The Rusted Gingham Barn Sale

Elaine and I are going to do something new as Sisters' Treasures which is called The Rusted Gingham Barn sale We haven't met the great girls of Rusted Gingham in person, but through phone conversations and emails I feel like we already have become "antiquing" friends.
Based on the info from previous shows via their blog and facebook, I think this is going to be a pretty big show. (they moved it to the county show barn because of its increase in size so that says a lot).
There's some anticipation and nervousness about doing a show we're unfamiliar with, but at the same time, the challenge and opportunities to meet new people, make some sales, and probably buy lots of new "stuff" :) is exciting. It's this Saturday, Nov. 5th in Gonzales, Texas and we hope to bring a sampling of what makes up Sisters' Treasures.

You will find cowboy boots and vintage clothes, vintage linens and crafting items as well as some cool architectural pieces and

repurposed and vintage jewelry.

We hope to see you in Gonzales!
The Sisters!

Life has gotten in the way of Blogging

I've been woefully neglectful of our blog but as my header says, "life has taken over and I haven't found time. Here's one the reasons I've been absent:

I got to check off one trip from my "bucket list"... seeing the leaves change in the Fall in New England. My guy and I went back to Maine to see his family and a "real" fall for this Texas girl!

Maine did not disappoint! This is a little "pond" as they call them up there that I fell in love with two years ago on my summer vacation there. It's called Moxie pond. The road is rough but it's lined with gorgeous hard woods wearing their colors magnificantly. Some day, I'd like to spend part of my summer RVing at this pond, fishing at our leisure and dangling a toe in the water off a dock!
It was tough coming back to our drought riden land but at we got one significant rain while I was gone! Next time I'll post about our upcoming show at Rusted Gingham Barn Show

Fredericksburg Trade Days & Sisters Treasures!

Fredericksburg Trade Days is coming this weekend and Sisters Treasures will be there, maybe a little slow moving on Elaine's part (her foot is still healing) but we'll be there with vintage hats on! I will be there around mid afternoon Friday since I have to work part of the day! :) We have lots of new treasures to share, plus we're going to bring a sampling of a new line tenatively called: Sisters Originals. Elaine has repurposed this cute denim jacket:

I've been working on repurposing vintage and new jewelry and clothing and am going to try to have a few pieces for sale. I have two necklaces that are works in progress.

I'm still undecided on the bottom piece to add to this necklace. Here are my choices so far, what do you think?

Thanks, for visiting our blog, Betsy

Sisters and Treasures

I can't think of anything more precious to me than my family and those I love. I'm the middle sister of three, plus we have a cool brother, Dennis. This post is about Sisters. Our vintage business of antique/junking started about five or six years ago (my bad that I don't remember exactly when!) with my older sister, Elaine and myself renting a small space in an antique mall in Brady, Texas. Our youngest sister, Arlene, isn't really into antiques but she appreciates that we do and more importantly loves to have fun, which is our main mantra with our business.

Each year we sisters have had a girls' vacation for a few days, usually at beach but last year we took our mom and went to the Big Easy, New Orleans.

We even got Arlene to join in our fun at Prom night and 70's night at our annual trip to Warrenton for Antiques week last fall.

Now, I got my creative sister to help in designing our new line of vintage repurposed jewelry with our first official piece this weekend. We combined two necklaces with pearls along with two bracelets to come up with "The Golden Pearl" necklace. What do you think?

Thank you, Sis for your creative talents! I love you!

Fredericksburg Trade Days AKA--- Hotter Than Blazes August Show

Two weekends ago, Elaine and I celebrated our second anniversary at Fredericksburg Trade Days and our first anniversary at our Sisters Treasures Cottage.
It was definitely the hottest show we've done and I'm not talking sales! ha! We did have a great show despite the heat and want to thank everyone who braved the 100 plus temps to attend the show and for supporting our business.
Now you know you love this business when you have surgery on your foot the Friday before and still not only attend the show but work like crazy to make it a success!! Way to go big Sis! Elaine was a super "trooper" and hobbled around on her walking boot assisting customer and moving way more than I'm sure her doctor intended her to do! We give thanks to our Mom for giving us that "keep on keeping on attitude"! Love you, Mom!

We redid the kitchen area to showcase Elaine's great 50's formica table and the neat retro Coca Cola menu board with lots of fun retro kitchen accessories.

Since there's a big trend with men now to set up a "Man Cave",
we thought it would be fun to set up a scenario to give the guys some ideas of what we carry that would work in their "Cave". Here's just one pic of a fun retro Man chair with a great Tabasco shirt to keep his "KOOL"!
Our cover picture is a vinette of some crusty, chippy garden and architectural items available. Come see us next month (third weekend) for more great treasures. In between that time you can shop with us at the Blue Hills Antique Mall in Geronimo. We just did a little "foofing" today.

Let's "slip" Away

This past Saturday I was shopping for items for Sisters Treasures, and I bought a box of slips and a few camisoles at our Catholic Church rummage sale. As I was hand picking the slips I wanted, one of the ladies running the sale suggested I just make an offer on the entire box. I roughly counted them and offered $5. I ended up getting a total of forty, including a few camisoles, but most are vintage full and half slips probably going back to the fifties with the majority being from the 60s and 70s. There are lots with beautiful detailing of lace and netting.
This put me on a reminiscent road thinking of a time when ladies wouldn't be caught dead without wearing the proper under garments which always included a slip under a dress or skirt. I found some great old ads on the internet of slips from those bygone eras.

