Estate Sale Doldrums

The holiday weekend made it a quiet day for estate sales. It wasn't a total loss though. I found a couple of good treasures.

My favorite find of the day was this vintage display shelf. It is made of metal, about 14" x 26" and a sweet, rusty blue. Can you guess what it was originally?

Here's a hint when you see it from the side.

It is a Doll-E-Bed by Amsco. It is from the 50s and was part of a bunk bed set. Here is a view of how it would normally be seen.

The only other item we found today was this chocolate pot with wooden handles. It is marked as Made in Italy. I love the shape of it.

Please be sure and check out my GIVEAWAY going on right now. I'm giving away a little tote bag that I made in celebration of reaching 200 Followers. Check it out for a chance to win. This giveaway is now closed.

Time to relax with family and friends now. Happy Easter.

I am honored to be featured on:

 



This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, Apron Thrift Girl, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Creek Home, Brambleberry Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Creating a House of Grace, DIY Home Sweet Home Project, Finding Fabulous, French Country Cottage, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, I {heart} Naptime, Inspiring Creations, Just A Girl, Keeping it Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, My Romantic Home, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The 4Rs, The Colorado Lady, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home, Under the Table and Dreaming, The Girl Creative, Truly Lovely and Very Merry Vintage Style

Thrifted Dress Form Remake

Isn't she beautiful. I first saw her at the thrift store last week but decided to purchase something else instead. She wasn't vintage and originally looked rather frumpy but there was something about her that got me thinking. Then, a week later, I had an idea of what I wanted to do with her if only she were still at the thrift store. I raced down there during my lunch hour and found her still sitting standing on the shelf.

I love the idea of a vintage dress form but I don't have the space nor the cash to own one. This dress form is not old and only about 25" high. It is the perfect size to use as a display.

Here she is all dressed up in her Easter finery. All of the lace is vintage. I rummaged through my mother's old jewelry and found some necklaces. Draped around her are some beautiful glass beads and a pearl necklace that might be real.

But to really appreciate her, you need to see what she looked like when I first bought her. Both the choice of fabric and lace (left photo) made this dress form look oddly misshapen but I saw potential.

I removed everything off of her, saving only the velvet around her neck and arm holes. Using the blue striped pieces as a pattern, I cut linen fabric to fit. I hot glued the fabric in place making sure to stretch it to fit the curves. This wasn't easy and the hot glue was really hot. I used vintage lace to cover all of the seams and then gussied her up for her photo shoot. Here she is re-dressed on the right. What do you think?

Please be sure and check out my GIVEAWAY going on right now. I'm giving away a little tote bag that I made in celebration of reaching 200 Followers. Check it out for a chance to win. This giveaway is now closed.

I'm honored to be featured at All Thumbs Crafts.

This is linked to:
504 Main, A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Apron Thrift Girl, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Creek Home, Blue Cricket Design, Brambleberry Cottage, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Craft Envy, DIY Home Sweet Home Project, FaveCrafts, French Country Cottage, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, House of Grace, I {heart} Naptime, Inspiring Creations, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Krafty Kat, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Backyard Eden, My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Somewhat Simple, Sunburnt Cow Handmade Shop, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Tatertots & Jello, The Colorado Lady, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Trendy Treehouse, Truly Lovely, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style, What Allie's Making Now and Wildflowers and Whimsy

Second GIVEAWAY and 200 Followers Milestone

I am so excited to be able to have my second GIVEAWAY to celebrate reaching 200 Followers.

To thank all of my Followers, I am giving away this handmade tote that I posted about yesterday. I had it filled with Easter Eggs and a hankie so you couldn't see the black and tan fabric inside. Both the tote and flower are in neutral colors but I can create a different color flower if the winner has a preference.

If you want more details about the vintage items used on this bag you can read about it here.

The bag measures 6"w x 5"h x 4"d not counting the strap. The felt flower can be detached if you need to wash the bag. Because the lace is vintage, I suggest hand washing the bag.

Everyone has up to two chances to enter this giveaway. If you are a new visitor then leave one comment on this post to enter. And if you become a Follower then leave a second comment letting me know that you just became a Follower (total of two chances to win).

If you are already a Follower then leave two separate comments (one stating that you are already a Follower and a second comment to enter.) This way everyone will have two chances to win if they are a Follower.

Again, this is an international giveaway for our friends all over the world who are so kind to Follow my blog. And, again, I will add a few ADDITIONAL surprise vintage goodies in the prize (I'm thinking vintage button cards or wooden spools or ???).

I will have this giveaway open for one week, ending Monday, April 25 at 9pm Pacific time. At that time I will randomly select a winner. Good luck and thank you to all of my wonderful Followers.

This Giveaway is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly. Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway contest.

This is linked to:
Blue Cricket Design, What Allie's Making Now, My Backyard Eden, Paisley Passions and Someday Crafts

Easter Fabric Tote

I had some fun sewing and created this simple fabric tote. It is the perfect size to hold over a dozen Easter Eggs or a few paperback books or even to pack a lunch. {To see how you can win this tote, click here.}

I wanted it to be a neutral color and sturdy cotton fabric so I used all new fabric. I also kept the decorative accent (flower) a neutral, soft gray so that the color of whatever is inside of the bag would not clash. But the flower can be removed and other accents added later if I change my mind.

The felt for the flower and leaves are thrifted as well as the vintage pink millinery stamens in the flower. I also added some vintage lace around the top of the bag.

The bag measures 6"w x 5"h x 4"d not counting the strap.

This is linked to:
All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Coastal Charm, I {heart} Naptime, I'm Topsy Turvy, Keeping it Simple, Krafty Kat, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style and Wildflowers & Whimsy

Christmas in April Estate Sales

The temperature has finally climbed into the 80s with no chance of rain so there were lots of estate sales to choose from. The ones we went to had an interesting assortment of vintage Christmas items. Christmas in April!

My favorite find of the day were several bags of Mercury Glass garlands. I love the vintage teal and pink glass garlands the best.

I also love these Christmas elves marked "Japan" on the bottom. The little elf on the left looks a little mischievous but they are rather cute.

We found this unique, ceramic teapot. The color, a deep periwinkle, and the bird on top were just so adorable.

On the practical side, we found an unused picnic basket filled with metal utensils, cloth picnic blanket and cloth napkins. Lots of useful storage here.

And, by sheer serendipity, I found yet another estate sale by the same woman who held the two previous "polite etiquette" sales (here and here). Her previous prices were high for things she thought were valuable and quite reasonable for other items. Today, there were still some items that were over-priced but I was able to find these lovely teal and pink hankies and old tomato-shaped ceramic salt and pepper shakers.

***Please be sure and check out my GIVEAWAY going on here. This giveaway is now closed.


This is linked to:
Apron Thrift Girl, Blue Creek Home, Brambleberry Cottage, Coastal Charm, Hey What's For Dinner Mom?, House of Grace, It's a Very Cherry World, Tales From Bloggeritaville, The Colorado Lady and The Thrifty Home