Vintage Signs For Spring

 We had a rainy day, and I thought it was the perfect time to

crank out a few spring signs.

 We got this vintage box and lid at a flea market last weekend.

I decided to sell them separately and stuck a price tag on each.

And added the lettering to the inside of the lid.

When we put barnboard baseboard in our mudroom,

I told our workman to take all of the leftover wood for his wood stove.

But he thought I could use these two pieces for signs,

and he was right.

All are heading to my booth this weekend for the

Spring Open house.

Salvaged Window Project

So we are getting work done in our mudroom.

This window had been covered with wood,

we weren't sure if the window was there anymore.

It didn't matter because we are putting corrugated tin over the 

entire mess anyway.  But there it was!

We are using the top one in the door of our chicken coop.

But the bottom one was fair game to re-purpose.

It did have a 2x2 inch chunk out of the wood in the bottom.

But I found hinges big enough to cover that,

and other vintage hardware bits to spice up the rest.

The window adhesive I purchased a year or so ago for $2,

Already in my antique booth!

Repurposed Photo Window

I found this frame on my own front porch this week.  It has been hiding there since June.  We have been painting our house exterior this summer (it is looking so good!) and the porch is where we have been storing all of the paints and supplies (our house is a "painted lady" so there is alot of paint) -- and some vintage finds had just been forgotten behind that mess. 

 I had paid $15 for the window (ouch), because I bought it for someone else.  They ended up not needing it.  And my front porch was where it went into hiding after that.

(+) Cute hardware.

(+) Chippy paint.

This week I purchased a whole slough of high end wall adhesives  -- retail for about $28 each, I snagged for $2 each.  I was anxious to try one on a window.

(-) One broken window pane.

I chose an adhesive that I thought would fill three window panes nicely.  Overall I was pleased with how the adhesives stuck to the glass.  But you only get one shot to lay them down straight.  Do or do not, there is no try.

I already had a bit of an idea of what I wanted to do with the fourth empty window pane area.  A trip to Michael's produced: foam board (about $5 after coupon for 4 pieces) ; faux chippy wood paper (69cents); and a flat wooden frame ($3.00). You are right in what you are thinking...this is not going to be a big money maker for her.  I may give it as a gift so I don't have to worry about a profit.

With the addition of a photo in the frame, it would make a great wedding gift.

On-Line Auction Finds 7.20.2017

There have not been many garage sales or auctions lately, due to the excessive heat.  So an on-line auction was welcome.  I bid low, and carefully, because I am trying to "clear out".  Looking for: EASY on the pocketbook, EASY to haul, EASY to get ready to sell, EASY to sell. Here are the few "EASY" items that I ended up with:

 I didn't mind the white spray paint as much as the permanent 

marker on these six sewing machine drawers.  I like the assortment.

All I did was a bit of light sanding to
get rid of the sharpie marks and bring out the details. 

Bought for $12, sold for $50.

 The document box had duct tape over the top....

It took some scrubbing with goo-gone,

but turned out cute.

 I didn't have to do anything to this metal tool carrier,

I even left the old wrenches in it.

This will be an ebay item.

Hard to tell, but it is a rations box from WW2 or Korean War.

 And another tool carrier.
I added matching gray paint to the ends.

 And added one of my wall adhesives.

Four Small Vintage Window Wall Hangings

During our town city-wide garage sales weekend I picked up four little windows.

They measures approx 14" square, perfect size for adding adhesive wall stickers.

 I love doing this on small vintage windows. 

I have done it before ... click here, here or here to view others.

I had $2 in each, sold each for $22.

 I bought the adhesives from Dollar Tree.

Some I had to work on a bit to get them to look right 

in a square frame.

 As always, I used leftover wallpaper for the backing.

(Apply just like wallpaper).

The textured wallpaper shows a little subtle pattern when displayed on a wall,

but really pops when put in a window

My Vintage Bridal Show Offerings

My vintage store that I sell at is hosting a Bridal Show in next week.  I will try to take pictures of the vintage inspired ideas at the show.  This post is highlighting some of the items I am taking to the event.


My husband is usually the chalkboard artist in the family.
He made this for the event.

I had worked on three old windows a few weeks ago.

Painting the back of the window so that the wall adhesive graphics would pop.

After doing the windows that way, I started thinking about some

embossed wallpaper that I had leftover....

I actually just cut it to size and used the wallpaper glue to

adhere it to the backside.  So technically, the paper was

backwards.

But it was super easy to do and gave a great effect.

I did it for this one too.
Added handles on both.
For all of the above I used Dollar Tree
adhesive wall stickers for the graphics.

