This Weeks Garaging Finds

Great finds this weekend! Here's a peek...Vintage accordion peg rack (1.00) Silver tray (4.00) Metal numbers (.50 each)
Pottery Barn Quilt and shams (perfect for picnics- 5.00) Wood Bowls (1.00 each) Spindle brackets (4.00 for the set of 2)
Little gold mirror (3.00) ironstone gravy boat (1.00) and a black velvet riders helmet (4.00)
Footed silver bowl (1.00) Handled silver pedestal bowl (1.00)
Entire bag of vintage linens (3.00) Look at the detail on this table cloth and napkin set...

Scrabble game with red pieces (1.00)
Head Board- which will become a chalkboard (5.00)
Super huge frame- which will become a chicken wire display frame (5.00)
More and more frames (1.00 each, Proclamation 3.00) We're loving this weather here in Arizona right now- perfect time to do the give-away (read details here) Just become a follower so we can reach 1,000 and start the give-away. Thanks for all who've joined up so far- only 81 more to go- feel free to post about our give-away on your own blogs to encourage new followers! Leave me a comment and tell me what you found this weekend. Love, Kelly.

Guest Room Update

A big thank you to all the recent followers- we've been able to add almost 20 new readers in 2 days. Please encourage your friends to follow- Laura will be home Saturday and I'd love to get to 1,000- I also can't wait for the giveaway- I was nervous our readers might think we were stalker types, but your comments have calmed my fears! I'd love to meet you and spend a weekend trashing. Here's a peek at the guest room you can stay in...

Last week I took this picture to show you the "new" bedding I picked up for the guest room.

I think I mentioned that I didn't love it- $25 from a garage sale, but it was a king and our guest bed is a queen. In the picture this side looks good, but the other side is dragging the ground- and the pillow shams were too wide to fit side by side on the bed. What's a girl to do but list it on craigslist. A few days later it sold for $50! I took my $50 and went to Target. For $59 I was able to get a new comforter, bedskirt, 2 shams, 2 euro shams and 2 decorative pillows. Throw in some new paint and here's the (almost) finished look...
My $22.50 copper foot table looks great as a nightstand (looks like I'll be hanging on to this one)
Here's the almost finished part...
I've got this great frame- but I'm not sure what to do with it. I don't want to put family pictures in the guest room- I thought of removing all the matting and doing a quote? Help! Let me know what you would do with it- do you have a great quote for a guest room? or a completely different idea? My daughter's coming home from college for the weekend and I'd like to have it all done. No pressure! You guys are the best. Love, Kelly.

Sometimes You Just Have To Splurge!

There are very few retail locations that I patronize: I think they're too expensive and unoriginal. Malls are the worst! But... there's always a BUT... I absolutely LOVE Pottery Barn. In Arizona our Pottery Barns are usually part of a mall- but it's so worth it. I love to explore the store for inspiration and sale items. This past week I was able to talk my family into a trip to Pottery Barn (as long as we took them to Cheesecake Factory for dinner- which is next door). As we approached the entrance, the scents of Fall filled the air- in the form of their autumn spice oil. I could literally spend hours looking at the different displays and table settings. My family, however, was ready to leave after 20 minutes. So what did I buy?

A little piece of fall: Autumn spice candle and potpourri. Total damage $35.00. The good news, I put it all in a $2.00 garage sale vase! Leave a comment and tell me where you go for retail therapy. Love, Kelly.

Star Winner and A Challenge!

Wow! What great ideas you shared for my little clay stars. I had to pick one winner and so congratulations to Edie! Here's what she had to say:

"I would spray paint some of them and hang them with twine off some metal buckets I found on the street (your influence!!!). If I was really ambitious, I would glue them to a thin block of wood and drill some hooks onto each piece of wood. Love the idea of drilling holes into them and hanging them with twine on a mantel. I'd definitely do that, spray paint them cream, gold and silver to match my decor."

