I WON I WON

YIPEEE.  I'm on cloud nine this morning.  I won TWICE in Jill's (Gypsy Brocante) VBF giveaway.  Not only did I win a great surprise package - can hardly wait to see what it is - but I also won some of her awesome hand stamped muslin ribbon. 

If you've never checked out her Etsy stores, you've got to.  She is such a talented artist AND she also has an Etsy store selling some cool vintage items.  Below are her three stores and they are linked to the Etsy pages.

Gypsy Brocante, Vintageology, and Gypsy Flea Market

There are lots of giveaways from other blogs going on, so just check out my sidebar from time to time.  Fiona and Twig just announced one click here along with Vintiquities Workshop click here. 

Okay, better run and get back to work.  I just wanted to send out a big THANK YOU to Jill. 

Smiles!

Another VBF Is Here! Also, SOB, the last

I was only a participant of Vintage Black Friday for a short time, but I LOVED it.  I wasn't going to post, but I'm feeling better today, and actually did some shopping.  If what I saw in North Louisiana today (still visiting Mom) is an indication of how well the economy is recovering, it must be doing a great job! Long lines, full parking lots, lots of buyers.  GREAT deals!  I hit Michael's hard and early today.  Got lots of great stuff.

Anyhow, I'll leave you with some Vintage images of Black Friday! LOL

An old black Argus camera - really cool looking, especially in person.

This is sitting on my parents' front porch!  An old player piano.

(ps.  it's for sale!!!!!)

The label on the inside of the lid.

My maternal great-grandmother and great-grandfather and two great uncles.  He was 20 years older than her!

Two of my great-uncles and that is my maternal grandmother in the middle.  Born in in 1911.

I thought this was a fitting end to VBF.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Smiles!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

Just wanted to pop-in real quick and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. 

I'm having somewhat of a hard time recovering from my outpatient procedure, so I may not post much if any before next week.  However, don't forget to check out some of the giveaways that may pop up now and again on my sidebar.  I do go visiting some of my favorite blogs since it requires little use of my hands (unlike typing) and it's easy to post a pic and a link. 

The latest is a giveaway by Lulu Kellogg on her site for a set of Cavallini Stamps.  But hurry, the deadline for entry is November 29th.  Also, there are several more giveaways posted on my sidebar that are ending soon.

When I've fully recovered, I do have a lot to blog about.  I had a very worthwhile auction jaunt last weekend (lots of neat stuff) which doesn't include some things my mom got last Friday, a fruitful trip to Hobby Lobby on Monday (can you say LOTS of mini accessories for 1/2 off?), some pics snapped here and there of interesting stuff (borrowed my son's little camera), more interesting finds/wins on Ebay, and I'm getting an early Christmas gift!  My mom has ordered me a little digital camera I can shove in my purse and carry with me everywhere (unlike the huge Olympus digital I have for more professional/family get-together shots).  Yippee!!!

Oh, and if you don't know, Michael's is having a HUGE sale Friday.  The coupons are the best ever!!!  Can you say 25% off you ENTIRE purchase INCLUDING sales items!  My list is huge!!!!! LOL  Hopefully I'll be well enough that my mom (who is taking care of me right now - hubby and son are hunting) and I can make the hour drive to the nearest store for a little fun.  Any physical activity is really tiring.

No, I didn't have radical surgery, just four levels of nerves killed in the left side of my neck. Those nerves affect my entire head and neck, shoulder to shoulder, and down both arms to my fingertips.  Therefore the pain of typing.  I also have a bad vertebrae in my back causing a pinched nerve, therefore the trouble in walking.  The procedure was invasive, though short and of an outpatient nature, so I have to watch how much I lift and do.  My husband and mother both will not let me drive and fuss if I'm the computer too much!  I also had a  minor reaction to what they think is steroids they gave me to help with the swelling or possibly the anesthesia.  I've been itching compulsively for two days!


Anyhow, again, have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Smiles~

Well, Let's Hope I'm Numb & I'm a Winner!

