PhotoHunt - Theme: Music

PhotoHunt PHOTO HUNT THEME: "Music" Here is my hubby doing one of the things he enjoys most in the world (besides going thrifting with me...LOL) He loves to play his guitars! I have to do some "bragging" on my hubs, because he is extremely talented. He also has a vast knowledge of music and musicians in general, and can discuss for hours practically any musician in the world. His taste in music is also extremely varied, and includes rock, classical, oldies, and "cocktail music" too. Right now he is into vintage country music. He takes great pride in his guitar collection, and I have shown some pix of his collection below. This one is a 1959 Les Paul Custom. Here is a 1964 Fender Jaguar, I love the red color! This is a 1979 Epiphone 12 String Guitar. This is a 1994 Epiphone Sheraton. And a 1979 Guild S70. Hope I got all the names right!

Thrifting Finds - Labor Day Weekend

I found some great stuff over the holiday weekend - there were flea markets and yard sales galore!! First pic is showing a big 'ol hard plastic light up Santa, that my hubby found, and was only 50 cents! Next to it is one of my finds at a yard sale, a very old Fisher Price musical chimes toy - it is so sweet, and I love the vintage images on the part that rolls over the floor. Here is a closeup of the metal part, too darn cute for words! Oh, and it was only $1.00!! Now this was the find of the whole weekend! I have been looking for another rocking chair for quite some time - I am pretty fussy about them because I want it to be extremely comfortable, and most of the ones I try out were not. This one was love at first sight, found at a yard sale for $10 - it is solid oak and one of a kind. It was handmade by a father for his daughter, and has been passed down in the family for three generations. It is super comfy, and has a handmade leather cushion on it too. My hubby cleaned it up as soon as we got home, and gave it a good oiling. It is beautiful, and I will cherish it for a long, long time. (Don't you wonder how someone could ever part with a beautiful item like this, that has been in a family for a long time?) Guess I am just too sentimental...LOL And another great find - vintage Tiki mugs!!! These will be added to my ever-growing Tiki collection. A find at 50 cents each! Here is a sweet little old porcelain doll, she is only about 4 inches tall. She was only 25 cents. This cute doll was still in the box, she is missing one of her socks. I thought she was adorable and had to come home with me. She was only 50 cents! Another favorite find of the weekend was this pair of swan planters - they are rather large, about 12" tall. Hubby spotted these and knew I would want them. I love the colors of them, although it does not show that well in the photo. They were $2.00 for the pair!

The Mother Lode of Collections !!!

This weekend, the hubby and I were all over, visiting festivals, vintage auto shows, flea markets and yard sales. While visiting at one sale, we were chatting with the home owners and my hubby mentioned how much he liked some of the vintage Pepsi and Coca Cola signs that they had in their garage as decorations. The man mentioned that if we liked those items, then we should go and take a look through one of their windows of the house, and peek at their Coke collection room. So of course we couldn't wait to take a look, and I must say - what awaited me totally BLEW ME AWAY! We were oooh-ing and aah-ing at all the Coke memorabilia that we could see from the window, trying to take it all in. Then we started back towards the car to go on our way. Luckily I had my camera with me, and I thought to myself - hmmmmm, I wonder if I ask them, if they would let me take some pix of their Coke collection? Hubby told me that that was kind of pushy *giggle* but I figured all they could say is yes or no - so off we went. The woman of the house was extremely gracious and let us go in and take some photos of the Coke room. And then, she directed us towards the kitchen, which was done in all Campbell's soup decor!!!! I almost fell over, because I love those Campbell soup kids! :) Then, she motioned for us to step into another room, and lo and behold, it housed an entire room of Pillsbury memorabilia, of course including the Doughboy!!! My hubby thought for sure I was going to keel over from my excitement - and I swear, I almost did! And believe me, when I say every single inch of the walls and surfaces were covered in collectibles, I mean it! Let me tell you, in all the places I have visited, and magazines I have read - I have NEVER seen anything to compare to this woman's collections! There were tons of vintage and newer collectibles, taking up literally every inch of the walls in the rooms. But they were so tastefully done - every single piece you could tell was meticulously placed in a perfect arrangement. It was beyond amazing, I tell you! So I quickly started taking pix of the Coke room, and some in the Campbell Soup kitchen. I did not get any taken in the Pillsbury Room, wish I did, but I did not want to take up too much of her time. And if that was not enough, they also had a Pepsi Cola room, a Teddy Bear room, and a Santa Claus room! I do indeed think I died and went to heaven, it was a shame that I could not spend an entire day in each room inspecting and enjoying every single piece of her collections that she had so lovingly put together. I asked her if her home had ever been featured in a magazine, and she replied that she did not want her collections in the public eye, and I guess I can understand why. So with all due respect I will not mention her name or location. I must first apologize for some of the pix I took, not being very good. I did not realize that I had left the camera on a close up setting, and did not find out until I got home and looked at them on the 'puter. Ohhhhhhh, I could have kicked myself!!! LOL But I am posting them anyway, so you can get a small idea of the extent of her massive collections. Hope you will enjoy them! The first 8 pix are of the Coca Cola Room, and the last 4 are of the Campbell's Soup Kitchen - you can click on the pix to enlarge them:

