BLACKTOP JUNKIN' TO HACIENDA NESTIN'

As leaves flutter to the moist ground and the temperatures drop, my nesting instinct kicks into high gear. This autumn I'm loving the look of mixing Blues and Browns. At our hacienda, I've gone heavy on the Blue Willow dishes, vintage blue ticking pillows, and brown toile fabrics. While I always enjoy hitting the blacktops on the search for good junk, I also like making our house comfy and welcoming for the holiday season. Nests are a big theme at our house. There's just something sweet and comforting about preparing a warm, safe, cozy place for family and friends in the face of the oncoming blustery winter weather. So pull out your favorite cozy pieces, light the fireplace and/or a candle or two, put on the music that touches your soul, and have a special meal with the ones who mean the most to you.  I'd love to hear your nesting ideas and suggestions. Happy Nestin', y'all!



A happy front porch welcome.



Today's Good Stuff:



Blue Willow teapot full of orange roses.

1) A rainy day and good book

2) Cinnamon Apple Crisp

3) Texas Ranger's Baseball Team

4) Blues Music

5) Sunday Supper

Peace, love, and all the good stuff, y'all!










Blue and brown toiles combined with chocolate velvet.









FLEA MARKET DREAMIN'



A peek of the whimsical booth created 
by the mom and daughter team,
Machette Bette & Mom.

I've got a confession. I dream about flea markets. Weird, but true.  Usually my flea market dreams revolve around finding an unusual, really cool piece of junk. My flea market dreams always leave me feeling ready to ditch my domestic goddess chores so I can hop in my truck and hit the road to look for whatever I found in my dream.  A few times, I have actually driven right to the cool piece of junk I dreamed about. (Yep! Those are REALLY good days!) Last Friday night's Junk Salvation Vintage Flea Market hosted by those wonderful Funky Junk Sisters, Linda and Dixie was a real Junker's dream realized. My booth-mates, Justine and Cyndi of  Machette Bette & Mom, unpacked a small trailer and pick-up truck all the way from Salmon, Idaho and put together the most fabulous booth which included this beautiful autumn fairy dress form modeling Cyndi's unique silk fabric corsages as well as a giant umbrella with glittery scrunched vintage music sheet "rain-drops." We also met many other wonderful dealers, had lots of customers, and sold many Garden Cat treasures. THANKS, DIXIE and LINDA for bringing a dreamy Vintage Flea Market to life!


Glittery vintage music sheet "rain-drops " -- a junkin' storm of good stuff.

 
This weekend is RUFFLES AND RUST  by Timi Weathers of Come Junk With Us. Can't wait!! 

TODAY'S GOOD STUFF:

1) Country Hayrides

2) Pumpkin Pickin'

3) Halloween Costumes

4) Apple Harvests

5) Homecoming

Peace, love, and all the good stuff, y'all!





A few Garden Cat treasures.



Our Garden Cat model, Ethel,
 is showing off her vintage hat,
1900's Beaded Dress, and a hand-made
 vintage button necklace.



Girls' Night Out Junk Style

 Time to don your favorite pink party hat, grab your friends, throw your shopping cart in the trunk, and drive to Puyallup, WA for one of the best vintage markets this fall!!

Come shop with more than 100 vintage junk and antique dealers at the Funky Junk Sisters' Junk Salvation tomorrow evening beginning at 6 p.m.



The Garden Cat will be one 100 wonderful
vendors at Junk Salvation Vintage Flea Market.



 The $15 entry fee gets you in early to shop Friday night and helps raise money for breast cancer awareness.  Saturday the fun begins at 10 a.m.  Get your sweet self on out the door and come join the Junkin' party!  junksalvation.com



Peace, love, and happy

junkin' y'all!

Today's Good Stuff

1) Girls' Night Out

2) Raising funds and awareness about breast cancer

3) Being a breast cancer survivor

4) Harvest Moons

5) A lot of great junk under one roof!

JUNK 101: PART DUEX



Found this glass terrarium
at a church rummage sale.

 Where do you find JUNK? The good kind. (Here's where things get down-right exciting.) The answer, anywhere and everywhere!  After three decades of doing what is now called, "Junking," I can honestly say that good, reusable, vintage things are all around us.  Years ago I began shopping at garage sales and thrift stores because Sweet Hubby and I were both "belated" college students -- in our late-twenties with a car payment and mortgage. We literally had to watch every cent. It was a happy day indeed when I realized I could go to the big Veteran's Thrift Store off May Avenue in Oklahoma City with a mere $10 and buy three shirts, a 1940's rose painting, an old ladder-back solid wood chair, and still have money left over to buy tacos on the way home!



Found this sweet antique stitchery at a garage sale.

Cost less than lunch and makes my heart sing!

I became hooked and hit the thrift store every couple of weeks since shopping at the beautiful shopping malls and cute campus boutiques were just not in our financial picture. Shopping frugally just made more sense. Now, mercifully, things are a bit less tight financially speaking, but I still CHOOSE to shop at garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, antique malls, thrift stores, and yes, flea markets.  (After all, I write a flea market mystery series!)  The bottom line is you pretty much know what you'll find at the department and discount stores, but you have no idea what lurks at the garage sale across town or in the barn at the estate sale in the next town. I like the thrill of finding something old and still usable.  Something unique.

Vintage microscope found at a garage sale.
 I think I used to have one of these.



 Most cities have Goodwill and Salvation Army Thrift Stores.  There are also thrift stores run by churches, hospitals, veterans' groups, and many other worthwhile charitable causes.  I love this added incentive to shop and help my neighbor and community at the same time.  Now that's cool!

Here's a sampling of things I've found in the past few weeks, mostly at garage sales:



Child's vintage Blue Willow tea cups
 go well with this silver pedestal.



Yes! Another old quilt! I couldn't resist the pretty faded print.



Funky vintage safety-pin and bead baskets
found at a garage sale and thrift store.


















Craig's list is a good place to begin the hunt, although you have to be careful. Since I've been reading classified ads for years, I've gotten pretty good at figuring out where I may find something on my list. Sometimes I luck out and find all kinds of interesting things -- other times -- zip, Nada!

But that's just part of the fun of it.  The not knowing. The hunt. The find.



A sneak peek of THE GARDEN CAT's
 treasures for the Junk Salvation Vintage Flea Market.



This weekend's Junk Salvation Vintage Flea Market hosted by the fabulous Funky Junk Sisters will be an awesome place to find treasures for yourself, help raise money for breast cancer awareness, and have a stupendous, junktabulous time.  Here's where to find the details for Junk Salvation --http://www.junksalvation.com/. Come by and see me at my booth, THE GARDEN CAT!!

Today's Good Stuff:

1) Post-season baseball

2) Vintage flea markets

3) Pumpkin muffins

4) Halloween costumes

5) Indian Summer

Peace, love, and all the good stuff, y'all!