On the Road to Gonzales

So excited to be part of the Rusted Gingham Barn Sale next weekend!  Finishing projects and getting all my goodies packed up.  Hoping the rain will stay away so I can leave the truck bed open to load up more good junk.

Watched this news clip this morning.  Check it out and take the road trip with me to Gonzales!

Mid-West Adventure

Home again after a month long trip to the beautiful mid-west! 

First stop to my sister's in Illinois, to prepare for Gold Rush.  Cleaned, tagged, and loaded all kinds of goodies in her horse trailer.  Okay fine, we went to an auction too.  We loaded a trailer there too but not to worry, it was all for my nephew.  So of course, I got to visit with my nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Then on to Oronoco, Minnesota for Gold Rush weekend.  I used to live just down the road from this show so it's my all time favorite. 

Actually got the nerve to drive up our old driveway to see what we could see.  They changed out the deck my husband build 20 years ago, I guess it's about time, for a beautiful huge one.  Would have loved to check out the inside to see if they made some of the improvements I would have like to make if we were still there.

Two of my sisters did the show with me.  I think we had enough fun to try this again, we'll see.  Here's our booth with an early shopper the night before the show officially opens.

 
On the way back to Illinois we stopped at one of our bother's houses in Baraboo, Wisconsin, for a late night visit.  Thanks to my failing Tom Tom navigation and a dead cell phone and Wisconsin's love of round abouts, I almost didn't make it!

Then I had a nice visit at my Mom's in Upper Michigan.  Also seeing an other nephew and uncle.  My mom's side of the family had a mini family reunion in Green Bay.  Mini meaning it was just for the 'local' Kalishek's.  So I guess I was a crasher.  But I did see some relatives I haven't seen in a very, very long time.

My youngest sister didn't do Gold Rush with us so I stopped to visit with her a couple days in Wisconsin, too.  Her young boys just crack me up.   And of course we squeezed in a little thrift shopping while we were at it.

The last 2 weeks were spent in Minneapolis with my little girl.  Helping her move into a new apartment.  After graduation this spring, her internship turned into a real job so she's staying in Minnesota.  The logistics of moving out of one apartment the last of the month and not being able to move into the new one until the next day, toss in the truck rental company not providing as large a vehicle as promised and a new roommates larger than anticipated bed, and did I mention it was move in weekend for college students.  Ya, quite the adventure!  Thankfully, my sister-in-law lives in town and we had someplace to stay overnight and unload to make 2 loads.

But here are a couple pictures of the partially decorated new apartment.

 Her color scheme was salmon and gold.  She looks happy but exhausted!  I brought the headboard from home.  It was a prop I'd used in the past.  She has an idea to put photos in the windows but first making a mirrored mat on the glass to frame them.

Speaking of mirrors.....I bought most of these from home, but it was her idea to do a mirror wall in their dining room. 

Most of my treasures I got on my trip are unpacked and put away, either here or in the storage unit, ha!  Here's one of the finds I got for the boy.  Hope to see him tomorrow.

I just thought it was an interesting piece and if he doesn't want it I'll put it in our upstairs TV room.  I've got some old game boards on the walls up there and this might be fun up there too.

Nice to be home, sleeping in my own bed again.  I always like to count the beds, couches, I sleep on while I'm gone.  9 this trip, ya, good to be home. 

On the Road Again!

I'm a mid-west girl at heart.  Texas has got some good junk but my all time favorite flea market is GOLD RUSH DAYS in downtown Oronoco, Minnesota.  And that's were I'm headed PDQ!

Maybe get a glimpse of Ki.....

Maybe get some jewels to re-purpose, cause I've used up all I've got, ha!

We lived just down the road from Oronoco for 11 years (we've been in TX for 13, omg, time flies!)  Gold Rush was a family get together for us, at our house.  Some of my brothers and sisters would come with their kids and we'd all have a ball.

The guys would go golfing, one day they hit 3 golf courses, wt?!
My niece Nikki would babysit the younger kids, now she's a mommy to her own twin baby boys.

And us girls would go junkin!  Oh, we didn't call it 'junking' way back then, we called it 'antiquing' but let's just call it what it is.....lookin' for some good junk!

The end of the day we'd all get together for dinner on the deck.  Maybe take in a Honker's game.  One year we planned a big day of canoeing and picnicking on the Zumbro River.  Boy o' boy, that was fun!

Well, the last few years I've been able to visit my family in the mid-west around Gold Rush Day's.  Now, isn't that convenient?  So here's my itinerary, sort of, Illinois, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.  Far enough and long enough that I'll need to get my oil changed while on vacation, ha!

So what I went and did was talk a couple of my sister's into having a booth at Gold Rush.  Ya, seemed like a good idea at the time.  Not so much once I started packing up all the good junk to sell, ha!  Fun can be soooo much work.  We did this once before at a sale in Illinois.  My Sister's Treasures rides again! 

If you're lucky enough to be heading to Gold Rush as well, stop in and say 'hey'.  We'll be in the area they call the Pines, hope we'll have shade in our part!  Well, I'd rather have sun than rain.  Omg, that's some crazy memories, stomping around in the pouring rain.  Good times!



Now that my little girl has done graduated university, she's decided to stay in Minneapolis.  All the more reason to visit the mid-west.  Insert happy dance here.

So proud of our little girl!

Wish us luck and happy hunting!

Windows and Doors

   

I made several of these for craft sales last fall and decided to make a few more when I found some nice windows at the Habitat store.

 

Now some good news and some bad news.....

The bad news.....the antique mall I had a small booth in went out of business last December. 