So inspired! I'm definitely trying the bucket idea and I hadn't thought of spray painting them (I know, I paint everything- but somehow I just didn't think of it) Thanks Edie- please email me what colors you'd like- it can be a mix- and your shipping address. Thanks for playing.

Also, will the winner of the uprinting.com give-away- 1 Buddha's Mom- please email me (kkbiggs@hotmail.com) with your email address and name. I received your comment about sending it to me, but no email. I wondering if it was sent to Laura. Thanks.

Okay, now on to some serious business! A challenge! Laura left yesterday for New York to celebrate her wedding anniversary with the counselor. She will have no internet access until she returns on Saturday- so here's the challenge. Months ago- and I mean MONTHS ago- when Laura and I saw that we were approaching 1,000 followers we decided that when we did reach 1,000 followers we would do a really special give-away- something we had not seen on other blogs- something WE think would be amazing, fun, inspiring, educational, etc. etc. This is what we came up with:

Select one winner (who can bring a friend) to spend a few days in the life of My Dear Trash. What does that really mean? One of our readers (and a friend) would be invited to come spend a few days with Laura and Me. You would stay at my house (in my guest room I'm currently redecorating- unless you're local and don't want to stay) we would take you to dollar day at Goodwill (if you could come in on Thursday), The local auction, yummy places we like to eat lunch and dinner, we will help you list 10 items on ebay (if that's something you'd like to try), we would garage sale, thrift shop and have a great trashy few days! Whoever wins would be able to customize their experience- so if you're not into Goodwill we'll do something else- We can paint and distress furniture, craft... It would be your trip! For those out of town, you'd only be responsible for getting yourself to Arizona! We'll take care of food and accommodations. What's the catch? We need to reach 1,000 followers! I know there are lurkers out there (it's okay, I'm a lurker too!) But now is the time to click the little follower button. Come on, commit! (Rocky music plays in the background) I'd love to surprise Laura and reach 1,000 followers while she's out of town- but we'll need everyone who hasn't already- to become a follower. Send your friends over and encourage them to join. We'll be using a random generator to select the winner and this is such a beautiful time here in Arizona- perfect weather. We need 111 new followers! Leave me a comment and let me know you made the leap into becoming a My Dear Trash Follower. Love, Kelly.

Lamp Make-Over

Here's a reminder of the lamp I inherited from an estate I purchased...surprise, surprise, it didn't sell. So I thought I'd give it a little make-over for my 8 and 2 year olds room. First I sprayed it hot pink...Wasn't loving this look at all in the room! So, I went back and sprayed it white, bought a shade for $2 at a garage sale, wrapped it in yarn, added ball fringe and hot glued little pink buttons to the center of each flower. Here's the finished product...

Here's a close-up of the buttons...
Love how it turned out, but still not loving it in the room (seems a little big for the dresser or something) The girls think it's fabulous, so we'll live with it for a while... well, until I find something I like better. Keep your amazing ideas coming on my little clay stars- I'll be picking a winner tomorrow! Also, I'm trying to respond to your comments- but most of you don't have an email linked to your account- I'll try to respond in the comments section- just wanted to let you know. Love, Kelly.

This Weeks Garaging Finds!

