Mid February Ramblings

 It's mid February and we are having more snow now than we did all last year. I have started decorating for spring so at least it's warm and bright in my home. It helps me to see what I have for Easter decorating and to purge some things too.

I have a thing for vintage linens! Barkcloth and millinery flowers are up there on my favorite list. I made the larger pillow with some barkcloth fabric I had bought at an estate sale. The smaller pillow was a great find at Bell Jar Vintage and matched my larger one perfectly.

I loved these flower vases as soon as I saw them but I waited until the second day of the estate sale before I bought them. I took the chance that they would still be there and at 50% off it was worth the risk.  They will look great with my spring decorating next to my turquoise vases. 

Here's some fun finds! It was ironstone heaven for this haul. I also came across some great flower frogs. Notice that cute bunny looking out? And how about these finds.....

I'm on the look out for vintage Christmas so I can have another spectacular holiday season this year. Love that elf!

For a while now I have been looking for a chair to deconstruct in the French style. Well.....

Here it is!

It is in pretty bad upholstery shape but I got it at a great price and thought I could do it myself. I have deconstructed it but I'm not sure I can handle the rest so I'm going to call around to a few places close to me. For my local friends, any suggestions? I have the best fabric to use on it. I found a huge roll of upholstery fabric at a thrift store a few years ago and am going to use that. I'm super excited to get started. Stay tuned.....

I'm hoping for warmer weather soon. Flea markets are starting up in March and estate sales are getting more plentiful.

The Vintage Shop Hop is March 4-5. Take a look at the participating shops and have a fun two days of hitting the road. Carriage House Antiques is participating again and I'm going to have some fun finds!

Here's hoping for some warmer weather soon.....

Happy treasure hunting!

Happy New Year!

 Happy New Year! Hope the year is filled with many blessings that fill your heart with joy!

2021 ended with my Top 9 squares on Instagram being all about my Christmas posts. Nothing wrong with that. Christmas was fabulous! It was the most amazing year for my Christmas finds. Looking forward to what I'll find in 2022.

I spent some time redecorating my room. I bought this cabinet at the Carriage House and painted the inside an off white. It was painted a deep red at some point and it just didn't go with my collections. I needed somewhere to display my quilts and other pieces instead of being put away in a drawer. I'm super happy with how it all came out. I even got to use my deconstructed lamp shade on my favorite cherub lamp.

Here's a close up of the top of the cabinet.....

Since I was in the redecorating mood, I changed a few things around in my living room too. I have been purging my collections since December. I always get into the purging mood right around Christmas and all through the winter. More room to collect other treasures throughout the year....

I'm loving my ironstone collection. I purged quite a bit from my milk glass collection though. Slowly its all going into the Carriage House for sale.

I like to decorate for each season. Right now Valentine's Day decorations are up. I don't have many vintage pieces for Valentine's Day. They are getting harder to find. So, my decor right now is simple but dainty.

I found this fabulous cherub yesterday while out antiquing. I fell in love with it....it fits in perfectly with my style. It was embellished by a dealer at Vintage Bliss.

Here's another addition I recently added. I changed it around a bit and added the heart for Valentine's Day instead of a bottle brush tree....from Vintage Art and Findings. Love that chippy base....

For some reason, I'm drawn to hearts made with vintage material and quilts. This was no exception....

Another great find from Diane who sells at Vintage Bliss as Found.curatedgoods. 

Recently I won some beautiful bone dishes from a contest on Instagram from Ironstone.stacker.  Boy was I surprised and excited!

Next holiday up is St. Patrick's Day. Vintage items for that holiday are really hard for me to find but I do have a few shamrock decorated tea cups and die cut cardboard pieces at the shop.

The elf was from my own collection. Isn't it great!

The Carriage House is participating in the Vintage Shop Hop again this year on March 4-5. Plan a trip to come see us in Crystal Lake. Spring should be making its way into the shop by then.

Keep hunting for those finds. Estate sales have begun again and there still are finds at the thrift stores.

It felt like Christmas to me today. I had been looking for the perfect frame for this vintage jewelry Christmas tree and finally found it! Plus some vintage Christmas treasures....

Happy treasure hunting!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

It was a smashing success for our Holiday Open House in November at the Carriage House. We had 50 people lined up waiting to get in! I was very fortunate this year to find sooooo many vintage Christmas goodies. It was a busy amazing open house.

Here are some pictures of what my space looked like:

Santa mugs were all the rage this year! This picture blew up my Instagram  page! Please follow me as I post pictures daily.

Here's a larger view of my space....

Some cute faces throughout my home. My Santa collection that brings me so much joy!

When I see these plush Santa's, I just can't pass them up!

In this picture I'm playing along with #santamugmonday on Instagram. That punch bowl set was an estate sale find last year and the pitcher mug set was a gift from my family.

This year I did something different with my smaller pieces. I found this cubby at a sale and knew it would work perfectly for displaying them. 

The blow mold snowman was from a sale of a woman who was 104 years old! Too cute not to keep.

Can't forget about my pixies....all snuggled in bed.

 

This is one of my themed aluminum Christmas trees. It's my Santa tree....

This adorable Santa mug was a TJMaxx find. I loved the color! The vintage Christmas corsage was a find at Bell Jar Vintage. Since I collect vintage Christmas corsages it was a perfect addition.

This mug was also a TJMaxx find. I just added some of my vintage pieces to it.

Santa was a recent sale find. I arrived late at the sale, almost 2 hours after it started, but he was waiting for me....

It was a similar story with finding these Santa mugs except it was the second day of the sale and these were still there. I couldn't believe it!

Some other cute finds recently...

One of my favorite finds in years past is this Christmas print. It is darling...

My treat to me this year was this amazing wreath. I found it in a Wisconsin shop. It has "me" written all over it.

What an amazing vintage bottle brush tree gifted to me by my friend. She knows me well! I used a deconstructed lamp shade as a base for a toule Christmas tree that is behind this bottle brush tree.

Another friend who knows me well, gifted me this adorable Santa cookie jar and Santa Apron...

It's been busy around here the past few months. Many changes happening, but all for the good. I have updated the 2022 page of my favorite flea markets so be sure to mark the dates on your calendar. With the many ifs today, make sure to check each site before going to the event.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

Happy treasure hunting!

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!