Auction and Halloween Fun

Every other Wednesday an nearby auction company does an antiques and collectibles auction.  I have gone the last two auctions and had a grand time.  There is just something about the bidding and the fun atmosphere that gets me.  I took my son and his girlfriend, neither of who had ever been to an auction, and I had more fun just watching them bid.  Hilarious I tell you.  Anyway, heres what I found

Gorgeous quilt that looks never used and may have to keep, I love the colors. I won choice on quilts and this one cost me $20.00

This was a quilt top only, I got this beauty for 6.00 and it sold on eBay for $36.00.

This was a porcelain doll head. I thought of Laurie when I bought it because in faded letters it says Ethel. It cost me $4.00 and sold for $35.00

This poor clock NOBODY bid on. I actually was bidding on some old books and they threw this clock in with the book lot. The books and clock were $3.00 total and the clock has already sold for $40.00. The books turned out to be mostly crap so glad I got the clock too. ka-Ching!

I got an old Planters Peanuts jar FULL of old milk caps. I put them on eBay in 2 separate lots. (There were 2 different dairies) this group sold for $25.00. I have the other group listed for $25.00 also. The whole shebang cost me $4.00. I kept a couple and added some magnets to the back to make some fridge magnets. 

This metal doll case was $4.00 and had a baby doll and clothes with it. I listed the case and clothes separately and the case alone sold for $30.00. The doll and clothes hasn't sold yet. 

Lots more from the auction that either hasn't been listed or hasn't sold yet. A few little things I'm keeping. Lots of fun and I went back again last Wednesday and got more, I'll show that later. 

On Halloween I went to my friends party.

It was a blast, he has it every year, I think this was the 8th or 9th year. If you remember I bought a red polka dot pin up girl dress to wear. I looked like fat MInnie Mouse in it so decided to not wear it. Decided to go as an 80's girl instead. Found the whole outfit right in my own closet. Not sure what that says about me.

Complete with microphone. There was a DJ there and yes I did sing Cindy Laupers GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN. I'll spare you the video. 

My friend, her husband and her son went as Minions. Not gonna lie, their costumes freaked me out a bit. She made the glasses out of rings off of mason jars which was pretty genius. 

No idea who these people were but they nailed the Dracula costumes. 

This is my friend Tim that hosted the party. He was Stevie Wonder. In real life he is white and bald. Hilarious. 

My oldest son and his girlfriend were Danny and Sandy from grease. She looked just like her!

My crazy friend Cindy and her husband went as Sonny & Cher

This is what they really look like. Haha!

We had a good time and I hope you enjoyed the pics! How was your Halloween? Till next time!

Busy Busy and What the What?

It's been crazy around here. I've been shopping, pricing, cleaning, digging, photo taking, and just overall getting ready for the holiday shopping rush on eBay and the booth. Our antique mall is doing a  Holiday Open House the first weekend in November and I have to change out my entire booth to Christmas! Ugh! I've got lots priced and ready to go, but much more to be done. Here's what I drug out so far

Bounty of Blowmolds

Scads of Shiny Brites

Every damn Elf

Loads of Lights

Gaggles of Garland (three is a gaggle, no?)

Crap ton of Candelabras

Truckload of Trees (get it? Because there is a Tree on a Truck ha!) 

There is more but I'll spare you. So yeah, that's a major time suck. I am downsizing my Christmas stash as you can see, but don't fret, I've got 14 tubs left, I think I can spare some stuff. 

In eBay news things have been hopping! People are getting in the moooood to spend money. I hit a garage sale the other day that was an eBayer's dream. Everything this women owned was HIGH END designer labels and everything was $4.00! I got a huge pile of clothes, half still had tags on it. Tags from places I will never get to shop at in my lifetime, like Barneys New York, Tory Burch in Florida, TopShop in London! (I know they have a TopShop section at my local Nordstroms but this was actually from the original store in London) Plus I bought Chanel sunglasses for $25 (already listed for ($175 on eBay) I asked the lady if they were real (I really should have known better based on her clothing selection) and she just looked at me and smiled and said "I don't do fake" haha! Made me laugh. I was wondering how the hell more people weren't at her sale so I asked her if she put her sale on Craigslist. She said no, she never heard of doing that, she only PUT IT IN THE PAPER! For real? Does anyone even read the paper anymore? Oh well, I was glad she did.

