Fun Friday Finds #14 (Reader's Digest Condensed Version)

I'm finally bringing another Fun Friday Finds post to you.  I haven't done one in a couple of weeks partly because the sales have started to drop off, and partly because we've had so much going on lately I haven't had as much time to go treasure hunting.

Today's post is actually finds from last week, but I was so busy getting ready for our weekend church retreat that I just ran out of time and couldn't get it posted.  This week I'm busy breaking out the Fall decor so I'm gonna keep it quick and give you a condensed version.

I found the awesome vintage globe at a local thrift store for $4.99.  Using online globe dating guides, the best I can tell is that it's from 1946.  I think I'm keeping it for now.  I got the old suitcase and cute little patchwork baby blanket at a garage sale, $1 each.  I'm keeping the blanket, not sure what I'll do with it yet, but it was too much handmade cuteness to pass up for only a buck!  I found the pulley at a sale that I was zooming through when I was really supposed to be doing other things.  I speed-haggled him down to $6 and took off to accomplish the rest of my to-do list.  When I got home I couldn't decide if it was real or reproduction.  It has a uniform shininess to it that you wouldn't expect with a real one so I thought it was reproduction.  But then I got to looking at it closer and the insides of it have the typical rust and dust you would expect with a real one.  So my conclusion is that it's authentic, but someone has sprayed some sort of clear coat over it that gives the outside of it that touch of shiny.

Two "painted" prints for .25 each.  The horse one is for my little girl, and the other I thought would be pretty mixed into my Fall decor this year.

Wicker pet bed for $2.  Our little ol' pooch usually sleeps on a blanket upstairs in our room, but she has arthritis in her hip and she can't always make it up the stairs these days so I've been wanting a bed for her to put in the corner of the living room.  This one was perfect, and after tossing in her favorite blanket she's already been making good use of it.

This last picture has my favorite find of the week....nay, of the summer!  I have been on the hunt for that 7-Up crate for months and months.  I've only come across 2 of them since I started looking in the spring; one of them was in someone else's lucky arms, and the other had too steep of a price tag.  This one was found at about 5pm on a Thursday afternoon.  A friend of mine alerted me to a couple of sales going on that had vintage stuff and good prices and she said they were open until 5pm.  I had too much going on the next day to be able to go, so as soon as the kids woke up from their naps on Thursday afternoon we headed out.  And boy am I glad I did.  As soon as I spotted that sitting there I literally gasped and said, "Be still my beating heart!"  LOL!  And at only $5 I snapped it up.  Those early bird shoppers would have grabbed it had I waited until Friday morning.

The other items in the picture are a cute little vintage storage jar for .10, set of metal measuring cups $1, cute red gingham vintage pitcher $1, and a red gingham vintage apron $1.

So there ya have it, another week of fun finds.  I'll be sure to share some of my Fall decor with you next week, and until then, I hope this finds you doing well and having a blessed week.

                                          

Vintage Inspired Ice Cream Social

I am SO excited about today's post! 

 If you follow me on Facebook then you probably saw this little teaser picture I shared about something going on at the Farmhouse this past weekend.

Did you guess it right?  

I have wanted to host one of these for forever, but never had the excuse opportunity to do so until now. Hubs and I hosted a get together for our church's young adult/teen group at our home and I was finally able to do it. Everyone helped out by bringing different kinds of ice creams and toppings, and I did all the decorating (I just couldn't help myself!).  I went with a red and aqua vintage theme.

I had so much fun going through my stash and coming up with the decor to fit the theme.  Let's take a closer look shall we?

A Very Froggy 2nd Birthday

This week was my lil' man's 2nd birthday.  It was supposed to be his turn to have a big party this year since his sister had her turn last year with her Pinkalicous party.  I was planning {in my mind} a really cute construction themed birthday, BUT...I changed my mind.  I just wasn't feelin' it.  I've been very homesick for our family and the thought of a big party without them there was just too depressing, so I didn't go through with it.

Instead, we celebrated with just the 4 of us.  He loves frogs and green is his favorite color, so that's what I went with.

He has a little collection going on of stuffed frogs he's found at yard sales this summer, so I put those on the table as part of the decor.  I found cute plates at Hobby Lobby, and the rest came from good ol' Walmart.