 

 

 The good news.....I got a great deal on a couple old doors.

 

 This one I hung in our guest bath.  

I just took the wreath and towel bar off the wall and attached them to the door.

I just love the colors and natural wear and tear.

Here's the other door with a paper wreath.

Ya, another idea we've seen all over Pinterest and blogland.

Oh, well, it was fun to make.

Gotta love all this chippy goodness!

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

How Long Was I Sleeping?

Sorry, that was from a joke last night.  But I do feel like I've been sleeping on the job here.  Not going to count the months it's been since I last posted.  

And etsy, ya, that's looking like a permanent vacation.

How about a New Years resolutions, ha, February already, let's just say I'm a late bloomer.  I really do enjoy my time here in blogland and etsy so I'd love to get myself back into it all.  

I haven't just been sitting here sleeping, I've been up and at 'em, out and about, here and there, 

just look.....

Made some jewelry for one of my niece's wedding party.

 All 8 of us brothers and sisters were at the wedding, but this is just us girls.

 

 Ah, ya, the wedding was in Wisconsin, had to tour a brewery, duh.

One of my sweet nephews posing in front of the tree I helped my little sister put up.

Of course I spent as much time with the little girl as possible since the only time she was home was while I was still gone.  

Hum, how did that happen?

 Made some hanging things for her and her roommates stuff.

 And for the jewelry as well.

Auction treasures?

 

 But I did dodge a different bullet while up north, moving my son into a new apartment.  Ya, not a fan of that kinda schlepping.

Hosted a going away party for some friends, boo hoo.

 

Kinda went overboard making cuffs.

 

And some of these.

 

 And a few of these.

 

 Cause you know I do these in the fall.

 Another niece had these 2 handsome gentlemen.

 

And visited more nephews.

 

The defunct antique booth, piled to the ceiling, where to put all that good junk now?

  

Then there was Christmas, birthdays, a cold, New Years, and the super bowl!

Really.....ain't nobody got time for that!

Jute Webbing Seat - How To

I don't remember where or when I got this cute little chair.  It had a broken out cane seat, I'm not a huge fan of caning and I certainly don't know how to do it so I just tore what was left off.

Saw this idea on Pinterest

via Pinterest - upholstery webbing

and thought I'd give it a try.

Not quite the before picture.

 Tacked the back first and cut strips to fit.

Next the front.

One side and then the other.

All done! 

Also, I wanted to show you the sweet apron I got from 

Casandra from Sleeping or Sewing.

Remember she won my 2 Year Blogiversary Giveaway.  Well it turns out she lives very close by, so we agreed to meet up.  She gifted me one of her handmade vintage sheet aprons, so cute!

Reversible!

Funny story about my first 'on purpose' blog meet up - when I told the little girl I met with someone from blogland she scolded me, "What?!  You don't know who they might be!"  Come to find out later, Cassandra kept the information from her mother as well, for the very same reason.  Too funny! 

Be sure to visit Cassandra's etsy shop and blog

Sleeping or Sewing.

Junkin' Treasures and Giveaway Winner

Took me a while to get this post together, picture downloading issues again, argh!
But.....

Company's all gone, even the sheets and towels have been washed.  Wow, amazing what gets done when you stay home!

My sister and her husband were here for close to a week.  Their visit was overlapped a day with Mr. Wonderful's sister, in town for business.

It was fun while it lasted, estate sales, junk shops, bead store, Warrenton and Round Top, eating, drinking, swimming, crafting, redecorating.  Didn't mention sleeping, could have used some more of that, ha!

First up a fantastic estate sale, that of a local framer.  We bought 10 foot lengths of picture frame molding, a quarter a piece!  My sister is good at making her own frames and is framing a print for me.  Best sister ever!  (oops, in case my other sisters read this)  Such a sweet sister!  

We spent 2 days in Warrenton and Round Top, still had plenty of room in the back of my truck, but we came back with some treasures.

Here's the pendent my sister brought for me to commemorate the occasion.

So true!
I consider my truck to be a mobile storage unit.

Best deal.....a wood box filled with 30+ door knobs, back plates, and lock sets. Woohoo!

Fun story that shows how generous junkers are.  I'd just walked up to the booth of a gal I know who was just selling her last door knobs.  Ooooh, nooo!  But never mind.  So we stay to chat a bit and the husband of the couple that bought the last of the knobs comes back to tell me there's this box of knob just over here if I'm interested!  

Seriously?!  

Who does that?!  

Junkers, that's who.

This is the market sign I bought that my sister helped me trim with some corner pieces I bought at Gold Rush in Minnesota last summer.  The she helped me hang it over my sink, then she decided my trays were all off balance, commence the redecorating.

Same thing only different and more.

Old wood tote box turned into a coffee mug shelf.  The printed mugs are from my all time favorite restaurant, The Hungry Peddler in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  The dark brown are from the vintage set we're using everyday, Marcrest Daisy and Dot design.

2nd Blogiversary Giveaway Winner

Thank you all for entering my giveaway.  I downloaded a random number generator app on my phone, don't cha know.  So the lucky winner is:  

Cassandra of {Sleeping or Sewing}

Cassandra, your lovely gifts and prizes will be whisking their way to you as soon as I get your address.  I got the something from Round Top to put in the gift bag, I made something with the something, but will keep it a surprise til you get it in the mail.  Will post a picture later.

Surprise!

I was the winner of a giveaway from Betsy at My Salvaged Treasure so I got this lovely package in the mail last week.

That sweet sister of mine also potted the plant I bought, with Betsy's xo's!