envelopes, saving the cancelled stamp and postmark and applied adhesive to them.  Each journal received a stamp with cancellation wave, postmark and a fashion advertisement.

For the back, I stamped a vintage Dennison gummed label with my "Vintage Whispers Correspondence by Grandma's Girl Collections" (yup, that's me) logo, applied adhesive (the old gum surface just doesn't stick on its own anymore) and applied it to the back of the journal.

I plan on selling these at the Cooperage in Townsend, MA and hopefully, after I make a bunch more, on the Etsy site I hope to get up and running by the end of the month.  Each journal will be sold tied with a piece of vintage ric-rac around it.  Any feedback from you all on a fair asking price?  I'd love your thoughts.

SImple Joys

Well, the last week has been a busy one.  My sister and her family came to Massachusetts from Wisconsin for a 6 day visit.  They were last here a little over 5 years ago with only one baby in tow.  This happy visit brought them all:  my sister, her husband and their three little ones ages 6, 5 and almost 2.  My little house was bursting at the seams with happy, busy activity.  Erin and her husband took off for three days to enjoy some long overdue couple time in Boston, while the little ones stayed here for lots of lovin and fun.  Of all the things we did: museum, parks, trip to see the cows at the dairy (where the girls decided cow poop really smells!), visiting turtles at the flower green houses, etc., etc., I think some of the sweetest times were the simplest.  Seeing the joy on 5 year old Addy's face when she got to walk one of our dogs all by herself, was priceless.  Both girls walked a dog on leash all on their own for four walks.  There is just something so special seeing a dog and child bond and spend time together walking down the road talking to each other.

The other simple joy was Hunter. At almost two, he is so expressive.  Joy is so joyful (just as grumpy is so grumpy), but the joy was around almost all of the time.  He is a picky eater, but LOVED his yogurt every day.  We would ask him if it was yummy and he would flash a brilliant smile and give a resounding "Yesh!"  As you can see here, there is no doubt he was having a happy lunch of yogurt.

Its now quiet again in my house.  April fools day has brought us a snowstorm (although thankfully, nothing as strong as the blizzard we had this time 14 years ago when Heidi was born) and I am feeling a little down that spring has been put temporarily on hold with a new and late snow cover.  I am also missing Erin and her little ones.  It was busy and noisy and my house was disheveled, but it was great and all the warm memories of our time this past week will bring the warmth of spring into my heart and soul.  And just as I know the snow will melt again soon, I also can look forward to visiting my sister and her family at their home, hopefully this summer.