Where have I been???

You know the old saying......time flies! Well yes it has! There are no excuses here. What can I tell you except that other things took up my time. My life and all that it entails. Family, so precious! And of course all those evil time stealers.....Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, candy crush and all those other games.......yes, I am guilty of all of these!
My family has changed a lot in the past year or so. My sweet Daddy passed away in January. Oh how I miss him! To be with a loved one at the end of their life is a precious thing. To be there as they slip away into God's open arms is a memory I will never forget. My 22 year old son, with us in that hospital room, said " I've never seen someone die before" and his Daddy and I said that we hadn't either. We let him know what a blessing it was to be there!
Another change in our family is a new baby, our first grandchild, a beautiful boy born in April! This is another moment I will never forget as I was at the hospital for his birth. What a blessing a new baby is! A new life! We are so so so in love.
Other things taking up precious time is my three antique mall booths. I love my booths! Who doesn't love having a mini store all their own? I love looking for new things for my customers and bringing them to the booths. Rearranging my booth is always fun, restocking, displaying and I also like to take pics of my booths. I usually post these on Facebook under Lynnesfinds, on Instagram under Lynnewilsonshropshire and of course, Pinterest under Lynne Wilson Shropshire.
While being in the antiques business for over 30 years I transitioned into conducting estate sales. This business is known as Estate Sales By Lynne. I cannot begin to tell you the satisfaction I get when helping folks with this service. One of my recent customers was downsizing and moving out of town. She thanked me profusely when the sale was over because she just didn't know what she was going to do. She even called me again several months later to thank me again, so sweet! That's what I like...satisfied customers!
I also sell online thru eBay and etsy also under the name lynnesfinds. Because of the above mentioned time stealers I don't list as often as I should so I need to work on that! :)
Well now I have updated! I am not going to promise to do it more often because life gets in the way, but, I will certainly make the effort to try. Have a blessed day and rest of your week!

Busy, busy, busy!

 My year has been blowing by so far, how about yours? Can you believe it is almost April? Wow! I for one have been very busy! I am in the middle of my third estate sale for the year and start my fourth tomorrow. Plus I have 2-3 more coming up. The Lord is good! In between working on these sales I sneak a little time to take care of my antique mall booths. I was there Monday sprucing up and adding more merchandise. In one of my booths I added some vintage watercolor paintings by Alberto Meza, all with south Texas wildlife and so detailed. There are also three vintage cactus paintings which used to hang in the Casa De Palmas hotel years ago. The Casa De Palmas still sits in the middle of downtown McAllen but is now called The Renaissance. My husband and I spent our wedding night there in one of the towers back in 1981. The towers are no longer open, boo! It is a beautiful old place! My mother used to be friends with the manager's daughter back in the 1940's or 50's and would swim in the pool.

 Here is a view of my second booth at Mimi's Attic. I completely rearranged it Monday and brought new things here, too! It is barely in the picture but in the top right corner is a vintage retro orange hanging light fixture covered in orange prisms, so cool!!! I found it at an estate sale years ago and my daughter used it in her room. It is so unique!!! You can always click on my photos to get a closer look!

 I have been rearranging/purging at my house too! I had my brother refinish my old hall tree which turned out really nice and brought it to the shop. It is so beautiful with a heart shaped bevelled mirror. Love it! I also tried my hand at Annie Sloan paint and book page wreath making! I painted this table and then accented it with gold trim. My two book page wreaths are hanging on the heart hall tree! I loved the Annie Sloan paint AND making the book page wreaths!

 Here is Mimi the owner of Mimi's Attic. She has recently changed everything around at the mall and it is looking wonderful and so inviting! She has some great antique showcases and counters at and around her checkout area just full of wonderful things to tempt you with! She works so hard and it is a pleasure to rent my booths from her! If you are local and haven't been to downtown Weslaco in awhile you are missing out! There are now seven shops selling antiques, collectible and vintage merchandise all within three blocks plus other stores and the Weslaco Museum. It is not that far either. I can get to her mall in about 20 minutes from my driveway in McAllen!

 We have had a glorious winter and spring with summer coming quickly. I stepped outside this morning and the weather is just beautiful! It was a bit windy and cool and just perfect! This pot of lobelia and petunias is just bursting with blooms. That petunia was barely alive when I bought it for 75 cents at Lowe's back in October. Amazing what a little tender loving care will do, huh? The purplish blue lobelia blooms are awesome but will be gone once our summer heat shows up around May.

 Since the weather was so awesome I decided to do some pruning and trimming. I have several piles now so I guess I went a bit trim happy but it was needed. I had put seed out for the birds right before I started trimming and they patiently waited in the trees and bushes for me to get finished so they could eat! My cat was right there helping me and she came to see where I went when I went inside for the camera.

Here is another pot of lobelia, geranium ivy, ornamental cabbage and lantana, so lush and overflowing!! Well, I enjoyed my morning but look forward to working my newest estate sale tomorrow! Stay tuned!!!

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!

Where Have I Been????

Yes, I have been MIA...missing in action. My plate has been full and running over! For the past 2 1/2 months I have been working on my own parents' estate sale. My parents have downsized and I am selling what didn't fit or they couldn't take. It has been long hours and lots of work but we have done some good. We have had many friends, family and customers to the house, a few at a time, for private selling as parking is not the best. And for now we, my helper Janelle and I, are taking a break mainly as I now have some other estate sales to start seeing about. My parents have lots more things in storage and we will get back to their house later to re-stock and re-open. As for this week, I signed a contract for an estate but cannot really start until probate is done. My next appointment for another sale is later this month as that is when the heirs will be here from Chicago. So for now I am working (playing) in the yard as spring seems to have sprung! Just look at this photo of my passion flower vine. This vine has finally just taken off and has flowers all over.

