Junkin' Finds

(Thank you to 'thoughts from alice' for featuring this post!)

Hi, everyone!
This is my favorite time of year!  I know for many people it's the fall or the holidays; but to me nothing beats the warm weather, fresh lemonade (which Keith makes almost daily-we're addicted!) and shopping the flea market and garage sales!

It's good junkin' time...finally!!  After a long, harsh winter, we've been having some gorgeous weather and I'm in my element.  (Our local flea market is open 4 days a week, and I'd be there every day if I could!)

I thought I'd share some of my recently found treasures.  Some things I'll keep and others will end up in our shop, Home Sweet Home.

Warning: lots of pics of junkin' finds!  So here goes...

At the flea market the other day I found this pretty painted plate, and vintage planter...love them both!

I was attracted to the urn on this extra tall topiary, also from the flea.

This matching set of pitchers (in 2 sizes) caught my eye at the flea right away!  Such pretty lines.

This old grain sack was being used as a runner in a booth at the flea, and it was so hidden I almost missed it!
So glad that I didn't-score!

The same lady also had this huge grain sack pillow...

My friend Suzanne and I went to the special flea on Memorial Day and knowing about my current obsession with anything blue or green, she spotted these 2 things for me:
This cool old wooden box...

..and this super fun, chippy toy truck (which is the best of both worlds with both blue AND green!)

We joked that she was my picker for the day..now that's a good friend! :)

I also found this great fan...

,,,and the blue and red floral sham in the background...

One of my favorite things that I found at the flea was this large bucket.

I'm not sure what it was used for (the dealer thought maybe grain but he wasn't sure either) but I've never seen one quite like it!  I love the wooden handle, the 'pull', and the bits of blue peeking out.

I'm always a sucker for galvanized buckets!  I'll probably fill it with dried hydrangeas or lavender.

The little pile of ticking scraps was purchased from the vendor where I got the grain sack and grain sack pillow.  I thought they looked cute just stacked randomly.

Here are some more things in the blues and greens that I've recently picked up...hope you're not getting bored yet! :)

Two pretty glass bottles...

...some architectural pieces of molding...

...a chippy old windowpane...

...this small, unusual corbel along with some old books (which Keith found for me)...

...this large, shabby milk can...

...and this chippy old shutter...

I told you that I'm obsessed with these colors!

Have you done any good junkin' lately?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

I'm sharing with these great blogs:  Revisionary Life
                                                     thoughts from alice

Saturday Spotlight: Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

I'm pleased to have Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home as my guest today.  Donna is a kindhearted blogger who shares my love of hunting for good junk, selling some of said good junk, and of course keeping some good junk!  She has a fun, original style, and I love her quirky sense of humor!  Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Donna better.

Thank you, Susan and Kris, for inviting me over for the Saturday Spotlight Series.  I was so excited when you asked.  

I am Donna from Distressed Donna Down Home

I started blogging in April, 2012, when I realized how much I missed daily journaling with my students.

I taught for 22 years and have had booths in antique malls since 1998.



The real Distressed Donna is a small statue I rescued from the roadside many years ago.  She stands in the container garden at the end of the driveway.

Many of you know I am a Rust Goddess whose purpose in life is to thrift, buy excessive amounts of vintage goodies, and paint furniture.

I love my husband of 34 years - I had to chase him down, but I caught a good one.

I love my pets.

I love our home in South Carolina.

I love Horror Monster, my craft stash.  Here he is in all his glory.

I collect and decorate with body parts.

No, really I do!

Frozen Charlottes, tiny German dolls from the 1880's, are my favorites, but I have antique doll heads, arms, legs, glove molds ...

Well, you get the picture.



(I even have a large crock once used at a local medical college to hold body parts in the anatomy department - it holds kindling now.)

Now for things you may not know about me.

I used to carve stamps and still do on occasion.

This one was published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine.

I collect old photos - of my family and of other people's families.

This is one of my favorites of my mother and grandmother walking down the street.  My grandmother was appalled the street photographer took it in front of a bar.

Even though you see many cottage-y items on my blog, my home is an eclectic mix of vintage and primitives.

I collect folk art and outsider art.

The funky chicken dough bowl is a piece by Ernest Lee, a well-known South Carolina outsider artist.

The student pottery birdhouse I call Teddy Roosevelt is one of many student pieces I have.  Most of them heads, of course!

To my husband's utter dismay, I am not afraid to tackle huge redecorating projects - often in the middle of the night.

Four years ago I ripped all the carpet out of the living and dining rooms, painted, refinished the floors, and moved all the furniture around.

 
SSSH!  Don't tell Chucks I have ideas for the kitchen.

When I am not thrifting, painting, redecorating, hunting for rust, or playing with the pets, I like to work with assemblage art pieces.

One of my pieces - An Angel Bound.

I better go before I reveal too much about myself.

I do like being a woman of mystery.

Thanks again, Susan and Kris!

Come over and visit any time.

See y'all!






Donna, thanks so much for sharing with us today!  I love old dolls and doll parts, too (even though my hubby thinks they're creepy!) and I love your creation 'An Angel Bound'!!
Please visit Donna at Distressed Donna Down Home  then head over to Kris's blog to read about Mary from My Dogs My Garden and Mary.
Have a wonderful day!

My Office And A Happy Accident

Hi, everyone!  Last time I showed you my new little blue bench, here...

...and how I placed it in front of the wicker settee in the office.

I showed you a 'sneak peek' of some more changes, so now I'll share what happened.

Ever have a 'happy accident'?

