Winning the gift Tags ... sharing the LOVE.

via  Adirondack Girl @ Heart

 Don't you just love these tags?

 

 They are hand made by Diana ... Adirondack Girl @ Heart. 
... and I was lucky to win them.  They are so well done.

Be sure to hop over to see how Diana makes them. 

They were perfect for some gifts I needed to give this month.

I attached the love one to a plant I was taking to my friend who is going through a stressful time with the death of her husband and dealing with health issues of her own.

It was big enough to write a heartfelt message on the back.

                                                   This beautiful felt covered one with a "Thanksgiving note" was just the perfect "tag" for this fresh loaf of strawberry bread that I also took for her to add to her Thanksgiving dinner.                                      

This grain sack one is my favorite and for the time being, I am enjoying it in my newly remodeled master bath to showcase this vintage Christmas ornament I just found at a Estate sale.

Sharing the LOVE ...

Thanks again Diana ...
I am really impressed with the tags. 

I am so glad that I won them.

Adirondackgirlatheart.How to make grain sack tags.


 

Dollar Tree Saved Christmas ... $ TREE decorations

Year 2013 ...
I bought this sad, scrawny, rather weak Christmas tree which was a real challenge to decorate.

Dollar Tree came to the rescue and saved Christmas.

FEATURED by: 

I bought 20 gold glittered reindeer and sprayed them white.

3 white Dove     

4 toy Slinky     

I stretched the white ones out and strung them across the tree for garland. They added sparkle.

The picks with the yellow and red berries that I stuck in the branches also came from Dollar Tree ...

 

as well as 2 strings of lights ...

... and here she is in all her glory. 
 ( of course, I stuffed and fluffed her a bit)

 

 I also used a tiny Slinky for a candle ring.

Wishing your a Happy $ TREE Christmas. 

Audrey Z. 

Click this link to see original blog post of 

the-story-of-a sad-scraggly-skinny-little Christmas tree

Christmas Blessings.

Linking to: 

Vintage Charm ... My Thrift Store Addiction

Debbie Doo's

Dollar store Christmas extravaganza

Cozy Little House ... Tweak It Tueday

No more Garage Sales ... breaking the rule and WHY

Well, I did it ... I broke MY rule of "no more garage sales".  

In fact, this is the first garage sale I have been to in a very long time ... not saying I have not been to Estate Sales and Thrift Stores ... just not to family run garage sales. Don't get me wrong, I love these sales, but there are so many and I spend way too much time and money going to them. I am really trying to stop buying so much stuff, and get rid of what I have collected.

BUT ... you know how it is. When I saw this little yellow sign with   SALE    written across it and that deserted looking old house,  I just could not resist checking it out.

I am glad I did. This house belonged to this guy's grandmother and now his mother ... both hoarders. (he said that)

I did not get there until after lunch and the seller said all the antique dealers had been there at 8:00 and bought all the good stuff.  

I knew the house was crammed full as stuff was piled up against the windows. They were only bringing stuff out of the garage. Besides this house, his mother has two more houses and several storage units ... guess what ... all full. 

Nothing was really organized and boxes sitting around to dig through. Yuck ... I needed rubber gloves. 

Anyway ... I did find a few things that might have some value and a few things I just like for myself.  

The prices were GOOD ... 

Three Audubon birds ... hand colored engravings. 

I don't think they are prints. 

I hope they are original engravings. Cost $1.00 each.

They are in narrow gold leaf frames under glass but have  age damage mainly on the backing (mat) paper. 

Not matted, just attached in one spot to the sheet of paper that looks like a mat.

This one is Ivory Billed Woodpecker. 

By research; I was able to identify it, as it is not titled.  

Not my favorite, but may be the most valuable, 

if any are !

 Titled Passenger Pigeon ... 

 Titled Cape Turtle  ... my favorite 

Size of each is 8" x 11"

More research needed before they will be for sale on eBay. 

Now the fun stuff ...

Does this even hint that I love old wooden stuff?

The small dough bowl in the back has aluminum handles attached, which does not look original. Round wooden bowl, once hand painted, it will be sanded down and oiled. 

Small lidded box may have been a shipping box for ammunition. Old Parker super chrome jet black ink bottle and box without the lid. "writes dry with wet ink" ... still has ink in it. Love, love the long  handle wooden paddle ... oiliness on the paddle and part of the handle makes me think it is a butter paddle. Small brush with the softest bristles and really smooth handle. An artist brush?

The dough bowl, about 18" long and 9" wide has notched-out finger grips on the bottom.  

