Junque Whispers

Sometimes the Junque speaks to me.
Often times it fairly screams at me.
It has been known to jump at me (as in jump in my cart, my car, my arms, etc.)!
At auction a while back I heard this one calling.



"Help. Help. Somebody help me."
As none of the other auction attendees seemed inclined to help I did the right thing and shot my hand up like a girl whose sister had just been chosen for the Hunger Games.
Home we went. There may have been a long lull in time while the box sat sweltering in the garage. Yet she was patient and the other day her moment arrived. At last.



She does not want to be sold. She told me so. Naturally, I listened!



Yours in Junque whispers,
Carrie

On Wednesday

It's Wednesday peeps. Get something out and feed your creative soul!



Or pull out an ancient project and discover that some of the paint has dried out. X marks the spot. I believe it has been years (yes plural) since I worked on this.



Also realize that you really NEED that magnifier to see the numbers on your kit. This project is making me feel old and in case you were wondering, that is my house done as a PBN. Possibly I should just go out front and sit on the porch - I can see that just fine!

Crafting Away

A few shots of some crafting I completed last week.



I love upcycling these candolier lights. In the past I've given them a pale pink and glitter re-do but I thought I'd try something different.



Some vintage lace and bling. A few jute bows and a coat of sable paint.



I did a few others in a similar look. Rather pleased with the final product and happy to set them aside for the Vintage Marketplace show in the Springfield Extravaganza.
Hoping the customers will like them as well!
Meanwhile, the garage excavation continues as I put together my load of Junque for the show. I'm uncovering things I forgot I had and happy to say I still think they are awesome. Head over to my FB page where I'm regularly posting photos of my "discoveries".

Vintage Marketplace

The countdown is on and there is less than a month to go. Soon enough I'll be packing up the Junque and heading to the Vintage Marketplace once again. VM is returning to the Springfield Extravaganza in September and now that the Junkers in training are just about back to school I'm kicking the sorting, picking and projects into high gear.
Yesterday I got going on a really cool laundry cart I picked back in July.
She started like this:




Lots of potential but the plastic liner was really rather creepy. I knew it had to go so set to work.




She is one heck of a beauty now as she sports her vintage dresser scarf liner. I sewed on a few ribbon ties and fell in love all over again.




Imagine my thrill while cleaning her up to discover that both the basket AND the rolling cart section fold up for space saving storage!!!




Some lucky shopper is going to come home with an amazing addition to their laundry room! I wish I had space to keep her (but of course I feel that way about most of my Junque - I wouldn't buy it if I didn't love it to begin with).
Heading out to put her in the garage where she will await her Vintage Marketplace debut. Mark your calendars for September. Hope to see you there!

On Saturday

It is a lovely Saturday outside.
Wishing you a fun day and a reminder:
Elevate the Ordinary

A Horse Affair

One of our happy finds during the World's Longest Yard Sale was a horse photo for the Princess (seen here).
It needed a bit of help and like most Junque projects what should have been easy was less than easy at all.
We started with:



Fighting King appears to have been a stunning horse born in 1957. Unfortunately the frame he has been hanging out in forever was pathetic. Certainly not the quality he deserved!
So I headed down to my stash of frames:


So many lovely choices for Princess to choose from. Everything was proceeding swimmingly until we discovered that a) a suitable sized frame does NOT exist in my arsenal of frames and b) at some point moisture got between the photo and the glass so Mr Fighting King is now stuck to the glass and cannot be reframed/matted to a different size. Any attempt to remove him was going to result in horsey bits stuck to the glass.
So...some creative thinking was called for.



It is not the prettiest job ever. My OCD may be in overdrive. My perfectionism may be screaming but we sort of got it done. The original glass is now sandwiched behind the glass in a larger vintage frame.
Princess was happy enough to set it on her vanity and add in her other WLYS horse purchases.



I won't even bore you with just how long it took to get the placement. Let's just say that EVERY time I put the back on the picture slid. EVERY TIME. I finally resorted to using a skewer to try and shimmy it into an acceptable position. I hate when I have to gerry-rig a project. I hate it. Still trying not to cringe every time I see it. She's happy. The horses are on display. All is right in the world of Junque - sort of!!!
Here's hoping your projects have been going better than mine.
Yours in elevating the ordinary,
Carrie

Where Do You Store Your Creativity?

A while back on my FB page I shared this photo of a fun flea market find:




Today I'm focusing on that rather fab (ok. Outrageously fab vintage Norwegian sewing box). It's been in the garage a while taunting me. Needed a major cleaning and the wherewithal to sort through the junk inside of it. Incoming piles from the World's Longest Yard Sale (and the purchase of an adult size bike for Boy Wonder which means I will NEVER be able to park the car in the garage again - sigh) meant I had to get off my duff and git 'r done.
Back in February I got some cool metal boxes at The Vintage Marketplace (refresh your memory here) which I eagerly came home and filled with craft supplies. Which were full to capacity right from the start. I've been stuffing the drawers ever since. You see where I'm going with this don't you?!




I'd like to say this is how I will be keeping things looking but let's keep it real. You know, and I know you know that I "styled" it for the shoot!




How will it really look in everyday life? Let's peek inside.




Glitter and glue and stamps, oh my!




Yep. That's just how I roll. Glitter in unopened packages because I'm afraid of using it up and losing my stash. Further compounded by the unending stream of someday projects filling up ridiculous quantities of brain/storage space.
At least she looks good from the outside!
So what fun vintage pieces do you use to "store your creativity"?
Linking to:
Liz Marie Blog

The 127 "It Just Keeps Going" World's Longest Yard Sale

Yesterday morning we were back out bright and early to do some picking on a section of 127 in Kentucky.
Want to see what I got? Oh, if you insist...



The junk In all it's glory. Freshly picked and looking for a new home. The biggest spoon/knife I have ever seen. About 3 1/2 feet tall.


Why no kind seller, I am not going to make a doily with this. It will however make a fun graphic decoration for someone's sewing room.



Bottles, locks and pictures, oh my! A small metal horse for the Princess.



Chalkware fruit. Look at their funny little faces. So smile worthy.



The embroidery affliction/affection continues. The picture is of horse named Fighting King from the 50s. He will get a new frame and head up to the bedroom of resident horse mad Princess.
There you have it. It was a blur. It was amazing. I just might need a year to recuperate!!!!

World's Longest Yard Sale 127 Love

Peeps I forgot just how much I love this. I get so pumped up when I spy a cluster of tents on the side of Route 127. It's really rather stupid. At one point this morning my seven year old told me to "settle down Mom". As if...
Take a peek at my loot from Day 1 in Ohio.










Managed to get it in the garage and still have some space for whatever I might find tomorrow. We are KY 127 bound bright and early. Not that I'll be sleeping much! My excitement knows no bounds.
Yours in gleeful Junque,
Carrie

Fly, Butterfly...

Oh it's a happy Friday indeed when it is the Friday of the 127 Yard Sale. I am one happy picker itching to get out! If only my partners in crime would GET UP!!!!

In the meantime here is a peek at a project I did a while back. Painted and distressed some creepy plastic butterflies (you know the variety - gold plastic which inhabit the shelves of every thrift store known to mankind). Plopped them on paper flower wreaths and declared them done. Done, as in - officially out of my "someday I might figure out something to do with these " box. Oh who are we kidding? As if I only have ONE of those boxes...