Summer Scenes

As you know I love to collect things and have many themed collections around the house. Some that I have shared here are my collections of heart shaped rocks, hose nozzles, gardening stuff & vintage school supplies.

Here are some of my favorite things that just say summer to me.

Strawberry table cloth

A berry picking basket

Strawberry jam pot

A soda pop bottle holds the first zinnia cut from my garden this year.
Love that vibrant orange color.

I love my metal porch furniture! Picnic anyone?

 

Brewing Sun Tea on the side porch 

Old paper ice cream carton & some green glass dishes make a cute display in the kitchen.

Porcelein coffee pot decorated with cherries

Stop over at Privet & Holly to see some other great collections from bloggers near & far and to read a great post about collecting.
I joined the collection show & tell party there too.

Enjoy this beautiful summer day!

KayteeJane

Selling Some Treasures

Hi All!

From time to time I decide to clean out around the house to make room for new treasures. I have decided to add a page to my blog where I will list things for sale. Some of these may be items that I have previously shown on the blog and some not. I hope to update this page often as things sell and I find new things to replace the old.

To see what is for sale click on the tab at the top of the page that says
"Stuff for Sale". That will take you to a new page with items that I am parting with. If you have any questions you can always reach me by email or leave me a comment.

Thanks!

KayteeJane

More Flea Market Fun

Here are some things that I found at the flea market this weekend.

More Vintage Pyrex. I'm beginning to think I may need an intervention here. Not sure of the pattern name. I already used these to make cucumber salad.

Some cute coffee containers. Since I LOVE my coffee, I buy these when I see them. I love the Sanka jar. It still has coffee in it! It says "Lets You Sleep" - that cracks me up :)

At one of the booths at the flea-tique a vendor had a box of silverware she was selling 2 for $1.00. I dug through the box and came up with this neat baby spoon.

It is inscribed with someone's birthdate I assume.

A great use for these small silver spoons is to attach them to a jar of homemade jelly or preserves. Small butter knives work great for this too. When I see them for sale I usually buy a few and save them to use on a gift later.

My friend Cindy bought me these metal children's cups and saucers at the same flea market. She saw me looking at them and then bought them for me when I walked away. How sweet :) It is so great to have friends who "get you".

This vintage woman's bonnet came from the same vendor. She only charged me a $1.00 for it. I think I will just hang it on a pretty hanger and display it in my bedroom. I can't imagine wearing something like this back in the day. I just love the blue & red patterened fabric. Sometimes you just buy something because you like it and for no other reason or purpose. You can figure that out later :)

This is one of my favorite finds of the day - an old store display sign from a G.C. Murphy store. You may remember the other one that my husband purchased for me on ebay. The possibilities for this are endless - I may use it to display photos, messages or on my table at a special party.

I bought all of these children's hangers for $1.00 too. $1.00 seems to be my lucky number this week! I love vintage children's things - as if you couldn't tell already. I'm in love with the pastel colors and animals - especially the scottie dogs & roosters. These make great baby shower gifts with a new dress or outfit hanging from them.

I like to use these to hang vintage dresses which I display around the house.

This is similar to a dress that I wore when I was a kid. I tried to get my daughter to wear it once but she wasn't impressed with the 1970's design. LOL

I bought this sock stretcher/form this past weekend at a yard sale. Not sure where I will hang it in the house yet. It is made of galvanized metal. It goes well with the hands that I posted about previously. I will probably hang them all together.

Lastly, I bought this sweet embroidered dish towel from the same vendor where I found the silverware, bonnet and tea cups. I am going to sew it into a pillow.

Love the hand-stitching.

Here's to flea marketing! Make a point to go to at least one this summer before they are gone for the year...You never know what treasure you may find.

KayteeJane

Flea Market Fun

One of my favorite flea markets in Pittsburgh is the Allegheny-Kiski Historical Society's Flea-Tique which is held on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Tour-Ed Mine in Tarentum, Pennysylvania. This is where I began my collecting adventures over 20 years ago as a teenager.

Here is the family posing for a pic this past Sunday. The two ladies in hats have been coming here every summer for those 20 years and they have both been instrumental in influencing me and teaching me about collecting and antiques. The lady in the hat with sunglasses on is my Mom Diane and the other lady is her friend Beth.

My tastes have changed over the years, but I never leave this place empty handed and this past Sunday was no expection. Here is one of the neat things I bought there and it only cost $1.

This cute little metal toy stove was found at this nice vendor's booth. I had to ask her if I was reading the tag correctly and she said "yes, it is $1". Turns out she didn't think it was worth much because it has some rust and the oven door doesn't close.

I also saw these neat metal signs from an old store for sale at a different booth. I thought they would be great for my kitchen. Hubby said "no!" so I passed. Maybe he will make me a copy of these at work (he works at a sign company). One can hope.

Here is what I decided to do with the cute little stove. It is now my kitchen "message center".

An opening on the stove-top holds pens.

The oven door that won't close is perfect for holding sheets of note paper.

The metal body holds holds messages with a magnet.

To me this is reusing & recycling and its best. This cutie would also work great holding plants on your porch or on your desk holding post-its and other supplies.

I got some other great items at the flea market in addition to the little stove. Stop back tomorrow and I will share them with you :)

KayteeJane

S'mores on the Grill

Try this easy way to make S'mores on your grill.

I used the large "Jumbo" marshmallows.

Place a piece of foil on your grill. Don't forget this step or you will have a gooey mess.

Put the marshmallows on the foil - leaving about 2 inches between each marshmallow.

Light the grill, close the lid and let the marshmallows get hot. I kept checking the marshmallows to see if they were ready. It took my grill about 10 minutes on medium heat until they were nice and melted.

They are ready!

Lift each marshmallow off the foil carefully.

The bottom of the marshmallow is toasted nice and brown.

Place the hot marshmallow on top of the chocolate and graham cracker.

Yum!

Faith Wreath

I arrived home yesterday to find this lovely wreath waiting for me on my front porch.

A completely unexpected surprise.

It was made by my friend Alexis.

It perfectly matches my house and porch - which are yellow.

She lovingly cut hundreds of squares of yellow fabric and attached them to a wreath base.

The word Faith - a perfect adornment for my wreath.

Something I couldn't live without.

Thank you so much Alexis. I love my wreath and I love you too :)

May YOU be blessed with wonderful friends and unexpected surprises!

KayteeJane

Charming Chinese Planters

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to go to a flea market. My husband spied these planters on the ground on a blanket as we were passing through the aisles. I have never seen vintage planters in this theme before. I love the muted greens, yellows and pinks - which point to their vintage age.

There are 4 different designs.

Sometimes I ask the seller where they found the items that they are selling so that I can  learn something about the history or origin. In this case the seller told me that these planters had belonged to her Mother-in-Law who had collected asian-themed items all of her life. Often family and friends had given her gifts, like these planters, to add to her collection. This explains why there was a group of 4 different designs.

These planters are useful in other occupations besides holding plants. They would be cute on your desk as a container for pens or business cards, or in your craft room to hold buttons or other small items.

I'm not sure if I will keep all of these or not. If you are interested in any of them, let me know as I would consider parting with a few.

Thanks for stopping today!
KayteeJane