There was a big honking fall tag sale in a nearby village today and I am just giddy with excitement with the finds of the day. My only complaint stems from the fact that the chap collecting payment at the tag sale accidentally forgot to wrap up *both* of the glass Niagara Falls salt and pepper shakers from yesteryear. Sigh. I didn’t even notice that the salt was missing until I got home. A crushing revelation, but somehow life pressed forth.

Luckily I was so busy fondling the other swell goodies that I scomped up that it didn’t bother me too much.

The best bargain of all was certainly this jaunty little 1950s footstool with fetching aqua vinyl. It seriously needs to be cleaned but for a buck, well, who cares? There was also this darling vintage wool jacket, a lovely blue milk glass piece, a Relpo planter and also a snappy looking Red Wing planter! The pair of antique pastel planters from Japan is adorable too — when they’re side by side it looks like they’re checking each other out.

Last year I saw the wood and velvet mini shelf at the very same tag sale and *almost* bought it. But the price seemed a little steep so I left it on the table. And regretted it all damn year. Imagine my shock and glee upon finding it again — and they had even knocked a few bucks off the price. Sold! I put some of my bakelite figurines in it for now and hung it in the hallway. The boy and girl figurines were superfun, too. Totally not my usual style but I got a kick out of them for some reason and bought four in assorted styles. They’re marked in “Japan” on the bottom and look like faux Hummel’s. Except for the fact that they’re a whopping 12″ tall. I lined them up by the kitchen sink which seems to have confused my fur-enabled companions.

The chocolate brown old lady purse is fab, too! It came complete with an unused lace trimmed hankie lovingly pinned to the paisley lining.

Lots and lots of basil, both green and purple! A respectable amount of chives and dill. And the mint and tarragon are coming along nicely, too. The only thing that’s been a little slow growing is parsley - right now it’s only a wee sprout with a few tiny leaves. But who cares, there’s sufficient basil for a nice batch of pesto and just the right amount of mint for some swanky mojitos.

I’ve been admiring ATC’s, also known as altered trading cards for quite some time.

If you’ve never heard of ATC’s, in a nutshell they’re art that you create or revamp on cardstock the size of a playing card. You can draw, paint, use rubber stamps, make collages, add glitter or embellishments or whatever else strikes your fancy. Some people like to swap them with other folks so they can collect a myriad of different ATC’s from different artists.

So anyway.

Today I finally decided to try making some. In fact, I even managed to incorporate some of the cover art from the 1950s trashy novels snapped up at this weekends tag sale festivities. The look I was going for was kind of campy, retro kitsch.

Mission accomplished!

And I can’t wait to make more….