Happy Tuesday, friends!
Here’s last week’s webisode for those of you who missed it on Instagram:
I went to Amy’s Antiques in Montgomery, Alabama this time and man was it fun to roam around in there! As always, I tried to come up with five ideas that you could find or make pretty easily, then I did some hunting online to see if I could find similar products for you too. Here’s what I found:
Vintage Seed Packets:
(Listing)
(Listing)
(Listing)
So, apparently the jars I found (and bought!) weren’t necessarily used to store seeds (they were likely for storing coffee), and somewhere along the way, someone glued those old seed packets onto them. What a fun idea though, huh? I love it! Seems like it would be an easy project to re-create with some decoupage, so I did LOTS of searching on Etsy, and discovered that my favorite kinds of packets were the ones that have hand-drawn/painted illustrations, solid white backgrounds, and very clean black text on them. Just use the keywords: Vintage Seed Packets or Antique Seed Packets over there and you’ll find lots of listings!
Antique Jars:
The same goes for the old, embossed jars. Just use the following combination of words over at Ebay.com and you’ll find lots of options: Vintage Coffee Jars Diamond.
2. Vintage Scales
Here’s an affordable, realistic-looking reproduction available at Painted Fox Home:
(photo: Liz Marie Blog)
It’s on sale for $58.29 (from $87) and if you’re curious, the ones I saw at the antique store were $125 and $160.
3. Wooden Crates
(Listing)
Here’s the trick to searching for great, old wooden crates on Ebay: instead of just searching for “Vintage wooden crate” add the word “advertising” to that combination. You’ll get hundreds more results and they’ll all have words on them, vs. the plain ones that can pop up if you search without adding the word “advertising”.
4. Architectural Salvage
One of the best places to find architectural salvage is to visit an architectural salvage yard or warehouse. They typically sell their pieces for less than you’d find them in antique stores or on Etsy or Ebay. This Old House put together and published a directory last summer if you’d like to see their picks listed by state:
This Old House- Architectural Salvage Stores Guide
(Rescued Relics in Montgomery, Alabama)
5. Branch Place Card Holders
Like I mentioned in the video, these would be so easy to make if you had the right tools. If you’d rather just buy them, I found the one pictured above on sale at Wayfair: Union Rustic Real Wood Place Card/Photo Holder. You can purchase them in all different quantities, so you aren’t locked into a certain (large) number like a lot of the other listings I saw on other sites, who are selling them as wedding decor.
Alright, y’all! I’m off to play with my baby. It’s his last day of Christmas vacation and he is about ready to crawl out of his skin to get back to school and with his friends. I’ve mentioned before that transitions are really hard for him when it comes to his favorite kiddos (and grown-ups!), so I think (based on a couple of things he said right when the break started) that he doesn’t quite believe that school breaks are supposed to be for fun…and not because you’ve done something wrong. :-/
We’ve been doing our best to put his little heart at ease, and of course, we’ll keep it up as the school year continues. And don’t worry, I do think he has had a LOT of fun during the break too. We took a spontaneous road trip (he loves them as much as we do!) to Atlanta so he could swim in a heated pool (one of his absolute favorite things to do!) and we’ve been playing and snuggling and, of course, building lots and lots of things with Legos. And here’s a video of him seeing snow for the first time if you’d like to watch. One of the most joyful things I’ve ever witnessed!
Hope to catch up with you again here tomorrow, friend!
Layla 🙂
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Hi Layla,
Small world, I grew up where the crate in #3 came from, in a small town in Northern California! Who knew they would be worth something someday. It was a popular place for high school kids to work during the summer and make good hard earned money. Who ever won this crate, I hope they enjoy it. I love all your other ideas too!
I’m showing that the crate was delisted on ebay!! you should totally buy it! 🙂 i have a wooden banana box from the town where i went to college and lived with my husband for our first part of marriage and it makes me smile when i see the name. a great souvenir of a personal history!! 🙂
i meant RE-listed lol
You’re a hoot! My piece of sunshine on a cloudy day.
Wonderfull ideas, wish I was there to tag along….
Love your blog…..
Thanks!
The cutest thing EVER. Love the squealing delight at the snow. Ah, through a child’s eyes. Priceless.
Oh, precious little buddy! Happy New Year to y’all!
Tell Steevenson that I scream like him too, when I see snow. Only thing is that he is screaming for happiness at snow and, since I live in Connecticut, we have already had our share of snow! So I scream for it to stop! LOL! Happy New Year to Steevenson, and you and Kevin. –gv xxoo
Thanks for showing us Steevenson’s reaction. Too cute. You could send him up to me in Michigan … boy, do we have snow!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉
Love your blog and ideas and your wrapped chain, wow
What a wonderful gift you have received! He’s precious and just like all children: enjoy the simply things in life. My husband & I raised 2 beautiful girls (in their 30’s) and had oe rule for discipline: just be consistent.
That was fun! Thanks!
Your son’s joy at experiencing his first snowfall is so heartwarming!
OMG so much sweetness wrapped in one little bundle! I love that he just can’t contain his excitement! A friend suggests rolled up white socks make great snowballs for indoor fun!!! Oh and loved the let’s go to antiques! I have never seen the diamond cut jars! Wouldn’t those be pretty reflecting sunlight on a windowsill? Can’t wait to see what you found and how you used it!!
Thank you for posting that sweet video of your babe! I love it!!! Made the snow I’m looking at outside a little more miraculous… 😉
Hi Layla,
What fun for me to see the seed packets! I am originally from Fredonia, NY (near the shores of Lake Erie and currently hip deep in snow). I have had 4 beautiful Card Seed packets framed for many years.
I love that they’re all the way down South–thanks for sharing.
Ann
I Iove your Let’s Go! segments!
The antiques!!! I love to browse antique shops, and this looked a great one. Going to try making the wood placeholders! Thanks for your posts!!!
Thank you, Layla. Lots of good ideas as always. A special thanks for the darling video of little kiddo and his first snow.