Really?? I haven't posted since AUGUST????

If you know me you know I LOVE antiquing, junking, picking....whatever you want to call it! I LOVE the thrill of the hunt, seizing upon that special find and hoping I don't gasp loudly when I do....I'm trying to get better about that part but it's hard! To support this ummm habit/addicition I sell in three antiques malls, on ebay and etsy! Whew! I don't sell EVERYTHING I find of course. It is only for the things I find that I don't want but can't pass up OR if I am tired of looking at it at home! Case in point....the lovely tray pictured below! I have had this for years. I have used it in the kitchen as the holder for the salt & pepper shakers, napkins and toothpicks. Then it held a part of my sterling topped vanity jars.....notice I said PART! I have also used it for perfume bottles. So it has been fun but adios sweet tray!

 This photo shows some of my pickin' finds from last week! Lots of jewelry, some good, some bad, for selling, crafting and keeping! Please note the AWESOME antique purse frame underneath it all!

 Here are more photos of my booth, lynnesfinds, at New & Again Antique Mall in McAllen, TX. This is such a fun place as they have all types of things, not only antiques. Crafts, collectibles, vintage, you name it! They even have a tearoom for lunch and Karaoke Kafe on select evenings.

 These birds were one of my "collections"! Adios, birds! They are truly beautiful pieces but once I tire of something, bub-bye! Alot of folks love it when I "tire" of something!

 I crafted this standing iron cross by embellishing it with all sorts of vintage jewelry which makes it unique and one of a kind. I also repurpose vintage jewelry by making "new" jewelry out of it. Plus I decorate picture frames and am about to start a new "project" with my vintage jewelry....photos soon! In this picture are also several pieces of vintage and antique sterling items including a gold rimmed sterling thimble, very nice!

 Antique cameos anyone? These are all old or antique, are carved or etched authentic shell and have backings of gold filled, sterling or authentic gold. If they haven't sold since I took this picture last week they would be a great Mother's Day gift which, the way the year is flying by, will be here before you know it!

 Upon entering our local grocery store this past Monday I was hit with an explosion of Valentine's Day offerings! You looked to the left and it was plants, flowers and balloons everywhere!

 If you glanced to the right there were cakes of any color combination you could imagine, some good some not so good, cookies, cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, etc.

 I know when I whipped out my camera some folks were thinking, um, weird, and others just smiled fully understanding my awe!

Lastly, these cookies did not come the grocery store. These were made for me by a sweet friend who is the best baker I know! They taste as good as they look! Happy Valentine's Day and more posts to come.....and you won't have to wait 6 months either! :)

Bits & Pieces

 MIA.....missing in action! So much has happened in the last few months that I will just touch on a few things! The above picture was taken at our local grocery store during the few days around Mother's Day. Here in deep South Texas Mother's Day is taken seriously!! Check out the explosion of colors on these cakes. I had gotten in line to pay for some groceries and I was right next to this display. Yes, it was a Kodak moment! Click on the pics for up close and personal! :)

 This picture is of some darling little showcases I found. No this wasn't a flea market, antique shop, thrift store or any other of my usual "junking" haunts......this was at a "Marshall's"! I could not believe my luck! The wooden one is aged to perfection and really does look to be very old. The other one is a tin and glass creation with the lid slanted a bit....very similar to an antique one we had used in our antique shop for years....Mom has that one! I have had these a couple of months now so don't go running to Marshall's, sorry, but I just had to share!

 This is just because I love pink......and mercury glass......and old millinery velvet leaves.......and MacKenzie-Childs pottery......and that great antique pink satin glass lady flower frog.......well, the lady flower frog is my daughter's but I am "storing" it for her till she is ready to take it! That MacKenzie-Childs very large platter was a gift from my kids and husband several years ago and is one of my favorite pieces. I don't think this pattern was made very long as you sure don't see it much! The old vintage jar with a metal lid holds a large ball strand of pink mercury glass beads that are new but I am an equal opportunity mercury glass buyer. And besides, hello, they are pink! By the way I LOVE old glass jars, too, but that will have to be another post! :)