Antique Car Show!

We had a blast this holiday weekend, traveled all around to various fairs and festivals, and one of the places we visited was an Antique Car Show (my hubby insisted :) I took a ton of pix, and will share some of them here with you. These are my favorites! I can't remember the names of them all, but they were spectacular, and they were spotless inside and out. This first one was an aqua and white pickup truck, it was so cool! Now if it were in pink and white I would be in heaven! This car below, was another favorite of mine, and the hubby's too - a 1956 T-Bird, an exquisite car! Now I would like to be traveling around town in style in this 1937 Packard, (below) such a classy car it was! I expected someone wielding a tommy gun to come barrelling out of the back of the car!...LOL This car below was not at the Auto Show, but we spied it in a parking lot. I have never seen one like this before - it is an old El Camino - kind of part car/part pickup truck. I have seen newer ones but this was a first for me! This orange one would be fun to tool around town in for Halloween!

PhotoHunt - Theme: Dirty

PhotoHunt PHOTO HUNT THEME: "Dirty" This house just screams "DIRTY" to me - and no, it is not my house...LOL I found this house in a secluded area of the town, and from the looks of it, it may explode from being overloaded in junk. Look at what is supposed to be the front porch - there is so much junk heaped up all over you could not even move. And if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see the upstairs window is obscured by more junk. Tons of weeds and garbage all over. Ickkkkkkyyyy! I shudder to think what the inside of the place looks like, if you could even make it in the front door! So sad to see what could be fixed up as such a cute little cottage, in such disrepair. I have hidden the address of the house to protect the owner's identity. :)

Thrifting Finds - Roosters and Chickens and Sock Monkeys - Oh My!

Here's a peek at some of the nifty vintage goodies I got this week while thrifting/yard saling - I am trying to put them together in some type of group, except for the sock monkeys that don't belong with the chickens - but, hey, they were so cute I had to show you right away! These little rascals were found at a resale shop for 25 cents each....my heart went pitter patter as I quickly raced over to get them. One of them needs some repair stitching but that can be easily taken care of :) Do I love this chalkware rooster plaque! Found at a resale shop for 50 cents, he will be a perfect addition to my rooster & chicken collection! Here is a cute little ceramic lidded pot with a rooster design on it - not sure what it's intended use was, but it has found a home with me - only 10 cents too! This fella looks so happy, and about ready to crow! I think he may have held salt and pepper shakers in his wings at one time, but they were not with him. I liked him anyway, and for 10 cents I am not about to complain :) Behind him is a cute little woven wicker spatterware coffeepot basket type thing that I thought was adorable. It was 5 cents at a yard sale. I was about ready to crow when I found this vintage plastic rooster, he's an old Easter decoration. He is missing a red feather that was in the hole in his wing, but I just happen to have some here so he will be fixed up right away and added to my Easter collection. Oh, and he was only 25 cents! Here is an old wooden snack bowl that happened to have roosters painted on it. I have a wooden knife holder with roosters on it in my kitchen, so this will go along with it. It was 10 cents at a yard sale. Lots, lots, lots more to come - I just need to find the time to take the pix, if we EVER get some sunshine - have a great week everyone! :)

I've Been Tagged! Scattergories

meeyauw tagged me for the "Scattergories" meme. Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions. They must be real places, names, things . . . nothing made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers! I am not going to tag anyone in particular, but anyone who would like, please feel free to play along - post a note in my comments so we can read yours! Since my nickname is Sandy, I will go with "S" for mine - here are my answers: Famous Singer Sammy Davis Jr. Four letter word soul Street Seventh Avenue Color sky blue Gifts/Presents silverware Vehicle Sentra Things in a Souvenir Shop souvenirs :) Boy's Name Sidney Girl's Name Susan Movie Title Shawshank Redemption Drink Sunny Delight Occupation Stewardess Celebrity Steven Segal Magazine Seventeen U.S. City Sarasota, FL Pro Sports Saint Louis Cardinals Fruit Strawberries Reason for Being Late for Work Slept too late Something You Throw Away scraps Things You Shout Sh**! Cartoon Character Snoopy The Dog

