Desperately seeking....

More space! For the last couple years my daughters room has been a real disaster and hazard-each night we need to make a fire path to the door from her bed. She has a very small room and a LOT of stuff. I have been desperately trying to kick my husband out of her closet, which also houses the door to our attic stairway. (He has had dibs on this space for the past 11 years, with stuff that he has not looked at in that time either.)

I have seen where they make closets into offices, taking the door off , putting a desk and shelving in it. Giving them much needed space, even if it is only a couple of feet.

One afternoon with nothing to do, I decided to tackle it. I took everything out of the closet, packed it away in boxes and put it in the basement.

I painted it pink and then came the fun part, filling it up with all of her stuff. We put her kitchen set in, then we filled the hooks that line the walls with dress-up clothes, purses and hats.

All in all, I think it turned out pretty good and Maddie's loves her new special place.

The Junk Mammas

Etsy and MOMS UNITE

Check out our Etsy shop, we have added a few new items. Vintage license plates, art and chalk boards.

Also, check out a Soft place to Land, Nesting Place and The Inspired Room for us and other moms who make and sell some pretty fabulous items.

The Junk Mammas

Halloween Pixies

Pixies in a jar are all over blogland, and I couldn't be left out. I made Halloween pixies (I do realize Halloween is over) one afternoon, instead of cleaning my house. Craftying is just far more fun then cleaning. I printed out some pictures on the computer and made wings and hats. Added a little tag. Put in a jar with some spanish moss. Wahla!

I think I am going to make christmas elves or angels.

The Junk Mammas

Beatrice

You know how you have always wanted something, but really have no idea what you'd really do with it or why you must have it. You just want to have it.

I have always wanted a dress form. My husband did locate one a few years back, but it was musty and ugly gray. Then I discovered blogs and others had the same desire for a dress form. Heather's dress form at Past and Present Collection really sparked my desire for one these ladies again. And the true inspiration was from Cath at Just something I Made, she's a real artist.

So this how the story goes. We decided to try our hand a craft show and sell some jewerly. What better way to display some jewerly, but on a dress form. I got really lucky and stumbled across this super estate sale. There she was in the guest house waiting for a new home. I waited for the second day, which was half off day. I scooped Beatrice right on up for $12.50. She was a bit musty, so I frebreezed her and let her sit on my porch for a week or to air out.

I used an old dictionary and started to modge podge the pages to her. It took alot of glue, but she came together in about two nap times (about 4 hrs). Beatrice didn't have a stand, so I just followed what Cath did and used a old lamp base which we had laying around. Beatrice worked out great for the show and now I have my dress form.

The Junk Mammas

The 1st show

For the past 3 weeks we have been desperately trying to get ready for our first art/craft fair. Instead of finishing our planned items, we decided to torture our selves with new ones each days- the projects seemed never ending!!


Then we had our share of mishaps, ordering jewelry parts in the wrong size, running out of supplies without being able to find things that match and we had aprons made (which turned out awesome!! Thanks Merry!!)but were a couple sizes too big.

But, we knew the show must go on and our booth turned out pretty darn good- for a couple of rookies.) It was definitely a learning experience, with lots of Diet Pepsi drank, burns with the glue gun, and new found love of creating great things.

Check out our Esty's store!

Chalk boards and stuff

We love chalk boards, and could hang them in any room in our houses. Found a french provincial wood cutout the other day and decided it would be a fantastic shape for a chalk board. Fancy gold frames go great with chalkboards inside too!

Here are some of our chalk boards and other misc. projects we have been hard at work on for the fall art/craft fair. Some of these items will also be available on Etsy the end of the month.










Junk Mammas

Halloween Party-better late than never

Country Home

A sign Jenny's husband (Andy) made us a few years back.

I am feeling a bit witchy these days. I am sure my family and friends would agree. Now we need to get to work on the kids costumes.

A different kinda six pack

In our hay-day we used to celebrate birthdays with a six pack of beer and a headache the next day. Now we like to celebrate with a 6 pack of cupcakes and a belly ache.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

Cranberry Fest

We survived another year of fest, or shall I say we ate our way through it! For those of you that don't know what Cranfest is, let me tell ya. It's a festival in Warrens, Wisconsin with over 1300 hundred vendors and over 3 miles of booth frontage-flea market, arts & crafts and food-tons of really good food.

Let us start with the food, that was a REALLY big highlight of our day. We ate breakfast sandwiches, gyros, chocolate dipped cheese cake on a stick, had pina colada/banana smoothies and of course we needed something for our 45 minute ride home- so we each bought large bags of kettle corn to top it all off!


