My Salvaged Treasures: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Yard Sale and Antique Store Treasures

A few days ago I was in the mood for a junkin' fix, so I headed over to a few antique shops about an hour away from here. My Friends and I is one of my favorite little stores in Fremont's Niles District, so it's always first on my list when I'm in town.

I would have grabbed all of these back in the day when I was known as "The Door Knob Lady." One of these days I'm going to make a shadow box so I can display all my favorite vintage knobs.

I didn't bring these little chicks home with me, but I thought they were so cute. She's staring right at the camera.

I didn't realize that I left this 1928 phone book behind until I saw this picture. Making mental notes of what to go back and grab just doesn't work for me anymore.

Here's what I collected over the weekend......

My catch of the day was the Royal typewriter. I'm really liking that big silver bowl even though it's a mess on the inside.

It's always hard to pass up a jar of buttons, especially when I see rhinestones and glass. Two more yardsticks for my collection; now I think I have enough to make some more of these coat racks.

Bits and pieces of jewelry. I love that 60's style belt with those "mod" flowers.

1956 Perquackey game and a fold up map from 1970.

The license plates and luggage tags will probably be going on a necklace. I'll have to change out "my blood type" or someone might be in trouble during an emergency.

I see necklaces here.

I couldn't pass up that old musical instrument case with its cute little compartment. I'm a sucker for anything green, rusty, or chippy.

This is my favorite page from Lloyd Darknell's 1954 autograph book. Sister Patty must have been laughing her head off when she wrote this.

I'm linking up my finds with:

Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays,

The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday,

A La Carte for Junkin Finds Friday,

Pink Postcard for Transformations & Treasures

Thursday, January 27, 2011

New Life For an Old Tool

I found this old concrete trowel made out of wood about 1 1/2 years ago at a church rummage sale in Oklahoma. It reminded me of a piece of driftwood and it had the most wonderful patina. I call it patina, the woman I bought it from called it crust. She said that her father made his own tools and used this for many years. Imagine all the patios and sidewalks this beauty helped create......

I thought about a towel holder, but the ~~crust~~ patina wasn't going to come off. I stashed it away and completely forgot about it until I saw this post from Jane at Mamie Jane's. She made a magnetic picture holder out of a grout trowel. I immediately had to find my long lost trowel; not an easy job in my messy garage. Maybe I'm not as disorganized as I thought I was because it was in the first place I looked.

After years of use, this worn out old handle must have been a perfect fit for the hand of its maker. After I bought it, I noticed the stamped words on the side of the handle: HARRINGTON, L.A. CALIF. I guess he might have worked for that company, or he added the wood bottom to the metal plate.

The handle holds it up when turned on its side. All the rhinestones are shiny, but some look a little dull in the picture. Since it reminded me of driftwood, I thought COTTAGE would be a good word to spell out with the bits and pieces of old jewelry.

I'm linking up with:

Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday,

My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday,

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Vintage Button Charm Bracelets

I've been busy making more vintage button charm bracelets. These are so much fun to put together and they got a whole lot easier a couple of years ago when I finally put this high-tech gadget together....

Isn't it beautiful? The same type of gadget is available online and in catalogs for about $15.00, but why spend the money when a chunk of wood, dowel, hooks, and a drill were sitting in my garage. I never noticed that the bar code label was still on the dowel until I saw this picture. This gadget makes it so much easier to attach buttons or charms to the bracelet chain. I just straighten the chain and attach both ends to the hooks, then adjust the dowels to fit the length of chain.

These are all glass buttons except for the larger plastic blue button in the center. I also added some beads and a few tiny rhinestone buttons for extra sparkle. I thought this one would be great for Valentine's Day and the 4th of July.

I used some vintage fabric, clear plastic, and rhinestone buttons for this one. Then I covered some buttons with toile and added a few beads.

I think this bracelet is my favorite because it can also be worn as a necklace. Just attach the extra length of chain by hooking the two toggle clasp sets together.

This one is made from gold and wine colored antique brass and glass buttons.

These so are addicting. I keep little individual plastic bags of "bracelets in progress" and add to each bag until I have the right combination to put a bracelet together.

I'm linking up my vintage button charm bracelets with:

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

College Flea Market Finds

I had high hopes for a Saturday morning estate sale I saw on Craigslist this past weekend. Antiques and collectibles, years of accumulation, selling everything from storage unit, below market prices, blah, blah, blah. I thought it would be well worth the half hour, early morning drive. No such luck and very misleading. One very angry couple even accused the sellers of false advertising. I was disappointed, but happy to still have money in my wallet.

I drove around hoping to spy another sale or two. Again, no such luck. As I drove past the community college I noticed all the white canopies and remembered the flea market they have in their parking lot every weekend. I don't shop at this market because it's full of tools, car parts, toys, electronics, etc. Feeling frustrated with the lack of vintage treasures in my trunk, I decided to take a quick look around. I flew down the aisles passing up booth after booth of new merchandise, and finally managed to sniff out a few vintage treasures......

I thought this hanging metal shopping reminder was so cute. It even has a little compartment for your trading stamps and tiny magnets to remind you to buy biscuits, cream, and starch. What, no lard?

I'll never have too many frames. These are really old and in good shape except for the bad paint job. I haven't decided if I want to paint them white or rough them up a bit and tone down that gold.