Sold for $24, had $5 in it.

 This was an assemblage of a board that I had,
old photo that I had, and a couple of Michael's letters
that I got for 50 cents each.
Spent about $3 for materials and sold it for $17.

For these last ones i used Dollar Tree wall graphics
alphabet stickers, spraypainted, then peeled off the stickers. 

Sold for $13, had $2 in it.

I was able to use some of the letters
a second time.

Spent about $3 on materials and sold it for $17.

Here are some of them in my booth.
Along with lace hankies, lace tablecloths,
frames and rhinestone jewelry.
Ready to roll for the Bridal Fair.

Upcycled Window Wall Decor

I am always on the lookout for small vintage windows.  It is so easy to transform them into wall art.

 I added a door plate and large knob to this one, but

it already had the great chippy white paint.

 This was a cabinet door that I got at Ikea for $5.

The wood looked so great that I just left it.

All adhesive lettering came from Dollar Tree ($1).

I added the handle to this little number,

but the white paint was original.

I used chalk paint on the back of the windows to make the

lettering pop.  I have a different idea for the next batch.

Stenciled Snow Shovels 2016 Edition

This year I accumulated eight metal snow shovels for resale.  I made a deal with myself not to pay more than $1 each.  Most of them I picked up at auctions. You can view last years collection here.
I love the variety of colors that I inadvertently picked up.

The one on the left I actually used a Dollar Tree Wall Sticker --

but most were not smooth enough to use that type of sticker.

So most I just stenciled.

(I should have taken photos of the old handles,

they are all so great.)

I will be selling them for $15 each.

Ready for the snow to fall!

Four Panel Vintage Window Wall Hanging

It wasn't too long ago that I created two wallhangings from vintage windows and adhesive stickers made for walls, click here to view that post.  I purchased this great window from my Nebraska buying trip, and knew that the four panels were just begging for some "window dressing".

I paid more than I had wanted to for the window, so I needed to be cheap when I did the embellishing.  I bought two wall/window décor adhesives from Dollar Tree.  I cut one into three words:  LOVE, LAUGH, LIVE.  And I cut off the "extras" from the DREAM adhesive.  Word of caution:  the LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE all had separate letters, so be sure to apply them in a straight line.

The words were all too light, so I needed to lighten the back side of the window to make them pop.  Last time I used paintable embossed wallpaper.  This time I simply painted two coats of chalk paint on to the backside of the glass.

I really like the ease of painting the back of the glass.

I would definitely do this treatment to another

vintage window wallhanging.

Vintage Metal Headboard Garden Decor

I wrote an earlier post on how I decorated a four panel window with Dollar Tree Wall Adhesives, click here to view that post.  It occurred to me at the time, since the "LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH" adhesive was all separate letters how easy it would be to spraypaint over the letters and then remove them. 

One of  the other purchases from Nebraska lent itself well to this project.  I turned this little metal headboard (or footboard, who knows?) upside down.  That way the large metal panel was closer to the top.  I  taped off the edges.  I made black lines to keep the letters straight and then applied the adhesive letters.  The letters are a little forgiving, if you tip one a bit too much you can remove and straighten it.  I should have pressed the letters down gently before applying spray paint.  I ended up doing two coats of flat black spraypaint (you can get generic cans for $1 at Walmart, Lowe's).  Wait until the paint is very dry before removing letters with tweezers.

You may have noticed my old concrete garden gnome.

I talked a lady into selling it to me a few years ago,

it has become my favorite garden decoration.

Two Vintage Window Wall Hangings

I have been doing some MAJOR spring cleaning.  Garden shed, house, yard, back porch and antiques shed.  I have uncovered some items that were totally lost in space and time (i.e. I had forgotten them.)  These two windows fell under that category.

One of my many reasons for purging now is knowing that after "buying season" begins I won't have much time for projects.  I love this size and shape of this type of window, because I know that they make perfect wall decorations.  But they don't just get that way magically, it takes time.

Major cleaning.  I know that it least one of this pair actually came out of a barn.  I was lucky enough to have a couple of the vinyl cling decorations on hand, but one was very light and needed some backing to make it pop.

So I thought of my paintable wallpaper that I had leftover from my bathroom renovation.  I did not paint it for this project, because I wanted it to be white. 

I actually got it wet so that the paste would activate, and pasted it to a cardboard piece cut to fit the back side of the window.

I left the old hinges on the top to add some character, and actually threaded the wire through parts of one for hanging.  I love the pale aqua chippy paint on this one.