Flea Market waste land

Saturday morning I woke up early with a bad case of heartburn. I took some Tums and decided to start my day. I sent my friend a text message to see if she was still going with me. I rode around town to look for yard sales while I waited on her to let me know something. After not hearing from her for over an hour I figured she had over slept and I headed towards Cedartown alone. I passed by a yard sale in the middle of a field since the grass was so wet I didn't want to walk around with wet shoes all day. I went by the first Flea Market on West Ave only to discover it didn't open until 10. I decided to drive to one I'd never been to about 5 miles past that one close to the Alabama state line. I pulled up to an old school where only one car was parked outside. One lady was managing an entire school full of stuff.
Everything was over priced and nothing really caught my eye.

The first room you walk into is the old gym it was packed full of stuff like an episode of hoarders. you could only look at the stuff in the front section.

There was this little room with a strange smell filled with junk

I ended up not buying anything.
I went back to the other side of town to another old elementary school. I had been to this place 10 years ago I bought a huge portfolio for my artwork for $2 back then. But everything looked almost exactly the same as it did then except the prices.

The old sewing machine was really neat but for $90 it didn't even turn and I don't think all the parts were there.

I wouldn't have wanted to go to school here as a child this is just too creepy..lol

I walked thru the whole building a couple of times just trying to find something so I didn't walk away empty handed but I couldn't find anything worth buying.
Come back for more tomorrow. I haven't even taken pictures of my finds yet.

New blog name

I decided to rename my blog since I show lots of other stuff besides minis. So now its Anna's minis and junk. Unless I can think of a more creative name. This weekend I plan on visiting some local flea markets in my county. I haven't been to them in years. I'm really looking forward to browsing thru them with a friend too. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of the market. If I see any yard sales on my way there I'll stop. I don't really have an urge to visit Goodwill this week so I hope I'm not gonna miss any thing good.
I have become addicted to two shows on the History Channel called "American Pickers" and "Pawn Stars" They show some of the neatest old stuff and talk about the history of them. I really want to visit some of the places that these guys go on American Pickers. If you're interested in old junk like me then you should definitely watch these shows.
http://www.history.com/shows/american-pickers
http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars

Beads

These are just some of the fancy glass beads I got this weekend from a yard sale.





These were covered in a wax like substance. I rubbed each of them on a towel to remove the wax. I'm guessing its a polishing compound.

These still have a waxy coating on them. But not a thick as the others

These are the metal beads that were in the mix.

These are the beads that I plan on making mini bottles out of. The beads in the center section are from the swap I did with Carolyn at http://fabshabbyroses.blogspot.com/

Does anybody know what these are?

These tools were in a pencil box I got this weekend at the scrapbook yard sale. I have no clue what they are or how to use them.

Projects

Every mini project I work on has its own tackle box container.
I have one for my pipe cleaner bears. All the supplies I need (besides my pliers & glue) are ready to be used whenever I want to make some. I've already measured and cut the parts and have them separated.

Of course I have another plastic shoe box full of whole pipe cleaners.

I have another tackle box for my gift boxes, wrapping paper and ribbon.


One box for my hat supplies.


One box for my Christmas ornaments and wreaths.


And one box just for finished projects that I can carry to show off easily. Because none of my miniatures have a home. My finished presents with bows and mini animals are in separate containers that fit in my purse.

?? Followers???

I don't get it. Yesterday morning I started out with 112 followers. By yesterday afternoon I was down to 111 and now I'm down to 110. Where is everybody going? Is it something I said? I promise I'll never do it again.. please don't leave me... LOL
I guess some people were jealous of my yard sale finds... lol

I hit the jackpot of Yard Sales

I only saw two yard sale signs in my town this weekend. We had to run to Dallas Friday evening so I was looking for signs there. I lost count of the number of signs that were posted so I knew exactly where I would be going first thing Saturday morning. I decided to check Craigslist for additional sales in the area, that's when I found the ad for a Giant Scrapbook Yard Sale. I knew I had to find that one as early as possible. On my 15 minute drive to Dallas I stopped at a couple of yard sales. The first one was a moving sale that seemed pretty bare. As I started to walk away I spotted this tackle box with fancy glass beads and wire. So I bought it..

Then I was on a quest to find the Scrapbook yard sale. I tried calling the number to get directions but my phone decided to shut down on me. (my battery had exploded)
I drove around for about 30 minutes just trying to locate it from the few directions I did manage to get. Just as I gave up and was headed back towards town I happened to see the tiny 8.5x11 neon sign for the scrapbook sale... woohoo..
I drove way back into a fancy subdivision where all the drive ways were too steep to even see the yard. I spotted another sign and about 6 cars parked on the street. I climbed my way to the top of the driveway to see the most wonderfully laid out sale ever. They must have had 300+ rubber stamps on two tables in the garage. I started grabbing things I liked and they offered me a bag to carry everything. My bag was bursting at the seams when I spotted this Craftsman Rotary tool with flex shaft.. It looked brand new with the instructions still there for $10. I grabbed that up before anybody else could.
They told me I could put all my finds by the garage door so I could continue to shop. I found a couple of other things and was ready to pay when I walked past a container filled with polymer clay & supplies. I started digging thru the box to see if there was anything I wanted when they told me it was $5 for the whole box. I snapped the lid on it and added it to my pile to pay for. Here is everything I bought there.



After leaving that sale and getting lost again. I finally made it back into town where all the yard sales were. Most of them just had clothes and purses. I stopped at a church yard sale and found some interesting books there.

After that yard sale I stopped at the unusual thrift store I had gone to last week. They have their new arrivals in the front room so I didn't spend a whole lot of time there but I did pick up this stuff

I didn't find anything at Goodwill this week. Everything was over priced again.

Tutorial pipe cleaner bear

I finally figured out how to show all steps in making a pipe cleaner bear.

Here are the pieces you need. The plain wire is just to show the bends. For larger images just click on the pictures.

First take the 3" body piece and fold in half. The fold is the nose.
Using needle nose pliers fold in this shape for the head.
Next fold to make the bear's rump.
For the legs take the 2" piece and fold like this
Insert legs in the fold of the rump.
For the arms take the 1.5" piece and fold like this
Insert arms into upper body and squeeze body closed tightly.
For the ears fold the 1" piece like this
Tighten the curl of the ears to hold in place once on head.
Roll the ends of the hands and feet to desired size and bend at the ankles.
All that's left now is to give him a face. Use one thread of embroidery floss to create a nose. Fold thread in half and knot.
After wrapping thread around wire the desired number of times slip needle under threads to secure and trim of excess.
Use no-hole glass beads for his eyes and glue in with tacky glue.
To make other animals just alter the length of the ears and add tails.
Be sure to use fluffy pipe cleaners so the wire doesn't show thru the fur. Glue on paw pads if desired. I punch mine out of fuzzy ribbons.

I love Swaps

Carolyn at http://fabshabbyroses.blogspot.com/ and I did a supply swap. She sent a 5x5x5 box packed full of mini supplies. And she sent me one of her handmade leather purses. I love it.


I really like doing supply swaps because I like to see all the little things that other people collect to make minis.

More pipe cleaner animals

These are the rest of my mini pipe cleaner animals...
All the puppies


Rainbow of bears


Unfinished animals