I also hit 5 thrifts that day so I have a mountain of stuff to list. As I was driving to my first and favorite thrift store I was stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this

Whaaaat???? Nooooooo!!!!! This particular Goodwill is in a not so great neighborhood, but, it is surrounded by some very rich neighborhoods. So they get some killer donations, but hardly anyone shops there! It is my secret honey hole of great finds and I'm SO BUMMED that they are closing!!! Now, I happen to have a great Goodwill near me, it also gets great donations, but it is in a very wealthy area and everyone knows it! It is always packed with people. I still find stuff but the competition is fierce. Like, jab your eyeballs out when they bring out a new cart fierce. So I guess I better start working out cuz I see some fights in my future. Kidding! (Sort of) 

So that's the news around here. I did go to an auction the other day that was great fun but that's a post for another day. Till next time!

Junk Stock!!!

I didn't get to go to Junk Ranch this year and I was BUMMED! It's a fabulous Junk Sale and of course Shara and Lara sell there so the pickins are gooood! If you want a great recap of the show go check out their blogs, but it will make you sad you missed it :(. I didn't get to go because my work schedule changed, BUT that meant I could go to JUNK STOCK in Omaha and it was FABULOUS! It's been on my bucket list forever and it was everything I could have hoped for and more!

Drove up on Thursday night to spend the night with my favorite junking buddy my aunt Celeste. (Or as we affectionately call her Aunt Lesty) We headed out about 11:00 am Friday morning. This giant sign was right inside the entrance and was about 20' tall. Made with old cornstalks. 

This one was right next to it and it was so neat. All made from corncobs and it was HUGE! 

Close up. Very cool but we were there for the JUNK so let's get to the good stuff. 

Miles of junk

Booth after booth of the best stuff!

47 food vendors and food trucks! Every yummy fattening thing you could think of or cook on a stick. 

10 bands. This stage had different bands all weekend. 

Cool photo props everywhere. The side of the barn has dripping paint cans. Genius.

Me and my aunt taking a much needed break. 

Glorious weather!

Old VW bus

One of many barns full of junk. Check out that giant window on the ceiling with the chandeliers!

A cool booth. They had amazing big stuff but sadly out of my price range:(

Here's what came home with me...

This awesome huge wooden cubby. Yes it's already set up and decorated in my dining room. It's missing a few pulls but I have some brass ones I'm gonna try and match. 

The drawers are rusty metal and open on the back side. 

The back is open so the mailman (?) could fill each slot. I assume that's what it is, although not 100% sure. Whatever it's fantabulous. 

Finally hung that antique swiss flag I got from my mom, added some fun items and Whalla! 

A bundle of orange and yellow branch stuff which I forgot the name of.

Old hinge turned photo frame

Old street sign with my nephews name on it. 

This was a loooong peice of wood with neat old hooks. 

Maybe 6' long? Probably longer than any wall in my house, but my motto is BUY NOW, FIGURE IT OUT LATER! I will figure it out, later. 

At one of the last booths we went in, I saw these gauges

I told my aunt to guard them and don't let anyone buy them. I stepped out of the booth to look them up on eBay. I knew that some of these can sell for good money. I quickly checked completeds and they were going for $50-$150. These were priced at $10 (the two small ones) and $15.00 for the bigger ones. So of course I bought them all. As I was paying for them this guy comes into the booth and is frantically looking around. He sees me paying and he's like "where did you get those" I pointed to the shelf where I got them (knowing full well that I bought all of them) and he goes over, sees the empty shelf and yells  "DAMN I MISSED THEM BY 5 MINUTES!" That's when I knew I made a good purchase :) 

And lastly we both got ourselves a couple souvenirs 

Neat mug and at shirt that I can't show because I wore it 2 days straight (even to bed) and it is getting a much needed wash. 

So a great weekend, thanks Aunt Lesty for a fun fun time! Can't wait till Spring to go back! And I'm bummed I forgot to take pics of my aunts finds because she found some killer items too. Till next time!

My Skelly is Better than Yours

I was cruising around the web the other day looking for items for my Halloween costume. My friend from work has a huge party every year. This year a bunch of us are going as singers from the past. I'm going as Doris Day. No idea why Doris Day, they chose it for me. So I ordered this dress off ebay

It's cute and all but when I got it I realized it looks a lot like Minnie Mouse. Why I chose red polka dots is a mystery. Plus it's sleeveless, I never wear sleeveless anything. Not since about 1989. Which happens to be the year I had my first kid. Coincidence? I think not.  Anyhoo, while I was searching the web I came across this wreath.. 

