Whimsy at the Warehouse

 

This vignette captured a lot of attention.

   Elaine and I did our first show with the fabulous ladies of Petticoats on the Prairie (the Rodeo Queens) in Ballinger, Texas, this past weekend.  We had a fun show where we sold some fun things and met a lot of fantastic shoppers and amazing vendors and enjoyed doing the show in a one of a kind venue, a wool and mohair warehouse, restored by the Bickel family of Ballinger.

Photo courtesy of Petticoats on the Prairie   This building was a must see and will make a great events venue if the family decides to use it for that. It's three stories (we were in the basement by the freight elevator which proved very handy).  The Bickel family were so gracious, helpful and welcoming, we really appreciate all of their hard work in getting the warehouse ready for the show.
       We concentrated on a Garden Party theme and took a lot of wrought iron, patio items and plants to enhance that theme.

We still have this awesome glider although, we had a lot of interest in it.  The cute picnic bucket and tool chest planter found new homes.

As you looked into our booth, this was the scene on the left side.

Here's a close-up of the above scene.  We sold a lot of the small concrete doves.

I apologize for the poor quality of this I phone shot, but this was the scene on the right side as you entered our booth.

Here's a zoomed in view of the scene above.  Several of the flower frogs were sold.



The middle part of our view featured rustic industrial items.





Part of our space had a stairway to a trap door which were allowed to display on.  Elaine created this great vignette.



This is a different view of the stairway vignette.

    There were so many talented vendors at the show and I confess that I didn't take pictures but one group just went beyond amazing in creating an unbelievable display for their booth.  They are called Perspective and I hope they will be ok that I "stole" this picture from their page to give you a glimpse of their talent.

They built this wall and then created this breath-taking display.  Please check out their page to see more of their space.

We had a great time as I said, and after getting a good night's sleep in my own bed, I can look back and enjoy all the fun times and more importantly the wonderful people we met (plus all the great friends we'd already made who we got to see again).

Check out the Petticoats on the Prairie facebook page for more pictures.  We want to thank each of you beautiful ladies with Petticoats on the Prairie for doing such a fantastic job of organizing and running this show.  All of you are "tops" in our book!

Betsy and Elaine

Cleaning, Purging and Starting Fresh

Yesterday, March 18th, my sweet sis, Elaine, my boyfriend, Willie and I spent Elaine's birthday, cleaning, purging and reorganizing my shed.  It was dirty, and very hot (100 degrees at one point) and back-aching work, but we were determined to clean out the front of the shed to see what we had that could be sold, fixed for Sisters' Treasures or used at home.
    The largest majority was piled into a huge stack to set out for our semi annual citywide trash pick-up

  It was hard to give up some items that I had hoped to "fix", repurpose or for sentimental reasons keep for memories' sake (like the bentwood rocker I bought in Spain when I was just 17, visiting my sis, Elaine and her husband when they were stationed in Germany) The rocker has a broken leg that would be very difficult to fix, but I have hung onto it for years because of the sweet memories and the fact that it was first piece of furniture I ever purchased.  I guess it's time for it to go.  The upholstered chair's leg also broke and to be honest, I didn't want to reupholster it or attempt the leg repair, so it's going also.  Some items on the stack I had rescued from a salvage pile in the past with great intentions of " repurposing, but obiviously my good intentions and reality aren't jiving! ha!
      We also took 600 lbs of metal to the salvage yard and got some cash for it but forgot to take pictures! :(
      Recently we got a new tin roof on our house, so Elaine came up with the idea of using the old tin as a flooring for the outer shed area to attempt to keep my "keepers" a little cleaner!

      
  This will be my staging area for projects waiting for upcycling and items for sale (plus our storage area for the lawn mowers).
      This side still needs work, but this will be my "project work area".

We're going to put down tin for this ground area also.  I'll post pictures on FACEBOOK, Sisters' Treasures site once I have it done.

There are still plenty of projects and good "junk" to sell even after the purge.

I don't think I need to lament too much for projects I've given up on, do you?? ha!

Now, if I can only get to the inside of the shed and work magic there, I'd be (exhausted) but one happy camper.

I want to give a HUGE shout out to Elaine for spending her birthday doing extreme manual labor and to Willie for enduring the heat to help us with this vast project!

Betsy

  

"Junk" Treasure Hunting Pay Day

We of Sisters' Treasures fame are just two "wild and crazy sisters"!

When one (that would be Elaine) calls the other (that would be me, Betsy) and says, "What are you doing?" to which I reply, "Thinking about going garage saling!"....  what does a junker do, but

 jump in my car when Elaine suggests we go to one or two estate sales we saw on estatesales.net. The really crazy part is that both sales were far away, in fact, the one we decided to attend was around 85 miles from my home in Karnes City!

