Welcoming the New

If the auctions this week were any indication of the coming year I think it will be...

WAIT FOR IT...

The Year of the Instant Collection!

Woo hoo.  I'm buying in bulk and making a statement.

It was lot after lot of shoe making parts.  They had the most beautiful boot form which I lost (sniff, sniff, sniff)!

Wood forms - check!   Metal forms - double check and WOO HOO!  I love them so.

My booths are totally going to rock this year.

I feel it in my bones.

This is the year of Junque Magnet.

It really is.

Look on my sidebar.  I even started a Facebook page for Junque Magnet.

So in case you can't get enough of me (oh ok.  I realize it's actually the junque you can't get enough of...) head on over there for juicy tidbits.

Wishing one and all the junkiest of years to come!
Linking to:
Knick of Time

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Open House Party

Knick of Time

Teacher Gifts

Tis the season for gifting teachers.  If you, like me are tired of candles and dip mixes and yet another apple themed trinket I suggest digging through your hoard  stash for something a bit different.

Perhaps I am not the only one who fails to resist the siren song of old books?!

It's a rescue mission I tell you.  They cry and I simply must take them.  Why will no one else do it?  The rafters are bending under the weight...

Anyhoo, I took some old school primers and dressed them up with a bit of crochet doily parts.  Added some vintage bling bits from my tins of junque bits.

Ta da, easy peasy.

I sold two of them so need to do up a few more for teacher gifts (oh dear, tomorrow is the LAST day of school and I have been felled by what I can only say feels like the BUBONIC PLAGUE).  Pleased with the results and the possibilities.

Yours in gifting,

Carrie

Linking to:

Show It Off

Wow Us Wednesday

Topping It All Off

Hello you gorgeous thing...

Followed me home from Anthro.  Jumped right into my hands and on to the check out.  Really.  It happened!

But she looks a bit wan.  Needs some sparkle.  If this were a crafty thing I would be busting out the glitter even as I write (I can so do those two tasks as the same time - glitter on the keyboard proves it).  Yet even I must exhibit some glitter restraint every now and again.

So instead I poked through this:

Embarrassing admission: this is just one of my tins of vintage brooches.  These are the "junque" bits to make jewelry with and nowhere near those in regular rotation which live in my jewelry box or on coats in the closet.  Please note how I said brooches tin.  Yes, other jewelry items are stored seperately in multiple other tins.

So I poked and prodded (and managed NOT to poke a finger) and came up with these:

Hard to choose who will be the lucky winner.  Of course I can always wear one today and change them at will.  This is why being a junque magnet is actually a good thing!  Choice.  I ALWAYS have choices in my hoard stash.

So I'm thinking we're going to start with this one:

Hmmm...

Which would you choose?!

A Quick Snap

What I'm working on...in so many ways!!!!!!!!!!

Just a quick snap of a little decoration on a side table.

Still going...

Are you bored with the Probe letters yet? (Me? Not so much.  Obviously!)

A Little Christmas and a Flea!

Sharing a little bit of Christmas around the house today.  Am I done? Bien sur que non!!!

Am I just about over it.  Mais oui!

The Alpine Village may not make an appearance this year.  I lie.  The chickadee will gasp with horror and I will dutifully descend to the basement to bring up box after box of houses!  I know it.

Yesterday was an hour and a half doing the feather tree in the hallway and I think that did me in.  Of course I love it now that it is complete.

Anyhoo...here's a little tree I put together a couple of weeks ago:

Currently hanging out on the ironing board "console table" behind the couch.  A vintage brooch serves as tree topper.  I put together a sheet music paper garland and spelled out Xmas Joy with my tried and true Probe Game cards.  Did I add some glitter?  OF COURSE I added glitter.  Don't I glitter just about everything?

Also put together some bottle brush trees in old jello molds:

These goodies and more will be coming with me on Saturday to the City Flea:

The City Flea Wrapped Up Holiday Market

Saturday 12/10  11AM-4PM

12th & Vine

Cincinnnati, OH

Wish me luck, lack of rain, lack of sub-zero temps and many customers!!

Linking to:

More the Merrier

Amaze Me Monday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Knick of Time

Mollie Makes

Just a quick post to gush about a magazine I discovered last month.

