Follow me on my pathtojunkentreasure as I hunt for treasures at flea markets, garage sales, rummage sales, thrift stores, estate sales and even on the side of the road. I'll share my love of ironstone, hammered aluminum, vintage Christmas, vintage jewelry, doilies and tablecloths, flower frogs, garden items and anything rusty and chippy. You can find me at Carriage House Antiques in Crystal Lake Illinois. Please join me on my pathtojunkentreasure!

Monday, August 26, 2013

I Was Treasure Hunting

I did a little treasure hunting this weekend.  I don't always have time on the weekends to treasure hunt.  I usually do most of my treasure hunting on Thursday/Friday.  But, not this weekend.  I went to the Sparrows Nest in Cary on Saturday and they were having a 25% off storewide sale.  I found an aluminum Farber and Shlevin tray for $3 and a vintage pin for $3.  Really neat deals.

On Sunday, I stopped in at the third day for an estate sale in Woodstock.  I found 2 vintage Christmas tablecloths (one with 11 napkins) and 3 vintage porcelain plates.  All for $16.00.  I went home happy. 

I will start rearranging the rooms in my house and purging/redecorating soon.  I like fall cleaning!  I have some ideas for changing the treasures that I display.  I will post pictures as I go.  I am still in the back to school mode and have been trying to get my kids organized.  In another week I will be able to get back on track.

On Saturday, I made small tins of green tomato bread.  I usually freeze them.  It is really tasty.  The trick is finding green tomatoes that are still hard so that when you shred them, no seeds get into the bread.  (I have butternut squash bread frozen.  Another favorite.)  Today, I have spent most of the day making a meat sauce with vine ripe tomatoes.  The house smells soooo good!  I usually freeze about 8 containers for future quick meals.  With soccer season here, I need lots of quick meals.  I wasn't planning to make sauce when it is 90 degrees outside, but, when the tomatoes are ripe I have to work fast.  We will be having a delicious meal tonight with the green tomato and squash breads.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Another Vintage Linen Day

I found more vintage linens!  I stopped back at Joyce's garage sale and found a few that I overlooked the other day.  I went to soooo many sales and found a few other treasures.  The one sale that I was sure that I would find linens at was disappointing and very expensive.  I did happen to find some china from Japan (spent $8).  The one surprise was at an estate sale where I did find a Christmas tablecloth ($5), 2 aprons ($3 each) and a vintage towel ($1).  I may stop back on Sunday for half price day to see if anything is left.  There were more linens.

Goodwill in McHenry was another stop.  They were restocking the shelves and I spotted a wonderful golden glass basket for $5.  I have a similar one from my mom, but, loved the detail on this one.  I also stopped at the Sparrows Nest in McHenry and found a great Mickey Mouse tie for Ethan ($2).  He loved it!

I love old gardening books, kids books and just others that catch my eye.  I found an old Les Miserables book.  A little tattered, but, I love that charm.  Not bad for $1.



Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Surprise Garage Sale

My friends Joyce and Chris are having a garage sale in Crystal Lake on Friday.  Joyce has lots and lots of vintage linens to sell.  She knows that I love them.  (We often fight over them at sales.)  Anyway, she was nice enough to give me a sneak peak this afternoon.  I ran right over there.  She had boxes and piles to go through.  It was so much fun!  I only bought a few since I'm trying to be a little picky.  I don't want my collection to get too much out of control.  If it hasn't already.  I found some really neat ones, especially one with hand embroidered peacocks.  I love hand embroidered pieces.  I also found a nice cookie jar for my mom.  It will make a great Christmas present since she still collects cookie jars.  This was unique.  I know she doesn't have one of them. 

Friday is looking good for garage sales.  The weather is supposed to be nice and the paper is full of sales.  I'm going back to Joyce's sale to see what else she has found to sell.  There is also one on Lincoln Street in Woodstock that should be good.  I bought lots of vintage costume jewelry from her a few months back and she now has other treasures, plus.......vintage linens.  I can't wait to see what she has!

