Card Kits

At one of the many garage sales I went to

this summer, I bought a bag full of card-making and scrapbooking kits and papers for $5. This kit was in it. Already open, somebody had attempted to put one card together and given up. They had, instead, decided to keep the envelopes and get rid of the rest.

Being a sucker for a challenge, I followed these (not so simple) instructions, and eventually figured out how to put these multi-fold, multi-glue, multi-confusing accordion cards together. Admittedly, the first one was a little wonky, but by the end, they look quite professional!

The kit consisted of 48 sheets of punch out pieces in 6 different color schemes, making 4 cards of each pattern and sentiment.

On the second day of putting them together, my husband asked why I did not just make half of them and leave the remainder for another time.

My answer was: I refuse to take two different periods of time to figure the how-to process! I know how right now...I will do them all now that I have figured it out, and never do it again!! LOL...

I had to order special sized envelopes on Amazon, but once I get those, I have a very nice collection of fancy cards to send to people I love!

Vintage Kitchen Decor

Welcome to my kitchen! It is a bit overdone, if you ask me! I have been collecting vintage red-handled utensils since I lived in California in the 1980s. Back then, I was very poor, living from paycheck to paycheck. I decorated my first apartment, at the ripe old age of 22, with baskets I found at thrift stores and garage sales.

Then my grandma introduced me to the Galt Flea Market, held every Wednesday. At the time, I was working night shift at a nursing home, so if I could roust myself out of bed by noon, we could once in awhile make it to the sale. At that time, it was quite big already and took a few hours to get through. Mostly, it was produce and "junk" the local farmers were just getting rid of. A great deal of what you see here, I purchased for pennies. I love my "junk", which, over the years, has become Vintage Treasures.

I have what is called a Galley Style Kitchen. On the other wall I have displayed my collection of aluminum Jello molds from the 40s and 50s.

And, since I am showing you my Vintage Treasures, here is my collection of 1920s creamer and/or milk pitchers. Most are marked USA on the bottom. The exception is the smooth round one, which my Nana gave me, and that started my collecting of these cute little pitchers in the first place. It is marked Bauer.

I have a LOT of STUFF!! But I love my stuff...

Garage Sales

If you have not yet gathered this, I LOVE GARAGE AND ESTATE SALES!!!

Sadly, garage sale season is nearly over. Let me share with you a couple of Great Finds I picked up this year...

Being retired, and living in the country in Montana, I am not much for fancy purses. I do like nice purses, but I am cheap and, because I am also practical, I like good quality purses with lots of pockets. But, because I lived in California for 14 years, I also have a bit of fashion sense (I am a very complex woman!) I buy Tignanello brand purses, usually on e-bay.

One weekend this summer, I found a table of purses for sale. Most were of no interest to me. But one did stand out..it was big and red and looked to be of nice quality. I picked it up and asked how much the lady wanted for it. "Oh..for the Louis Vuitton?", she asked. I looked, and sure enough..there it was, bright as day!

The odds were 50/50 it was a knock-off, so I talked her down from $15 to $10.

I looked it up when I got home, and, to the very best of my investigating, it looks to me like it is, indeed, the real thing.

My Stepdaughter was thrilled to get it in the mail!

The other Great Buy that I came across at a really rather junky sale, was, among other things, this glass ashtray. After watching a lot of UTube videos from The Crazy Lamp Lady, this just screamed quality to me. I picked it up for $3 without bartering. When I got home, I used the Google Lens Search on my camera (see my previous post about that), and this is what came up...

Not bad for a "hunch"!

Did I say how much I love Garage Sales?