Stocked and spruced up and ready for the Summer Sidewalk SALE at STARS!!

Stars BIG ‘Summer Sidewalk Sale’ starts Friday, August 31st and runs through Monday, September 3rd; Labor Day.

This is really one of the BEST sales of the year at Stars.  LOTS of vendors bring in ADDITIONAL inventory to set up on the sidewalk outside.  Don’t miss this sale!!

BOTH of my booths are stocked to the hilt; and as always, everything in my booths is 50% off during the sale.  Last chance to purchase my beach decor items from my wall space.  After the sale I will be converting the space to Fall decor.

I have added a few little ‘hints of fall’ to both booths . . .  just to get you in the mood for fall.  (Not that anyone needs to be enticed to ‘think fall’ after the record HOT summer we’ve had!)

Lots of vintage hobnail milk glass vases and dishes added recently; as well as regular and gold rimmed milk glass.

Vintage and upcycled beach decor.  Big surag starfish, painted white and glittered.  Little jars filled with tiny seashells or pretty beach glass.  Shells mounted on wood posts and jars.  Candle lanterns and lamps.  And of course, Mermaid crowns!!

Vintage picnic baskets, bar stool, ‘breakfast in bed’ tray, wreaths, cubby shelves, trugs and wall decor.

And that is just my little wall space!  On to my 10’x10′ booth!

No such thing as ‘too much’ when it comes to my booth!!
Vintage Fire King gold rimmed milk glass dishes and vintage Ironstone dishes are restocked and always plentiful.

Both Stars Mall are open 7 days a week, 11am – 6pm.

And MORE updated picnic baskets!

For some reason, I’ve been finding a lot of picnic baskets lately.  They are ‘one of those things’ that seem to be perpetually popular; so if they are in good condition, I buy them!  Here’s the latest one that I ‘prettied up’:

And it’s a nice BIG one too!

I did put it out ‘as is’ for a while; then brought it home to ‘fix up’ when it hadn’t sold in a while.

As I’ve been working on various picnic baskets, I’ve discovered that the ones with the ‘split’ and hinged lids (like this one) tend to hold up the best.

The ones with the solid lid, like this, tend to become misshapen more easily.  The lid no longer fits ‘perfectly’ on the top rim of the basket.  It still WORKS just fine; just might not be a sturdy in the long run if you are filling and stacking your baskets and it ends up near the bottom with a lot of weight atop it.

I used a greener shade of aqua this time; and a ‘dry brush’ painting technique for the woven parts of the basket.  (super fast and easy!!  I LOVE dry brush painting!)

Used a foam roller to paint the lid, the sanded to distress; and added a “FRENCH Market” stencil as a variation from the beach themed baskets I’ve recently done.

I was a little concerned that the 3/4 lid would look odd with a design on it.  But I just centered it and it looks fine.  (had I NOT liked how it turned out, I would have sanded it off and repainted.)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm???? I guess I forgot to show you the one I did just BEFORE this one too!

This one has a solid lid.

But it still fit quite well.

Aqua paint; dry brushed on.

And a French Bee design stenciled on the top.

Here you can see how much bigger the ‘French Market’ basket (second from top)  is that the ‘Bee’ basket (top).  And the very slight difference in the colors.

All of these are available for purchase in my booth at Stars Antique Mall in Portland, Oregon.

Picnic weather???

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell . . .not QUITE here in the Pacific Northwest.  Not this week anyhow.  Maybe next week??  In Oregon, April showers bring May showers which usually bring JUNE  showers with scattered sunshine!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh . .  . but when we DO get sunny days, they ARE glorious!  And we soak up every ounce of sunshine we can!

So whether you save then for that future sunny day, collect them just because you like them, or like using them to store your craft supplies . . . . there’s just something special about picnic baskets!

I just stocked this batch of them in my booth at  CURIOSITIES in Beaverton. 

The largest one (bottom of the stack) is a dark wood with a 3/4 hinged lid.

With the lid opening 3/4 of the way and not just half-way; you have a bigger opening for larger items.  It also has an elastic silverware holder on the inside of the lid.  $42.00 at Curiosities.

The second biggest one needed a little TLC in the form of dry brushed Ivory colored paint.

Painted inside and out, and the lid is hinged at the back so the whole thing opens up.

I ALMOST stenciled something on the lid; but ended up leaving it just shabby.  $39.00 at Curiosities.

Second from the top is the one with the ‘pie shelf’ that I posted recently.

The shelf is designed to go OVER the pie, placed in the bottom first; then the rest of your picnic food can go on top and not smash your pie.  $32.00 at Curiosities.

I know!  This one isn’t really a picnic basket.  But it ‘fits the stack’ nicely.  $15.00 at Curiosities.

I gussied up these apothecary bottles and put them in the open basket.

I wrapped the bottle necks with some tea stained paper, then wrapped some nettle twine and tied on a couple of little keys.  $8.00 each at Curiosities.

Vintage cutting boards and wood bowls.  Cutting boards are $9.00.  Bowls are $15.00 and $17.00.  Available at Curiosities.

Vintage library card file; $43.00 at Curiosities.

It’s a ‘samll-ish’ size card file.  Perfect size to sit atop a desk.

Upcycled cylinder cloches with cat ‘knobs’.

Bird and duck topped cloches.

So many signs and so little room to hang them!  I’ve GOT to come up with a better display than leaning them against the wall!!  Have you seen any clever ways to display signs ‘in bulk’ ???  I’d love to hear your ideas!

Changed up the back wall and hung more of my bigger signs etc there.  Looks a little less ‘cluttered’ this way.

Changed up the signs on the side wall too.  Added some more white pitchers and soup tureens.

CURIOSITIES in open Tuesdays – Sundays; 10am – 6pm.

Latest finds

Will probably repaint these.

Cute mini armoire; bottom right knob is broken off.  The broken part is inside the drawer, so I might be able to glue it back on.  The drawers don’t come all the way out, so I’m not sure HOW I’d unscrew the old knob if gluing it back on doesn’t work?!?

Another picnic basket!

And this one has a ‘pie shelf”!

I actually had NO IDEA what that extra wood part in the bottom of the basket was for?!?!?  The clerk at the thrift store told me what it was.  AND she said that she collects picnic baskets and the ones like this with the pie shelf are very hard to come by!    Certainly appreciate that little tidbit of info!  I just might have taken it out and tossed it otherwise?!?!?

Cutie patootie LITTLE (creamer size) melon pitcher.

Pretty slim pickins lately.  Which is probably a GOOD thing, since sales are pretty slow right now and I don’t really NEED a lot more stuff.  I just HAVE to ‘stop in’ if I am driving by a thrift store, ‘just in case’ there is a treasure awaiting me!