All posts tagged: Estate Sale Finds

Estate sale finds.

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A couple of weeks ago I went to an estate sale in St Louis and found some great stuff.  When I go to a sale I am usually looking for papers of all kinds to use in my art journaling, these can include old books, postcards, flash cards or recipe cards to name a few.  I also look for books I can use to make a sketchbook from, so a cool cover might catch my eye. This book definitely caught my eye at this sale, it is pretty ancient and delicate but not to the extent that I can’t use it.  What I love most about this book is that I can use it as it is and I don’t have to take any pages out or sew any new in. It used to house vinyl records and is basically a book of pockets made from fabulous brown paper with lots of character. There are only 12 ‘pages’ but so many options.  Each pocket page is intact and secure and the hole through the book …

Weekly Photos 2017. 11/52

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1.  Once the snow stopped early last week, we were out treasure hunting and found among others, this old ink bottle.  A week later, today is 90 degrees! 2. On a different hunt we found some smaller bits and bobs like this tiny metal tennis racquet, a 1939 penny and a good luck token. 3.  At the weekend we went to a rather fabulous estate sale at an old school in the Central West End neighborhood of St Louis. 4.  It was like they shut the doors in 1973 and walked away! 5. I wish they had nooks like this at my school.  I didn’t buy the $3.00 cushion! I will be writing a post later this week detailing what I did buy. 6. We found this pretty lady’s head in the dirt. 7. The haul from a day’s digging in the dirt.  Lots of bottles and jars dating from the 1930’s and 40’s we think. Yes, that is a spoon with a broken glass eye on it….eek! Isn’t it amazing what you find when …

Weekly Photos 2017.8/52

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1 – 2. Presidents Day was a sunny warm day and we went for a jaunt around Forest Park (along with the rest of St Louis!). 3. Following the strangely warm weather, the apricot tree was in full bloom by mid-week, unfortunately the warm spell was followed by a couple of nights of freezing temperatures, so the flowers are looking a little droopy, but hopefully they will hang on and we will see some fruit. 4 – 5. I met some friends for coffee at Rise coffee and we chatted and drank coffee with a pretty design in the frothy milk! 6 – 8. It was estate sale treasure hunting time on Saturday morning, I didn’t buy the giraffe or the amazing rainbow art (someone had bought that already), but I did get a few bits and bobs.  I usually look for paper I can print or draw on or books I can use as journals, so I found a few books and some old typing paper with a lovely texture. 9. These are some …

Vintage negatives

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We were out and about this weekend and went to an Estate sale to see if there were any treasures to find! I got a few old books to use for art journaling and a couple of book making tools.  My prize find was this old drawer full to the brim of old negatives.  I saw it and passed it by thinking ‘what am I going to do with them?  I can’t print them, what else can I do with them?’. Then I stopped at them again and began looking through them, some of the negatives are quite large, about postcard size, some are about two inches square and there are lots of 35mm negatives which I assume are the most recent ones. Some of the envelopes are marked 1956 and they seem to go to about the nineteen seventies. I found out that I can scan them and  then use photoshop to make them printable.  So I decided that yes, they would be worth buying so that I can scan and print onto paper …

Weekly Photos 3/52. 2017

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1. We went to Route 66 State Park this weekend and explored in the sunshine! 2. A naturally formed terrarium in an old bottle. 3. Yay for sunshine over the fields. 4. I climbed out of bed early on Saturday to go to a local estate sale and scored this ace tin of buttons and buckles. 5. I also bought a whole fabulous box of vintage travel ‘accordion’ postcards from the same sale.  I bought them to draw and paint on, but I am not sure I can bring myself to! 6 & 7. Two sides of the same painting at the St Louis Art Museum, I love the two colour palettes. 8. One of my favourite paintings at the Art Museum, cakes by Wayne Thiebaud. Happy Monday x

Weekly Photos 47/52

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1. We went to a very full, very dusty, very vintage estate sale this week.  True treasure hunting! 2. ‘Fancy work’ box which had a few reels of yarn inside. 3. I didn’t buy much but I did snag this fabulous yo-yo.  I love the colours and the wear on it.  The size is just right too. 4. At the weekend we went to Rockwoods Reservations which is fairly local to St Louis, MO.  This is our favourite trail. 5. The bridge was taken out by a fallen tree so we had to climb down and up the creek bed. 6. Another fallen tree, this one looks as if it has been here a while. 7. Natural finds along the trail. Happy Monday x  

Art Supplies from Estate Sales.

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  Oftentimes I will get books from sales to draw in or print on the pages. I like to use old books or their pages in my journals or as a sketchbook. The giant,out of date ‘Britannica Atlas’ is going to be a big art journal. The map pages have such beautiful colours and even the print pages are great, full of columns of text. The blue book is a ’20th Century Typewriting Complete Course’ which I may use as a sketchbook or I might use the individual pages to print on or draw on and add to my art journal. The previous owner has added lots of their own notes to the pages, so that is pretty cool. I don’t often see specific supplies at yard or estate sales, so I was very pleased to spot the canvases and the masonite board at an estate sale less than a mile from my house.  I have to say that I have no clue what to do with masonite, but I heard Ali Cavanagh talk about …

‘I like’ Friday, the secondhand edition

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I love me an estate sale, a yard sale or a trip to Goodwill or a charity shop.  Hunting down the bargains then maybe a spot of research on my latest find when I get home. Last weekend I went to a local estate sale in the snow!  Yes, I am that keen to go and explore and maybe find a treasure or two.  I didn’t find a huge amount, mainly, between you and me, because it was a bit expensive. I thought I would share what I did get. This was the first thing I picked up, I love the graphics on the box and I needed a brayer to use with my new gelli plate. It is clean and has no chips or dings. When I picked these up, I thought they would be great to use as an art journal base, maybe even alter each card to make a new set of art journaled cards.  I am not sure I can bring myself to paint on them though. These two books are …