As we made our way through the 1300+ booths, we actually did make some fabulous purchases other then just the food, really we did! Purchased some FUN jewelry. Initial pendants made from scrabble letters, charms and vintage bracelets. We were suckers for all the faux stuff too- you know the fake designer purses and sunglasses-we actually purchased Paris Hilton sunglasses and Channel ones for only $10.00 each- can you believe it? what a deal!!



It was in the flea market area where we scored big time. Finding some cute wood floral things(which we plan to use soon with salvaged hooks), vintage letters and numbers, rusted license plates from the 40's and old metal cigar tins. All in all we have to say, it was another successful year at the fest

(We love the back of this booth)

The Junk Mammas

John Derian at Target

Who doesn't love Target. I guess there are some people who don't, but that isn't us. They usually have great merchandise at a decent price. Especially when it has been marked down. From clothes to home accessories they have hip and stylish stuff all the time. And of course the popcorn at the food counter is always a good way to entertain the troops while mamma does some shopping.

We really like the John Derian home accessories. Check out his stuff online. Also you can check out this blog, Slave to Target.



The Junk Mammas

20 little things to treasure in autum

1. A steaming hot bubble bath or shower.

2. Festivals- Our favorite is Cranberry Fest(stay turned to a series of posts on this).

3. Honey Crisp apples- Carmeled apples with nuts too!

4. Bluffs covered with shades of yellow, orange & red leaved trees.

5. Warm fuzzy sweaters & cozy slippers for the cold wood floors.

6. Cool nights.

7. Candy corn mix.

8. HALLOWEEN-LOVE IT, one of our favorite holidays!

9. Sitting by the fireplace- unfortunately, neither of us have one...bummer- love this.

10. The smell of Pumpkin Spice -Yankee Candle

11. Playing in the leaves with the kids.

12. Visiting the pumpkin patch & farmers markets.

13. Decorating with mums, pumpkins & gourds

14. Hot chocolate with mini marshmellows or whip cream! YUM!

15. Oktoberfest brats-mine with kraut-Kim, not so much.

16. Chicken dumpling soup & chili

17. Roasting marshmallows over an open fire-sound like a Christmas song doesn't it?? Oh, that is chestnuts.

18. Football games.

19. Deals on school supplies- love to buy extras for the year.

20. Last but not least, kids going back to school!!

Fall treat

One of my favorite fall treats is candy corn (did you know it has been around since the 1800s). It has to be Brachs Candy Corn, none of that cheap stuff for me. And I only eat candy corn in the fall . Can't be eating that pink, blue and white candy corn that is made at Easter time. It just isn't right. Candy Corn has to be eaten in the fall. I like to mix the candy corn with dry roasted peanuts. It kinda tastes like a salted peanut roll. Give it a try. Let us know what your favorite fall treat or snack is.

Fall overhaul...

Did a little fall overhaul in my house today. I started with the china cabinet in my dinning room(got it at a yard sale for $60.00- desperately wish I had a photo of the cabinet in it's "before" state!).

Anyways, on to the decorating-I filled my favorite black wooden bowl with real and faux pumpkins, gourds, acorns, fall sprigs, even a little squirrel and birds nest- then topped it off with a few misc. pumpkins, acorns, a distressed sign and black bird!

More fall overhaul to come....

Inspiration

I have always liked this idea from Country Home Magazine. Last fall, I found the metal picnic container at a garage sale.

Now that my husband finished making the gate for our fence. I needed to accessorize it up. Added some fake and dried flowers and it was set. I want to add some bittersweet and Chinese lanterns, but I didn't find them at the farmers market yet. I will keep looking.

Top 10 places for finding good Junk!

10. The Dollar Store. Surprising what you can find there.

9. Family and friends. You just never know what someone was going to get rid of that you'd love- and it was right under your nose.

8. Flea markets.

7. TJ Maxx

6. Auctions. Bring your favorite chair, because this is an all day event. Before kids we went often. Now not so much. We have found some great junk. And those boxes hold some interesting treasures.

5. Estate sales. In these parts the second day is usually half off. I scooped up a cute vintage chenille bedspread. Goes great with Jenny's favorite Pottery Barn Kids bedding that she found at a BARGAIN.

4. Hobby Lobby. Especially the 90% off section.

3. Thrift stores. You know the Goodwill's, Good Stewart, Salvation Army. Etc. We we started going there 15 years ago, the pickins were better then. But still a good place to find some junk

2. Garage sales.

1. Our personal favorite- CURBSIDE-we love to get us some free junk!

Tell us about your favorite place to find good junk??