Well, I came through the procedure on my neck okay but it will be 4-6 weeks before I know if it "took" this time and if it will give me some relief from my pain and allow me to turn my head.  Now, we start working on my back.  I literally could not get out of bed this morning when I woke up & in fact it took several attempts and about 20 minutes to get mobile enough for a shower.  Thank goodness I'm on sick leave this week!  At this moment, I'm sitting on the couch with an ice pack on my neck (the doctor said I looked like a pincushion, I told him I felt like one), still hurting even after a Lortab, and suffering from insomnia, a side-effect from the Lortab.

Now a little good news.....I WON, I WON.  I was the lucky winner of the giveaway at Flatwoods Folk Art.  Kerin from Remnants of Olde had created a wonderful tutorial for a Flying Angel Ornament and they pulled my name. 

Aren't they so cool?  And just in time for Christmas.

If your interested in making one for your own use, the tutorial is for sale at Remnants of Olde. 


Since I just acquired some wonderful postcards from Ebay (egad that four-letter word again LOL) and from an auction this past weekend, I have plenty of faces for the angels. 


The auction I went to this past weekend was surprisingly poorly attended, so I got some GREAT deals!  Most for our Etsy store, but some for myself.  I'm planning on getting some pictures loaded, probably after Thanksgiving since I'm headed to my parents' house and Mom doesn't have as good a setup for blogging as I do.


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Smiles~

Happy VBF

If I remember correctly, this is the last Vintage Black Friday.  So, I thought I would share some of my recent finds.  These are old postcards.  If you click on them, you will get a full sized image you can save.

Aren't these two little girls so cute?  The postcard came tinted & I think the colors work perfectly.

These hats are just out of sight.  Love the outfits

Men's clothing hasn't changed that much over the years, so I normally don't purchase pictures or postcards with men on them, but these came as part of the group and they do look nice.

How about these two ladies.  Notice the sailor collar.

Sorry for the quality.  Mom just sent this from her camera-phone.  She will be bidding on it for me.

I just thought WOW, this fits in PERFECT with VBF.



Please feel free to download the postcard pictures and use them for your own purposes.  HOWEVER, I ask that you don't sell them or include them on a CD for sale.  You may alter them, or use them as part of a collage, etc., & then sell them as your own.  Please feel free share them with whoever has a use for them.

Thank you and have a great Vintage Black Friday.  Hope you enjoyed your visit to my blog.

Smiles~

Well, It's Thursday

I hope everyone's week is going well - just remember that the weekend is right around the corner!  YIPPEE.

Okay, first a question.  I am looking for the magazine Flea Market Style.  If any of my blogger friends out there knows where I can get a copy, please tell me.  I have not seen it around here, but after reading their blog, I would LOVE to have it!

My weekend plans......A Consignment Sale!  I haven't been able to go to one yet this year because I hurt so bad.  But, yep, with the help of pain killers, I will be attending a consignment auction on Saturday.  Since they are set up with chairs (& they know me and my mom), I can sit in front where I can see and not have to stand on a hard floor for hours.  If I get to hurting too bad, I can always go lay down in the truck & my mom will continue the bidding. 

Now, what am I after? Well, these are a few things I have my eye on:

I love old photos and photo albums. 
Some would be kept and others placed in my store.

I just love the color of this, don't you?

This old book would be a plethora of pages for making collages.

Cute vintage case

Gotta have these chopsticks.  Mine all mine!  Would look so good twisted up and poked into my hair.

I love pottery.  Frankoma is one of my favorites and I have a hutch full!  This may not all be that, but it matches what I have.

Vintage leather and cloth gloves - always a favorite

OOO LA LA

Beautiful Teacups.  I can see a teacup fairy in each, or just sold on their own. They pretty-up a shelf or side table all by themselves.  Or fill them with mother-of-pearl buttons.

This would be cleaned and repainted for use in my house to display some of my miniatures on until they find a home in one of my many dollhouses (more on those dollhouses later).

I can see these beautiful blue vases becoming pincushions and the smallest on the right holding a few of my vintage hatpins (yep I love to collect hat pins).

