Monster High Doll House

My daughter's love playing with Monster High dolls. It is their new favorite toy and has surpassed their love for Barbie and Bratz. Recently my husband found this doll house in the trash. We decided to recycle it and transform it into a Monster High house for the girls to play with.

All it takes is some black spray paint and tape.

Start by taping off parts of the house that you don't want painted black.

After taping, spray with paint.

It doesn't have to be neat or perfect - it is a monster house after all.

After covering with paint, we pulled the tape off and here are the results.
As you can see the tape didn't come off neatly and there is some overspray, which I think adds to the haunted house look.

The inside.

We stopped there but you could go all out with this project by adding other colors in paint from the Monster High palette like neon pink, grey and purple.

KayteeJane

Golden Robot

I didn't think it could ever happen, but I think I have OD'd on yard sales and junk! My husband was telling me about some upcoming sales in our area and I actually heard myself say "I don't feel like going to yard sales this weekend".  Do any of you junkers out there ever feel like that from time to time? I think this is a result of buying so much at the community yard sales and also hitting an estate sale this past weekend where I bought a few things. It is so hard to say no to great stuff when it is priced so affordably. As a result I have a pile of finds sitting in my dining room that I have yet to put away - many have been there for over a month now. I look around my house and see treasures everywhere. While I love my vintage look, sometimes I long for a house that is decorated with current trends, clean lines and minimal stuff.  Oh well, this too shall pass. I always come back to loving my treasures and looking for more. It is sort of a sickness that you never get over. I'm sure by the time Saturday rolls around I will be up and out again.

Here is something that we found recently that keeps us going to sales looking for the next great find.

I cannot take credit for buying this as I would have not looked twice at it. My husband - as I've said before is much better at this junking thing than I am - found this at the community yard sales and bought it for $3. He said "It looks neat so I think I am going to buy it and take a chance.". Whatever - $3 is no big deal! Well, this was a golden robot! He put this baby on ebay and turned his $3 investment into a $130 sale. WOW! This robot doesn't even have all of the parts with it and it isn't that old - from 1996 I think. Who knew?

These type of finds don't come around often, but when they do it is so exciting. This past weekend we bought a pair of roller skates for $3 thinking we could resell them for profit and turns out that they aren't worth anything on ebay right now. So you never know and sometimes it is a shot in the dark. But this is what keeps us amateur buyers and collectors going.

KayteeJane

Soda Crate

I bought this crate at the community yard sales also. It was from a soda company Saegertown Aristocrat, which was made in Saegertown Pennsylvania. The company is no longer in business. The crate was pretty beat up and falling apart so hubby had to fix it up when we got home. I only paid $3 for it.

This is the graphics on one side.

This is the other side. It has dividers in it also.

I am going to use it as a shelf - as shown here. Not sure what I will put on the shelf yet.

The last of the finds next time.

KayteeJane

Recent Finds - Part 2

As promised here are more pics of the things I bought at the community yard sales.

I am a big sucker for old linens. I usually buy them if they are cheap - which they usually are. Shown below - a table cloth, pillowcase and napkin. Sorry about the wrinkles - these just came out of the wash.

Here is an upclose of the embroided pillowcase.

This is a small pillow case, probably designed for a child or baby. When I bought it, it had some yellowing and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to salvage it. I washed it and then hung it outside to dry. It hung out for a few days in the sun and that did the trick. The sun took all of the yellowing away. It is now fresh as new. I have already put it on a pillow and it is very cute. I didn't get a picture of it today but will show it soon. What a cute gift this would make for a new mom who likes vintage.

Aren't these little birds soooo cute. This is one corner of a small tablecloth which was pretty stained. I washed it and hung it out but didn't have the success I had with the pillowcase. I usually try not to buy linens if they are badly stained unless I am going to cut them up and repurpose them into something else. I couldn't pass this one up because of the adorable embroidered birds. Each corner has a different design but each design has a bird and some sort of tea cup or tea pot. I will be cutting this apart and using the embroidered pieces as pockets on either an apron or a future sewing project. I just couldn't walk away from these cute birdies.


