Vacuuming in high heels & pearls

I have long had this junking theory that old people have good old junk. Ergo, if you want to have the best chance of finding cool vintage stuff, increase your chances by going to sales run by older folks. My theory has proven itself time and again, so it makes my junkin' heart leap to see a sign advertising a church rummage sale, especially when it's at a long-established church in an older part of town.

I put my theory into action on Friday morning when Maren and I ventured downtown to such an event. This particular church holds a sale in the summer and then again in the fall. I missed the autumn event but still remember the goodies I found at last summer's sale, so gas-prices-be-damned, we packed up and journeyed forth. The way this sale is run is that there is a preview on Thursday night but it costs $5 to get in. Friday is free, and Saturday afternoon is a bag sale. I always wonder what I'm missing on that Thursday night--is it attended solely by dealers, who swoop up and snatch anything good? Sometimes I think I'm better off not knowing what I might have missed.

We got there Friday morning not long after the sale opened. I could tell immediately that attendance was down from last year, since I was able to find a spot in the parking lot. Overall, there was far less merchandise than last year. There were still a ton of clothes, but that's just not what I'm looking for (although I did flick through the coat racks to make sure I wasn't missing any fabulous vintage coats), and they didn't have any children's clothing. Everything else was pretty thin, and since I was early to the sale I don't think it was all bought up before I got there--I think they just didn't have as many donations. The upside--the smaller crowd and emptier space did make it much easier to keep an eye on Maren!

I did find a few things that made the drive and the toddler-wrangling worth it to me.

This great pink Shawnee planter is very similar to an aqua one I bought in Utah at the antique store at the beginning of this month. The pink is so pretty and reminds me of the inside of a conch shell.

To fill the planter, I found:

My old favorite, vintage Christmas ornaments. :) I picked out all the pale green, aqua and pink ornies--about three dozen in all. I was tickled to find the silver tree topper (I may actually have a bowlful by next Christmas!) as well as the smaller red and gold one--which unfortunately Maren dropped, thereby breaking the tip and nearly bringing me to tears. I love how the ornaments look in the planter and I'd absolutely leave them that way if I had a place to display them that was safe from little fingers.

I picked up a few other things--an unused candle, six bricks of floral foam (for 50¢ for the lot I couldn't leave it) a copy of a book that I love, and a big box of random envelopes for a nickel (good because I live with a rampant and unrepentant little envelope thief). Not near as much as last year, but still good stuff and I was happy with my haul.

I'm going away for the weekend. My parents are driving down to southern Colorado to visit my grandparents so I'm going to meet them there and stay for a few days. I'm excited to break up the monotony of 2.5 weeks sans husband, see my parents, and do some small-town junking! We've already got a Saturday-morning garage-saling date and I'm itching to get back to the junk shops.

I'll be back tomorrow with a photo of something crafty I've almost finished. I'll have access to a computer so I'll do the Giveaway drawing this weekend as well and post the winner. You still have time to enter if you haven't done so yet!