PhotoHunt - Theme: Happy

PhotoHunt PHOTO HUNT THEME: "Happy" So who's being a happy birdie?! It's Tiki, my Moluccan Cockatoo! Yes, she has her head almost upside down, while she clowns around for the camera :)

This Week's Thrifting Finds!

This week I have been all over the place, the weather has been super-icky...first too hot, then cool and damp, now its hotter than Haities again and so humid I can barely stand it....oh, how I am so looking forward to the Fall! But nasty weather and all, could not stop me from my thrifting. Here are a few of my finds for this week: This gorgeous vintage queen-size chenille bedspread was found at a resale shop that was having a "bag sale" - all you could stuff in a paper bag for $1.00 (and believe me, I know how to pack it in! :) It is in mint condition, and has blue and green flowers on it, along with beautiful fringe all around. It took up the whole bag, so it was all of $1.00 - yeahhhh! Next came some jewelry finds from a yard sale, these were in a plastic bag along with a bunch of other stuff for $1.00, I was thrilled when I went through it all. I think the pin in the lower right corner may be bakelite! A sweet black and red vintage dangle necklace from Hong Kong, and a little enamel pin of a rose - all from the same bag of jewelry. At another sale I found these adorable miniature vintage Japanese ceramic shoes, they are too cute! The smallest ones are barely one inch, and the other ones are no bigger than an inch and a half. The lady said she may have more of them, so she will look and put them aside for me if she does. They were 10 cents each pair!!! Now I almost tripped over my own feet when I went into one of my usual resale shops and found this darling vintage set of dishes with a barnyard theme - cows and chickens, what more could you ask for? :) This whole set was only $1.25 - I ran with them so fast to the counter!! And I got lucky with a tin full of colorful old buttons, which I will be using in my crafting projects - 25 cents for the tin!

Thrifting Finds - Warning! Cuteness Overload!!

I started to take some pix of this week's thrift/yard sale haul, and just had to post these guys together - they are so durn cute! My ever-accomodating hubby found this little old lambsy squeeze toy at one sale (so adorable I can't stand it....LOL) He was 25 cents (the lamb, not my hubby :) And by golly at another sale we went to he found this little squeeze vintage bunny - can you believe it?! - the thrifting gods were with us today! This one was only 50 cents. And what I feel is about the most adorable canister set I have ever seen!!! I went ga-ga over this set with darling little painted chirping birdies on them - at first I only thought it was the one canister, then when I picked it up it rattled and there were the rest of them neatly nested inside....love the little song notes above them! I am not sure if the knobs on top were original, or if someone added them to the lids. They appear to be bakelite, and look like they might be backgammon chips cut in half and drilled and attached on top. All of this birdie cuteness for a mere $1.00!!!! Next I found these sweet little fellas - I think they are Pekingese dogs with their little red tongues hanging out, they are S & P's. I don't know what they are made of, some kind of composition material it seems. A dog-gone steal at 10 cents for the pair! Yep, another super-tweet vintage china birdie with a little flower on her head. Geeeez, I just can't get enough of this stuff! Isn't she adorable? 25 cents - sold! Now this little bugger has some issues, mainly a wing chipped off, but I could not leave him behind. If you look closely, he has a camera on his shoulder, so this in fact makes him a shutter-bug ! He was so silly I wanted him, and the lady told me I could have him for free :) Lots more thrifty pix to come!! Have a great weekend everyone!

