Caster Wheel Bookends

Happy Halloween!!

I tried to work on a quick project this weekend in-between pricing all of the stuff that is going to my booth.  It is taking WAY longer to inventory and price than I thought it would but once I get this initial inventory in the booth I think it will be easier after that (please tell me it will be!)

So the quick project that could have taken me less than an hour became an on again/off again project that took me all weekend but I am happy with the results.

I bought these old, rusty casters a couple of weeks ago for $1.50 apiece.

They aren't exactly alike but close enough to use together for bookends.

 I purchased a huge box of children's building blocks a couple of years ago and have used them for several projects.  I dug through the box and found these two smaller blocks.

 I wanted to use the blocks as the base of the bookends but ran into a slight problem......not enough depth to the block.

 I didn't want to go out and buy wood so I improvised.

I rummaged through this box of rusty harness parts (I'll post about these later).

 And found these two rings that were pretty much the diameter of the base of the caster.

 The addition of the ring to the bottom of the caster allowed me to use the wood I had on hand.

 I drilled a hole in the block.

And then stained the wood and inserted the caster.

 Another set of bookends.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a safe Halloween.

Jane

Barn Pulley Giveaway Winner

Hi everyone!  Hope you are enjoying a nice weekend.

It's time to let you know who was winner of my giveaway for this pair of vintage barn pulleys.

But before I announce the winner I first want to thank all of you for your wonderful response to this giveaway.  I really enjoyed reading all the comments!

Between comments on the post and e-mails from those that couldn't comment on the blog there were 211 total entries.  Names were put in a hat (the old fashioned way) and I had my husband draw the name. 

 And the winner is:

Elaine @ At Home With Elaine

Elaine said in her comment that she was a girl from a farm so I think these are going to a good home.

Thanks again for playing!!  I promise to not wait so long for my next giveaway.

Jane

Booth Display Piece

Next Tuesday I will have access to my booth at the antique mall and I have been frantically looking for different pieces to display some of my stuff.  I've never had a booth before so I'm starting from scratch.

Last week I stopped at an indoor flea market and came across this metal display stand. 

 I thought the size would be good for the booth and it only cost $5.00 so I brought it home.

Once I got it home I was pleasantly surprised to find that the piece hanging from the back of the stand could be lifted and secured (I'll show you how I'm thinking of using it further down the post).

 To make the shelves more usable, I placed a 2' length of wood on each of the shelves.

I plan on using this to hold some of my smaller vintage sewing items (vintage trims, spools, buttons, patterns, etc.) so I played around with adding some old sewing machine drawers and cigar boxes as storage.

And that top piece I showed you earlier......

 I think it will be great to hang some vintage lace and crocheted trims,

mimicking how I've displayed the laces and trims in my studio.

(Although for selling purposes, I will be wrapping the trims individually on tongue depressors).

This isn't the finished display but I thought I would post and get your input.

Would you paint the display stand a different color?  At first I thought I would keep things simple and just keep it black but now that I see it put together with the wood drawers I'm thinking that good ole' heirloom white might just be the way to go.

The wood shelves are unfinished and I was debating on painting or staining them too.

So what do you think?  Keep it black or paint it?

Paint or stain the shelves?

I appreciate the feedback.

Jane

Vintage Hardware

Last week while shopping at my favorite junk spot for old, rusty pieces I came across these three matching pieces of hardware.

 I thought they would be perfect to attach to an old piece of wood and use as hangers for jewelry or scarves.

I didn't have an old piece of wood that would work for this project so I bought a new, unfinished piece at the hardware store.  Now I had to figure out how to match the new wood to the old, rusty hardware.

I first distressed the board by hammering the edges and hitting it with a chain.  Then I painted the board white. Once dry, I sanded the edges and then wiped the board down with some stain.  At this point I'm not liking the look so I found some green paint and mixed some in with the stain.  I wiped this on the board and finally got a look I was happy with.

Here's my finished look.

I didn't have a chance to screw the hardware to the board yet.  I want to spray the hardware with a clear sealer first to protect that perfect chippy, rusty finish.

Speaking of wonderful rusty pieces.......I'm having a giveaway for a pair of vintage barn pulleys.  You can enter the giveaway by commenting on the giveaway post.

I'm linking tonight with Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Always fun to see all the thrifty finds and projects being posted.

Jane

Barn Pulley Giveaway

Sorry I'm a day behind posting about my giveaway.

I was going to take some pictures and write the post last night but I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30.  I guess the week caught up with me!

I have been wanting to do a giveaway for some time now but wasn't sure what to give as the prize. 

 I received a lot of positive comments about the barn pulleys that I was using as bookends (posted here) so when I found another matching pair this week I knew I found my giveaway item.