And finally, this little milk/cream jar.  It still has the little cardboard plug in it!





Wish me luck!!!!  There are something like 14 auctions within a 100 mile radius of where I will be Saturday, so I hope all the dealers head to somewhere other than this auction.  Alas, the couple that run this one are very honest and above board and that is widely known. Plus, it's their last auction of the year.  I expect a good turnout (unfortunately for me) but who knows?

I'll have to check back in with you on Monday before my nerve burning procedure and let you know how successful I was.  Of course, there are several more items I have my eye on from the web listing and I haven't been to a viewing yet.  Mom and I will have to get there early enough Saturday that I can walk around and see everything.  Since Mom foots the bill for the store items, I hope she has her checkbook ready!  This looks to be a great sale.

The first weekend of December, there are two more auctions I would love to attend.  Both are on the same day and both are being held by people Mom and I know.  I have my list started for them too.  One has a TON of oriental themed items (I love oriental) and another has a wide range of just everything!

Smiles~

Tag Your It! - The Art Exchange

Good Wednesday morning everyone.  I hope ya'll are doing fine and today finds you healthy and happy.

Well, as the subject of this blog says, I've been invited to participate in an Art Exchange.  Now normally, I don't do things like this because I don't have time, but since it is such a small thing, I thought, "NO PROBLEM".

Okay, problem.  I need a few more people to participate in the exchange.  I can email you the details if you are interested, but basically you send one small item to one person and you get six friends to participate (who in turn get six friends, etc.).  You will then end up with 36 handmade "works of art".  Now, I LOVE little things that people make.  I collect such a wide range of items and I love anything artistic.  It can be a little drawing you did, a print, a beaded thing, etc.  Whatever your niche is.

So, PLEASE.  If you are interested, just drop me a comment and I will send you the info or you can email me directly.  To make it easy for you, my email is Mcgoo4@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Smiles.

PS.  Here's a freeby for those followers into digital art.  A pic from a postcard of mine entitled Scenic Desert Sand.  I thought it was so pretty that I bought it.

New Giveways

Good Monday morning everyone!

I wanted to pop in real quick and tell you to check out my sidebar for some great giveaways going on right now on some of my favorite blogs.

Made in Canarias is having a great one, check her out!  THE VBF is still going on as is Sassy Marsha's.  Check out The Parsonage, but be real quick about it!  The Firecracker Kid and  & The Old Farmhouse too.

Watch my sidebar for more!  Have a great Monday.

Smiles!

Well, It's Saturday (shoot almost Sunday!)

Finally, I'm home on a Saturday - not with my husband and son where they hunt (aka My Parents' five hours away). HOME YIPPEE.  Lot's of time to try and get some stuff done.  Maybe straighten up something, do some prototypes of a few ideas I have (things that don't require much hand coordination at this point), listen to a little college football (listen to husband yell at LSU on the TV), those kinds of things LOL.  There were a few things I could do even with the limited use of my hands I have (the pain thing you know).

Okay, so what did I do????

Yep, went to Best Buy.

Why?  My mother-in-law needed a new computer and I'm the resident "expert".  I know that you need a laptop with so many GBs of RAM and drive space, an antivirus/firewall, etc.  So, I went.  Took about 30 minutes to get there, 1-1/2 hours in the store.  Still time to play, right?  Wrong.

Next stop???

Why Dillard's?  Son needed school pants.

They have size 20 POLO boy's khakis for $29.00.  Even had their POLO jeans for $29.00.  Okay, so son is set for winter for school pants, mother-in-law purchased them (I bought the jeans).

Next stop??? FOOD!!!!

YUM! 

Wonderful California Grilled Chicken sandwich.  They have samplers where you can try their different brews.  Okay, I'm not much of a beer drinker, but they has a real light, German-like brew.  WONDERFUL.  But, I was driving, so no drinking.  Just the little sample.  Maybe next time. 

Got home after 4:00 pm exhausted.  No work got done.  Maybe tomorrow.  So, instead, after a rest and vegging out on LSU football and Funny Cat Videos on the internet, I started surfing some blogs.

