Recent finds

I've been taking pictures of some of my finds lately, but I'm just getting around to posting them. I'll tell you, I am happy October is over with. It's bad when you think the holiday season is going to be slow compared to the last month.

 

I mentioned in an earlier post that the Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a must stop in Moorhead. I found this lovely lock there. I haven't found a place for it yet, but I will. 

I really don't know what I'm going to do with all this gift wrap ribbon, but I love it. It's one of those things that I had to have even though I don't know why. The day I do need it though, I'll be happy I have it.  

I also found these roller skate wheels at the ReStore. They'll go among all our sports stuff. 

I know I don't need any more wrapping paper, but I couldn't help it. Look how lovely that paper is! I just love the poodle one. 

This was a happy find while I popped into a thrift store recently to waste some time. I don't mind that the label is torn. Gives it some character.

The box is loaded with flashcards. The cards are bent up as I'm sure they got a lot of use. There are some really fun ones. I had to take out the one that said "wart" and put it among my Halloween witch stuff. 

I found this golf scorecard holder this weekend while getting a little me time before the whole deer hunting season kicks in. This is another find to go with all our sports stuff. It's also perfect for holding a picture.

A Mad Hatter Tea Party

For my daughter's 5th birthday party, we had a Mad Hatter party. She had a tea party the birthday before, but around her birthday I discovered Everything Alice. I knew we had to do an Alice in Wonderland themed party the next year. Really, I think I just wanted an excuse to visit more thrift stores for "party supplies".

I had a lot of things left from the year before, but I added a lot more to fit this theme. I found some great heart shaped plates at Target on clearance after Valentines Day.

 





 

 Another great thing about a tea party is you can put out lots of sweets like cupcakes and brownies. We also had tea sandwiches and deli roll ups.

 

For this cake stand I decoupaged some scrapbook paper underneath. I also added some flags in some of the treats with Alice in Wonderland quotes on them.

Another great clearance find was these monogrammed plates and napkins I found at Hobby Lobby.

  

I was pleasantly surprised to find these "Poker Chip" chips at Dollar Tree. It might be hard to tell in the picture, but these chips are in the shape of hearts, spade, diamonds and clubs.

 

Of course, the white rabbit had to be represented by a clock.

 

It was fun collecting all the mismatched cups and saucers.

The flower napkin rings are new, but of course I did not pay full price for them. They were found at a thrift store too. The napkins were actually hankies.

The kids dressed up formally for the tea party. Since it was a Mad Hatter tea party they dressed funny. Here my son has two ties and two jackets on. My other son had three ties on his back.

Pheasant Opener

Any other hunting widows out there? Yup, it's the opener for pheasants this weekend, which means I'm left alone with the kids.

 

This photo is from a group of slides I bought on a whim at an antique store in Rapid City, SD last fall. I had some of the slides converted to a CD. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but there are some fun images. My husband really likes the guns in this picture, but I can't repeat anything he just told me. He might as well been speaking Spanish.

Weekend in Fargo



September is typically a busy month for us. Some of the busyness was due to junkin' and when it didn't I found some time to fit it in anyway. Now that things are calming back down, I finally have some time to share!

 

Three years ago, my husband and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in Fargo. Life for us began in Fargo and our weekend getaway is now an annual trip. Things have changed since those college days and now we can afford to live it up a little by spending a night at the Hotel Donaldson.

 

 

And we always find time for a drink or two. (We just do what the sign tells us to do). 

Speaking of drinking.... The Old Broadway is where a boy once introduced me to the Mai Tai. I fell in love with the Mai Tai, but the boy? Not so much.

And... Go Bison!

Hey, look! It's a yarn bomb! Broadway was filled with yarn bombs while we were in Fargo. I had never actually seen one in person before, it was really cool. Just another reason to love Fargo.

As usual, we did some antiquing on our trip out east. We also checked out some thrift stores while in town and found some neat treasures. If you're in Fargo, you have to hop over to Moorhead and check out the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It is filled with all kinds of repurposing inspiration; doors, paint, cabinets, hardware, furniture, and the list goes on. Next time I will have to have more of a plan before going there. I did pick up some roller skate wheels, an old lock, and some other little trinkets. Oh, and a set of lockers that my parents had actually purchased earlier in the week that we picked up for them. The best part of the ReStore is it's cheap so come with an empty vehicle. 

 

We didn't find much at the antique stores, but did find some things at thrift stores in Fargo and along the way. But that will have to be a post for another day. 

Vintage cookbook inspiration

One of the many things I collect is cookbooks. Like many collections, it started innocently. I liked the covers on a few cookbooks and picked them up. I must have felt they were lonely and now I have a whole lot of cookbooks. Some of my cookbooks are stacked on my new retro styled stool. The top Better Homes and Gardens cookbook came out of one of the auction boxes I recently blogged about. It's one of my favorites.

 

 

Recently I went through my cookbooks, looking for some dinner time inspiration. I was in a rut and needed some help.

 

One of the cookbooks I went through was this Betty Crocker book. I didn't find any dinner inspiration, but I did find this: 

Breakfast in bed made easy with a muffin pan. I love such simple ideas. I however took the idea another way: 

It's movie night kid's trays! Kind of like the theaters have. The best part: no bickering over who won't share the popcorn. And their drinks all stayed put in the built in cup holder.

