One of those red, white, and blue weekends

Are you ready? I'm not.  Been so busy with the shop and life that i have hardly given the holiday a thought.

So I am sharing a few past arrangements and a little story from the shop. A customer came in and asked about 4th of July decorations, and I showed her a couple of displays.  One had been all blue and white

and another had been red. 

 

That morning I had mixed some of the red with the blue and some of the blue with the red....and there you have it red, white, and blue.  Add a flag, and you are all set.

 

You can do the same at home.  Here are a couple of items we have at the shop that could help you this weekend.

A vintage Anchor Hocking ruby glass berry bowl set. and...

this vintage padded vinyl ice bucket,....or how about this large vintage enamelware bowl, supersized for fruit or popcorn or whatever.

We also have a large square pattern blue and white quilt which would look fantastic as a tablecloth, blue enamelware coffee pot, large blue vase.  Just use your imagination and maybe a couple of decor items with a past.

And have a great Memorial Day weekend. 

Having fun Pickin' and Plannin' for the Shop

It's funny, because when you start out treasure hunting you never know what you will find or whether you will find anything at all.

Usually I concentrate on the current season - spring and gardening, which was good, because we found this set of 6 vintage Nasco gnomes, just sitting in the corner of a basement at an estate sale. The sale was in its third and last day, and it's hard to believe no one had snatched these up.

Then you spot something you are not even thinking about, like Christmas, or Christmas in July.  If you come across something Christmas and it is marvelous, you've got to strike, and strike we did with these fantastic vintage ornaments, a whole box of them.  

The dilemma is - do I keep them? 
I really want to do our tree in all vintage ornaments, or do I put them in the store because they will look so wonderful in a display? Fortunately, we have a few months to decide.

At the same time we came across this, what I think is, a 50's lighted church.  When I was researching it, one person called it a night light, which I suppose it could be, but most would associate it with a Christmas display. Whatever it is, we had to have it, and it works. Its windows (celluloid?) were coming loose because the tape used to hold them in place was yellow and stiff with age.  It was  pretty easy to fix with a few new pieces of tape.

We also gathered quite a few items which many would call "junk", but for us, they are the treasures of our trade.  You'll get to see those next time.  In the meantime, Happy Junkin'. (See more items  at my etsy shop, justasecondonmain. And there are lots more goodies at Just A Second on N. Main in Rockford.  I'd say in my brick and mortar store, but it's wood and siding.