 Have you ever taken a really good up close and personal look at one of these flowers??? Alien I tell you, alien! Look at it! As a child growing up in the early 60's we had one of these vines on our patio. There were wrought iron columns that held up our patio roof and this vine was on one of these columns, lush and beautiful! When Hurricane Beulah struck in 1967 this vine said goodbye. The ferocious winds kept pulling at the patio roof slowly yanking the wrought iron columns with it. Once the bolts on the columns gave way the vine tried to hold on.........but not for long. We will never forget watching the roof fly up and then over our house and across the street only to plunge into the neighbors garage door! What a sight! Hurricanes are so powerful!

 At the corner of our house are two bottlebrush trees. They are both covered in blooms today and it is a wash of long red spires! Remember to click on my photos for a closer look!

 One old wives tale is "March roars in like a lion and out like a lamb" and today is one of those days. Taking these pictures was hard as the winds are gusting at 45 mph but I kept snapping away to get some good shots.

 Here is a closeup of these pretty and unusual blooms. They are just long spires of red fluff and I love them. The birds also like to hide in these trees or rest in them at night. Occasionally there will be some nests, too!

 Also in the front yard there is a rose bed that follows the sidewalk to our front door. In the fall I noticed some rose bushes were dying plus two large shrubs at the front window. Little did we know then but termites, and ants, were munching out on them AND our house. Yes, we got the bug people to kill all those pests and we are filling in plants that were lost. Here are the new rose bushes.

 I have a thing about the word "variegated". In simpler terms it means two-toned. I LOVE two-toned roses!!! You will not believe the colors that these will be. When we bought them they were blooming and when I saw a couple of them they made me gasp they were so pretty. Oh yes, my husband was along for this as we bought these roses for our 31st wedding anniversary. That, my friends, is a long time for a marriage these days. I am blessed with a wonderful man!

 Our son is digging up the rose bed and getting the old soil out. We just had a truck load of topsoil brought to the house this morning to mix with some manure compost. Yes, those roses are going to be blooming up a storm! I can picture them in my mind already!

 In the meantime, I was at our local grocery store Sunday. They had some gorgeous flowers and tons of roses in their floral department. A dozen roses were only $8.99! How can you pass that up? I sure can't!

 Here is that word again......variegated! This is what I am talking about folks! Two-toned and out of this world beautiful! God is such an artist!

So, bloggers, I am back. Refreshed, ready to go and blogging regularly. I have lots of other news, too! But I will save that for another day! I hope everyone is having a glorious day today.....I sure am!

Christmas time!

 Here is our Christmas tree for this year. Actually it probably looks like this every year. We are very traditional and buy the same type of fresh tree every year and use the same ornaments, though adding a few, each year. Remember to click on each picture for a better look!

 Frazier firs are wonderful to decorate. They are not too full with lots of branches and nooks and crannies to put my ornaments. I particularly like old, vintage, antique glass ornaments with some newer ones scattered about.

 I am especially fond of mercury glass ornaments in the shapes of fruits and veggies. Some appear to be sliced open and others are the whole piece. I also LOVE antique mercury glass beaded garlands. The finishing touch on our tree is when I am completely done putting on the ornaments I apply the garlands like icing, draping each garland in swags across the tree. Please note the large bead garland, my favorite, and very hard to find in this size.

 I also love pink and this box of pink goodness I found recently at a local thrift shop for 69 cents!

 Here is a display of vintage and antique Christmas themed china pieces that I got from my Mom. Please notice underneath it all is an assortment of holly and poinsettia silk embroidered antique linens. Both of these collections took years to find.

 I have it displayed on an antique cupboard in my entry. The floor lamps on each side are vintage Mexico which were the standard black color and now creamy white. Hanging above are 2 vintage holiday themed brass wreaths and an antique architectural piece decorated in what appears to be a lyre covered in roses....awesome.

 This picture does not do the rose covered piece justice as it is just gorgeous in person. I hate to admit this but I have probably owned this piece, bought at an estate sale, for maybe 20 years and only recently got it out from under our bed and hung it up.

 I think domes are it! This antique one I bought at a customer's garage sale a few years ago for $35.00 and I like to leave it out year round. On eBay they are several hundred dollars so I am very careful with it. I treasure antique marble lamps and probably have 7 in several sizes scattered about my house.

 More vintage pink ornaments overflowing out of an antique pressed glass punch bowl. Another collection is old silver and these victorian silver plated pieces are some of my favorites. The spool cabinet  that all this is sitting on is a family piece. Many years ago a relative let us go thru his mother's house to see if we wanted anything. It was in horrible shape and was going to be razed. My mom spotted this cabinet but it had no drawers. Once she started poking around she found all the drawers scattered about the garage, yard and elsewhere. She had it refinished and displayed in her home. It is now used as an end table in my living room.

 We bought about 8 pink trees in two sizes at a local shop probably 8 or 9 years ago and we would use them at Christmas in our antiques shop. Everybody wanted to buy them but we enjoyed them so and couldn't part with them. Now that the shop is closed they are used in my home and my parents. I have a nice collection of vintage pink ornaments that just look wonderful on this tree. Check out the antique angel hair decorated angel tree topper.

And if you have followed my blog you know that I also collect MacKenzie-Childs pottery. These canisters are the originals from the 1980's. I decorate with alot of my pieces and also use them for dinnerware. My husband likes it too so he has spoiled me plenty with some of my bigger pieces. This setting is in my dining room on a small buffet...more antique mercury glass beaded garlands in old glass jars, vintage Christmas trees and reindeer and another holiday themed brass wreath above.
  I hope you have enjoyed seeing my version of Christmas decor! Merry Christmas everybody and have a blessed New Year!

"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!!!