Fast Forward to Spring!

 It's snowing here again! I'm so looking forward to spring. How about you?

The good thing about all of this snow is that I have more time inside to purge and organize. I have been doing a lot of that in my basement. I'm organizing my Carriage House stockpile and getting ready to purge my kids large toy collections. I just bought a cabinet to help with that which I will pick up tomorrow from the Carriage House. 

Ok, so I'm addicted to dress forms. I couldn't pass this one up. I had a perfect spot for it in my dining room. I just added the lace to the top and it was even more perfect. This one I found at Vintage Bliss in Wisconsin. 

Here it is close up.....

I just have to show you the cutest faces ever of a recent find....

Aren't they the cutest salt and pepper shakers you have every seen? I just have to keep them!

Since I'm showing you pictures of Christmas items, here is a birthday present from my family. They know me well....

More cute faces!

During one of my many purging moments, I went through my vintage trim. I have a thing for vintage trim. I can't pass it up. Even the smallest piece holds an allure for me. But, I admit, the stash was getting very large so I decided to let others enjoy it. I'll be bringing it to the Carriage House soon...

there's more....

I had some stock of old clothespins which came in handy to hold the trim. I also used thread spools to hold the large trim pieces. 

Even with all of the snow, I had to start spring decorating in my house. Here's a little snapshot...

 

I couldn't pass up this cow from Step Back in Time in Washington Illinois. He was perfect!

Mark your calendar for the Vintage Shop Hop March 5-6. Carriage House is participating again this year. It's a super fun weekend that you don't want to miss...

There are estate sales every week now! Yay! Pretty soon the flea markets will start. One disappointment is that the Elgin High School Flea Market is cancelled this year. I sell there every year so I'm super disappointed. Looks like I'm having an even larger garage sale this year!

Happy treasure hunting!

Busy New Year

 What a busy new year it is already! 

Preparations are underway at the Carriage House for the Vintage Shop Hop March 5-6. It's always a fun weekend so put it on your calendar!

It's always Christmas for me....so when I find a Santa (or two) with a super cute face I don't pass it up.

Estate sales are still going on with great buys. Here's one of those great buys. It would make a great day bed...

And since I'm showing you all of these vintage linens, in the month of February it's 20% off of regular priced linens at the Carriage House.  That includes hankies, pillows, pillowcases, towels, quilts, doilies,         aprons...you get the idea. 

Speaking of estate sales, just this weekend I went to one 3 hours after it began and found these vintage Christmas items while digging. My favorite kind of estate sale is in a dirty house where you have to dig! It just goes to show you that you don't have to be first on line at an estate sale to get good buys. This is the second time I found an African American Santa. This one is a puppet! Even better.

Another great buy recently at an antique shop Past and Present Shoppe in N. Aurora IL, I found a stack of Jeanne d'Arc Living magazines for a good prices. I LOVE these magazines. They are soooo inspirational and beautiful. I always get great ideas after reading them. 

I like to start spring cleaning my house in February. Since we had a snow storm yesterday, I started. It feels so good to get those areas clean that you never get to. Like moving some furniture. As soon as the warm weather gets here, I'm out of the house. That's why I start early. It's also the time of  year when I seriously purge and organize. Then I walk around my house and move items around to make it all fresh.   

I redid a corner of my fireplace. It looked so bare without all the Christmas up. This fabulous cement finial was from Fontana Home in Fontana, WI. It's perfect with the other chippy items.

The one area in my basement that was bothering me needed something added to it. So, I dug through my stash and came up with this by just adding them together. I love how this area looks now....

I also wanted to redo a small spot in the guest bedroom. I have a shell box collection but wanted to mix it up a little. So, these sweet planters work nicely...

Keep looking out for those estate sales and don't forget about thrift stores. They are a great way to find items cheaply. I have updated my listing page of Flea Markets for 2021 so take a look at it and plan your upcoming months. Make sure to double check that they are still on closer to the date. I'll try to keep it as updated as possible.

In the meantime, happy treasure hunting!

Merriest of Holidays!

 Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Some of my favorite Santa's hanging out in a wire basket. Can't get any more jolly!

Here's another recent Santa find....plus he's musical....

