Junk Bonanza Preview - Transferware

Unearthing things I've set aside for Junk Bonanza has consumed me lately.  I'm jazzed about the junking fun that we'll be having in Minnesota before we know it. (I'm posting more preview photos on my Facebook page - click here) In just five weeks, my friend Kathy and I will head up the road.  Extraordinary junkers from all over will be making the same journey; we'll all converge on Canterbury Downs and fill the facility to overflowing with the most amazing junk.

Today I'm packing up the 18th & 19th century English transferware that captures my heart.  No pretty shelf-sitter sets for me though.

It's a mish-mosh of patterns and colors, that somehow play very well together.

Various shades of blue are plentiful...

...but reds, greens and browns also  make an appearance.

Transfareware doesn't come home with me unless it's crazed, stained, chipped or broken.

This happens to be my favorite piece.  Do you suppose that someone was quietly sipping his
tea when a bullet flew through his cup???  Talk about a wake-up call!

I'm really hoping that fresh mums will be available when we  head out to Junk Bonanza.  Old transferware looks dreamy when pared with the bold colors of fall.

If Junk Bonanza isn't yet on your calendar, it's time now to make plans.  Ki Nassauer, Editor-in-Chief of Flea Market Style magazine runs the show.  Ki is the queen of card-carrying junkers everywhere and has been inspiring many of us for years.  You won't be disappointed!

Junk Bonanza

Canterbury Downs

Shakopee, Minnesota

Sept. 13-15, 2012

Introducing Mi Tipo...

... my new shop on etsy. Mi Tipo means "My Type" in Spanish. It's where you'll find letters, numbers and other bits of alphabetalia sized from 1/4" to 17" tall. 

  I've been wanting to re-vamp my original etsy shop, Gracie's Cottage, for quite some time.  Moving letters & numbers into their own shop is the first step. 

Please stop in and check out Mi Tipo when you have a moment. I've just begun to load it and there's lots more to come in the days ahead! 

I'm linking up withe Debra over at Common Ground for Monday Marketplace...follow me over to check it out!

Who Can Resist...

...a big bowl filled with buttons?  I recently acquired these and was planning to just put them out at the mall with small bags as a little 'self-serve button bar'.  (I have a few fun buttons tucked away, but don't consider myself a button collector.)  I should have just packed these up right away, but no, I had to start pawing through them.

 

 I started to spy a few that looked interesting.

Right off the bat I found this little button with a working compass insert. I've had little compasses before and little buttons, but never, ever, ever a little compass-button.

I spent a few more minutes going through them.

 I didn't find any big ticket buttons.

But found several that charmed me.

 Now I know that before I let them go, I'm going to have to dump the whole lot and spend a couple hours going through them. If I don't I'll forever wonder what I might have missed.

 

This is a perfect example of why I never accomplish what I should.  Some little thing ends up taking hours instead of minutes.  Does that ever happen to you?

Turquoise Annie

Finding the turquoise cupboard last week spurred me to finish a project I'd already started.  I'd painted this old frame in Annie Sloane Provence, but wasn't quite happy with it.  (Sorry, forgot to get a 'before' pic of the dirty old brown frame - please use your imagination!)   I've always found Provence to be a little 'heavy' and a bit 'muddy' for  my taste, so decided to experiment.  I used a favorite vintage stool as my inspiration color.

Through some crazy stroke of luck, it was a near-perfect match on the first try.  I poured a little old white into a container, added a little less Provence, and even less Antibes Green and this is the result.

I distressed it just a bit, waxed it and hung it up today, around one of my favorite pieces of artwork.

This little gal is titled 'Sink or Swim'; I love her and am inspired by the simple title daily. She was a gift from my pal, Candyce of Altered Ever After.   (Speaking of Candyce, you need to go read her latest blog entry on her harrowing adventure at Kane County this past weekend -yikes!)

Now I'm pondering what to do with the ice cream table & chairs.  I'm looking for a fun print, (with a touch of turquoise), to use for chair cushions,  and thinking about Old White.  The options are A. Leave them  B. Paint the chairs C. Paint the table top and/or base.

I'm linking up with Laura at The Ironstone Nest for Transformation Tuesday.  Let's all go see what everyone's been up to this summer!