Fun Friday Finds #13

Here we are again, another week has gone by and the kiddos and I headed out for another morning of yard sales today.  There weren't that many, I think they're starting to fizzle out for the summer.

Total spent - $6.50

Vintage wooden balancing/stacker toy - $1  (going in the shop)

Vintage spice rack - $3

I actually found this yesterday at Goodwill.  The jars have a great apothecary style to them, but they have flowers etched on them.  I can't wait to paint up the rack and add some cute labels to the jars to cover up the floral design. 

Wooden piece from a dresser - .50

This piece is supposed to sit on a dresser like this to hold a mirror (at least that's what the woman who was selling told me), but....

I envision moving this great old hardware to the front so it's more visible, and...

turning it over this way to use as more of an architectural type piece.  

I plan to use it in my Fall decorating.

Industrial style vintage school chairs - $1 each.

These have a bit of a story with them, well for me they do anyways.  I followed the sign for this particular sale and as I pulled onto the street and spied the house down the road I realized I had been at a sale at this exact same house back in the Spring at the beginning of yard sale season.  I remembered they had some great little school chairs for only a dollar each, but I decided to pass them up because my car was already pretty full and I didn't feel like trying to stuff them in since I wasn't even sure about them in the first place.  I've regretted not purchasing them ever since.  So what are the odds that almost 5 months later I would end up at the exact same house and that they would still have the chairs?!?  Pretty good apparently.  They are destined for the shop.

I'll sure be sad to see the yard sales drift off into hibernation for the winter, BUT it will give me more time to actually photograph and list all these goodies in my Etsy shop.  : )

                                         

Shabby Chic Tooth Fairy Box

You may remember last week on Facebook I shared how a friend and I were having a thrift store shopping day and planning to hit all the thrift stores in town.  Well, that morning before we left I was up early and had some extra time to do a little blog hopping.  I happened to visit Craftiments.  I've been on her blog before, but it had been awhile and I just happened to visit it again that morning, and found her post about the Tooth Fairy box she made for her daughter.

(photo courtesy of Craftiments.com)

I thought it was a really creative use of a box that I never would have looked twice at (which she says used to be a music box by the way).  I liked the idea of it, but I really didn't give it too much more thought, until......

Just a couple of hours later what should I find sitting on the thrift store shelf?

An almost identical glass box!  What are the odds?  I couldn't believe it!  So, since my sweet girl just turned 5 and will be needing the Tooth Fairy's services before long, I decided to buy it.  And bonus, all the glassware was half off that day so it only cost me .50.

 I wanted to change mine up a bit, so I taped off all the glass parts, and using paint I already had on hand I gave it a makeover.

We tucked in some reindeer moss I had leftover from my topiary project, and we nestled a sweet pink daisy on top.  

Now it fits in just perfectly in her pink Shabby Chic room.

I hadn't originally intended to "shabby" it up, BUT...see this section of chipped paint here?

It's the hinge area on the back of the lid and it was such a tight fit that no matter how many times I tried to fix it, and no matter how long I let the paint dry it still rubbed off.  There were other areas of white paint that had come off as well when I removed all the tape.  Instead of trying to fix it and make it perfect looking, which I never would have been able to do, I decided to use some antique gold Rub N' Buff to help the chipped up areas blend in a little better and give it a nice worn look without it being too "chippy."

So now, when she loses that first precious tooth she'll just open up her box, place the tooth right in the center of the flower, close it up and wait for the magic to happen.

The next morning when she wakes up.....

Her prize will be awaiting her.

I love being able to transform the old and the overlooked into something new and beautiful and unique.  

Since I had most of what I needed already on hand this was an El Cheapo project!  Just the way I like it.  The only thing we had to purchase was the gerber daisy, so that gave us a grand total of $1.70 for this Shabby Chic Tooth Fairy Box.

Seeing as she won't be needing it just yet, and since we have a 2 year old little hooligan with accident proned fingers running around, it's going to rest safely up on her shelf and out of reach for now.

Thank you, Kirsten, for the inspiration for such a fun and creative project.

So, now it's your turn.  

Have you ever made something to aid in the "magic" of traditions for your children?

I'd love to hear about it.

(If you'd like to see more of her Shabby Chic room you can look through past posts {here})

                                       

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