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Junking Day!
Tuesday, January 29th, 2019

My dd and I are best buds. Wasn’t always so, but these days, we could be together 24×7 and neither of us would get annoyed with each other. It’s a lovely thing to discover that we actually have so much in common.

Her hubby is away at the Police Academy for the next few months, and I do my best to spend extra time with her, keeping her spirits up. She was edgy today, because he had to qualify with his weapon today or be booted, and although I didn’t think he’d have any problems at all, she’s my worst-case-scenario girl, so when she asked whether I’d go shopping with her this morning, I dropped everything to keep her company. Of course, our favorite type of shopping is thrift store and flea market shopping. Not that we’re super cheap, we just enjoy hunting for hidden “treasure”.

The picture above is my haul from the two junk stores we hit today. And before you go, “Gah, it all looks like sh@t,” let me tell you what I see!

Starting from the left…

See the beige-colored pot? Well, I’ve been looking for something to hold all my paintbrushes. It’s in perfect condition, and once I fill it with dried beans, I’ll stand all my brushes inside it.

The ruby-and-diamond-colored crystal bracelet draped over the side? Well, if one of my granddaughters doesn’t want it to wear (they’re getting to the age where they love to wear jewelry, but I’m reluctant to buy “real” stones and gold because they lose shit all the time), then I’ll use it to decorate a box or take it apart and string it in an eclectic bracelet.

The large orange things at the bottom are part of a bib necklace. My dd loves retro costume jewelry, and with her long red hair, she can pull off a big gaudy piece like that, but if she never wears it, I’ll pluck apart the large plastic orange circles and use them to decorate a box. (Nothing goes to waste!)

See the turquoise letter holder? Well, the color doesn’t match anything of mine, so I’ll paint it with some Chinese red chalk paint and use it to stand my stencils in my art room inside.

Those flowers at the top are old enamel clippie earrings. I love them! They will either be glued to blanks to make up a charm bracelet or they will end up as drawer pulls on a small cupboard.

The two retro rhinestone necklaces? One of them has missing crystals, so I’ll cut it up to use for boxes or to add to another bracelet.

The one that’s intact, I’ll probably give to my dd, because again, she loves to wear retro fashion.

The two gold pieces in the center with the flowers? Those are huge gold-tone hoop earrings. My dd will wear those, and if she doesn’t, I’ll take them and bend them up to use in a leather bracelet.

The white Chinese bottle? I collect old snuff bottles. This one’s missing its stopper at the top, but I couldn’t resist it because it depicts two dudes smoking opium.

The neutral-tone tin box on the right will be cut up to make disks for earrings. And the leather bracelet on top of it will go to my granddaughters.

So, not junk at all. Treasures, all! And I didn’t pay over $20 for the lot. My daughter leaves the refurb-able (I know it’s not a real word!) jewelry to me. She loves to pick up small pieces of furniture to recover, repaint, and repurpose. So, it was a perfect morning for us! Now, it’s back to work!

Question: Do you love to go junking?

8 comments to “Junking Day!”

  1. JEANETTE K. WHETZEL
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    · January 29th, 2019 at 1:53 pm · Link

    I love old costume jewelry and will wear it. I have a few pieces I found on ebay,but a huge box got stolen that was worth a good bit of money and had fav pieces.



  2. Delilah
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    2
    · January 29th, 2019 at 1:57 pm · Link

    Jeanette! I hate that happened to you!



  3. Charlotte
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    3
    · January 29th, 2019 at 2:04 pm · Link

    I love to. Good haul!



  4. LauraLeCapelain
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    · January 29th, 2019 at 2:21 pm · Link

    I don’t call it junk shopping. I look for things that I need for my apartment and someday my own house. I need to do this kind of shopping soon. I need a three small dresser to use as a night table at my aunts house. I bought one of those plastic Rubbermaid things but it’s not strong enough to hold a lamp without it dipping in. I’m also looking for a sofa table, also known as a couch table to use to hold a 40 inch television at my aunts house the coffee table I’m using now is too close to the ground



  5. ButtonsMom2003
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    · January 29th, 2019 at 6:30 pm · Link

    I just left this comment on The Emerald Casket because I hadn’t seen the email with a link to this post yet. 🙂

    I used sell high-end used shoes and purses on eBay so I loved to go junking. I had to stop the hunting for treasures when my small mobile home started to get overrun and I stopped selling before getting rid of all of my inventory.

    I am not nearly as creative as you are and I love seeing the things you come up with from your treasure hunting.



  6. Shirley Long
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    · January 29th, 2019 at 7:52 pm · Link

    I do love junking. But I never find anything like what you found today. I love it all. But especially the Chinese thingy. I collect bottles of all kinds ~~ big, small, round, square ~~ whatever. And my real passion is colored bottles. Love the dark blue and the green. Even have 1 pink and one gold. But as I said, the “junk” places here in East Texas are not near as fruitful as wherever you went today. Great trip.



  7. Delilah Devlin
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    · January 31st, 2019 at 6:54 am · Link

    Shirley, sounds like you need to make a bottle tree!



  8. Shirley Long
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    · January 31st, 2019 at 12:35 pm · Link

    And what,may I ask, is a bottle tree? Never heard of it. Must be some kind of artsy/crafty thing which believe me I am neither artsy or crafty.



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