Ugh, I fell HARD for it. Which is odd, it's not even vintage looking but something about it was just cool. I wanted that wreath. I needed that wreath. And, it was only a mere $248.00! Zoinks!! Are they kidding??? Not even if I could afford it would I pay that much. I knew I could make it for cheaper. First thing I did was start looking for a feather wreath. You can buy one on Amazon for about $60.00. No thank you. So I was gonna make my own. Buy me a feather boa and wrap it around a styrofoam wreath. But I tried it (in the aisle of Hobby Lobby) and it just didn't look the same. I forgot about it and a few days later I was at a antique/home decor store and found one for $9.00. Ya! Some dollar store ribbon, a bag of skull and bones, and a cute top hat I found at a party store for 9.99 and I had this

Not exact but pretty darn close. I love him. It was a bit of a pain to make, his head was too round (kept tipping forward) and his bones were a bit too long so I had to cut off the back of his skull and cut down his bones with a kitchen knife. My husband came home from work and I was at the stove sawing away on my fake bones. He's like "what the hell are you doing?" Um...making dinner? Ha! Best part, he only cost about $35.00. Which is still a bit pricey but whatever. So my front door is now decorated and I am officially done decorating. Bring on Halloween!

Good Junk & A Bit Of Fun

I finally found a few things that are blog worthy so thought I'd share. I went to a couple of garage sales and estate sales. I have been to so few this year, with so much going on, and inheriting SO MUCH of my moms stuff, I haven't really felt like shopping. I was on my way to the post office today and I saw a sign, then another, and another. You know you can't forever ignore the sweet siren call of a garage sale! 

This brass jeweled turtle box was my favorite find. It was a family run estate sale and the prices were CRAAZY cheap! 

The shell opens up and inside is a tiny letter opener and magnifying glass. Seriously cute.

A Vera scarf, vintage yellow sheet set, Ireland silk scarf, a few hankies and a plastic raggedy ann bank. I also got one if those ceramic light up Christmas trees (for .50 people!!) no pic, it's in my car which is way too far to walk. I got home from this sale and I realized that I forgot a pile of stuff. It was some books and flash cards. I WANTED that pile. But the sale was 10 minutes away. I was debating whether or not to go back. Was it worth it? Would the pile still be there? I decided to take a chance and go back. 

Ok, the books are ok. Super cute and all, they are song books. But not worth driving 20 minutes round trip right? But you know what totally made it worth it?

This awesome box of vintage flash cards. Probably 60 or 70 cards in the box with THE BEST vintage drawings. For the price of a piece of gum. That's right....25 cents!!!! Oh yeah, I also found two metal flower frogs on my second trip. Speaking of flower frogs...

At a different estate sale I found this brass flower frog and some tart tins. I have flower frogs in metal, glass and plastic but I've never seen brass. Speaking of brass...

Some brass reindeer. You would totally think I collect brass..turtle, flower frog, reindeer. You would be wrong. It's all going to the booth or eBay. So long brass, I lived through the 80's, been there done that. Maybe some young hipster girl who thinks brass is like, so awesome, will buy you :)

Now cast iron? I'm your girl! Got this at a thrift store and it is crying out for some mini pumpkins. It's a keeper.

Picked up this square picnic basket. I'm gonna make my sister paint the top with something cool. 

Of course Luna thinks it's hers. 

On the Halloween front I found a few things.

I was at my booth today to add some stuff and decided to take a look around the store. This one booth was having a 40% off sale. Found these luminaries for .75. Question for you, are they vintage? They are made by Empire, the same company that makes all the blow molds, plus the graphics look vintage so I'm thinking yes. But maybe they still make them? I have no idea but I liked them. 

She also had these Dennison seals, never opened. Love. 

Lastly I got this cute honeycomb pumpkin. Which is already hanging on my mantle. Speaking of mantles, let's do a quick little Halloween house tour! 

Basket of honeycomb pumpkins, these were going to go to the booth but never made it. Who am I kidding? 

Sorry for the terrible pic. Found these fabo removable stickers at Target. Just what that mirror needed. 

My "scary" table. 

Dining room. If you look closely you'll see 4 glass jars of candy. Not my best idea. Can't seem to quit eating my display.

Ye old Hoosier. Shove all the green jadeite inside, shut the doors, add some orange and done!

Hallway

Living room. Found this little cabinet on clearance for $8 and thought it would be perfect for my Gurley candles.

Turned out pretty cute. Lastly my family room...

(I really shouldn't take night pics, sorry)

Broken clock turned cloche . 

So that's what I've been up to. Getting my fix on. As usual. Till next time!