My Saturday Antique Show

Hi guys! This Saturday my husband Ed and I did a local (sort of..55 miles away) antique show. This was the Clinton, Tennessee Spring Clinch River Antiques Fair. We did this same one last year. As you can see, I had my minivan loaded to the gills! Ed had his truck loaded too. As you can also see, we started bright (dark) and early!

We packed the night before and were on the road before the sun came up.

I followed Ed to be sure which turns to take and in case he lost anything off the back! He is a good packer though.

And of course..it started pouring! He had the stuff that the rain wouldn't hurt, luckily.By the time we got there, the rain had mostly stopped and we unloaded our tent and got to setting up.

Our things are more vintage than antique .

An old chest, Heywood Wakefield child's chairs and galvanized chick feeders.

I liked this rusty, crusty little cart..I filled it with vintage garden tools and pots after I took these pics!(and for the wth is that people..that is a Japan elephant ceramic/pottery bank. $4 and it could have been yours! Some of these are my husband's gems)

Most of this sold. I had a pair of these lawn chairs for $75, the tablecloth sold for $15, the wire candle thingie sold for $10 and the new cast dog hook was a leftover from our shop days and sold for $8.

I love this little formica topped 1970's daisy table but it didn't sell for $25. The carved kitties and owl went as did the little oilcan.

A nice aqua Heywood Wakefield chair, feedsack apron and a basket I made from old garden fencing.

The little red chair and the cookie cutters all sold.

The old wire store bread baskets didn't sell which surprised me. They sell quick in my booth so I guess that is where they will go.

One of the old galvanized buckets sold for $12..the taller sap bucket.

The chalkboard door sold right away for $40 and the towel rack hanging on it sold too. We moved the door over by our van to wait for the lady who bought it to pick up later and a couple other ladies wanted to buy it too! I guess I need to figure out a way to make more of those!

Bench, letters, altered bottles...

Stool, Silverplate serving pieces, hosiery box, cool old piano or banquet lamp lurking behind..50's footstool, garden tote and sconce lamps.

A vintage child's camp chair I redid with vintage ticking and some letters..they SAID cabins but here I am reading "canabis" hmmmm..

We had a couple of these chairs and several boxes of vintage letterpress print block letters..sold quite a few of those!

A red painted child's chair and cool aqua spinning stool...

I was surprised this roll up map of Brazil didn't sell (its sideways here) I LOOVE these colors and it was only $25!

The white globe did sell..I love maps and globes! My next post I will share what I saw when I walked (speedwalked) the rest of the show and some things I bought. Til next time! Julia

My crazy week and a new junkin' project

Hi guys! This past few days have been crazy! I will save the craziness for the end of the post. First I want to share my latest junkin' project. I got 2 of these beaded old cabinet doors earlier this year. One was in good shape and I put it in my local booth and it sold pretty quickly. This one was missing pieces of beadboard on the top panel. Actually it was the bottom, but I flipped it upside down! I added a piece of thin plywood that I cut to size and painted with chalkboard paint. I screwed it all back together..this was literally in pieces!

I added some antique brass hardware from my stash to the center top and a row of vintage metal lamp edging. This was formerly a circle from a hanging fixture..I just snipped off a piece to fit. I think you can still buy this new. I resisted the urge to add crystals!

I  guess I should add that before I added the hardware, I gave the chipping, possibly lead based paint a good scrubbing and whitewashed it with some white satin based paint to cover the old paint and cement it down a bit. I always wonder/worry about unknown old paint! Any further chipping on this should be minimized. 

Then I decided this needed a couple hooks at the top. I have some vintage hooks in my stash...someplace...so I decided to make some from vintage silverplate spoons..which I COULD find! I hammered them flat, drilled a hole and attached and bent..viola! I used to use these on furniture for pulls quite often back when I had a shop and was re-doing a lot of old furniture pieces.

The back of the "chalkboard" was unfinished and we can't have that so it got a coat of yummy aqua paint. This was a piece of that new beadboard that just has the grooves..that is what is up with the lines! All ready for the antique show I am doing on Saturday in downtown Clinton, TN.

 The "crazy life" part I alluded to in the beginning of this post was finding out this week that my husband is now diabetic! I have been hounding him for years about his dismal eating habits to no avail. I am parts upset, scared and mad all at once! We will carry on. I have spent the week trying to learn what he can and cannot eat. As I had already went to eating (and serving) only non-processed, low cholesterol meals for me a couple weeks ago when I quit Statin drugs, I was mostly on the right track! Just have to be more careful about carb counting for him. He can just take a pill at this point..no shots. His thyroid was also enlarged and he apparently has hypothyroidism too. I think I was more shook about this than he was! I still haven't convinced him to come to the gym with me...he wants to "do it on his own". I think if I can just get him to try the gym once and he sees how nice it is (air conditioned ..music and TV..no pot holes or random animals, humidity, or rain) he might like it and sign up. For now he is walking the driveway.....MEN! So stubborn! On the upside since I started eating non processed and low cholesterol, I have lost 9 pounds without trying in a little over 2 weeks and I am eating more food! So off we go on our new path to better health ..and surprise, surprise..healthy food tastes GREAT! Until next time! (I hope to get some antique show pics taken! Stop back!) Julia

Antique and vintage cameras

Hi guys! I am spending the day listing vintage and antique cameras in my Etsy shop and a couple on EBay. I decided I needed a "blog break!" These first 3 pics are photos of what I have previously done with vintage cameras. The first one I replaced peeling leatherette with vintage maps and added a photo display wire. (This one has sold)

I liked the idea of maps, travel and cameras.I thought they went well together.