More jewels for repurposing, cool knob with chippy black paint, and a big fork for stamping.

These were my favorite find of the day. I walked away from them at first and regretted it two minutes later. When I went back, the dealer gave me a better deal for the five of them. I think these little girls in their first Holy Communion dresses are so precious.

These two are embossed with "My First Communion"

In the third picture, these girls are in the picture together.

These two girls don't look that much alike, but they might have been sisters or cousins. Do you think that explains why they're in the picture together? The last three are embossed with "My Communion"

After taking a closer look at all of these, the wicker chair, table, and carpet are the same, but the flowers and vases are different in these last two.

Unfortunately, the dealer didn't know anything about these. Who are these girls? Where and when were these taken? I was able to slip one of the photos out of the frame without bending it, but there was nothing written on the back. I'm always so curious about old photos. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I'm linking up my flea market finds with:

The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday,

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday,

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday,

A La Carte for Junkin Finds Friday

Friday, January 14, 2011

Repurposed Necklaces

My list of outside things to do has been growing longer and longer. I have so many projects lined up out in the garage, but it's been too cold to work out there for about a week now. I know, I shouldn't be complaining about daytime highs in the 40's, but that's darn cold here in Central California.

The sun came out this afternoon and it reached a beautiful 61 degrees. Wow, a heat wave. Love it! It was warm enough to take some pictures outside without having my fingers turn blue. These are some necklaces I made the other day from my stash of jewels waiting to be repurposed.......

I think this rhinestone piece is half of a sweater guard pin; I used the other half in another necklace project. The chain is from a rosary I found in an antique store a few weeks ago.

This purple rhinestone flower was a clip on earring. The beads and chain were salvaged from other pieces of jewelry.

The tiny purple rhinestones show up a little better in this picture.

This was also a clip on earring. The little rhinestone beads, pearls, and chain are from a few other vintage pieces.

I bought this cute old change purse at an antique show a few months ago; I just knew it had to become a necklace. Bits and pieces of vintage chain, beads, charms, and buttons dress it up a little. It needed something extra on the front, so I added a little brass filigree and part of an old earring.

I'm linking up my Repurposed Necklaces at:

A Little Lovely for Saturday Soiree and

Under the Table and Dreaming for Sunday Showcase Party

Sunday, January 9, 2011

New Jewelry From Some Old Sources

Last week I posted about this vintage Beacon camera I found in an antique store. The poor thing was sitting in the window on a clearance shelf along with several other items. How could I pass it up? The glass lens on top was broken out, but I had other plans.....

Now it's a brooch. The old Beacon was easier to take apart than I thought it would be. I was concerned that I'd bend the metal parts while trying to pry them off. I guess I must be getting better at dismantling these gadgets. I added a vintage rhinestone button in the center for a little sparkle. The pin on the back has a bail attached, so it can also be worn as a necklace.

I didn't realize that this other little metal piece wasn't in the before picture. It came off the side where the camera would open and close. I thought the bracelet needed a pop of color, so I punched out the plastic red windows from the back of the camera and added them to the filigrees. The chain and clasp came from another old bracelet.

OK, this one requires an explanation. Last month when we had our furnace and air conditioner replaced, I was eyeing some of the little parts while the installers were pulling out the old furnace. I decided to pass on the colored wires, and everything else looked like more than I wanted to deal with. When it was time for the thermostat to be trashed, I had to grab it. Yes, I got a strange look when I told the guy what I wanted to do.

After removing the very sticky glue from the back, I was able to salvage the dial and make this brooch. I layered it with a filigree, an old watch face, and then topped it off with a black glass and rhinestone vintage earring.

I'm linking up my repurposing projects at:

Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday,

Shabby Chic Cottage for Transformation Thursday,

Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Year End Vintage Finds

The estate sales around here were few and far between during the month of December. On a rainy day about a week before Christmas, I was feeling the need for a "vintage fix" and decided to drive over to a local ~~junk~~ recycled treasures shop.

Oh my! I thought it was best to leave my truck parked outside the gate.

Believe it or not, I've been able to find some really good old stuff here, but they really make you work for it. Organization is not a priority.

Darn! I thought it was Happy Hour when I spotted those half full glasses

sitting on the top shelf.

They must assume that everything here is waterproof.

It looks like we had a tornado blow through town. On a dry day I would have been tempted to pick through some of these shutters. Well, maybe not.

This picture was taken from a safe distance. If I had been prepared with some thigh-high waders, I would have gone in after this mirror.

I did manage to rescue these before they floated away, so the trip wasn't a complete wash out. I spent a total of $5.00 for all three pieces. It was a good flood sale, but these will need some serious work.

It wasn't easy trying to get a picture of this gold and lavender mirror (strange combination) without being part of it. That tray is just as strange with its flaking brown paint and doilies glued to the underside of the glass . The Austrian glass kerosene lamp base seemed normal enough.

The mailbox and three drawers were much easier to come by. After Christmas we took a day trip over to Placerville, a cute old town in the Sierra foothills. I spotted the drawers in a little shop where everything was 50% off. The two drawers on the bottom are metal, so I thought they'd be great for potted plants. It's hard to see in this picture, but the long drawer on the top is painted a yummy shade of green. I think that mailbox is in serious need of some decorating.