Florida Back Roads Antiquing

Road trip to Arcadia, FL today. It takes about 3 seconds after heading east off I75 on State Road 72 from Sarasota County to Arcadia to find the other Florida. The real Florida. Vast expanses of cattle ranches, live oaks, streams, and endless views of an every changing sky. 
Antiquing in Arcadia! Arcadia FL info.

Arcadia, FL

We headed for the Opera House up on the right side of the street. Climbing up a huge flight of creaking oak stairs to the second floor you find yourself in the Old Opera House of Arcadia.  It is jam packed with antiques and collectibles. 

Inside the 2nd floor of Opera House

A huge expanse with lots of side rooms and hallways all crammed full of displays. While thunder rolled outside I hurried around trying to see everything. Husband did not want to get "stuck in Arcadia in the rain." 

The Opera's Stage with an old carriage on it.

It always helps in these situations to have some one thing in mind to search for. If you don't you will loose your mind focusing on everything. With rain and hubby hovering over my every move I quickly found I was looking for old glass bottles.  

Checking out

My hands were shaking and I couldn't hold the camera still to take a picture of them lined up on the little check out counter.  Such is my ridiculous excitement during the hunt for treasures. I found ten old bottles I loved and that was worth the trip.

We made it back to the car just before the heavens opened and the rains began in earnest.

Knitting in the car

I got a lot of knitting done in the car. Sock knitting is road trip knitting.  I had to set the socks down when the rain was so hard I couldn't see the road. Husband loves it when I help him drive by saying, "I can't see the road slow down".

Once home I unloaded my new glass collection.

It was a quick trip, but that is okay. I will be going back in 4 weeks.  I found out every last Saturday of every month they have an Antique Festival set up by the Depot. I was promised lots of vendors and lots of fun. Now to hook my Etsy Vintage buddies in Florida into meeting up there with me.

Anne/weelambie

Making A Button Garland

How to crochet a button garland.

The buttons on the thread.

Playing with buttons, loosing buttons, stringing buttons and finally making a button garland.

Washing and sorting vintage buttons.

Okay I will say it again, " I love buttons". It would be nice if buttons were currency. They are fun to carry around in your pocket and the variety would make any sales clerk smile.

Stringing buttons.

I had lots of white and cream colored buttons of various sizes.  The vintage spool of Clark's silver thread was part of a bag of goodies I had found in an estate sale.  I threaded the buttons on to the thread while it was still attached to the spool. This allowed me to pull the thread through the buttons as one by one I chain crocheted a garland.

Simple chain crochet.

I eyeballed it and decided to chain about ten between each addition of a button. 

Adding the next button.

Each button was pulled up from the string of buttons one by one and chain stitched in place. I continued this way until I ran out of thread. That didn't take very long!  My crochet hook is one from a frosting hair dye kit!  I still have lots of the white buttons and want to make the chain longer so a trip to Joann's will be in order to find a similar thread. When I get more strung I'll take another picture.

This red button garland was my first attempt at making a garland.

The string I used is a bit to limp and it fuzzes something awful so I will be looking for a sturdier cotton string.  This string is a man made fiber of unknown origin. I won't use it again. I do like the bright reds against the white string but next time I will move the buttons closer together. They are about 1" to far apart for my liking. 

There are some green buttons mixed in.

It is at least ten feet long.

To get the string through the eyes on the buttons I made a tiny hook out of wire to pull the string through. I used some of that green floral wire that is always wrapping itself around everything in my kitchen junk drawer.

These things are tangle demons.  I need to find a nice heavy stock white card to wind this around for storage til Christmas time.

If you see my house festooned in buttons you will know I have gone to far and you may want to stage an intervention.... or join me.

Draping the fence!

buttons.. the new currency~

Anne/weelambie

Just Sit and Just Knit

Wouldn't it be lovely
to just sit and knit? 

This sweet old woman is doing just that while her dear husband reads. 
I found this photograph in a box of my mother's things.  
I think she is a little overdressed for knitting.
Anne

Rusty Metal Box

There I go again. Snapping up the rusty metal box on the garage shelf at the estate sale.  Everyone else has passed it by.  I see it and my heart actually leaps.  It is rusty metal. It is the softest shade of green. It is perfect.

My collection of ribbons that I use for wrapping up my Etsy packages fit perfectly.

The ribbons have turned a rusty beaten metal fishing box into a delightful storage container for silky elegance.

Rust and metal and ribbon.  The perfect combination.  It is in my Etsy shop of course! here

Anne/weelambievintage

I Dig Vintage Gardens

Mom's Welding Guy!

I did a little planting and of course some hunting for more vintage garden inspirations.

some succulents and pots

such cute little puffy plump plants

I found these tiny little plants at the store and a big bag of potting soil.  I took the plants out of their plastic pots and split them up some by gently prying them apart with my fingers.

tiny little succulents

Mr. Snail looks interested in my project

I searched the house for more dishes

Vintage Swan Planter from Old Vintage Goodies

I love this vintage swan planter and think it would be beautiful in a table top garden. It is from Old Vintage Goodies on Etsy here

All my little pots

Mr. Snail's garden view.

