My Salvaged Treasures: January 2014

Monday, January 27, 2014

Junk to Jewelry Creations

Where did the weekend go, is it really Monday already? The yard sales were holding out on us again this weekend, but that's probably a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to finish up some projects that have been sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks. It's not like I don't have enough junk to work with, but there's always room for more. Here's what I've been up to...

Pick a number, almost any number.

I always prefer to work with old components, but these vintage inspired porcelain number tags were too hard to resist. The button charms, key, and typewriter key are the real deal.

I also worked on some of the watch faces found at an antique show a few weeks ago. You can see the button earrings I made from this haul here.

I used some of the old clip-on earrings to decorate the pocket watches, and the door knob cover (escutcheon) found a watch face that's a perfect fit.

Watch face earrings with little vintage buttons, birds, and rhinestones.

Now I need to give the pile of junk in my garage some attention.
Hope you all have a creative week.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Salvage Yard and Antique Show Junk

Even though we've been having beautiful weather here in California, the yard sales around town are still in hibernation mode. I've noticed a few ads here and there, but nothing interesting enough to get my motor running that early in the morning. Antique show and salvage yards to the rescue!! I posted about some of the little treasures I found at the Alameda Antique Faire a couple of weeks ago here. This is the rest of the rusty and chippy junk I found along with some goodies from a trip to the salvage yards in Berkeley this past weekend.

Love the ornate cast iron handles on these ~~large drawers~~ planter boxes and the rust on the green metal box.

A large tarnished silver platter, chippy basket, and three decorative architectural pieces.
After cleaning up the architectural pieces I added a hook to the back of each one.

These rusty metal card catalog drawers are 2 feet long and will be perfect for holding small potted plants.

Wide chippy molding is always on my list, and I love the yellow wheels on the old skates.

I've been looking for a headboard for one of my guest rooms for months now, but just haven't been able to find anything that makes me happy. When I saw these 24" x 24" framed ceiling tiles at Alameda, I ditched the headboard idea and went with these instead.

The one other thing I bought just for myself is the old galvanized hardware store drawer. The little stool is perfect just the way it is, and the tackle box will probably get planted just like everything else.

I'm not sure if I'll hang it or sit it on a table, but it definitely will not be planted!

This sign at Ohmega Salvage got my attention right away. I expected the bin to be empty,
but there it was...

an old plaster ceiling medallion staring up at me. After I give it a good bath, I think I'll put a strip of muslin, burlap, or ribbon through it and hang it like a wreath.

Sharing my salvage yard and antique show junk with:

From My Front Porch To Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson for Share Your Cup Thursday

The Thrifty Groove for Thrifty Things Friday

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Junky Picture Holder

A few weeks ago I was in the mood to tackle some of the little junk that was cluttering up my workbench. There was no time to hunt anything down, I just wanted to work with the junk that was right in front of me.

I love using old hinges to create picture or business card holders, so I dug through my box of hinges and grabbed the fence post pieces that had been sitting there for months. About an hour later, two picture holders were born.

I found these blah looking cut off fence posts at an antique show several months ago along with the other two rusty things. They're long gone, but you can see what I did with them and some other junk here.

I painted the posts and attached a perfect fitting chippy hinge to each one.

All the layers of paint keep the hinge in place.

A little bling always helps.

The other one sold already and was decorated with a cute little bow pin on top. I'm going to replace the unidentified mom with a valentine and bring it back over to the Paris Flea Market the next time I set up.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Repurposed First Finds of the Year

I finally finished up some earrings I was putting together from the little treasures I found out at the Alameda Antique Faire last Sunday. I got a little sidetracked in the middle of the week when I was called in for jury duty and had to spend two full days down there before being dismissed. Darn, I couldn't even catch up on my reading because I was immediately called into a court room from the holding pen. Anyway, I didn't have time to clean or photograph the rest of my haul, but old boxes and rusty storage containers were the theme of the day.

The watch faces are still waiting to be transformed into brooches and necklaces.

Buttons were hard to come by this time, but I'm happy with the ones I found.

Aren't these the cutest little tatted rosette thingies? The dealer I bought them from had a booth full of beautiful textiles and all kinds of interesting trinkets. She told me they were made to be attached to vintage lingerie. I'm still trying to figure it out, but it was an interesting explanation.

I knew immediately they were destined to become earrings.

I love finding old metal buttons that match.

These glass buttons aren't really very old, but I thought they were pretty and so feminine.

I really like the detail on these door knob and key hole covers.

Wish I had bought more of those cute little boxes. I think I'll fill them up with little pretties
and make necklaces.

Lots of plans for the rest of the pile too.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Victorian Closet

A few days after Christmas we had a "girls day out" and explored Sutter Creek, Amador City, and Drytown, three historic towns about 45 miles southeast of Sacramento. Oh what fun!! I just had to share one of my favorite shops of the day, Victorian Closet in Amador City.

I could have spent hours in here. It was packed floor to ceiling with vintage clothing, shoes, hats, buttons, lace, ephemera, lingerie, linens, quilts, trunks, and more. Of course I noticed the fabulous brick walls, wood floors, and display cases too! The link to her website was broken, but you can read more about this fabulous shop here. I took these pictures with my phone because I didn't want to carry my camera around all day; must save the other arm for carrying all my purchases, right? I'll just let the pictures do the talking.....