THIS IS WHAT WE FOUND!

It's still raining here in Indiana. It's Spring, but it isn't really warm enough to work in the garage on my big projects so this morning (in between loads of laundry), I took the remaining plates I had and added art to all of them. Here are the stack of plates I had left. All pretty, and all wouldn't sell as it and each one had space for a little added pizzazz. I pulled a couple of designs from the Silhouette Studio store, cut out the vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo 3. I applied the vinyl to each of the plates. I added metallic gold vinyl to this cute little plate. I think it matched really well. I loved the daisies on this little plate. It was rimmed in gold so I used the metallic gold vinyl. I had three of these plates. I used this design on two of them. I thought the vinyl design complemented the artwork on the plate. I thought this plate would look great in a kitchen. I featured my crock and cookie jar utensil holders in a previous post. Hopefully it warms up soon. I need to get out and breathe in some fresh air! If you like my blog, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media buttons in the sidebar above! Thanks for following me on the junking journey!

I purchased this NOEL picture about 15 years ago at a local festival. I used it in my Christmas decorations for many years. I had not used it in the last few years and I was thinking about getting rid of it. Then my friend (who also bought the same picture at the same festival—we do a lot of that...) showed me hers. It had water damage and she wanted some new artwork for it. Her daughter and I are working on that one which I will share in a future post. So I was inspired to redo mine as well. I took the frame apart. The Noel sign was simply printed on a piece of paper with a cardboard backing. I cut a piece of masonite to fit the frame and painted it with Waverly chalk paint in the Cashew color. I sealed it with a coat of Rustoleum matte topcoat. I used the Jingle Bell artwork I had purchased from the Silhouette store. I sized it to the frame and cut a stencil. I painted the stencil with copper acrylic paint. I thought it needed to be aged a bit so I antiqued it. I was gettin ready to put it back in the frame and then I decided it needed something else—jingle bells! I have an assortment of single sleigh bells that I find here and there—in the bottom of a box lot, at garage sales, just wherever I see them. I use them as ornaments on a little Christmas tree in my spare bathroom. I drilled a couple of holes to make the sleigh bells look like they are hanging over the J. I threaded a piece of twine through the holes. And tied the sleigh bells to the twine. I'm not sure I love the twine, I might try some ribbon or strips of leather in the future but for now, the twine will do. I put it in the old frame and now it is finished! I am using this once again in my Christmas decor. #jingle #bells #sleighbells #waverly #Chalkpaint #cashew #holidays #holiday #Noel #twine

Small benches are very easy to makeover. I buy a lot of them. It takes very little time to make them new again and I often use leftover scraps of fabric from other projects for the benches. This project came from someone else's leftover fabric. I picked up this bench at an estate auction. It was solid but the fabric (like most vintage benches) was outdated and dusty—pretty gross. This is a close up of the fabric—classic 1950s/60s nubby upholstery fabric. I started by removing the legs. They are wrought iron and were very solid. I sanded them a bit—they didn't need much and then I hit it with a coat of gloss black spray paint just to freshen it up. While that was drying, I started on the seat of the bench. My brother was at my house that day so I enlisted his help. We removed all the tacks and staples. Fortunately, there was only one layer of fabric. We removed all the foam padding as well. The new fabric was a find from Goodwill. I often look there for remnants of upholstery fabric, because upholstery fabric at a fabric store is expensive! I found two pieces of this cotton duck fabric. Each piece was about two yards and they were only .99 cents each. I bought both. This stool won't require much at all so I will have plenty of this fabric left for other projects. It's a beautiful charcoal grey color with a white design. Very pretty. I added a new layer of foam and batting and quickly upholstered the seat, so quickly I didn't get any photos of that. After the legs were dry, I reattached them to the seat. Then it was finished. Overall, this took less than an hour. I did let the legs dry overnight before I reattached them, but all-in-all, the total number of minutes to do this was under an hour. So now it's a cute bench with fresh padding and fabric. It's small enough to tuck away in any space for extra seating. I love the quick and easy projects. Now, on to the next one! #bench #wroughtiron #black #spraypaint #Makeover #grey #50s #60s #nubby

