Fun finds

Usually it's the Tin Man that goes out to estate sales and auctions to bring home fun things for me but he's been so busy with baseball this summer that I'm starting to feel like a baseball widow! So I had to take it on myself to check out a tag sale this weekend to see what good deals he was missing and I think I did pretty good.

 I think this will be good for sand paper and maybe some jewelry project in progress.

 You may have notice that I have a thing for clocks and gears so when I spotted these on Kijiji I just had to check them out. And of course if I bought them all it was a much better deal? Now to decide which to keep for my collection and which to get the Tin Man to demolish for parts!

 I don't usually buy little knick knacks and such but when I saw the inside of this mushroom it just had to come home with me.

Can you see Lord Byron(the lady bug) in his library?

And of course just a few more books for our library or possibly for altering!

This Davenport desk was the main reason I had to go check out the tag sale and to my surprise there didn't seem to be much interest in it and I was able to get it. Well I had to go just a little over the limit the Tin Man gave me. LOL.

So how is your summer going? Have you found any good deals?

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Lachute art journaling field trip.

I have an art journaling group that meets once a month. We usually play around with some techniques and get inspiration from each other. Well this month we decided to take a field trip. We heading off very early one morning to Lachute Market in Quebec. It's a large antique market, flea market and farmers market all in one place. We had a great time and found some fun treasure. Here are my finds for the day.

I had to buy some paper ephemera since it was for our journaling meeting we were here. The mushroom poster on the right under the book was a bonus find in one of the books. The stack of envelopes have some really great stamps on that I just couldn't resist. I've already started to use them as you can see in my journal page further down.

I think these dominoes are my favourite find of the day. It may be hard to tell from this photo but they are very tiny. The tin is 2 inches by 3 inches. The tin made me laugh so I thought I should bring it home. The label says Dr. Charles Worm Chocolates "milk chocolate creams". Apparently it's "The most sure, safe and pleasant remedy for expelling worms from children and adults. Dr. Charles' Worm Chocolates expel Worms and will be of great help in all other ailments for Children such as Fever, Biliousness, lack of appetite, stomachache, restlessness at night, peevishness, sallow complexion, etc." Wow can you believe it, a cure for peevishness!

I've been looking for some crystal salt and pepper shakers for keeping my glitter in. I think these will be a good start for that.

And of course how could I resist a few more suitcases. The larger one in the back opens oddly to the sides so I thought it might be useful for displaying jewelry. It needs a little TLC inside though first.

I found a few watches for the Tin Man to take apart so I can use the gears and a little Danish plate with the Rundetaarn (Round Tower) on it. Many years ago the Tin Man and I went up in this tower. It's most interesting feature is that it has a spiraling ramp to get up to the top. It was built this way so they could transport things with a horse and carriage to the library attached to it and heavy equipment to the top for the observatory which it was originally built for.

Before going to Lachute I challenge everyone to bring their art journals and some supplies to work on a page while we were there but it turned out much colder than we expected and there was just so much to see so we never had a chance to do it. We did decide that we would do a page before the next meeting though. This is mine. I used papers from the books and envelopes that I picked up at the market and the Cropping Chic was given to me by one of my fellow travelers. I'm pretty pleased with myself that I got my page done within a few days of returning from our trip. 

Have you ever tried to art journal on a trip? How did it go? Do you have any tips you can share with me for doing it? Definitely something I will try more often.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

More Auction finds

As promised here are more auction finds from the Tin Man.

 This is a Gestetner wheel pen. David Gestetner was the inventor of this pen, a revolutionary new way to make copies of written documents in the early 1900's. So interesting to learn of how they had to do things over a hundred years ago that we take for granted. Any one know of an interesting use for a wheel pen now?

 The Tin Man was told that these little bead monkeys are made from Jade. They're very roughly carved but do feel like they could be Jade.

 I've been looking for some crystal salt and pepper shakers to store my glitter in but I guess the Tin Man just heard salt and pepper shakers. Oh well they are kind of neat, just have to figure out what I can do with them now! Any one have some ideas for using small salt and pepper shakers, well other then the obvious!!?

And then there is this cute little old box. I'm sure I can find something to store in it. I love just about any kind of box. This one has definitely been around the block a few times.

So there are the Tin Man's auction find this time. What do you think, have you found any interesting auction finds lately?

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Weekend wonders.

I hope your weekend was as wonderful and fulfilling as mine was. I love to take workshops and learn new things. So it was no surprise that I loved taking a torch enameling class with Deborah Read at The Glass Shoppe Studio here in Ottawa. It was my first time taking a class there and they we so welcoming and helpful. It was also my first time trying torch enameling and Deborah was an excellent teacher. I not only wanted to learn torch enameling but also get more comfortable with a torch and the ladies at The Glass Shoppe Studio and Deborah did a great job at this. I  think I'm finally ready to set up my own torch and get creative with fire.

Here are the beads I made. I need more practice but I think they came out pretty good for a first try.

 While I was busy playing with the torch the Tin man was out working and garage saling. Look what he got for me this week! I've been eyeing quite a few of these here and there but he finally found one with a nice price tag on it. I was so excited to share with you I didn't even wipe it down so you can see the dust and all, such is life or at least mine is!

