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!

"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!!!

My local flea market, vintage jewelry finds, vintage bird cage and my new crafting room.........eventually!

Hi folks! Take a look at all my pics today as they cover a wide range of subjects, that's for sure! First pic is my now newlywed living in California daughter's room! Yes, it is pepto-bismol pink! When she was here it was darling I admit but now she has taken alot, left alot and some stays and some goes. However, it is going to be my new craft room hopefully sooner than later. And yes (don't tell my daughter) it is going to change colors! My "room" will be all shades of whites and beiges plus some baby pink and a touch of black! 

  One thing I recently bought is the black antique office chair and I found it recently at a garage sale for $25.00. I knew the older woman, I grew up with her daughters, and she said it came out of her father's sewing machine repair shop on South 17th street, now long gone. I love old McAllen memorablilia and was thrilled to know the history of this piece. It has a good home now!

 Now for a look at one of my local flea markets! Yes, that sign reads in spanish & english as this flea is only about 5 miles from the Mexico border....yes, I live in DEEP south Texas and have almost all my 53 years! It is not like it used to be but it is still home! Just for the record I have been coming to this flea since I was about 14 years old! Of course over time my tastes have changed considerably but no matter what my "style" or "wants" at the time, I can usually find something I "need"! Husbands just hate that word!

 This was an old drive-in theater so the front area is paved with slopes where your car would face the screen. For years there were lots of speakers on poles but now only a few poles remain. Check out this fruit and veggie stand, yum! Behind it is another stand that sells old linens, bedding and miscellaneous.

 Here is one of the parking areas-there are three at this flea. This one is a mess after rain which sadly isn't often. Fortunately this week we have a chance of rain over the next few days!!!

 Another pic of a booth that sells furniture and there are lots of boxes of stuff-you never know what you might find!!!!

 I found a woman selling some jewelry, new and old, of which I picked out these things. This vintage  large-sized multi-hued pearl necklace has a wonderful round sterling and rhinestone clasp. The vintage oblong scarab bracelet is signed Winard and gold filled. The small vintage woven ring is sterling and gold filled and is worn but sweet! The best piece, which is MINE-at least for now, is a vintage french coin ring that appears to be handmade and just fits my pinky!

 This old vintage birdcage jumped into my truck at a local resale shop. Well, it had help getting in my truck, and no, it will not be blue much longer. I have the most wonderful powdery baby pink paint in a spray can that will be used on this shortly. The birdcage is one of the items I want to display in my new craft room!

 I have always wanted a vintage bottle rack but they are so expensive!! I actually bought an AWESOME antique half-round one several years ago that my mother talked me out of-one of my big regrets-and darn it, she loves it!!!! I don't blame her. Well, I was scouting out some of my favorite blogs earlier this year and came across this rack at Laurie Anna's blog and online shop. It was new, looked old and reasonable and boom, I bought it! Aren't credit cards and the post office wonderful!

I have vintage medicine bottles and flower pots on my rack and galvanized tubs on this antique marble table top on an antique iron sewing machine base table. This was my mom's but she didn't need it anymore, yea! More on my backyard another time. Whoops, it is starting to rain outside. Thanks God!