This is Mollie Makes and I simply adore it.  Full of amazing ideas and extremely talented artists.  They usually come with a project packet (so very British).  I devoured my copy this morning and was all geared up to get crafting.

I love the products and homes they feature.  Dedicated to thrifting, making, collecting and crafting it is chock full of eye candy.

Now she is a bit pricey so my subscription was really an early Christmas present.  But oh the joy it will bring year round.

If you happen across one take a peek.  I imagine you might be as enthralled as I am.

Ah, the joy of like minded folk!!!!



Haul Out The...

I just may need a human sized Tonka to get out all the bins of Xmas joy!

In the meantime, I love this vintage Tonka hauling its load of green Shiny Brites!

Linking to:

Feathered Nest Friday

Deck the Halls Friday

Land of Enchantment

Truly one of my most favorite places.

I find it difficult to imagine EVER tiring of views like this.

Thrift stores are full of sights one rarely encounters in my neck of the woods.

These boots were made for going home (sadly).  Currently I am wearing them in the rain which was here when we left and still here when we stepped off the plane.

Hope everyone had a terrific holiday.  Ours was gloriously full of sun, majestic vistas, great friends and a bucket of tears on the plane ride home!

Glue Hurts

My glue gun was working overtime last week - to remove layer after layer of skin on my fingers!

Crafting is dangerous and painful work my friends.

I made this one to sell after a previous incarnation got taken out by a mean gust of wind at Springfield - sniff, sniff, sniff.

Now I'm not sure I can part with it.  Looks perfect in the kitchen by the red, white and black wall of junque.

Hmmm.... 

What to do?  What to do?

Linking to:

Rednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Dans la Boite

While out at an antique mall last week I stumbled across this (yes, stumbled - it was on the floor and I am not the most graceful of pickers even on my best day):

Lid off revealed the following which amused me no end (do you think the careful wording is a result of translation or the nature of how much more erudite we were many years ago):

Peel back the wax paper and you will find:

Perfectly stunning like the day they were made.  So lovely!

There were two boxes.  I almost didn't take both.  As I set the second one back my inner junque magnet screamed, "Are you crazy?  You will regret that..."  So in the cart it went.

The only dilemma now is - do I split them up and sell by the piece or do I sell the box as is?

They have so much potential.

If you read my last post about buying American you will chuckle to note these were made in France.  They are vintage which means I supported a local business and thus I continue to live my mantra, "Buy American.  Buy Vintage."

Linking to:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Knick of Time Tuesday

White Wednesday

Thursday's Junque

Thursday's Junque is ( of course this was LAST Thursday):

Industrial Christmas!

Love this metal wall mounted file holder.  So many organizational and display possibilities.  And listen, I buy vintage Christmas year round but 'tis the season to find it in abundance!

Thursday's Junque is also:

Made In the USA

This tickles me so because I am a Philly girl who spends every day wishing I could get a real soft pretzel and cheese steak.  It's a tall order but you probably are uninterested in my dissertation on all the things that are wrong with the "Philly" cheese steaks being served in the rest of the country.  Sometimes I get one and think what a crime it is to even attempt to call this, this "THING" a cheese steak.  Anyhoo...

The file was made in Chicago and that brings me to my big point.  I'm all about let's try and buy American.  It makes sense.  It feels good.  Not even all that hard if you follow my mantra:

Buy American

Buy Vintage!

I'm thinking of printing up t-shirts for my spring shows with this slogan.  Get the original deal - not the repro one from PB, RH and the like.  The first time around they were almost all made here in the US.  And when you purchase from a vintage seller you're keeping us in business, right here in America.

Just a thought.



Sunshine

A happy coincidence of sunlight through the family room window produced this fabulous shadow on the wall.

Even more happily I was around to notice and capture the moment.

Enjoy those little moments.  They can be full of magic!



More Show Shots and Coming Soon...

A few more craft show booth shots to share.

A sneak peek of some holiday items coming soon to Etsy.

Junque wreaths are making their Etsy debut this year along with some altered bottle brush trees.  Bring on the glitter!

Show Booth

Just checking in with a few shots of my booth this past weekend at the craft show.

