Little Lost Blog

What's my deal? I joined Instagram! That's what happened! It's been just like everyone warned me it would be. It's so addicting! I really need to cut down on it, and get back to my blog. I'm sorry that I've neglected it so badly.

Estate Sale and Garage Sale season are in full swing! So I've been finding lots of fun things. Here are some of them.

 I've added some quilts and table cloths to my collections!

 

I found this adorable vintage candy tin with a wienee on it!

 

I scored some vintage decals that I have some projects in mind for!

The enamel floral pins were at the thrift, and I gave them to Tammy and Deb when we got together at Deb's house the other day!

 

 I found an entire bag of frozen charlottes at Goodwill! What???

*most are now sold

 

 I've found a new thrift that is quite good to me! Love this old bird tin and rug!

 

And I couldn't believe when I scored these two characters...in the home and garden section! They're about a foot tall, and heavy as heck!

 

And this little deer and blue bird mug was found at an estate sale last weekend!

 

OK, I have to admit to trying my hand at holding an Instagram Sale. It was NOT my cup of tea!

For one thing, you have to be able to text really fast for a couple hours. This is not a good mix when you have Rheumatoid Arthritis! By the time I went to bed, I couldn't even move my fingers. I won't be doing it again. It made me so appreciative (not that I wasn't before) that I've always been able to sell things on Etsy and straight off of my blog, with my Market Mondays.

 I want to get back to doing that!

 

I have a couple quilts and throws that I need to sell. It's so hard to pass them by when they're so beautiful! I'll post again real soon (promise), and see if any of you are interested in them.

Hope you're all doing real well! We're having a garage sale on Saturday! I've got tons of work to do in the next two days!

 

Thanks Friends!

Erica :)

 



Snowmen in January! Brrrrrr

As I post this, my phone says it's 3 degrees outside. Three. Degrees. Ahhh!   

 

I thought it would be fitting to show my vintage snowman collection today.

 

  I put them all on one shelf in the living room this time.

 

The tall one with the red buttons was made by Elizabeth.

 

 The one on the right needed some help, so he got a jar of candy canes and a new hat!

 

You got 6 "Cocoanut" covered ice cream balls, plus 6 candles, and 6 doilies in this box!

 

 I like using vintage cards in all of my holiday displays.

 

 The one on the right is a candy container.

 

 On top, one of the older blow molds that I have.

 

 My very first Christmas corsage (with the spun cotton snowman), is tucked into a candy container.

 

 The snowman on the top left was my great grandmothers. I found the navy blue card (on the bottom) last summer at the flea market. I love it's style!

 I recently made the clay snowman on the right. His vintage wreath is by "Shiny Brite", and his bow is made out of my favorite old tinsel ribbon.

 

My friend, Mandy, gave me the wonderful guy on the right with the gold ribbon on his hat. He's the largest snowman that I have!

 

Oh greaaat! I see now that in the time it took me to create this post, we LOST three degrees! So now my phone says it's 0 degrees! As in...None. No degrees at all. haha

 

Oh well, warmer days are ahead, right?

Tonight is a definite "stay in and order pizza" kind of night!

Hugs to you all-

Erica :)



Vintage Stuff I Haven't Told You About!

This post will only make it seem like I've been buying tons of stuff. But I really haven't been. lol

These things are from that chunk of time a few months ago when I didn't have a computer. The flea market was still going on. And I went to a few estate sales. Here's what I found!

 

Actually these were at Goodwill. I didn't own a single thermos. Wasn't going to jump on that bandwagon. But there they were...all three of them sitting together like that. An instant collection. So of course I HAD to.

 

 This guy is a major score for me! I've wanted a Santa Candy container like this for years. I went to an estate sale that was a total bust. And just as I was leaving (empty handed) I looked up and there He sat, up high on a shelf in the dining room. He wasn't priced. So I asked how much and was told $1.00.

He's German and in such great shape!

 

 Ok, What do you think? Is she holding a mitten? And He's trying to go deliver toys without his mittens, but She's saying "Wait Dear, You better put your mitten's on".

Or is She holding an oven mitt? A squirt gun? lol.

 

 Flea Market finds, and a couple things from a good sale at an antique store. My favorite thing here is the box that the Tree Top came in!

 

This large Santa table cloth is not old. But I was thrilled to find it at the flea for only $2.00!

 

 Another Tree Topper with Santa this time. And one teeny knee hugger.

 

 The little turquoise Santa is one that I didn't have. Harder to find I think.

 

 I want to do something fun with these two reindeer. I might have to get a little "Magpie Ethel" with them.

 

Nice to find tear drops instead of the same old round ones.

 

Whew! Ok, now I feel a little better. I felt like a had a dirty little secret that I had to share with you guys. Had to confess and come clean. Now I have nothing more to hide.

Oh! Well...maybe a couple (little) things. :)

Thanks for listening! I hope you're all having a great week!

Erica :) 



Dear Fiddy, (An Estate Sale Tale)

Do you ever wish you could say Thank You to the little old lady who's stuff you're taking home? Every time I enter an estate sale, it doesn't escape me that these things are the remnants of someones life. And where are they, as we rummage through their home, loading up our arms with their memories? Maybe He has passed away and She is now in a nursing home. Or maybe they both decided to "sell it all" and head to Florida. 

Either way, sometimes I just wish I could say "Don't worry, I'll take care of and enjoy your things because I feel lucky to have found them". 

