My Wonderful Funky Junk Finds

The last couple of weekends have been great for finding mostly junk and some nicer vintage items.  All of it I hope to turn in to wonderful treasures of some sort.  I don't really think of any of the pieces as junk since I can see so much potential in all...well most of them.

I'll start with my most favorite.  I didn't even have to buy it.  Some of you may look at it and say "good thing!"  My husband found this while walking in the woods up north and brought it back for me:

I absolutely squealed!  And then he said "and look honey, it has metal corners and everything".  He knows exactly what I like!  I just love him.  Who needs flowers or candy?  Just give me the junk.  I have a few ideas formulating for a project for this one so it won't be long before you see a project over at Rustic Crafts.

Then there is this little guy:

It's a vintage net float.  I bought just one because I need to fiddle with it a little bit until I come up with a good idea.  The manager of the antique store said she would sell me several for a good deal if I wanted more, so we will see.
Another favorite purchase of mine is this great cafe sign:

It was located out in back of one of my favorite antique stores in Newaygo, MI.  There wasn't a price on it but that was typical of a lot of the items there and I was prepared to negotiate.  However, I was surprised when the owner started to laugh and said that it wasn't for sale because it still got used for a charity event.  She was kind of enough to sell it to us though for making a donation to the church.
We bought quite a few things from her that day so she through in these letters for free:

We had found these in the back yard of the store as well and I think she was a little surprised that we had wanted these too, based on her chuckle.  However, I love numbers in wall art.  Plus, both my husband and I were born in 64 so how cool is that?

I planning on using this old door or shutter probably just for the wood slats:

I have already decorated my office with the other items that I purchased at her store:

I think these were old jail keys.  I don't feel like I am in jail when I'm in my office but thought they looked cool hanging in there.

And, the red picket fence was a great find especially since I didn't have to do anything with it.  The color already coordinated with my office colors and it was naturally distressed.

My last purchase was this vintage sheet music:

There is so much that I will be able to do with this in various crafts!

All of this should be able to keep me busy and thinking for a while. 

This Week's Vintage Find...Antique Cowbells!

I was so excited to find these antique cowbells, for just pennies, at a shop in Pentwater, MI this past weekend:

This was not something I was actively going out to search for.  In fact, I didn't even know what kind of bells these were until I got home and researched them on the Internet.  I just knew when I saw them that they would be a great accessory in a future project.

Now, I am putting my thinking cap on.  A Christmas project comes to mind but I would love to be able to use them all year round so I'm going to think on that a little while longer.  What do you think?  Does a vision come to your mind?

I could always make collars for my son and my cat so that can't sneak up on me..haha!  As soon as I come up with something I will be posting it on my website, so stay tuned for that....

Vintage Hunting This Weekend At Garage And Yard Sales

Over the winter I had been shopping antique stores and resale shops looking for some great vintage finds.  Although I found some pretty good deals at resale shops, antique stores tend to ask top dollar.

Now that summer is officially starting, I am looking forward to finding some deals at garage and yard sales.  Sales have been popping up all over and I love to check out as many as I can.  If you look real hard you can find a few treasures amongst the piles of toys and clothing.

Here are a few great items that I have purchased in the past:

This kitchen scale is a fun item to decorate my kitchen.  I also had found a great bushel basket and meat grinder which I also display above my kitchen cabinets.

Since we are heading up north to the cabin this weekend, I am hopeful for finding a good selection of antiques to decorate the cabin with as well as some vintage furniture.

The fishing reels and boat oars came from a yard sale, up north, last year. 
And, I recently re-purposed an old hose reel into a fun snack cart for a little rustic whimsy.  I love to create something new from something old.  I can't wait to see what I can find this year.

While you are traveling about, you may want to pop into a few of the many yard sales and see what treasures you can find.