And a few more jolly ones....

Loved the reindeer too....

Even a smaller Santa is super jolly....

When wrapping a present, I always feel that the presentation is a gift in itself. I put a lot of thought into it. I always try to match the wrap to the person's interest. It's a good idea to keep ribbons, ornaments and other do dads on hand for this reason. Here's one of those presentations I really adored...

Recently, there was a contest from Rotary Press on Instagram for a vintage inspired fireplace. I'm so super excited to have won one!

It was fun creating this vignette with vintage Christmas that I had on hand.

Speaking of Instagram, here are the top 9 posts for me this year. What a year it was! 

Wishing you a safe, healthy, blessed New Year!

Happy treasure hunting!

Welcome December!

 Welcome December!

My favorite holiday is quickly approaching so I wanted to take this time to show you my home.  I have really paired down my vintage Christmas collection but I did add some things this year. How could I not? I hope you enjoy my home tour....

Here's that elf bed that I told you about in my last post. I had sooooo many more pixies then I thought! Surprise surprise!

Here's another fireplace photo....

And some of my favorite Santa's in a basket....

Here's why I think these Santa's are so great!

Look at those faces!

You never know when Santa is watching you....I'm a sucker for these Santa faces.

That super cool hat form is a melding of pieces and I found it at Loot Vintage and Supply in WI.  I fell in love with it!

I did add to my vintage corsage collection. I purchased a few and I received a few as a gift from the wonderful owners of the Carriage House where I sell.

I love this picture of my side table.

My friend made this snowman picture. Isn't it darling?

 One of my themed tinsel trees...

Here's another....

And another.

A darling vignette....

And another paired with one of my ironstone pitchers. Everything looks good when paired with ironstone.

Last year I bought KFC chicken to get their vintage themed bucket. The manager was so nice and gave me a clean bucket to keep. Santa fits right at home in it.

Here's another darling vignette with some of the cars that I make every year....

A few new additions this year are on this buffet. 

Here's that beautiful print I showed you in my last post.

I usually fill up my bookcase without taking out the books.  As you can tell, I love Santa's!

These are two new additions to my collection of Santa's. I found them this week at the Roscoe Woodstock Antique Mall in Woodstock IL.  Some more cute faces!

My main tree in the house is filled with newer ornaments, vacation ornaments, crafted ornaments and ornaments that my kids made. It's my memory tree.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas with many happy memories!

Happy treasure hunting....

I Don't Even Know Where to Begin!

 I don't even know where to begin! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since September!

Since then, Carriage House has had their Anniversary Open House, participated in the Vintage Shop Hop and held our Holiday Open House. Whew! It's always a lot to handle when I'm setting up for the Holiday Open House, but boy was I happy with the finished results in my space!

I found so much more vintage Christmas the weekend of our Holiday Open House that I replenished right away...

here's more....

This was my teaser photo...

My friend had bought a huge stock of vintage Christmas and there was a torn tree skirt in that haul. She gave it to me because I fell in love with the cutest faces on it! I cut them out. See for yourself....

I made my vintage car creations this year. Finding vintage cars was really hard this year so I used some tins too. They all came out super cute!

And how about these....

As you know, many of the flea markets were canceled this year. But, the Elkhorn Flea market was not canceled in September. While I was there, I met an Instagrammer that I follow, Mrs. Santa Claus!

She is soooo nice and super fun! It was great to meet the person behind the profile.

I found this doll bed at a local barn sale American Antique Barn. This was tagged as an elf bed so I brought it home and added a board and "blanket" to it.

I can't wait to add my pixie collection to it!

Recently I added this print to my collection. I can't believe that I was hesitating on purchasing it. So glad I bought it! Another piece I can't wait to decorate with at Christmas...

I just have to show you this super cool cat that I found at an estate sale. It is so groovy....

 Isn't it fun?

I was thinking of purging some of my vintage enamel flower pins recently until I really started going through them. I just couldn't get rid of any of them!

They are all so different.

Garage sales are pretty much over for the year. It's getting really cold around here in IL. You can still find estate sales though. So make sure to treasure hunt at thrift stores and antique stores. Support small business as often as you can.

Happy treasure hunting!