Sept 1st is the Cedarburg Flea Market in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Summer's Winding Down

Where has the summer gone to?  As the kids get older, the summer seems to go by faster.  We spent the last weekend of summer break in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  (Caldwell had a two day car race).

I really like Elkhart Lake.  The boys and I spent Saturday morning walking around the farmers market.  (It's open from 8:30-12:30 on Saturdays from June-Oct).  We bought lots of vegetables and baked goods.  I like this farmers market since it is a combination of seasonal produce, crafts and antiques.   We visited my favorite store there, Rhine St General.  They have a nice selection of crafts, new items, and antiques.  It's always fun seeing what they have.   We got to play some tennis and swim in the afternoon.  We also ate our share of ice cream.  That's always fun!

I look forward to this trip every August.  It is probably really beautiful there in the winter.  I hope to find that out.

Sept 20-21 is a Vintage Market sale at 6237 Linden Road in Rockford from 9-4pm.  My friend Cecilia and I went to the Spring market and had lots of fun.  The fall market is supposed to have more vendors and it is at a new, bigger location. 

Fall rummage sales will be starting in September.  I'm looking forward to those. 

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Elkhorn Flea Market

You would think that I would be exhausted after having my garage sale on Friday.  Instead, I have tried to visit lots of sales to replenish my treasures. 

We went to the Elkhorn Flea Market today.  It was very busy and had lots of good deals even though we were rained on for about 20 minutes.  We hid under the bleachers and the rain passed quickly.  So, we just started up again.   Lots of $1 tables where I found a needlepoint runner and a Japanese Poem book.  Caldwell found many treasures for $1 from duck decoys to metal popcorn poppers for over a fire.  Austin found a very large stuffed Spyro for $2 and Ethan found a huge bag of Yugioh cards for $10.  I visited Christina who sells under the stadium and found 4 pieces of costume jewelry for $4 each.  Lots of fun finds today.  It got me thinking that maybe next year I should try to sell some of my collections at least one time at the flea market.  The kids were all for helping out.  I will think about it over the winter and decide for maybe one date in the 2014 season.  I would have enough time to plan and gather my treasures and even add to the collections.  It would probably do me good to purge a little more.  I'm all for starting new collections that are different from my usual treasures. 

We then made our way to Lake Geneva where there was an art fair, HGTV book signing,  library book sale and Jelly Belly truck giving out samples.  Caldwell and Ethan tried tobasco jelly beans and they were hot!  Ethan got to try stinky socks jelly beans and thought they were good.  Yuck!  It was a fun time.  Kilwins for ice cream was part of the day, as usual. 

We returned home completely exhausted from having had a wonderful day. 

Friday, August 9, 2013

Garage Sale Day

We had the perfect weather for our 4 friends garage sale today.   A little cool with some cloud cover.  It was a beautiful day to spend outside.

I was up at 4:45am to start setting up at 6am.  I can never sleep the night before my garage sale.  There is always something to do and things spinning around in my head.  My friends arrived at 7am when the real work began.  People started coming at 8am (even though the sign in my driveway had 9am).  That's why it's so important to set up at least an hour before your scheduled start time.  You don't want to lose a customer.  We were busy in the morning, but slowed down tremendously in the afternoon.  We had just enough down time to shop each others treasures.  I got a beautiful vintage bracelet and earrings from Cecilia for only $1.50.  She didn't wear it anymore so it has become a welcome addition to my jewelry collection.  Even Donna and Mary found some treasures. 

Sometimes it is just nice to sit around and catch up with friends that you don't always get to see.  I enjoyed my afternoon with good friends.  I also saw many friends that stopped by the sale.  Most were rummage/thrift sale friends. 

Afterwards, the boys helped me clean up and we moved some items to the curb where most of them have already disappeared.  I have already made one trip to the Savers Thrift store in Crystal Lake (they give you a discount coupon with your donation.) and tomorrow I will donate the rest to the Sparrows Nest in McHenry.  I'm still watching the curb to see if the air hockey table has been picked up.  I hope someone can use it. 

