Treasure Hunting

I thought I would share some of my "treasures" that I have recently found at local yard and estate sales. These first two photos are a sampling of a large box I purchased at a yard sale. The lady told me that the box of assorted trims, laces, ribbons, and etc. belonged to her grandmother. I bought the whole box for $5.00. What a deal!
Some of the items are vintage and some are newer, but what was so nice, was that she had all of the related colors wrapped together on separate pieces of cardboard. I can't wait to work these items into some projects.
This beautiful, old print of a cottage and garden was purchased at an estate sale for .25 cents. I just love the soft colors. It is about 11" x 14". I had to tape the upper left corner on the back, but the picture will still look good in a frame.
I purchased a plastic bag that contained about a hundred or so of these clippings of cartoons from the Waco, Texas newspaper. Some of them were dated "1938". The cartoon is of Flapper Fannie. I paid $1.00 for the bag. I will probably sell these. They would be great for use in paper-crafting projects.
Another thing that is so interesting about these cartoon clippings, is that on the back of them they contain little bits of history. Reading all of them was like going back in time.

As much fun as it is to find all of these treasures, I think the even greater thrill is the hunt. I have said many times, that I can go to a dozen yard sales, and not find a thing, but the next one that I go to, I will find that special something, like the box of trims. It can be such an addiction, but a fun one. It really gets under the skin.

I believe when I first caught "the bug" was when we would visit my Papaw Matt (this was his nickname, since he looked so much like the actor, James Arness, of Gunsmoke fame). He had a perpetual sale in his garage. He would always invite us kids in and say "pick out something". Some of the relatives still talk about how much fun we had rummaging through that garage. This was in the early seventies, before garage sales became so popular.

Even though Papaw and my Grandma were divorced, Grandma did the very same thing in the garage at her home. If she wasn't going to garage/yard sales, she was having one of her own. My mom and I would occasionally help her with her sales. I remember getting to make a little extra spending money selling my unwanted clothes or toys this way. I remember that my Grandma would have a separate glass on her kitchen table, for each person who had items for sale, and when each of us sold something, she would come in and put the money in the appropriate glass. Grandma ran her garage sale off and on for many years. This was before some of the city ordinances that we now have, that limit the number of garage sales a person can hold in a year's time. Those were the days.

Grandma and Papaw Matt passed on years ago, but their love of garage sales and treasure-hunting lives on in me and my family.