I saw these chairs in an Estate Sale ad a few weeks ago. I wanted them sooo bad, but there were just way too many reasons why I had no business going to the sale. For one thing, there was a snowstorm that night. And I knew I would have to get to the sale by 2:00 or 3:00 AM for a good number. 

The sale was packed with vintage and antique things, so I knew that the dealers would be there overnight. So I didn't go. And I didn't go on day #2 either. Then on day #3 I thought I'd see if anything was left. Of course the chairs were GONE. And the lady managing the sale said that #2 in line bought them. Oh well.

I was able to find some other cute things.

 There must have been lots of good x-mas stuff because I was able to scrape this stuff together out of the boxes that had already been gone through. I'm happy with the leftovers!

I really like the snowman stenciled one and the ornament box itself!

There were tons of cards and Valentines. The woman of the house was a teacher, and her name was Fidelis Davitt. But the children called her Fiddy! My favorite cards are the two tiny handmade ones. One is made of beautiful old wallpaper. And the other (with the big red heart) just says: To Fiddy, From Me. Isn't that the sweetest?

I could have gone nuts with the valentines. 

 I love the one where they're in their swimsuits!

 I grabbed a couple x-mas cards. The pink one is German!

And a few pretty Easter cards.

I'm missing some pics but I also got a cute old ladder that I'll make into a plant stand, and a wonderful white blanket with pink roses on it. 

OK, so THEN I went out to dog sit for my parents while they were in Costa Rica for a week. The town I grew up in is loaded with little shops and antique stores. So I walk into one of the shops that I worked at when I was a teenager, and there sat THOSE DARN CHAIRS! AHHHHH!

I wasn't strong enough to walk away this time. So long story short, I bought my (Fiddy's) estate sale chairs at an antique store for a ridiculous price. But at least I got to stay at home in my cozy bed and the dealer did all the work, during a MN snowstorm no less! Thank you dealer!

Dear Fiddy, 

Thank you, for passing on your wonderful white chairs, the valentine cards from your days as a teacher, and your  pretty Christmas ornaments! I will treasure them!

Erica :)

Vintage Christmas Finds

 Try as might, I just couldn't keep from buying a couple things for my collection this season. But I do have to say, that overall I have been great about staying out of the thrifts and antique stores this Holiday Season. The other night though I just had to get out of the house. So...this little gang of elves became mine!

 

 And this fireplace is really fun. It's about the size of a large Putz House. It plugs in and has a little red light in the chimney. I'm very tempted to give it a little make-over though.

 

 The dealer that gave me 50% off a couple weeks ago was at Annie's again! This time she said 75% off! She said "I want it all GONE"! I didn't feel too bad because I know these things had been there for a long time.

 

 Fifty cent ornaments.

 

 I scared the heck out of my sister by placing this Santa on her bed! Haaa! She of course thinks he's the creepiest thing ever. But he was in a 50% off booth! So I don't care what she thinks. lol

The deer were in that same booth. And the putz house was $1.00 because the chimney is coming off. Don't care about that either.

 

This was my favorite find. It's just part of a box! The bottom wasn't included so it was marked $2.00!

Do I care if it has a bottom?? Nope! It will be so great in my Santa display!

 

And last but not least, this is Tammy, Harriette, Me, and Deb! The girls came over last week to do some crafting and eating...and laughing! We had so much fun!

Harriette did a post about it today, so I'm just going to link to hers. I've got more baking, shopping, and wrapping to do! Better get going.

 

Happy Holidays to all of you, my friends!

Erica :)

 



My Vintage Goose Feather Tree!

It was especially fun decorating this old feather tree because this is it's first Christmas with me! You might recall that I found it in the basement of an estate sale last summer, and I think I paid like $10 for it. It came in it's original Montgomery Wards box too!

 As I was pulling out my decorations I realized that I didn't have any ornaments that were traditionally used on this type of tree. Like the Victorian scrap kind and the ones with old tinsel and glass, etc. I'm going to have to make myself some.

 

 So I chose my smallest and oldest ornaments. I didn't use any regular sized Shiny Brites. I didn't think that the Mod/Retro look of the Shiny Brites would go well with the old feathers.

 

I don't think I'll put the tree in this spot next year. I don't like it in front of the big mirror!

 

 I found this Harold Gale Santa a few weeks ago at Annie's. He was marked 50% off so I got him for $12.50! A very good price! Click the link to learn a little about them. There are lots on EBay and Etsy too!

 

Little boxes of ornaments and a Lefton reindeer candy dish.

 

This huge sign is perched up on top of the mirror (above the tree), so the red happened to work well!

 

So that's that! I love this tree so much. I feel really lucky to have found it. :)

 

In other news:

 

 Wellie and I would like to give a little warning to all of our bloggy friends and their doggies!

We were looking for an alternative to rawhide so we tried RAW BONES. These come in several forms but are (usually) uncooked, and found in a freezer in your specialty pet food shop. We bought frozen beef knuckles. Wellie and Ernie LOVED them!

 

 But the next morning (after chewing on her bone), this is what Wellie looked like!!! The whole side of her face totally swollen. Her Mama about had a heart attack!

 

On Tuesday Wellie had to have a major tooth on each side of her upper jaw removed! Two teeth!

They had both cracked way down to the pulp. She looked like the saddest most pathetic little thing after her surgery! And of course you can about imagine how guilty I feel.

Oh, the cost??? $631.50

So, beware my friends! No raw (or really hard) bones for your pups!!!

 

Happy Holidays!

Erica :)