Thrift Score! Vintage Clothing and Purses

Well I have a heap of goodies laying around the house, just waiting for me to take some pix to post - it has been so dang hot and humid here I have not been getting much done, (except....wellllll... I can always muster up the strength to go thrifting and yard saling!) Today the heat let up - finally - and I hit one of my favorite thrift stores and they had a bag sale!!!! Yahoooooo!!! All you could stuff in a bag for $1.00! That's MY kind of sale. Hubby was with me and he managed to fill up a bag quicker than I did (I have taught him well...LOL). I got loads of craft and sewing books, yarn, ribbon, lace and anything related to crafting I could get my hot little hands on. Actually, I have amassed so much sewing and crafting stuff, that not all of it I will be using.... so....... in the "not so far off" future, I have decided I will start having some giveaways! I just can't pass up all this great stuff when I know so many others can put it to good use. Maybe in a month or two, I'll keep gathering up goodies as I find them, and will let you know later on when I get the packages organized and sorted. Now on to some of the goodies from this week: This week I found a yard sale that had oodles of fun stuff, and I couldn't resist picking up these great old dresses! These 2 below are vintage Hawaiian dresses, (I forgot who the maker was), but they were from Hawaii :) Don't you just love the fabrics they are made of? Makes me want to stir up a pitcher of Mai Tai's just looking at them - want to join me? *giggle* Then I found a group of old woven purses, which also had to come home with me :) I think this one with the black background is my favorite. This one has a cluster of little shells woven into it!

A Tour Of My New Neighborhood

I was driving around our new area (out in the country) and took pictures of some of the gorgeous houses that surround us, and I wanted to share them with you! One of the many reasons I love this area, is that it appears here they have respect for wonderful, vintage homes - people renovate and preserve the beauty and character of the city. Having just recently moved here, from living in the heart of a huge city all my life, was quite a welcome change. At first hubby and I were not sure if making such a radical change was the right thing to do, but now we know that it was! In our previous home in the big city, we grew so tired of seeing wonderful old homes being destroyed and torn down to make way for those "mini" mansions and condo developments that seemed to sprout up overnight everywhere you went. The whole character of some of the older neighborhoods was being ruined. I would much rather see a glorious old Victorian restored to its former glory, than a bunch of new homes thrown together so quickly, and all looking so much alike. That's just my opinion :) All I can say is that so far I have not regretted this move one bit, and neither has the hubby - we wish we would have done it much sooner! It was a big decision for us to make, because we both had lived in the big city all our lives. I do not miss the terrible congestion on the streets and highways, road rage, lack of parking, stores always being crowded, hearing police sirens all the time, and I can go on and on....LOL What I LOVE about this small city is waking up to fresh air, birds and crickets chirping, peace and quiet, beautiful scenery, extremely friendly people who are happy to welcome a newcomer to their area, no rush hours, no traffic jams, geeeez - why didn't we do this sooner? :) Anyway, here are some pix of gorgeous houses in the area for you to enjoy!

Thrifting Finds - Vintage Planters

Last week I happened upon a yard sale and my eyes immediately spotted a collection of planters on the table - I ran over and scooped them up, and found that each one was only 25 cents each! I think this little donkey and cart planter is my favorite, I love the pastel colors! I will have to "moooooooove" a few items around in my cow collection to make some room for this cute cow planter. OOooh, this one I love soooo much too, a sweet little puppy next to a basket! Will have to bring out this guy when it gets nearer to Turkey Day :) This one is so beautiful, a swan planter, and it is in need of a bit of touch up paint on the beak area.

More of Last Week's Goodies - Vintage Hats!!

I went to an Estate sale last week, and happened upon a glorious bunch of vintage hats - they are so beautiful and are in great condition. The first one is made of some type of black woven material, with little white flowers sprinkled in for interest. This one is all feathers, in brown shades. Another feathered beauty, in black and white! Here is a pink turban in a textured fabric, adorned with a vintage rhinestone pin. Here is another beauty in all blue feathers! And this might be my favorite, it is all covered in vintage flowers and leaves. Aren't these hats adorable? I did not have many hats in my collections before, but I could not pass these up! It was a ready made collection :)

This Week's Thrifty Goodies - Part 1

Lots of goodies to share with you this week, I've been taking pictures like crazy of the neat stuff I found! First there is a wonderful pink vintage lamp in the shape of an Oriental woman - I doubt this is the original shade, but it came with it and it works OK for now - the lamp and shade were only $2 at a yard sale. Next there is a little lusterware incense burner, it is so sweet, and was only 25 cents. This must have been my day for Oriental type items, I found a darling planter of a man and a rickshaw for 50 cents, it is in perfect condition too! I always love to find things for my ever-growing Chicken and Rooster collection, and here we have a set of 4 Japanese (little paper tags still on them) mugs with chickens and chicks on them - too cute! $1.00 for the set at a yard sale. And my hubby found some vintage men's ties - he does not wear them, but thought I might be able to make something from them. I already have a huge box of vintage men's ties and....someday......will get around to doing something with them :)