Saturday, August 11, 2007

Finds of the day...

Spent the morning at a few estate sales and found some fun stuff. Costume jewelry and a pile of letters from the early 1900's. Aren't these wax seals just great?! Anyone have any tips on how to clean up old greasy skeleton keys?Got a pair of these cute little shadowboxes with velvet vintage millinery flowers in the most gorgeous fall colors.
This vintage bag was too much fun. Plus I needed to buy it to carry all my goodies home in!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I need to move to Minnesota......

Anonymous said...

i love your finds! they're wonderful...wouldn't it be fun to have a group of gals to just go junkin' with. except one small glitch...we'd all be reaching for the same things!

Deb said...

I just found your blog (through a friend on MakeMinePink) and made a shortcut to it....how wonderful!

About those keys...just call me lazy, but I would stick them in the flatware bins in my dishwasher and let it do the work!

Debbie
Cozy Cottage Gifts & Decor

Anonymous said...

WOW what a SCORE....Man I need to get away from my town and come to yours, you found some really neat things there....Love the keys!!

Jeanne said...

You did a lot better than me at your estate sale. I stopped at one this morning and they had zilch! Well, I did get a pretty hand embroidered square table cloth and matching napkins, but that was all.

As for the keys, try washing them with Dawn Dishwashing Detergent and an old toothbrush. I know Dawn worked wonders on removing all the oil from the wildlife after that Valdeez oil spill year ago.

Denise S. said...

You will need some kind of solvent based cleaner for your keys.
What a haul you had today. Lucky you we have maybe 3 or 4 estate sales a year around here.

The Family Jewels said...

Can I go shopping with you? I am going to Colorado next week and hope to find a few sales there, but maybe I need to come to Minnesota!

What great finds! Congrats!

Lilli in Vancouver said...

That's a lotta keys! There's got to be something fabulous you can make with those :)

Anonymous said...

Gah! SO envious of your estate sale finds!!! What are you going to do with all of the keys!? They are so dreamy!

Anonymous said...

I am totally envious! Wax seals are indeed fabulous..You have a great eye..Lucky lady..
Where did you find your vintage hanger for the gorgeous party dress you made for the Blogging Party? Have tried to find with little success..

Unknown said...

LOVE those keys. I'm looking for some here in California but can't find any. Guess they're all in Minnesota!

Ann

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog, love it!! What fabulous finds!

Wendy said...

I just found your blog and really enjoy it! And look at that pile of awesome treasures!!

Anonymous said...

fun! what great finds!!!
jessi nagy

www.scrappyjessi.blogspot.com

Becky Bunn said...

You find the greatest things. I'm envious

Anonymous said...

You are a lucky girl. What wonderful thinks you found.
The jewels are so beautiful. Let us see what you done with these

elizabeth said...

Hello!! I happened to pop in on your blog--just a couple of months ago the hubby and I saw a thing on PBS where they were needing to clean up some old door knobs-they had several coats of various paint as well as years of dirt and oil and grime to get off and did not want to lose the patina cause they would look like any old door knob you could get at Home Depot if they were too shiny!! What they used was--they put the door knobs in an old crock pot filed with "Spray and Wash" and let it simmer overnight on low---SO--about a week later someone gave my cousin a chest with hardware needing lots of cleaning and there was also some paper stuck on the top of the chest!! Well, we used the "spray and wash" on the hardware and we sprayed it onto the stuck on paper and let it soak--EVERYTHING came out clean and great!! They wood was undamaged and the hardware was clean but still looked old. SO-I went home and attacked an endtable which had water spilt on a stack of old LPs which caused the bottom LP sleeve's picture to be stuck like glue on the table top. I sprayed it well, let it set several hours and was able to take it all off!!! I can use that table without a tablecloth again!! We haven't used it on any painted items yet, so we didn't think we needed the crock pot. If we come across anything with old paint we will add the low heat feature, meanwhile, we will use the "spray and wash" method for everything possible!!

elizabeth said...

Oh, I got so carried away with the cleaning project that I forgot to tell you how fantastic your finds are!!!!!

Sandra Evertson said...

Ah, try Navel Jelly, I know sounds silly but it's real!
Sandra Evertson

Sweet Remembrance said...

Wow...we don't have sales like that here in the O.C.! Wonderful finds...

Shannon (Faith and Chocolate) said...

Wow! What dream finds! I have yet to find something good as all that! Maybe I DO need to move up north! Course I thought the south would give me some lovely "Southern Belles" vintagery!

Anonymous said...

I love you finds. I would buy that purse in a heartbeat! It's so cute. Why, oh why do they not have good estate sales here? I think I need to come visit you someday.

Kimla Kay said...

She scores again...it all looks so lovely! Thanks for sharing!

Tammy Gilley said...

Wonderful, wonderful finds!! I want to tag along with you to your estate sales! :)

Kara said...

love the keys want them all, no idea how to clean, how about in white vinegar
Kara
s

Anonymous said...

washing keys, old buttons beads etc - a tablespoon of Bicarbonate of Soda in some warm water leave it to soak and all the old crap shpould come off - a past of bicarb is also great for cleaning kitchen greasy surfaces, inside ovens etc if you want to be eco friendly. (leave the paste on for while for ovens before washing off)

Judy said...

Leave the keys as is! They are wonderful! I have two rings full of old keys and I only clean the really sticky or greasy ones. Otherwise, they stay in that wonderful aged state.

LIBERTY POST EDITOR said...

A friend of mine used Amway Metal Cleaner and it made a 100 year old penny brand new - it's supposed to work on all metal. You might want to source that out for your keys!