I just scanned the garage sale ads for tomorrow (I can't wait to start looking for treasures again).   Sunday is the Elkhorn Wisconsin flea market and Lake Geneva is having an art fair and book signing at the Cornerstone Shop and Gallery by Monica who has her own HGTV show.       

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Garage Sale Preparation

I spent most of the day preparing the garage and outside for my 4 friends garage sale.  But, not before the kids and I went to the Calvary Church Rummage sale in Crystal Lake.  The boys were disappointed that they didn't find anything.  That's what happens sometimes.  I found some doilies that they lumped together for 50 cents, a glass turtle for Ethan for $1, vintage Christmas ornaments for $2 for the box, 3 Stooges ornaments for $1 and an angel thrown in.  Not bad for someone having a garage sale tomorrow to get rid of too much stuff.  We stopped at a garage sale on the way home and both the young boy selling lemonade and myself got stung by a bee.  All I could think about was will I be okay for my sale tomorrow?  (I'm fine.  The sale goes on.)

Mary and Donna brought over some treasures today.  I managed to find a great shabby garden frame from Mary.  We'll figure out the price tomorrow.   I have set up a garden area, toy area, etc. so that tomorrow I don't have to keep moving things around.  I put a yellow sign on a wooden ladder in my driveway to let everyone passing know that there will be a sale tomorrow.  There's a sign at the end of my block already too.

It's going to be fun!  It's always a lot of hard work, but the feeling is great when my house is organized and cleaned out.  Then, I can start looking for treasures again.

 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

I'm Having a Garage Sale!

I have been monitoring the weather and so far it looks good for Friday.  Right now there are 3 of us who will be selling and I'm waiting for 1 more friend to confirm.  I have wanted to have a "flea market" type garage sale for a while now.  This is going to be sooooo much fun! The good thing is that all of my items are priced and in bins so I can just grab and go.  It makes things so much easier.

I still need to go through my gardening items in the garage.  That will probably be tomorrow.  Too much to do-but in a good way.  I'm looking forward to it and spending the day with friends.

Rummage sale at Calvary Baptist Church on Rte 31 in Crystal Lake on Thursday.  Sunday is the Elkhorn Flea Market in Elkhorn WI and an Art Fair in Lake Geneva. 

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Saturday Garage Sales

We found a few sales today.  We planned on going back to Chris and Christina's sale that we visited yesterday.  They did put out some new items.  I found a seashell box with a handle (made into a purse) for 50 cents.  My treasure of the day.

I stopped in at the Sparrows Nest in Cary since I hadn't been there in over a month.  I found the cutest turtle pins for a total of $10 and a seashell purse for $4.  It seems that everyone is getting rid of their seashell items since summer is coming to an end.  (It is going by much tooooo quickly).

I keep monitoring the weather for Friday.  If it's going to be nice, I'm going to have a garage sale.  I want to get rid of some clothes/air hockey table and other items before the winter.  I have some plans for the basement and need to clean it up first.  I do hope that the weather will be nice.  I also have some gardening items to clean out.  I usually set up outside in the driveway since the garage isn't big enough to have a sale in.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.  I don't want to hold onto anything through the winter.  The pile always seems to grow bigger and bigger during the winter and then my basement is full.  I would rather purge now and enjoy the room.

I like having a one day sale.  I then have time to donate the remainder and shop more sales!

Friday, August 2, 2013

The Fair Continues.....

We took a break today from the fair.  Yesterday was too exciting!  I won 1st and 2nd place for my coneflowers and 3rd for my daylily.  It was great!!!!!!  I found some more categories to enter next year.  I now have time to plan.

The kids and I went treasure hunting and school supplies/clothes shopping.  It was a busy busy day.  Time really does fly.  We were out for so much longer than I wanted to be.  We found a few small treasures including a vintage Nintendo game system.  They were thrilled.  Tomorrow I'll stop by a garage sale that Christina and Chris (2 antique dealers) are having in Crystal Lake off of Lake Shore Dr.  They always have nice things.  They are also busy getting ready for the Elkhorn Flea Market next Sunday.