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Friday, January 3, 2014

The Art Of Treasure Hunting + The Winner of My First Giveaway!


The Art of Treasure Hunting

      Goodmorning and welcome to my blog. On this lovely morning I am going to be tell you lovely folks about the Art of Treasure Hunting!  
Garage Sales
     I absolutely LOVE garage sale-ing.   But I like to have specific things in mind before going out to garage sales.  So, tip #1 ;
  1. Have a List!   I have found this extremely useful for my Pinterest projects.  If you are anything like me you probably have a million of those neat Pinterest projects pinned.  Well I will go through some of them (Sometimes all of them if I am feeling crazy)  and write down what I would need to complete them.  (Usually everything I need could come second hand).  So for instance, want to make that cute earring hanger you keep seeing?  (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/201536152045540942/) Write down a decorative frame and maybe some netting or beads.  I am always surprised how much I find when I remember to look for it! 
  2. Think Creatively!  Now I'm not telling you to go crazy and buy a bunch of junk you don't need.  But within reason, if something jumps out at you, just think for a minute or two about what you could do with it.  I've made this cheesy flow chart for your convenience of how my purchasing decisions usually go.
     
      So basically, this is what goes through my head everytime I am holding something at garage sales.  
Here is one of my recent finds I love.  
Here is my little wooden kitty cat.  While I was at the garage sale this was off to the side.  I picked it up and the woman who was throwing the garage sale said I could have it if I wanted it.  Said it was the only thing left after she owned her own furniture store.  Said it sat outside her business.  So first of all, it was FREE.  So my mind wheels started turning and I knew I could do something with it.  I sanded it down (paying close attention to the ears to try and make them even) and painted it white.











       So here I my kitty cat in it's new home.  I love the eclectic feel it adds to my home.  And while I have this picture, see that Edison Record tube?  Well I was at a garage sale where this lovely older couple had a very cool record player for sale.  Once I started talking to them about it, they both opened up and were thrilled to talk about their collection.  Then they showed me a huge crate they had of these old original Edison records.  I asked if they would be willing to sell one and they said no.  But at the end, he said I could have an empty holder if I would like.  So of course I accepted!  :) So tip #2!
              2.    Talk to people!  If you aren't on a time crunch, just talk with people!  A lot of times you will find more interesting things, hear stories and get lower prices!  



       Records!  Now I may be a little biased to this treasure since I collect Beatles records, but that's why I included a record clock!  Which if you like I can include a tutorial in my next post on how to make one.  Incredibly simple :)    Now for instance, at garage sales, I got that Sgt Pepper record for FREE!  And I got Abbey Road for  $1!  You just have to look through all those stacks of records and you never know what you will find!

       Now whether you are a full-on artist or not, I ALWAYS look for canvases at garage sales and thrift stores.  Canvases are SO expensive any place you buy them, so what better place to look than garage sales?  People (or children) paint things on them and then poof! There they are in the garage sale.  I have a perfectly good canvas to paint over!  Now one of my friends said "Don't you feel bad painting over someone elses art?  And I say Nope!  Not if they are the ones who were selling it in a garage sale to begin with.  So here is an example of a Pinterest project I knew eventually I wanted to do.  No doubt everyone has seen this pin  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/269019777712027428/.  
      When we first moved into our house they previous owners left this gigantic canvas picture.  Just one of those print canvases you buy from Kohls and what not.  But they left it because it had tears in it.  How that happened I'm not sure....
But anyways,  So I set out gluing the tears shut, and beginning my paint project.  I used leftover house paint and painting tape, so a completely free painting!


      And I just love how it turned out!  So buy those canvases!  And do you see my little cow head over on the side there?  When I stood at that thrift store looking at that thing,  I couldn't decide if it was hideous or awesome.  But for only .25 it was worth a gamble.  And now I LOVE it!  It's on our eclectic wall and fits in perfect!
If anyone would like to know how to make the record clock or a tutorial for the canvas just let me know and I will make a post about it :)

And now.   Drumroll please....The first winner of my very first giveaway!

Danalee Davis!

      I have already emailed you and I hope you enjoy your prize!  :) I hope everyone is having an amazing 2014! Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

  1. Congrats to the winner!
    Hi! Stopping by from Mom Bloggers Club. Great blog!
    Have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete

 

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