So here they are:

They're old and rusty (and heavy) and perfect for the inner junker in all of us.  Because of their weight they make great bookends or they look wonderful as an architectural element on a shelf or hanging on the wall.

So here is the simple contest rule:

1.  Leave me a comment on this post and let me know you would like to be entered.

If for some reason blogger doesn't let you comment on my post, you can leave me an e-mail and enter that way.

That's it.  

I'll be picking the winner on Saturday, October 29th at 5:00 CT.

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support of my projects and my blog.  

It means a lot to me.

Jane

Thank You and An Upcoming Giveaway

First I want to pass along a big thank you for all of the supportive comments I received about opening a booth at the antique mall.  I appreciate all of the valuable advice that was so willingly shared.....it made me feel like I had my own personal business consultants!  I promise to keep you posted on all of the details.

Next, I've been thinking it's about high time I had a giveaway.

I received a lot of positive feedback when I wrote a post about using these vintage barn pulleys as bookends.

 So, when I found a similar pair while out shopping today I bought them so I could give them away to one of you.

I still need to clean the pulleys and get some pictures taken so I'll be back tomorrow with the giveaway details.

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Jane

Open For Business

Well, I made a big decision this weekend.

A booth became available at my local antique mall and on November 1st it will be mine.

This is a completely new venture for me.

I've had a desire to do this for awhile but honestly, it was out of my comfort zone and I never acted on it.

But I feel like this is the right time.  

The fact that a booth opened up right before the holiday season in an antique mall just a couple of miles from my house was the sign I needed to take the plunge.

So.......any and all advice that those of you operating a booth would like to share with me would be greatly appreciated.  Your experiences, good or bad, will be helpful to me as I spend the next couple of weeks gathering, organizing and pricing my inventory.  

Thanks in advance for your help.  Wish me luck!!

Jane

Book Cover Chalkboard Easel

When you take the covers off of books to get this look.

You end up with a lot of these.

If you're like me and hate to throw things out......

add some chalkboard paint to the outside.

And some scrapbook paper on the inside (along with two same size strips of ribbon to help it stand).

And you've got yourself a book cover chalkboard easel.

Nothing goes to waste!

Linking up my thrifty project with Linda @ Coastal Charm for Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Jane

Halloween Mantel

One of the advantages of gathering "treasures" all year is having everything on hand when it comes time to do a little redecorating.  Since the theme for this weeks Saturday Nite Special link party hosted by Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors is Fall Mantels, I decided to put some of my finds to work and redecorate my living room mantel for Halloween.

I had not touched my living room mantel since I took the Christmas decorations down last January.  I didn't take a picture of the "before" mantel but just imagine one picture hanging above the mantel, very plain.....funny how I overlooked how bad it looked all year.

So I went completely opposite for my Halloween mantel and I packed it with Halloween and thrift store finds.

I didn't spend any time making anything new for the mantel, I just gathered some things I had or had already made and went to work layering all of the pieces.

The first piece I added to the mantle was a large frameless mirror I bought at a thrift store for $2.00  Next I layered an empty black frame on top of the mirror and then added a painted canvas sign that was a retail purchase several years ago.

 Two old shutters (thrift store find for $5.00 for the pair) were added left and right of the mirror.  They have the perfect worn look for a Halloween display.

 Then I just started adding stuff......a "Boo" display I made last year, some old books, wire brush tree, candles, thread spool, and an altered cabinet card.

A vintage camera and skull.

And on the right side......more old books, candles, clock face, pumpkins, and my altered shoe form.

 It's quite a change from what I've been looking at all year and I'm happy with the new look.

To get a look at a lot of fabulous fall mantels, link back to Donna's blog.  Lots of wonderful inspiration!

Happy Fall!!

Jane

Metal "C" Clamp Photo Stand

I found these metal "C" clamps at a thrift store recently and bought all seven ($1.00 apiece) with no real plan in mind.  (That's probably why my basement and garage look like what they do......I seem to buy a lot of things with no real plan in mind!)

 But after looking at them for awhile, I saw these two matching red clamps,

as a photo stand for a wonderful old photo of my grandfather and his 1922 basketball team (my grandfather is sitting on the far right).

This project definitely falls into the super easy category.

The clamps are simply screwed into the photo display, which in this case, is a cover-less book with the photo printed on the front page (tutorial for book can be found here).

Super, super easy!!!

I'm linking this tonight with Kim @ Savvy Southern Style for "Wow Us Wednesday".

Hope you're having a good week.

Jane

Fall Photos

We have been enjoying some gorgeous weather in the midwest.

Last night I took my camera outside to get some pictures of a project I was working on and I ended up walking around the neighborhood snapping photos of the beautiful fall evening.

The colors of summer,

are giving way to the colors of fall.

This is such a pretty time of year.

Have a great day.

Jane