Just wanted to do a little bit of bragging today. A few days ago I was visiting my God-daughter at college. We spent Saturday morning checking out some garage sales and thrift stores and she came across this gem (she saw if first so I had to let her have it). She spotted this at a garage sale and started talking to the owner. Next thing I know, she has him down to $15 for this. What a deal! I'm so proud! She is a great negotiator and is willing to walk away if she doesn't get the price she wants! She also scored a hammered metal chandelier. I didn't grab a photo but it was very cool... #wheelbarrow #garagesale #gooddeal #bloomington #indiana #hammered #metal #chandelier

For several years I was involved in our local Festival of Trees. As a result, I have a lot of "themed" trees in my home. A couple of them are "cookie cutter" themed. This little cutie was really easy. I had an small old crock mixing bowl. It was cracked so I wasn't worried about ruining the value. I glued a small tree into the bowl. I also had a set of small copper cookie cutters I had picked up at a yard sale. They make great ornaments! I picked up these salt dough ornaments in Crossville, TN on the 127 sale a few years. I go back to the same vendor every year and buy up a bunch. They are perfect for this tree. This one was easy as well. I had an old coffee measuring cup so I glued a tree in the cup. I had a set of toy green cookie cutters, which became the ornaments. A little bit of ribbon and this one was complete. Santa is checking out this little chick... And my tree topper was this horse cookie cutter. One of the first "cookie cutter" trees I created was from corrugated cardboard and scrapbooking paper and an old cookie jar. I found this cookie jar with no lid. You can often find cookie jars sans lid because the lids are often broken. I use them for a variety of things (check out how I used them here!). I used floral foam inside the cookie jar and secured this feather tree into the foam. The feather tree isn't really old. It was probably from the 90s. I had purchased these corrugated cardboard shapes at a craft store a few years ago. I spruced them up by adding scrapbooking paper. I traced around them on to scrapbooking paper and then cut them out slightly smaller than the shape so the corrugation would show. I used these to create a couple of trees that were sold in the Festival of Trees. I had a few left over so I used them on this tree in my kitchen. I made a hole in each ornament and tied red ribbon to make the hanger. These would be so simple to do now that I have my Silhouette Cameo 3 machine. Of course, the star is the tree topper. This takes no time at all to decorate every year. It is one of my favorites. There are lots of options for cookie cutter trees. I have used all kinds of cookie cutters from metal to plastic. I use all kinds of bases from mixing bowls to cookie jars. I have sold several cookie cutter themed trees in my booth over the years. Everyone can relate to making cookies at Christmas! If you like my blog, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media links above! Thanks for following me on the junking journey! #cookie #cutter #jar #cutout #star #horse #snowflake #feathertree #mixingbowl #holiday #repurposed

Almost as quickly as it started, 2021 is ending. Is it just me or did that go by in the blink of an eye? I wanted to end the year with a recap of some of my favorite projects. Piano Bench Pick Me Up Piano benches can be found easily and they are one of the easiest projects to makeover. With this one being just $2 at a garage sale, I couldn't pass it up! See the full project here. Proper to Primitive Porch Table As Spring approached, brighter colors and florals are popular. This was originally a table with a built in ash tray. Now it fits right onto a porch to be festooned with flowers. See the full project here. Cigar Stand Makeover Picking items up from online auctions often meant things were in worse condition that I thought. That was the downside from scanning online auction sites. Fortunately, I was able to put this one back together. See the full project here. Rocking Reupholstery This rocking chair was screaming for a floral fabric—fortunately, I was able to find just the right one. The wood was in perfect shape so no painting needed on this one! See the full project here. Wicker Table Gets a New Top If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know I don't mind the broken pieces. I can usually find a way to bring them back to life. This wicker table just needed a new top. See the full project here. There's No Place Like Home This wooden cutout of the state of Indiana went unsold at an estate sale. Most people would overlook it, particularly if your name didn't match the one on the board. Just a little (I mean a LOT of sanding) and it was a new piece. See the full project here. Trunk Base Two-fer I managed to get two projects out of the base of an old trunk. This might have been one of my all time favorites. I was thrilled with the result. See the entire project here. Milk Painted Music Table I played around with milk paint for the first time in 2021. I rather liked it! And I really liked the projects I did with milk paint, including this one. See the full project here. Vintage Sledding Disc As the year drew to a close, holiday projects started to dominate my time. I was really happy with the way this vintage sledding disc turned out. This one can be used all winter long. See the full project here. There were many more. These were just a few of my favorites! Here's to finding new treasures in 2022! Thank you for reading my blog! If you would like to see more, follow me on Facebook, Instagram,and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media links above! Thanks for following me on the junking adventures! Below are some links to products I used in this project. Disclaimer: Junk is My Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Below is an image to pin to Pinterest if you would like to save these projects!