I bought these seed bags for $1.00 each. They were terribly stained and stinky. I knew in my heart that the stains were probably not going to come out - but I still caved and bought them anyway. I figured a dollar wasn't too big of a gamble if they didn't come clean. I like to turn these bags into pillows and buy them whenever I see them for cheap. After washing them, the burlap one softened up in the wash but also came apart in a few places. There was burlap all over my washing machine. The cotton bag is a bit cleaner but still not stain-free. These will still be turned into pillows but different from the original plan. I will be dying the cotton bag and making it into either a pillow or purse of some sort. The burlap bag will be cut up - saving the piece with the corn picture - and then sewn into a small pillow.

I also found these unused cotton sugar bags. They cost 50 cents each. I thought they will make great gift bags for homemade cookies or something like that. I may keep one to hang in my kitchen.

This large pillowcase was found still in it's original package. I like the material. I've seen people make shirts from pillowcases so I thought I would try that. It cost 50 cents I think.

I bought this metal tray for 10 cents. Again, someone pricing stuff for 10 cents! I love these old kitchen trays that have designs on them. You just don't see them much for sale anymore. They make cute magnetic memo boards. I may use this one as a memo board once I get it hung on the wall somewhere.

 

More finds in the next post - there is still more to share!

KayteeJane





Recent Finds

This past weekend my family and I were lucky enough to find a small town having their annual community yard sales. That is my most favorite type of yard saleing - when an entire community has their yard sales on the same day! It was great. We bought lots of stuff. I even made a list after it was all said and done so that I could record what I bought and how much I paid. Here is a picture of my list.

Here are some highlights - more to follow in upcoming posts.

This cute white planter only cost 10 cents! I kid you not. Who prices stuff for 10 cents anyway? Did they think nobody would buy it and that is why it was priced so cheap? I would have paid more. I love it.

This cute metal basket was $1.00. I don't think it is vintage - but who cares?

I bought these 2 vintage post cards. They were a quarter each. Another steal.

The one shown on the bottom of the picture above was used at one time. Here is the back. It is a mystery! I actually prefer post cards that have writing on them and were sent in the mail. They are fun to read and see the beautiful cursive handwriting. I also love that the sender didn't need to include a house number or street name - just the name of the town and the state.

I found this metal spring at the same sale where I bought the white planter. It also cost 10 cents. Not sure what it was previously used for. I am going to use it to hold pictures and post cards for a unique display.

I also bought this to add to my collection of vintage school stuff. Do you remember these? Doubt teachers still use these anymore as many schools now have white boards.

Not sure it is very old, but I bought it anyway as I like stuff like that. I tried it out on my kitchen chalkboard.

Still much more on my list to share next time!

KayteeJane

Berry Picking

We went blueberry picking this past weekend. Here are the girls in the fields doing the picking.

This is something I like to do at least once a summer. I usually only get around to doing it once, but would do it more often if I lived closer to this farm. There is nothing like the taste and freshness of hand-picked berries. Plus, the cost is so much better when you pick yourself - so you can get a lot more berries for your money.

We came home with 5 quarts of large berries. This is the bag after we snacked and made a batch of blueberry muffins.

On the Fourth of July I decided to make blueberry pies to enjoy at our picnic later that night. The girls helped also - each one making a mini pie for themself.

I added a buttery crumb topping to the pies instead of a second crust.

Here is what they looked like after baking. The color of the cooked blueberries is such a beautiful purple/red with juice oozing out all over! A cookie sheet underneath is a must.

The pie tasted delicious. It was a lot of work to make, but so worth it in the end result. The taste of the hand-picked berries is so different from the berries you buy at the grocery store. They are full of flavor - very tart yet sweet too. The homemade crust and topping was also delicious. All recipes came from Martha Stewart if you are interested - Basic Pie Crust & Fruit Pie Crumb Topping. I would recommend these recipes and would make them again.

KayteeJane

4th of July

Here is what is on display for the 4th of July.

The kitchen shelves have a red, white & blue theme.

Snacks in a red and white enamelware bowl

On the mantle right now...white pottery, vintage flags & a drum major's baton.

A vintage book & an Uncle Sam head planter.

Some red, white & blue soda bottles from my collection of bottles.

Have a great holiday!

KayteeJane