Fun With Mod Podge and Spray Paint

I have been wanting a locking cabinet in my booth for almost the entire time I've had my booth. I have been too cheap to put any money out for one though. I found a great one this summer, but passed on it thinking it was too high, and when I decided to go back and get it, it was gone.

Late last summer, I found a white kitchen cabinet at a garage sale (it was actually 2, a really skinny one and a regular sized one). The guy just wanted them gone-he sold both of them to me for $6. After I got them home, I didn't think they were what I wanted, so they sat in the garage--until this week.

Mr. BHTS took the John Deere tin sign off the door, and cut out the middle section and we went to Lowe's and got a piece of glass cut to fit. I also bought some hardware to use for locking it and a lock. Then came the hard part...should I just leave it white? Should I paint it? What about Mod Podge-ing some vintage material all over it?

I ended up painting it a light pink color (I think it looks vintage-y), and I found some scrapbook paper at Michael's and Mod Podged it on the door and the shelves. I love the fact that not one other dealer in the mall will have a cabinet like this in their booth! I love to be different!

It is the perfect size for all but one of my head vases.and a couple other small treasures that I don't worry so much about being stolen-I worry more about them being broken. I can always take out a shelf to make room for taller stuff once a few heads sell.

I think it will go really well with the aqua and white shelves that are already in my booth, and hopefully it will add a little punch so people walking by will want to go into the booth to see what the cabinet is all about and what's inside of it!

How are your January sales going so far? Mine are really slow!! I hope it picks up, I may not make my rent if it doesn't!!! I hear it is slow throughout the whole mall, so it's not just me, but it is still discouraging! I hope your January sales are leaps and bounds better than mine are!!

Here is what the cabinet looked like when it came home (the bottom cabinet):

It is really, really heavy, and I think it is a homemade cabinet with a store bought door. It is reinforced with two by fours on the inside! I couldn't have even bought the materials for the price I paid for it.



Here we go, getting started:

 Before shot of the door with the center cut out for the glass.

 Scrapbook paper from Michael's 59 cents a sheet-used 7 sheets.

 Glass cut to size at Lowe's.

A shot without the door. Some of the girls have issues, and I bought them really cheap, so I'm not expecting big bucks for them, but I've had a lot of things end up broken, so I'll lock them up.


Here is the finished product:

We took in a farm fresh chippy white enamel table and cupboard today too!

Dusting and Rearranging...

Since I've had so much time off from work, and no volleyball matches, I've been really busy cleaning, dusting and organizing! I have several large bags and boxes of stuff for a garage sale-hopefully in May sometime, and I've thinned out my own private "foster dishes", and have decided to let a few go to new homes.

It really wasn't all that bad to dust it all, and it makes me smile all more widely when I see how everything sparkles and shines! I played around with moving things around and made some new designs. In a couple of months when I can't stand the dust anymore, I'll rearrange some more, but for now, I like how it looks!!

 Hoping to add a set of gooseberry Pyrex refrigerator dishes to this collection hoard.

 Looking forward to adding the center to the top relish tray.

 Just need the #7 and this mixing bowl set is complete!

 Mixing the old with the new.

 Looking for a few more Federal daisy bowls and a few more sealtest cottage cheese bowls.

I've fostered the head vases long enough. They'll be going to the booth soon.
I can't get rid of the cart yet. I bought it to sell, but I fell in love with it!

I have filled a giant garbage bag full of linens for the garage sale, another one that needs to have the stains soaked out of the items and a third one that just needs to be ironed and taken to the booth. The next step is to clean the basement...maybe tomorrow. 

Have a safe and Happy New Year!!!

Instant Collection!

This morning was another one of those mornings where I kept waffling back and forth...should I go? Should I stay home? Yes, I'll go, no I'll just stay home. In the end-I went-and I'm SO GLAD I WENT!!!

I found 2 estate sales within 2 miles of each other and although I only saw things at the first one that made my heart beat faster, I figured I'd hit the second one too, since it was only 2 miles away. It would kind of make the trip more worthwhile to visit two instead of just one.

I woke up early (didn't need an alarm, I think my body is getting used getting up every day at 5:30), and after a quick shower, I decided to hit the road. I knew I'd be early so I packed a book to read while I waited in my car. I was hoping to be within the first 10 people in the door.

I was #8. I even had time to backtrack 1 mile and pick up a breakfast burrito and iced tea at McDonald's and I still had a good parking spot and about a half an hour to read my book.