I found a lot of cool sites, with lots of great inspiration on them.  Lots are having giveaways and I have posted them to the side.  Go check them out.  Bet you'll become a follower of them like me.  No new mini-blogs, but wonderful none-the-less.  That's what the Etc. in my blog's name stands for.  I like a little of everything and find inspiration for miniatures in RL sized items.  Dollhouses need little aprons too!  Roomboxes and vignettes need lots of detail - like bowls of flowers on a tiny sideboard and a little mouse on the floor.  Wallhangers on the walls, things like that.

Well, my son just called.  They are headed back from the game - he helps his church with their concession stand.  Now I can go get ready for bed!  I just re-read my blog for errors & beginning to not make much sense.  As Scarlette said: "Tomorrow is another day".

Smiles!

Vintage Black Friday

Well, it's already time for another VBF.   Here is what I found this week....

First, a Black Globe.  Now, this isn't new.  I've had this globe since high school.  I'm sure there are more out ther like that, but I haven't seen them.  It wasn't new when it was given to me.  Just to the right of it, you can barely make out an old Tootsie Roll bank.  I've had that since I was a toddler.  This picture was made in my old bedroom at my parents' house.
 

This black and white chalk drawing was done by my Theatre instructor during my Freshman year of college.  In just a few strokes, she turned a  piece of brown paper into a work of art.  I was so impressed, I asked if I could keep it.  Considering it's about 22 years old, guess you could say it's vintage!

One of my favorite cabinet photos.
So beautiful.  I just LOVE the hat.  I collect cabinet photos and even the older tin-types. 

Has anyone noticed how much I like hats????

Check out this letter opener (?),  I guess that is what it is.  My mom gave it to me this past weekend. It's made of some type of black wood, or it's at least been stained black.  Here's a closeup.  It's hard to tell, but the face is really got a lot of detail.

Well I hope you have enjoyed by offerings this Friday for VBF.  Please forgive the quality of the photos as I still haven't gotten me a little digital carry-along camera and am using my phone camera.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Smiles!

New Auction Wins and Other News

Well, first the good news.  I've had some really lucky auction wins recently, and here are the latest two, handcrafted by Granny Rat.  They are SOOOOO cute, but SOOOO bad!

First, this little guy is entitled "Your Stuck, No Kidding".  Granny Rat had this little blurb to go with it:  Well, yes, I can see you're stuck. For the life of me, I CANNOT see why you would even go in that little vase. Oh, well, of course, you thought you could just go ALL the way through. Did you give NO thought at all to the fact that your head is smaller than your butt? No, I guess you didn't. I had in mind to put a wee tiny scene inside that one could view from the wee opening. You've ruined THAT idea now. Oh good grief, don't cry. I'm not going to leave you in there. I'll just pour a little oil over you and you should pop right out. (then I'll fry you) Oh just stop with the tears - you know I won't do that either.  Life with Dragons is such a joy.

And for the second one:

Entitled: "Dragon in a Circle (circular bottle that is)"  Granny Rat had this little blurb to go with it:  Should you have a Wizard with a work table, this little piece would be a nice gift for him. OK, so maybe a troublesome gift, but one that will give him endless amounts of pleasure. Then again, maybe not. Shall we say then, if you have a troublesome old Wizard who deserves exactly what he gets, then this gift is surely just right for him.  Our little Dragon has gotten himself inside the hole of a circular bottle. Oh, he's not like the one I showed you stuck in that vase. He can most certainly get himself out if he wants to. It's just that he doesn't really want to. It would seem that he's also spilled a jug of something all over the tile his bottle is sitting on. I see no smoke as yet, so we must assume it's not flammable.  Oh yes, this would make a most perfect gift for your old Wiz.

Isn't Granny Rat (aka Jane Ratcliffe) SO WONDERFUL!!!! Not only does she bring wonderful little creatures to life that bring a smile to your face to just look at, she writes the most AMUSING stories to go with them!!!!

