Country Living Collectibles - Part III

Good morning! I guess it is almost afternoon. Today I am going to finish up the collectibles list. You can also read Part I and Part II if you haven't yet.

#7 Playing Cards

I'm more of a vintage flashcard kind of gal. And I have old BINGO cards. I have a few miscellaneous playing cards in my craft stash, but nothing too exciting.

#8 Swizzle Sticks
Okay, I don't have any of these either. Not my thing.

#9 Dish Towels

I love this set of embroidered dish towels I purchased on ebay several years ago. There are five of them. I need to find a better way to display them because they are really cute. I think "Country Living" may be refering more to printed dish towels - "souvenir motifs, stripes, and large-scale fruit and florals." I did pick up a fun rooster towel the other day, but I didn't take a picture.

#10 Pictures

I'm not sure what it is about pictures of strange places and people, but they intrigue me. I actually find it a little sad when I come across old photographs. Why didn't the family keep them? Didn't anyone care about that person smiling back at them? Will the same thing happen someday to all of my photos? Nevertheless, when I come across them (and they are super-cheap) I pick them up. They are fun to use on cards and other projects.

This one just makes me laugh! You may need to click on it to enlarge it. Okay, let's have a little impromptu contest here. I think this photo needs a good caption. Any ideas? Leave a caption in the comments and I will choose my favorite. I will send the winner something (no idea what yet).

More of my stash.
A couple more.
This old flower globe (with a flower frog) makes a fun place to display pictures.
I don't know who these girls are, but they are probably relatives of mine. They were found in a bunch of family photographs, but no one could identify them. Now they are peaking out of an old suitcase pocket in my living room.
This photo intrigued me because my daughter is in a wheelchair. Sometimes it is hard to get Sweet Girl around, but I cannot imagine what it must have been like with a chair like that! Those wheels are huge!

That's it! I hope I didn't bore you with my little collectibles "series." I have enjoyed the comments about what you collect. I'm obviously not the only one who collects. Keep the comments coming and don't forget to give me a caption for my photo. Can't wait to read them!

{Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about; See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong— then guide me on the road to eternal life. Psalm 139:23}

Quick & Random Post

Creative title, huh? Oh, well. The kids are on Spring Break this week. It has rained quite a bit. Not much exciting is happening. Last Friday was a good day. My dear friend from Kansas and her three kids stopped by for a quick overnight visit. It was wonderful to see her! Thanks, Pamela, for going out of your way to come to Arkansas.

Above and below are a couple pictures I took at the university farm yesterday. That road is part of the walking path that I walk. Last time I walked (we won't talk about when exactly that was) I wished I had my camera. The kids and I drove through yesterday and got some fun shots.

This is the card I made for my mom for her birthday earlier in the week. If you ever need great card inspiration, be sure to visit LilyBean. She does amazing work!

I didn't do a real great job of taking this picture, but I wanted to show you anyway. At church we have Secret Sisters. This is what I got from my SS for my birthday a couple weeks ago: a wonderful locker basket, a little jar of buttons, flower seeds, a packet of paper, and LOTS of DARK chocolate!!!! Needless to say, I was quite excited. Thank you, whoever you are!

Okay, I am doing good with the "random" but not so good with the "quick." I wanted to let you know about a fun giveaway. Visit Ki over at Junk Camp to find out about it. Maybe I shouldn't have told you about it. The fewer people who enter, the better chance I have of winning. Ha!

I will finish up the "Country Living Collectibles" next week. I really must get off the computer now. Have a blessed day!

{Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6}

Country Living Collectibles - Part II

Okay, on to Part II of "Country Living Collectibles." These are some of my favorite!

#4 Buttons

Buttons are so much fun! I love to sort through buttons; dividing them by color, admiring unique designs and shapes.... I have them displayed in jars. I use them in my crafts. It is hard to pass them up when I spot them at sales.
Here are some still on the cards. Not only are the buttons beautiful, but many of the cards have great graphics!

#5 Colored Glass

I looked around my house but really couldn't find any colored glass. Glassware really isn't my thing. Now, if old jars were on the list, I could show you lots of them.

#6 Letters

Another one of my favorites! I have a collection of C's (for our last name).
It is fun to always be on the look-out for a new C or just find new ways to display the ones I already have.
Other letters are also fun. I have some old chenille letter jacket letters in the boys room. Scrabble tiles are in abundance. Some sweet M's can be found in Sweet Girl's Room. And I used letter stencils for a fun Christmas picture.

Next time I will finish up with 7-10. I enjoyed the comments on the previous post about what you collect. If you didn't tell me last time, I would love to hear about your collections this time.

{"See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!" Galations 6:11}

Country Living Collectibles - Part I

Country Living recently published an article titled "Collectibles Under $10." It was a fun article to read because I have many of these items in my home. They featured 10 items "that can be scooped up for $10, or in many cases, much less."

Today I will show you the first three collectibles and then do the others in a future post.

#1 Pincushions

Okay, I really don't collect these. I just have some that I use.