I removed the aluminum handles, treated it with HOWARD Butcher Block Conditioner 

... and it is beautiful.








before and after ... 

The lidded box and the round wooden plate are waiting their turn to be on the AFTER stage.

Butter paddle and brush have already been added to my collections.

Then ... Christmas ornaments ...
 
The unusual bead ornament was likely made in Czechoslovakia? Reminds me of a peacock. Perfect to add to my candle in our bathroom. The gold bell is very thin glass, just needs a hanger top.

Santa, Drummer Boy, Snowman and the Angel are small wax ornaments likely from the 1950's. 
   
The snowman needed a new broom head and the little angel had lost her head, so I took a piece from the angel wing to make the snowman a broom. I already have a set like these, but just had to rescue these from the dirty old box. I still need to clean them up a bit. Wax ornaments are a little rare, because the kids would chew the wax.                      

Remember the old wax lips?  


Sandi at  Barberry Lane Designs
found this beautiful complete set of wax ornaments at an  Antique Market. She has posted some good information about them.

Sandi is a new blogger ... you might want to go show her a big warm welcome.

(photo courtesy of Barberry Lane Designs)

I also bought twenty-two pieces of vintage restaurant ironstone, and a large china platter.  
Most of the pieces were small bread/dessert plates which I use all the time ... 3 little butter pats; plates; 2 little bowls ... and one very large bowl which I sent home with my daughter ... with a loaf of fresh strawberry bread/cake that I had baked for her birthday. She was kind enough to take a picture of it. I think they liked the bread. Almost all gone.

She found the marking on the bottom very interesting. It is dated Nov. 23, 1940 which makes the bowl 75 years old. 
U.S.Q.M.C. ... United States Military Quartermaster Corp.
from Google....The United States Army Quartermaster Corps is a Sustainment, formerly combat service support (CSS), branch of the United States Army. It is also one of three U.S. Army logistics branches, the others being the Transportation Corps and the Ordnance Corps.

I paid  $10.00 for all the ironstone and $10.00 all the other stuff.  

Thanks for your visit. I hope you will stay long enough to say hello.
 Audrey Z.

Linking to:  

Vintage Charm ... Cecilia  @ My Thrift Store Addiction 

Cozy Little House ... Tweak It Tuesday #168

the slamming of the screen door ...

Did you love to hear the sound of the slamming screen door?

... kids running in and out and "bang" goes the door. 

The dangling little hook to keep the door locked and the charm of the oh-so-simple handle.

 

We don't see the use of the old wooden screen doors anymore unless on the older homes. 

 

I am going to share with you some vintage iron and aluminum adjustable guards that were used on vintage screen doors and how I have used them.

The guards had nothing to do with the slamming ... just gave it a little weight and protected the screen from being  kicked in or pushed out by someone in a hurry to get the door open or maybe cats or dogs that wanted to get in.  

Looking out ...

 This is an aluminum full screen door guard, more decorative than protective. I have it on our sliding screen door in our living room. This is just a flimsy mental screen and this "guard" gives it stability. I do enjoy the design of this one with the little bird. 

Looking in ... 

 

You can slide the little bird up to make the design tighter.

  

This is another aluminum screen guard which is more of a guard, but still decorative. It covers the full screen.

 

It is attached to the top and bottom of the door and the little curls down each side are attached to the sides of the door.  Length or width can be adjusted by stretching.

 
 I have it hanging on the wall on our little back porch. 


This is the same style, only for the bottom half of the door. 
 
lightweight iron, and adjustable by stretching. 



 I used it as a backdrop on the fireplace this year. 
Love the old green paint with a little bit of rust.

Fall mantel can be seen here.


Same style here ... perfect fit on this vintage screen door that I used when making a potting stand/shelf can be seen here.


Now this is the "heavy-weight" ... it was on the screen door above that I used for the potting stand. 

The door came off a Art Deco style house that I think was built in the 1930's.


It is iron. It went across the bottom section of the screen. 

 The width can be adjusted as shown.

Dusty ... rusty and black chippy paint.

Is sitting in storage right now.  

We needed a screen door guard for a patio door on our rental. I found two doors with this screen guard. 

Bought both ... took the guards off and gave the doors back to the Thrift Shop.

I use this one to hide our black rain water collection barrel. 

It is made of iron ... welded together and is not adjustable. Nice look with a modern design.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing the different screen door guards and how they can be decorative and useful when used other than on screen doors. 

Thanks for the visit ... hope you will say hello before you leave.

Audrey Z.

Linking to: Funky Junk Interiors Upcycled Link Party

Vintage Charm