I love her work and already have my eye on TWO more of her creations.  Anything that brings such a smile to me just to think about is priceless.

Now, a little bad news......some of you know that I have chronic pain problems related to pinched nerves in my neck and back.  Well, I have to have the nerves in my neck re-burned as the doctor told me this afternoon that only a partial burn occured.  It's kind of a slight hit versus a bulls-eye when it comes to burning nerves.  If next week's procedure doesn't work, I'll be facing surgery.  However, considering the extreme pain I'm in and have been in (even though I am taking pain meds), surgery is looking better every day.  I'm 41 and have no intention of being in constant pain.  Plus, I can't create!!!!  That is the WORST part of all of this.  So many ideas.....

Oh well....enough about me.  Check out Granny Rat's Etsy site by clicking on her name and have a grin for the day.  Oh, and she also has some listed on http://www.miniaturesonly.com/.  Items #1103918785, 1103918810, & 1103918828.  But be warned, I LOVE the snowman warming his buns.....LOL.

Well, that's it for me for tonight.  Join me tomorrow for VBF - Vintage Black Friday!

Smiles!

Veteran's Day - Thank You

On this day, I want to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU MEMBERS, ACTIVE & RETIRED, OF OUR MILITARY.  Because of you, we are The Land of the Free, The Home of the Brave.

Finally some Crafting Supplies Arrived for my Etsy Shop

Finally, after a good wait, some supplies I've been wanting for my Etsy shop arrived.  I never knew trying to run a successful webstore could be so nerve-wracking. 

So, just in case any of you are interested, here's what I just got listed:

Monoject Curved Tip Glue Syringes - I LOVE these things.  Personally, I try to keep about 6 on hand at all times.  Great for all types of glues.

Pointed Rubber Tipped Sculpting Tools (gum stimulators anyone?)  These can be hard to find - let me tell you!

and the extra Tips for them!   Great for all kinds of sculpting - add lines, wrinkles, detail, etc.

If you like Stampington Mags, I have some for about 1/2 off cover or less:

I also have the below magazines for sale:

 
My mom also has some great stuff on there too.  The items listed above I can combine shipping on since they ship from my house.  The rest of the items my mom ships from her home 5 hours away, though she also combines shipping.   We just can't combine our stuff together. 

We try to keep things reasonably priced so everyone can afford them.  Just because they are cheaply priced doesn't mean they are junk.  Our goal was to offer unique vintage and antique items that everyone can afford. 
 
Well,  we gotta clear out her house someway!!!!!  LOL  I can't move around when I visit.  It's like having my own personal flea market when I go home.  Really, it's kinda neat.  I'll post pictures in the next few days that I took there this weekend.  Mom knows they are going up on my blog.

Well, that's it for the day.  Until Later.
Smiles!

Ebay Finds

Here as promised are some of my recent Ebay finds.  Now, I'm not fond of Ebay in the least, but sometimes, you just gotta give in.  Especially when they are artisan made by some of my favorites!

Here is a barrel of Dragon Scales, by Patricia Paul
This HAS to go in my planned roombox.

A nice table for what I hope will be a wizard's/witch's lab, from Patricia Paul

Look at the cute little jointed bear - just couldn't resist.  Every witch has to have a teddy! :)

Scrolls for my planned roombox

My prized win!  A tiny setting by Rosie Duck!!!!
I have SO been wanting something created by them.

In the coming days, there will be more finds to share with you both from Ebay and from a favorite, MOA (MiniaturesOnly.com).   A good friend runs that auction site and the miniatures on their are EXCELLENT.  Wait until you see the cute little bad dragons I won.

Also, while visiting my parents this weekend, I took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone camera - I promise this is their house, NOT a stall at a flea market.  My mom finds such neat stuff.  I have GOT to get a good, small camera I can carry with me where ever I go as mine is too large.  So, if any of you out there in blogger land know of a good,  inexpensive, small digital camera I can just pop in my purse or pocket, let me know.

Well, since I'm at work, guess I'd better work. 
Later!