Goodies from yard sales

I did OK at yard sales this weekend.  Will be adding all you see here to my booth this week.  I have got to redo the entire booth and put that pink dresser in a more prominent spot.

Here's some of what I found:

This mirrored dresser tray was a jewel in all the dust of an estate sale this weekend.  The pink roses are in perfect shape and so is the mirror.  I just had to get a rubber cover for one of the feet on the bottom.  I love the charm bracelets, soft green beads and old pin cushion.  That pin cushion is filled with emery so that when you stick the pins or needles in, the emery sand/dust sharpens the tips.

I love this silver pitcher.  It has a small boo-boo on the bottom, but that just gives it character and makes it even more shabby chic.

Found a lot of buttons, too.  A large bag of white and off white buttons as well as some red and pink.  Lots of mother of pearl buttons in this lot.  The bag of dark buttons are actually red, white and blue -- must have turned the bag over.

Embellishments

I recently read an article in "Cloth Paper Scissors" written by Beryl Taylor. It was entitled "Building Upon Layers" and featured some of her sewing creations. Several items in this article caught my attention and I would like to share some of my thoughts with you.

Beryl recommends creating a stash of embellishments. I recently put together a large altered book full of pages made from an antique photo album. Embellishment is one of my favorite things to do in my artwork. Here are a couple of things I did in this altered book.

First is a flower embellishment. It is made from black dress trim, vintage black ribbon, black hat netting, white tulle, pieces of white lace and a doily and a broken pin I acquired while treasure hunting. I love this piece!
This next embellishment is made from a piece of ribbon! The ribbon actually came with the ribbon roses on it. It is glued to the back side of a bit of old fabric, has two old buttons sewn on, and a trinket pinned to one of the roses. I found this ribbon at Ruffler's Roost's new shop at Ray and Alma School in Chandler, AZ. This place is full of beautiful ribbons, lace and some pretty ready-made things to add as embellishments. I prefer to create my own!!
One of my resolutions this year is to create a stash of embellishments as I work on other projects. I will share them with you in future blogs.

Today I am really stressed! My freezer quit working yesterday and today the fridge part is slowly warming up. The warranty repair person cannot get to me until tomorrow!!! I have already thrown out a lot of stuff and I know more is going to go to waste! Neighbors have loaned me big picnic coolers, but those won't save the frozen foods. I am on my way to buy more bags of ice in hopes of saving some of it. Thank goodness my homeowner's insurance will cover the loss.

Recent finds

On Tuesday, I was invited to visit a friend's house to rummage through her stash of stuff. Her name is Sharon, and she is a dealer at Merchant Square. I buy from her booth/store at Merchant's all the time and every time we run into each other (at estate sales and flea markets!) we catch up on the latest. Sharon specializes in fabrics, trims, vintage clothing, jewelry, and lots of other stuff. Her booth at Merchant's is like a small vintage store stuffed with delightful things! Her stash is "to die for!" Sharon has found old hat pins (without the beads) for me to create new hat pins with my bead collection. She has also found lots of vintage rayon seam binding for me in a variety of colors. Sharon is an angel!! Well, on Tuesday I found this wonderful porcelain lady sewn to a pin cushion. She can't sit up by herself so I have plopped her into a vintage "orphan" cup I have. What do you think?? I love her and she is a keeper, for the time being!

Another dealer at Merchant's had these half heads in his booth. Mike has tons of stuff for sale at Merchant's but is downsizing to one booth as was making deals. I love these half heads! I bought three of them. The one on the left was a present to me from Mike! I love that guy! Ever since I saw that Stampington was going to publish a book about Marie Antoinette, I have been looking for these heads. They cost me a small fortune because they are vintage and one is German made. But I love them!!

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DON'T FORGET!! Leave a comment on my March 23rd post to have your name put in the hat for the give-away!