Making Room for a Bead Giveaway

 Since yesterday I have been putting away all of my little found treasures from Texas, trying to organize it into a space that is already lacking good storage. So to make room I have cleaned out some of my containers and have made roughly a 3 pound pile of beads to give away.

 No junk in this pile! There are some vintage beads, pendants, gemstone and glass beads lots of beady goodness for you!

 Just leave me a comment telling me what is the best treasure you purchased at a garage sale, flea market or antique shop. I love to know what folks are buying! If you want to share this giveaway go ahead and let me know you did and your name goes in the proverbial hat twice. Giveaway will end on Friday Oct. 7th with one lucky winner. 

Here are more of my new treasures,wonderful vintage religious medals in all sizes.

 tons of great rosaries

 old hardware, buttons, keys, game pieces...

clock faces, tags, monopoly game pieces, cuff links...

These trinkets are my passion, what's yours?

Unpacking

We have been home for the past two days and I am still unpacking and going through all of my purchases from Texas. The following pictures are the large items, I will share the photos of all the goodies for my jewelry designs tomorrow. I did not want to over load you with so much eye candy your eyes would just pop! Most of the large items will go to my antiques booth at Bright's Antique World and some of the others are for my home. So here we go on a little tour of what came out of my SUV...and yes it all fit (my husband is a master packer!)..with room to spare!

 an old dress form, a couple of screen door halves (perfect for when I do shows) old signage letters, wire locker baskets, old mill work from a porch in Round Top and 4 wonderful vintage typewriters!

An awesome grain painted metal trunk and a vintage metal printing sheet, perfect for cutting up and using in bezels.

a vintage cowboy puzzle, metal stool and the coolest metal suitcase!

I feel in love with these new cement castings and some religious fonts.

Antique linens, vintage store displays and my absolute favorite....2 vintage garden chairs! 

I LOVE these chairs! I actually put them in the keeping area of my kitchen...they make me smile!

some old jars and beakers, transfer-ware, German clock, sewing box, Christmas scrap santas, a carved wooden hand and pottery.

...and lastly a vintage watering can and teddy bear.

Tomorrow I will show you all the other treasures. Today I am trying to organize them, I literally have no room for all of the trinkets so I am cleaning out some beads I no longer use and will be having a bead giveaway starting tomorrow, so be sure to check back.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!

Birds of a Feather

 Birds of a Feather on Etsy

Yes, I know it is rather a predictable name for this bracelet but it required no thinking! I have no time to think about anything but my trip to TEXAS! I am leaving in the morning for Round Top to attend one of the biggest, baddest antique shows in the country. My heart is all a flutter at all of the cool things I will see! 

 These are all packed.....

...even if I do not wear them they are going. How can I go to Texas without my boots! 

I will be keeping you informed about the show as I have a VIB (very important blogger) pass from the Marburger Farm Show. I can't wait to share with you all that the shows have to offer. 

 See you in...

Arizona Treasures

 

 Concho's

The word concho comes from the Spanish "concha" which actually means "conch" or "seashell" but has come to mean round or oval disks (occasionally rectangles) of silver used to decorate saddles, bridles, clothing, used as jewelry such as for pendants and bolo ties and for adorning or making belts.

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I have returned home from Arizona with lots of little treasures for making jewelry and a terrible cold. It was not the most pleasant plane ride with my ears feeling like they were going to explode and to tell you the truth I was hoping they would! I am really excited about my finds and if my nose wasn't dripping all over the place I would be in my studio right now. 

 great leather scraps from the saddle shop, milagros and some great beads from the Town Dump.

My antique and vintage finds from the Antique Emporium in Cave Creek Az.. I coveted the most awesome green glass rosary beads and more milagros.

My little collection from the Scottsdale Bead Supply. I fell in love with all of their handmade bronze components..all though they were very pricey.

I am glad to be home amongst all my goodies and I can't wait to get started on a few Arizona inspired pieces. I hope everyone is doing well, thanks so much for stopping by!

P.S. I am having a 20% off sale on all of my handmade etched components in my Flapyourwings Etsy shop. New etched pieces are in the horizon!