One thing I need is a little watering device so I can get just the tiny amount of water needed by succulents into their sweet little pots from time to time.

Vintage Small Plastic Watering Can

At HoardersShop on Etsy here

And I don't know how to resist this adorable little Copper shovel brooch.

Copper Shovel Gardeners Brooch  from Marybethhale

The tiny little brooch is from Etsy here

While searching on Etsy and around my own home for inspiration I fell in love all over again with some of my own garden treasures.

Mom's welding Sculpture #1

Mom's Sandwich Glass Mobile

Mom's Welding sculpture #2

My high school art class sculpture 

DottieDigsVintage Gardening Book
here

What ever your style there is sure to be plenty of inspiration on Etsy and around your own home in your collections to get you going on a small garden.

 Get digging!

Anne/ WeeLambieVintage

Digging For The Garden

I made a vow that I would work on my garden this weekend.  This morning I spent about thirty minutes in my actual garden looking at weeds and spritzing them with white vinegar.  I hope by morning to just be able to cover them up with new mulch.  Then as I was already worn out from the effort I went thrift shopping.

My dining table covered again!

I found some adorable garden containers. I love the little California Pottery snail.  I think my garden might become a miniature container garden.  Some sweet little succulents would look good poking out of that snail. 
I need to go to the plant store.

Plants I am thinking about

I will let you know how this turns out!
If you wanted some instant gorgeous gardening done for you check out this creative etsy shop.

WilliamsGrove

 Williams Grove @ Etsy Williams Grove They have really lovely containers and plants all set to go.

At ElmPlace on Etsy there is a great cast iron plant container. I love how rustic and traditional it looks. 

ElmPlace

ElmPlace located here @ ElmPlace

For more whimsy take a look at these britches!

ThriftCore

 Aren't they fun? You can find them in ThriftCore @ ThriftCore
Last but not least for more magic and fun look at these little miniature fairy garden whimsy's...

Ozarkmountainmagic

they come in lots of colors and variety's from Ozarkmountainmagic @Ozarkmountainmagic

I can't wait to explore more of these shops and to start my own magical little snail garden. I will keep you posted.
Anne / WeeLambieVintage

Digging for Treasure

In the spring in New England as the ground thaws and the ice melts magic happens. Myriad treasures start poking their way up out of the rich leaf and granite strewn earth.  I don't just mean the tender ferns or the bold daffodils. Vintage treasures appear.  It was not uncommon to walk between the green briers and over the stone wall in my backyard woods and find old rusty graniteware gleaming in the shaft of sunlight filtered down through the tall oaks and pines. 

Graniteware Blue and White Swirl available here

 My mother said these old metal dish pans, pitchers and buckets had been tossed out by her mother and other earlier woman who had lived in her childhood farmhouse. Bits and pieces of badly worn and often mended housewares that no longer had a useful purpose discarded to the old dump heaps in the woods and edges of fields now grown over. 

My Mother's Childhood Home Scituate, MA

Today I am lucky to still find treasures in the thrift shops, tag sales and estate sales that I haunt. How I would love to time travel back to those woods of my childhood and do some pickin there.

The Edge of The Woods
Scituate, MA

  I reach back in my memory to some of the places I loved to dig. Finding kitchen and farm tools, bits and pieces of broken bisque dolls, blue china dishes sometimes even coins. Lincoln pennies, Buffalo nickels, glass medicine bottles filled with dirt and twigs and moss grown thick around them.  My brothers found arrow heads. I always looked but never did find one of those. We played with these things.  Outfitting the tree houses and forts where our childhoods played themselves out. I guess I was born to dig for treasure.  I sure do love it.

I content myself with my memories and search on Etsy for treasures to share with you. Rusty dusty treasure found in the abandoned farms, corners of thrift shops, backs of yard sales...take a look.

Medicine Bottles from vickiesvintageporch on etsy here

Metal Flower Frogs from BlondiesVintage on Etsy here

Rusty Lantern from APapersPast on Etsy here

Galvanized Watering Can from UniqueChicAndRustics on Etsy Here

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Vintage Rusty Fry Pan from NanNasThings  on Etsy here

I'd have fun finding any of these and gladly grab them, stow them in the back of my car and scurry home with them.  When I get home with a car load of goodies like this they all go into a heap on the dining room table.  There I sort them out and stand back looking at them with pride.  I vow once a week to get the top of that old dining room table cleared off and polished.... just to fill it up again with the next weekends diggings of treasure.

Thanks to my friends on the Rust Dusty Treasury Team at Etsy for display of their pictures and promotion of their lovely shops.  

Anne/ WeeLambieVintage here