I saw lots of things in the pictures that I was interested in. Mostly interested in a couple of oak pieces of furniture, the vintage quilts and the head vases. I swooped into the living room first (totally out of my normal route!) because from the online pictures I assumed the head vases would be there-and they were!!! I got 12 and another guy got probably just as many. We left 4 or 5 on the shelf for other people. I even passed on one at check out because her finger was broken off.

Now I have an instant collection of head vases! I've been seeing them more and more in antique shops, and they really piqued my interest, but I wasn't willing to pay the prices that I was seeing. So, imagine the giddy, adrenaline rush I felt when I was scooping them up like fall leaves on the ground in October! Woo hoo!!!

I flew out to the holding area and the guy who was snatching them up along side of me was  stacking his out there too. we were the first people to put stuff in the hold area-which was on the front porch. It had windows all around but they kept the door open so it was freezing out there!

Then, once I took a few deep breaths and cleared the lightheaded-found a good score-breathlessness, I resumed my normal estate sale shopping routine. I picked up a few things in the kitchen, passed through the basement, and found the upstairs. They had 6 or 7 vintage quilts, all at $35 each. Good condition and mostly hand stitched, but too pricey for my cheap tastes. I'm sure they are gone now, I just didn't "feel it" for them, so I passed. Have you ever had that didn't "feel it" feeling? Know what I mean?

When I left, I headed toward the second sale and on the way, I passed 2 signs for garage sales that I locked in my memory to visit after the second sale. When I got to the second sale, there were at least 20 or more people still waiting in line to get into the house, so I back-tracked and stopped at the garage sales.

The first sale was an actual garage sale. It was in a sub and most all of their stuff was new home decor stuff. As I was skimming through the tables, I noticed a lady unfolding 2 vintage tablecloths, and my immediate reaction was "I wonder where she found those....and could there be more?" The older lady hosting the sale asked her if she like vintage, and she said she did, but these had too many little stains on them for her to be interested. She walked them over to the table with the new tablecloths and put them down. I waited until she walked at least 2 feet away before I casually wandered over to them

I picked them up and opened them up, yes, some stains, but I've seen worse. I saw the sign that said $4 each, but asked anyway. The garage sale host said they were originally $4 each, but since the other lady said they were stained, I could have them both for $4. I think my name changed to flash in that instant. I had my $4 out so fast no one saw me pull my wallet from my pocket!! :)

After that sale, I started following signs for the second garage sale. It ended up being inside of a private school, kind of like a Montessori school. I got the two roses paint-by-numbers for a dime each!! A glass baster in the original container fifty cents, two chippy pink kitchen chairs for a dollar each, a vintage ice cube tray and a glass milk bottle.

When I left there, I intended to go back to the second estate sale, but as I was driving, my junk radar spotted a sign that said THRIFT STORE!!! It wasn't a Salvation Army, a Goodwill, a VOA or any other national chain thrift. It was a local charity thrift, and I never even knew it existed!! What FUN!!! It was a pretty big place and it had all kinds of stuff. Great prices too!

I got a metal recipe box and the closest thing I think I'll ever find to the Partridge family lunch box I had when I was in elementary school. I know it's newer and not a real lunchbox, but it's the closest I've gotten to the real thing so for now, I like it. Plus it was super cheap, so it works-for now.

Finally, I headed toward the second sale, again. I was relieved to see the line was gone when I got there the second time, but there were still a zillion cars lining the street on both sides. I walked right in, but the house was soo crowded, they probably should have still had a line. I'd say there was at least 50 people in the house. I was tempted to but some vintage yardsticks, but to stand in the long check-out line for just a couple bucks wasn't worth it.

When I left, I stopped at an antique resale store and a fundraiser sale at an assisted living facility for Relay for Life. It was also a bake sale put on by the residents. I was eyeballing a pineapple upside down cake, I know my guys would have loved it, but another older lady was acting like she was interested, so I let her take it. It was only $3. I couldn't make it for that, not with all the pineapple rings and cherries in the centers.

Here is my haul for the day

 Some of them still have tags from an antique store and they are priced between $85 and $225. I think those prices are out of the ballpark, but I'm still thrilled to have them. I probably will "foster" them for a while-you're shocked, I know-LOL!

Auntie....look!!! My first vintage ice cube tray and it's aqua!!!! :)

 12 head vases, a couple have some imperfections, one had broken eyelashes, but I still love them!

 Someone did a great job on these rose paint-by-numbers! They dated them on the back 1966.

I sent Eric out to take a shot of the chairs and this is what I got, but you've seen chairs like this before, I'm sure.