It was amusing and ever so slightly better than the Spring show.  Crossing this one off the list.  Next year we will try again somewhere else.

More photos tomorrow.  Hope you all had a great junque weekend!



Jingle, Jingle!

The glitter and tinsel are flying this week as I get ready for a holiday craft show on Sunday.

Vintage light covers with some glittered vintage plastic greenery.  A tinsel hanger makes them versatile!

Ah, glitter.  You know I've been in my happy place getting these ready.  Oh, and that Martha Stewart glitter paint is FAB -U -LOUS!!!!  Transformed a vintage metal frame into a display tray with a bit of vintage tablecloth fabric inside.

Here's hoping this show is not a repeat of the horror in March because I've only recently really recovered from it.  Worst case I'm going to have a lot of inventory for Etsy!
Junque on peeps!



Would You?

So the question is would you buy this?

Here it is in my yard thus proving that I indeed would, and did, buy this army cot.
Major hose down was required - I hate when I get junque home and realize that the previous owners were smokers.  The prime give away was the fact that my car begin to smell like cigarettes just in the short drive home!  Remember folks, it's not a glamorous profession by any means.

Love it smells and all.  Currently the cot has taken up residence on the deck where I'm hoping several days of sun and wind will aid in the decontamination process!  I'm so excited to display this at shows next year.

In unrelated sugar coma news please note that I'm getting better.  Today I waited until 1PM before raiding the kids Halloween stash.  Really I am in awe of my self control!!!!

Linking to:
Would You Buy It Wednesday

BOO!

Just in time for a last minute addition to my Halloween decor!  Found this vintage Ouija Board game at an auction on Saturday.  This has been on my mental list of things for ages and how lucky to find it "in season"!

Now I'm off before my self imposed sugar coma renders me completely useless...

Easy As...

Sometimes easy is good.  Occasionally easy can be great.

Possibly one of my easiest projects ever.  Glass telephone insulators with battery operated tea lights inside.  Surely this has been done before and I am merely re-inventing the wheel.

As the lovely Lola (of Charlie and Lola - you DO read those books don't you?!) would say, "Easy peasy lemon squeezy."
Linking to:
Vintage Inspiration Friday

Checking In

Just checking in after a busy weekend at the Rural Antique Society show.  Great show in an amazingly beautiful setting.  Many, many thanks to Page and Pat for organizing such a lovely event.  Additional thanks to those of you who came and shopped!

A few tag sale finds from Sunday.  As if I had any business out shopping when my car was STILL fully loaded from the show.  I do have a weakness for restaurant china...



Those Pics I Promised and The Rural Society Antique Show

In my glee over "The Find" a few weekends back I may or may not (oh, all right - I DID) promise to show photos of the thing I had to have.  The thing that made me slam on my brakes and turn around in a driveway (not belonging to myself) to get back and see if it really and truly could be...

The stove of my dreams.  The one that has been on my list forever.  The one I see in antique stores and sigh over.  THE ONE...

Thank you junque gods.  Surely you planned for the map function on my phone to send me a ridiculously long way out of my way to get to a craft show.  Often it is these "wrong" turns which provide the chance for great treasure and I should remember to trust in the junque journey.

Heading out tomorrow morning to the Rural Society Antique Show with a trunk full of fabulous finds and junque of all sorts.

Naturally this stove will not be in the lot because even as I told myself it was ok to purchase seeing as how I had a show coming up and could sell it...I KNEW I WAS LYING.  This lovely stove is right at home in my kitchen and will stay for quite a while.

Linking to:

Rednesday

A Halloween Peek

Sharing a bit of Halloween decorating around the Junque Palace that is my home.

Vintage Probe letters set in coral on the mantel.  I could lie and say I used the coral because it reminded me of brains but truth be told, I'm trying to work with what is already out because a) I'm feeling overwhelmed and b)I just might be a lazy junque girl!

Thrifted Danish ceramic dish (which I ADORE), glittered black leaves which did not get used in the project which has me hanging my craft head in shame, vintage game pieces with a skull on top, and those vintage Probe letters again (because yes, possibly I am lazy (see above)  and I already had them out.  In my defense I did have to venture into the basement to get them so there were stairs/exercise involved!)