Now the first photo is of what used to be my daughter's room. She grew up on me, darn her, went off to Texas A&M and is now married to her sweetie, lives in California and is an elementary teacher! Soooo her room got transformed into my craft, eBay, Etsy, antique mall preparing room! Whoosh! It does NOT look like this picture anymore as it is somewhat filled up, and a bit messy at the moment, but I will post pictures soon of it's "loveliness"! I am in love with the great black and white floor and I have even more shelving now than what is here. Don't hate me!
The bottom photo is of some items I have listed on eBay right now, lynnesfinds is my seller name, that are from an estate sale I am currently working on. These pieces are sterling and very nice to say the least!!!! Please check them out if they interest you, they are beautiful pieces! So that is a little of what I am, and have been, up to lately. I will try my best to not take so long to update and my finished room pics will be coming soon! Have a great week!

Booth Sign & Altered Embellished Bottles

Don't you just LOVE old dictionaries??? I pick them up when I can as they come in so handy for crafting of all kinds! Right now I am working on a sign for my new booth. I wandered all over Michael's last night getting all kinds of inspiration.  Got a little distracted, too, if you know what I mean!

 When I got home I started looking around for something to make the sign out of. My husband even got into it, too! He kept saying use something you wouldn't expect, something no one else has. He ended up pulling out of my many piles and stuck away corners of stuff this old carved oak piece. It was probably the top crest of a dresser or sideboard mirror and long ago I had started to spray it white. I decided to mod podge dictionary pages for the background which I love to do.

 I was so wound up with excitement I just sat down and got with it. It went really fast and is now all done and ready for the embellishing!

 My daughter had bought me some chipboard letters a couple of years ago and I had to search awhile to find those suckers. You have no idea how many places I could have put those things but I found them, finally, and they will look just great. More pics later when it is done.

 Last night while I had the mod podge and dictionary out I got inspired to finally embellish some old bottles....something I have wanted to do for ages. That is really the reason I didn't finish the sign...hee hee. Once again, I got totally distracted!

 I cut the pages and mod podged them onto the bottles and left them to dry. I actually made myself go to bed or I would have kept going!!! With the time change I went to bed at 2:30. This morning I fully intended to go to church. Forgive me Lord, I didn't quite get there but I did work on my bottles.

 After over 30 years in the antiques business, plus still scouting and buying all the time, I have quite the stash of old goodies to work with. I love keys and the largest bottle got a key that still had a little paper tag as to what it opened. I left it with the old string and tag and tied it up with an old button and paper flower. It now shares space with a vintage lavender earring. I used old handmade lace, antique and vintage buttons and odds and ends of old jewelry and assorted bits and pieces on the other bottles, too!

 I also have vintage beaded and embellished trims, old silk binding, vintage tiny nosegays and old dress clips to play with. With all my stash the possibilities are endless.

The tallest bottle still had it's original rusty lid so I left it alone. The others I added old clip on earrings for the tops. Well, for a first time try I think they turned out pretty good, don't you? These are now headed to my new booth.....they close at 6:00, I can just make it!! Later gator!

"Girl's Trip" to Gonzales, TX and the Barn Sale & Berclair, TX

 My sister-in-law and I took off this past weekend to go to a sale I was wanting to shop at that is only once a year. We are talking 3 1/2 hours away but I didn't care!! We first went on a wild goose chase to Houston, another 3 hours, to see 2 cool stores and only made it to one that was still open. Very nice stuff but too pricey for me.....I did get lots of ideas though. Now, back to Gonzales! These pics are of some of the vendors at the Barn Sale. Remember to click on photos for a closer look. This booth was real interesting and look at that bluish gourd!

 This booth is a lady from San Antonio that had really neat stuff. I wanted that vintage pink Christmas garland so bad I could taste it but I held back! She also had the great pink Christmas table cover, too, and very old ledgers.

 There's Teresa holding purchases, my birdcage and browsing. This sale was set up in a livestock show arena and a stock show/rodeo was going on at the same time in another arena next door......lots of cute "cowboys, cowgirls, cowchildren-is that a word?"! When they weren't competing they were in here shopping, sorry, no pics!

 This vendor had really cute items such as hand painted furniture and accessories, western type jewelry and other goods, all very nice! Turquoise was the theme here!

 Lots of retro items in this booth. They really had the merchandise loaded in here. Now that I see my own pictures I would have liked some of those old crates!! They make great displays when stacked!

