Updating Mirrors with Chalk Paint

Do you ever run across those ornate, gold mirrors at thrift stores, flea markets, auctions, etc and wonder how you can change them up a bit?  I find these all the time and they've almost become staples in the booths and shows where I sell from because they are simple to update...

Country Living Fair & Shopping in Atlanta

Whew!  I'm finally back home after a long weekend away in Atlanta attending the Country Living Fair and doing some shopping around the area.  I'm glad that I finally made the trip down to check it out!  I started out this little business selling at fairs and shows like this so I always enjoy attending them.

Tips for Shopping Antique Shows and Fairs

The Farm Chicks Show (in the earlier days) - via Country Living

Temperatures are warming up and antique shows/fairs are found almost every weekend around the country right now...it's my favorite time of year!  Spring is normally a crazy, busy time for me and for the first time in 7 years, I'm not working night-and-day on a gazillion projects for back-to-back antique shows that I'm normally a vendor at in April/May/June.  I have to admit that it feels strange not to be stressed out with piles of inventory in the garage and around the house and weirdly enough, I miss it!  I sort of crave the pressure, but with the house being for sale and not knowing what the future held, I didn't sign up for the Luckett's Spring Market this year.  I had been down that road before...back in the summer of 2010...house was for sale, 6 big shows, packing, moving, a baby that never slept...not fun, never again!  I had learned my lesson...

Luckett's 2012 - Part One

So instead of being a vendor, I'm a shopper at the shows this year and long before I started selling my own wares, I was a die-hard shopper at some of the biggest shows like The Farm Chicks Show, etc. for years.  By being both a vendor and a shopper, I've definitely learned a few things along the way, so I thought I'd share a few tips for navigating these shows/fairs that have worked for me over the years...

High Point Market Part 2 and My Loot

Gypsy Marketplace

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of some of the High Point showrooms that I shared the other day.  I promised to post my favorite part of High Point as well as some goodies I brought home!  As much as I loved looking at the new furniture lines, there's a part of me that loves digging through warehouses, barns, etc for the old stuff...

Black Empire Dresser

Right after Christmas, I had the opportunity to take a day with my husband to find some furniture projects for my booth at SuzAnna's.  I just love days like that... just my husband and I picking through some old barns.  I'm not sure what other couples do when their kids are away for the day, but our "days off" over the years have usually consisted of some major house project or something that's not easy to do or safe with the kids around.  Anyway, I found a few projects pieces that day including this beautiful Empire dresser.

A New Color, Booth News, and Future Projects

I love trying new colors of paint.  There really isn't any color that I don't really like either...maybe orange, but  even in the right shade and setting, I can appreciate orange.  When I paint furniture for resale, I almost always use pale blues and greens, whites and creams, colors that I use in my home.  Lately, I've been branching out a bit more and painting with colors I'm not normally drawn to as well as some saturated ones...have to change things up a bit.

A Year in Review - Favorite Projects and Posts of 2012

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year!  We had a great time around here with a full house for Christmas dinner and out-of-town guests for several days.  Before I start breaking down the Christmas decorations, I wanted to share a recap of some of the favorite and most popular posts of 2012. Since I started blogging regularly during the 2011 holiday season, 2012 is pretty much my first full year of blogging and sharing projects.

Slate Blue Metallic Dresser Makeover

I've always loved going to auctions, but don't get the chance to go very often because they are just too long to attend with small kids.  My mother-in-law picked up the girls for an overnight this last Saturday and my husband and I were able to go and enjoy ourselves at a small local auction.  I brought home some new projects including this dresser...

Eastern Migration

Well, it's official!  I'm excited to announce something that's been in the works for a few months...  After my husband and I and the three girls moved from the Pacific Northwest to Raleigh, NC last summer for my husband's job, my mom and step-dad decided to migrate east as well.  It's been a stressful time for all of us the last couple of years with two 2600-mile moves (and them having to sell their gorgeous home above), but we are all happy to be together again and of course, the girls love being with their grandparents...