Facebook Marketplace is a great place to pick up furniture—if you can be the first one to get dibs on the piece. More often than not, I will be interested in a piece of furniture only to be told that is already sold. But not this time! I found this really unique chair. How many chairs do you see with a face? I sure don't see very many. This one looks like the face of wind, blowing curls of air. Kinda cool—unique. Of course, it needed work and you know I like that about it! Kinda cool—unique. Of course, it needed work and you know I like that about it! I wanted to paint it cream, but after sanding it, I knew that it would need a coat of primer because the stain on the wood had a red tinge to it. It was pretty clear that the red was not going away. So cream was no longer an option. We needed to go dark, so we painted it a deep blue and distressed it. I needed to cut a new board to reupholster the seat. I measured the seat. I needed a 17 inch circle so I put a nail in the center of the board (X marks the spot) and tied a string to it. I measured 8.5 inches from the center and tied a pencil at that spot. From there I was able to draw a 17 inch circle. I cut it out, added foam and new fabric. A covered button in the center made it complete. I think it turned out well. It's fun and quirky! Perfect for the corner of any room (if you would want a face staring at you from a corner). Thank you for stopping by my blog! If you would like to see more projects, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media links above! Thanks for following me on the junking adventures! Below is an image to pin to Pinterest if you would like to save this idea!

If you are on the search for cool stuff on a regular basis and the hunt is what makes you happy, you may come to a point where your stash needs a little, um—destashing. Several years ago I decided to jump in to the world of antique dealership. I have learned a lot along the way. First, you have to decide where to sell. When I started, I just sold on eBay. Eventually, I rented a small space in an antique mall. These next few posts will focus on that. When I decided to rent a space, I really had no idea how to get started. I didn't know any dealers personally. I just started going into the antique stores and malls that I frequented and started asking questions. Here are some things I learned along the way. 1. When you are in the store, look around. What type of merchandise do they have? Are there customers in the store? Is the parking lot full? Does it attract they type of customer that would buy your items? A lot of antique malls allow newer items, crafts, and "collectibles" (Hot Wheels, Action Figures, Longaberger baskets, etc.). Some allow items that are only pre-1970 or pre-1980. Ensure your items are a good addition to the store. Some businesses will ask to see photos of your items. I refer them to my web site to see examples of the types of items I sell. 2. What are the store/mall hours? Does it align with the hours you are available? If you are at work during the open hours, how will you stock your booth and keep it tidy? Plan on spending a couple of hours a month in your booth. 3. Questions to ask regarding cost of the booth. What is the rent? Some charge a flat rate, most charge by the square foot. For example, if the mall charges $1 per square foot per month, a 10 x 10 booth will cost you $100 per month. Ask if there is an additional commission collected by the mall. I have seen anything from no additional commission to 10% of your total sales. Ask about credit card fees if a customer pays with a bank card or debit card. Are the fees passed on to you? Sometimes the commission fee will cover that, sometimes it is added on top of the commission fee. I have also seen monthly advertising fees and fees to access an online system to track your sales. Be sure to ask! Your $100 booth rent can become much more in a hurry. This all becomes included in your cost of sales. A lot of malls have varying amounts of booth sizes. Start small while you are figuring things out. Be sure to ask when rent is due and when checks are issued to the dealers. Some will take the rent out of your check, others will not. 4. Do you have enough time to keep hunting to replenish the booth? I sold 116 items in September. I am constantly on the hunt. 5. Ask if you are expected to help at any events during the year. Some malls have Fall Fests, Christmas Open Houses, etc. Many malls count on the dealers to be on hand to help. Are you available to help? Are your willing to help? This is my old booth at Christmas in 2015. 6. It is pretty standard for the mall to give a buyer 10% off without calling you. If you are firm on a price, make sure it is marked firm on your price tag. The mall should call you if a buyer is requesting a greater discount. When you are ready, dive in! It is a lot of fun. You won't get rich, but it is really fun! #antiquemall #booth #rent

