More Yard Sale Treasures

I thought I would share some more of my recent yard/garage sale treasures with you. I had hoped to post this much sooner than now, but I have been under the weather. The above is a ceramic piece that I bought for only $2.00. It is about a foot in length.
This is a closeup of the lady in the center. The piece has a pretty, aged look to it and appears to have never been painted. I like the look of the white against the green of my wall. Very soothing.
I have been collecting white glass and can usually pick up some pretty pieces for very little cost. The above vases ranged in price from .25 cents (center) to $1.50. Again, very pretty against the green wall.
The above shows a close up of the flowers on the base of the center vase. It looks very old. I love the colors of the flowers. When I found this vase, it was at the bottom of a box and had dirt all over it. I knew it would look good after a good cleaning.
I purchased this beautiful botanical print for $1.50. It is 11"x 14" in size. I have seen these in antiques stores about $30 or $40.
This closeup shows the detail of the flowers.

I hope you enjoyed a look at these wonderful finds. I am anxiously awaiting my local newspaper, which is put out on the news stands on Wednesdays, for this week's list of yard/garage and estate sales. There are usually more of them on the first weekend of the month. It should be fun.

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.

Fresh-Picked Berries

We had a bountiful crop of strawberries in our area this Spring. I recently picked strawberries at a local farm. I froze many of the delicious berries for smoothies and strawberry shortcake, but some I made into jam. If the jam will last long enough, I plan on giving it for gifts at Christmas. I use decorative lids, like the one above, for gift-giving. I also add a bit of vintage ribbon or raffia, and tie on a pretty label, for an instant gift. One that is always very appreciated. My favorite way to enjoy strawberry jam (we call it jelly here in Texas), is spread on the top of a warm, buttered biscuit. Yum, Yum.
I also "picked" these cute, little, cloth berries at an estate sale, recently. The estate sale happened to be from my second grade teacher. She lived to be one-hundred-and-two, and was still able to live at her home. Who knows how long she had had this little basket of berries. I just added the green and natural wood shavings to the basket. It makes for a cute display, especially in the kitchen.

I still plan on picking some more strawberries before the season ends here, which will be soon. Also, the dewberries are beginning to ripen. They too, will make scrumptious jams or jellies.

New Arrivals

Things have been pretty busy the past few days around our place---we had baby chicks hatch! We had four different hens setting eggs. This group is just a handful of them. It was sure hard to get them to all slow down so we could snap a good picture.
Their mom, Chloe, wasn't too happy to have her babies removed from the nest, but she quickly changed her tune when we returned them.
These chicks are Rhode Island Reds. They will turn into a beautiful coppery, red color as they grow up. The hens will begin to lay eggs in the fall. They lay large, beige to brown eggs that are delicious scrambled or used in baking. We just love having fresh eggs.

Roses, Roses, Roses

In Central Texas, Spring is always a beautiful sight, but this Spring has been particularly pretty since we have had plenty of rain since Fall. This year, I have been so inspired by the blooms, that I am planning to make some paintings of them to sell in my Etsy shop. Here are a few of the blooms that have forced me to " pick up my paints". The above is a rose named Mutabilis. It begins to bloom as a peach color and then turns a deep pink color. It will appear as having several colors of blooms at one time.
This charmer is called, Crepuscule. Each bloom starts out as a peach color and then turns a light yellow. The above is a closeup and below is the vine climbing my back fence. It is a piece of art. I can remember the name of this rose by thinking of creamsicle. The color is almost the same as the orange creamsicles we all enjoyed as kids.
Almost all of my roses are antique roses. They seem to be more disease-resistant and, at least for me, easier to raise and to make cuttings. When I took these pictures, the rose scent was intoxicating and all I could hear were the "buzzing" of bees.
I got a little more creative here, this is a Cecile Brunner rose resting on a piece of milk glass. The background is vintage wallpaper that dates from the 1930's.
These buds are from the Mutabilis.
This is a Mutabilis bloom .
This rose is a climber, but I am unsure of the name. The background is a piece of a vintage wallpaper border.
These little beauties are called, Gabrielle Privat. The little roses are about an inch across. I love the pretty pink color. They are arranged inside a little jadite flower pot. I just love the pink and green together.