I got this drawer unit a couple of years ago in Amish country.  It's been in the sun room but I started to change some things around in there, so Keith helped me move it into the office as a temporary holding area until I decided what to do with it.  I was even thinking of taking it to the shop to sell.

We just so happened to put it next to the wicker loveseat, and it ended up backwards, by accident.

Hmmm....this got my wheels spinning!

As you can see, the front of the drawers are more of a solid dark green; the back side has these great variations of blues and greens and the patina on the drawers is amazing! (For those of you that love shabby and chippy like me :)

Even though the backs of the drawers don't have pulls or labels, the blues and greens coordinated so nicely with my little pale blue bench that I decided to leave the unit there and keep it backwards!  I won't tell if you won't. ;)

Then I remembered an old door that I had bought a few weeks ago.  I had stashed it in my basement until I figured out what to do with it.

(This door had me at 'patina'!!)

I hung a little twig wreath on it, propped it on the drawer unit, and found that the colors echo each other perfectly-a match made in heaven!

(The huge no. 3 was purchased from a friend's shop awhile ago...I always love a touch of whimsy! :)

To the top of the drawers I added a wire basket filled with vintage linens...

I just found this one the other day and thought it was fun because of the green color, and also because I live near Akron!

Then I added a pitcher filled with flowers on a pedestal to round out the vignette.

 I think the lighter tones of the linens and the pitcher contrast nicely against the painted wood.

Now our office has many touches and shades of blue...

...all thanks to a happy accident!

I appreciate you stopping by!

Have a fantastic week :)

Saturday Spotlight: Cindy from Cloches and Lavender

Hi, everyone!   Kris from Junk Chic Cottage and I wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Kris's and my blog. 

      

Today please help me welcome Cindy from Cloches and Lavender.  I love her positive, upbeat attitude in spite of her daily struggles.  On her blog she is currently taking us along on the journey of watching her new home being built-how exciting!  Please sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know Cynthia better.

When Susan approached me about being In the Spotlight I was absolutely speechless.  That is very funny because people that really know me know I am rarely speechless.  I thought me, my little tiny blog??  I love everyone in the blog world they have been so kind to me.

I decided to do a blog when one day a friend suggested the idea to me.  I love decorating, painting furniture, putting transfers on flower pots, and speaking about what I have done and what I have envisioned for our home.  If it was in the plan I would have gone and taken some decorating classes.  I love French Country, Old World style and our home has to have color.  I also have a passion for lavender and cloches, so, what a better name than Cloches and Lavender for my blog.

Home, well we sold our home of 20 years a year ago.  We have chosen to build a new home on one level.  This decision was really a no brainer.  I don’t want to speak too much about this but I have Multiple Sclerosis and it was time to downsize and put everything on one level.  I walk with a cane and have a brace for my right leg which is relatively new.  I suffer from drop foot which is not uncommon with MS.  I tend not to speak too much about this because for me personally, it is actually not a good thing for my mental health.  I need to focus on other things that are positive in my life and believe me some days it is hard but blogging helps me put that issue aside.

I have lived in Northern NJ all my life and would never leave because I’m a Jersey Girl through and through.  I met my husband 28 years ago and we have been married for 26 years.  It is like every marriage, you have to work at 100% on each end.  I love my husband, John with all my heart and soul.  When I have difficult days and I do, he is my strength.  He rarely lets me feel sorry for myself and pushes me to do what is best for my health.  I may not listen all the time right away but it usually sinks in, LOL.

Four years ago we went 3 hours away to get our two treasures in life, Peanut and Reeses.  Our miniature dachshunds, they are brother and sister and we picked them up at 8 weeks old.  I trained them myself and was very diligent with them.  Every two hours they went out and I never missed a moment.  They are very well trained and I think they would explode before doing anything inside the house.  They surely love their momma, they are by my side in my office every day when blogging, crafting or just snuggling.  Believe me they are so cute they get tons of snuggle time, LOL!!!

Some of the things that bring me joy and I love besides blogging and taking care of our small family is cooking, baking, feeding people makes me very happy.  I love, love music and have to listen to it every day.  I listen to a very wide range of music from Bruce Springsteen, which, what Jersey Girl wouldn’t listen too, to Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Rascal Flatts, Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan, to name a few. Then there is also Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Maroon5.  I told you the range is huge, but I have to have music in my life.  The worst part is for John, I know every word to all the songs I listen to and I can’t sing a lick.  I am tone deaf just like my dad, LOL.

My dad, I love him to death.  He makes me so happy and I am without a doubt daddy’s little girl and always will be, even at age 49.  The song that Martina McBride sings, In My Daughter’s Eyes is a song about us for sure.  I lost my mom when I was 26; she was the best mom on the planet.  She made me feel safe and very much loved and was my best friend.  Now I have a wonderful stepmom Gail who is also so very special to me and to John.  How lucky am I to have had two women in my life that are treasures?  I think I am blessed.

I hope everyone will checkout Cloches and Lavender and give it a chance.  Stop and check past projects and our new home build, there are many snippets and peeks.  

The decorating and projects will be starting very soon.  The house is almost finished and we can’t wait to begin our memories and journey in the new place we will call “HOME”. 
 Susan, thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity.  I so enjoy these spotlights that you and Kris feature every week.
(By the way, I am not photogenic at all. That is why there are no pictures of me. I keep trying to get a good photo. Hopefully one day soon, LOL!!!)

Cindy, thank you for sharing with us! (Your 'babies' are adorable!) We look forward to seeing the progress on your new home!

Please visit her at Cloches and Lavender, then hop over to Kris's blog to read about Melanie from Sweet Melanie.

Have a great day! :)