Forget high gas prices, the high mileage already on my Journey and the fact that I'd be gone most of the day, THIS is what we live for (in fact what most junker/antique/vintage dealers I know, live for........... the Thrill of the Hunt!

 In fact on Facebook I saw a post from Ki Nassauer's team of Flea Market Style magazine and Junk Bonanza fame on her new page, FleaQuest asking "Would you rather Be out in the field on the hunt for junk OR be back in your workshop creating with the pieces you've found?". For me the answer was..... in the fields hunting. And hunting (and finding) we did. Here are a few of our purchases:

      Of course, Elaine and I are both creative souls, so I couldn't resist working a little creative magic on the frames.  One was missing some of the decorative trim molding, so instead of tediously replacing all of it, I got out my new sample jar of Annie Sloan Old White paint and went to work.

I added a clear glaze and then the dark glaze to antique it then dry brushed gold metalic paint to finish it.

                                          And here is a corner to show the detail a little better:

   Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing................. I made a little stop on my way home to get a sneak peak at a terrific estate sale in Castroville, Tx and of course, I couldn't pass up a few purchases.

   Happy hunting (junk that is) this weekend!

    Betsy

February Fredericksburg Trade Days is in the Books

   We just finished a great February show at Fredericksburg Trade Days and started with a new look for our cottage.  My guy, Willie and our brother, Dennis came up several times to enclose the back porch and part of the front porch.  We did this for several reasons, one to gain more "room" space and more importantly to be able to close faster without having our merchandise damaged with the tarps we cover them with, blowing off .  There is still a little more to do, but we've already received great reviews for the new walls.  This allowed us to show off our advertising signs we have for sale and other architectural salvage items.

  This is the other side of the wall and eventually we'll add doors to this outer clossed in porch.

  We left one side open so we can have easier access to bring furniture in and more importantly...... load furniture into customers vehicles!  As you can see we gained an extra "room" by closing in one end of the porch.

Aren't you groovin' for this fab retro sofa?  This "bad boy" is actually a massage couch (but we're missing the cords to plug her in). 

The new walls gave us more space to display pictures like this great midcentury paint by number, four seasons set.

In keeping with the midcentury theme, we added this great atomic, space age Lux clock.

On the opposite side of the porch we went with an indurstrial, office theme, showcasing lots of file drawers.

Opposite the file cabinets we offer this school locker, a great chippy pink desk and a couple of paper cutters.

Elaine found these amazing vintage lanterns, made of a type of canvas and metal.

On the side of the cottage is where we have our rustic metal and lawn pieces and such.

One quick look inside, shows a great collection of aqua ball jars with the coveted zinc lids. Love these!
   I hope you enjoyed a little tour of our February show at Trade Days. Have a blessed day.
  Betsy

The Tale of a Junk Garden .. part 2

    I can't believe that I'm writing two blogs in one week after a 4 month sabatical, but it's true.  I'm really tuned into my Garden Junk theme, so I thought I'd show you how I Winterize our plants .. Junk style.

     We have the good fortune to have a built-in atrium to keep our plants cozy (and alive) all Winter long.  Our home is built in a U shape with a garden area in the U. We have a fiberglass roof to filter in the sun and during the Winter we put up a rather ugly but useful wall across the part of the atrium that is exposed.   With so many plants crammed in to weather the cold, it looks like a tropical jungle with plants, on the ground, on raised objects (i.e. garden junk) and hanging from the low rafters.  The picture above is one portion of it.

  I've added chippy statues like that angel to keep "watch" over my plants.

  I put an old child's rocker to use, holding a blooming bougainvillea, while a rusty sifter houses some succulents.

  my favorite rusty, chippy birdcage doesn't house any birds but looks beautiful among the old ferns.

   I've used old urn shaped lamps for accents and chicken feeders and hibachi grills for succulent planters.

      A groovy midcentury swag lamp doesn't work but blends well with all the hanging plants.

  Another view of the swag lamp shows off our ferns and the old fountain that houses more junk style succulents.

   A dusty old water jug and a plaster cornucopia accompany more plants.

    A rusty child's metal chair holds a repurposed plastic shell salad bowl which now houses assorted succulents.

     With the help of this atrium, we've managed to keep annuals like potato vines and impatients and coleus alive for several years.

    I even let some of my succulents "put on the Ritz" as I married them with vintage silverplate dishes.

      With the warm weather we've had this past week, it's tempting to put my plants outside, but old man Winter came back last night with freezing temps so I'm so grateful to have this atrium to keep my plants alive and thriving.

 Happy Gardening (whenever!)

Betsy