I've sold out of all my scrabble pieces at the shop- so I was super happy to find 3 sets this weekend! ($1.00 each) What else do you see in the pile?Just when I thought I had all of the varieties of monopoly- we find Bird-opoly. I collect the pieces in old candy jars and was super thrilled to see the "hotels" are trees and the "houses" are birdhouses. I also picked up a few hundred of these...
Clay stars. I purchased all 6 bags for .50 each for a total of $3.00. I'll take these to the shop and sell them for .10 each- any ideas for these?
The previous owner said she used them as package tie-ons- I'd love to hear your ideas. In fact let's make it a little give-away. The person who gives the best idea will receive 25 of these in the mail! (I'm resulting to bribing just to get you to leave a comment!)
Love this fenton fluted bowl (2.00) and check out my stack of crafty/decorating/recipe type books. Here's a closer look at the titles..
Just .25 each! And what's up with my silverplate collection lately?
I just couldn't pass up this $1.00 handled bowl and the fork and doubled handled vase (.50 each)
This mirror (sorry for the blurry picture) is another plastic framed one- but for $3.00 I had to have it. My favorite find of the weekend...
This vintage fan (works great). It was a splurge at $45.00- but I absolutely love it!
More great vintage finds. The little brooms were .10 each and the rulers $2.00 each- My collection of rulers is getting rather large-I think I need a bigger Jar- (said in the taco bell dogs spanish accent voice) Here's a few little sewing notions, a metal medallion and who couldn't use more twine? (.25 each)
More vintage books (.50 each) a Disneyland map from when it first opened (2.00) and original western union telegrams (1.00 each) I've got a project in mind for these- can't wait to show you.
Raggedy Ann and Andy were $1.00 each. I'm putting together a vintage toy display for the shop to kick off the Holiday season- these will work perfectly.
And I always like to find necessary items like these new cloth diapers...
Hope to make some super cute burp cloths for my future grand baby.
This tote was $4.00- And I'm not quite sure about this...Here's a closer look...

Something very folk artish about it. It's labeled Williraye Studio and will probably go down to the shop. That's it for my garage sale finds, but I wanted to show you one of my auction purchases this week...

Square leather top table

With copper feet.

A steal at $22.50! This will go on craigslist this week and then if still available, down to the shop. Don't forget to share some ideas for my clay stars and let us know what you found this weekend. Love, Kelly.

Winner of Uprinting.com Poster!

We have a winner!

Comment number 6:

1 Buddha's Mom said...

Umm, a picture of my son and his dog - they are attached at the hip:)

The winner will receive an 18”x24” Poster Print in Semi gloss OR high gloss finish with 1 business day print turnaround time and Free Shipping. (Please email us your name and email address so we can send your information to Uprinting.com) Congratulations.

Babies

My older sister Krista had her 6th baby a few weeks ago, a beautiful little girl named Adaleen.

Adaleen has come into a home full of prayers.

My sister’s five older children have prayed every day for this baby.

They asked their parents "Please can we have another baby in our home."

They are so in love.  This is her last baby and she is enjoying every moment.

I asked if I could take a few photos.

This one is my favorite.

What is it about a baby that makes me swoon and gush and feel my heart grow about 10,000 times?

This little baby is so sweet; she just radiates heaven in her tiny little breaths.

Her little fingers clutch to her mother’s and it’s just so precious.

And for the first time since I’ve had Eden, I feel that little tug.

To all you mother’s out there.  How do you know?

When you’re at the point?

Babies or no more babies?

I don’t enjoy the overwhelmed mother who exasperates:

“I’m so done!  No more babies for me!”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that whole feeling, I just don’t think deciding to be done having babies should have a singe of anger in the background of the decision.

I need to hear some thought-out, prayed about, contemplated, soft spoken responses from women who’ve been there because this answer doesn’t come easy to anyone.

If I’m done, I have the best caboose ever.

Eden’s precious and gentle and gracious.

We play dolls before her nap.

I follow her around her room, taking in how she walks and talks and goes about her girly-playing business.

I could watch her all day long.  What am I saying, I do watch her all day long.  :)

Children are such a gift.  

I just can’t believe I’m approaching, and probably even passed, that time in my life when baby making may be over.

But, there’s still time, just not much.

So, how do you know?
And when you're done, how do you deal?

A Retro Furniture Re-do

I fell in love.  

My heart goes pitter-patter.

What a treat to re-do these  lovely pieces of retro history.

One thing I learned from doing this retro desk is the appeal of two-toned, leaving some of the original woodwork to shine through.

God's sky is the ceiling in my work place and I couldn't be happier.