Tools...a collection of love

We are back home after spending time in the snowy tundra of Connecticut. With over 80 inches of snow to their credit I was so thrilled to return to Tennessee. My husband I both grew up in Connecticut and I can never recall having that much snow! It was good we were there during a bad storm, my DH was able to rake the snow off of the roof for his Dad and help with the plowing.

 The bad weather canceled my MIL chemo and radiation treatments but we did manage to take care of some other plans. I know this will sound incredibly horrible....but Ginger wanted to go to the funeral home. She was adamant about having just what she wanted, and since Ginger is very friendly with the funeral home director it really went quite well, now she is comfortable knowing it will be like she wanted. She was so fearful what my FIL would of picked out...it did make for some laughs.

 Now on to what this post is about....a man's life long collection, his passion for antique tools. My father-in-law Lee has collected antique tools for as long as I have known him. It is amazing what he has, when you describe what his basement looks like no one can believe it until they see it. Here is a little tour.....

 As you can see there is very little space to move about, every inch is covered.

shoe horns, bottle openers of all kinds

 every tool imaginable!

rare oil cans, some dating back to the mid 1800's

my favorite old brass keys...very hard to find. 

I told Lee I was looking for a small ball peen hammer and he found me the perfect one....but you can never leave with just one, he made me take the others. Here are my new old tools...it is hard to tell by this picture but these are nice and petite, just what I was looking for. All of my old keys I use in my designs have come from Lee as well as so many other things. There is never a time that I am there that he does not come up from the cellar asking me "can you use this" and has some odd unusual item in his hand. My answer is always yes!

Estate Sale Finds

How I love a good estate sale! I mean really love...it has been a while since I have been to a good one so this morning as I was fighting the Nashville traffic I was praying it would be worth it, and it was!

I have been very neglectful of my antique booths at Bright's Antique World and I really need to spend a few days re-organizing and cleaning. Here are some of the goodies I found today.

a darling vintage print of a little boy (he reminds me of when my son was little), a vintage glass necklace and a 1907 3rd grade primer book. I just love old children's books!

a vintage quilt top, an old cupid candle holder, an old linen sewing bag, a doll suitcase, a great old brass birdcage, a deco metal tray, old frames and a signed original framed print. Some old linens and  some pottery bowls (to hold my bead stash).

...and the coolest shells ever! All hand painted and dated 1912, the photo does not do them justice, and I got two of them!

The gentleman running the sale said they would put more things out tomorrow, so since I will be back in town I will return to see if I can find anything else. Now I have to clean and price everything, not my favorite thing to do, I would rather just do the shopping!

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 Check out this great treasury my typewriter key bracelet was in today. It is called "Secretary" it reminds me of one of my favorite shows Mad Men, as it has mostly vintage. 

Mesmerizing Moonstone

The moonstone is characterized by an enchanting play of light. Indeed it owes its name to that mysterious shimmer which always looks different when the stone is moved and is known in the trade as 'adularescence'. In earlier times, people believed they could recognize in it the crescent and waning phases of the moon.

The moonstone symbolizes our being in its entirety. With its soft shimmer, it strengthens our emotional and subconscious aspects. The associations connected with that make it a "lovers' stone", evoking tender feelings and safeguarding the true joys of love. It is also said that wearing a moonstone strengthens our intuition and our capacity to understand.

Moonlight Moonstone can be found in my etsy shop.

On another note...the DH and I had a wonderful weekend away. The West Baden Springs Resort was everything and more we had hoped it would be. We love staying at Historical hotels and this hotel was just amazing. The atrium was just beautiful...marble pillars, urns over flowing with ferns, furnishing were all pristine, with the decor being art nouveau, definitely a step back in time.

On our way home we stopped at an antique shop. It took my breath away as we entered as it was chuck FULL, and I really mean that! There were only tiny paths to walk down, treasures everywhere. As you can see by this picture taken with the camera phone I meant what I said! I found this great child's hickory chair that came home with me and will end up in my antique booth. A great ending to a perfect weekend!