hooray for estate sale season!

I have had some very enjoyable experiences the past couple of weekends picking up some thrifted/vintage treasures! Last weekend Adrian and I decided spur of the moment to get out of town and drive in the country. We went up to Decatur to eat barbecue and shells and cheese and hot rolls! YUM! He was kind enough to detour through Keller on the way out of town so I could stop at a couple of antiques places. After we ate our barbecue, we drove through small towns and country areas and stopped at an adorable little park with one of the merry-go-rounds from our childhood, no plastic fancy play equipment here. We also stopped at the most random thrift store I've ever been to (pretty small, hardly any clothes (which suited me just fine!), lots of books and miscellany and we found the most fantastic malt shop! We got a chocolate malt and a cherry milkshake and both were fantastic!

I actually got this little yellow bird in a ziploc of Christmas ornaments back in December for 25 cents for the bag! He's raggedy but sweet I think.

You may remember some of these blocks and I got the old sprinkler head for only 79 cents at the random thrift store. I realize it's appeal may not be readily apparent but after having seen some awfully cute displays at stores where they are selling various sprinkler attachments for $7-$20, I felt compelled to scoop this one up and take a go at it! Who knows what potential it may reach. :)

This is my new cart that I will NOT be taking to Canton! I realize it looks like a "Canton cart" but I do not like those carts whose owners block the aisles with them and run over my toes!

I got this cart this past Saturday when my friend Julie and I went to an estate sale at a home in the quite well to do area of town. It was on the back patio filled with various gardening tools, etc. and it was just calling my name. I don't know exactly what I will do with it but it just seems one of those relics of a different time or place or lifestyle or something and for a dollar fifty, I can figure out later what I want to do with it exactly because I'm pretty sure I would have thought back on it and wished I'd gotten it and come up with some fabulous idea once I was away from there! AND, it folds up taking up hardly any space in the meantime, so why not??!

My thoughts so far are to possibly set it in the corner of my bedroom with a bow on the handle and plump pillows inside. I could also contain my pots and other patio gardening supplies in it on my balcony. Any ideas from you guys?

These are the notions I was given for free at the estate sale with the other things I bought. I like the old fashioned look and silky textured feel of seem binding like this and there's something about old yellow lace that I like. I also bought some in Fredericksburg several years ago along with the yellow cotton the little bird is sitting in above.

now this little guy who photographed so well I think was a steal! do you see that price tag?
You can see here that the last deer I bought for "my herd" as Adrian calls it was $3. And I thought that one was a bargain. I was so afraid that Martha Stewart's little magazine article in her Christmas issue was going to drive up prices but I'm still finding good ones!

This one matches two that Adrian's sister bought me for Christmas off of ebay so now they'll have a friend. Now if you're like some members of my family, you wonder what in the world I even do with plastic deer and why I'd want them. Well, here and here and here are a few examples.

This little trio whose photo turned out too dark wouldn't let me leave the estate sale without them. They're not even my colors necessarily but I've never seen anything like these hand appliqued and embroidered little towels.

I got this book at the estate sale this weekend for a mere dollar fifty and it is hard to find a good black book to use in displays. One of my favorite antique malls in McKinney sells them for around $10 I think but who wants to pay that for a display? Plus I really liked the title of this one. I think it can have a spiritual connotation.

The saucers were a steal for hanging in my black, white and pink room for a dollar a piece. I got them at a shop in Keller. I never knew there were so many cute shops there. If you live in the area, I recommend a trip!

These little candy molds will look so cute at individual place settings with jelly beans or mints in them I think. Anyone have any more ideas for them?

I got a whole box of these fun old flashcards for less than a dollar at the random thrift store.

If you have any fun ideas for any of my new treasures, I'd love to hear them! Kelly