#2 Skeleton Keys

It has been a long time since I have found any skeleton keys - affordable ones, anyway. I love them! When we lived in KS our house was almost 100 years old and some of the doors still had the old skeleton key locks.

I like to use the keys when I am creating. This project was in one of my very first blog posts.
And this project was for Valentine's Day.

#3 Wooden Rulers

Some collections are unintentional. Like these wooden rulers. I found a whole bundle of triangle-shaped rulers (what are they called?) at a garage sale and suddenly I had a collection.

I would love to find more of these folding rulers. I only have one right now, but am always on the lookout for them. They work great for holding pictures and I've also seen them shaped into stars and hung on the wall.

Well, that is the first three. What do you collect? It is fun to have something inexpensive to search for. Even when the budget is tight, a little $1-$2 "pick-me-up" is always nice.

{Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Proverbs 2:1}

Junk Revolution Bag

I loved this bag when I first saw it over at Junk Revolution. But the price tag was way too steep for my budget (Sorry, Ki). Let's see....a week's worth of groceries for the family or a fun bag for me?! I decided the bag would have to wait. Then I found a great canvas messenger bag at a garage sale for $1. Perfect!

This week I finally got around to working on my version of the great bag. On another blog (I don't remember which one) I saw a fun scarf tied around the handle of a tote bag. I liked the idea and found a scarf at the thrift store. That set the color scheme for the bag. I just went through my stash of "stuff" and started embellishing.
Fun little flower trim.

Vintage buttons.

An old souvenir pocket knife.

Fabric scraps.

It was fun to make and will be fun to carry around. There won't be another like it, that's for sure! When you are out thrifting or garage saling, make sure you always look at the purses, bags and totes. With a few embellishments you can make a boring bag into a fun one-of-a-kind bag!

Even though I didn't buy Ki's bag, I love her Junk Revolution site. There is a store, a blog, a message board.... Lots of fun stuff! Please go pay her a visit. You'll be glad you did.

We've had lots of cold rain this week. It has been rough - especially after the 80° temps we had last week. Finally it stopped raining this afternoon and the boys were able to go outside and play. They had definitely been cooped up too long.

I better go work on supper. We are having salmon and grilled asparagus. Yummy!

{The shopper says, "That's junk—I'll take it off your hands," then goes off boasting of the bargain. Proverbs 20:14}

Let There Be Light

My parents visited from Colorado this past weekend. Time always goes way too fast when they are here. Mom and I try to hit as many garage sales, thrift stores and antique stores as possible. We didn't make any fantastic purchases, but did find a few good garage sales. Mom also helped me spiff up the antique booth just a bit for spring. That reminds me, I need to share some pictures of the booth. I haven't done that in a while. I will take my camera next time I go in.

I always seem to have a list of projects for my dad. He could stay for two weeks and I would still probably have things on the list. It seems to be never-ending. Dad got several things done for me. My favorite is my new light above the kitchen sink. I handed him an old flour sifter I had picked up at the thrift store and said, "I need this to be a light fixture."

He did it and I love it! The light that was here before was just too modern for my taste. I wanted something unique. It also needed to be inexpensive.
For less than $5 I think I got a pretty great light. Now I can really see all those dirty dishes in my kitchen sink.

Yesterday (and the past several days) it was around 80° here. Beautiful! Today the high is supposed to be 53° and rainy. We need the rain, so I really can't complain. We just got spoiled with such warm weather for a few days.

I took Sweet Girl to the dentist last week. She has a baby tooth that isn't coming out even though the permanent teeth are coming in. It is causing some problems. I should have taken her in quite some time ago. Getting her to stop throwing up just seemed a bit more important. Anyway, when I finally did call to make an appointment it was almost a month before she could get in. That was last week. The dentist was very nice but said there wasn't much she could do. No surprise, really, that we need to take her to Children's to get the tooth pulled. Guess what? They can see her on May 20th! That is more than two months away. Now what am I supposed to do? It is still better than when I called Children's to get her in for an eye exam. The nice lady on the other end of the line said, "We are booked up until the middle of next YEAR." Yikes!

Sorry about that rambling. That is just where my mind is this morning. Now I need to get my mind back to laundry and housecleaning. (How many times have I ended my posts this way? Way too many......)

{And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4}

Sweet Daffodils

Wednesday already?! The days go by and I never seem to get enough accomplished. Do you know what my problem is? I get distracted. I get distracted by beautiful things. Like daffodils blooming alongside the road.

So, I have to stop and pick some. And then find the perfect old jar (or vintage baby bottle) to put them in. Of course, I have to take a picture of them. In order to do that I need some "props." After searching through several old books for an image, poem, etc. I finally remembered my stash of sheet music. Sweet Daffodils, indeed!

Finally, I get things set up and start snapping pictures. It takes me awhile and I am never quite satisfied with results. Nevertheless, if I have taken all this time to pick the flowers, find the props, take the pictures.....I must blog about it!

So, here I am. Still in my distracted state. The house.....still in its very messy state. I really need to find a remedy for this problem. Any suggestions?

{Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Proverbs 4:23}