This is one of two chairs I picked up at an estate sale. I really liked the detail on this chair. The fabric was dated, but this chair had a lot of potential. I posted a project about the other chair here. I actually finished this chair first, but I am so far behind on posting! Look at the detail on this chair! They seriously just don't make chairs like this anymore. I started this project by removing the fabric on the back and front of the chair. Once the fabric was removed, I removed the padding and the burlap lining. Next, I removed the fabric and padding from the seat of the chair. Removing the burlap and horsehair revealed the springs of the seat. They were still tied and secure, so I left them as is. This is what the seat of the chair looks like without the fabric, horsehair and padding. Removing old upholstery is a dirty job. The photos above show a small fraction of the mess that was made in the deconstruction of this chair. As someone that suffers from allergies (including dust!), this is often a miserable job. I do like knowing all of this dust and dirt will no longer be in the chair though. The wood had lost any finish it had years ago. The wood was so dry and faded. It was thirsty for a new coat of stain. I used Varathane Early American stain to bring a little life back to this beautiful chair. I allowed the stain to cure for a couple of days and then added new webbing for the back of the chair. I don't have a step by step on the upholstery. For this type of chair, I often have to "Google" my way through it. I selected this beautiful floral fabric for this chair. I felt it really complemented the carved detail of the chair. After upholstering with this beautiful floral fabric, I used fabric glue to attach gold trim to cover the staples. I use straight pins to secure the trim in place while the glue is drying (I allow 24 hours for the glue to dry completely). Look at how the stain add richness. It really brings out the detail in the chair and complements the new fabric beautifully. It's finished! I think the modern floral fabric complements the antique lines of the chair. New foam, batting and fabric will serve this chair well into the future! Thank you for reading my blog! If you would like to see more, follow me on Facebook, Instagram,and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media links above! Thanks for following me on the junking adventures! Below are some links to products I used in this project. Disclaimer: Junk is My Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Below is an image to pin to Pinterest if you would like to save this idea!

As I was making the annual Memorial Day trek to the cemetery to place flags on the graves of my ancestors, I drove past a public access area to the Eel River just south of Liberty Mills, Indiana. It is just a place you can pull off the road to access the river. There was a group of people getting ready to launch kayaks for a journey down the river. This brought back a flood of memories for me. Not for kayaking, but this particular place was a common picnic spot for my family on Memorial Day when I was a child. My grandpa always called it Decoration Day, probably because that’s how he knew it most of his life. Decoration Day began after the Civil War as a way to honor fallen Union soldiers. Mourners would decorate the graves of soldiers with flowers. May 30 was selected because flowers would be in bloom then. After WWI, observers began to honor the those who sacrificed their lives in all American wars, often calling it Memorial Day. Congress declared Memorial Day as a national holiday in 1971, designating the last Monday in May as the official day of observance. Today, it also happens to fall on May 30, the original Decoration Day. For me, it was a day of multi-generation family members spending the day together. Along with my immediate family, my grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins would pile into our multi-car caravan to various cemeteries in four different counties (Wabash, Huntington, Whitley and Wells Counties) in Northern Indiana. We would clean up the grave sites with hand-held grass clippers, place flowers on all the graves and add small American flags to those relatives that had served our country. I don’t have any direct relatives that died in battle, but we have a long history of military service. As each grave was tended, one of my relatives would tell us who the person was and how they were related to us. One particular cemetery has multiple generations of my family. Some had lived long storied lives and some, such as my grandmother’s two sisters and one of her own children had died at birth. This is probably why genealogy is a hobby of mine now. I feel like I know all of these relatives that came long before me. As we traveled from one cemetery to the next, the radio would be tuned to another Indiana tradition, the Indianapolis 500 race. The names I heard on the radio are now legends of the sport; Al Unser, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti and my favorite, Johnny Rutherford. I had no idea why he was my favorite. I think I just liked the name. Everyone else seemed to have a favorite so I picked one too. We would listen to the commentary of the race throughout the day and would be anxious to see how the standings had changed once we got back in the car on the way to the next spot. Keep in mind, I had never seen a race, nor a race car in my life up to that point, let alone an Indy race car. Since the public access to the Eel River at Liberty Mills was near one of the cemeteries, we would often pick that as our lunch spot. I don’t think there was even a picnic table there, we just used the tailgate of the station wagon and a few lawn chairs to set up our feast. My grandma’s ham salad was always a staple for these outings. I’m talking ham salad made from big chunk bologna, pickle relish and mayonnaise—on white bread. It was my absolute favorite. Paired with homemade potato salad, some potato chips and lemonade from a cooler, it was the perfect lunch. The water in the river was always shallow and we were allowed to wade in it. Someone would always wind up soaking wet. There was no change of clothes waiting, you would just have to wear it until it dried out or until we got home. Although get-togethers with friends and family are commonplace during Memorial Day weekend, I feel the tradition of decorating the graves and placing flags is slowly going by the wayside. I loved seeing all the flags at the cemetery. You can always count on the VFW and American Legion to continually honor our veterans. It was also nice to see someone had already decorated my parent’s, grandparent’s and great-grandparent’s graves. I’m not sure who placed the decorations, but I’m sure it was one of the ones on those outings all those years ago. I don't even know who won the Indy 500 this year, but I may have to pick up some ham salad and a loaf of white bread today. Thank you for reading my blog! If you would like to see more, follow me on Facebook, Instagram,and Pinterest! Just click on any of the social media links above! Thanks for following me on the junking adventures! Below are some links to products. Disclaimer: Junk is My Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Sometimes in the process of creating a makeover for an item, you discover it doesn't need one. Perhaps a make-under is appropriate. I have to admit, this one wasn't apparent to me until I was halfway through the makeover. I picked up this fantastic bingo cage at an auction about a month ago. It was a definite Fab Find! I loved the green of the cage, the red Bakelite handle and just the overall patina. What I didn't love was the dirty, dusty piece of plywood to which it was attached. So I thought I would take it apart, clean the wood, coat it with a cream color chalk paint, distress it and reattach it to the bingo cage. I snapped this photo so I could offer up a handy tip about putting any screws or hardware you remove on a project in a plastic baggie to ensure all pieces stay together in one place—you should totally do that when revamping a project... Then I put the first coat of paint on the board and while waiting for it to dry to apply a second coat, that is when it hit me... there it was, sitting right in front of me. The bingo cage was sitting on my work table. That is when I realized I didn't need the board at all. It looked better without it. Much better without it. So that is my make "under" for today. I cut the dead weight and let this shine all on its own. #bingo #bakelite #green #patina #Chalkpaint #cream #plywood #Makeover #FabFind