Luckett's Spring Market 2012 ~ Part One

Whew, what a wonderful weekend!  Luckett's Spring Market was absolutely fabulous.  All the vendors and shoppers were so kind and welcoming, the weather was perfection, and I was walking around with a big smile on my face all weekend!  I owe a giant THANK YOU to everyone that came by to shop and visit!  I got to meet some new friends and visit with those I've met through the blog world too. 

Days O Work & Luckett's Preview

Yes, this is what my days are right now...full of work getting ready for the Luckett's Spring Market on May 19-20!  When I came across a set of these old tobacco press sheets used for pressing images into tobacco back into the 1920's, I had to keep one for my office.  I'll have the rest available at Luckett's in a few weeks...

Funky Junk Show - Spokane, WA

Hey there...it's been a while!  My mom and step-dad were visiting for a little over a week so I didn't get many projects done, but we did several "antique field trips" that I can't wait to share with you.  I've also been kicking it into high gear getting ready for the big Luckett's Spring Market next month.   I've been doing quite a bit of shopping and hitting the flea markets and I've got some great finds that post as soon as I get them cleaned up and ready to go.

The Church

I've always been the sort of person that likes to take the way less traveled.  I'd much rather take a winding country road lined with farms and homesteads than an interstate or highway clogged with traffic and billboards.  Maybe it's because I grew up on those country back roads as our family's dairy farm was little ways away from the small, rural town that we lived by?  It's all I ever knew until I was 18 and I'm still very much that farm girl longing to get back to the country. 

A Great Day with Miss Mustard Seed and Fellow Bloggers

I've always been so inspired by Miss Mustard Seed.  Not only is she amazingly talented, but her blog is so authentic and a joy to read, so when she put the call out to do some shopping and socializing in Raleigh this weekend, I was so excited to have the opportunity to meet her and some fellow creative women from the area. 

Funky Junk Show - Spokane

Two weeks away to the first big show of the season!  Mark your calendars - you won't want to miss this!

Can't wait to see you there...

Dresser Anyone?

My goodness, I have too many dressers.  I think I'm magnetically attracted to them at sales.  I always make a beeline straight to an old dresser...maybe it's because they're so versatile.  Besides the fact that every member in the family needs a dresser for clothing, they are also great for using in an entryway (with a cute mirror above it, of course) to store hats, gloves, dog leashes, etc.  Put two small matching dressers under a door and you now have a workspace with storage.  The possibilities are endless which brings me to my point...I have FIVE, 5, cinco dressers in all shapes and sizes that are coming with me to The Funky Junk Show this weekend.  I will have some other great pieces of furniture as well, but I'm telling you, if you're on the lookout for a new dresser, Funky Junk in Sandpoint is the place to be.  Where else would you rather spend your weekend?  Sandpoint has fabulous shopping, restaurants, a gorgeous lake, and an awesome antique show happening all at once this weekend.  Here are a few sneak peeks of some of the items that I'll be bringing:

(ok, not exactly a dresser, but a pale blue buffet/sideboard)

(I'm positive that I'll have your initial in stock of bubble necklaces - plus many other images!)

(stylish coasters)

Enough peeking, you'll have to see the rest at the show!

     

Trying New Things

I've always been a furniture girl.  At every sale or thrift store, my eyes go straight to the furniture.  Fixing up and painting furniture is what got me started on this path of junkin' and I still make a beeline to the furniture before anything else, but I've got a new love... jewelry.  Yes, I know, I'm a complete late-comer to this.  Creative women have been making awesome jewelry since way back and I never really took notice of it.  Yes, I've always thought the typewriter jewelry was so cute, but I never dreamed I'd make it.  I just didn't do the jewelry thing...until now. My mind started to wander from paint treatments for furniture to ideas for necklaces and took the plunge, ordered some supplies, and started out with some easier (but still cute!) things to make, i.e. typewriter pendant necklaces and bracelets.  