Chalkboard redo

I picked up this chalkboard at a thrift store recently. I didn't take a before picture, but I'll tell you it was ugly. It would have been better if the previous owner had left the frame as bare wood, but for some reason they decided to paint it a hideous brown. In the Crayola box I think it would have been burnt Sierra. I thought about replacing the cork board because there are colored chalk squiggly lines on it, but in the end decided to leave it as is. It's going to be mostly covered up anyway. Plus it looks like pretty much everything else around here that the kids have put their own special touches on. 

I put a couple of coats of an off-white spray paint on the frame before applying the blue. Then I roughed it up quite a lot. I had envisioned this going in my bedroom, but it looked really good in the kitchen. 

More hotel postcards

There were two postcards that didn't make it into the pack I sent my sister:

  This one is from Tower City, ND. Love this postcard. I don't stop at Tower City often so I can't remember if the cafe is still there or not. I do know that there's a good little bakery with really good homemade bars. The gas station is still there, but I don't think the garage is. My memory fails me so I'll have to stop there the next time we go through. I'll be the weirdo taking a picture of the Tower City gas station so I can get a comparison picture. 

This one is from the Biltmore Motor Hotel in Fargo on Main. It's now the Kelly Inn. From their website I learned it's the only outdoor pool at a hotel left in Fargo. I remember it because it was here that we had a little get together after I graduated from NDSU. Awww, memories.

Treasures for my sister

I picked up this 1947 Kerr canning booklet at Junkfest last year. I think I got it in a bundle of stuff, but hung on to this because I love the "Modern Homemaker" cover. I haven't done anything with it and my sister likes canning so she's getting it.

 The inside has great illustrations and pictures and is filled with recipes and useful canning tips. There is also a centerfold only a vintage loving woman would love: Canning labels! They are pictured on the right, but didn't scan in great. You can see them a little better if you click on the picture. 

I also ran across a bundle of hotel envelopes, stationary, and postcards at a rummage sale over the weekend that my sister will be getting to add to her hotel collection. I paid a whole 50 cents for a pretty good stack of stuff.



This is a great Holiday Inn envelope. There are also some really nice graphics on the back.



This was one of my favorite postcards from the stash. Gotta love the ladies relaxing around the pool. This hotel is in Springfield, Illinois. It's still there, State House Inn, but alas, it doesn't look they have a pool anymore.

Hope you like your new treasures, Mrs. G! They'll be in the mail shortly so be on the lookout!

My junkin' buddy

I've got a new junkin' buddy. My son Torii. I have Storage Wars to thank for his interest in auctions, he's a big fan. We went to an auction a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get to stay long because we had other commitments. We were both bummed because there was a lot of good junk. Torii did get a couple of globes and I got two big boxes of cookbooks. There were so many cookbooks. I could have easily gone crazy.

I also picked up two boxes of arrows, which Torii bid on for me. I stuck some arrows in a vase, but I still have a bunch left. Not sure what to do with those yet.

Since we didn't get to stay long at the first auction we went to another over the weekend. Torii got a map garbage can that will look great with his globes and I just got a few little things. We may go to another auction next month and Torii is also thinking about tagging along at Junkfest. It's so much fun having a kid that's excited about junk!

Wood shelf

The thing I really love about junkin' is not knowing what you'll find. Sure, I could go to Target and buy a shelf and have my room completed, but what fun would that be? Therefore, my house isn't decorated as I would like, but I'm willing to be patient until I find each perfect piece to complete each room of our house. 

I had a different idea in mind for the space above my buffet, but then I found this great shelf. My new junkin' buddy, (more on that later), and I decided to make a quick trip to a thrift store over the weekend. This shelf caught my eye and I knew it was something my husband would love as well.

I'm not real big on wood pieces, but I love this shelf. We have so many fishing and hunting collectibles, but not enough shelves for all of it. It was so nice to pull some things out and get them displayed again. 

The sides of the shelf have deer silhouettes. Perfect for our displays! 

I also picked up this plate recently even though I didn't know where I was going to put it. Now I have a space! I knew it would be something my husband would like. Plus I like souvenirs so it appealed to me too. On the top of the plate is says "Souvenir of Bismarck, N.D.". I stuck some of our Peters shells in the cup.

Letters!

I took a little break from junkin' and bloggin' so I could spend a wonderful week with my wonderful sisters, brother-in-law and niece. It was great to spend time with family, but the week went way too fast!

Well, actually I got a little junkin' in last week, thanks to my sister. She brought all these letters home from Idaho. The letters came from a drive-in theatre. Aren't they great? I took a letter and a few numbers before they got packed away. If you'll find yourself at Junkfest in September, look out for these numbers and letters. My parents will have them for sale along with all their usual great junk!

Get a Clue

It was

in the

with the

Liner paper

Paper! Oh, you know I love paper. I got so excited when I saw this paper that I tried to reach through the glass to get it. My hand hit the side of the glass shelf like a bird when it hits a window. Oops. It's just so pretty. 

I love the label on this liner paper too. The company is nice enough to suggest some uses for this paper. I think I do have some record albums that need to be covered. Ha, ha! I can't wait to use this paper in some projects. But then again, it's so pretty that I don't want to use it!



Colored bottles

I've had these colored bottles forever. They've sat on our bathroom window ledge for a long time and kind of forgotten about. I thought they could use a little something more so I added some rub-on numbers. The numbers just add a little more and they aren't so boring anymore.

My husband planted hollyhocks last year and they came up really nice this year. They look great with all the different colors together.