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!!!

"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.........................