Hello Fall!

 Hello Fall!

As soon as the weather gets cooler, I'm baking. I made six butternut squash mini breads today. They freeze well so I'm always ready when company comes over. 

Sales have been great these last few months! Wait until you see some of my treasures....

and these...

Wait there's more....

I've been extremely lucky recently with ironstone finds and I only kept one!

These finds were from different sales on different days...

And these too...

2 flea markets where I found some treasures...

Why buy one when you could buy the whole box of flower frogs? Of course I bought them all!

The Carriage House just celebrated the beginning of their 18th year in business. I am celebrating my 7th year there. It has been sooooo much fun! I'm enjoying every minute of it.

We are making plans for the early part of November for our Vintage Christmas Open House. Here's a teaser for you. I have such a large amount of Santa mugs this year. I lost count!

Enjoy all that fall brings you!

There are still plenty of estate/rummage/garage sales going on. The last Elkhorn Flea Market of the season is this weekend September 26. The Vintage Shop Hop is October 1-2 (the Carriage House is participating.) The last Cedarburg Flea Market of the season is October 3. Wilmot Flea Market continues for a few more Sundays. Autumn Drive in Woodstock is October 15-17. 

Happy treasure hunting!

Summer Ramblings

How is your summer going? It has been weird weather wise here. Mostly too dry. At least my vegetable plants are doing well in the raised beds.

I have been trying to get to as many flea markets as possible. I finally had a chance to go to Main Street Market in May.

Loved the truck they had at the market!

Then it was off to the Pec Thing. I had been looking for a hat form for a while and finally found one! Funny but I sold one at the Carriage House a few years ago and now I wanted to decorate with one.

My son and I took a road trip in June to Shipshewana Indiana. He went his way to a friend's wedding and I went searching for treasures. It was super fun to stumble across the Farmgirl flea market going on.

Look what I found....

It was the perfect weather day and the perfect day to find treasures.

Speaking of treasures, I ran across two flamingo figures recently. I had always wanted one but I like the thrill of the hunt and don't want to pay a lot for my treasures. How exciting when I found two at an estate sale. Here's one of them....

My sons and I took a trip to see my family in New Jersey. It was great to see them! As usual, my brother took me out treasure hunting. I even shopped his storage unit where he had been holding this vintage dress form for me to look at for about a year. She is beautiful with all her imperfections....

She was covered up with this fabric piece so I took it off to reveal her imperfections.

Here she is closer up....

Plus there is some writing on her back.

Here are a few things I found while out and about with him. I even had a chance to visit the Allaire Flea Market. It was my first time there.

Garage and estate sales are in full gear right now. I'm probably going to have my yearly one at the end of July. I need to clean out. I wanted to show you a few of my recent finds...

I couldn't resist all of those wooden bowls! When I was moving them for this picture, they moved into just the right position that all I had to do was take the picture. I kept the pitcher for my collection and all the rest either have or will end up in the Carriage House for sale. Speaking of the Carriage House, I enlarged my space! I am super excited to have more space for my ideas plus it's so much more open to move around in my area.

You all know how much I love vintage Christmas. I came across these fun ones recently...

I have been posting much more on Instagram these days, so make sure to follow along for almost daily updates. 

Happy treasure hunting!

Spring's Here!

Spring's here! For the most part. I'm taking it either way it comes.

Here are some of my vintage Easter collections....

This cute little chair was found at The Shops in Ridgefield. The rabbit was from my childhood. My mom had it out every Easter. Those adorable plastic flowers were an estate sale find.

This fabulous decor piece was from Simone Michele Antiques. It matched that bunny box perfectly.

I have a collection of chicks so one looks perfect next to this vintage French pitcher from The Backdrop.  A little chippy but perfect anyway!

Here's some more of that chick collection....

and this cute spring vignette. Simple but nice....

I took advantage of a nice spring day to clean up the outside a little.

That head planter was from TJMaxx. 

For $19.99 I wasn't letting it go!

Here's a little look into my sunroom. Opposite of this green display is a chippy white area....

I have always loved vintage millinery flowers. Something about them is extraordinary. There isn't anything like them. I found this one recently as well as more vintage flower frogs to add to my collection.

That fabulous bottle with a millinery flower on it was from Bell Jar Vintage. 

Recently at an estate sale, I found a bag full of millinery flowers. I grabbed it fast! There was a lady following me around in case I put it down. No way! I have them displayed on a silver plate cake stand.

I just found this truck at an estate sale this weekend. I wasn't sure if I would keep it (why I don't know) but I can't part with it yet. Love that color! Those plastic flowers are perfect on it!

Some finds picking this week. Those glass jugs are perfect for holding flowers and that chippy hose reel cart is fabulous! Bicycle baskets always come in handy for unique storage.

Estate sales and flea markets are opening up! I have updated my favorite flea markets page so remember to add them to your calendar. Check first before going though to make sure they are still on.

Wishing you a blessed and happy Easter!

Happy treasure hunting!

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!