Scary Photo Holders

Here are some ways to increase the SCARE factor of your Halloween displays....



Altered some of your instant ancestors to make them witches and warlocks...I used the original photos...

You could use copies...

AND use your vintage game letters to spell out BOO or other Halloween words and stick them in your flower frogs..



Wrap some bottles {old or new} in the black and white pages from old books, add some Scary graphics...

Then turn them into photo holders, of course.

WiTCHes THReaD?

What do witches use to fix up their torn and tattered witchy garb after a hard day of "toiling and troubling"?

Why "Witches' Thread", of course!

Vintage Black Friday

I am hooked on Estate Sales

and here is why.....

MY LATEST ESTATE SALE FIND

This wooden bowl is BIG.

I don't know if you can tell how BIG it is...

It is 22inches in diameter which is GIANT

for a hand turned burl bowl.

It was sitting outside of a home having an sale

leading me to be very excited about what might be inside

But, it was the only thing I wanted in the whole house.

~ A "New" Cabinet for ME ~

Things stay pretty much the same around my house. I have lived here for twenty years ~ so things are for the most part DONE.

But I have never been happy with my storage space in the kitchen!

For that last ten years I have had a primitive cabinet ~ not a good primitive cabinet ~ a serviceable primitive cabinet sitting on top of this long pine table.



The wall behind it has always been bare ~ a rare thing in the house of antiques dealer. All in all, the set up was workable, and I could store a lot of stuff....BUT I didn't LOVE it.

I've had these cool 8ft. tall shutters sitting in "The Piles" in my garage ~ doing nothing useful for many years.



Here they are on the wall ready the "new" cabinet to go in front of them.

The little piece is one of the cabinet doors from the old primitive cabinet....it is going to end up on top of the new cabinet.



Above is the "new" cabinet ~ in the middle of its beauty treatment. It was a curbside find from this spring ~ also unburied from "The Piles" in the garage.



Now with a lot of help from Mr. Anything Goes Here, this over 5ft. long cabinet is in its new home holding many of my favorite things.....ironstone compotes and glass cake domes among them.






It was worth ALL the effort. At last I LOVE this space.....

and several things have gotten cleared out of the garage. Ah, sweet progress!

White Wednesday

These white garden items have been hiding behind "The Piles" in my garage ALL summer. Finally I can see them again.......THAT is progress!



Around the terrarium you can see part of my flower frog collection...



And another spiral flower frog is on a stack of clay saucers...



Aren't these the cutest little bunny garden markers? The sign in the background is an old garden shop sign that says Flower and Vegetable Plants.

Maybe it's been good not to see my collections for awhile~ NOW that I see them again, they are very special to me again!

I love those MULTIPLES!

It is with delight that I join the MULTIPLES Blog Party.

My antiques business is ALL ABOUT multiples...most of the time that is my main criteria for buying something...

Can I get a lot of something....hose nozzles, tomato baskets, printers letters, whisk brooms....on and on....

Also, I look for common items that will look interesting in groups...below are some examples. Enjoy!!! Which do you like best?

Some More Ridiculously Easy Photo Holders

These photo holders are THRIFTY and very easy to do. If you haven't seen my tutorial on wire wrapping go here.

Then look at the simple, everyday, around-the-house things you can use...




hose nozzles... and door knobs...



and...a couple of different kinds of cabinet latches and locks....



and, I bet you have a couple of ideas of your own you'd like to share, right?

Tools of the Trade

Aren't the tools of gardening earthy and honest ~ with enduring beauty?

At a recent Estate Sale I had to buy the plant tags because my first eight years of education were at "The Pines School".

In the 1950's my parents sold hand tools just like these in their Home and Garden Shop......but didn't use them...far too "dainty" for 3 acres of of professional gardening.

White Cloche Wednesday

I know some of you put your "summer" decorations away this time of year.......I don't. I just add some autumn colors to my displays.



This cloche with coral and milkglass is sitting on an old wooden Christmas feather tree stand...



And behind it is a collage I did called "Time in a Bottle"....



Which includes one of my favorite sayings...

Another Ridiculously Easy Photo Holder

Anyone who has been reading my blog for awhile knows I love making photo/picture holders out of ordinary things. Today I am using some old door knobs that I had hanging around in the studio {basement}.

I used the set-screw hole to thread the wire though before wrapping it around the knob.



If you need a wire wrapping tutorial or a refresher course hop on over to this post. Other than that it is pretty easy.



I was getting ready for a show ~ and I didn't have photos handy ~ so I used my price tags to show you were the photos go.

Only thing to remember is to use flat bottomed door knobs so that your picture/photo holders stand up straight.