Weekend Happenings

What? You thought I was taking another day off from posting?? Nah, I just got a late start today...or as my darling hubs calls the start of my day..."Jill o'clock" Funny guy, right? More like funny-looking (an oldie, but a goodie!)

Dinners out with friends, an estate sale, and my brother moving here made for a busy weekend, but never fear - I do have some junky stuff to show you:

Pretty little blue and green mason jars

With the glass lids - snatched them all up!

Funky lucite handles - dirty, but they should clean up nicely

And I couldn't resist this little frame with a pretty oil in it:

The colors of the painting were pretty...

But the frame was destined to be a different color:

Took the time to carefully tape off the glass and felt backing...

...spray painted it and the grass...

and this is what it looks like now!

Much better with a little update in color, glazing, and waxing to bring out the details in the frame. I don't know, but I'm still not sold on glazing. It does bring out the details, but...well...it doesn't appeal to me the way distressing does. I should put a poll up - Distressing or Glazing, or Neither. Comments, thoughts? Am I just doing it wrong??

Oh, and in case you didn't see my Facebook post today, I'm being featured in a brand new spotlight on Stephanie's blog - Junker Newbie! How exciting that she picked me to be her first featured blogger. If you love before and afters, awesome projects, and an all-around fun read, check her blog out...and check me out too! :)

Linked up here:


and here:


and here:


and here:



It's an awesome start to the week!

Small but Significant Finds

My brother was in town last weekend and he graciously agreed to come with me to a couple of estate sales. He said he didn't mind. Really!

Anyway, the first estate sale was of the normal variety - lots of collectibles and knick-knacks. I found a few things (of course):

Gave this to my hubs - he rides and I thought he should get something out of all this crazyness ;)

This will get made over

It was in good shape and a larger size, so it came home with me

YUM...Pie!

Saving the best estate sale for the last one of the day; it was the estate of a woman who had been salvaging architectural pieces from historic Detroit buildings for decades. I had a feeling this would be a junker's dream...and was I right!

The house, the garage, and the carriage house were filled with architectural salvage, old odds and ends, antiques, collectibles; you name it, it was probably there somewhere. Much digging was done that day.

Taken in the carriage house

Since I'm on a budget, money and space-wise, I could only drool at some of the bigger pieces. Church bells, concrete pediments, card catalogs, hutches, tables...I'm drooling even now, just thinking about it. My brother even got into it and was off exploring on his own for about half the time there. Here are a few of his pics:

Not sure why the fur captured my brother's attention...don't judge.

An extremely cool spiral staircase that led to even more goodies.

Santa anyone?

My haul was small but significant:

Beautiful old frame (old print, not so beautiful)

More lovely mason jars, 2 with the older lids.

I fell in love with this rusty, crusty basket!

Vintage shoe shine caddy? Yes please!

I seem to be collecting these; better make something with them!

Love this! It's going to be reproduced in some way.

Drool :) 

Pretty round frame - snagged two of them. They are stamped Italy on the back.

So, that's my haul. The fun part of junk shopping is getting a window into another vintage enthusiast's world. The not so fun part is leaving a lot of the wonderfulness behind! Next time I'm in a house like that, I'll have to remember to document the deliciousness better!

How do you rein yourself in when it comes to your favorite shopping trips?

I'm linking up here:




Go see what others have found in their junking trips :)

Mason Jar Memory Jars

This is a quick and easy, and FUN, way to showcase some of those little travel mementos that everyone has stashed away. Some people scrapbook them, but if you're too lazy not a scrapper, try this idea from Young House Love.

First: gather all your little coins, paper money that was too pretty to exchange, ticket stubs, maps, etc. from your trips.

Beijing trip 2009 (see the Pizza Hut receipt? - yeah, we're adventurous eaters)

Second: either find or buy some mason jars, enough for all your trips. I got mine at my local Ace Hardware, with a coupon.

Third: fill the jars (yep, it's that easy). If you're particularly futzy, go ahead and arrange the items for optimal display. Guess what I did…

Finally: label the jars. I tried a few ideas, and ended up with handwritten tape labels. I may change them at one point, but it'll have to be transparent - for me, what's in the jars are more interesting than where they came from.

It's that easy! 

For my display, the desk in my office has an empty space in the front. I bought a nice hardwood board (it looks prettier when stained), sanded, stained to match, and poly'ed it. I drilled holes in the desk (and only one went all the way thru - oops!) and put those shelf ledge pins in the holes. The board sits on top of those, and the vacation memory jars sit on the shelf and voila! mason jar scrapbooks!

I'm linking this to Saturday Night Special (SNS) #76 at Funky Junk Interiors - there's a fab link party with mason jar ideas! It's quite unbelievable what people come up with to do with simple mason jars - you really should go take a look...