Nashville Treasures

Hand sewn infant gown with tatted trim

 I am back in Nashville for 2 weeks and, of course, I can't help but look for estate sales.  Unlike Florida, they have basements and attics here.

Cross-stitched birds on a baby boy's jumper

This week we took along my future son-in-law.  Can you believe he has never been to an estate sale?  He met us at 8am (I am so proud of him).




















We went to a home nearby.  The house was huge!  I usually enter, go right and walk the periphery, then go to the middle of the home so I don't miss a thing.  This house was like a maze.  Thank goodness I had help.  My husband, my daughter and her fiance were wonderful.

Baby girl pillowcase

The remnants of our lives tell a story.  In this home I found one who loved Disney, ET, and Madame Alexander dolls; was an expert with needle and thread and a lover of Jesus;  one who treasured children, was well traveled, enjoyed history and Halloween costumes. 

Akro Agate children's dishes

My favorite find of all.......

1889 Card Game

The whole alphabet - this will be framed. 

Extra cards of more commonly used letters.  What can I spell?

I wonder what my home will say about me?

The Suitcase

So, mom is recuperating at home and everyone is pitching in to help her each day.  It is so great to have siblings in the same town to work together in a crisis. 

As promised, I want to share more about our estate sale finds on our road trip.  My favorite find became a project for the wedding. 


Suitcases and birdcages have been on our radar for a while.  Either would be great for collecting cards at the reception.  This suitcase is the answer! 
The lovely woman who sold it to me said it belonged to her father and it's probably about 75 years old.  I love the crackled black leather exterior and the gold fabric lining.  The interior has lots of pockets and fasteners for holding toiletries.  It has so much potential! 

I began  by wiping the exterior and carefully vacuuming the lining.   The pockets were a mess because the elastic was all stretched out.  I opened up the casing just a bit and threaded new elastic through each pocket.  Then I glued down any loose parts of the lining.



That's when I remembered the men's bake lite grooming kit I had just purchased at the same estate sale.  The toothbrush holder and soap holder both fit perfectly on the left side.  I searched my old bottles and found three that fit on the right.  Each of the little holders now had an object.  I really like how it turned out.  

This old gentleman will collect all the congratulatory cards at the wedding reception.  Yay!

Stay Tuned

My hubbie and I took a little road trip this weekend.  Using my handy dandy free app, "Find Tag Sales"  we found 3 different estate sales along our route and rescued some really fun stuff.  Unfortunately while we were gone, my mom took a fall and fractured her shoulder.  So, instead of sharing with you, I need to be with her.  Blogging will wait.   But check back.  I'll be sharing as soon as I can.  Here's a little sneak peek.

Best of Finds/Worst of Finds

I started out on task this morning, retrieving old bottles and jars from the garage and washing them up in the kitchen sink.  I am gathering old stuff for the decor at my daughter's wedding.  Her Pinterest wedding board my inspiration,  wedding prep crunch time my motivation. 

Old mason jars, mostly blue, but one a pale green, a bear-shaped jar, and wait!  What's this?  An old Beechnut Coffee Jar.  It's the best!  Why?  Because it still has the label!  How I admire the vintage graphics of old labels.  But, wait - oh no!  It's the worst!  How can I preserve this fragile little thing?  Especially since it is so dusty and dirty.  And, it's all but fallen off.  I bite the bullet,  peel it off the rest of the way, pick up all the stray pieces and head inside.




That's when I remember my trusty scanner.  I wonder if she is in the mood to cooperate today? (My printer/scanner and I have a love/hate relationship.)   I carefully lay out the pieces of the label on my scanner.  Now the games begin.  Set it up...."not found" messages.....turn it off....turn it on....try again....you get what I mean.   Eventually she decided to cooperate (at this point I cannot resist saying she reminds me of my child rearing days). 










I scan the label in color, carefully cut it out with my Exacto knife (actually, I started out carefully and then just went for it).  But now what?  I have white spots on my label because there were holes in the original.  That doesn't look very vintage!








Eureka!  This morning's coffee grounds!  (Does anyone else see the irony?)  I set it outside to dry a little.  I think next time I should do the coffee grounds first, then cut it out. 

Here's the three labels.  The top is the scanned copy uncut.  The middle is the scanned copy cut and stained.  The bottom is the original.  The original is undeniably the best, and I'm not convinced the coffee grounds are the answer.  At least the image is preserved and available for future use.  And I had fun on my journey of label preservation. 

I used double sided tape to adhere the reproduced label so that I can take it off and wash the jar in the future.  As a side note, what about the polka dotted rust patina on that lid?  Fabulous!

I am not sure what I will do with the original label.  Every time I touch it another piece breaks off.  I can tell you this....I won't throw it away.  Not yet.

What is this?

FMI (for my information) blog today.  I bought this at a thrift store.  I love old metal stuff.  Anyway, this is some kind of a basket with 2 hooks that have green rubber tips.  I am guessing it hangs from a scale of some kind.  Hopefully it's use is painfully obvious to someone out there.  The basket itself measures about 9 inches square and is about 6 inches deep.