I feel I got a great deal for our shop, even if now, girls are wearing slips and camisoles as tops and dresses, they are still are fun.
Here is a sampling of what I bought. Do any of you still wear slips? (now I'm going to assume that the men reading this will say, "NO!" but in case I'm wrong I won't go down that road! ha!)

Farewell to Antiques and More

With mixed emotions, Elaine and I decided to pull out of Antiques and More in Castroville this past weekend, so we can concentrate on Fredericksburg Trade Days and our new space at Blue Hills Antique Mall in Geronimo, Texas.

It's hard to leave nice people and the two sisters who own Antiques and More, Debbie and Phyllis, are great and are doing their best to make their antique store a success in a tough economy.  We wish them well and will definitely go back and shop and recommend you, our readers, go by when you're in Castroville, Tx.
        The "misadventures "of tearing down a space filling a trailer and two vehicles and then transporting them almost a hundred miles to a new location are crazy to say the least.  The funniest part we didn't take pictures of which was trying to tie down a tarp over our "treasures" on a flat bed truck and then "rigging it" as only daughters of Dan Herrmann could do!  Daddy would have been proud of our "get us by" methods!!  After four stops to retie the tarp we finally made it to Geronimo, but only had about an hour and fifteen minutes to transform our booth with all the NEW items we brought over!!  WELL, that didn't happen, so I stayed the night in Geronimo at my nephew's place (thank you, Dan and Jennifer) and the next day, Elaine and I worked from opening until closing to work our Magic (or at least some pretty creative ways to cram two loads of stuff into one booth)!
   Check it out!

To see more pictures please check out our Facebook Sisters Treasures.

Sanford and Son Salute!

Here's our tribute to the show that started many of us antique, vintage dealers onto the path of antiquing with 'good junk'!   Some would call that an oxymoron, but every savvy vintage dealer knows there's a fine line between junk, good junk and treasures.  The old adage, "one man's junk is another man's treasure' has never been more true and I think we owe a little homage to the show that made "junking" cool!  Thank you Sanford and Son, you are now considered ROCK STARS in the world of 'good junk'!

Boot Scootin' Fun

What started with the purchase of a pair of eel skin cowboy boots and some ropers in several colors exploded into 50 plus boots at any one time in our Trade Days booth where we've built a reputation for a large selection of vintage cowboy boots at very fair prices.  I haven't counted lately how many boots we've sold, but suffice it to say there are quite a few guys and girls wearing a pair of Sisters Treasures boots.

 I even found a cool pair that fit that I wouldn't part with and Elaine owns several pairs including some very "disco kool" Silver boots (which used to be mine)! Now that's stylin'! 
   This is definitely a Texas Thing but I was just wondering if anyone out there has caught on to the cowboy boot craze and if so, don't you want another pair?  The Sisters Treasures will most likely have a pair that fits you so come check us out next month (third weekend of August) at Fredericksburg Trade Days!
    And don't forget to practice a little "YEE HAW" to break in those bad boys when you purchase a pair!

These are mine! My feet love the square toes and I think the hot pink stitching is pretty "groovy"!

Flea Markets and Bucket Lists

     I love a great antique, vintage Flea Market and show and I'm blessed to be in Texas where some of the best ones (in my humble opinion) take place.   Just this month two of my favorite "junking/antiquing" magazines came out with their lists of the best flea market/barn sales in the U.S. and one of my favorites was listed in both magazines- Antiques Week or as it's referred to more commonly: Round Top- Warrenton and also Marburger Farm.  The first two are the main towns where the show takes place and last is the Grand Daddy of shows within the many shows that comprise this week.
Here's the magazine covers and pages from both magazines, Country Homes and Romantic Country

Have you been to this show?   My sister in law and sister and I have been going to the fall show for eight years and make it our "girl friend" weekend of shopping and enjoying Junk Gypsy Prom Night, etc. 
Aren't we some "Hot Mamas!"  The first pic is from the Gypsy Prom night and the second was a 70's Party one of the venues promoted. 
 The cool thing about this "show" is that it's about 30 shows or more within one Big show, expanding almost two weeks for some venues.  It deserves the attention these magazines have given it, but at the same time it got me to thinking about my "Bucket List" of antique show and flea markets that I'd like to attend some day around the good ole USA.
       The one I almost attended this year takes place the first week of August and is called the World's Longest Yard Sale  It actually spans 5 (or 6) states and has gotten a lot of media coverage over the years.  I planned vacation time to attend this antique/junk event but couldn't get any of my antiquing buddies to attend it with me, so I guess I'll wait until next year! ;(
    Others that  I hope to attend some day are the Pasedena Rose Bowl Flea market in California and Brimfield Antique Show in Massachusetts along with the Springfield Antique Show in Ohio and The Farm Chicks in Washington.  I think the Junk Bonanza and Oronoco Gold Rush Days in Minnesota would be fun as well.  Texas has a monthly show collectively called "Canton", First Monday, located  East of Dallas which I attended back in the 80's but I've been informed by many that I wouldn't even recognize that show today.  It's HUGE and on my list as well.
     So does anyone have any other favorites for their Bucket List?  I'd also love to hear some first hand accounts of any of the events I listed.
   Speaking of shows, a great little under-rated monthly show that I participate in called Fredericksburg Trade Days happens this weekend.  Here's the linkFredericksburg Trade Days  Come on out and have a "hot" time in Fredericksburg.