 These chicken feeders/roosting things are so fun. Apparently they are a hot item and big seller! There were booths with baked goods and also Dublin Dr. Pepper....if you haven't had a Dublin Dr. Pepper, you are missing out! Okay, here's me! I got lots of compliments on my necklaces. One is full of a kinds of hearts and the other is all kinds of things. It took me several years to find just the right things and most are antiques or vintage pieces. I am collecting for a necklace of crosses and a necklace of turquoise and silver pieces. Stay tuned!

 We just about died over all the antique homes in this little town. They were just awesome. This one had MARBLE steps to walk up to the porch. Beautiful!

 There are all styles of these older homes. Alot of them are kept up but we also saw alot that were in disrepair. We want one!!!

 Look at this gorgeous home. Hard to believe it was in this small town!!! It is a stunner for sure!

 And I had to take a picture of this old filling station. It had all the old advertising still on it and was in really good shape. That winged horse sign on top is worth a small fortune!

 When I was growing up and we would go to Missouri on vacation we would see these old painted advertisings all over the place. Nowadays, they are painted over, worn off or the buildings have been torn down or remodeled. I was tickled to see this still on the side of a building in downtown Gonzales!

 On the way up and back I showed Teresa this old mansion in Berclair, TX. This town is halfway between Beeville and Victoria on Hiway 59. It is almost a ghost town with very few residents but they do still have a post office. This old mansion sits back off the road and is open for tours and special occasions. Everything else in this town is dilapidated, falling down, etc. so this is a sight to see.

 This old building sits right on the road and has caught my attention every time we go thru so this time I stopped for pictures. Please click on the photos for details of the bricks. They are all handmade with rocks, glass, shells, etc. Some are dated 1946 and all are in great condition. This building is like one big piece of folk art. Mosaics at it's finest!

 Well just wanted to show you our trip and what we saw. Have a great week!!!

...just had to share my "Roses"!

 I have a vintage glass brick vase sitting in my dining room windowsill. It has become a gathering spot for stems of bone china roses.

 I find them at estate sales, garage sales, antiques shops and elsewhere. I may find a couple, a bunch or one and I stick them in this vase.

 I love the colors and variety. These will all end up some day in my mosaics but for now I just enjoy them.

 This box contains about 30 something bone china rose groupings and place card holders. I purchased them on eBay back in the spring but too much was going on to open the box up...so it sat.

 Until now.....look at all those peanuts. I LOVE peanuts. Yes, they are messy and a pain in the rear but oh how I need them for packing when I sell on Etsy and eBay. They are great!

 This is what is in the box! They are exquisite, beautiful, delicate....you get the picture. They will make some of my mosaics just pop!

And lastly, on top of my microwave! Yes, my mother didn't raise me this way..it just happened. Again, look at the variety of flowers. This isn't just roses. There are all types of flowers in this group! Creations are coming, don't know when, but just had to share!!! Have a wonderful week!

Middle of the night crafting!!!

 Okay, am I crazy or what?? About 11:00 this evening, after finishing a movie with my hubby I got to thinking about some projects I have been wanting to do. I had to put everything on hold for the last 3 weeks while I finished working on income taxes for us and my folks. Yes....we are some of those folks who wait till the very last possible time to do taxes. Ours was finished yesterday and I took my folks paperwork to the accountant this afternoon!!!

 So I got to thinking....it is bad when I get to thinking!! I started looking at this stack of plates and that stack of glass and what would match with what. I jumped right in and started matching items with other things that look good together. So far so good!

 Oh the possibilities...............I have been buying and buying for this project, and am still always looking for things that would be good go-withs! I don't like to slap things together as I want it to look "just right"! I take my time and try this with that and that with this over and over again until it looks just right...or at least "just right" in my eyes! It is now 3:38 AM and I am wide awake. This is one of those nights that once I get started doing something I can't quit and the time just flies by!

I have several things in the works now like cupcake stands, party displays, garden art, cake stands, etc. and all from vintage and newer china and glass. I just love tinkering with these goodies but I probably should go and try to sleep as I am attending a bridal shower at 10:00 this morning.....but wait, first I want to try this plate with that dish.........................