This one shows one of my favorite photos I took of my daughter and grandson 2 summers ago. Just add your old photo to the flash holder of a vintage camera. (You may have to add weight to the interior to prevent tippage)

These are a few I was listing or will be listing today. The first couple are box cameras from the 1930's-40's.

I like the old deco style graphics on these! You could also add small frames to the sides of these for unique 3D photo displays. The interior also makes for a cool trinket box and I have also seen these upcycled into junk robot bodies! I also had one I added a handle to and used as a small purse. Vintage camera cases that come with some of these also make great repurposed purses!

I listed some antique cameras too. These old folding cameras are so intriguing to me!

Photography used to be such a "process" ..yes..that was a photography pun..sorry!

This one apparently used film or plates.

Most antique cameras are suprisingly affordable and would make an awesome display with vintage family photos! I felt a bit odd taking pictures of cameras with my digital camera..you've come a long way baby! When I picked up my camera, it felt so light I thought I had forgotten to put batteries in it!

My "photography assistant" my 3 yr old grandson Hunter decided we needed to "color" these in editing.

Suprisingly it was fun and cool effects resulted!

I think I may print these first 4 for a Warhol-esque "homage".

I love this one!

Three year olds have great ideas!

This one made me think of using it or other altered photos of mine as backgrounds for further altered mixed media collage pieces..hmmmm... Thanks Hunter! Til next time, here's hoping you find inspiration in unexpected places and may you look at life with the eyes of a child! Julia

Church Bake Sale or Cake Porn

Hi guys! I spent this weekend running my church's bake sale. Now I didn't exactly WANT to run my church's bake sale, but I am on our church's finance board (which if you knew me is pretty laughable) and at the meeting last month our priest Father William said, "We need a bake sale!" Now being the only woman on the finance board at that meeting, I saw the frosting writing on the wall..I slunk down a bit in my chair but to no avail.. Father William pointed a finger at me and said "YOU! You get the ladies together!" Now I actually ended up on the finance board a few years back when our then priest Father David accosted me after church and said, "We need you on the finance board!" After I finished laughing I told him, "I can't even balance my checkbook!" He said, "Great! You'll be our "common man"! So there I was! I still feel sort of a bit of a dullard at finance meetings, all the accounting pages make my eyes glaze over. I do manage to ask a few semi-intelligent questions and am a voice for the ladies of the church.

Anyhoo..that is how I ended up running the bake sale. We are building a parish hall and need money to help pay for the furnishings so that was the purpose of the bakesale. Our church altar society has been basically disbanded for the last 8 years since we built a new church because the new church did not include a hall or kitchen from which to do "altar society" type things! So regrouping ladies was hard. I got to get up in front of the church a couple times to make announcements and plead for help. It is so weird how I don't mind talking to anyone in my church , but when I get up there behind the pulpit I start to shake and sweat! The joys of public speaking!

Anyways..to keep a long story long, the above "cake porn" is a piece of what one of our church ladies brought to sell. She works for a bakery that does cakes and cheesecakes for high end restaurants. She brought a cake and a cheesecake for the Saturday night mass sale that when people saw her open the box, they actually gasped out loud! It was huge and tall..3 layers with inches of buttercream icing and white chocolate curls and raspberry filling between the layers! Oh heavenly days.. they were selling slices for $3 a pop and it was all sold as fast as we could slice it! I did get a piece of her delicious 4 inch thick cheesecake (blueberries, raspberries and pineapple) to take home and share with my husband.

Today she brought this coconut cake and I bought a 1/4. She said their cakes wholesale for $55-$65 dollars! We had one slice after supper which we split into 4 pieces..pure heaven! It had the most delicious frosting I have ever had in my life..both buttercreamy and whipped creamy at the same time. I am sure it was not cholesterol friendly, but somethings in life you just cannot let pass you by!I must say since my cholesterol post some days back (10?) I have been eating only non processed food, cut way back on sugar (except THIS) and cut down on carbs,eat only lean meat and eating more fruits and veggies, only greek yogurt and skim milk, no hydrogenized oils and I lost 4lbs! I was eating MORE food! During Lent I gave up bread and coffee and lost 1/2 a pound in 40 days! Yay! I do hope this continues and that my cholesterol levels stay lowish. I have been reading a lot and taking some other steps also (supplements,flax, oatmeal, a glass of red wine a night) and also exercise..although truthfully my exercise this week has been gardening and yard work. I cannot believe how much better I feel already! I feel like I have so much more energy and I can already feel improvement in my joints..I can get off the couch without a struggle!

So I am continue-ing on my road to healthier eating. I need to go to the library and check out some books..I have to pay my overdue book fines there first (yeah..I am a rebel like that! LOL) Oh yes..the bakesale was a success..we made almost $1300! So here's to healthier, smarter eating and also to being smart enough not to pass up an occasional slice of heaven! (Church cakes have no calories or cholesterol anyways...right?) Hoping you have some sweetness in your life this week! Til next time! Julia

A Misty, Moisty Morning

It is a foggy morning in East Tennessee. I took these pics on the way home from dropping my little boy off at school...some I was just sticking the camera out the window and clicking as I drove by! (Not safe driving I am sure!)

I love foggy, moist mornings..everything looks like it is wrapped in cotton candy. It appears so timeless when you can't see the cell towers and power lines!

I can imagine Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy traipsing across the fields having earnest conversations..

This was my prize for getting out of the car!

This is the foot of my driveway. It feels magical to me because I know what is at the end of it!

Hope your road home is magical too! Until next time! Julia