I find reupholstering relaxing. I focus so much on the task, I block out everything else. It's very zen for me. I am always on the lookout for projects to reupholster and that will sell in my booth. I found these little stools at an estate auction. They had been reupholstered several times and had seen multiple colors of spray paint. One had hideous gold paint on the legs. The other one had a mix of gold and mint green. The fabric was different on each stool. Time for a makeover! First, I removed the legs from the seats. One of the stools had the rubber caps on the feet. They were adhered to the stool with the application of the spray paint. Fortunately, a wrench removed them easily. Then I sanded the legs to remove the rust and any old paint drips or bumps. I sprayed painted the legs black. Incidentally, the black paint did not like the metallic paint. It would bubble up and it wouldn't adhere at first. It took multiple coats to cover the old paint. I set to work removing the layers and layers of fabric. Each stool had three layers of fabric. The original color was black vinyl. I stripped everything off of the seat. I was left only with the plywood base. I typically add new foam and batting to my projects. As someone that has dust allergies, I prefer a fresh start on the upholstery. I thought this fabric would work well for the stools. The best part? I found it at Goodwill for just $2.99. There is almost two yards here. And it is heavy enough for reupholstering projects. I often scour the racks at Goodwill for upholstery fabric—you would be surprised at how much I can find there. I began upholstering the seat. I had a layer of fabric, foam and cotton batting. I always add a dust cover on the bottom. The fabric for this is really inexpensive and I think it finishes the piece really well. One done! Now for the other. Now that both seats are finished, I just reattached the legs to the seat. I used an awl to punch a hole through the dust cover to ensure proper placement of the screws into the holes. Voila! They look so much better! A little paint and inexpensive fabric can make such a huge difference! I will buy some black rubber stops for the feet. The metal is pretty sharp and I don't want anyone to scratch their floors! So take a second look at those hideous stools. You can often pick them up for a dollar or two and if you are a savvy shopper for your fabric, the cost of the project can be next to nothing! #stool #reupholstering #reupholstered #black #gold #fabric #goodwill #screw #checked #dustcover #Makeover