A Beautiful Morning for Christmas Tea

I couldn't wait to get to Sherry's house this morning to share tea and cookies.  (And to see her Christmas decorations!)  Some of these Santas are from Sherry's collection and some from her mom's collection.  The silver tray, glassware, and boughs really set them off.  

This is my favorite display.  Sherry calls it her "tree theme".  Her toy cupboard is the perfect way to display the vintage finds she's found over the years.  The photo is of Sherry, her brother, and Dad out chopping down the Christmas tree.  What a treasure!

The dining room table looks lovely with greenery and a variety of candles and votives.  Sherry and Mark used vintage glassware for their daughter's wedding.  Most recently they took 40+ votives to a friend's wedding in Texas.

More festive decorations!

Sherry's dad's sturdy rocking horse looks over all the decorations and celebrations in the living room.

One of Sherry's prized Christmas decorations is a red mercury glass reindeer.  She has a set of about 6 other clear ones that her mom had collected as well.  They are German made and very delicate.  No wonder she puts them up high when the neighbor kids are visiting!

The morning was relaxing and inspirational.  I can't wait for the new year to start treasure hunting again!

Halloween Season's Grand Finale!

Here are photos from Cindy's collection, gathered from craft fairs, estate sales, garage sales, and second-hand shops.  The thrill is in the hunt, but also in digging out that Halloween bin full of stuff after a year and then setting them up around the house.

(My favorite display!)

The repurposed candle stand gives the jack-o a little height.

Some Spo-o-o-ky Fun

As I unpacked my Halloween bin, I recalled how much of it came from garage sales, craft fairs, and estate sales.  Evenings are getting darker, but the glowing lights brighten the mood.  Our taste for items has moved away from the "cutsie" items to those with a vintage, earthy look.  I'll post photos of Cindy's collection soon.  

This early five gallon Red Wing jug is the perfect spot to add some Halloween bells.

An old oak pedestal plant stand holds garage sale finds. 

All these were garage sale finds with the exception of the Trick or Treat collage.  That was an etsy find.  We really like the old book, The Ghost Hunters.  The masked fairy is marked "Goebel".

This Fairy King assemblage is comprised of vintage parts... old door hardware, vintage dice, well-used measuring tape, a vintage typewriter key, a fairy figurine, and a salt shaker cap.  

A favorite display piece here is the antique light fixture that is inverted and holds friendly jack-o-lanterns.

Who doesn't love an old library copy of Georgie's Halloween?

Witch socks from a local artist.

This is a rack for all seasons.  It was probably originally used for cups, but these little beauties are much more fun.  The rack is from a garage sale and the figures were purchased on Etsy.

Mom's old cookie cutter dressed up with some fun ribbons for the fridge.

Don't Give Up

We had been garage-saling all morning and had just about given up.  We stopped at a sale not too far from home.  I wish we had gone there first!  In any case, the prices were slashed and we were happy!

The woman who sold these said the doorknobs had been left in a box in the basement of an old apartment building that she owns.  We can't wait to find something to do with these beauties!

This vintage sign is a local treasure.  It's from our main street.

A Lot of Laughs

A fine-feathered friend.  

We bumped into Elvis and his buddy a few weekends ago!

I guess knights used to be somewhat shorter in the old days.

Mellow Yellow

Retro mustard yellow is a new favorite seek-and -find color.  We couldn't pass the suitcase and phone by.  The Northwest Orient and Western Airline tags are a cool bonus.

Assemblage and Mixed Media

These pieces were made from objects found at garage sales, flea markets, and junk piles (not to mention my husband's workbench).  "Amour" - computer keys, vintage lock, vintage ceiling tile, paint, and barbed wire.

"Magic" - mixed media

"Dreamer" - mixed media

Busy Summer! Not Much Treasure Hunting! Arg!

I found this while out treasure hunting.  Thought I'd give it to Cindy for Christmas, but... she was looking at photos on my phone and saw it.  Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to keep it.  LOL

Can't believe someone would want to get rid of this super cool umbrella.  It just needed a dab of Gorilla Glue on the handle.  It reminds me of walking the Queen's Mile in Edinburgh.

Perfect for a Christmas mantle.  

We like to display early readers in a wire basket.  This title is a primer that I learned to read from in first grade.  Whoa!  That was a loooooooooong time ago!

We couldn't pass this vintage iron up, even though we have quite a few.  We use them for bookends.

Ribbons show up at just about every sale and we always buy them.  We'll be wearin' the green ... or at least our packages will.

Last weekend Cindy couldn't go rummaging, so my husband went along.  He is a good sport about once a year.  Usually he comes back with things like a roof rake, a golf club, or a fishing rod rack for the cabin.  This time he picked up a metal tin that once held cigars.  Wow, we're rubbing off on him!

New Year's Day Auction

All the proceeds at the auction we attended went to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  How cool is that?

Most items were out of our league, but we had so much fun.  No mall shopping for us.  (We did enough of that before Christmas!)  We got the giggles when putting up our paddles for this little gem.  We should have taken all four Hummels for the "all choice" price.  Ahhh...next time.