A Manly Auction

Hot. It's been hot. I headed off to a local estate auction on Saturday with three frozen bottles of water.
When they were gone seven hours later, I headed  home. There was still a huge amount to be sold and I knew that there were going to be bargains, but the heat won. Go ahead, call me a wimp!

This row, three trailers long was less than 1/4 of what was sold that day.

Almost all of it went in box lots, and the lots got bigger as the day got later.

Some of the stuff that would have been cool to repurpose went to guys that restore cars. Rats.
They were willing to pay to get what they needed.

These old lights and reflectors looked like interesting.

I did buy a few lots, just to get the locker baskets that were holding the stuff.  I also got some great ephemera and several industrial drawer units in various sizes. Sorry, no photos yet. The Pilot fairy neglected to go out in the heat, unload and clean them up for me.

I love old tractor umbrellas and they are hard to find in good condition. It was a bit of a battle but I did triumph and come home with this. It's the coolest thing I got all day. Literally!  Hope your efforts this weekend were rewarded with something you love!

I'm linking up with Debra at Common Ground for Marketplace Monday.  Why don't you click here and come along with me?  

Red White and Blue in 'the loo'

Don't you just love the colors of July?  

My space at the WaterLOO Antiques Mall in WaterLOO, Wisconsin has just been re-stocked and loaded with red, white & blue.

See that old Johnson & Johnson cabinet in the lower left? 

It's very cool in blue!

Croquet mallets hold so many project possibilities.

If you've got the figure, we've got the swimsuit!

Someone did a great embellishing an old cabinet with red cross symbols.

This would be great in the beach house bathroom.

If you're a roller-skatin' cowgirl, we've got your case.

On the other hand, if you're a weakling, you can workout with these old dumbbells.

No, we don't really want to sell Sam; he just wanted to get out of the house for a bit.  Since we hate it when we find items that say 'not for sale', we've put a big price on him that will leave us with plenty of 'grieving money', should someone with deep pockets take him home. 

We'd love to have you visit our booth at the top of the stairs!

Waterloo Antiques Mall

255 S Jefferson Street

Waterloo, Wisconsin

10-5  Daily

Stepping Back ... Summer Camp

One of the highlights of my childhood was summer camp.  Last week I had a chance to give two of my granddaughters a similar experience and I'm happy to say they loved it.  Our church rented out an old camp. A group of our college students went up a day early, cleaned, and then ran the program. The only thing they didn't do was the cooking.  I worked in the kitchen, giving me a unique opportunity to be a 'fly on the wall' and be around  for K & K, who didn't know anyone there when we arrived.

It was like stepping back in time.  The property was given to a church in the early 1900s.  The church is required to maintain it as a camp, or it reverts to the descendants of the family who donated it. Times are tough and the little church doesn't have a lot of money to put into upgrading the facilities.

The structure of the old kitchen/dining hall is in jeopardy, and campers were not allowed inside.  We cooked and served from another building.  

Can you imagine the number of meals that were served here over the decades?

And the clatter of the old ironstone dishes being stacked after a meal?

Little cottages are scattered about the wooded grounds.

This is the ceiling of the old chapel.

From 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. the campers were busy.  Workouts, breakfast, chapel, electives, lunch, more electives, free time, snack shack, dinner, chapel, campfires, devos....  Electives included crafts, cooking class, kayaking, target shooting, games, drama class, newspaper class, first aid, survival class, fishing, and more. 

Between mealtimes, I had the chance to wander around and observe.  It was hot and humid the entire time, with no air conditioning anywhere. Yet the counselors and leaders were kind and patient, a living example of God's love for these children.  Here, K & K are shooting BB guns for the first time. It was hilarious...these city girls had absolutely no clue, but both managed to ding some cans with a little help.

I had hoped to be up for sunrise over the lake one morning, but didn't quite make it. 

There's something about a quiet lake early in the morning...

...so peaceful

It wasn't long before the campers were up and the silence was replaced with happy chatter.  

It was such a treat to recapture the flavor of my childhood, and share it with K & K.  They had a great time and made many new friends; I hope that they'll look back on camp week as fondly as I do!

Did you ever go to summer camp?