Another good beginning jewelry project has been the popular Scrabble pendant necklaces that I can whip up fairly easy.  I made these with vintage ephemera images and I have some more batches coming with vintage seed packet and cute bird images - just in time for spring! 

Next up was crafting some pendants with some funky pictures out of an old dictionary...

I purchased a vintage backgammon game with these cute and chunky chocolate brown and cream colored game pieces and I've been crafting different necklaces out of them.  These have pink clock faces and I was lucky enough to find some metallic chocolate brown chains to go with them.  I've been adding sheet music and other images to these as well. 

And last, but not least...my favorite!  I'm so excited about these!  These pendants have a big glass bubble on the top that magnify the images underneath.  The image looks different at every angle and though I started out making the birds and cameos, the next batch I make will have more letters and words.   

(with silver settings and chain)

(with black setting and chain)

Of course, I had to make one for me!

All of these little babies are going to be at the upcoming Funky Junk Antique Show on April 10th as well as the Angels Attic Show on April 24th. I still love finding great pieces of furniture, but now my mind is always open to what I can create with those little treasures I may come upon! 

I'm a Junkin' Junky...

I figured something out about myself this morning...  I'm a Junkin' Junky.  It's not that I didn't already know this about myself, but now I know that extended periods of time away (Fall, Winter) from junkin' will cause serious withdrawals followed by extreme adrenaline rushes when junk is re-introduced.  My step-dad Jon, step-sister Jessica and her one-year-old daughter, Jill, along with my 4 year old and 8 month old and I drove a little way out of town today for a sale that was advertised as over 30 years of accumulation...  I think it might have been a bit more than that, but that's ok.  Since I haven't been out junkin' in a while, my heart started beating a little faster when I pulled up and saw the piles.  This was going to be a true junkin' sale!  Don't get me wrong- garage sales and thrift stores are great, but I LOVE getting to dig through old boxes and piles that haven't been touched in years.  There was a house and several outbuildings including this main shop that had several nooks and attic crammed with bags, boxes and mouse droppings...        

It was pretty bad and I noticed that there no other women (and certainly no other children) participating in the digging.  I guess if there is one thing that growing up on a dairy farm does for a girl is tolerance for this kind of thing.  At one point, I had dug out a large enamel bowl from under some pile outside only to put my hand right inside a bunch of slime.  Oh well, wipe it off and keep digging...

The biggest challenge of the morning was being able to go through the rafters, attics, piles, sheds, and basements and keep the kids safe.  I think I realized how much of a junky I was when I realized how tortured I felt when I had to bow out of digging through some of the attics due to the dust and health hazards for a baby.  Giving up the attics, I headed outside to the piles and carried my 20 lb baby in her infant carseat while she slept and pulled out a cool old door and some other goodies.  After carrying this door for a while in one arm and the carseat in the other, I teamed up with Jessica and we'd take turns watching the kids. I kept an eye on Jill while she dug through vintage fabric and she kept mine while I explored the property some more.  Since I took way longer, I bought her fabric for her :) 

After it was all said and done, I didn't have a ton of stuff, but I'm so happy with my finds, not to mention I got a great deal on all of it!  I debated on this bike for a while.  It had this great old basket and old rear-view mirror attached to it, but I didn't get it because of the front tire.  My favorite find of the day was one of those old round metal laundry hampers with wheels!  I've always loved those, but never have been able to get one until today! 

After I got back from the sale and was unloading the door (above) from the truck, I realized how monstrously heavy and solid it was and thought, "How on earth did I haul that so far with the carseat?"  I've come to the conclusion that I must have been on some kind of junkin' adrenaline rush (yes, sad I know). 

And now that the day is over and I'm utterly exhausted, I know that I'm a bona fide Junkin' Junky and I'm proud of it!