Then to finish off the weekend we had lovely family dinner at my parent with extra relatives over from Denmark. Sorry no pics! I really must remember to tote along my camera to these things. Maybe then I would get back at doing some scrapbooking. Ya I'll just put that on the list!

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Auction surprises.

The Tin man likes to go to auctions. Sometimes I go along but most of the time I let him go on his own and get the fun surprise of seeing what he comes home with each time. So this past weekend he went on his own and this is what he brought back.
 First off is the butcher paper holder/cutter. I had recently ask him if he could make me something to hold a large paper roll so silly me I thought that's why he bought it but apparently not. He thought it would make a good display for my jewelry. So I'll have to play with it a little as a display and see how things look. What do you think paper holder or jewelry display?
 When I looked at the auction items on line they had a lot of interesting old boxes, so I asked the Tin man to try to get me some and this is the one he got. I guess they are pretty popular right now and the prices were over his budget. It's bigger than I was thinking so I'm not sure what I'll use it for. I was thinking of some smaller ones for studio storage. What do you think? What would you use it for?
  And the last item is a pair of wooden shoes. I think he just thought they were fun! I'll probably just put them in the front hall for now but I'm thinking they're big enough to use as some kind of storage in the studio!

Happy Creating!

Wendy

More antiquing sights.

So to continue from yesterdays post, we went to another antique shop just outside of Smith Falls called Butcher's Antiques. This shop is in old barns so lots of fun rummaging around to see what you can find. We didn't purchase anything but did have fun with the sights.

First there is the outside ground to peruse. This was only part of what was outside, it continued around one of the barns.

Here is some shutters that were hanging around outside. I'm thinking these might work in my new studio space. It's on the Tin mans auction finds list...get a good deal on some shutters with amazing patina, preferably green or white.

 Sometimes it seems so sad the things that get left outside at these places but oh the texture and patinas it creates. I think this was some kind of really long side panel.

 A beautiful old door, you just can't do this kind of texture in the studio.

Another wonderful shutter.

 I've notice that these places seem to think that barn attics are good chair resting places. This was just a small portion of the chairs here. So many wonderful old chairs waiting for that perfect home.

This lamp got the ugly award for the day. I think it looks more like some kind of torture equipment than a lamp. I guess, to each his own! 

 I think this came in as close second for that award though. The Tin Man found this but wasn't willing to try it out. I wonder why?

And beside that lovely chair was this regal sofa and chairs set. Now that's Royal Blue!

So now you know what we like to do when the weather gets nice in the spring. What did you do on these beautiful days we've been having?

Happy Antiquing!

Wendy

Beautiful antiquing day.

It was such a beautiful sunny day today that the Tin man talked me into doing a little antiquing after Tai Chi today instead of cleaning the basement. Imagine the arm twisting he had to do for that!
Lucky you I had my little camera in my purse today so I can share some of the sights.

Our first stop found us at Carousel Antiques in Franktown. They are in a lovely old 1832 stone building. Sorry I didn't get my camera out early enough to get a picture of it...next time.

This is what I purchased here. The pewter mold is just a reproduction but I like it and I hope to use it when I do this on my staircase wall. And well how can I resist watches. I haven't made any watch part jewelry lately so this will help me get back at it.

I'm back...had to go help sister Nancy prepare for a stain glass workshop she's taking next week. I've run out of steam for today though so I'll continue sharing my antiquing story tomorrow.

Good night!

Wendy

Treasures

Here are my treasures I found on our outing this past weekend.

I found this old portable typewriter at a garage sale for a really good price. My friend Sheila has been looking for one, so if she can get it to work she can have it. Other wise I'll take it apart to use for jewelry or some mixed media assemblage.
I found these metal print types at an antique store in Cornwall. They had piles of them but I wasn't sure what a good price was and the Tim Man was giving me that look so I had to limit myself to about 25 of them. Note to self...check out what the going price for print types is.
These clocks and parts I got from a great blogger friend Jennifer at the Milk House Gallery. If you're ever in the Prescott area she has a wonderful little shop with lots of antique and vintage items. I'll be taking some of these clocks apart for the gears and such. I'm not sure about the 2 on the right though. I've grown kind of fond of them. I'll put them on a shelf to admire in my studio for now anyway.

So that was it for my weekend finds. It's inspired me to get back at my steampunk jewelry. But first to get taking apart some things. Well that's usually the Tin Man's job. I might have to wait till this heat lets up a bit though.

Have a great day. And always keep you eyes open for great treasures!!

Antiques any one!!

I was out shopping and signing up for Saturdays Farmers Market in Perth yesterday with Sheila from How I See It. As avid shoppers a few rainstorms barely slowed us down so we ventures a little further out on Rideau Ferry Rd to check out this Antique shop. It's in an old farm house and every nook and cranny of every room looks like this. There are small paths leading around each room to view the mounds of antiques. It's daunting to say the least and I'm not sure how you find anything there but if your looking for something specific and ask the owner, he's very helpful and seems to know where things are...incredible.

Well I'm off to pack up for the Market tomorrow and maybe make this weeks tag challenge.
If you're in the Perth area I'll be there from 8am-1pm.

Have a creative weekend!